So I have hired a car and as a nod towards the ever more battered budget for my trip, I plump for an economy car. A Ford Fiesta is mentioned in my booking or even a Kia of some sort. Perhaps they have found a Lada out back with my name on it.
However upon hearing my accent, the car hire lady was having none of it and upgraded me to some sporty, red number. It looks rather fast, although I haven’t really pushed it yet. I’ve already rather chanced my luck with jaywalking 😉
Just to be clear, in Boston, in Providence and my first day in New York I religiously crossed only at designated crossings and waited, sometimes fruitlessly, for the white man to make an appearance. Meanwhile the Americans did exactly what they wanted. The real New Yorkers even give the finger to those drivers, who have the temerity to honk at them for crossing illegally.
When I questioned this blatant criminal activity, I was informed by more than one person, that no one ever gets done for it. So there you have it, when in Rome or ‘ich bin ein Berliner’ as Kennedy one said.
So I venture out into the big wide world and onto the interstate, destination Nashville. So far so good, but I’m not used to the lights overhead and I think I may have driven through one red one.. oops, before getting the hang of it.
Talking about motoring over here, the signs are quite different and the junctions and road names can be confusing at times. The directives are often blunt, just like at the pedestrian crossings, which just bark the word ‘wait’ at you, when you press the button to cross.
Most of the roads are excellent, but there are certainly pot holes here as well. The lorries can actually go at a sensible speed, which is great. Indeed you need to step lively or find them thundering past you. There is none of the utterly ridiculous 56 mph limit here, that is found in Europe and which is so dangerous. I can assure you having driven quite a few 7.5 tonne lorries that suddenly finding your acceleration cut off in mid overtake or manoeuvre is not nice to say the least. Also it’s so frustrating for any driver, who finds themselves stuck behind one lorry trying to overtake another.
In Tennessee the Interstate limit was 70mph, in Arkansas it is 75mph. One huge difference though is that after about 1500 miles (2400km) I have seen not one single speed camera!! Yet I have seen almost no speeding at all in all the miles I have done here, so far. It just confirms what we all know in our hearts., that speed camera’s are purely a money making scam for the government.
En route, I stopped at my first Roadhouse style place in Mt Vernon, called the Frosty Mug and apart from marvelling at how the prices have decreased, once out of the city, I had some pork loin with green beans and fries and of course a Tennessee glaze on the pork. Yummy!
Anyway on to Nashville, Wow, wow and wow again, this place is rocking and completely bonkers.
Broadway in particular is absolutely manic, It is lined with club after club after club. Everywhere there is music from Blues and Country to Jazz and Soul. Not only that, but the quality is very high. Any band worth their salt, within a few hundred miles, must be here performing.
It’s not just about music, there was the national museum of African American music as well. Oh Ok that was about music too.
Actually it was incredibly interesting and told you about the roots of African music through gospel, jazz, blues and all the spin offs and influences. There was so much to see and do. I made all sorts of playlists following the influences of great blues artists through the ages and joined in on a jazz session adding my own interpretations in to the song. Unlikely to be much of a hit then I think. 🙂 Most of the other museums are shut, which has been pretty much been a constant bane on my trip.
One shop that I really wanted to visit, was shut due to lack of staff ,(Covid !) was the Gibson garage. A Mecca to guitarists everywhere and full of beautiful guitars that you can test and play. I had to content myself with a lot of ‘leche vitrine’, the equivalent in English is window shopping, but the literal French translation is more like ‘licking the window’, which would be more apt in this situation as you can only gaze upon the dozens of Gibsons and other beautiful guitars through the window.
Of course Nashville is liberally sprinkled with statues of great artists and it also has a full size recreation of the Parthenon. Built in 1897 to celebrate the centenary of Nashville it has as its centrepiece a beautiful golden statue of the goddess Athena.
On top of this it was snowing quite heavily today, whereas yesterday was nice.
The first night I stayed at a hotel out of town, but I needn’t of worried as there was a shuttle bus in to town and more importantly back again every 30 minutes. They had a laundry room too 🙂 Back to 4 outfits again!
The second night I moved closer to town, but still really needed the bus. However the journey into the centre was a lot quicker.
It would be difficult and long winded to post up all the various bands I saw here. Literally any bar you go into, even if only for a quick lunchtime snack, you will find a band or maybe two if you hang around a bit.
The mask mandate is mostly non existant, but they do ‘card’ you when you go in. There are a lot of young people here and as it’s 21 to drink in the USA, they are quite strict about that. Some idiot even asked me on one occasion for my ID and he didn’t even back down when I raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
I saw a great country band in Tootsies bar, even though they got a bit mercenary on the money front, assuring us that they were the only alcohol free band in Nashville. Actually meaning that they would accept as much free alcohol as was going! And in the end I got tired of them promising to play the Devil went down to Georgia, if only they’d get a few more dollars in the hat.
A blues band followed, Jet Black and the Cadillacs I think, then I was in the Mellow Mushroom with an even better band. 
Their energy and the vocals were excellent.
For the second night, I wanted to find somewhere that was not on the main strip, it’s too touristy and I know that there must be little side streets with smokey blues clubs that are more chilled out, so I did a bit of research and came up with the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Printers Alley.
Even here with the loud music my accent is noticeable. I ordered a drink from the waitress and after a while a guy, who was sitting opposite me with his girlfriend, sidled up to me to ask where I was from as they loved my accent. I have no doubt that she put him up to it, but he went away happy to be able to tell her that I was from England.
There were others too. A couple asked me to adjudicate on who was the best premier league club out of Tottenham and Manchester City, on the sole basis that I am English and must know these things. I had to shrug and tell them that I’m more into Rugby!
Nashville is wonderful, fun, vibrant and full of interesting things. I could stay here a lot longer and I think it would take me a long time to get fed up with seeing a couple of live bands every day.
I’ve rolled two days into one in this post. It isn’t something I wanted to do, but I am getting further and further behind. I’m actually writing this a couple of hours from Oklahoma City. Which is some 700 miles further west.
I did want to upload some actual music for you all to enjoy from some of the bands I have seen, but I just don’t seem to have the time, especially while driving instead of taking the train or Greyhound.
Next up is Memphis and Graceland.