Today we started our vacation in Nashville by exploring downtown Tennessee. The first stop was the Ryman Auditorium to pick up tickets for the evening performance. Next we drove around to determine the area and where parking was. After parking, an irrestible smell lead us to Prailines by Leon on 2nd Avenue. Yum, yum. After that, we walked down to Broadway, and did a little shopping, ending up at Jack’s Bar-B-Que. This was more Tenneesee-style BBQ, which means a dry rub pork shoulder. I liked it, but gf_guruilla found it a little bit dry. We then walked over to the visitor’s center, and picked up a Total Access Pass.
After resting for a bit at the center, we then walked down to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This was a very interesting history of the music industry, and included a special exhibit on Ray Charles, who will be the subject of a Pasadena Playhouse musical at the end of the year. By then, we were in a music sort of mood, so we walked back to Broadway and Earnest Tubb’s Record Shop. This shop had lots and lots of country music… but no Austin Lounge Lizards, no Red Clay Ramblers, and precious little in the way of Country Cast Albums (i.e., no Lone Star Love, no Violet… not even a Best Little Whorehouse). We also visited Lawrence Record Shop… now this was a record shop… with lots of vinyl and cassettes — lots of great obscure stuff. Alas, we had no good way of shipping stuff back. We then cooled down with some ice cream (yum), and then went over to Merchants for dinner (although again I started to think of the Lizards and Ramblers and their song “Merchants Lunch”). Another yum… not only do they have great music, but great food in Nashville.
After dinner. we walked up to the Ryman for our concert… but that’s the subject of the next post…
Tomorrow’s plans include: A visit to the state museum, visiting a local quilt store, and starting reunion festivities.
