News from Music City

I told you in my last blog entry that music is everywhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and throughout the state of Tennessee.  Nashville really is “Music City.”  Everywhere we went, we heard music playing.  On Thursday we went to three separate music performance venues, all different, and enjoyed every one.  We were staying in the Gaylord Opryland Resort, an overpriced but luxe accommodation five minutes’ walk from the Grand Ole Opry, but we began with a visit to the original Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, the place where country music was born.  On the way, I learned about WSM, 650 AM, which is the official station of the Opry, and which you can listen to online anytime your heart desires. Listen to WSM any time of the day or night!

When I bought tickets to the Ryman in January, I had no idea who would be performing; they have a different lineup of stars every night and they don’t announce it until a couple of weeks prior.  Imagine my excitement when I discovered that Loretta Lynn would be the headliner!  Loretta is 82 years old but she dresses in sparkly pink, purple and blue floor-length gowns and looks amazing, thanks to her stylist and manager, Jim.  Jim was pointed out to me as we waiting in front of Loretta’s tour bus, hoping for a glimpse, by a teenaged girl from Kentucky whose mother had surprised her with tickets.  This girl was the biggest Loretta Lynn fan on the planet, and was jumping up and down and shaking with delight as she told me the names of everyone on the tour bus.  I was really happy that a young person today would still be interested in Loretta, since she did so much for women’s issues in her time, with songs about the pill, domestic violence and what it was like to be a woman of her generation.  She sang just a handful of songs, but finished with “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which brought tears to my eyes.

There were other wonderful singers of yesteryear who performed for us, including Larry Gatlin (“Houston” and “All the Gold in California”) and Jim Ed Brown, who must have been in his eighties as well but was wearing a really snazzy red western style jacket with black piping and sang two of his greatest hits from the 1950s: “Scarlet Ribbons” and “Little Jimmy Brown.”  There were younger performers as well, people who still revered the old time country singers and were writing and singing songs in a similar vein.  I got the sense that the Opry is like a giant family, where all the singers know and love on another.  Larry Gatlin told a story about going to visit Minnie Pearl after she had a stroke, like she was his old aunt.  The next day, when we visited the Opry Hall of Fame and Museum, the sense of family was stronger than ever. Click here to watch Dwight and Buck!  Along with Merle Haggard, whose family also moved to California along the original Route 66, Buck Owens is one of the original “Bakersfield Country” singer-songwriters we learned about on our tour.  He was also absolutely adored by young Brad Paisley, who imitated his guitar playing style.  When Buck heard his first album, he asked who the guitarist was, and when he was told it was Brad himself, he didn’t believe it until he heard it for himself, live, and then for his Opry debut, he wore one of Buck Owens’ jackets.  At Buck’s funeral, Brad played and sang his song, “When I get Where I’m Going.”

Reba's boots and belt buckle

Dwight Yoakam, for example, absolutely adored Buck Owens, and finally convinced him to come out of retirement and perform a duet with him on the record, “Bakersfield,” which is one of my all time favorite post Dust Bowl songs. If you listen to the words, it's about the prejudice that the so-called "Oakies" faced when they moved to California in search of jobs.

But I digress.  I just get so sentimental when it comes to these country singers.  There are so many different styles:  bluegrass, cowboy, old classics from the 60s and 70s, country rock, and today’s sort of country pop.  I love ‘em all, but to hear the old songs from the 70s and 80s when I was growing up was a real treat.  All eras and styles of country are revered in Nashville; we heard cowboy bands, blues bands, and even a country rap band at the Silver Dollar Saloon on 2^nd Avenue.  Every little bar has a songwriter, or a band, or an open mike night – people hoping they’ll be discovered and make it big the same way Alan Jackson or Taylor Swift did, just playing at bars and clubs where people come and listen every night. Friday night we went to the Opry for real, to hear yodeling cowboys, 80 year old mandolin players, Jean Shepard, Vince Gill and Little Big Town.  I couldn’t tell you my favorite, between the old stuff and the new, the super popular big name acts and the bands that played the Silver Dollar Saloon.  It was hard to tear myself away from Nashville and head back up the river, on the way home.

A night at the Opry!

 

I love the Bakersfield country of the Oakies.   I love Outlaw Country and Waylon Jennings.  I love Patsy Cline and the old Conway and Loretta duets.  Anybody who makes fun of country music really needs to listen to more of it.  There’s got to be a style for you.  Tune in to WSM and have a listen, especially on the nights when they are broadcasting the Opry live.  You might be surprised!