The boys are back in Nashville

I'm at the start of another US trip with Alan Lloyd, Dave Carroll and Lee Wilkinson.
The last time we came to Nashville things started badly when our connecting flight from Washington had to turn back and three of us were escorted from the hotel where we were supposed to be staying by an armed guard. This time we had some good fortune having been rerouted onto an earlier American Airlines flight via Philadelphia when our BA flight was cancelled due to the pilots' strike. We checked into our hotel OK but our first evening at the Americana Fest was not as smooth as we would have liked. Alan forgot to bring ID and wasn't allowed to drink and we paid more than we should for parking and the taxi to the venue.
The music, however, at the Memphis Groove 'n' Grind in Basement East was pretty good. There were loads of artists  and we didn't stay for all of them, but there was quite a lot of variety and a couple of stand outs. The highlight was a session involving Memphis guitarist Luther Dickinson, backed by a band which included the extrovert keyboard player Paul Brown and a couple of Bo-Keys on horns. Boo Mitchell came on stage to introduce Jim Lauderdale who has been recording at Royal Studios and sang a couple of bluesy numbers, including the excellent '13 Clocks' and 'Worth The Wait'. Also good were the HawtThorns, Dee White, who sang one number, Jeremy Pinnell, who sang a Howlin' Wolf song, Paul Burch, Amy Lavere with guitarist Will Sexton, and Patrick Sweany. This was music with a Memphis slant  meaning some decent blues and a bit of Soul and was highly entertaining. Pity we were rather dead on our feet and couldn't last the night.  Plus, Alan needed a drink!
Our first full day in Nashville was hot, with temperatures nudging 100F. We checked out of our hotel near the airport after having breakfast at a Waffle House and went downtown where we took a look at the Johnny Cash museum. It's not bad although not brilliant but when we went upstairs to see the Patsy Cline museum we were shocked to discover they wanted another $20 to enter. We didn't bother and neither it seems did anyone else as the place was deserted. After a drink in Roberts Western World in Broadway we met up with Ron Cook at the serenely quiet Flying Saucer, and then adjourned to the Nashville Underground bar where there some .UK artists playing including Robert Vincent. We met up with Marc Engel there for the second time this trip. After checking into a second hotel we Uber-ed back into town, had a meal and caught some decent music in the True Music Room at the Cambria. Lizzie No is a singer songwriter who plays harp and guitar and comes across well, but our main interest was in the following act, Bette Smith. She's a dynamic singer with a huge Afro who was wearing a red dress which she used to good effect as she sashayed and swayed across the tiny stage. Backed by a five piece band she was soulful and highly entertaining on numbers including 'I Felt It Too', Stop That Train', 'Jet Lagged', Isaac Hayes's 'Do Your Thing', Eddie Hinton's 'Everybody Needs Love', 'I'm a Sinner' and Etta James's 'Tell Mama'. Bette is a young singer who I've wanted to see for some time and I wasn't disappointed.