NOTE: This is one of our occasional, VERY occasional posts on places that are huge tourist draws but manage not to suck at the same time.
(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) It's synonymous with Country music. If there wasn't already a Country Music Hall of Fame, being a member here would count just as much. Everybody in the music business strives to play on this stage.
Now, the Grand Ole Opry show is enough of a draw but what makes it special is the winter version when it returns to its roots in downtown Nashville as opposed to the modern auditorium that's attached to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to the east, over the Cumberland River.
In the cold months, the Opry returns to its original home...the Ryman Auditorium, just a block north of Broadway in downtown Nashville.
The Ryman has its roots as a church so it's not a stretch to see why this is called the "mother church of Country Music." These are hallowed halls for many.
While there are standalone concerts at the Ryman throughout the year, it's the Opry that made it famous. The Opry is what people want to come to see.
The Opry is not the building, the Opry is a radio show put on before a live audience. It's old and has been on the air in pretty much the same format for over 90 years. That is the longest running radio show in the United States.
People come to be enterained by a half-dozen or so entertainers...some well known, others just starting to make their mark in the business. Entertainers come here because it is the most important stage they can play.
That formula right there...people thrilled for the chance to be here to see the show and entertainers who consider playing here the highest honor they can aspire to...is the main reason this place doesn't suck.
The pricing is moderate, the staff wonderfully friendly, as are your seatmates on the pews that make up the seating area for this place. The show is very entertaining and you'll wonder where the time went when you're done.
Wheelchair accessible seating is available at all levels and price points. Management also enforces that those seats only go to those who need it so someone won't sucker you out of those front row, prime spots.
Most people would say this is the biggest must-see attraction in Nashville. Most people are right. There is nothing bigger or better on the Nashville scene to brag about when you get back to your friends back home.
For more things to do in Nashville, the Groupon folks would like you to check out this link.
Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved
(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) The day trip to Franklin for brunch was just what I needed to fight the blues of the first day in Nashville. Our theme for this trip is music, so now we'll jump in with both feet.
It's 7:00pm and we're at a non-descript office park south of downtown. Looking for a place to park, we see a guy in an empty lot waving frantically at us to park.
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"You going to the Jumpers' show?"
"Yep."
"That'll be five dollars, park right over there. Y'all have a good time, OK?"
Mightly friendly but what comes next is a bit disturbing. Another guy working the lot pulls up and doesn't shut his door quick enough for the first guy's liking. Pretty soon, guy number one is yelling at guy number two. Then both are yelling, then guy one tells guy two he's fired, then pushing and shoving, then a truce is reached and I guess guy number two is still working.
"Sorry about that, he's just a bad apple. Y'all enjoy the show," guy number one tells us.
Okay, then.
At the other end of the building is 3rd and Lindsley, a small nightclub that you blink and miss. We're here to see the Time Jumpers, a band made of of some of Nashville's biggest names that like to get together each Monday night here, play music together, drink beer, and just have a good time.
If' you're there, you get to hang with them and have a good time, too.
It's low-key and casual. We're treated to the sight of Vince Gill...a Country Music Hall of Famer and multi-Grammy winner...on stage setting up his own gear. No roadies tonight.
Singer of Riders in the Sky, Ranger Doug Green steps by our table and has a little chat. He poses for the picture above and tells us Dawn Sears...wife of the band's leader, Kenny Sears and one of the best female vocalists anywhere...will not be there tonight because she is starting round two of her chemotherapy treatment for lung cancer.
It's a shame it's happening to such a great singer. (Note - sadly, Dawn lost her battle to cancer in 2014 - Ed)
I get a CD for Letty so she can get to work getting signatures. Tim and I had met Billy Thomas, Vince Gill's regular drummer, before. He didn't remember me but it came in handy to get him to start the signature fest.
Letty went to work for the rest of the band, me filling in when I could get one easy, and got Sears, Vince Gill, Andy Reese, and Paul Franklin...one of the best steel guitar players around.
It's truly an all-start cast and when the swinging starts at 9:00, the place gets rockin'.
Kenny Sears, the leader and head fiddle player, is celebrating a birthday tonight as is Gill's wife, Amy Grant. A cake is cut for Kenny and Amy takes to the stage to belt out a song before giving way to Gill's daughter Jennifer, who also has a great set of those Gill pipes.
At the end of the show, a few band members scoot out the back very quickly but the remainder settle in at the bar. Ranger Doug had sung "Put Another Candle on Your Birthday Cake" for Kenny and Amy, which was Sheriff John's song when I was a kid.
I went up to him at the bar and thanked him for singing that as it reminded me of those childhood memories. He told me he grew up in Costa Mesa, then sang another Sheriff John song for me at the bar.
It's another day in downtown Nashville in the morning as we battle the bitter cold (34 and dropping) at Broadway Brewhouse. Just a place we wandered past, really, but it turned out they make a very good gumbo.
The hot stew, warm dining room, and cool beer seemed to be just what we needed.
After, we head up the street to the Ryman Auditorium for a tour. The Ryman is the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry, our country's longest running radio show.
Although they moved the Opry to a new theater east of town, most people really consider this its proper home. The folks who run it must have taken it a bit to heart. Now, the show moves back to the old and renovated Ryman each fall and winter.
Inside, we see a short video, see some exhibits of costumes and musical instruments, take a souvenir photo, and see the snow starting to fall outside.
Tim is not doing well in the cold. He has a thick jacket, gloves, and a hat but only a thin pair of pants as the bottom layer. Back to the hotel to warm up and, while he's doing that, I run over to a nearby sporting goods store to get him some long Johns, which help out quite a bit.
Now, it's back to the Ryman for the show. Tonight, we're attending the Grand Ole Opry with seats in the third row. It's one of three wheelchair spots on the bottom. There are a few more up in the balcony.
The show is great with eight acts doing three numbers each. John Conlee, Katie Armiger, Sundy Best, Riders in the Sky (there's Ranger Doug again!), Chris Janson, Bill Anderson, Marshall Chapman, and...the evening's headliner...Craig Morgan, who is celebrating five years as a member of the Opry tonight.
Great show! First timers Sundy Best, a duo from Kentucky, brought the house down with their music earning them a standing ovation on their first try.
In the morning, a forty minute drive takes us to the far, western side of the city and the Loveless Cafe.
Famous for their biscuits, everybody tells you that you cannot leave Nashville without trying it. Yes you can, actually.
The Loveless is really good, is home to another classic Nashville music show ("Music City Roots", taped each Wednesday night in the barn out back), and has great service.
Food is good but not so good as to overcome the forty minute drive each way and the two hour wait once we got there.
If you can get in quick before all the tour buses hit, maybe it might be ok.
Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved
