'Star Trek' Star William Shatner To Make 'Grand Ole Opry' Debut

William Shatner, the 87-year-old star of Star Trek: The Original Series, is set to play the historic Grand Ole Opry in Nashville for the first time.

Shatner will perform in the Grand Ole Opry on February 15th. He'll be joined by Alabama co-founder Jeff Cook. The two worked together on Shatner's country album Why Not Me, recording in Fort Payne, Alabama.

"I love country music," Shatner said in a press release. "A lot of people I know are country artists, and I envy them. The terrible truth is that I can't sing, but what I do have is a feeling for poetry. I am trying to fuse the spoken word with music."

Shatner has a history in Nashville. He recorded his 2004 album Has Been in the city, with Ben Folds producing. He's also friends with country music star Brad Paisley. In 2015, Shatner appeared wearing Stormtrooper armor from Star Wars alongside Paisley and Carrie Underwood at the CMA Awards.

Shatner's musical career spans 50 years, beginning with his 1968 spoken word album The Transformed Man. He's released seven studio albums in total. His latest is Shatner Claus, a Christmas album featuring several musical icons, including Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins.

Shatner stuck up for Christmas classic "Baby It's Cold Outside" when the CBC pulled the song following listener complaints about the lyrics.

"Call in to CBC radio all day and get them to play 'Baby It's Cold Outside' over and over until midnight," Shatner wrote. "I would think that censorship of classics because certain "types" need to judge things through their own 2018 myopic glasses and demand they be stricken from history is important. Or is this 1984 only 34 years too late?"

Shatner had an eventful 2018. The release of Shatner Claus followed the release of Shatner's latest memoir, Live Long And...What I Learned Along the Way. In the new memoir, Shatner touched on topics such as what went wrong with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and how he felt unwelcome at Leonard Nimoy's funeral.

Shatner also appeared at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards earlier this year to accept the Governors Award on behalf of the Star Trek franchise, saying that Star Trek "represents an idea that is greater than all its parts" and "I accept this award for all of the artists who have worked to make this show a success."

What do you think of Shatner's Grand Ole Opry debut? Let us know in the comments!

Source: The Tennessean