Another day off was upon us before we knew it and uniquely, for the band it was a travel day. To Nashville. The crew spent the day off in the same hotel that we were checking in to, the Leows Vanderbilt Plaza. Now Mark and I have a checkered history of stays in this hotel over the years as we've often used it when we came across to record the albums or to perform. True to form, as we checked in and went to go to our rooms we discovered that ALL the elevators were out of order. We were escorted through the kitchens and into the service elevator. They fixed the lifts pretty quickly and the staff here are always very pleasant and helpful it's just that every now and then they, well....sort of forget you're there. Anyway, as the crew were all here, everybody sort of gravitated to what in my mind is the best bar in town. A short walk down West End to Blackstones. This little micro brewery-bar-restaurant is another place I know well from all the years spent here. I'm pretty sure I've eaten everything on the menu at least once. The Chaser pale's flowed and we tucked into their fabulous buffalo wings and fish'n'chips. Then a few of us dashed over to the Station Inn on 12th street to see the 'Time Jumpers', a western swing band like nothing you've ever seen before. If you're in or around Nashville on a Monday night you MUST see them. It's life-changing! Members include our old mate Paul Franklin on steel, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle and Joe Spivey on fiddle. Vince Gill sat in and sang two songs too. Truly incredible stuff.



Show day - With all the indulgence of the night before (fish and chips, beer etc.) I felt compelled to visit the small gym they have here at the hotel. After pounding away on the treadmill for 15 minutes, disgusted with the previous evening's consumptions I spent a couple of hours doing some more editing work on the upcoming video's. I never knew quite how much time must be invested in these things to get them right. Final Cut Pro is really addictive too. Then Dan called to say "lunch?". We had crab cakes in the restaurant which were surprisingly good. Then we wandered down to the gig.

The Ryman is one of those few venues where it's history overwhelms you when you take the stage. We've played here many times now, even shared the stage with Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, sang here with Emmylou, Gillian Welch; every time we come it's truly spine-tingling and the show was 'memorable'. The audience here is always great and tonight was every bit as good as anything experienced in the past.

The Luxuriati had a little wander before the show to take in some of the atmosphere outside the venue. Richard also gave myself and Danny a tour of the photographs dotted around the inside of the venue showing some of the stars who've performed here when it was the Grand Ole Opry. The Ryman Auditorium first opened its doors in 1892 as a vision of Captain Thomas G. Ryman. With the coming of the Grand Ole Opry show in 1943, the Ryman found its identity as the Mother Church of Country Music. In 1974, the Opry moved to its current home by the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center and left the Ryman vacant. It was not until twenty years later when a series of concerts by Emmyou Harris in 1992 stirred up some interest in it's existence. In 1994 the Ryman was restored to be the national showplace that it is today. The visitor tour claims that the Ryman Auditorium has been rated as having the second best acoustics in the world...cool, we never give out first prizes. 

We never did get a chance to check out Jack's Bar-b-que, highly recommended. We ended up getting a Blackstones take-out order of Buffalo wings. They may not be the best in the world but they're the best I've ever tasted and the band devoured them after the show...along with a couple of 'growlers' of their Chaser Pale.

Matt and Richard outside the backstage door of the Ryman. We were chatting with Paul Franklin.

This is John McCusker's first visit to Nashville and the Ryman and he really felt he should get into the spirit of the occasion.