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Time to discover Nashville. First I feel I should explain a little about why we chose to come here in the first place. Music has always been important for both of us, but more rock than country to be honest. Having said that, the scene in Bob's Country Bunker has always been one of my favourite bits of The Blues Brothers. As I've "matured" though I've come to appreciate some more modern artists such as Jace Everett and Eric Church and enjoy a song about beer, break ups, or both as much as the next woman. As lovers of music in general a destination where so much of it is an integral part of its fabric seemed a natural choice.
We started our first day with a two hour walking tour of downtown Nashville. Our guide was a self confessed"music nerd" and journalist and had an encyclopaedic knowledge both of the city and of the history of music. I've bigged up several of the tours and visits we have experienced so far on this trip but his was truly exceptional. Not only did he give us an insight into the history of country music and The Nashville Sound, with some interesting
urban myths and anecdotes thrown in for good measure, but he recommended good venues for our entertainment during our stay and seemed to be a generally nice guy.
After a gentle afternoon of shopping we headed off for the planned highlight of our visit. The Grand Ole Oprey. We had bought a package including a back stage tour for 30 minutes prior to the start of the show. In a group of 7 we were taken behind the stage through the dressing rooms, meeting some of the artists on the way. The whole atmosphere back stage was incredibly relaxed and artists and staff alike seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, with music coming out of most doorways we passed. We then went on stage for the start of the concert, seeing the curtain rise with an obligatory complimentary photo thrown in.
Booking at the Grand Ole Opry is a risky affair. Information about the line up can be slow in coming forward. They typically have about 7 acts per night who play only one or two songs each. At the time we left the UK we knew only that Hunter Hayes ( a bit of a teen idol) and Kristian
Bush were on the list. The latter used to be a part of a duo called Sugarland. We'd heard of him because he presented a show on the Radio 2 pop up country station earlier this year which we'd listened to in preparation for this trip.
The show is presented in four sections. What we were unprepared for was that each one is sponsored and that a man stands behind a podium to the side of the stage and reads out a full advert for each sponsor at the start and end of each section. The same advert each time. Last night's sponsors were the Johnny Cash museum, The Dollar Store, Cracker Barrel restaurant chain and a health insurance company. During two of these presentations random ticket holders won gift vouchers and on a third, randomly, a rocking chair. Priceless. Each section also has a different guest presenter. The first two of these were rather elderly looking ladies who also sang two songs apiece. They were obviously well known in Country circles but I have to suggest they were both past their best before date.
The Opry experience was unforgettable. The musical entertainment was not entirely what we would have
chosen, and a couple of the acts were frankly dreadful, but those that were good were very good. There was a lot of humour in the presentations and at the end of the day the music itself was almost incidental. The only slightly annoying factor was that many of our fellow audience members seemed to find it hard to sit still, thinking nothing of getting up and disrupting a whole row to go and come back with a beer half way through an act.
We left on a high and returned to Nashville ( the Opry is about 12 miles out) and to Puckets Grocery, a bar, restaurant, and music venue that we had read about prior to arriving here. What an end to the night! The Band was playing their own material and reminded me a little of The Barenaked Ladies - amusing and thoughtful lyrics with great percussion and guitars thrown in. For 10 bucks we bought a CD and stayed until the end of their set - a late night out for oldies like us!
For our second day we decided to stay a little further afield. The temperature continues to be in the high 80s and low 90s and humidity has risen so the general rule is to favour air conditioned venues but we started with a hot trip out to the farmers market and a memorial to Tennessee's history leading up to and following the Civil War. That done we retreated into the chill of the Johnny Cash Museum. My relationship with The Man In Black is much like that of mine with Bob Dylan and brussel sprouts - as a child I didn't like them but now I'm older they're among my favourites.
The Cash museum was really well laid out and included vintage material of him performing with Elvis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison almost others. The best bit for me was a station where you could listen to the same song in various formats through the ages starting with a reel to reel demo through 78, 33, cassette, CD and ending with a digital remix. The differing sound of each format was remarkable and, if nothing else, proved that digital is not always best...
For the afternoon we took a cab back out to the edge of the city to Centennial Park, home of a life size recreation of The Parthenon. Not what one expects from a city in Tennessee, unless you've seen Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief that is. Apart from the building itself being quite impressive the exhibition it houses is fascinating. The original building was part of a huge exposition in Nashville celebrating 100 years of independence and originally including exhibits representing many nations. The narrative suggests that the use of real people in these exhibits mostly played up to stereotypes of the day and was often done with little respect for the individuals involved.
One more day in Nashville left. The Broadway has been much quieter on this Sunday than it was on the previous two days and it will be interesting to experience it on a Monday. Enquiries suggest that it will continue to be business as usual so only time will tell.....
Our plans for tomorrow include a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame, a lot of chilling listening to music and general preparation for the Grand Finale of stage 5 - The Who live at the local hockey stadium. Excited though I am at the prospect of this I have to say, in this heat, there's a real possibility that Rog will take his shirt off. A recent photo seen in the press suggests that this will not be a pretty sight. I'm sure the music will prevail! We discovered today that the support act is Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - talk about the sound of my youth!!
The following day we drive to our only one-nighter of the trip at Roanoke, Virginia (who'd have thought 2 Roanokes in one visit??!!) on our way to stage 6 - Gettysburg, so I'm afraid I shall have to keep you waiting for news of Rog's topless status....
After a good dose of Country AND Western our sponsor now wishes to add his customary few words...
Two items today.
News out here is very hard to come by, local and national US weather is plentiful ( and bad) but overseas news has been almost impossible to find. Thankfully I found Fox overseas news. So, I was delighted by news of Labour's landslide election victory, Pink Floyd reforming and Boris Johnson has a sensible haircut. At first I thought they said a sensible " idea" but that would have been ridiculous
The other item is sadly I came across the first rude person so far on our travels. Yes, you guessed correctly, British.
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