Gone Country

Mrs. R and I are about 7 miles above the heartland as I write this, returning home after 5 days in Nashville. I went to Nashville to attend the North American Steel Construction Conference, and tricked Mrs. R into coming along, even though she wasn’t real keen on being around several hundred engineers for 5 days. Come to think of it, neither was I…

A little history…

Fort Nashborough was founded on Christmas day in 1779, and named after Revolutionary War general Francis Nash. Due to its location near the Cumberland River, Nashville was a vital transportation and trade hub. Nashville’s strategic location made it a key city, and during the Civil War, the city fell to the Union in 1862.

Today Nashville is home to more than 800 churches as well as the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention. Oh yeah, they play a little music there too. There are well over 100 recording studios in Nashville, and about 300 or so in the greater Nashville area.

We arrived in the Music City on a cool but sunny Tuesday afternoon. We checked into our hotel, the Renaissance, and then headed out to orient ourselves to the city. An interesting tidbit about the hotel, there is a chocolate sculpture of a guitar in the lobby, near the elevators. It was apparently inspired by an Aerosmith song, “Love in the Elevator,” which is about exactly what the title suggests…

Since I am much older than Mrs. R, and tire easily when traveling, we decided to head back to our room early and call it a night. Our peaceful slumber was interrupted by our redneck neighbors; it had to be Delbert and Nadine, at about 4:00am when they arrived in their room after a long night of Honky-Tonkin’. We were kept awake for awhile, as they were apparently inspired by the chocolate guitar, and engaged in some very noisy love-making. Delbert and Nadine would awaken us nightly with their goings-on, and well, it was pretty irritating, in a voyeuristic (look that one up, Delbert!) sort of a way. Very classy, those two. I’m sure they’re the most fabulous couple in their trailer park…

My first seminar wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon, so we spent that morning at the

Country Music Hall of Fame

What a cool place. Everything you could possibly want to know about country music is there, from the earliest days to the present. In addition, they have an extensive collection of recordings, photographs, and motion pictures. Next time you’re in Nashville, spend a few hours there, you won’t be disappointed.

That afternoon I attended some seminars while Mrs. R scoped out the local food and music scene. She discovered a place called Rippy’s, which is on Broadway, right across from all of the famous (infamous?) Honky-Tonks. Rippy’s is a barbecue place with the added benefit of nightly live music. We had an incredible dinner, (chicken for Mrs. R, pulled pork for me) and listened to

Tommy Townsend

perform for a couple of hours

Tommy and his guitarist friend, whose name escapes me (although it wasn’t his normal sidekick, Daryl, who was, as Tommy described, “laid out drunk.”), played mostly classic country; a lot of Merle and Waylon and Johnny, and George; my favorite was a cover of Garth Brooks’ “I’m Much Too Young to Feel this Damn Old,” and George Straits’ “Amarillo by Morning.” What struck both of us was how down to earth Tommy was, it was as if your neighbor had invited you over for a beer and pulled out his guitar. What a terrific evening!

Thursday followed with a day full of seminars, including one by a gentleman named Socrates.

Socrates Ioannides

is a structural engineer in Nashville who has designed several buildings of note all over the world, including the Renaissance Hotel. He is a character - with his headful of bushy white hair, a drooping moustache, and sharp a sense of humor, he reminded me of Mark Twain. Socrates is also one of the top structural engineers on the planet, and his seminar was the best one I attended.

Thursday night was the “Conference Dinner” which consisted of exclusive use of the 7 adjacent Honky-Tonks along Honky-Tonk row. Folks by the name of Cash and Nelson and Cline and Kristofferson are some of the people to have frequented these places over the years.

We went through the buffet line, and loaded up on some delicious food from

Jacks Bar-b-que

and headed into

The Stage

where Chad Street was performing. He and his band were having a great time, and soon so was everyone else. Chad and his band easily moved from country songs to countrified versions of Eagles and Bob Seger songs, to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Hearing “Sweet Home Alabama” played live, south of the Mason-Dixon Line, was a memorable experience!

So was hearing Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music White Boy” performed by a country band in a Nashville Honky-Tonk. As Chad and his band moved from one type of music to another, and it made you realize that whether the music is country or the blues or rock-and-roll, it all has the same DNA…

The people watching was also very entertaining that evening. At the start of the evening, as we entered the tent which was set up behind the Honky-Tonks, and where the buffet lines were located, we were greeted by a Wynona Judd look-alike. I naively figured it was just one of those kitschy Nashville things, kinda like Elvis impersonators in Vegas. Mrs. R, however, had a different take. Later on, at The Stage, she noticed Wynona working the room, and not just as an ambassador for the city, but rather as a, ahem, “Professional Woman.” Nuthin’ like some good ol’ southern hospitality, I reckon.

Some of the engineers and steel fabricators attending the conference had brought their significant others to the conference, and some of the couples at The Stage decided to dance. It’s really quite humorous to watch engineers dance, and Mrs. R repeatedly thanked me for “not being the worst dancer in the world.” You’re welcome honey. Bet I’m in the bottom 100, though…

Anyway, a 40-ish couple took the floor and they were clearly the best dancers in the building. Their skill so inspired a drunken conference attendee that he cut in, twirled his new partner a couple of times, tripped and fell, bringing her down on the back of her head. A few minutes later the police and paramedics came and our dancer left with a big ice pack on the back of her head. Chad Street and his band never stopped playing while all of this was going on. Man, this Honky-Tonkin’ stuff is pretty exciting.

For me, Friday was a long day of seminars on Seismic Engineering. While it was all interesting stuff, I won’t bore you with the details, well, except for F=ma. Mrs. R, however, seemed to have had a much more exciting day.

She had to barricade herself in our room when two hotel employees got into a fight, complete with punches thrown, right outside of our room. Mrs. R called the hotel emergency line, and the “Brawl in the Hall” ended shortly thereafter. The Renaissance is a beautiful hotel, but they may need to review their personnel and hiring practices.

We awoke to a chilly Saturday morning and had some time to kill before heading to the airport. We thought about taking a tour of the legendary

Ryman Auditorium

and possibly recording a song in their recording studio. But Mrs. R was rightfully concerned that our duet would likely damage the recording equipment beyond repair, and that this would suddenly become a very expensive trip.

Instead, we strolled along Broadway, past the Honky-Tonks and street musicians. On a whim, we decided to go into Boot Country, which was advertising “Buy 1 Pair, Get 2 Pair Free.” We were helped by a gentleman who claimed to be a guitarist/singer and was clearly hung-over (what are the chances, a hung-over musician selling boots to make ends meet in Nashville?). He shared a parable with us about the last time he was in Denver, and how he was humbled by his encounter with a person down who was down their luck. He was also very charming and was sporting some mighty fine custom-made red and white cowboy boots. “Kinda like what ol’ Hank used to wear” is what he told us.

We were clearly charmed by our itinerant musician/salesman, and before we knew it, Mrs. R and left Boot Country with three brand new pairs of cowboy boots, including some shiny yellow ones that Mrs. R is dyin’ to show the girls at work.

Wow, what a week!

I’ve been to several cities in the south and, without exception, left them feeling less than inspired. Nashville is different though. This place has soul. Whether it’s the music, the barbecue, or the friendly people, I’m not really sure. But I am sure that the combination is hard to beat.

So long for now, Nashville…