The Grand Ole Opry Show

After a full day in Nashville we returned to the Grand Ole Opry House for the 9:00 pm show. The first late show of the season. We waited outside until the early show crowds cleared the building while we listened to Tyler Farr preforming again out front. Once we entered the building we made our way to our seats. Up high, but centered with a very good view. The place was full. It all started with the announcer coming out and talking. He even read commercials for the sponsors, it is, after all, a live radio show. And first up was...

Kelli Pickler. You remember her from American Idol. She didn't win the competition but she did win Americas heart. She did three songs including "Red High Heels"

Follow that up with Diamond Rio. Think back to the nineties and early 2000's. Songs like "Beautiful Mess" and "Bubba Hyde"

Then it was living legend Whispering Bill Anderson. He's done it all he even did a song he recently wrote "Just Give It Away". That's right, the George Strait song, he wrote it with Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson.

Then it was the two sisters from the TV show "Nashville". They are Lennon and Maisy, 8 and 13, and they really are sisters. They did a slow version of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and their radio hit "Hey Ho"

Another legend and Grand Ole Opry staple was bluegrass man Ricky Skaggs. He brought his wife out for a couple tune, too.

The hits keep coming... Rascal Flatts. We actually passed their tour truck somewhere in southern Virginia. Must have been headed for the Opry. They did several songs including "Banjo".

Next was new comer and her first Opry performance (first since her first at the 7:00 show) was Kree  Harrison, she was this years American Idol runner-up. She was introduced by Keith Urban, a judge on this year's American Idol. She sang her current single "All Cried Out" and the gospel song "In the Garden"

And finally it was Kieth Urban's turn to come out and tear up the Opry stage. He's an Australian singing American country music but in concert he just shreds the guitar. As a rock n roll guy it was awesome. Among the songs he did was the current radio hit "Little Bit of Everything".

The show wrapped up it was right at midnight on our first day in Nashville. I'm telling you it was a non-stop week. Not the kind of vacation to rest and relax. Day two would hold the biggest surprise of the week.

The Brood Parasite

I may just be going out on a limb here but I don't think that chick belongs to that tree sparrow. A brood parasite, such as the cowbird, lays it's eggs in another birds nest. The larger fledgling then pushes out the little birds that belong there. Clearly this chick is twice the size of it's "parent".

Lee Brice and Tyler Farr, Live

We came out of the Opry House tour just in time to catch the free concert out in front of the Opry. Tyler Farr (pic 2, 3 & 4) ripped things up before Lee Brice came out. Lee is a big boy, it was Lee that we met in the tunnel during our Opry House tour. Tyer is someone I wasn't too familiar with, he sings the song "Redneck Crazy". YouTube it, you know it. He also did a song he recently wrote with Joe Diffie called "The Kind I Like", wait for it, you will be hearing it. Lee Brice is a little more well known for songs like "I Drive Your Truck" , "Hard to Love" "Love Like Crazy" and "A Woman Like You". These guys probably fall more towards the country-rock than traditional country. All in all it was a nice start to the first day in town. And was only 5 pm.

Grand Ole Opry House

Tuesday afternoon we toured the Grand Ole Opry House. This is where the Grand Ole Opry moved in 1974 when it left the Ryman Auditorium. It sits a short 10 miles from downtown. The tour included the tunnel, where we literally almost brushed shoulders with a star. Also included was the dressing rooms (can you guess which one is Marty Stuarts?) the backstge and the infamous Circle. This circle was cut from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and moved to the new Opry House so everyone can still stand where the greats stood. The painting is by Hee-Haw legend Archie Campbell, unfortunately if you look at the steel guitarist you can see a water line that shows how deep the Opry House was during the Nashville floods of 2010.

Jack's Bar-B-Que

I hate to admit this for fear of losing my Que-Card but all week in Tennessee I ate BBQ once. (hangs head in shame). I know some of you are throwing things at the screen right now, and I don't blame you. But, at least, if I was only to eat BBQ once it would be Jack's. Hands down best pulled pork sandwich I have had in some time. And it must have been a fluke but there was plenty of seating and no line when we went. Next day the line was out the door. Some day, I promise, I will return to make good on my shortcoming.

Ryman Auditorium

The Mother Church of Country Music. The Union Gospel Tabernacle was built in 1891 as a church for Rev. Samuel P. Jones by riverboat captain Thomas G. Ryman. The balcony was added in 1897 when the Confederate soldiers held a reunion in Nashville. A lot of different events were held here from plays, singers to Presidents. But it was in 1943 everything changed when the radio station WSM brought their barn dance to the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry was born. To imagine that Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Sr., Johnny Cash and Minnie Pearl all preformed here. It was awesome. The tour guide told us that the acoustics here are second only to the Mormon Tabernacle. In 1974 the Opry moved to the new Opry House across town and this building sat vacant until 1994 when it was brought back to life. I left here wanting to see a concert here. Highlight of the trip.

Nashville

So, I spent most of the last week in a big loop that involved a drive across Tennessee from the northwest corner where Interstate 81 crosses in from Virginia on Monday evening to late night pictures of the bridge from Memphis into Arkansas late Thursday evening. A whole lot of driving, a whole lot of 6 AM 'til mid-nights and a whole lot of pictures. This week will be Nashville week and after that I still have enough to last a while. So, sit back and see what I saw last week.