Day 9 - Thursday, September 18
Checked out of the hotel and the first stop was only a few hundred yards along Union Avenue at Sun Studio.
This is the legendary place where Elvis made his first records and where so many other greats recorded. It's only small and a guide takes you through the two rooms - the first of which tells the history of Sun (and of rock and roll), via artefacts and a soundtrack. It was very well done and the guide was a very enthusiastic young guy who really seemed to relish the story.
He took us through early recordings of Howlin' Wolf, to Rocket 88 by the band led by Ike Turner Band (arguably the first rock and roll record) and on to Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison - playing the relevant tracks at each point.
And then we were taken downstairs into the studio (still used to record during the evenings)
which has been retained just as it was. There is a wonderful photo on the wall - in the room where it was taken - showing Elvis at the piano with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash standing behind him.
That's it also on the outside of the building
We were told that the microphone there is the original - I'm always a bit sceptical about these things but it didn't stop me having a look........
and yes, I know, my stage posture needs a little work...............
The visit to Sun was a very worthwhile experience.
And then we left Memphis.
I got a little bit of stick for what came next. We were heading for Nashville which is only a few hours drive up the interstate but I wanted to do a detour to go through Nutbush - I knew it was tiny with not a lot to see but I wanted to go anyway - see the comments in an earlier post about Rosedale and Winslow - but I'm afraid I hadn't communicated this as fully as I might have to my travelling companions.
So when we arrived there was a degree of disappointment - along the lines of "why the bloody hell have you brought us here ?".
This was why......
but, clearly, they couldn't even get the damn sign right......
But there is also this......
There are two of them - one at the beginning of town in each direction.
They are about 200 yards apart............
And this gives a flavour of the place...
But it's still a cracking record and very time I hear it in future I'll remember our visit.
A few miles down the road we stopped at a diner in Brownsville for some lunch. It was only when were already inside that we realised it was a chinese buffet diner - unusual, but we for stuck in and it was very good. We're normally very wary of buffets - food sitting around for long periods and then maybe again the next day......... - but this seemed to be fine.
We finally arrived in Nashville late afternoon and after a rest and wash and brush up headed down to Broadway. It's about a 20 minute walk but we saw a guy in a golf cart waiting outside the hotel - he runs people around town for tips and on the way he gave us some info about the city. He had a radio going and as we crested Broadway and got our first sight of the lights of all the bars at the bottom of the hill in front of us, with Jimi Hendrix playing Purple Haze it was a memorable moment.
When we got out there was immediately a tremendous buzz - lots of lights, people, bars - all with live bands so that there was music coming from all directions.
Some of the places have several floors with a different band playing on each floor.
Virtually all the bars are narrow but go back a long way. The band is usually positioned just to the side of the entrance door so you have to pass them on the way in and out. This seemed to have two advantages - the sound easily gets out into the street to attract people in, and everyone has to pass the band's tips bucket on the way out. The normal routine is for there to be no cover charge or entry fee, but every hour or so they take a short break while someone goes around with the bucket.
It was tough to choose so we pick a place with a decent crowd inside and a band which sounded good from the pavement - a bar called Second Fiddle. Then next door to Robert's Western World and on to Honky Tonk Central - all big bars with great atmosphere and very good musicians.
Then dinner at Merchant's Restaurant - good but huge - and the on to the Whiskey Bent bar where there was an excellent band being led by a fill-n singer who was great - really got the crowd (lots of drunk young women) going. Seriously good fun and we stayed till very late.
If you enjoy music and drinking, this is the place.
And when we finally decided to call it a night there were plenty of taxis around for us to get back to hotel.
Checked out of the hotel and the first stop was only a few hundred yards along Union Avenue at Sun Studio.
This is the legendary place where Elvis made his first records and where so many other greats recorded. It's only small and a guide takes you through the two rooms - the first of which tells the history of Sun (and of rock and roll), via artefacts and a soundtrack. It was very well done and the guide was a very enthusiastic young guy who really seemed to relish the story.
He took us through early recordings of Howlin' Wolf, to Rocket 88 by the band led by Ike Turner Band (arguably the first rock and roll record) and on to Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison - playing the relevant tracks at each point.
And then we were taken downstairs into the studio (still used to record during the evenings)
which has been retained just as it was. There is a wonderful photo on the wall - in the room where it was taken - showing Elvis at the piano with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash standing behind him.
That's it also on the outside of the building
We were told that the microphone there is the original - I'm always a bit sceptical about these things but it didn't stop me having a look........
and yes, I know, my stage posture needs a little work...............
The visit to Sun was a very worthwhile experience.
And then we left Memphis.
I got a little bit of stick for what came next. We were heading for Nashville which is only a few hours drive up the interstate but I wanted to do a detour to go through Nutbush - I knew it was tiny with not a lot to see but I wanted to go anyway - see the comments in an earlier post about Rosedale and Winslow - but I'm afraid I hadn't communicated this as fully as I might have to my travelling companions.
So when we arrived there was a degree of disappointment - along the lines of "why the bloody hell have you brought us here ?".
This was why......
But there is also this......
There are two of them - one at the beginning of town in each direction.
They are about 200 yards apart............
And this gives a flavour of the place...
But it's still a cracking record and very time I hear it in future I'll remember our visit.
A few miles down the road we stopped at a diner in Brownsville for some lunch. It was only when were already inside that we realised it was a chinese buffet diner - unusual, but we for stuck in and it was very good. We're normally very wary of buffets - food sitting around for long periods and then maybe again the next day......... - but this seemed to be fine.
We finally arrived in Nashville late afternoon and after a rest and wash and brush up headed down to Broadway. It's about a 20 minute walk but we saw a guy in a golf cart waiting outside the hotel - he runs people around town for tips and on the way he gave us some info about the city. He had a radio going and as we crested Broadway and got our first sight of the lights of all the bars at the bottom of the hill in front of us, with Jimi Hendrix playing Purple Haze it was a memorable moment.
When we got out there was immediately a tremendous buzz - lots of lights, people, bars - all with live bands so that there was music coming from all directions.
Some of the places have several floors with a different band playing on each floor.
Virtually all the bars are narrow but go back a long way. The band is usually positioned just to the side of the entrance door so you have to pass them on the way in and out. This seemed to have two advantages - the sound easily gets out into the street to attract people in, and everyone has to pass the band's tips bucket on the way out. The normal routine is for there to be no cover charge or entry fee, but every hour or so they take a short break while someone goes around with the bucket.
It was tough to choose so we pick a place with a decent crowd inside and a band which sounded good from the pavement - a bar called Second Fiddle. Then next door to Robert's Western World and on to Honky Tonk Central - all big bars with great atmosphere and very good musicians.
Then dinner at Merchant's Restaurant - good but huge - and the on to the Whiskey Bent bar where there was an excellent band being led by a fill-n singer who was great - really got the crowd (lots of drunk young women) going. Seriously good fun and we stayed till very late.
If you enjoy music and drinking, this is the place.
And when we finally decided to call it a night there were plenty of taxis around for us to get back to hotel.
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