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McCartneys Draw Squeals At Opryland By BILL HANCE For a few fleeting seconds, the black-haired, fair-complected guy, and his wife and three daughters looked like ordinary Johnny and June Citizen and family. But it didn’t take long for a couple of young, stray girls to recognize him, let out a squeal and cause word to travel faster than a brush fire. FORMER Beatle Paul McCartney, wife, Linda and the couple’s three daughters strolled through Opryland Sunday under guard on their way to a fiddling contest. Most people earlier had figured the McCartney’s would attend Saturday night’s Grand Ole Opry. But instead, they decided to embark on the Grand Masters Fiddling Contest. "Now we’re gonna’ do an oldie for ya’, announced the pot-bellied Texas fiddler, shading his eyes with a weather-beaten straw hat. "One that you will remember as "Dill Pickle Rag." That seemed to set McCartney off. "All right, all right," said McCartney, in his English brogue. "Hey listen, ‘Dill Pickle Rag’," he told his family. THE McCARTNEYS, sitting about 10 bench rows from the left hand side of the stage, also seemed especially fond of country music singers Porter Waggoner and Dolly Parton. In fact, wife Linda left her seat twice to take snapshots of the pair. "He (McCartney) is a very gracious person," said WSM President Irving Waugh, who escorted the celebrities through the park. "He is very cordial to the fans, always stopping for autographs and pictures with the girls and babies." For about 45 minutes, most of the audience did not realize the McCartney’s presence, until a young man about four rows back hollered, "Hey, Mr. McCartney," in order to get a snapshot. Then the secret was out. IT WAS the last duet performance of Waggoner and Miss Parton. For that reason, the McCartneys wanted to go backstage at intermission. Opryland security guards kept a tight hold on the crowd when it was apparent a mob scene could easily erupt, especially in the open-air stage area. The McCartneys were hustled into a waiting auto leaving the park at about 4:15 p.m. "I just can’t believe it was him," said one of the Opryland hostesses, Ann Burns. "He’s been my idol nearly all my life. Just as soon as he left I ran over and sat in his seat and picked up a little plastic sword that held the orange in his drink. "I’ve been offered $15 for it," she explained. "Oh, he’s precious." Herman Johnson, of Shawnee, Okla. won the Grand Masters Fiddling Contest. In second place was 18-year-old Terry Joe Morris, of Ft. Worth, Tex. The six-hour match eulimnated (sic) the third annual Fan Fair celebration. Grand Ole Opry and Country Music association said between 12,000 and 14,000 persons registered for the five-day event. Most of the fiddlers came from Tesas. There was only one Tennessean in the finals. He was Sam Bush of Madison, who placed seventh out of 20 contestants. Taken from The Nashville Banner June 17, 1974 page 17
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![[June 17, 1974] Pt. 2](_derived/6nb61774.html_cmp_rtbancho110_bnr.gif){kind=small}
