Music City, USA

Nashville is, after all, Music City, USA, and you may be waiting for a report on the Grand Ole Opry, or the Ryman, or sightings of Tex Ritter or Reba McIntyre. Noop. Sorry. [We found out too late that Earl Scruggs was at the Grand Ole Opry the night we arrived, and that was just down the road a piece. Too bad.] Anyway, the hotel is now the home base of legendary radio station WSM. Guests can stand in the hallway, and watch and listen to the host and engineer (and musical guests) doing their stuff. Text panels on the wall provide the long and distinguished history of the station. (Factoid: Pat Sajack worked there early in his career) I listened a few mornings as I passed by for coffee and the paper, and one morning we put it on in the room. Some of it was the typical morning radio of the Howard Stern school; but they played a Tom T. Hall song called "Another Town": "Another town another grocery store/Another town another set of swingin' doors...Another town that don't need my kind."


Going downtown was important for music education and appreciation, and that we did. Just after coming out of the Hatch Show Print shop, we walked across the street to the original Ernest Tubb Record Shop. We flipped through the selection of CDs--of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Tammy Wynette, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and others. We wanted to find just one to bring back with us to remember the trip by, and since we like old timey music, the Original Carter Family was our pick--a collection of 40 songs, including "Keep on the Sunny Side." We enjoyed the signed photos along the wall, as well as the late Pete Drake's pedal steel guitar, which was under glass. He played on a few good Dylan albums way back. At the rear of the store is a stage, where for many years they have broadcast a live music show every Saturday after midnight. (Today it is streamed online.)

Later that night we were in front of the Wild Horse Saloon waiting for the bus back to the hotel. After a while, Kimberly noticed that there was no traffic at all on the street, and there was a growing crowd of young people milling about the street and assembling in front of the Wild Horse. They were dressed in goth clothes with their faces painted white, not the fashion we expected to see here. It was just a little unsettling, there were so many of them. A mob, really, and noisy. We found out that they were lining up for a concert by a group called Dark Lotus, which is made up of former members of the Insane Clown Posse. Hee haw!


The Country Music Hall of Fame was the big destination on Sunday afternoon. The driver told us it was important to start our day there, because it was closing early in the afternoon because of the induction of new members later that day: Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall included. The Hall of Fame did a good job of explaining the different streams that went into country music including music from England, black music, and theater and show music. They then covered the rise of barn dances, the importance of radio in broadcasting live music events, and the rise of recording studios and the music business. There was a lot of archival material, including television tapes, as well as instruments, costumes, and promotional material--a visual delight. Country music posters and gold records filled the walls, and there were high-interest oddities like Elvis's gold piano and Webb Pierce's cadillac with guns for door handles, rifles along the sides, and bulls' horns on the fenders. There were also a lot of Nudie suits, and record studio boards. A special exhibit covered the sad life of Hank Williams as well as that of his son, Hank Williams, Jr. and various children and grandchildren. His life was a pre-TMZ mess (not to judge! He wrote great songs and made good records). They covered the bases, from Hee Haw through '60s country rock, to contemporary stars whom I have trouble listening to. The capper was a rotunda, the actual Hall of Fame, which had a plaque for each member.



Downtown Nashville is filled with saloons that are open early in the morning, where you can hear singers and groups perform live. I guess these are people trying to break into the music business or people that were broken by the music business. You wonder if they have been awake all night long. The music spills out onto the sidewalk, and most of the songs are standards, classics, oldies, old chestnuts, or whatever they call them. I heard a rousing "Six Days on the Road" and just stood outside and listened.


On the way back to the hotel, our driver kept us entertained in the usual fashion, and gave us a little Q&A to test our country music knowledge. I was glad I paid attention at the Country Music Hall of Fame when he asked who was inducted twice--once as a member of a group, and once as an individual. "The gentleman from New York," that was me, was the only one who knew the answer: Roy Rodgers. He was inducted as a member of the original Sons of the Pioneers, and as Roy Rogers.

"Happy trails to you...."