Boomtown Showdown

[This blog post specially for Nick Murphy.]

Nashville is booming. There are cranes everywhere. Renewal is all around. Research says the hotels are more expensive than NYC. Apartment rents are sky-high. (Allegedly the largest U.S. city without a long-distance passenger railroad connection.) If America is making a comeback it is happening here.

Up early in Toronto on a snowy Christmas morning. Catch the blue night bus right outside our apartment, 06:48 direct to Pearson Airport, $1.95 seniors ticket. In about 30 minutes we are at check-in. Through U.S. Passport check with minimum hassle. Both flight and customs procedures now semi-automated. Long walk to gate A6e.
We board Westjet flight WS360 for Nashville. The Bombardier Q400 Nextgen aircraft is full. Depart 09:45, fifteen minutes late. A jolly Christmas mood prevails. We leave the white Christmas of Toronto behind. Sipping two Canadian Molson beers on the flight.
Arrive Nashville airport, the Gibson guitars are still in their display cases, just as I remembered them. Catch Jarmon shuttle bus to hotel - $55 return for two people. Dave, the driver, is not on his normal run to Kentucky, picking up soldier boys from Fort Campbell. We arrive at the Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriot, Nashville Downtown/The Gulch, 901 Division Street, Nashville, TN. High of 73°F.
We walk downtown via the Broadway. Everywhere is closed. We catch the free bus which goes all round the town. The driver is plagued by down-and-outs. We hop off at The Gulch, declining a four-course Christmas lunch at the Marsh House, $72 per head. It begins to look like McDonald's! One last throw of the dice and we head for the Union Station Hotel, where we luck out, lunching at the bar in the fabulous foyer. Smoked Gouda Pimento Cheese, Spinach Salad and Grilled Chicken Sandwich, $36.14 plus tip. Back at McDonald's we buy some milk.
After time out, we head for the Station Inn for some old-timey live bluegrass music. No entry charge on Xmas night for the jam session. Drinking $4 Yuengling beers from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, $12 pizza to share. Short walk back to hotel.
26th: Walkabout in The Gulch: checking out Arnold's Country Kitchen, Carter Vintage Guitars, Downtown Antiques. Walk via Rosa L. Parks Boulevard to the Tenncare Building (former Bureau of Medicaid), an old government building now sadly being demolished. Nearby is the Hilton Homestead Suites, where Billy Ray Cyrus rents studio space. We backtrack to Tin Cup Coffee in the Horton Building, 136 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. A trip to the Tourist Information Visitor Centre is followed by a pleasant lunch at Wild Wasabi, Cummins Station, with the Dunn family.
We check out a used bookstore where I purchase: "The Last Lap - The Life and Times of NASCAR's Legendary Heroes" by Peter Golenbock, 1998 hardback, well sold at $15. A couple of howlers in the book - he can't spell Carroll Shelby (error repeated in the index) or Dick Hutcherson (he becomes Hutchinson in photo captions). Golenbock relies too heavily on interviews without supporting research. He does however detect the rigged nature of NASCAR racing, which tarnishes their back story. The author is not a car guy in any real sense. Overall a potboiler.
Supper at City Fire, 610 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203: shrimp and grits, followed by Apple Crisp, Chocolate Bread Pudding à la mode, Yuengling beer, $71.08 including tip. We ask our server, Meshach Jackson, a test question: what is the difference between a mandolin and a dobro? His detailed reply gives away the fact that he is a musician and songwriter, as we suspected.
27th: Walk to Belmont Mansion, 1900 Belmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37212, via Music Row, Vanderbilt University. We take coffee at Provence Breads & Cafe, 1705 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37212. We blunder into Bookman-Bookwoman, 1713 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37212, next door and already on our to-do list. We discover it is closing after 21 years. Annette scores eight paperback books for $8 (valued at $64).
After Belmont Mansion tour, $12 each, we take #17 bus along 12th Avenue South to Division Street. Subway takeaway lunch.
Evening walk to Bridgestone Arena where the Nashville Predators are playing the Minnesota Wild in the NHL. The Preds lose 2-3 in sudden death overtime. Also present: Peter Frampton; Vince Gill (singing backup with the Gypsy Rose covers band). $10 Stella beers, ouch! They insist on checking my ID - the second time I say: "I'm still 65!" Politically correct lawyers gone mad.
28th: Tour of the Downtown Antique market, next to the railroad tracks. Early lunch at Arnold's Country Kitchen, 605 8th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203. They say you can't have have fast, cheap and good. Wrong. Arnold's has southern food to die for! Fried catfish, baked squash, stewed okra and black eyed peas. Get there early to beat the crowds.
We catch the free green bus to Walgreen's, where we score half-price Walker's shortbread biscuits among the Xmas remainders. I send a solitary postcard from the Post Office in the old arcade. We avoid the George Jones and Johnny Cash museums. Supper at Otaku Ramen in the Gulch: Veggie Miso, Donburi Hot Chicken fusion.
29th: Breakfast at Slow Hand Coffee, 300A 10th Ave South, Nashville: coffee and "Basic Biscuit," a zesty cheddar scone. Two buses to the Piggly Wiggly at Dickerson and Cleveland, 85 cents for seniors. This is Food Stamp country. A sign on the door says: "Free ride in a police car for shoplifters." "Take on Me" by A-ha is playing. Carroll Shelby turns up again with his own-brand Chili. I note the food carts are all from Home Depot.
We take the bus back to town and walk some distance to Marathon Village, an old factory that is home-from-home to the American Pickers TV show, spotted from a distance by the old water tower. Lunch at The Frist Museum, BBQ pork sandwich, good value for two at $21.08 plus tip. Taxi back to hotel - we have walked far enough.
30th: We have been wondering where folks in The Gulch get their groceries, when we spot Turnip Truck, hawking "Urban Fare." We take the #5 bus to the Piggly Wiggly at 2900 West End Ave. Annette is thrilled with a Piggly Wiggly souvenir shopping bag at $1.99. You can't beat a good groceteria. We walk on to The Parthenon, a giant replica of the real thing, in a park. Why bother to go all the way to Athens when you have a facsimile right there in Nashville, which is in much better shape and devoid of panhandlers? Tee shirt: "Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard."
Rite-Aid is beckoning with the never-ending quest for Goldenberg's Peanut Chews. "Chewing it old school." We are relieved to find Philly's finest at $1 a pack of eleven. Across the street to Barnes and Noble bookstore. Half price diary at $5, made by Gallery Leather, 27 Industrial Way, Trenton, Maine 04605. I feel I have made a small contribution to keeping Americans in employment. I also buy the book "Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed" by John F. Ross, remaindered at $6.98.
We walk back to the Gulch via Vanderbilt University, where the Robin has set up home for the winter on the lawns. I've never seen so many. We lunch at Sambuca, a cavernous bar: soup followed by fish and chips, grilled polenta, $30.24 plus tip.
In the evening we walk to the Lower Broadway for the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl "Downtown Showdown." The Nashville Volunteers, (the Vols, UofT football), have defeated the Nebraska Huskers, 38-24, at the Nissan Stadium. The crowds are streaming across the bridge over the Cumberland River to celebrate on the Broadway, Nashville's honky-tonk heaven. $6 cans of beer are on sale from stalls, no ID check, no problem drinking outdoors.
To get the party started we have the band Locash, low-rent rockers, who feature songs about trucks and getting drunk. After some redneck buffoonery - "Hey bubba, why are you wearing sunglasses in the dark?" - we head for the warmth of the bar at the Westin Hotel for supper and a Yazoo beer, $48.18 plus tip.
31st: Next morning it it all going too well as the Jarmon bus picks us up at the hotel at 08:30. At the airport I realise I have lost my notebook for the trip. A frantic search for the bus and I can see my book through the window. We locate the lady driver who unlocks the bus and my sanity is restored. A lucky save. Turns out our flight is delayed so we are treated to another rendition of "Frosty the Snowman." Don't rock the jukebox.

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans

Toronto was underwater, after widespread flooding, as we prepared to set off for our train trip to New Orleans, which departs from Chicago. We rode the subway and streetcar to Billy Bishop City Centre Airport, Toronto’s great little downtown runway, for the flight to Chi-town. Enjoying the free coffee, snacks and newspapers in the lounge our Porter flight was only forty minutes late departing. A result considering we spoke to a couple headed for New York who had been delayed for two days.
We arrived at Chicago Midway, shot through customs and took the Orange Line to Quincy on the loop, $2.25 per person. A short walk a few blocks west, across the river, and we arrive at historic Union Station, where we checked our baggage at the Metropolitan Lounge. Nearby Lou Mitchell’s at 565 West Jackson Boulevard provided the diner experience for lunch, somewhat on the tourist beat but worthwhile for a treat, $31.88 for two plus tip. We then took a walk around the loop to the public library, the books-on-sale section being a shadow of its former self. At Barnes & Noble I bought “Car Guys vs Bean Counters – The battle for the Soul of American Business” by Bob Lutz, $16. (How GM nickel and dimed itself into oblivion.)
Back at Union Station we settle into the subterranean waiting room. Our Pullman host Jessica says we will be boarding at 19:20 for the scheduled 20:00 departure. Passengers are embarking for all points of the compass but I look around for fellow Pullman passengers in vain. Jessica informs us that we are the only passengers for the private railcar and that we will have our own steward (Jody) and chef (Daniel Traynor). We are shown to the Master Suite, with double bed, in the Pullman car called Pontchartrain, attached to the back of the Amtrak “City of New Orleans.”
We leave bang on time and are shortly joined at the rear of the train by Amtrak conductor Mary. On reaching 21st Street we back around on track B2 to BNSF Main 3, crossing over to Main 1, then up the St. Charles Airline to 16th Street Tower, where we join the Illinois Central tracks, now CN. Mary is a fundie when it comes to Chicago railroading, pointing out relics of B+O, CSX, Santa Fe, Grand Trunk and Rock Island as we head out of the city. Another landmark we pass is the old Pullman factory.
The Big Easy is 934 miles away so we change for dinner, smart casual, and try to get used to being waited on hand and foot. The relish tray features pickled watermelon rind, a southern speciality, in the first of four courses. I settle for gin and tonic, Chardonnay and Courvoisier to accompany the meal. No mint julep.
Day 2. Next morning I am up early enjoying the ride through the swamp into Memphis, Tennessee. Coffee about six o’clock is most welcome as I stretch my legs on the platform. We reach the state of Mississippi with its hardscrabble towns of shacks and shanties. At Jackson I photograph the Capitol building in the distance. Legend has it that the statue of Robert E. Lee atop the building was turned around on refurbishment, so that he now turns his back on the north. We roll into NOLA mid-afternoon, passing Lake Pontchartrain, and catch a cab to our hotel at the Country Inn and Suites on Magazine Street. Comfy and quiet in a rustic older building. We crash out.
Day 3. Next morning we set off to walk the two blocks to the French Quarter bright and early before the heat of the day takes hold. We read the papers at Community Coffee at St. Philip and Royal. We look round the French Market but to our chagrin there are no streetcars running on the Riverside section. We stop by the National Parks tourist information where they have interactive screens showing films about New Orleans music.
We lunch at Pierre Maspero’s, 440 Chartres Street. A greeter lady was handing out menus on the street but shrimp and grits were not on the menu. After some haggling we secured this superb creamy southern delicacy at $17 a plate. I said: “this should be your signature dish!” I sample the Abita Amber craft beer.
We ride the Canal Street streetcar to Cemeteries, where the above ground graveyards are to be found. Day pass $3. After time out we ride the St. Charles streetcar in the rush hour which then short turns. Back at the hotel they are making a movie outside which involves mardi gras scenes. We scoop up the necklaces thrown by the actors from their faux floats. We have a sandwich supper from CVS.
Day 4. We take the Riverside walk, past Harrah’s Casino, to the Hilton Hotel to get some cash. I score a free newspaper. Back on the streetcar (Red then Green) we short turn once more on St Charles due to construction. We backtrack to Rite Aid, where Goldenberg’s peanut chews from Philadelphia are on sale at $1 a throw, water 50 cents. Our Rite-Aid discount card is earning its keep. We cross the street to Fresh Market, a supermarket in an old mansion and former funeral home, $5.25 for two coffees plus two delicious pastries sitting on the verandah. Deal!
We leave the streetcar at Lee Circle and walk to the Civil War Museum, $8 per person, recommended. We then walk back to the hotel where they directed us to Mother’s for lunch. This is a popular spot with down home cooking that involves queuing in the hot sun. We sample Seafood Gumbo and Red Beans and Rice. In the evening we walk to Mulate’s, for Cajun food and music, $65.22 plus tip. (Both these are tourist eateries outside the French Quarter.) We share crabmeat stuffed with mushrooms followed by blackened catfish. I sample the Pontchartrain Pilsner, $4.99 a bottle. The Cajun band Le Touché are performing and folk of all ages get up and dance. Good service.
Day 5. A rare occurrence for us, we take an organized bus tour to the sugar plantations of Oak Alley and Laura’s, situated on the Mississippi river in the direction of Baton Rouge. As the bus pulls into Oak Alley I spot a hummingbird feeding on a bush. I later spot some more. To my surprise not even the resident tour guide has seen them.
At Laura’s the Creole tour guide laments the influence of the Anglo-southerners – the abolition of the Code Noir before the Civil War (which allegedly provided a route out of slavery for those that desired it most, and is ignored in the history books) and official hostility to the French language in modern times. He stated that the original meaning of Creole was that you were born in Louisiana, spoke French, and were Roman Catholic. It had no racial connotation. He also criticized the abolition of slavery by the Yankees, which provided little or no relief for the slaves on the plantations. Things are never quite the way they seem.
We took a walk down Bourbon Street on Saturday night, (also Bastille Day week-end) at six o’clock. It is bedlam! There are too many guys in bras and mostly second rate rock music. What will it be like by midnight after too many hand-grenade cocktails? We retreated to the hotel and consoled ourselves with Abita beer and pizza at the bar. Earlier we were listening to WWOZ (dubya-dubya-oh-zee) in the Ten-Cent-Store.
Day 6. We hike a couple of blocks with our luggage to Canal Street. We take the recently opened UPT/Loyola streetcar to Union Passenger Terminal, which doubles as the Greyhound bus stop. The 1954-built concourse is splendid with a large pillarless area. Could this be one of the last passenger stations from the golden era to be built in the United States? A lady passenger, headed for the west coast via Chicago, is lamenting the loss of service on Jacksonville-Tallahassee-New Orleans, formerly part of the Sunset Limited route. We lodge our luggage with Amtrak and walk to St. Charles for coffee. We note the old streetcar tracks on Howard which, but for a short gap, connect Lee Circle to the train station. There are proposals to reinstate this section.
Joining the train at UPT we are held up by a snafu by the Amtrak crew whereby they passed a red signal in the yard and have to be stood down (in the UK known as a SPAD - signal passed at danger). I drink some Pinot Grigio in the Club Car to compensate, while we wait for another crew. We are joined in our two-car consist (Chebanse sleeping car, Adirondack Club car) by two couples, one from Illinois, one from Detroit. Champagne is flowing for an anniversary at dinner in the diner.
Day 7. We roll onto Chicago, after making a stop at Kankakee, arriving about 90 minutes late. We never did catch back the time lost at the start despite rolling at eighty plus m.p.h. on some sections. We hike across the Chicago River and find a taxi that is pointing in our direction, thereby avoiding a detour. We check in early at the Silversmith Hotel, at Wabash/Madison stop on the Loop, (our second choice as the Palmer House was fully booked). We head for the architecture boat tour on foot. Despite my dislike of tour boats this is a splendid trip. Annette buys me a beer to calm me down. The man at the microphone was both lighthearted and informative, the facts coming thick and fast, while not talking down to the audience. Outstanding. Late lunch at Corner Bakery Café, 360 North Michigan Ave. Free lemonade with coupons handed out on street. Then late supper al fresco on a warm night at Pizano’s Pizza and Pasta, round the corner from our hotel on Madison. Giant portions of pasta - Pasta Primavera: $14.95; Pasta A “La” Dino: $16.95.
Day 8. Up early for 07:00 breakfast at the Silversmith. Room charge $249, comfy but a bit spendy plus $40.84 room tax, ouch. Disappointing Continental breakfast in nice surroundings, free newspapers. I was trying hard not to end on a bum note! The Orange Line is right outside and we reach Midway airport in short order (unlikely that a taxi would be any quicker). The little Porter plane takes us home.
Would I go back to New Orleans? You betcha!

When You're Hot, You're Hot

Nashville: Jerry Reed is gone.
I remember having a compilation tape of the guitar master in my car back in the day. "She got the goldmine, I got the shaft" later became my theme tune!

Pardon me boys

Volkswagen get a huge bung, erm, incentive to locate a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Just like in the railroad days the rush to land the big fish is over.
Wonder what the folks in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania make of it where the VW Rabbit was made in 1978-1988. Let's hope this time round that VW can make it stick.
The splendidly named Tennessean has the story.
Back story here and here.

Logano on a roll at the Rock

Stock car racing has a shining new star: Joey Logano, 17, sat on the pole for the Carolina 500 at the newly-returned Rockingham Speedway and stunk up the show by dominating the race all afternoon. Discovered by NASCAR veteran Mark Martin at age 15, crew-chief Billy Venturini said of Logano "He is the best kid I've ever seen." Look for him in the NASCAR Nationwide series shortly as he turns 18, and don't rule out a Joe Gibbs Racing ride in Sprint Cup before long.
The ARCA-sanctioned 312 lap '500', measured in kilometers [argh!], gave the race its iconic name. Nashville recording artist Josh Gracin sang the national anthem while US Army AH60 Blackhawk helicopters provided the fly-past. Rockingham had been hors-de-combat from 2004 when Matt Kenseth was the last winner in the DeWalt Power Tools Ford on the NASCAR circuit.
This time round Tony Stewart flagged off the field as Joey Logano jumped out to an early lead in his first ARCA start. There didn't look to be a particularly large crowd with plenty of empty seats. Track promoter Andy Hillenburg said "Little over half the stands are full. We're gonna make it bigger and better every year." Ex-F1 racer Scott Speed shunted in the early going in the Red Bull Toyota, condemned to an afternoon as an also-ran after his recent win in Kansas. The race was something of a crashfest with many of the front-running cars damaged early on. Veteran driver Kenny Schrader finished second. See PunchBuggy Passim.

The Rock is back

They say 'they never come back' but here is a story with a happy ending. The Speedway at Rockingham, North Carolina, which dropped off the NASCAR roster in 2004, has changed hands for about $4 million and Andy Hillenburg is bringing the place back to life with an ARCA race on Sunday, May 4, 2008. Hurrah!

The ego has landed at the Ryman

To the Lane Motor Museum in south Nashville - the best damn car museum you never heard of. A European flavour with a bias toward microcars, this museum is a cracker, with no barriers around the vehicles. I have longed to own a Liege and there was a beautiful yellow example on display.
Back into town to Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill at the corner of 5th and Broadway for a lunch BBQ, fries and 'slaw special. Live music nightly - a mixing desk hangs on the wall and the microphone stands have cup holders. We head to the Ryman Auditorium, an old church, for a tour - the ancient home of the Grand Ol Opry - Van Morrison's band is setting up on the stage and we are informed rather sheepishly that Van has decreed that no photos of the stage are allowed; as if he owned the place. We paid good money to take the tour so here is a picture of the stage:

When we are leaving a tout, or scalper, offers me tickets for the evening show. I said "I wouldn't go see that SOB if you paid me." He said "Well that is a definite no then." On to the Musicians Hall of Fame, a fairly recent development, that honours the session musicians and sidemen who have made the music of America. Excellent displays but no definitive list of who is in the Hall of Fame - a strange omission.
In the evening we head to the Bluebird Cafe, a home to songwriters, in a strip mall in the 'burbs. This is the serious side of songwriting and in Nashville this is serious business. Consequently artsy folk are taking themselves terribly seriously - "I wrote this song on a Greyhound bus with a ukelele" - everything in Nashville starts with a song. Everybody is carrying a guitar case hurrying to the next gig. They all want to mix with the celebrities and collect the royalties. It was fun sitting at the bar at the 'Bird, with tray orders being made up at my elbow, but you need to be a hardcore poet to take this. We head home via the lights of Broadway stopping to watch a sternwheel river boat coming into view on the Cumberland River.

Notes from Hazzard County

Up on a lovely sunny day in Nashville and we rented a car and headed south to the Lane Car Museum - not open but worth returning today. A Tatra was parked outside. The out-of-town motels were advertising $30 per night, $150 per week. We drove on to Opryland where we stopped at Opry Mills for the shops - Barnes & Noble bookstore being largely empty so we supped a large tea while discussing our purchases. I bought "How Nashville became Music City USA" by Michael Kosser which has a CD included of some rare cuts. Annette was thrilled to find a book by Alexander McCall Smith at $13, which would be $20 for sure back in Hogtown.
We flunked a trip to the Opryland proper, a huge building complex, as there were signs saying $16 just to park the car. We had lunch at Bob Evans, a chain familiar to us from a previous tour. Nearby was Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard Museum with the General Lee parked out front.
Heading back into town we stopped at the Piggly Wiggly to stock up on grits - hard to find outside the south. This small supermarket was full of Piggly Wiggliness! Can't beat a good groceteria.
Back in the city we stopped at the Tennessee State Museum. $9 to park the car for an hour and the inevitable rushed visit. I focused on the Civil War exhibits. After a time out we were back at Christopher Pizza in time to catch the set of Damien Horne, a singer recently in Africa with Kenny Alphin of Big & Rich - can't get away from those guys. His sidekick was Chris Patterson who proved an able rhythm section with a drumbox, which he sat on, and a few handheld gizmos.
Back at the hotel a no-name comedy band with a touch of Skynyrd played to an audience of two - us - with such gems as "How you look naked in the waterbed", "I'm in love with my blind, blind date", and "It might be cheaper to keep her." From the sublime to the ridiculous. Reminded me of "I've got friends in low places."

Mad it up to Music Row

Monday night I was watching John Rich, of country act Big & Rich, on CMT, the guy that reminds me of Deputy Dawg. He has a new 'reality' TV show which proved to be quite the worst since the belly-flopping fatties back in Houlton, Maine. Same channel - see PunchBuggy Passim.
Up early blogging then down to breakfast where Niels C Abild of the Kansas City Stompers, a Danish jazz band of some renown and a historic race car driver, chats to us. He is on a musical pilgrimage round the USA with his son - "We've got to catch a plane to Las Vegas."
We walk to the Frist Center, an old Post office building from the thirties, now an art gallery. This buiding has an exquisite art deco interior and we talk to Mancil Ezell, the docent, who is a fierce Nashville partisan. Knoxville: "They ain't nothing but a bunch of hicks." Memphis: "A river town. I don't care to go there." He did put in good word for Chattanooga, a rail town with a commendable aquarium. We take lunch at the restaurant which is both very good and cheap - Salibury Steak special $8. Don't miss this depression era gem with its black Georgia marble and stainless steel mouldings. There used to be an overhead walkway connecting the Post Office to the station: "In those days you could consign cattle at the Post Office."
Walk on to Country Music Hall of Fame which has a special Marty Robbins exhibit. He was a cool guy - singer, songwriter, movie actor and race car driver: "I drive for the fun of it. I try to stay out of the way of those other fellows who are out there to make a living. I just love to be on the track with them." Although he never won a NASCAR race, Robbins finished in the Top Ten six times. The HoF is full of Nudie Cohen stage suits including the Gram Parsons jacket embroidered with marijuana leaves, the Hatch Show Print posters add colour including gigs by Brits Chad Stewart & Jeremy Clyde. Also don't miss Elvis Presley's Barris Custom 1960 Cadillac 75. The whole show is a tour de force, except close to the exit there is a display featuring Big & Rich - surely they are watering the brandy.
We take the tour bus to Studio 'B' at the RCA studio on Music Row. Much of Elvis Presley's catalogue was recorded here but also Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves and many others made records here. The Steinway piano that Floyd Cramer played is here.
In the evening we head down to The Station Inn - live Bluegrass music since 1974 - $8 on the door. Get there before redevelopment nixes the venue. The band is a pickup ensemble based on the band Mashville Brigade, with an 'M' - a request for 'Rocky Top' is declined, the equivalent of 'No Stairway' or 'No Mustang Sally' in other genres. The front line consisted of Ashby Frank, on mandolin and vocals, Josh Williams, guitar and vocals, and Jeneé Fleenor on fiddle and vocals. Outstanding. Jeneé is from Springdale, Arkansas and tours with Canadian country singer Terri Clark. They have just been out on tour with Big & Rich. Argh!

The twang's the thang

Flew down to Nashville via Cincinnati yesterday. Snowy on departure and still snowy changing planes in Ohio, but no snow here although the bus driver, who brought us from the airport to Best Western Music Row, said they had some last Saturday. Road testing Boothill - my ancient Dell laptop rebuild - fascinating watching all the road warriors at the airports with their wifi rigs and wireless mice. Arrived in time for late lunch at Christopher Music Row Pizza, 1524A Demonbruen Street [rhymes with Columbian] - "No we are not part of a chain; you are at Christopher Pizza World HQ. We reserve the right to refuse service to mean people."
We walk across the bridge over I-40, the interstate that I hitchhiked on to Memphis in the early seventies - it looks eerily familiar running in a rocky trench and I have a faint memory of hitching from the side of the road. We walk on to the Union Station Hotel - it is worth coming to Nashville for this alone - a wonderful relic of the gilded age - we would have stayed there if we had got our act together. We check out the old station and some derelict VIA rail cars - wonder how they got here from Canada? The bridge by the hotel is a great vantage point for watching the freight trains.
Nashville is a work-in-progress. There has obviously been a massive effort to clean up the town with a lack of litter and no graffiti, but as you work your way down Broadway the derelict shops put in an appearance like broken teeth in a smiling face. We reach the bottom which hosts the tackiest souvenir stores and a Hard Rock Cafe. Beyond we come to the Riverside Station, next to the Cumberland River, where the Music City Star commuter train is ready to depart eastbound for Lebanon, TN. The train seems well patronised despite early anxieties that Americans would not take to commuting by train.
There is live music all day on Broadway at the many bars - we check out the Bluegrass Inn where a five-piece hat act are playing "Guitars, Cadillacs and Hillbilly Music," "The Okie from Muskogee" etc. You get the picture - the singer is dancing around like a demented donkey - no talent scout required - 12oz Heineken $4. A few doors up and the singer is so pregnant that she looks like she will have the baby on stage.
We walk back to The Station Inn, the very picture of a blockhouse roadhouse, which we'll try later in the week. Supper at The Tin Roof back on Demonbruen - Heineken and iced tea $4!
George Bush is in town today at the national convention of religious broadcasters - they don't call it the buckle of the bible belt for nothing.

Moonshine and motors

You can't go to North Carolina without encountering NASCAR and moonshine. At least if you are lucky. Heading down the Blue Ridge Parkway I felt compelled to divert to North Wilkesboro, home to a fabled old NASCAR track. I don't come from Dixie but I've heard of the magic. We stop and ask a guy driving a beer truck how to get there - he knows exactly where to go which is fitting.
Wilkes County equals 'shine country. The former capital of bootleg whisky. We head out to the shuttered North Wilkesboro Speedway, meeting Paul Call who has been minding the place since it lost the Winston Cup dates back in 1996. Life hasn't been kind to the Speedway since. Grass is growing up through the track, NASCAR has turned its back.
All the NASCAR old-timers are grieving that it should be this way. Big money talks while the exploits of Junior Johnson fade into the past. We carry on to Kannapolis, home of the Earnhardt clan. We bump into Guy Furr over lunch who hands me a business card saying "retired bootlegger." He spent his youth running whisky from the mountains to the piedmont. We agree to meet next day where he kindly gives me a book entitled "Return to Thunder Road" and a DVD about the bootleg days, which establishes the connection between bootleg whisky and the early days of NASCAR.
Later in the tour we are at "The Rock" - North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham - a more modern facility which is still facing the kiss of death. NASCAR has carelessly discarded the past. The future is thereby cheapened.