Leaving Memphis on Saturday. The Nomads hit the road again. Unfortunately the baggage seems to expand in proportion with the miles covered.
If you haven’t been there already, what image is conjured up in your mind when you think of Nashville? Yes Linda and me too. Well we’re all wrong. Its a modern metropolis that in this increasingly homogenised world in which we live i.e Starbucks on every corner (we only previously came across one Starbucks and that was at our hotel in New Orleans). The old city does exist but its buried and surrounded by the ubiquitous skyscraper. Some admittedly, such as the AT&T building, which looks rather like Batmans helmet, are attractive and impressive. You won’t however find any wooden board homey structures depicted in the old movies of Nashville. Our Uber driver last night said that the city had been transformed in past 5 years and it shows. Most disappointingly we haven’t spotted anyone wearing cowboy hats, let alone boots and spurs. On the the plus side however its a country and western music city which is right up Linda’s ally but does very little for me – it all sounds the same to me. Mind you I know that is also a criticism levelled at Delta blues music so I won’t labour the point. We have just completed three days here and its been good to let the car and ourselves rest. We drove 1200 miles in seven days getting here, but its was worth it. Nice to know the zigzag driving pressure is now off though. Today we move onto Louisville just for one night to visit the birth place of Muhammad Ali and the Kentucky Derby Museum. Its only about 2.5 hours away and en route to Chicago.
On our first night here we couldn’t wait to indulge in some proper English grub. The portions were massive and the flavours very sweet but it reminded us of home.
The mighty Nissan stadium. Home of the Tennessee Titans. The stadium is massive and seats 79,000 fans. Those up in the gods are a long way from the action.
In the foreground Hard Rock Cafe. In the background the AT&T building.
Sanity in a town of Country & Western music. John Lee Hookers hat & sunglasses in Hard Rock Cafe
Great bar in town
Below we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame. To demonstrate my interest in Country music I thought i would show you Elvis’ Cadillac displayed inside the exhibition.
Some of you, like me, will remember the Grand ‘Ole Opry being broadcast on black and white TV in the 50’s. This is the place it came from. At the time I bought it was coming from and old barn somewhere in the countryside!! Great venue to visit.
A great thrill for me was visiting Gruhn’s Guitars in Nashville.
I asked if George Gruhn (on the left) was available and was taken to his office to meet him. To anyone interested in guitars this is like meeting industry royalty. George is 72, started the business in 1970 and still works 12 hour days 6 days a week. He is the absolute world authority on guitars and probably has the best stock of vintage acoustic guitars (mainly Martins) in the world. He employs 29 staff 10 of whom work full time repairing an restoring vintage guitars. 10!! We talked guitars for an hour and he would have continued. It is said that he’s worth $19m so its probably more. Not bad for a man who likes to say “its just a hobby that got out of control”. Look him up on Youtube being interviewed, this is just how he is.This is second one of these I have seen. The first one in London. Its a Gibson / Harp guitar. Very weird.I bought this Martin. Couldn’t resist it. See the price tag below….No, of course I didn’t. But I did play it. Unlike guitar retailers in the UK Gruhn’s is totally laid back and didn’t bat an eye lid when I took this down off the wall to play it. 1930’s Martins are the cream de la creme of acoustics. To think this would have retailed for around $200 when new. Some investment it could have been. George (my newest best mate) told me that the most a (non celebrity linked) Martin sold for was $340.
Once again apologies for any typos. No time for proof reading…..
I would have offered $95000. It would have been a bargain at that price.
LikeLike
It’s always good to hear from the filthy rich Smithy 😎👍
LikeLike
It’s just that I won the lottery last week, so if you need a loan to buy an old Martin…………
LikeLike