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Published: August 17th 2018
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Bring on the music.
After the sleepy suburbs of Santa Barbara we headed off to country musics spiritual home - Nashville and then drove to Memphis the home of blues, STAX and Elvis.
First Nashville. We got in after a long day travelling and were too tired to do much but Sue identified a restaurant called Monnels that was only a few minutes away from the hotel and we headed there. Terrific family run eatery. No menu you were sat round a 12 seater table with whoever was there and passed round the various plates of veg, chicken, pork, pudding, drinks etc and ate until you could only just walk. Good old fashioned southern hospitality at its best coupled with the opportunity to talk and interact with your neighbours. Added bonus the food was great although you probably can’t go back in the same month you ate so much! https://monellstn.com/nashville/ check it out.
long day so back to the hotel to hear some fairly ropey country singers then bed, better tomorrow hopefully
Hitting Broadway in Nashville the next day was an experience - it seemed almost every shopfront was a bar and in every bar was a band
with music blaring out into the street from every frontage from 11 in the morning till sometime after we left.
First stop was Rippy’s chosen for the sole reason it was the first bar we came to, it had a good live band and beer - it worked. It wasn’t all country music - a result for me!
Wandering around we saw Cowboys and cowgirls and boots - lots of boots for locals and tourists alike and more than a tad pricey but great workmanship.
Other than wandering around and sampling the local music, food and beer we needed a bit of ‘culture’ so popped in to the Country Music Hall of Fame. As you would expect lots of country music, history, video and memorabilia which the fans loved and I surprisingly found interesting. It was well done and worth a visit if you have the time.
From there off to Studio B where Elvis made most of his records
Friday evening saw us heading to the Grand Ole Opry. If you are a country fan it's brilliant. If not its an interesting experience. A series of half hour radio shows linked by a deadpan
commercials announcer showing the best of country today and from the dregs of time. Headlined by Carrie Underwood it certainly reinforced why I am not a strong country fan. With many of the 'Hall of fame' acts being unintentionally funny the comedian Henry Cho from South Korea wasn't the funniest act on show! Although to be fair he was very good.
Having said all of that I would still recommend the experience.
Memphis
We drove to Memphis and once checked in headed downtown to Sun Record - where Elvis initially started. A good tour and worth a visit - very interesting to hear how he was discovered and that it was the secretary that pushed to get him heard.
Like Nashville, in Memphis almost everything at night happened in one street - Beale street.
Plenty of places to visit - we went to Rum Boogie Café then onto BB Kings bar - 2 brilliant venues and thoroughly recommended. A friendly city we found it easy in both Nashville and Memphis to chat with the locals and get inside information on what's hot. On the back of this we went to a couple of eateries breakfast
and lunch - Arcade near the civil rights museum and Green Beetle both of which have interesting histories and importantly good reasonably priced food.
3rd & Lindsley was a other music recommendation and while it is a little further out it is well worth a visit - the best blue and funk band I have seen in a long time. Another recommendation we took advantage of was Ernestine & Hazels, a real spit and sawdust place with dodgy food and ok music but great vibe and if you ask plenty of ghost stories.
Civil rights
While we were there we also went into the National Civil Right Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed. The museum does a great job of telling the story of black slavery in America and rightly spends some considerable time on recent history and the civil rights movement in the US.
There is not enough space to cover this or the brilliant photography exhibition in Beale Street by Ernest Withers a photojournalist who documented much of the last 10 years of Martin Luther Kings life and the civil rights movement as well as being
famous for images of Memphis blues and soul musicians - if you are in the area GO TO BOTH.
Mention though must be given to Jesse Jackson who was also attending the museum when we were there. We came across him while we were each watching video of MLK's final speech just yards away from where he was shot. He was sat on the back row watching the film & we were stood directly behind him. When the film finished he stood up turned around & shook both our hands. It was surreal, Sue is still in shock! He then went out to stand for a while on that fateful balcony.
A very moving series of exhibits including the 'I have a dream' speech and one which does a great job of reminding and/or educating all about recent history.
And on that note we move to the final spot in our North American Journey - Miami
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