Andy Griggs To Perform At Sporting Event, Opry

NASHVILLE (Top 40 Charts) - Andy Griggs has been tapped to perform the national anthem just prior to the kickoff of the Arena Bowl XV World Championship title game between the Nashville Kats and the Grand Rapids Rampage on Sunday (August 19). The event will be televised live on ABC at 3 p.m. ET from Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Also on Griggs's itinerary is a stop at the Grand Ole Opry on September 1. The singer has performed on the hallowed stage a handful of times, but according to Griggs, it's an experience like no other, as he tells. "When you step out on that stage, that's unlike any other stage. That's not just a stage. You're stepping out into the living room of Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams. Man, when I walked off the Opry stage the first time, I bawled thinking I just did something that I never thought I'd do. I just played the Grand Ole Opry. I stood in the same circle that Johnny Horton and Marty Robbins and those guys stood in. Yeah, it's quite an experience."

Griggs adds that one of his long-term goals is to become a member of the Opry. "Yeah, man, I think it's a goal of anybody's. I mean the Grand Ole Opry is it, you know, especially since I'm such a huge fan of the old-school country music. Man, that's where it all happened."

Griggs's current single, "How Cool Is That," holds the Number 28 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Griggs's next album, Freedom, features guest appearances by Martina McBride and '80s rock group Cinderella member Tom Keifer. Freedom will be released in early 2002.