Canjoes and Country Music

After learning of the existence of the canjo yesterday, we embarked on a mission this morning to get our own canjoes in the town of Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is one of the most touristy towns I have ever seen in my life - It doesn't just have motels and T-shirt shops, but it's filled with pirate museums and adventure minigolf, sword-selling shops and wax museums (plus, don't forget that Dolly Parton's musical themepark is just a few miles away). So we saw a girl playing a canjo yesterday and she told us she'd gotten it at the craft fair in Gatlinburg. Turned out that the Craft Fair was taking place in the Gatlinburg Convention Center. So we found the place, paid $5 for parking and another $5 each just to get inside the Craft Fair (I'm amazed they can charge people to go inside a building so filled with people selling stuff - Why not just let people go inside for free? Wouldn't that generate more business for the sellers inside?) Anyway, the Convention Center was enormous and we were in a hurry to get to Nashville that afternoon, so Dan and I decided upon a "divide and conquer" strategy. He would take all of the aisles on the left side of the Convention Hall and I would take the aisles on the right side. After walking down aisle after aisle of little booths selling baskets, tapestries, and natural honey, we finally came across the treasure trove: A booth full of guitar-like instruments with one string and a can. The cans were quite varied: Coke, Pepsi, Nestea, Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller, and even Pabst Blue Ribbon. The "craftsman" who had made the Canjoes was a friendly guy, and he also had on display many hand-crafted wood dulcimers. We started talking and when we expressed interested in the canjoes a sort of reverse bargaining took place. He told us the regular price was $25 each per instrument. But then he said he'd give us one for $20 because we were his first customers of the day. In the end we bought two canjoes for $40 (I got mine with a Bud can and Dan got his with PBR). Thus satisfied we got back in the car and set off for Nashville.

At the Bluebird with Annie

Today also marked the first time zone change of the journey: Eastern Time to Central Time. We set our clocks back an hour as we drove across Tennessee on our way to Nashville. In Nashville we visited The Hermitage - President Andrew Jackson's estate. Andrew Jackson is Dan's favorite president ever since Dan read Arthur Schlesinger's Dissertation on the Age of Jackson. It wasn't quite as beautiful a house as Monticello, but it had a lot more of the original furniture than Monticello. Plus the people giving the tours at The Hermitage were friendly old ladies rather than the stuck up young Republicans who were leading the tours at Monticello. After the Hermitage we saw the Grand Ole' Opry and then met up with our friend Annie who is a medical student at Vanderbilt.

Grand Ole' Opry

Annie showed us a great time in Nashville. She took us to the Blue Bird Cafe, which is famous for showcasing up and coming country stars. Many folks got their big break at the Blue Bird including Garth Brooks and Mary Chapin Carpenter. The place is small - only 21 tables - and the performers were seated in a circle in the center. There were four musicians, each with just an acoustic guitar and a microphone, who took turns singing ballads about such topics as pickup trucks, their wives, and the virtues of small town life. It was a great performance.

Later that evening Annie took us on a whirlwind tour of Nashville nightlife, with stops at a bluegrass music club and two other bars.

Our Friend Jack Daniels

The Hermitage - Andrew Jackson's Home

The Parthenon in Nashville???