Thanks. I'm really enjoying these articles. As I have mentioned, "old time" country musicians talked far louder to this Brit to our somewhat sanitised folk we are fed.
Stumbling across the fabulous Harry Smith stuff on the Smithsonian kicked me into another gear, and enraptured by Dock Boggs (never mind the name!) Sugar Babe, which still rips me apart.
So - thanks! Appreciated. This stuff needs to be propagated. It's people's music, the white man's blues.
I lived in Nashville from 1990-94 and remember going down to 2nd Avenue to the antique and junk stores down there. It was right around the time the convention center was being opened almost across Broadway from the Ryman. I had a neighbor (out in Bellevue where I lived) who worked for Gaylord and he got me Opry tickets out at Opryland. Never went to the Ryman, although I did have a co-worker whose husband was a musician on Music Row.
When I lived there in the mid-to-late 80's, you were taking your life in your own hands if you ventured down lower Broad after 5PM. Even worse on the weekends. Just like Beale Street in Memphis. I'm glad they cleaned it up, I'm not so crazy about the French Quarter aspect of it, but it's not nearly as dangerous.. Great topic!
I’m originally from Memphis, and I thought the same thing about Beale Street as I was reading this. The Beale Street I remember as a child in the 70s was a shadow of its former glory, but it still had hints of what it was; what’s there now has nothing to do with old Beale Street and everything to do with drunken college students, bachelor parties, and a commercialized, sanitized version of the blues. I fear that’s the direction Broadway is headed (or has already gone).
I am too, the last time I went down there, and it’s been several years, I saw some guy puking in the street along with lots of other tourists staggering around, drunk. Just like the French Quarter
Thanks. I'm really enjoying these articles. As I have mentioned, "old time" country musicians talked far louder to this Brit to our somewhat sanitised folk we are fed.
Stumbling across the fabulous Harry Smith stuff on the Smithsonian kicked me into another gear, and enraptured by Dock Boggs (never mind the name!) Sugar Babe, which still rips me apart.
So - thanks! Appreciated. This stuff needs to be propagated. It's people's music, the white man's blues.
Nashville Tennessee
On my bucket list 😁
I lived in Nashville from 1990-94 and remember going down to 2nd Avenue to the antique and junk stores down there. It was right around the time the convention center was being opened almost across Broadway from the Ryman. I had a neighbor (out in Bellevue where I lived) who worked for Gaylord and he got me Opry tickets out at Opryland. Never went to the Ryman, although I did have a co-worker whose husband was a musician on Music Row.
I have fond memories of the Broken Spoke in Austin Texas, back before the 6th Street scene, SxSW, and all the money rolled in.
The intimacy is long gone.
A great article. Thanks.
When I lived there in the mid-to-late 80's, you were taking your life in your own hands if you ventured down lower Broad after 5PM. Even worse on the weekends. Just like Beale Street in Memphis. I'm glad they cleaned it up, I'm not so crazy about the French Quarter aspect of it, but it's not nearly as dangerous.. Great topic!
I’m originally from Memphis, and I thought the same thing about Beale Street as I was reading this. The Beale Street I remember as a child in the 70s was a shadow of its former glory, but it still had hints of what it was; what’s there now has nothing to do with old Beale Street and everything to do with drunken college students, bachelor parties, and a commercialized, sanitized version of the blues. I fear that’s the direction Broadway is headed (or has already gone).
I am too, the last time I went down there, and it’s been several years, I saw some guy puking in the street along with lots of other tourists staggering around, drunk. Just like the French Quarter