Tag: https://www.visitmusiccity.com/things-to-do-in-nashville/attractions/museums.

America, Countries, Music, UK

Hank Williams in Alabama

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As with so much in life where my great hero Billy Connolly goes I will follow which means to Hank Williams in Alabama.

Billy oft tells the story of how he first got into the banjo, his great musical love.

And the start point of his legendary entertainment career.

The Barras street market in Glasgow might seem an unlikely place to discover a Country legend.

But then many of the best people (Billy and Bandanaman) grew up in these streets.

And it was on one such stall that Billy’s dad bought Hank’s I’m So Lonely I Could Cry which prompted Billy to buy a banjo.

Hank’s for the memories

Music man: Billy Connolly

Billy, whose television travelogues are among the best anywhere, takes us to Hank’s gravestone in his Tracks Across America.

And texts his children and gets a photograph to tell him he’s there. 

This year is a very special year for Hankophiles.

Hiram ‘Hank’ Williams was born on September 17 in Mount Olive, Alabama.

And Alabama naturally makes a big deal of their favourite son with a Hank Williams Trail.

It kicks off with a visit to his childhood home preserved as a museum in Georgiana, where he learned to play guitar from Black street musician Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne. T

Then drive an hour north to Montgomery, where Hank moved in his teens, and pick up lunch as he did at Chris’s Hot Dogs.

Alabamaversary

Poster boy: Hank Williams

Visit Montgomery’s Hank Williams Museum to see his stage costumes, guitars, and the 1952 blue Cadillac in which he died, aged just 29.

You can pay your respects at his grave, like Billy did in homage to Hank Williams in Alabama.

In nearby Oakwood Cemetery, marked by a marble cowboy hat.

Of course, in a state where music is in the very air, there is always an anniversary.

Muscle memory

Memorial: Hank’s graveside

And April 23, 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of Rick Hall’s FAME studios in Muscle Shoals.

The studios have attracted artists from Alabamian Wilson Pickett, who recorded “Mustang Sally”, Aretha Franklin and Etta James to Alicia Keys.

A new behind-the-scenes tour takes visitors into Hall’s personal office and showcases his collection of instruments.

Respect: Aretha Franklin

Of course this being the Deep South then music is all around you so why not make an odyssey of it in neighbouring states.

And take in Tennessee and the best that Nashville, Memphis and Dollywood have to offer.

And Mississippi and its Blues trail and its Grammy Museum.

 

 

 

Countries

Tomato catch-up in Nashville

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They’d been waiting through Covid to finally have their tomato catch-up in Nashville last year.

You see it takes a lot to ground the Tennesseans, particularly on August 12 and 13 when it’s all about tomatoes.

And so if you like Warhol Campbell’s soup tins, or let’s hope a food fight, then The Tomato Art Fest is for you.

 

Take it as red: Tomatoes

And this is not just any old Tomato Fest.

They only hold the record for the highest number of tomato-dressed costumes.

You could say they crushed it.

Tammaty Wynette

It’s justified: Tammaty Wynette

And that you’d expect to hear Tammaty Wynette blaring out.

And maybe some tunes from adopted Tennessean Sheryl Crow, or Cherry Crowmato as she’s known on Toms weekend.

You can see Sheryl too first weekend of September for Americanafest.

That’s Labor Weekend which starts, of course, on a Friday.

She’s come a long way since hanging with Bill-Buddy and watching the sun come up over Santa Monica Boulevard.

And Cherry Crowmato

I’m winking about you: Sheryl Crow

Now she has her own ranch in Tennessee, complete with its own chapel, and has reinvented herself as a Country Gal.

Sheryl is the headline act for the Live on the Green free music festival.

And Coin, Moon Taxi, Yola (we’re listening) and more.

In truth, the music never stops in Nashville with the city boasting more music museums than anywhere else in the world.

You see it’s not only Country, though we wouldn’t mind if it was.

Music City

Nashville to your door: In Dublin

Most recently, the National Museum of African American Music opened its doors last year.

It claims to integrate history and interactive technology to tell the story of more than 50 genres and sub-genres inspired by African-American musicians.

Nearby is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, while you can even get a studio tour at Historic RCA Studio B.

Breakthrough band: Nashville style

The storied Ryman Auditorium doubles during the day as a museum preserving the legacy of the iconic Mother Church and all the music performed there.

The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum‘s exhibits take visitors on a tour of cities that greatly influenced music culture, featuring an interactive Grammy Museum Gallery.

The legends

Here’s Johnny: Johnny Cash

Of course, Nashville never forgets its legends and you can see them all at The Johnny Cash Museum and the Patsy Cline Museum as well as the Glen Campbell Museum.

Where naturally, in a nod to my old stomping ground in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, we’d sing Like a Greystones Cowboy.

While when you’re in The Gallery of Iconic Guitars at Belmont you’d naturally want to check out rare string instruments, and play some.

We have, down the road at Sun Studio in Memphis where we channelled our inner Elvis.

Nashville is a treat that awaits me, the good people of the city having wined, dined, entertained me in Dublin.

Before inviting me to a Nashville weekend in The Fair City’s O2 Arena.

And then a ticket to Music City which alas I was unable to take up… just reminding y’all.

And if I have to take a red fruit for my troubles, well I would.

So, here’s looking forward to a tomato catch-up in Nashville.