Nashville Continued

Well, the Grand Ole Opry was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to music here in the south.  The day after the Opry we headed first for the Gibson Banjo factory and something called the Gibson Showcase where, supposedly there was music all day.  What a major disappointment.  The factory had a few guys assembling a few parts of a few banjos and the store had mostly guitars with no one really interested in talking about banjos.  Not even any banjo stuff!  And the Showcase shut down in january.

Later we visited our old friend Jack Daniels and took a tour of his factory.  No samples, however, since he is in a dry county.  thousands and thousands of barrels of charcoal distilled whisky. Distillery is in a lovely little town and we had our first taste of barbecue.

On Thursday, May 29 was our big music day.  First we went to visit Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage where we saw his home and the quarters of some of his slaves.

Then it was MUSIC.  First to the music streets where we saw the Layla Country Music Cafe and many, many bars wih very loud country music.  Then to the streets where they actually produced the music.

Then on to ooy-gooey barbecue and a very strange joint on a back alley and then to the Station Inn where we were supposed to hear music at 7 pm.  Station Inn had been recommended by Don Foot (in Philadelphia) as the place to go for bluegrass.  However, since we seem to be clock challenged in Tennessee, when we got to Station Inn we found that the music did not start until 9 pm.  We wandered around to another venue for some not-so-good country music and then back to the Station Inn. 

However, outside the Riman Auditorium we had a trip highlight.  We saw a giant Gibson tour bus with its door open so we stuck our head in and met the driver who told us that the son of the CEO of gibon had died and there was a tribute that night.  The bus had just come back from Atlanta picking up his favorite band.  We got a tour of the bus!  A banjo pot was the light over the driver and a drum head was the light over the door.  The whole ceiling was a lighted guitar neck and the table by the door was in the shap of a guitar.  The front of each counter had lighted piano keys and all the handholds were guitar necks.  It even had a sound room!

There we meet Ed and Freda, a couple our age from Belgium.  Turns out that he was a well-known claw hammer guy from Antwerp who is part of a duo and was on his way to Denmark to meet up with his daughter, part of a trio, to perform at a folk festival.  We listened to "Off the Wagon", banjo, mando, 2 guitars a bass and a fiddle.  Quite good.  And since I had y handy dandy Edirol recorder, I was able to get most of it.