Former Opry Exec Pete Fisher Is Making Music Dreams Come True & One Involves A Movie On Little Jimmy Dickens

Pete Fisher has spent most of his career taking country music to bigger audiences. For nearly two decades, he led the Grand Ole Opry as Vice President and General Manager, showcasing younger talent alongside the legends to make the iconic show appeal to a broader audience. He left in 2017 to serve as head of the Academy of Country Music in Los Angeles (which produces the ACM Awards).

He returned to Nashville four years ago and has been hard at work on several projects centered around music. He manages singer/songwriter Jessica Willis Fisher, who also happens to be his daughter-in-law. She’s a multi-talented artist and musician with a courageous story of coming back stronger after a traumatic childhood with years of sexual abuse by her own father.

Fisher helped Worldwide Stages secure the property for its state-of-the-art production complex outside Nashville – designed to attract music, film, and TV projects on a global scale.

And now he’s making a movie on the real-life love story of Little Jimmy Dickens and Dickens’ wife, Mona.

“During my 18-year tenure at the Opry, I developed a really close relationship, almost a grandfather/grandson relationship with Little Jimmy Dickens,” Fisher says. “And to this day, my wife and I have an extra special relationship with his wife. Hollywood couldn’t script a better story than Jimmy and Mona’s.”

Fisher is grateful to work on so many projects close to his heart.

“I look back and am so blessed and grateful for the incredible career I’ve had whether with was with ACM or the Grand Ole Opry or even early in my career in music publishing in a joint venture at Warner Brothers Records,” he says. “And this seemed like the natural time to take inventory of what I was deeply passionate about. I love making dreams come true and I love being involved in broad aspects of the music and entertainment industry.”

His ability to help Worldwide Stages create their groundbreaking music and entertainment campus came through his involvement with a wealth and lifestyle management company called Valiant, where he currently works as an industry consultant.

“I was introduced to a guy named Doug Vander Weide, who is CEO of Valiant,” Fisher explains. “And to my surprise, I found myself gravitating to wealth and lifestyle planning. And given my 35-year career and background, the value I could offer had an entertainment slant.”

Worldwide’s start-up group requested Fisher’s assistance in raising the $20 million needed to buy the former General Motors Saturn Headquarters in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

“We worked with Valiant to put together an investment group to buy the property,” Fisher says. “And now Worldwide is executing their vision to create the world’s premiere production campus for music/TV and film.”

Since opening for business, major acts have rehearsed for tours or recorded shows or videos at the facility.

“Even though there hasn’t been a grand opening per se, we’ve had CMT Storytellers in there with Darius Rucker and Brooks & Dunn,” Fisher says, “Thomas Rhett and Katy Perry did a music video there And we’ve had pre-production tour rehearsals for some of the biggest names in music.”

During Fisher’s tenure at the Opry and Academy of Music, he focused on music as it related to the needs of each organization. Today, he enjoys channeling his experience and interests toward things that have special meaning to him. One of his current projects involves making a film about his friend, Little Jimmy Dickens.

“A lot of people know the first-class side of Jimmy and just the wonderful, big hearted human being he was inside that 4-foot-11 body. But what they don’t know is there were sides of Jimmy’s career that were a little rowdier. Mona discovered that right after she married him, but they had an amazing love story. We like to refer to it as “rowdy and romantic.”

It’s the story of a 9-year-old girl from Indiana who, after hearing him sing on the radio, began telling people, ‘I’m going to marry Little Jimmy Dickens.’ And less than two decades later, she did.

“Mona thought she was marrying Prince Charming,” Fisher says, “and she realized that…oh, wait, I don’t want to spoil the story. It IS an incredible story. And she’s a beautiful lady with a beautiful heart, and absolutely hilarious to talk to, as well.”

He bought the rights, the screenplay’s finished, and he is currently working with producer, Ken Carpenter, with the hopes of getting the film into production this year.

Fisher has also used his expertise and knowledge to direct and support Jessica Willis Fisher who launched her solo career last year after a difficult and traumatic break with her family’s band. Willis-Fisher grew up performing with her brothers and sisters in their group, The Willis Clan.

After years of sexual abuse from her father (who also abused her sisters), she found the strength to leave. Her father is now in prison. She’s now a singer/songwriter/musician in her own right, and shares her story in her memoir “Unspeakable.”

“Jessica has an amazing soul and spirit, an impeccable work ethic and these God-given talents whether it’s her voice or the ability to communicate through the written word,” Fisher says. “And she’s using her very harrowing, but inspiring story of resilience and courage to help us see life in a different way and inspire us to find purpose in what we do.”

Fisher has found renewed purpose in tackling new projects built around his love of music.

“I’ve always tried to be receptive to the unexpected things that cross my path and to try to embrace them to see if there’s opportunity there. As you know, the best things in your life and career often happen by surprise.”

He says those surprises can pave the way to wonderful things you never dreamed of – with the right approach and mindset.

“Do every job to the very best of your ability and follow your heart.”