Day: October 2, 2006

Last weekend, my good friend Tom and I decided to take a little trip. The proposal was to go anywhere in driving distance from Montgomery. When he suggested Nashville, Tennessee, we decided that was a perfect destination.
Of course, it’s the epicenter of country music, so our first stop was a show at the Grand Ole Opry. I was really impressed by how the show runs. If you’ve never heard of the Opry, or are unfamiliar, here’s how it works: it’s broadcast as a radio show on 650 AM. The show is complete with announcer, performer, and even commercials. It’s kinda funny, actually, because it feels like the show hasn’t changed since they started it in 1925. The Opry actually encourages you to run down to the stage and take pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera with, but we still got to see/hear some performers like Trace Adkins and Bill Anderson.
Here’s the official logo of the Grand Ole Opry, just to give you a flavor. 🙂

After we had a very enjoyable dinner at Dave and Buster’s (one of my favorite restaurants that I hadn’t been to in a couple years), and watched the college football games on the numerous large screen TVs, we went out to find some local music. We ended up at a place in downtown Nashville.
The next morning, we woke up and headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Here are some of the images from our visit.



I had fun perusing all the gold and platinum albums.


Inside this room, there were bronze plaques/busts of all the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Here is Tom with a fellow Rhodes Scholar, Kris Kristofferson.

I decided to include this one because Tammy Wynette is indelible in my memory. Her timeless tune, “Stand By Your Man” woke me numerous mornings in northern Wisconsin as part of the yearly deer camp. Of course, there was also my father belting out his rendition. In my opinion, that was more memorable than the song itself. So, every time I hear that song, or see her name, it conjures images from cold, early mornings trudging out through the snow to sit in a tree for a solitary day peering intently into the woods…

That completed our discovery trip to Nashville, but on the way home, just inside the Alabama border, we found this reminder from the past.

It was a great weekend. Tom and I hadn’t been able to spend much time together in the past couple years, so we had a lot to catch up on. Seeing a new, interesting city like Nashville was a great setting to do that.
So, until the next adventure.
–Jim