Heartiest congratulations to Helena Kane on the publication of her story in COMHNASC, January 2013
My brother is a dyed-in-the-wool country music fan who has made several trips to Nashville over the years to immerse himself in the music, the legends and the atmosphere of this iconic town. Last year he prevailed on me to accompany him on one of these trips. Being recently retired I was a sitting duck!
His sons tend to view his passion with mild horror and one of them solicitously asked me whether I was sure I was ready for the endless twanging of steel guitars! Well, I bit the bullet and away we went via New York to Atlanta followed by a short hop to Nashville going through so many time zones en route that at journey`s end I felt ready for a lengthy stay in a home for the terminally befuddled. We travelled with a group of fans most of whom had made the trip before, indeed some of them several times.
Making their acquaintance in the hotel that night and listening to them talking about their plans for the days ahead made me realize that for them this was a pilgrimage and I was the heretic who might fail to worship at the shrine.
Next morning after breakfast we went on a tour of the town. Nashville, I soon learned, has much more to offer than just country music. To begin with, it is the state capital of Tennessee although smaller than its neighbour, Memphis. Nashville is often spoken of as The Athens of the South because it has a thriving cultural life stretching back to before the Civil War. Indeed there is a full-sized replica of the Parthenon, now an Art museum, built in beautiful Centennial Park as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897 when the local citizenry wished to show the rest of the world that they too knew a thing or two about classical culture. Nashville has twenty-four third level institutions for a population of 160,000, the best known being the Vanderbilt University founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1873.
There are many art galleries and an active theatre scene with many professional and community theatre groups .There is even a Shakespeare festival held annually. A very fine Performance Arts Centre is home to both the Nashville Opera and the Nashville Ballet and the addition in 2006 of the Schermann Symphony Centre ensures that the good people of Nashville can do more than just` keep it country `.
Music City as it is called locally is a bright modern city of gleaming glass and steel towers the best known of which is the AT and T building known here as the Batman Building because of its twin `bat-ear` spires. Nashville has always been prosperous situated as it is on a port on the Cumberland River which facilitated trade and commerce in the old days.
The Battle of Nashville was fought here in 1864 during the Civil War because of its significant location for transportation of soldiers and supplies thus making it the first state capital to fall to Union troops. In fact much of the civil war was fought in Tennessee and there are several battle fields to visit in the Nashville area alone. There are many fine classical buildings reflecting the wealth of the city and several beautiful ante-bellum mansions which are open to the public. One of these, The Hermitage, is the former home of seventh US President Andrew Jackson(1829-1837). He was an army general who was known to his troops as Old Hickory because of his staunch courage and iron will and to his political opponents as Stonewall Jackson because he never backed down. Jackson had Irish connections – his parents had emigrated from Carrickfergus to South Carolina before his birth. It was he who led the American army which defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the last major battle of The American War of Independence and which was later immortalised in song by the late Lonnie Donegan.
History seems to regard Stonewall as having been a good president but, despite the pleas of a growing lobby, he refused to abolish slavery. He himself was a slave-owner and a slave cabin still stands behind his mansion. Interestingly he is buried beside his favourite slave in the mansion grounds. He also had strong ideas about the indigenous Indian population and introduced the Indian Removal Act in1830 which resulted in 15,000 Cherokees being led from Georgia by troops in the depths of Winter to reservations in the far West. Many died along the way and the route they followed is now named The Trail of Tears.
Religion seems to be a very important part of life in Nashville. The city has several seminaries and 700 churches. These are chiefly Baptist with some Methodist and a sprinkling of Catholic churches. Nashville is often referred to as the Buckle of the Bible Belt or the Protestant Vatican. God is frequently invoked in conversation in a manner that suggests He is living just down the street and could drop by any time to say “ Ain`t seen y`all in a month of Sundays “, such is the feeling of His everyday reality and presence. Country music has its origins in the gospel music of the churches where the poor and the slaves came for succour and in the blues music where they framed their laments for their harsh lives.
The enduring nature of religious belief here is evidenced by the number of Christian music publishing houses and recording studios.
But when the tourists come here what they are looking for is the unique Nashville music scene which gives the city its colour, flavour and atmosphere. Downtown there is an area of about six blocks locally known as The District and it is here that the honkytonks and bars spill music into the streets day and night. Bluegrass, Cajun, Creole, rock`n roll , jazz and of course country music in all its forms pour from their doorways augmented by the sounds of the many street performers as the hordes of visitors ebb and flow stopping to peer into doorways to catch a glimpse of the action inside. And action indeed there is because this is why we are all here – to savour the music, to sing along, to watch the bands, to dance, to ogle the crowds, to drink, to cheer because this is the foot-stompin`, beating heart of Nashville where the greats such as Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson were discovered in Tootsies belting out the songs that led them to fame and glory. Our favourite spot was Roberts, a long narrow room where the décor was unchanged since the fifties and the waitresses wore pink cowboy boots. A small stage and dance floor ensured that the fun never stopped. Some establishments offered line-dancing lessons which I couldn`t resist taking part in while my brother watched pityingly. Cowboy boots are widely worn and a visit to the some of the many shops in the area selling them is not to be missed if only to marvel at the great variety of colours they come in. Cowboys must indeed have exotic tastes.
Must-see places in Nashville are the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Old Opry , the radio show which first broadcast country music to the nation began in 1929 and which continues to this day although mainly in a new purpose-built location now. We were lucky enough to attend a performance in the Ryman and it was fascinating to be told at intervals that `we must pause now for a word from our sponsors`. Another place not to be missed is the Country Music Hall of Fame where plaques and awards to famous names line the walls and original costumes, guitars and music paraphernalia abound. In the attached museum Elvis` gold Cadillac and his grand piano have pride of place and in Studio B, also part of the museum , the original recording equipment used by the likes of Jim Reeves , Merle Haggard and Roy Orbison still stand. The Country Music Awards, a major event in the industry, took place while we were in Nashville and all the stars were in town. Tickets cost a prohibitive $150 so huge crowds lined the streets to catch a free glimpse of the celebrities. The music history of Nashville is deeply rooted in the lives of the people of the area. It was the hardship of the Depression era and the lack of work in the surrounding countryside which drove the young to seek their fortunes in Music City. Music promised a way out of abject poverty and their musical heritage enabled them to profit from it. Today an entire street, Music Row, is devoted to the music industry.
A trip to Memphis enabled us to see the motel, now run-down and seedy, where Martin Luther King was shot while making a speech on the balcony. We also visited the famous studio, Sun Studio, owned by the legendary Sam Phillips. Here Johnny Cash famously knocked on the door looking for his first break and later he, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins recorded together and were dubbed The Million Dollar Quartet. Elvis also recorded his first song `That’s all right Momma ` there at the tender age of eighteen when he had just finished high school and started work as a garage mechanic.
Of course we were all curious about to days big names in country music. Some such as Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley, rising young stars, were on stage in the Bridgestone Arena one night along with Keith Urban but this did not slake our thirst for Nashville celebrities so we took a bus tour of the stars` homes and rubbernecked our way past the houses of such luminaries as Garth Brooks, Nicole Kidman, Justin Timberlake, Dolly Parton, Reese Witherspoon and many others. Some were in gated enclaves but others were surprisingly exposed to passers-by. Many major sports stars have also made their homes here. Nashville appears to be perceived as being a desirable place for celebrity living and certainly the sight one day of Kris Kristofferson strolling about alone in a public place might suggest that the local populace are well used to these people living in their midst and are willing to leave them in peace.
All in all it was a most enjoyable trip. Great shopping, restaurants and warm, courteous, southern manners all added to our enjoyment. While I`m still not a fully-fledged aficionado of country music , I am definitely a fan of the sheer excitement and joie de vivre of Music City and I even bought the cowboy boots to prove it. Yee-haw!
