This blog finishes up our time in Nashville, the great Music City. The highlight would have to be our trip to the Grand Ole Opry to see a live country show. For the ‘town mice’ amongst you, the Opry is the most famous country music stage in the world. This is where YOU make it as a country and western singer. The Opry started back in 1925 where the live show was broadcast live on radio WSM 650. The show moved to various locations but most notably is the famous Ryman Auditorium from 1943-1974 and now the Grand Ole Opry House – all in Nashville. We toured the Ryman earlier in the day and it’s a beautiful old tabernacle that really made Nashville the home of country music. Everyone and anyone has performed at the Ryman – the acoustics are one of the best in the world. When the Ryman became too old, they moved to the current location where a circle of the Ryman wooden floor has been inserted into the Grand Ole Opry House floor – to ensure the Opry history continues. There are shows several times a week and it seems they are all live recordings, as ours was on the night. The announcer would come on between performers and read advertisements just like the old days – it was awesome. There were about 6 performers during our 2 hour show of which I had only heard of Charlie Daniels who is about to turn 82 !! He finished his set with the classic Devil Went Down to Georgia fiddle song. Bloody incredible.
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| Under that big hat is Charlie Daniels |
The kid (my niece) loved every second and we both wore our country gear to look the part. My mum was a strong influence in our music interests and country was one of the genres she imparted on us. I did think of her a lot during the show and I wish she could have been there with us.
Another Uber Story. The show finished around 1130pm and there were more people than taxis/ubers so we were standing around a while waiting for our drivers. One group of older blokes were funny…waiting for Jerry. They kept looking for the Honda and saying Jerry, is this Jerry….no, not Jerry. This went on for like 10 minutes and at one point, a guy drove past slowly with a woman in the front seat and they said Jerry, no, unless it’s Jerry and his wife!! I kept thinking of that meerkat youtube thing where the meerkat keeps saying Allen, Allen, Allen, Allen…it was just funny hearing them saying Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. In the end, Jerry arrived for them. Anyway, our uber finally arrived too. He was south American, about 50ish and had a cool Latin accent and he was funny. It was a 20 minute drive back to our hotel and all we talked about was country music. He had not been to the Opry but really wanted to see Shania Twain recently…but it was $250 a ticket. He really likes Shania and puts on her CD which was already loaded in the car - so this guy was definitely a fan. Good grief, here we go I thought. The kid is swaying in the front seat to the song and the Uber guy is telling us how much he likes her music. Eventually he said everyone can sing her songs, she's easy to impersonate. He reckons they all sing her songs up town in the bars. So he puts on 'Still the One'.... and says c’mon lets sing it, you can do it. So here we all were, cranking out Shania Twain for the last few minutes of the ride…..
Looks like we made it, Look how far we've come my baby
....You're still the one I run to
The on that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I love
I can't even say there was any alcohol involved so it was pure karaoke style. And the uber guy is in full vocal mode with his deep Latin accent. We got out of the car at our hotel and say bye, he winds the windows down and turns the volume up loud driving away still singing. Man we laughed our way inside and it ended a fabulous night.
We spent our last day doing the trolley tour around Nashville and toured the American Music Hall of Fame. I didn’t do this last time I was here so was glad to see it this time around. This museum was all about the musicians (behind the scenes people) who support artists in making songs. This included the record studios, sound engineers, musicians, backup singers, producers…I’d never heard of any of them really but it was fascinating to read all about the people who’ve made the music. There were lots of memorabilia and stories to read. There was a section on the Grammy’s and Jimmy Hendrix. I was glad to see this museum as I love music and it’s fantastic to see so much history in one place.
One interesting stop on the trolley tour is the Parthenon – an exact replica of the Greek Parthenon including the huge statue of Athena inside. This is the most weird thing in Nashville. Nashville is known as the ‘Athens of the South’. By the 1850s, Nashville had already earned the nickname of the “Athens of the South” by having established numerous higher education institutions; it was the first American southern city to establish a public school system. By the end of the century, Nashville would see Fisk University, St. Cecilia Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Meharry Medical College, Belmont University, and Vanderbilt University all open their doors. So I get the concept but I still think it’s the weirdest thing to find in the Music City.
We couldn't leave Nashville without trying the famous Hattie B's Hot Chicken. Holy shit, it was cluckin' hot. Neither of us like hot and spicy so this was not a place we should be dining at. But, we lined up outside and found ourselves with a plate of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and mac'n'cheese. We ordered the weakest heat but still, the kid was sweating bullets after her first bite. She really is quite soft when it comes to hot food ;o I have a little bit more hair on my tongue so it was bearable for me. I"m not into deep fried food much so while it was nicer then KFC, I couldn't eat this stuff often or eat too much of it. Regardless, we can tick off this food stop on our list. By the way, check out the levels of heat....I cannot imagine how bloody hot the 'Shut the Cluck Up' is !!!
And one final funny joke from our trolley driver today.
What has 132 legs and 8 teeth?
The front row of a Garth Brooks concert ........baaaahhhhaaaahhaaaaa !!
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