Wednesday, September 18, 2019

To Jackson and Kentucky

Our last full day in Nashville began at the Gospel Brunch at the City Winery , a crowded affair but with free chicken and waffles.  There were a couple of numbers from Drew Holcomb, some gospel from the Caldwell Singers and some more from Bonnie Bishop. Bobby Rush did a short acoustic set featuring some reminiscing and snippets of 'Go Down Moses', 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' and 'The Saints' on harmonica. Finally Delbert McClinton and his band livened up the audience with 'Mr Smith', 'Tall Dark and Handsome' and 'Sending Me Angels' before the whole cast came on stage for 'Fly Away'.
In the evening we met up with Ron Cook and had a rather poor meal at a noisy place called Party Fowl. From there we went yet again to 3rd and Lindsey. Leah Blevins, a young country singer in a very short skirt, was on first and the main act was Brandy Clark  who proved to be very good. Her melodic songs about topics such as drinking and revenge were interesting and well performed. Numbers included 'Big Day in a Small Town', 'Take a Little Pill', 'You're Drunk', 'Love Is A Fire', with good cello support, 'Take A Long Walk Off A Short Pier' and only one non original,  'Good Hearted Woman'.
Monday. We drove west stopping for a coffee at Dickson, where I found some 45s in a thrift store. Arriving in Jackson, Tennessee, we checked in at the Red Roof Hotel and located the grave of Carl Perkins and a marker at Casey Jones Village  where another Jackson resident is celebrated with railroad locos, a cafe and  for some reason, a bagpiper. Next morning we got up early to find a marker to the south of town to Sonny Boy Williamson the first, the blues harmonica player who died agef just 34. We found the marker and searched the nearby Briar's Chapel cemetery for his grave but couldn't find it.
From there we went to the Music Museum at the Carnegie Library.  It's a quiet place with a lady who meticulously wrote out our entry tickets but there was quite a bit of info about Carl Perkins, W S Holland, Wink Martindale and other locals, including Isaac Tigrett, who founded both the Hard Rock Cafe and House of Blues. Nearby is the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame where an enthusiastic guide called Hollywood showed off Carl Perkins' blue suede shoes, a broken pair of sunglasses allegedly having belonged to Roy Orbison and the many photos and memorabilia there. Sadly it seems that the place is due to close soon: financial pressure from the Mayor's office it seems. An enjoyable visit and good to get there in time. We drove north from Jackson to Kentucky and headed for Central City, where there is another music museum, this time dedicated mainly to local boys the Everly Brothers, with some info on Merle  Travis as well. The guide there told us how the Everlys' homecoming in 1988 had put the small town on the map. Afterwards  we checked out Phil Everly's grave nearby. We stayed overnight at Bowling Green, a town made famous by an Everly Brothers song,  but not one with any great merit apart from the National Corvette Museum.

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