This may be the most unexpectedly perfect combination of country music and television nostalgia we’ve seen in a while.
The cast of Little House on the Prairie is coming to Nashville next month.
They’re going to the Grand Ole Opry.
They’re honoring Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
And somebody is bringing Pa’s actual fiddle.
Not the prop from the television show.
The real one.
The three-day reunion happens September 11-13 and celebrates the 50th anniversary of “The Collection,” the Season 3 premiere of Little House on the Prairie that originally aired in 1976 and guest-starred Johnny and June.
Johnny played Caleb Hodgekiss, a traveling preacher who arrives in Walnut Grove with his wife Mattie, played by June.
For fans of both classic television and classic country, the episode has become a particularly fun collision of two worlds.
Now they’re recreating that connection in Nashville.
Members of the original cast will gather for the weekend, including Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, and Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder. The celebration includes cast appearances, fan events and a private Q&A.
But Friday night is where things get especially interesting.
The cast will attend the Grand Ole Opry on September 11 for a tribute to Johnny and June.
Their family will be involved too.
John Carter Cash, his wife Ana Cristina Cash and June’s daughter Carlene Carter are scheduled to perform as part of the celebration.
Johnny and June will also become the first recipients of the Little House on the Prairie Legends Award, recognizing their contribution to the show and American culture.
Then comes the fiddle.
The instrument belonged to the real Charles “Pa” Ingalls, father of author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
It normally lives at Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri.
For this event, it’s making the trip to Nashville and will be played live on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
That’s pretty remarkable when you think about the history represented by one instrument.
A fiddle played by a man born in 1836.
Preserved by the family whose story inspired one of America’s most beloved series of books.
Those books become a television show.
Johnny Cash and June Carter appear on that show.
And 50 years later, the fiddle ends up onstage at the Grand Ole Opry while Johnny and June’s children help celebrate them.
Sometimes Nashville finds connections you couldn’t possibly make up.
And this one is about as country as it gets.
