Adventures in the South - Nashville, Part 2

After seeing the Grand Ole Opry in its modern setting, the natural thing to do the following morning was take a look at its spiritual home, the Ryman Auditorium.  Originally constructed as the Union Gospel Tabernacle for the specific purpose of providing a venue for the revivalist preacher Rev. Sam Jones, it feels more like a church than a theatre.  It became synonymous with entertainment more than religion though, and with a remarkable cast of performers engaged by the legendary bookings manager Lula Chaff, as well as the early stars of the Opry such as Minnie Pearl and the

Stage set-up for the Nuge at the Ryman - he's a bit patriotic, apparently

bluegrass innovators Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.  The Ryman became famous in its own right.

Back in the Sixties the place was bought by National Life Insurance, the owners of WSM Radio, which in turn owned the Opry (it’s a radio show, remember).  A few years later they decided to build a modern, new home for the Opry.  They continued to own the Ryman though, and classy bunch that they were, after the Opry moved out they seemed prepared to have it demolished.  For years it was used only sporadically, until new owners refurbished it and reopened it in the Nineties as a signature performance venue.  Nowadays it hosts rock bands as much as country – including, during our stay, none other than the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent!

One of the drivers behind the move of the Opry to a new venue was apparently the grim backstage conditions, with cramped dressing rooms and no air conditioning.  Not that this bothered the likes of Kris Kristofferson too much.  The story goes that he used to spend his time having a few beers in one of the bars out back of the Ryman on Broadway, before dashing to the stage when he was called.

Outdoors for once on Broadway

Broadway is one of those places where there is music on tap from morning till midnight, and beyond, supplied by bands playing covers for tips in a host of bars such as Legends, Tootsie’s and Second Fiddle to name but a few.  Sure, it can seem a bit strange ducking out of the bright sunshine to spend the afternoon boozing in the company of, say, Lefty and the Right Hand Band.  But if you prefer you can always have a long lunch al fresco in the rooftop restaurant of Rippy’s BBQ &Grill, listening to a few guys with acoustic guitars taking it in turns to ply their trade.

It’s pot luck whether a particular bar has a band that takes your fancy, and enough punters have camped out there to create a decent atmosphere.  So you just have to take your chances.  But a good outfit, like Lefty and co, will keep you entertained playing all sorts of requests, and for blues or rock’n’roll as well as country.  They’ll also engage in dialogue, generally wanting to know “where y’all from”, which then becomes your monicker for the duration – so we were ‘Scotland’.

You might have to be patient though.  In the evening we set off looking for a bluegrass session Jill had seen advertised at the tourist office, but couldn’t find the place.  This led to a bit of fruitless wandering before we eventually pitched up at Robert’s Western Warehouse shortly before 10pm, just in time for an entertaining three piece with stand up bass to finish their set.  Fed up of drifting, we decided to sit it out till the next outfit to start their slot – and half an hour later were treated to the truly brilliant Don Kelley Band.

The Don Kelley Band get down and dirty at Roberts Western Warehouse

Okay, so they were another covers band.  But boy did they know how to entertain.  Cowboy hats, excellent musicianship and a nice line in ironic self-congratulation kept us there until the wee hours.  Plus, they featured the jaw-dropping guitar picking of Porter McClister.  Honest – check out this rendition of ‘Truck Driving Man’!  Bands like this make it well worth checking out Roberts.

You can read about Nashville Part 1 here.  Or continue to read the series with Nashville Part 3, here!

Adventures in the South – Nashville, Part 1

We landed in Nashville late on Saturday afternoon, after flight delays, just in time to get to our hotel, get changed, and head straight out again to the Grand Ole Opry.  This was Jill’s gig really.  She enjoys the blues, but leans towards the folk and country aspects of roots music more than I do, and so had booked tickets for the Opry before we travelled.  And what a surreal experience it turned out to be.

Famously, the Opry was founded as a live radio broadcast, and it still is one today.  So, in a

Posing with a big ole Opry geetar

modern auditorium with adjacent theme park, in front of 4,400 fans, there are regular pauses for the compere to extol the virtues of “Mother Crabtree’s Savoury Sandwiches, sponsors of this segment of the Grand Ole Opry”.  Or whatever.  For those of a certain age, imagine The Good Old Days, with MC Leonard Sachs reading out adverts.  Oh yes, and there’s a dance troupe that puts in a couple of appearances at one side of the stage, doing country dancing type stuff in a manner that older Scots readers might liken to the White Heather Club.

There are several segments to the show, each with a host drawn from the Opry’s “cast members” – the crème de la crème, as it were, who are on retainers to be available for a specified number of shows a year.  They intersperse their own songs with those of the guest artists appearing in their segment, and sometimes perform with them.  The hosts come in all shapes and sizes, starting with the comic cowboy apparel and double entendres of Riders In The Sky, who pilot the opening segment.  And very entertaining they are too, in a Royal Variety Performance kind of way.  Later there was a segment with George Hamilton, now late of this parish, who was mostly familiar to me from BBC shows of the 70s such as Val Doonican, and who came across as rather tired.  Contrastingly, Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan are just the kind of dames you might expect to have got together to record an album called ‘Dos Divas’, delivering Shania Twain-ish material and comic patter with well-practised but entertaining sassiness. But closing segment host Vince Gill, a major star in the country music firmament, mainly made an impression on me with a charmless response to an audience member who dared to shout something between songs.

Riders In The Sky

As for the guest artists, they too cover a number of bases.  Some are cast members like the hosts, such as the veteran Connie Smith, a little lady with a big voice who cranks out a couple of songs in the most effortless and business-like fashion.  But there are also debutants, such as the Ohio bluegrass outfit Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers on this occasion, who do their thang with real verve, complete with highly polished harmonies.

But Joe Mullins is no kid.  He's the owner of a network of radio stations in Ohio.  This is an interesting reference point when contemplating the Grand Ole Opry, and indeed Nashville and the country music scene.  There’s a side to it that is pure business, and big business at that.  If you look at the roster of guest artists on the Opry website, you’ll find a swathe of younger performers, many of them identikit fresh faced blonde girls with acoustic guitars, to be sure, but including some who reach beyond the core country sound to blues and Americana, like the Cadillac Three.  Which is commendable artistically, but it’s also evidence of the Opry adapting and evolving, securing its audience and income stream for the future.  It may be entertaining, it may be kitsch, but don’t ever imagine it’s dumb.