For Dutchie it was his first paying gig and few better places than BB’s Blues Club, he was what he‘d always wanted to be… King for the day in Memphis.
You don’t, of course, have to possess the guitar-playing abilities of Dutchie to fulfil your musical dreams in Memphis.
Or be asked by Muriel to do a little number at ‘the Hollywood’ to be rockin’ in Memphis.
You just ideally need the services of insiders who know the town.
Like, say our friends at Irish travel providers Cassidy.
Anyone for Tennessee
Memphis, and Tennessee as a whole, has indeed been richly blessed for music.
Maybe that’s down to the gospel choirs or their antithesis, the devil’s drinking dens that spawned the likes of Robert Johnson.
Who famously sold his soul to the Devil so he could play perfect Blues guitar.
But Memphis, adopted home of WC Handy, BB, Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes and actual birthplace of JT, Justin Timberlake, is the gift that keeps on giving.
I got rhythm
As are Cassidy’s, who again bring us another package ‘Rhythms of the South, which is music to our ears, a four-nighter from €1,529 with flights from Dublin.
You’ll travel out on December 2 and get to stay four nights at the 3* Holiday Inn Nashville.
And three nights at the 4* Doubletree Hotel Memphis.
A night at the Opry
Now in a state so richly blessed for music as Tennessee there’s naturally a friendly rivalry.
As to which is considered the most musical city.
Of course, you can always settle that debate by just claiming it, as has Nashville.
By putting it in your marketing… Nashville Music City.
Because Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry and country music has become more, much more than that.
Nashville boasts 150 live venues, many of them Honky Tonk bars.
Where you can hear the best With more country, rock’n’roll, jazz, bluegrass, folk, and Americana.
Tale of two Southern cities
Now should you be curious to know the difference between Memphis and Nashville and that’s the journalist in me.
Then my old friend Tennessean Heather, from our unforgettable Tennessee and Mississippi trip to trace Martin Luther King’s last days, helpfully explained.
If you want to meet someone in music in Memphis you just go up and introduce yourself.
In Tennessee you get your people to talk to their people and then you’re up and running.
Heather, is, of course a Memphian, and the best representative a city could want.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to their people, the Nashville delegation.
When they visited Dublin and partied with us.
And yes, they offered to introduce me to their people and come out to their city.
Which doggone I couldn’t at that time because I was jet setting off somewhere else.
Of course good ole Southern folk never forget y’all so we will get over.
Made of New Orleans
So whether you want to be King for the day in Memphis or Cash in in Nashville then just put yourself forward (Dutchie did) and let Cassidy do the rest.
And if you’ve the time complete your Southern musical odyssey down in ole New Orleans, home of jazz.
Cassidy offers aUSA Food Tour of Nashville, Memphis & New Orleans
Tastes and Sounds of the South is a ten-days/ five cities/nine nights/nine breakfasts/four dinners bonanza.
They promise jazz, soul food, country music, and a whole lot of rock’n’roll.
Showcasing the rich culture of Memphis, Nashville, Natchez, and New Orleans, plus a trip to Graceland.
From €3,000pps, flights not included.
And when you do get to New Orleans say hi to me to jazz great Kermit Ruffles.
And remind him of how we rocked the San Antonio River Walk.