Kane Brown Honored His Daughter Kingsley During Grand Ole Opry Debut

Kane Brown made his Grand Ole Opry debut during the Grand Ole Opry: 95 Years of Country Music special on NBC on Sunday, Feb. 14, and the country star used the opportunity to honor his 1-year-old daughter, Kingsley, with a sweet tribute. For his debut performance, Brown chose his song “For My Daughter,” which he wrote for Kingsley before she was born and released days after her birth in October 2019.

“I’m so excited, this is my debut playing at the Opry and I get to sing a song I wrote for my daughter,” Brown said when he stepped onto the stage after being introduced by hosts Blake Shelton and Brad Paisley. After his performance, he shared a message for Kingsley. “I love you, baby girl,” he said, later adding, “thank you guys for letting me play in the Opry.” Speaking to E! News, the 27-year-old added that “It’s cool that [Kingsley will] get to look back on this and it’ll be my first considered debut at the Opry. The Opry is such a big thing in country music so it’ll be cool for her to look back on.”

Brown added that playing the Opry is an achievement he’s glad to have crossed off his list. “A lot of artists have came to me to get me to play the Opry —Brad Paisley came and asked me, Darius [Rucker] came and asked me, I talked to [Jason] Aldean about it, Lauren Alaina came and asked me before I played the Dallas halftime show — but I just wanted to kind of wait for that right time and that special moment,” he said. “I’m just glad that I get to say that I played the Opry now. And hopefully, I’ll get to come back and play when there’s actually fans.”

He also described the Opry as “resilient.” “I know how much this place means to people,” the “Worship You” singer explained. “I don’t think it’ll ever go away. That’s why it’s still standing and we’re still doing music here.”

Brown is one of the hundreds of artists to have stepped onto the Opry stage over the years, and he shared that he was proud to perform in a venue where so many of the genre’s iconic stars had appeared, including the late Charley Pride, who died in December. “It hurt all of us,” Brown said of Pride’s death. “I couldn’t imagine being where he was at that time and age in front of all those people at the Opry. And I just heard stories from other artists that he told them, so I just know he was a strong human being. I wish I would’ve at least got to say ‘hey’ to him. Rest in peace.”