by Bobbie
Photos by Bobbie and Donnaj

On Nov. 7, 1997, in celebration of their 20th anniversary, RITS invited attending saddlepals backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Donnaj and myself, Donna, Jill, Jayne and Kim were six of the luckest saddlepals in the world that night!

Pictures from the evening may be accessed by clicking on the the highlighted word in the descriptions.

First of all, we have a peek into the Riders' dressing room, where Woody Paul was trying out a new fiddle, accompanied by Joey, Slim, Woody's son Casey, and Jill.

I didn't think I was nervous backstage, but when my pictures came back, every single one I had taken of RITS on stage from backstage was blurred from movement. The camera hadn't moved, so it must have been me shaking! This one was take by donnaj.

And of course we couldn't pass up the opportunities for more pictures of the guys. Here we have shots of donnaj and Joey, Woody Paul and myself, donnaj and Ranger Doug, and "Too Slim Forever" embroidered on the back of Slim's shirt.

Billy Walker wandered by while the guys were in the hall, and stopped for a few monents to join in a chorus of "Tumbling Tumbleweed".

And camera's were more than ready when it came time for a shot of RITS with all of us saddlepals. Also in this picture are Alice, Slim's daughter, Casey, Woody's son, and if you look really closely in between Alice and Casey, you can see Caitlin, Woody's daughter, too. Woody's son Jake was there too, ---- but not in the photo. Bert was our photographer. THANKS BERT!!!

There is also an all of us enlarged composite arrangement of this photo.

And the following evening we had the opportunity to view RITS as the rest of the audience saw them, ------ From out front. I thought that being backstage would be the biggest thrill, but it was almost equaled as donnj, Jill, and myself knelt down right in front of the stage, taking photo after photo of our heros. -- Woody Paul sang "Riding Down the Canyon" and the experience of seeing the guys onstage at the Grand Ole Opry truly was a picture that no artist ere could paint!!!!!!!! It was fabulous!!!!

Also included here is a picture of Grampa Jones onstage at the GOO. Meeting him in person was a highlight of the evening. - Our prayers are with him, now, while he is in the hospital.