Tuesday 21st March 2017
Yee ha – we are officially in Country Music Heaven – well that’s if one is a country music fan. Even if you are not (and I for one am not really so inclined) it is hard not to admire the talent, history and fun that country music brings to so many people. We visited the Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame. They have managed to pull together an amazing collection of music, stories and memorabilia and that’s just in this one museum. Then there is the Muscians Hall of Fame and Musuem, the Johnny Cash Museum, the Patsy Cline Museum, the Ryman Auditorium, the Tennessee State Musuem, the Railroad Museum, the motor museum and the list goes on and on. You would have to be there for a month to take it all in. Apart from seeing lots of glittery costumes, instruments and gold records we also saw some cool cars. For instance Elvis’s gold Cadillac. Elvis commissioned his 1960 Series 75 Fleetwood convertible limousine that would cost him a total of $100,000 (approx. $2.3 million US Dollars today) to have it fitted out with every luxury. The exterior paint was translucent pure diamond dust pearl, which was made from crushed diamonds and fish scales. It was imported from the Orient. The paint was then mixed into a plastic liquid base, then sprayed onto the bodywork with a high pressure hose. It was then followed by hand rubbing into a high mirror-shine finish. The rest of the impressive exterior included the bumpers (fenders), the front grille, hubcaps, wheel-rims, covers, wing mirrors, door handles, and the rims of the headlights which were plated in 24-carat gold.
Another amazing car on display belonged to Webb Pierce. It was a Pontiac complete with a pair of steer horns mounted across the front grille, a hood ornament and door handles reminiscent of the six-shooters of the Old West, a saddle console and more than 150 silver dollars ornamenting the hand-tooled leather upholstery.
We took a side tour of the Hatch Print Shop were all of the posters were (and still are) made for the various concerts in Nashville.
That evening we drove out to the Grand Ole Opry for some genuine country music entertainment. The show is on every night of the year for exactly 2 hours and 15 minutes. There are 8 musicans who get to perform 3 songs with their bands/back up singers. The show is broadcast live on radio and has been done this way for decades. It was a great show.
