Wings visit the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville

During a break in their rehearsals, on 16 June 1974 Wings paid a visit to the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee.

They attended the third annual Grand Masters Fiddling Contest, in which 20 violinists had a six-minute slot to play a waltz, a breakdown, and a tune of their own choosing. The prize was $1,000.

Wings were seated in a VIP area, at which they were joined by guitarist Chet Atkins. The presence of Paul McCartney caused a stir, and he agreed to take the stage and be introduced to the audience.

Also performing were Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner. It was Parton’s final appearance in Wagoner’s band; she had recently had a hit single with ‘I Will Always Love You’, written about the end of their professional partnership.

Wings and the McCartneys’ daughters went backstage to meet Parton and Wagoner, inadvertently disrupting one of the fiddle contest performances.

It was really sad for one bloke, although he probably talked about it for the rest of his life. This poor geezer’s onstage, and Opryland was really quite crowded. And it was like the sea dividing, [with Paul] as the front runner and everyone else following, like a V coming down the road. This bloke is onstage playing the violin, and he can see it coming, but the whole audience turned around. It was heartbreaking, but he’s probably the only guy in the world who can say his fiddle tournament was ruined by Paul McCartney.

So Paul brings it to a standstill, it’s chaos, and then Porter Wagoner comes around the back of the stage with Dolly and meets us, and she’s just as natural as apple pie. And we can’t take our eyes off her cleavage for the ten minutes we talked to her. Yeah, she’s larger than life, a lovely person.

After the event, Wings and the children were invited to a pool party by Buddy Killen, their fixer in Nashville. He then offered to take them on a tour of Nashville, but two-year-old Stella McCartney ran back from the car to the house, colliding with a glass door. The door broke and she suffered cuts to her arms and legs.

She was taken to the Donelson Clinic where her wounds were treated and bandaged. Afterwards Killen returned home, and Wings and the children went to a drive-in movie theater to watch Culpepper Cattle Co and The Laughing Policeman.