And the night shall be filled with music, and the cares that infest the day shall fold their tents like the Arabs and as silently steal away.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We have been in the Nashville, TN area for four days. It certainly deserves the name “Music City.”  Music is such a part of the fiber of the place.  It is everywhere!  I would put Nashville pretty high on a list of places I’d like to live.

Revolution of Sound

As I write this, Kevin is out visiting friends who did choose to live in the area.  He has not seen these friends in almost 50 years!  They were bandmates in the late 60s in a band called Revolution of Sound.  Kevin (rhythm guitar,) Bob Todrank (keyboard,) and Jim Loyd (bass), are the first three on the left in this photo. Kevin has been looking forward to re-connecting with these two after all these years! This adds a more personal connection to the way that music is so much a part of this place.

Thursday night, we went to the Bluebird Cafe.  When planning our trip, we had both been wanting to see Gretchen Peters perform, so I checked out her website and learned that she would be performing with her husband, Barry Walsh, at the Bluebird Cafe while we were in town!  The Bluebird is a listening room and a Nashville institution.  It is said that Taylor Swift was “discovered” there.  Kevin had been eager to check it out. We had put it on our must-see list and expected to see some struggling new songwriters there. To get such a great two-fer of The Bluebird and Gretchen Peters was an exciting bonus!   Since the Bluebird holds a little less than 100 people, tickets sell out within minutes.  We set our alarms and got up early the day the tickets went on sale and we were lucky enough to reserve a table for two!

We anticipated a great evening, but it exceeded our expectations!  Every seat in the Bluebird is a good seat, but we were sitting about 10 feet from the performers!    Gretchen and Barry put on such a wonderful show we didn’t want it to end.  Along with some of our favorite songs, we were able to hear some songs from her not-yet-released new album that had never before been performed. The songs were terrific.

Gretchen is a wonderful songwriter, and someone you should know about! She has composed songs for Martina McBride & Carrie Underwood (Independence Day), Faith Hill (The Secret of Life), Trisha Yearwood (On a Bus to St Cloud is my favorite!), Patty Loveless (You Don’t Even Know Who I Am), George Strait (Chill of An Early Fall), Anne Murray, Shania Twain (Dance With the One That Brought You), Neil Diamond, Etta James, Bryan Adams (Cloud #9, Here I Am), and a bunch of others! She co-wrote some songs with Bryan Adams, including one of my favorites, “When You Love Someone.” You can see a list at her website and listen to all her own music at gretchenpeters.com/music.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Gretchen after the show and it was like talking to someone we’d known for years.  She was very gracious and cordial.

By the time we left the Bluebird, our difficulties from the day before seemed totally inconsequential and part of another life. That’s the power of good music! We were on a bit of a natural high as we drove around exploring Nashville in the dark after the show. We are considering returning to the Bluebird on Monday evening for their Open Mic night.

I think I should have no other mortal wants if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
-George Bernard Shaw

The following night, we went to the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium! We felt like we were walking back into history when we entered the 125-year-old building they refer to as “The Mother Church” of country music. Although we did not know many of the performers, we had a blast.  Connie Smith, Ricky Scaggs, and Mike Snyder were the emcees. LoCash – a duo that includes a guy from Kokomo, IN, brought down the house with their song, “I Love this Life.”  They had everyone on their feet and the sound of everyone singing was almost deafening! Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top Express were there and performed Osborne’s hit song Rocky Top. Everyone in the auditorium sang along. We had a lot of fun and thinking of all the country music history that played out in this place made it a special evening!

After the Opry, we went around the corner to the honky-tonks. Club after club had the sound of music spilling out into the street, and if that weren’t enough, there was at least one street performer too! We quickly realized we did not have the energy required for the honky-tonks, so we headed back to the campground.

Thinking we were taking a night off from music, Saturday night we hung around the campground.  We had some fun conversation with our very sweet campground neighbor, Wendy. Kevin has become very attached to her little dog, Heidi.   We all decided to go up to the campground restaurant where they have music every night of the week. The Critters (actually, that is not their full name but I can’t remember it all!) were performing and we caught the second half of their set. The young lady with the fiddle is Sage and she played very well! She also sang lead on many songs. We had some fun!

If either of us cares to recall how frustrated we were the day we arrived, we would have to go back and read the blog post, because that seems like a lifetime ago. We still have repairs to make to the trailer and the same issues that existed on Wednesday are with us today, but it all seems much more manageable now. We are enjoying the Nashville area so much we are considering extending our stay here. We’ve fallen in love with the place. There is so much to see and do here! We have no deadlines. Kevin and I have always had as an unofficial travel motto, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” Right now, our heart belongs to Nashville!

Blessings!