Book Review: Around The Opry Table (Kay West)

Well-respected Nashville food critic and Country Music journalist Kay West’s new book, Around The Opry Table, is a hefty hardback tome that features recipes from, and short biographical entries of, Opy characters ranging from Uncle Dave Mason (who joined the cast in 1925), all the way to Dierks Bentley, circa 2005.

Billed as “A feast of recipes and stories from the Grand Ole Opry,” this should not be mistaken for a cookbook. The recipes–which range from simple (“Deanie’s Seafood Potatoes,” courtesy of Jack Greene, calls for only boiled potatoes and a package of seafood seasoning) to precise (e.g. Jim Ed Brown’s “Duck Soup With Wild Mushrooms”)–are overshadowed by the brief but engaging features of the fifty-two Opry cast members West has chosen to highlight.

Names like George Morgan and Texas Ruby are probably foreign to most of today’s Country audience, but West manages to provide some compelling history without sounding historical. Her writing is entertaining and colorful, and Around The Opry Table will leave the casual Opry observer feeling like an expert.

At times, however, the book, like the Opry itself, tastes a bit overcooked and a little too cheesy. West acknowledges, in the book’s introduction, that she was approached by individuals from the Opry to work on this project. So it’s no surprise that the end result sometimes feels as much like a moderately clever marketing idea as it does a literary work of its own right. Scattered throughout Around The Opry Table, for example, are short articles about “Opry Sponsors” like GooGoos and Martha White, which, although they do provide some interesting history about Opry Sponsorship, contribute to the overall air of commercialism the plagues the entire project.