Austin to Nashville

The Eastside Kings Festival ended with a series of shows on East 12th Street. Some of the acts had been on earlier but it was an excellent day nonetheless. Trudy Lynn was at the Circle Bar with a bluesy set backed just by harmonica and guitar while Crystal Thomas and Keith Dunn were at the King Bee supported by Bloodest Saxophone. There were excellent sets by Lucious Spiller and Big A Anthony Sherrod who I have seen previously at Red's in Clarksdale and by Guitar Slim Jr who I've seen in New Orleans. A new name to me was Sean "Mack' McDonald who was very impressive and there were also sets by Eugene Hideaway Bridges, Dr James Polk and Centerpeace Jazz, Birdleg and Little Jimmie Reed among others. Again these shows were sparsely attended, with the exception of Crystal Thomas, which was a shame as the quality of performances was excellent. After a week of Austin's heat and high prices we moved on to Nashville which was slightly cooler although still quite expensive due to the poor exchange rate. We arrived late but eventually reached our 4 bedroom up market Airbnb before walking for a late night beer at Old Glory. Next day we bagged some goodies offered by a whiskey company at a welcome do for the Americanafest and then met up with Ron Cook at the Fleet Street pub in Printer's Alley. In the evening we went to Basement East where the 50th anniversary of Exile On Main Street was celebrated. There were several bands, including the Homestead (I think), Them Vibes and one led by Peter Case which had a rolling company of over a dozen musicians. Naturally the songs being performed were by the Stones and there were several Mick Jagger impersonators, not least the singer with Them Vibes. Artists took turns in performing one Stones number each, among them Webb Wilder Amy Darling Leah Blevins and Matthew Page. The show was good fun but seemingly endless so we took our leave about 11.30. Highlight was probably the first band who did several early Rolling Stones classic numbers. I didn't recognise some of the later material I have to admit. We took the long walk next day to Nashville's recreation of the Parthenon in Centennial Park before going down town for some food. Broadway was heaving and the food was poor but afterwards we slipped into Roberts Western World for some fine rockabilly by Kelley's Heroes. from there we went to 6th and Peabody where Chuck Mead formerly of BR5-49 was playing some country stuff with a bit of rockabilly. Final stop of the evening was the City Winery where we caught The War and Treaty. They are a husband and wife duo Michael and Tanya Trotter, and they harmonised beautifully on some soul inflected numbers. A good end to the evening.