Keith Urban Invited To Join The Grand Ole Opry During “All For The Hall” Benefit.

Grammy, CMA and ACM Award-winner Keith Urban was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry last night by Opry member Vince Gill and fellow members Rascal Flatts, Diamond Rio and Oak Ridge Boys during “All For The Hall” benefit at Bridgestone Arena. New Zealand-born and Australian-raised Urban will be the first artist from outside North America to become an Opry member.

Urban will formally be inducted into the Opry on Saturday, April 21 live on the premiere of “NOTEWORTHY at the Opry” on GAC at 8pm Central time. The 16-episode series will feature musical performances and personal stories from the top acts in country music, plus interviews with other celebrities about the artists and music featured in each episode.

Near the end of last night’s show, Gill called Rascal Flatts out to the stage to bring a gift for Urban. As he opened a large black duffel bag revealing the Opry’s signature microphone stand, Gill said, “We would like to invite Keith Urban to be the next member of the Grand Ole Opry!”

Urban covered his face in surprise and said,

“I don’t know what to say – but first, YES! Thank you very much to everyone at the Grand Ole Opry who made this possible. I’m shocked. How beautiful for this to happen tonight of all nights.”

“I will always remember the first time I played the Opry. Seeing this stand and standing in the circle was an extraordinary surreal moment. So this right here is just a whole other stratosphere! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!” -Urban

You can watch the video of the special occasion here!