Arriving in Nashville was fabulous. Deep blackish storm
clouds and a temperature of minus 11 degrees centigrade and then of course, the
wind chill factor. Brrrrrr. Totally
unfazed because we had the right clothing arrived at our hotel all ready to go.
So that night went to the B B King Club where the music was just fabulous. Walking
the block and a half to it nearly froze. Anyhow, it looks like a dark dive, and
something you would easily pass by without giving it a second glance. But once
inside, the atmosphere and staff are warm and inviting. And a few minutes after
we arrived the band showed up on stage and started playing. The music is
fabulous, particularly because one member, the drummer is from the original band
and is still playing. I know the video is not good, and that’s because of the
lighting, but I can truly recommend anyone to go to it for a fabulous evening.

And now for the ‘piece de resistance’, they say the best of thecountry music happens in a theatre called the ‘Grande ol Opry’ . The originalbuilding was flooded about twelve years ago, and the cost of renovation wasweighed up against putting up a brand new theatre a little way out of town andluck was on our side because there are only three shows a week. And tonight wasjust one of those nights it was on. The weather was still atrocious, but theatmosphere in the small twelve seater mini bus was electric with anticipation.Nobody on the bus had ever been there and the excitement was just totallypalpable.

It is a show with a difference. The music is just great withartists coming on; doing two songs, leaving the stage to be followed by thenext set of artist. As well as all of this happening with multiple set andmicrophone changes, it is actually broadcast live on the radio to a plethora ofmusic stations all over the world. Now all of you who have ever watchedAmerican cable TV will know that American TV is a bunch of adverts heldtogether by a bit of the program in between. So every eight or so minutes, thestage compare came on and told you all about the sponsors (pottery Barn or someother name we have not heard of), for the next few minutes of the performance .And while he was doing his spiel for these few minutes, the stage hands werebusy changing the sets and cabling for the new on-coming group. A huge big signwith red letters blinking ‘ON AIR’ while broadcasting live. I hope you likesome of the short videos.

And today we went downtown in the still pouring rain. Fortunately
the predicted ice storm moved slightly further north missing us. It’s still
really cold though! In the Down Town area, there is an area full of bars where
you can simply trawl listening to the different styles of country music. These
bands play in the windows to entice the public in, and I can tell you that they
are really excellent. You sit on wooden stools a bar, buy a drink of some
description and sit while they do their stuff. Even at eleven in the morning
people are getting up of their bar stools and dancing on a small floor right in
front of the band. The city is just fabulous to be in, and I’m so sorry we had
a day cut from our itinerary. On this lost day, we were going to a huge show at
the ‘Wild Horse,’ definitely not to be confused with the, ‘Crazy Horse’ which
is a major strip joint. The Wild Horse is a major line dancing club to live
music. The brochure shows it on five floors with dancing of all different
abilities. They even have a floor devoted to beginners would you believe. All I
can say is the ‘Country scene’ is totally huge in the States and we could not
get enough in, in the short time we had there. I have an idea…, we’ll just have
to go back at some stage.