On April 18 1998 Diamond Rio Was Inducted Into The Grand Ole Opry
They were the first group since The Whites in 1984 to receive Opry membership and one of the oldest institutions of Nashville had decided they belonged in its permanent family
Before Diamond Rio met the world in the middle six musicians had already spent years learning how to meet each other there first
Before Diamond Rio had a record deal they were playing for tourists at Opryland and then their first single went to No. 1 and something no country group had ever done before
Diamond Rio did not begin as six musicians arriving in Nashville with a finished plan and its roots ran through the Tennessee River Boys a band that performed at the former Opryland USA theme park
Marty Roe and Jimmy Olander and Dan Truman eventually left that group to build something of their own in 1986
Drummer Brian Prout and mandolinist Gene Johnson joined the following year and bassist Dana Williams completed what became the classic six man lineup in 1989
That same year the group adopted the name Diamond Rio and the chemistry was unusually important
Their sound depended not only on the lead vocal of Roe but on tight harmonies and musicians who could play with the precision of a studio band and unlike many country acts built around one star and changing road musicians the identity of Diamond Rio came from the six men functioning as a unit
Arista Nashville Signed Them And Radio Answered
Arista Nashville signed them in 1990 and then came the first test
Their debut single Meet in the Middle was released in 1991 and told a simple story about two young people meeting halfway beneath an old Georgia pine but radio reacted far beyond anything expected from a brand new group
The song climbed all the way to No. 1 and in doing so Diamond Rio became the first country group in history to send its debut single to the top of the chart
It was not a one record accident and Mirror Mirror and Mama Donβt Forget to Pray for Me followed while their self titled debut album helped establish Diamond Rio as part of the young country movement of the early 1990s
The combination of polished harmonies and bluegrass rooted instrumentation and contemporary country production gave them a sound that was recognizable almost immediately
The Opry Brought The Story Back Home
Seven years after that first single another Nashville institution made the trajectory even more significant
For a band whose roots had grown only a short distance away inside an amusement park built around country music that distinction carried a different weight
The early Opryland years had taught them how to play together and Meet in the Middle proved that country radio was ready for them
The road from Opryland to the Opry was short on a map but in country music terms it was enormous
But the Opry invitation meant something else entirely because Diamond Rio was no longer simply part of the new generation of Nashville and the group that once played for theme park crowds had become part of one of the oldest families in country music