The South Riding RV Travels

39

April 29th - Grand Ole Opry - Nashville TN

Well, being in Nashville we just had to go to the Grand Ole Opry, even though we are not country music fans. That was probably our downfall since none of the names meant anything to us. It was certainly an experience! The hall holds about 2000 people and was reasonably full although from what we could see, most were older than us.
We were delivered by minibus from the campsite about an hour before so we visited the free museum. The names meant little but some of the memorabilia was amazing, like this collection of Marty Robbin's outfits. Jan noticed that the design was always the same even if the colours were different.
he museum also had a collection of his cars including this one which he drove in races himself. It was really a collection of American country culture. It might have meant more to us if we had been more familiar with the scene.T
On the left hand side of the stage were two girls who each signed alternate segments of the show for anybody who was deaf. They were truly amazing and provided us with much entertainment.

We never realized before that signing was a whole body activity. It was certainly clear which artists they liked. They certainly qualify for one of life's more unusual jobs. 		The show was two and a half hours long in thirty minute segments. Each artist only sang one or two songs. It was a marvel of organization since the sound crew had to adjust for from one to ten musicians with every change. There were no tunings up or duff microphones.
What was noticeable was that most of the artists (from the Hall of Fame) were geriatric. They were probably famous in 1960. Not that they were bad singers. There were one or two younger artists and they were well received, but they were a minority.

I know - we're heathens!

The other amazing part to us was the constant pauses in the music for 'words from the sponsors'. Since the show is transmitted live on radio (and also televised), you also get the adverts live which we don't believe would be tolerated in the UK. There was a commercial between every act so about one third of the show was commercials. We just laughed!

This bit featured a Louisiana artist with some hot cajun fiddle and box.

 
We got back to the campsite to the best/worst of US weather. Having left in reasonably balmy weather, we had thunder, lightning and torrential rain for the third time that day. Note the sheet of water coming off the roof. Why would anybody want to live here rather than England??