2012-2013 Trip Map

We traveled from late October 2012 to the beginning of June 2013. Where in the world did we go? Now you can see on this interactive map.


View October 2012-June 2013 Trip in a larger map

Two nights in a row at the Station Inn

We love this place.  This old venue just drips with history and musical karma.  It's fair to say that every famous bluegrass artist has played here, probably dozens if not hundreds of times. It's an old cinder block building without windows in what used to be a warehouse and vacant lot area West of downtown Nashville.  Now the neighborhood is "The Gulch" and is all high-rise condos and valet-parking restaurants--all surrounding the old Station Inn.   I chatted with the owner of the club and asked whether the neighborhood was going to squeeze them out, but he said he would keep on doing their thing as long as they could.  To me, the surroundings just make the place even more classic by contrast.

Friday night we saw New Town, a bluegrass band from Lexington Kentucky featuring Katie Penn as singer and fiddle player.  Katie had a brief country music career, but as her bandmate said, she wanted to get back to her lucrative bluegrass where she's made "tens of dollars".  New Town was a solid band with great vocals and tight musicians.

Saturday we arrived at 6:30 for a 7:00 door opening for a 9:00 show...and the line at 6:30 was already long.   In a town with about a hundred music venues to choose from on a Saturday night, this turnout is indicative of how popular is the band The Steeldrivers.  We've seen them a number of times, including twice last spring in Nashville and Gettysburg.  They are another solid, tight bluegrass band, but their big draw is their amazing bluesy lead singer, Gary Nichols.   These guys brought down the house.  Gary was a country artist previously and the fiddle player toured with Reba McEntyre.   Both of them joked that they gave up the private jets to ride a 12-passenger van and make the big bluegrass money.   I'm just glad that they're doing what they do!  My clip from last night:

Tuesday at the Bluebird

We've been in Nashville for over two weeks and hadn't been to the Bluebird Cafe yet, Nashville's premier songwriters' venue.   We tried to go the previous Sunday night but the line was out to the sidewalk and there was no chance we could get in (it only seats 120).   But tonight we had advanced tickets and finally got to go back to one of our favorite places.

Tonight the lineup was very strange, four completely different styles represented.  The format at the Bluebird is four or five songwriters sit in a circle with mics and guitars and go round singing their songs in turn.  There were two kind of nondescript singer songwriters who were just ok, but for me the other two were pretty good.   Steve Goodie is a comedian/songwriter/producer who did all comedy country songs (betcha didn't know that was even a category, did you?)  Some of his songs were funny enough, including a Tom Petty medley he called a "Pedley" (look it up on YouTube).  The stars of the evening were Leigh Nash and her husband.  Nash is the lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer, a one-hit band that had the pop smash "Kiss Me" back in 1999.   She is a really good singer and songwriter and did some enjoyable songs.  Here is an acoustic version of Kiss Me by Leigh:

Monday night band at the Station Inn

For the past 10 years, the TimeJumpers have played Monday nights at the Station Inn.   We saw them at their new venue, 3rd and Lindsley last week and they were great!   There is a new Monday night band at the Station Inn and we went to see them last night.

Val Storey,  Carl Jackson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jackson) and Larry Cordle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Cordle) headline this band and they were yet another terrific Nashville assemblage of talent, Grammy nominees and winners.  They played traditional country, western swing and bluegrass.  Val had an awesome voice.   I don't have a video to post, but here is a YouTube of Carl and Val doing a nice duet:

Another awesome program at the Hall of Fame

First, let me pay my respects to Vince Gill, whom we saw play a few nights ago.  We saw a video of Willie Nelson accepting his induction into the Hall and he said "I thought you had to die to get this!"  Well, a lot of the inductees are dead, but one of the living ones is Vince Gill.  He has the sweetest voice and the smoothest guitar style around, and a great songwriter too.



We were at the hall to see an instrument demonstration complementing the Bakersfield sound exhibit.   A couple of typical Nashville types were on hand to play and sing.  Both of these guys (I didn't get their names) had played in bands with many of the greats and they had lots of stories to tell about how guitar styles evolved over the years.  We were in the rotunda of the Hall with all the plaques of the inductees around us.  The setting was very intimate (we were barely an arm's length away from the musicians). Here are a couple of clips of their playing:

More Tucker

Some of his fans have been asking for more Tucker on this blog, so here he is walking with Lynnae.

Biking the Music City Bikeway

We don't JUST go out to hear music in Nashville, and today we rode 16 miles of Nashville's beautiful bikeway along the Cumberland River.  We did a stretch called the Shelby Bottoms, which is East of downtown a few miles.  It was flat and smooth and not very crowded at all.  Hopefully we can do another section tomorrow, some of which goes right through the city, still along the river.  This picture was taken from a pedestrian bridge over the river leading to another segment of the bikeway.  It was 70 degrees and absolutely beautiful today.