Friday 10th. February
I had to get this one where we had lunch there is a sign here which says
Beware of Diving Goats!
Miles reaches for the guitar at the holy site
Inside the studio
Miles plays Elvis at the Microphone the king used (so they say)
Memphis was so good we stayed an extra night and took the free shuttle bus into town next day to explore Sun studio www.sunstudio.com/and the Rock and Soul museummemphisrocknsoul.org/. The Sun tour was very interesting and started in the cafe where Elvis used to hang out hoping to get noticed, before going upstairs for a look at exhibits from the early 50's when Sam Phillips started recording local singers Howlin' Wolf, , etc. And eventually Elvis in 1954. Cora the guide then took us downstairs to the studio which is quite small and is still virtually the same as it was then. It had been several other businesses in the meantime but they had not messed with it. It is once again a working studio in the night time, although with digital equipment now.
The day was cold and rainy so we hopped in and out of shops and eventually got to the Rock and Soul Museum which told the story of American music right through the 20th. Century with lots of historiv donations from singers bands and record companies. Also a very good movie presentation. They had juke boxes to die for from 30's 40's and 50's with lots of music to choose from coming through headphones.
The guys went back in the evening for more action and got back very late reporting that the same bands were playing as before they did some exploring into Beale Street barland , but no further revelations to report.
Saturday 11th. February
It was snowing when I opened the door of the RV and bitterly cold, pipes frozen so now water, so we fried up an Elvis memorial breakfast of bacon, the remains of yesterdays Spag Bol and eggs before packing up and hitting the long straight road to Nashville . Miles was driving and unusually quiet so when I asked him what was up he said slowly" Hangover dad" but drove magnificently in bright sunshine through huge forests and over many Bayous(swampland) with country music up loud on the only stereo now functioning on the bus, we have 2 televisions of course with satelite and cable connections!
At a short stop in Jackson Kentucky and we found this open air stage
with dedication to Carl Perkins
Arrived in Nashville at sundown at the Two Rivers campground and just caught the owners to register. Jerry took us into town on the shuttle bus regaling us with the delights to found on Broadway, the music street and he was not wrong about how amazing it was. Every bar had good live bands not limited to country music. Laylas was the first with an astonishing Jerry Lee Lewis style pianoman who leapt about and swung from the ceiling playing with his boots elbows and knees at very fast tempos.http://www.laylasbluegrassinn.com/artists.html Next door was Roberts Western World with music from 11am to 2am we caught The Don Kelley Band and Jesse Lee & Brazilbilly, both full on country rock the latter with a good fiddlerrobertswesternworld.com. The Broadway is just full of places like this but very few black faces to be seen, a big contrast to Memphis only 3 hours away.
Later at other bars the fiddlers got even better and more frenetic as the night went on. Scott took lots of pics on his clever camera but mine does not do well without flash so sorry about the quality.
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