Watch Chris Janson’s Grand Ole Opry Induction

Chris Janson is officially a member of the Grand Ole Opry! The “Drunk Girl” singer was inducted by fellow Opry member, Garth Brooks.

“Congratulations, first of all,” Brooks, who was inducted in 1990, said. “I came out here with a big speech [but] you get it. There’s nothing I can tell you that you don’t already know. Driving in here tonight, I passed a billboard. They’ve already got them all over Nashville, that says, ‘Welcome to the family.’ Family’s a great name for this place.

“Another great name I heard for this place is church,” continued Brooks. “That’s what it’s all about. Because if any time you are at your lowest, these people are going to be there for you, and they expect the same out of you, and they’ll get the same out of you. Chris, it is my honor to welcome you to the family. I will tell you this: this will be, no matter how many times you look back at it, this will be the greatest night in your music career. It was mine. I got to stand right here, and all I know to do is pass it down.”

An emotional Janson invited his wife and four children to join him on stage, before beginning by offering his appreciation for Brooks.

“First of all I’d like to say thank you to Garth Brooks,” Janson said. “He had me open up his last show in Nashville, just a little while back, and I want to say right off the bat, he’s everything everybody said he was. He’s the real deal. He’s a really good human being.”

Janson also took time to offer his gratitude for the everyone who had a role in his path that led him to become a member of the Opry.

“I want to say publicly, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ I said it the first time I was here, Feb. 15, 2013, and I meant that,” he said. “Thank you to my wife, Kelly, for sticking by me in every single minute of the way, for having my back even in times when I didn’t have my own. And my kids, for not even caring what I did for a living, but just thinking, ‘Whatever, Dad. Let’s fish.’”

Janson also thanked everyone involved at the Opry, from the managers and executives to the security and guards, calling several of them by name.

“I don’t know who makes these decisions. All I know is this,” concluded Janson. “I don’t know anything other than playing country music. I really love it that much. Where I started, I started at Tootsie’s downtown, at the little honky tonk downtown, 13 years ago, and I just remember watching Marty Stuart and multiple Opry stars going into the Ryman and thinking, ‘Dang, man. I just want to go there, and I just want to do that. I gotta tell you – I have two dreams that came true. One was getting on the radio and one was getting on the Opry.”

Janson was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry in February by Keith Urban. He will continue his run as the opening act on Cole Swindell’s Reason to Drink Tour. Dates are available at ChrisJanson.com.

Photo Credit: YouTube