“The Blonde Bombshell Sitting In The Front Row”
(Photos by Maria Allard)
For several years, my musician/songwriter husband Jim Allard traveled to Nashville about four times a year with his guitars and mandolin strapped around his shoulders.
As a member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Jim and the other musicians made the rounds at different events in Music City, including Douglas Corner Café, the Commodore and the Bluebird Cafe. Tin Pan South, too, was always a blast.
Sometimes I went with him. While in Tennessee, I was always on the lookout for country music stars. The Southern rock band .38 Special once stayed at the same hotel as us. We came upon them in the lobby as we checked in. My husband pointed them out to me.
I also saw the drummer of the Mavericks (a great country band) have lunch at the now-defunct Longhorn. And country crooner Rodney Crowell dined at the Palm Restaurant when my Nashville friend Tina and I had drinks before the Brad Paisley concert. I didn’t actually see him, but I heard he was there.
Another famous person I saw in Music City wasn’t a country star, but someone very well-known and very blonde.
A group of us, including Jim and his cousin Angela from Kentucky, attended the Grand Ole Opry Show somewhere around 2005. It was my first time at the Grand Ole Opry. When I heard Loretta Lynn was headlining, I just had to go. Porter Wagoner was also on the bill.
The one and only Loretta Lynn.
We all spotted a blonde bombshell saunter in just as the concert was about to start. Her long hair fell to her waist and her sparkling dress hugged every curve. We sat in the upper tier, and she was in the front row on the main floor. She really stood out. We couldn’t help but notice her. I figured she was the wife of a country music legend or a singer ready to make her debut.
The mystery lady settled into a front row seat. It was host and country singer Vince Gill who gave it away when he announced Anna Nicole Smith was in the audience. So, that’s who it was. Can I get a yee-haw?
I watched her reality show a few times and noticed her son Daniel, assistant Kim and attorney Howard K. Stern with her. She even brought her dog. What surprised me most about Anna Nicole in person was that she wasn’t the dingbat on TV many of us came to know over the years. The Anna Nicole relaxing at the Grand Ole Opry Show was beautiful, friendly and approachable.
When Vince Gill pointed her out, she stood up, turned around and waved to the crowd. She let person after person snap her picture during breaks in the televised show. She even signed an autograph for one young male fan who looked like he was in elementary school.
That is her in the middle of the photo. She is standing up. I know it's hard to see because the photo is from far away.
It was a fun night, and the GUESS model was having a great time. She even sang along to Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” At one point, Anna Nicole became part of the show when she got on stage to two-step with one of the dance groups. It was a hoot. The female singer (I’m sorry I don’t remember her name) who performed that night after Anna Nicole jokingly said something like “I thought Dolly was a hard act to follow.”
Here is Anna Nicole and her entourage. She is in the middle. Sorry it is so blurry.
Country singer Joe Nichols (Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off) played that night as did Porter Wagoner. When Anna Nicole died in the winter of 2007, Nichols sang at her funeral. It was reported the two were friends.
We hit the town after the Grand Ole Opry Show and kept crossing paths with a limousine. We figured Anna Nicole was inside.
Anna Nicole’s real name was Vickie Lynn Hogan. My mom paid attention to Anna Nicole every now and then when she was on TV. She got a kick out of her antics and that they shared the same first name: Anna. When I saw Anna Nicole in Nashville, I so wanted to tell my mom about it, but sadly, I couldn’t because my Anna died in 2002. Hopefully my mom was watching from above.
I felt terrible when Anna Nicole passed away in 2007. I know she wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea and she had her issues, but I hated the way people bashed her after her death. If they had only witnessed her demeanor that night in Nashville, maybe her passing would not have been such a joke.
Her name comes up in the press every once in a while, and I wish her daughter the best. She was an original, and in my eyes will always be the blonde bombshell sitting in the front row.
In Harmony, Maria Allard
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