037: NASHVILLE
RCA Studio B. A lot of Elvis's early tunes were recorded here. Also the Everly Brothers and quite a few others that I'm too tired to remember at the moment.
038 NASHVILLE
The Country Music Hall of Fame was a highlight of the tour. Again, we could have used lots more time to really take it all in. This place is just packed with really neat stuff to see.
039: NASHVILLE
...such as Elvis's "solid gold" Cadillac. Pretty impressive, even to a Elvis detractor such as myself. For example, the finish on the car was done with forty coats of a custom made paint--made of ground diamonds and fish scales to give it an unbelievably deep, pearescent finish.
(Nice shot, Ad!)
040: NASHVILLE
Walls upon walls upon walls of gold records at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
041: NASHVILLE
Addison and one of the many Elvises on the street. (Oh heavens, what's it going to be like when we get to *Memphis?*)
042: NASHVILLE
Street musicians are everywhere, too. There are some who have some really unbelievable talent, too. I particularly liked this mandolin player on Broadway.
043: NASHVILLE
Yet another Elvis encounter.
044: NASHVILLE
Addison and I jumped ship and left the tour when we got to the Legends Tavern. We decided to walk back to hotel instead of being dropped off--just too much interesting stuff we wanted to see on the street.
We stopped in at fabled Gruhn Guitar Company to look at their instruments. What a fantastic place! Their instruments were all vintage, and they ranged in price roughly from two thousand dollars to two hundred-fifty thousand dollars. Totally amazing. And surely one of the highlights of the trip so far for me.
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(And no, Shirley, not to worry. I didn't buy myself a new 'axe' while I was there.)
045: NASHVILLE
Dinner tonight was at the Bluebird Cafe. They had a song writers "in the round" performance tonight as a benefit for the Miller Harris Foundation Children's Fund. We heard five song writers perform their material that had been for the most part recorded by a variety of well-known performers ranging from Allen Jackson (whose producer is also one of the writers) to Willie Nelson to Loggins and Messina. What a fabulous show. The food was even good.
The names I'll Google when I get home are Keith Stegall, Jim McBride, David Lee and Wynn Varble.
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I'll say more about all this when it's not quite so late and I'm not quite so tired!
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More tomorrow. Then we head West.
046: NASHVILLE
The guy on the right in the hat is David Lee. Has a really rich baritone voice that sounds almost like B.W. Stevenson only BETTER.
047: Memphis
Travel day today. We left Nashville this morning and drove to Memphis. (No trace of the yellow bridge, blast it.) It was just a hot, not very exciting drive with much more interstate highway than we've had any other day so far. Makes us appreciate those back roads and knowing we'll have more of them from here on out.
We got settled, cooled off, rested, and then walked to Gus's Famous Chicken for the self-acclaimed 'World's Best Fried Chicken.' I think I really have to agree with the assessment. Either it's the best, or it's been SO long since I've had fried chicken that my taste buds are way out of practice. It was awesome.
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(Cool...I just learned something new. Click on 'see map' up above!)
048: Memphis
Gus's had a respectable crowd tonight, it looks like.