Nashville

  Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Nashville, Thursday 18 Sept 2008

Started early for the 500 mile drive to Nashville - made good time until we reached Chattanooga where we were held up for 1.5 hours on the freeway. When we got to the head of the queue there was nothing there - isn't that always the way ! We did another good deal on a downtown hotel - we're getting much better rates than from the internet.

Honky Tonk Row

When we were leaving our hotel we were told that there was a free concert downtown - we followed this huge crowd only to discover that they were going to the Eagles concert.
We had to make do with a beer in one of the bars on Broadway. There is a strip of about a dozen bars along Broadway called "Honky Tonk Row" where every day & night live bands play for beer money. The musicians are brilliant - much better than most pop groups. OK if you happen to like country & western.

Saw Carlene Carter (Johnny Cash's step daughter) playing live in a book stall promoting her book. Carlene sounds like an car cleaning product, doesn't it.

Had nice meal in "Merchants" & got talking to our American waiter - he spoke 4 languages had travelled extensively & had even tought in Japan. He was saving up to go abroad again. He didn't think much of Dubya but didn't think very much of the other lot either.

Had another drink in a Honky Tonk & got talking to another couple - they had been to England & loved it, especially Bath (although we had to teach them how to pronounce it).
(When are we going to meet some good old bigoted red neck americans to re-inforce our predudices?)

Saturday - went to "Opry Mills" in the afternoon - a big complex of factory outlets & shops a few miles out of Nashville. They have a Gibson guitar shop there.
Spent hours buying a new pair of walking shoes - I now have two pairs of shoes for my world trip.

Alan Jackson - Grand Ole Opry

In the evening we had tickets for the "Grand Ole Opry". It was a 3 hour live radio show which was also being recorded for television. Saw Alan Jackson, Charlie Daniels Band & many more C & W stars. The show is very slick - each act walks on, plugs their instruments into one of the amps, plays a couple of songs, unplugs & walks off. No elaborate set up or sound checks. In between acts, the MC reads out adverts for local businesses & the backing singers sing the jingles, all live on radio!

[Non-Guitar Fanatics need not read on].

Merle Travis 1947 Guitar

I dragged Barbara around the Music Hall of Fame which is a museum full of memorabilia from the early 30s to present day. They had Merle Travis' custom solid electric guitar which was built in 1947. It has many design features that were copied by Fender in 1956 on the Stratocaster. All of Chet Atkins' (my hero) famous guitars were there as well.

Elvis Cadillac

They had Elvis' Cadillac in a glass case, with tail fins on it, so big, that it wouldn't have looked out of place in the Smithsonian Space Museum!

Studio B Control Panel

We got a chance to go round the famous "Studio B" where the Everly Brothers, Jim Reeves, Roy Orbison & of course Elvis Presley recorded hundreds of hits. They had the original 4 track recorder there which looks very crude by todays standards.