Day 133 - Camera Phone

Another one of Nashville's great honky-tonks . . .

Day 112 - Farewell to Nashville

Dear Nashville -

Thanks for a great time . . . as a beautiful woman said, "you were everything (we) expected and more." Don't lose that small-town atmosphere, and whatever you do, please don't turn into an over-commercialized, schlocky, crapfest. M'kay?

See you soon . . .
Tom

Grand Ole Opry

The last evening in Nashville we made our pilgrimage to the Mecca of country music - the Grand Ole Opry. Located since 1974 at the Opryland Resort about 10 miles northeast of downtown Nashville, the Opry is the premier stage for country artists.


The show is divided into four 30-minute acts, with one to two artists performing one to two songs each within each act. It plays like a like radio show, which is how it began back in 1943, with live commercial spots read for each act's sponsor.









After the show, we took the backstage tour, which goes back into the artists' entrance, the Opry post office (where artists still receive fan mail), the dressing rooms, the green room, and ultimately up on the stage.


The center "spotlight" of wood on the stage is actually from the original Opry stage at the Ryman Auditorium, which was carefully extracted when the Opry moved. When Nashville flooded last year, the Opry wasn't spared, and the most difficult restoration task was that original circle of wood, as it was the oldest component of the entire Opry House.

I'm not a huge fan of country music, but I appreciate it as an art form, and I certainly appreciate its role in American culture, so I'd be lying if I said I didn't get just a little chill standing on that stage.

Day 111 - Broadway Honky Tonks

Not quite as impressive during the day, but not as crowded or touristy either.

Country Music Hall of Fame & Studio B

Nashville is also home to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and contains all kinds of memorabilia and artifacts from artists, venues, and recording studios...



...like this 1962 Pontiac Bonneville owned by Webb Pierce, complete with a silver-plated Colt .45 on the hood, a Winchester repeating rifle on the trunk, and a silver dollar-encrusted saddle in the center console.


The Chet Atkins and Hank Williams guitar displays are fascinating for all fans of music, not just country & western, and are well-designed and well-written.


Inside the main rotunda, where the Hall of Fame plaques are, the radio tower on the roof inverts into the center of the room, and makes for an interesting photo.





















A few miles away, on Nashville's Music Row, the Hall of Fame also operates the historic RCA Studio B, where Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, and Elvis Presley, among others, recorded a good many of their hit records. This Steinway piano is what Elvis recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight" on with the studio completely dark, which the tour guide recreated while playing a recording of the song, creating a very eerie effect.

Day 110 - Downtown Nashville

Old in the foreground, new in the back. Locals nicknamed the AT&T building the "Batman Building."

Ryman Auditorium

Ryman Auditorium was home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 through 1974, but it was originally built in 1891 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle by wealthy riverboat captain Thomas Ryman. Upon his death in 1904, it was renamed in his honor.

In addition to country music, the Ryman hosted opera singers, orators, politicians, and television shows, but when the Opry moved to its new home in the Opryland theme park, the building fell into disrepair. It was fully restored in 1994 as a concert venue, and it retains all of its original church-style pew seating, balcony, and stage.





The new entrance holds a statue entitled "Oh, Roy!" of two of the Opry's most famous personalities, Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl. It also houses a number of displays and memorabilia from its Opry days, including a collection from Johnny and June Carter Cash, and one of the intricately embroidered stage costumes of another Opry legend, Porter Wagoner.



















In 2001, the Ryman was designated as a National Historic Landmark, and it's easy to imagine it both as a church and a social venue, with hundreds of hand fans swatting the humid air, as Nashville residents listened to a preacher or musicians in the pre-air conditioned days of yore, with the summer afternoon sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows . . .

Day 109 - Street Speaker

Every few blocks or so in downtown Nashville, these speakers were mounted on street light or traffic signal poles, and would play continuous country music, creating a soundtrack for the city streets. Even better, was that they weren't vandalized, tagged, or marked up in any way. Oh, and that's the First Baptist Church of Nashville, with a Gothic tower built in 1886, in the background.

Day 108 - Breakfast

Grilled pork loin with coleslaw in between two corn cakes . . .

Day 107 - Music

More live music, this time with breakfast at Rippy's.

Day 106 - Music

Live at The Second Fiddle . . .

Whitts Barbecue

While driving through Shelbyville, the traditional chain and fast food restaurants weren't appealing for a late lunch, so thanks to the Urbanspoon app on my phone, we found Whitts just a little way off the main road.






A simple barbecue menu of pork, beef turkey and ribs, we opted for the pulled pork sandwich, served plain with either Memphis sweet or Carolina vinegar sauce on the side.





And to top it off, banana pudding was available for dessert . . . one of my favorite Southern treats, complete with Nilla wafers.










And if there was any doubt that we were in the buckle of the Bible belt, this was on the back wall . . .