Four years before his final performance, Little Jimmy Dickens made a remarkable statement about how he wanted to spend the last moments of his life. The country music legend didn’t speak about retiring, leaving Nashville, or enjoying a quiet life away from the spotlight. Little Jimmy Dickens wanted to be standing at the microphones of the Grand Ole Opry, looking out at a full house and trying to make people laugh.
On December 20, 2014, just one day after celebrating a 94th birthday, Little Jimmy Dickens returned to the Grand Ole Opry stage. There was another song to sing, another joke to tell, and another audience to entertain. Nobody had announced a farewell performance. Yet that Saturday night would become the final appearance of one of country music’s most beloved entertainers.
The Remarkable Wish Little Jimmy Dickens Shared in 2010
To understand why that final performance mattered, it’s worth returning to August 25, 2010. Nashville was still recovering from the devastating floods that had damaged the Grand Ole Opry House earlier that year.
Little Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley joined officials for a special ceremony as the historic wooden circle, originally taken from the Ryman Auditorium stage, was returned to its place at the Opry House. The circle had been removed during restoration following the flood.
For Little Jimmy Dickens, the occasion was deeply personal. The Grand Ole Opry had been central to a career stretching back to 1948. Decades of performances, friendships, comedy, and country music were connected to that stage.
Speaking to reporters, Little Jimmy Dickens explained that the happiest hours of life were spent on the Opry stage. Then came a statement that would carry an entirely different meaning four years later.
Little Jimmy Dickens said the ideal ending would be standing in front of those microphones, with a full audience, still trying to make everyone laugh. It was an unusually direct remark, but perfectly consistent with the humor that had become a trademark of Little Jimmy Dickens.
That same day, Brad Paisley brought out a guitar, and Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens sang part of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” beside the restored wooden circle. The Grand Ole Opry would reopen its renovated home on September 28, 2010.
December 20, 2014: One More Song and One More Laugh
By December 2014, Little Jimmy Dickens had reached an age when most entertainers had long since retired. But the Grand Ole Opry remained part of life.
Born on December 19, 1920, in Bolt, West Virginia, Little Jimmy Dickens had become famous for a powerful voice, a quick sense of humor, and an ability to entertain audiences far beyond the novelty songs that first brought national recognition.
On December 20, 2014, Little Jimmy Dickens performed “Out Behind the Barn,” a song that had reached the country charts back in 1954. The familiar comedy was part of the appearance, too. At 94, Little Jimmy Dickens was still offering audiences the mixture of music and laughter that had defined so many Opry nights.
There was no public declaration that this would be the end. No carefully planned retirement speech marked the occasion. It was a birthday celebration and another Grand Ole Opry performance.
Five days later, on Christmas Day, Little Jimmy Dickens was hospitalized. On January 2, 2015, Little Jimmy Dickens died at a Nashville-area hospital, aged 94.
Only then did the significance of that December evening become clear. The performance of “Out Behind the Barn” and those familiar jokes had become the final public appearance of Little Jimmy Dickens at the Opry.
A Final Goodbye From the Grand Ole Opry Family
On January 8, 2015, family members, friends, fans, and fellow performers gathered at the Grand Ole Opry House to celebrate the life of Little Jimmy Dickens.
Vince Gill, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Connie Smith, and other country artists took part in the tribute. Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood performed “Go Rest High on That Mountain.” Brad Paisley helped lead the gathering in “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” bringing another familiar Opry tradition into the farewell.
Brad Paisley closed a tribute with the words, “We’ll take it from here, little buddy.”
The ceremony returned Little Jimmy Dickens to the place that had meant so much for so many years. And it brought the story back to that remarkable statement from August 2010.
Little Jimmy Dickens did not die at an Opry microphone as once imagined. But on December 20, 2014, just after turning 94, Little Jimmy Dickens was still standing before a country music audience, singing an old favorite and making people laugh.
For someone who had spent so much of life doing exactly that, it was a fitting final performance — even though nobody knew it would be the last.