Bill Anderson Marks His 65th Grand Ole Opry Anniversary

Wednesday (July 15) marks the 65th anniversary of Whisperin’ Bill Anderson‘s Grand Ole Opry membership, extending his record as the longest-serving continuous member in Opry history.

“It’l be fun to think back on 65 years,” Bill Anderson told Taste of Country in an interview earlier this year.

“That’s kind of a marker number, I guess, for a lot of things. People retire at 65, and heck, I’m just celebrating,” he adds, before breaking into an easy laugh and imagining the headline: “Most people retire at 65, Bill celebrates.”

Is Whisperin’ Bill Anderson the Longest-Running Grand Ole Opry Member in History?

Yes.

• Bill Anderson became a member of the Grand Ole Opry on July 15, 1961.
• Last year, the Opry celebrated his status as the longest-tenured member in Opry history when he marked his 64th anniversary.
• At 88 years old, Anderson is among the Opry’s living legends. He’s a fixture on the stage, and a major presence in honoring the Opry’s history and safeguarding its legacy into the future.

“I’m not the oldest member at the Opry, I know two people that are still living,” Anderson says, naming two more Opry greats — Bobby Bare and Jeannie Pruitt — who are older than he is. “But in terms of longevity on the show, I’ve been there longer than everybody…that’s ever been a part of the show. So I’m very grateful for that, very thankful for it, and looking forward to celebrating in July.”

How Will Bill Anderson Celebrate His 65th Grand Ole Opry Anniversary?

Anderson explains that his anniversary falls on a Wednesday, but he’s always been “kind of a Saturday night Opry guy.”

“I was raised on the Opry on Saturday nights before they did all the weekday shows. I said, ‘Let’s celebrate it on the 18th,'” he says.

Read More: 31 Stars You Won’t Believe Aren’t Grand Ole Opry Members

So he’s booked for a special lineup this Saturday (June 18), featuring artists such as Lorrie Morgan, Crystal Gayle, Rhonda Vincent, John Berry, the Isaacs and Steve Dorff — the latter of whom is Anderson’s longtime friend, plus a co-writer and producer on his recent album Forevermore.

Anderson says he got some input about who would be featured on the show celebrating his anniversary, though he knew that it was going to be “awfully hard to find a lot of them in town” during July, which is “the heart of the touring season.” Plus, he says, “Of course an awful lot of my Opry buddies have unfortunately passed on. The ones that were there when I joined the Opry, very few if any of them are left.”

Still, Anderson has developed plenty of close friendships with a younger generation of Opry mainstays, like Vince Gill, Steve Wariner and Jamey Johnson. Many of them he bonded with over songwriting. Now, he’s looking forward to sharing the stage with some close contemporaries and younger friends for his milestone Opry anniversary.

“I’d love it if they could be there that night, and we can all overdose on birthday cake,” he jokes.

Is Bill Anderson Retired?

Bill Anderson is retired from touring.

Bill Anderson ended his touring career without much fanfare during the COVID-19 pandemic. He wrote on his website in 2025 that he’d simply stopped, and didn’t think he was likely he’d pick it back up again.

Read More: 14 Country Stars Who Quit Touring + 4 That Tried But Couldn’t Stay Away

“I’m not on tour anymore, so that’s been kind of a change. Sleeping in my own bed every night, that’s kinda different,” he elaborates to Taste of Country. “I miss the fans and I miss the music and I miss the shows. I don’t miss the travel.”

He still appears regularly on the Opry, and he’s invested in its newest generation of members, too, like Kelsea Ballerini and Jelly Roll. “I still try to reach out, meet ’em all and tell ’em we’re glad they’re there and hope they enjoy being part of our family,” he says.

But he’s also invested in spending time with his eight grandchildren, including granddaughter Hallie, who had recently been accepted into a songwriting program at Belmont at the time of our interview. “She’s the only one [of my grandchildren] that’s really been interested in country music,” Anderson explains, adding that Hallie got a job as a Grand Ole Opry usher at 16, making her the youngest usher they’d ever hired.

Read More: The Magic of the Grand Ole Opry: See Pictures Through the Years

He also once wrote a song with Hallie, wanting her to “get the feeling of what a co-writing session was.”

“She came up with the idea. I said, ‘When you come in, you come prepared.’ So she did. She came up with a good idea and she and Bobby [Tomberlin] and I wrote the song,” he recounts. “Hopefully that’s not the last one we’re gonna write together. I hope we write a bunch together, but I don’t want to push her. If she wants to do it, we’ll do it, and if she doesn’t, then we won’t.”

How Does Bill Anderson Want to Be Remembered?

Anderson’s record-breaking Grand Ole Opry tenure is an undeniably large part of his legacy. But he says that above all, he wants to be remembered as a songwriter.

“I came here as a songwriter. That’s what brought me to town,” Anderson explains. “The whole artist thing just kind of happened on the heels of that.”

“People ask me a lot of the time, they say, ‘What do you think your legacy will be? What will you be remembered for?’ And if there’s anything, it’ll be the songs I’ve written,” he adds. “The songwriting part of it has certainly been a major part of everything I’ve done.”