I.
No idea of the date. Thursday in October. That's all I've got. Breakfast in the hotel. Biscuits with Sock Hop Sausage Gravy and a side of bacon. That's not a 'side' of bacon, which would be huge, it's a 'side order' of bacon. But I like ordering 'side'. Very American.
I'd always wondered what America meant by biscuits. What we call biscuits they call cookies. As a generalisation. 'Biscuits' it turns out, are basically scones. And Sock Sausage Gravy is a white sauce that's quite peppery and definitely has sausage involved somewhere. American cuisine, grammatically puzzling but tastes bloody lovely.
The Ryman. Jesus, The Ryman. Did the guided tour. Best idea ever. Saw the dressing rooms, walked the stage. I cried at the intro film. Johnny Cash said, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash," and that was me gone. Because - my dad would have bloody loved all this.
Common theme of the holiday so far, Johnny Cash making me cry. Totally because this is the music my dad introduced me to: The Greatest Hits, San Quentin, Folsom Prison Blues. The sound of growing up, the songs I took with me.
Dinner at a juice bar in 'The Gulch'. Very upmarket, great shops, great bars, properly yuppie. Healthiest dinner I've ever had. Then a walk down to two of my favourite things: a guitar shop and a record shop.
Carter Vintage Guitars. It's genuinely what heaven looks like. Hold on, I'll try and find a photo.
That doesn't look like heaven to you? Seriously? What's wrong with you?
There's video of me playing a couple of Gretsches from the early 60s. Four grand a piece. Lovely. There isn't video of me playing the seven grand 1951 Gibson. I asked the lad, "If you want to try any of these, what do you do?"
Just take them off the wall and play them apparently. You sure about this mate? These are really bloody expensive, these are beautiful things, and you'll just let *me* loose on them? Are you actually mad?
Heaven. Seriously. My happy place. Might be the greatest room I've ever been in. Until we get to Graceland, obviously.
Then a wander through one of Nashville's less salubrious districts. Nashville's a very upwardly mobile city, people are flooding in by the day, they're building upwards and new. Everything's shiny and futuristic. Apart from the road out to Third Man Records.
I'm not a massive Jack White fan but I love the idea that he's got a shop, a warehouse, a label and a studio all under the same roof.
I bought a Neil Young album. A Neil Young album that Neil recorded in Third Man. Not in the studio though, in one of those telephone box 'record your own voice' things from the fifties. I bought that Neil Young album while standing next to the phone box that he recorded in. For a geek like me, that's sorcery. That's a moment.
Then to a rooftop and a whiskey based cocktail. It's 5pm.
J
It's been an amazing day.
So far:
The Opry/Ryman tour. Oh my days, what an experience. We had the backstage tour and it was mind-blowing. That feeling when the guide (JT) opened the door and we were in the auditorium with the original benches. The history of the place was all consuming and overwhelming at times. We were able to set foot on the stage, such an absolute joy 💙
We walked over to see Johnny Cash's tour bus, which was visiting Nashville (it's not always here). Again, such a magical experience. We saw June's private quarters and a brass plate on the door that read 'Royal Box'. Johnny actually robbed it from the Royal Box at (I think) The London Palladium. How cool's that?
(I. This is exactly the behaviour I want from my rock stars - nicking stuff from royalty. Every little rebellion matters.)
J again.
We then walked to The Gulch and had a browse through shops. 'Kittenish' was my fave. Had lovely healthy lunch at juice bar.
It's currently 5.28pm. We are sitting in a roof top bar at 'Whiskey Bar', looking out over the river.
(I. An aside - this is where we googled 'whose new bar is that over the road' and found that we'd seen Eric Church earlier on)
J.
We are both feeling so emotional & so grateful for our life. We're about to head back to the hotel, go for a swim and then get ready to go out for dinner and our last night in Nashville.
We absolutely love this place.
For our last night in Nashville we had a bit of a quieter one :) - went for a walk and stumbled on a place called Frothy Monkey. Just like a little coffee shop, serving food and wine. We had a nice glass of red and some lovely food.
Totally different to the last two nights on Broadway. Gave us a chance to catch up and actually talk. It was lovely.
Then back to the hotel for another glass of wine. Which we didn't even drink. We were both absolutely shattered.
The jet lag is playing havoc - especially me 😖
(And an aside from me to conclude the second full day - we spent a good while talking with the shift manager of Frothy Monkey, talking about her experience in eight years of living in Nashville, how the city's changed, how rents have changed, the ethos of the company - they have regular homeless customers who they make sure are fed, they're really putting something back into their community. One of the great things about this holiday - we're talking to people, meeting people, learning about people. It's not about the sights, it's about living. That's what we wanted all along; to be on the ground, in the city, discovering our own version of the holiday, finding out what these cities are like.)
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