July/August 2003

Calvin Gilmore off stage; up close and personal with the man behind The Carolina Opry.  By Michael Hetzer.

It’s minutes before showtime backstage at The Carolina Opry, and Calvin Gilmore is huddled up with about a dozen of his performers.  In the darkness of the stage wing, Gilmore says a prayer; then they all cry, “One, two, three. It’s SHOWTIME!”

A few feet away, the Opry’s music director, Gary Brown, smirks.  “It’s something I guess they’ve been doing since the beginning.”

The beginning.  When would that be?  Was it opening night, 1986, before…