Nashville Sound

Oct 2, Nashville, raining and lovely.
Yesterday was our Grand Ole Opry day.  We toured the impressive, massive, Opry, viewed the dressing rooms, stood on the stage, even selected our seats for the evening performance.  There's a rich history here, 88 years this coming Saturday.  We noted major contrasts with what we have known from the Hollywood scene.  Here, performers come through a private back door into the Opry, no red carpet treatment.  Dressing rooms are nice, utilitarian, comfortable, but without private bathrooms, showers, or closets.  Performers, no matter have great the star (and there are many millionaires among them) remain in more humble settings.  Perhaps that adds to the "down-country" feel, reverence for the history and for those who came before.  

There are success stories, but many are not as you can see from the wanna-bes who line the streets in downtown Nashville, playing for the change you throw in their guitar cases, or the tip jars if they are fortunate enough to get a spot in one of the many bars/lounges.  There is music playing all day long, through the night.  Music blares from street posts, parking lots, everyone with a guitar or mandolin.  Music is their surround-sound.  We think of the 10,000 hours theory that Malcolm Gladwell writes about when we learn that Eddie Skuggs began performing at age 7, already playing a mean steel guitar and belting out songs he wrote.  Barbara Mandrel and her sisters began before that.  By the time you are 18 you've passed the 10,000 hour mark it takes to be proficient in your field.  Music is accessible to everyone.  You don't need a private skating coach, or much special equipment.  Your Uncle Joe can teach you the chords and harmony happens around the dinner table.  Are we missing something by promoting only the most priviledged who can afford golf or tennis lessons?  So what do we do with our schools in the name of college for everyone?  We eliminate the music and art and push math problems which only very few will ever benefit from and enjoy.  I would love for our country to just stop and rethink everything, have a real shut down followed by discourse.

The name of the game here is song writing with most big name performers beginning with their own songs.  No matter how humble the beginning, singing and playing one or more musical instruments is de rigeur. While my kids were practicing their math problems, Nashville was playing music.  It is in the heart and soul, begins with gospel singing in harmony in one of the many churches, and there are many.  

I would love to connect more, but I don't.  I enjoy the country sound, the simplicity of many tunes, the bango and mandolin picking, but it is not really our music, doesn't grow from our traditions, and we haven't followed it through the decades.  Got me thinking about my own musical roots, what we heard at home--mostly Mario Lanza, show tunes like West Side Story, definitely not country.  And I recall being tapped on the shoulder by the iterent music teacher in sixth grade--she told me not to sing any more because I was off-key.  Still remember how that shut me down, not sure I ever found my voice after that.