INSPIRED OR INDISTINGUISHABLE?

Kent and I recently did one of our "Southwest Airlines road trips". We fly direct to a US city we've never been to, rent a car, and road trip our way to a different airport with a direct flight home. This time we flew to Nashville and drove to Memphis and Louisville, KY.

We visited Graceland (I had to include a photo of these female Elvis impersonators posing with a guy), the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and RCA Studio B in Nashville. In Memphis, we visited Sun Records and STAX - the famous soul music studios. Songs from all these studios comprised the soundtrack of my youth, serenading me from the AM clock radio that lived on my yellow-painted desk with the Rickie-tickie Stickers. Visiting them made me VERY nostalgic!

We were told we MUST go either to The Bluebird Cafe or The Listening Room to hear the new upcoming Nashville artists. We munched burgers as we listened to a showcase of four young songwriters. They sat on stools in front of their microphones with their guitars, and I listened expectantly. But I was disappointed! All were trying to sound like "everyone else". There was no charm, no insight, no inspiration, yet I could tell all four of them deeply cared about what they were doing, and hoped to be the author of the next big hit. And then I understood THAT was the issue - they were trying to write hits. I've heard this before, but I saw firsthand that Nashville is a machine that encourages folks to crank out nothing of value following a formula in pursuit of a hit.

---(Actually, in 2014, Sir Mashalot took 6 country-western songs and mashed them together to show how incredibly similar they were. Click the purple link to see it.)---

The following night we were in Memphis on Beale Street at BB King's Blues Club, and I found my heart alive again listening to a kick-ass band doing covers of familiar, solid blues songs. The vocalist did the songs her way in her own lovely voice. The band hit the familiar riffs, but did not perform a carbon copy of the originals. They leaned into the music, they loved what they were doing, and it was inspired! It was so refreshing after the earlier experience, but reinforced how charmed the 60s and 70s were for American music and musicians.