This time we really ARE going to Nashville - Day 1 - Ryman, Drinks & Country Music Hall of Fame

[Redrach1903]

Friday 1st September

I first woke up at 3am which isn’t unusual for my first day in the states, but I did manage to fall back asleep until 5.20. Chris was also up at that time. We went up to the roof to check on the weather situation and it was still absolutely peeing down. I decided I would wait until a more civilised hour before trying to call the tour guide again, but it didn’t look hopeful and given the heaviness of the rain, we weren’t that keen to do it anyway!

We took our time getting ready as we were in no particular rush to leave (oh how this differed from first mornings in Florida haha). I enjoyed a rather fantastic cookie slice for (pre) breakfast that I had picked up at Publix the previous night It was delicious and totally acceptable behaviour on holiday!



We sat and watched the news to see what the situation was with the weather. It turned out a tornado had briefly touched down on the outskirts of Nashville, but the only damage was some trees being ripped up. Nothing compared to the horrible situation in Texas at the time

Once ready for the day we FaceTimed my dad and then Chris's mum to share the drama of our arrival in Nashville! I then tried to call the tour guide, but there was no answer. His voicemail said to text him with any tour related questions, so I did just that. At 7.50am we ordered an uber to downtown. It is walkable, but obviously the rain put paid to that! While we waited for our uber we took some daft selfies. Chris carried on his wee game he had enjoyed so much in Florida….



Excited faces….



Our thoughts on the weather…..



We are so attractive

Our driver arrived very quickly in his big ass truck! His name was Beaufort and he was amusing. At one point he said something and then followed it up with "it's the darnest thing". So very southern! Hehe! Anyway, we asked to be taken to a breakfast joint I had read about called Frothy Monkey! We ordered at the counter (Multi grain pancakes with bacon and sausage for me and Farm Fresh Breakfast for Chris) and then went upstairs to get a table. On our way upstairs we noticed some familiar art!







Soon enough our breakfast was served! NUM! I gave Chris my sausage patties. I think we established on travel day that I'm not down with weird shaped sausages





It was all very tasty and was $22 for everything. Before we left I took a photo from the balcony, it was a cool place. I liked the décor. Apologies for the blurry photo, but it won't be the last blurry photo of the day, let me tell you!



We walked across the road to Walgreens to grab a brolly. I had brought one with me that I'd picked up in Next, but it was flimsy and pathetic!



We spotted this arcade, so had a walk through it. It was a nice relief from the downpour!



Who wouldn’t want to get married here?



We decided to walk down to the Musicians Hall of Fame (with the help of google maps). On our way we saw lots of nods to country music. I don’t have many photos of the streets on this day as it was so wet I didn’t want to take my camera out too much!



When we arrived at the Musicians Hall of Fame we found it wasn’t open until 10am. It was only around 9am at this point. Balls!



We did, however, enjoy this art on their wall outside. Some pretty big names in music history right there! I spotted the Charlie Daniels Band on there and it made me excited for seeing them at The Grand Ole Opry the following week!





We continued walking around in the rain, not really sure what to do! We had not heard back from the tour guide and it was due to start at 10! We stumbled across the Ryman Auditorium and decided to go and do the tour. We had it in our plans anyway, so we figured it would be a good thing to do on a rainy morning!





A very dull looking shot of the famous Batman building! We used this building as a landmark the entire week. You can pretty much see it from anywhere and since it is located right in the heart of Downtown, it helped a lot!



For anyone not au fait with country music, The Ryman is considered the Mother Church of Country Music! It is heavily featured on the show Nashville too, so I was excited to see it for myself!

We went to the window and bought backstage tour tickets! I didn’t write down the cost, but I think it was around $30 each. Our tour began at 9.30am.







It started with a video presentation all about the history of the Ryman. It was an excellent production as the room completely came to life! There were projections all around. It really was well done. Some of the below was written with the help of Wikipedia as I didn’t manage to write in my notes as we went along! I remember the basics, but I needed some help with dates etc.

So, we learned that it was all started by a gospel revival led by a man called Sam Jones. A Nashville businessman named Thomas Ryman attended one of the revivals and was so moved by it that he decided there and then that he would fund the building of the Union Gospel Tabernacle. This is why the seating is all pews! After Ryman died, the building's name was changed to honour him.

In 1920 a woman named Lula C. Naff leased the building and began booking non-religious events such as concerts and boxing matches. It was so unheard of for a woman to run a business in those days that she went by the name L.C. Naff so that people would assume she was a man when she wrote to them. Haha! In 1943 Naff began renting the auditorium to WSM for the Grand Ole Opry show and that's where it stayed (and sold out every week) for the next 31 years. The likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline have all performed here. In fact, Johnny Cash met June Carter back stage here! What a piece of history!

Because it was never built to be a performance venue, the Ryman lacked any real backstage areas such as proper dressing rooms and the show had become so popular that the crowds were too big for the venue. In 1974 a new, larger and purpose built home for the show opened – The Grand Ole Opry House! After the venue change the Ryman sat empty for years and was facing demolition. It took the people of Nashville to fight for it and eventually lead a complete renovation in the 90s.

The renovation included an extension for dressing rooms and a new entrance to the venue. We were going to be seeing some of those dressing rooms in a bit, but first we got out to the theatre itself!



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The beautiful stained windows just wouldn’t come out in a photo! Bah!



It was time to go and meet our tour guide, so off we went! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in the backstage areas (booooooo). Because of that I have no photos to trigger my memories, so I'll just tell you the bits I remember!

The Johnny & June room was one that stood out. We were shown a short video of them performing Jackson at the Ryman and were told a bit about Johnny, specifically from his hell raising days when he smashed up all the lights around the stage and got himself banned from the Grand Ole Opry show! Naughty! He did get back in later years though of course! The room itself had portraits of both Johnny and June as well as framed records.

The Women of Country room is another one I remember quite well. We were told some stories about Kitty Wells (the original queen of country music), Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton amongst others. Dolly actually wrote I will Always Love you and Jolene on the same night! Not bad huh?

Another room is dedicated to Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl. They appeared on the Opry show hundreds of times together while it was still at the Ryman. Minnie was known for her comedy act, trademark price tag on her hat and the phrase "HOWDEEEEE". The price tag on her hat was actually a mistake. She had bought some flowers for her hat from a dime store, but before she went on stage they slipped and the tag fell out. The audience loved it so much that she said she would keep it as part of her act as long as she could change the price to $1.98 so she didn’t look cheap! Haha! Their dressing room is the closest to the stage and most likely to be used by the headlining act!

There is also a room dedicated to Lula C. Naff, who as I said before managed the shows at the Ryman for nearly 50 years. This is also the make-up room and has very bright lights all around the room. It was almost blinding! What I wouldn’t give to have a dressing room like that though!

They are the only ones I can really remember anything useful from! I am sure there was one dedicated to the men of country too (Hank Williams etc), but I haven’t written anything down about it!

I am not sure which room this is, but since we were last to leave it I was cheeky and snapped a quick pic while the guide wasn’t looking (slap my wrist).



Actually, I think that may have been the Bluegrass room! Bluegrass music was apparently born at the Ryman. A Bluegrass group usually comprises the fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass.

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[Redrach1903]

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After our tour of the dressing rooms we were allowed to use our camera again! YAY! This backstage corridor had signed posters from lots of artists that have performed there. Including our very own Ed Sheeran!





We were then shown to the wings at the side of the stage. Eeeeeep. Think of all the amazing artists that have stood in that very spot waiting to go on stage!







We got our photo taken on the stage by an official photographer, but it was awful so we never bought it! It was still very cool to be on that stage, where so many legends have stood! After that we were free to go and explore a bit more at our own pace!







Such a gorgeous venue.





The capacity of The Ryman is 2,362. That random 2 is because of this wee love seat right at the back We of course had to get a selfie in it!





We then had a play in the wee recording studio!







Clearly I'm wasted in my job, this picture just screams stardom. Don’t you agree?





Before we left we had a look at some of the memorabilia on display at the rear of the auditorium.











During our tour, at 9.58 precisely, the tour guide text to say it was still going ahead and they were just about a start. Eh cheers for all the notice! I text him back and said sorry we missed it, but we assumed it was off given the weather!

We had a look in the gift shop of the Ryman before leaving just after 11am. We decided to head down the famous alley out the back of the Ryman. This is where many performers would head for a drink after playing the Ryman, or while waiting to go on! Hank Williams apparently was quoted as saying it takes 31 steps to walk to Tootsies, but 72 to stumble back



I wanted to take a photo of the old front of the building, but I couldn’t get one as there was construction going on across the road! Bah! I settled for these snaps instead.







Even though it was only 11.15am we decided to head on into Tootsies for a drink! It's 5 o'clock somewhere, right? Anyway, I blame the rain!



The bar was unsurprisingly quiet, but there were a couple of guys singing and playing guitar! We ordered a drink. I went for a Loretta cocktail. I can't remember what was in it, but it was lovely and far too easy to drink! Chris had a Michelob Ultra which he was very happy about as it's his fave beer in America!



Just to set the scene; most bars in Nashville have at least 3 levels! We walked in via the alley, so were on the middle level, there was another level downstairs and a third upstairs plus a rooftop terrace! In between one of the songs the guys were playing we could hear a bit more life coming from the bar downstairs, so we took our drinks and headed on down! And what we found were this awesome band and a party atmosphere! People were actually up dancing. At 11.30am!



It was nuts for this time of day! It could easily have been 9 o'clock at night! We soon got swept away in it all and were ordering drink after drink and singing along The guy singing is called Tim Daley and he must have a residency gig at Tootsies as we saw him a few times over the course of the week. He was great and really interacted with everyone in the bar! He asked everyone around the bar where they were from. When we said Scotland the whole bar erupted and it wasn’t the last time it happened! People just went crazy when they heard we were Scottish

Anyway, here's a bit of Rhinestone Cowboy for ya



Tootsies selfie! Why I bothered straightening my hair that morning I have no idea! Bloody rain! Haha!



Now, on Broadway in Nashville you don’t pay any cover charge to get into any of the bars at any time of the day or night. What they do instead is pass around a tip bucket for the bands playing. That's how they get paid and when you give a tip you can request a song. The fiddle player (Siobhan) came round with the tip bucket and got chatting to us. She was asking us where we were from and if we wanted to hear anything. I asked for my old fave "chicken fried" and sure enough they obliged Half way through the song they stopped and did a "holler and swaller". This was a recurring thing in Tootsies especially, but we saw it in other bars too! Crazy behaviour before lunch time! Haha! Also, look at the door and that rain!



After a few (too many probably) drinks we decided to continue our wee booze fest and head next door to Robert's Western World. I think it was around 1pm by now.



I had a vodka and cranberry and Chris had Michelob Ultra.



I decided it would be a very wise move to order some food at this point. We were getting a little bit too tipsy for this time of day and we are definitely too old for the eating's cheating rule! I ordered a hamburger with potato chips and Chris had a hot dog and onion rings!



Soon enough one of the band members came round with the tip bucket and asked if we wanted to hear anything. I asked if they knew any Kip Moore who is a country artist I have been listening to a lot, but he said they were a bit more old school/bluesy than that and started rattling off some other songs. I stopped him when he said Bee Bop a Lula! My uncle Alastair used to sing that to me and my sister when we were kids, so I said yes pleeeeeeeeeease!



I think we had one more drink here and then left. Before we did though I wanted to go upstairs and take a photo to show just how big the bar was. And to think there were another 2 levels!



Next up we headed to Crazy Town! We decided to go upstairs and see what that was like, but it was pretty quiet. We stayed anyway as the guy singing was pretty good!





I had another vodka and cranberry, while Chris tried one of these. I don’t remember if he said it was good, but I'm guessing not as he never had another one!



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[Redrach1903]

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It was now around 2.30pm I think and we were officially BOOZY! We figured we better try and sober up and do something besides get smashed, so we wondered off to find the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now, I'm not gonna lie, these next couple of hours are a wee bit blurry. As are the majority of the photos Never go to a museum half cut…. My notes read "figured we better sober up, so did country music hall of fame. $25 each. Singing we will rock you in the recording booth haha". That's it. That's what I'm working with here people! Just as well I took a lot of photos to trigger my drunken memory.

As you can see, it was still pouring with rain.



The first thing we saw was a big Taylor Swift face. I was happy. She's my girl crush.





Then we had a walk around the newly opened Loretta Lynn exhibit. Quite fitting as I'd drank 3 or 4 cocktails in her honour earlier







We saw lots of memorabilia from Shania Twain to Johnny Cash. Some of these photos are spectacularly bad. Soz.









I can't remember who this car belonged to, but it had guns ALL OVER IT.



Then we saw Elvis's actual Cadillac!





I remember Chris telling me take a photo of the TV!



Can't remember who's this was. Someone called Webb I imagine!



Are you enjoying my in depth review?

Hank Williams' guitar…



Lots and lots of records!



Charlie Daniels exhibit. Be seeing you on Tuesday old chap!





Some more award winning photography efforts….





Johnny Cash on Bob Dylan…



Dolly Parton's hand written Jolene lyrics!





RIP He died about 3 weeks before we arrived in Nashville.



Alan "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" Jackson's guitar.



Oh man, I really should have given up!





This is a letter from Kelly Clarkson to Jason Aldean thanking him for asking her to duet with him.



Chris asked me to take a photo of this car.





Taylor Swift's dress from the "Love Story" video.



And her sparkly guitar.



I think this was the dress Carrie Underwood wore when she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Don’t quote me on that though!



Some more bits and bobs…









We came across this magnetic board for creating song lyrics. Maybe song titles? I can't remember, but I do remember making this for Chris. Aren't I romantic?



And he made this for me. -__-



We came across this cool mixing touch screen mixing board thing and played about with it for a while!







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[Redrach1903]

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We then went into the recording studio! This is where the only piece of info in my notes came from!



Look at those bleary eyes! Shambles!



Anyway, we recorded a rather fantastic rendition (ahem) of Queen's We Will Rock You. I seem to remember there being an option to email your recording home, but I think we had sobered up enough to realise nobody needed to hear that ever again

The last thing I took a photo of in the museum itself was this humungous guitar!



And then we were done. I took a few pics of the atrium bit as I thought it was pretty!







Before we left we had a look in the gift shop and tried on some Stetsons!



It was now 4pm and we decided we needed a disco nap before going back out at night, so we ordered an Uber. We got Yoshi. I wrote in my notes that he was funny, but I don’t remember why! We had a cup of tea when we got back and then went upstairs for a nap. When I woke up I was totally confused. I couldn’t remember how we had gotten home the night before or what we had done! I then looked at the time. It was 9pm! Yip, we hadn't been back out and that's why I couldn't remember! Haha! We had been napping for FOUR HOURS! Whoops! We decided that we really CBA going back out! Day drinking plus jet leg is not a good combination!

We were hungry though, so we decided to try the new Uber Eats app. We chose Chinese.



While we waited for the food to show, we munched on some bread and butter and mega stuf oreos to keep us going! The food came about 10pm and the total was $26 incl the delivery. Chris went out to collect it and to give the guy a tip. However, we soon realised we had mucked up the tip. I think we tipped 10% instead of 20%. Oops. The guy clearly didn’t like that as he shouted to Chris "tell her she can tip on the app too". HA! Well, for your rudeness sir, that will not be happening!

Anyhoo, the food was very tasty! I had chicken with broccoli and Chris had bbq short ribs.





After we had eaten we briefly talked about going out again, but soon decided it was a bad idea! Instead we sat and watched Cast Away. I had never actually seen that movie to the end! I have no idea why as I love everything Tom Hanks does! Poor Wilson After the movie we hit the sack! I didn’t know if we would sleep after our epic nap, but we both fell asleep straight away!

We had a really fun first day in Nashville despite the rain

Steps – 10,683

Day 2 is here

[beth21]

Brilliant first day

[AmyElliex]

An excellent read! I had to laugh that you never went back out again, day drinking always seems such a good idea but it always totally wipes us out on holiday too 😂

How did you find the price of drinks?

Can't wait to read more!

[fuelman]

Having a few beers during the day is my kind of holiday. Looks like you both had a laugh.

[Manyin]

Great first day , always enjoy your reports

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by beth21

Brilliant first day

See more...

Thank you x

Originally Posted by AmyElliex

An excellent read! I had to laugh that you never went back out again, day drinking always seems such a good idea but it always totally wipes us out on holiday too 😂

How did you find the price of drinks?

Can't wait to read more!

See more...

Hahaha what a shambles!

Hmmm I don't really remember being shocked by them! I think it was around $15 for 2 drinks, which i suppose isn't cheap, but what you'd expect in a big city?

Thanks for reading xx

Originally Posted by fuelman

Having a few beers during the day is my kind of holiday. Looks like you both had a laugh.

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We did! Thanks for reading x

Originally Posted by Manyin

Great first day , always enjoy your reports

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Thanks v much x

[H_C-2017]

An amazing first day. I'm dying to go to Nashville. Maybe next year...