Above: Gruhn Guitars is one of those legendary guitar shops, located right on Broadway in Nashville, in the heart of the honkytonking district.
There are places that transcend their geographical and spatial confines. Iconic places like Rome, Paris, or New York, or Stonehenge or Bamyan or Las Vegas: the very mention of their names evokes an iconography and a zeitgeist and they represent the apotheosis of a school of thought, a moment in time, a cultural legacy (think of the current epistemological implications that need to be navigated and negotiated when we utter the phrase Modena is Italy’s food Mecca). For me, and for many others, Nashville is one of those places.
Above: Robert’s Western World, which is a honky tonk/clothing and boots store, was my favorite and a great place to drink a beer, have a fried bologna sandwich, and drink a beer.
I took Thursday afternoon off and visited the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, ate fried bologna on Broadway and check out the myriad honky tonks, filled even at mid-afternoon with tourists from all over the country and fantastic, hypertrophically talented and driven musicians who play the venues all day long for tips (yes, just for tips).
Above: A scene from the bar at Robert’s.
It can’t be easy to get up every day and play a set at those honky tonks but the musicians and the tourists are there every day (or at least, even on a Thursday afternoon, there were a lot of folks out and music on every stage I walked by). Admission is free and you just bump from one place to the next.
Above: Broad Band with Megan Ellis on vox was the best act I saw. Man, could those gals play!
It’s just unbelievable the caliber of talent I saw that day. A long time ago, I asked someone from the south about Nashville, and he said to me, “if you can’t play guitar better than the gas station attendant one mile outside of Nashville, don’t even bother going in.” Nearly every place I stopped in, the musicians were working like they were at Madison Square Garden, giving the performance of their lives. Watching Beth Garner on Telecaster (above, left, originally from Dallas) made me want to take my axe to the nearest pawn shop. Megan Ellis’s vocals (above, center, originally from Ohio), were perfectly calibrated yet earthy and raw at the same time. All of the players could be superstars but, man, the competition in that town is fierce.
Above: One of Gram Parsons’s Nudie Suits at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
My day started with a tour of the Hank Williams and Williams family exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame (the show continues through the end of the year and I highly recommend it). Hank Williams made music for just 6 short years but he changed the face of popular music forever. He was a deeply troubled man and I couldn’t help but wonder, as I watched some of the videos and listened to some of his family members’s interviews, if today he would have been diagnosed with some sort of physical or emotional challenge. The era when he lived and worked, following the Second World War, was much less forgiving than the times we live in today. I’ve always loved his music and the exhibit was great: it was fascinating to learn about his origins in depressed Alabama, his meteoric rise to fame, and the stories behind some of the iconic songs he wrote.
My trip to Nashville with Kermit was such a blast. I got to meet so many great folks, hear so much great music, and even eat some great food and drink some great wine. Thanks again, Kermit, for letting me tag along! Tracie B and are talking about doing a road trip next summer: Nashville, Graceland, and, of course, Dollywood!
In other news, it’s official! I’m a Texan!
I finally got me my Texas driver’s license. Now all I gotta do is get me hitched to a Texan! ;-)
Buon weekend, ya’ll!
