As Her Profile Rises Again, Terri Clark Celebrates Ryman Debut: 'I Never Thought It Would Happen' (Exclusive)

It’s been almost 30 years since Terri Clark first vaulted onto the charts and launched her award-winning and platinum-selling career, and now at long last, she’s achieved one of her greatest lifelong dreams. On Thursday night, she headlined Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium.

But seriously, what took her so long?

The answer actually has a lot more to do with the Ryman than with Clark. During her glory days as one of the legendary ’90s women of country, the Ryman wasn’t the artist mecca it is today. Just like Clark, the one-time home of the Grand Ole Opry has experienced its own ups and downs. But just like the Ryman, Clark is having her own renaissance now.

“Honest to God, I never thought it would ever happen,” Clark, 56, tells PEOPLE about the coveted gig, which live-streamed on Veeps and can be purchased to watch for $11.99. “You have your big heyday and there’s a point at which you start to think those milestones are in your rearview mirror. But they’re not. It’s never too late."

Not that her downs have ever really been low since her first major hit, 1995’s “Better Things to Do.” But in just the past couple of years, the honors, appreciation and new opportunities have been stacking up for the Alberta, Canada, native. Among them: induction into the all-genre Canadian Music Hall of Fame, a 30-date arena tour as Reba McEntire's opener, an appearance on the CMA Fest's TV special, and a well-received duets album (released in May) that reimagines some of her greatest hits. She was on the Ryman stage again just last week, tapped to perform for the ACM Honors awards show.

Why is all this happening now? It’s not lost on Clark that the classic sounds of the ’90s are now echoing in contemporary country, drawing attention to the earlier era’s stars. She also gives credit to the coterie of young female artists who are making their mark with the same individuality that Clark has embodied.

“I was the tomboy in the cowboy hat and the rolled-up T-shirt sleeves, and I’m still that person,” she says. “I did step out of the box and do something different, and there are women now who aren’t afraid to be who they are and to genuinely be an original.”

To her delight, Clark has recently discovered that she’s had a direct impact on this new generation. She got her first proof back in 2017 when Ashley McBryde, newly signed to her label, fangirled her at an industry event.

“She was just so genuine and so sweet and so complimentary,” recalls Clark, who has since become McBryde’s close friend and mentor.

When the time came for McBryde to become a member of the Opry, Clark was the one who inducted her. McBryde returned the favor, singing “Better Things to Do” with Clark on Take Two, the duets album.

McBryde is just one of today’s “daughters” of the ’90s who jumped at the opportunity to participate in the duets project. All who said yes reacted in ways that confirmed to Clark she’d been a major influence.

Lauren Alaina burst into tears when she was invited. Carly Pearce fondly reminisced about how she and her mother often sang “Better Things to Do” together when she was growing up. In a memorable Instagram post, Clark presented Lainey Wilson with a vintage concert T-shirt as a thank-you for her participation, suggesting Wilson could wear it as an oversized nightshirt.

“No, I’m like framing this,” Wilson replied, “and putting it on a wall. I’m not wearing this thing … If you had told 5-year-old Lainey that I’d be doing this, it’s pretty crazy.”

Cody Johnson, who also was weaned on ’90s country, could tell Clark she’d already been on his wall; one of her posters decorated his childhood bedroom. He chose 2002 hit “I Just Want to Be Mad” for his duet contribution.

Knowing she’s made such an impact is particularly gratifying to Clark now, more than a decade removed from chasing radio play. When she realized that era had ended — as it inevitably does for even the superstars — “it was tough,” she says, “if I’m gonna be really brutally honest.”

But then, she says, it became freeing. She continued to record, unfettered from the pressures of trying to write a radio-ready single. She reinvented her live performances, favoring solo acoustic sets; she continues to have an active touring schedule, playing in both the United States and Canada, where she has long maintained a large and loyal fan base. She also turned herself into a radio personality, first making a splash on Cumulus’ America’s Morning Show. She’s now finishing up an eight-year stint as the host of Westwood One’s Country Gold.

What keeps her motivated today, she says, is much different from when she started out. Then, she says, “it was more about me. It was more about ‘I want to.’ I want to make music. I want to be on TV. I want to be part of it. Now I want people to come to the show and feel like they’re watching and listening to somebody who’s walked through their life with them through music. You stop trying to prove yourself as much as bringing joy and leaving somebody with a feeling when you’re playing their song.”

No doubt that was her mindset when she took over the Ryman on Thursday — and no one who’s appeared on that stage could possibly appreciate its significance more than Clark. She already knew its storied history when she arrived in Nashville, at age 18, in 1987. Within days, she’d taken a guided tour of the auditorium. (The tours were about the only activity occurring in the space at the time. The structure was otherwise mostly dormant — and left to slowly deteriorate — after the Opry moved to its current location in 1974.) That first week Clark also landed her first gig, playing a daytime shift at Tootsie’s, the famous Lower Broadway honky-tonk across the alley from the Ryman.

Clark recalls several more Ryman tours, taking a few dollars from her tip jar just so she could walk in the footsteps of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and so many more of her heroes: “I’d go backstage and I’d brush up against the ropes and just picture all the people that had stood on that stage and dreamed about actually standing on that stage to sing.”

Though the Ryman underwent renovation in the 1990s, it didn’t really hit its stride as an in-demand concert venue until the mid- to late 2000s, just as downtown Nashville was making its own comeback. In recent years, Clark has had many opportunities to perform on its stage, especially as an off-site Opry location, so she had a good taste of what awaited her with a full-length concert.

“It’s oddly intimate and relaxing,” she says of the 2,400-capacity semi-circular space. “I don’t know if it’s the energy in there. It feels like home. It feels like a hug. Oddly enough, I feel a little more relaxed there than I do at the Opry House. I don’t know why, and you’d think it would be the opposite."

For the concert, Clark fielded a larger band, including a horn section, and a setlist that included not only her hits but also popular covers. She also brought out surprise guests for duets: McBryde for "Better Things to Do" and Trisha Yearwood for "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me."

As she savors this career moment, Clark simply marvels at how the stars have aligned to allow her to have it. In her twenties, she says, she tried to imagine herself at this age, and “I remember saying things like, well, I’m not gonna be up there bouncing around with a cowbell and a cowboy hat when I’m 50. And lo and behold, was I ever wrong! I couldn’t have predicted the longevity and that I’d still be experiencing really fun milestones. I’m just in awe of it all, honestly. And I feel really, really grateful.”