Look, I don't think I ever said that I hated Country Music. Did I? I can't remember. At any rate, it may shock some of you to know that the first memories of music that I have are of country songs. I remember I particularly liked 'Okie from Muskogee' when I was a little girl. Yah, go figure.
I lead with this so as not to shock you even further when I announce, that on my latest business trip to Nashville I had the pleasure to attend the Grand Ole Opry, and I LOVED it. It is just as cheesy as I remember it from the Hee Haw Days. But besides all that I realized that country music stars can sing. I love live music, and I go to concerts as often as I can, and I will say that it is rare when a Pop or Rock artist sounds really good live. At the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night every single person from Little Jimmy Dickens to Randy Travis sounded phenomenal.
Thankfully they got rid of the cheesy skits, but they didn't get rid of the cheesy dancers. They call this group the Nashville Irish Step Dancers. LOL.
For 40-ish dollars, I got to see Vince Gill, Carrie Underwood, Randy Travis, Hal Ketchum, Rhett Akins, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, and various other Grand Ole Opry regulars.And this night in particular was special for Carrie Underwood, because they asked her to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. She cried. It was kinda special.
40-ish dollars well spent.
The next day a friend of mine and I went to see Andrew Jackson's plantation The Hermitage. It was actually a really interesting place to visit. I think we took about 4 hours to see it all, and it was a splendid day so that helped. (Especially since the day before we were on Tornado watch most of the day - and I don't even know what to do if a Tornado is coming and you're in a hotel. Do you get in your bathtub with a mattress over you? Or is that just something you see in the movies?)
After The Hermitage visit we went to downtown Nashville to take in the Bar scene. This is a picture of the world famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge, where the Grand Ole Opry performers used to slip in to get a drink when they were waiting to go on stage. Of course, this is back in the days when the Opry was actually in downtown Nashville. Now its out in it's own complex of sorts, kind of like Disneyland. 
We were loitering around Coyote Ugly, because I was trying to get my groove on enough to see if I could dance on the bar (but then I realized that there are not enough Diet Cokes in the WORLD to get me to dance on a bar), when we spied a gaggle of people down the way at the Wild Horse Saloon. Being the curious sorts that we are, we moseyed on down to see what the haps were. It ended up being a television show taping of a CMT show called "Can You Duet". It's like American Idol but for Country Duo's. I think it airs in April. But anyhoo, we decided to go to the taping. They were down to their last 6 finalists and it was a week where they were supposed to showcase their own music. I was blown away. I don't think the contestants on American Idol would be able to write with the kind of talent that we saw during that show. Don't get me wrong, I love American Idol, just like the rest of you 30 million viewers out there. But this was pretty cool. And it was interesting to see how they tape a show like that. It's actually kind of boring to be honest.
All in all I give Nashville 4 out 5 of stars.
P.S. We have another Tornado watch right now. So if any of you kind souls write in with your comments on what to do in case of Tornado's, be aware that I may have already been taken away by one.
3 comments:
You have no idea how jealous I am of you! Nashville is one of my top ten places I want to visit. I have a burning desire to visit the Grand Ole Opry and Tootsies (you're already well aware I love country music and cowboy stuff so I am sure this doesn't surprise you!).
Melissa,
I wish you could have been there with me. I was on the 3rd row in the center. Really good seats. Also, Tootsies was hopping. Standing room only. and they had a really great live band. Nashville is literally wall to wall bars with live bands, you just walk from one to the other. It is so much fun. I hope I get to come back.
That is so exciting! And maybe I shouldn't admit this because the whole American Idol thing kind of annoys me but I really like Carrie Underwood. I would love to see her in concert.
And I thought you would enjoy this but I am trying to turn Delaney into a geography nerd. She has a placemat with a map of the world and a map of the United States on them and she alternates eating off of them. Every time she sits down for a meal, I point out somewhere on the map and we talk about it. Today we talked about Nashville and Tennessee over breakfast. Then we left to go to swimming lessons. She must of thought your trip was really important because she told every other kid in her class that her Aunt Heather was on a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. And most of the other kids in her class don't talk at all so they just looked at her smiled even though they probably had no idea what she was talking about.
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