Sunday, October 28, 2007 - General Jackson Showboat Cruise

Sunday we went on a cruise down the Cumberland River on the General Jackson. Yes, we got Mom to go, and she had a wonderful time as we all did. In the beautiful two level Victorian theatre, we had what they descibe as a finger-licking southern buffet.There was green salad, macaroni salad, chicken potpie, fried catfish, white bean soup, corn muffins, apple pie, and cherry pie, just to name a few things. Then we were entertained by Tim Watson with down-home humor, good ole' country music. Mom said she just couldn't see how he had so much energy.

Country Music Hall of Fame, Studio B, & Ryman Auditorium

On Saturday, October 27, 2007 our first full day in Nashville we began by going to the Country Music Hall of Fame where we picked up our tickets to tour there as well as Studio B and the Ryman Aduitorium. We started by taking a bus over to Studio B. Our tour guide was a young man named Danny, who was a lot of fun and full of information. Studio B ran 3-4 sessions a day from 1957-1977. Dolly Parton recorded many songs there one was "I Will Always Love You". She also recorded many duets with Porter Wagner at Studio B, and he recorded "Green Green Grass of Home". The piano in the studio is a 1942 Steinway, many of the artist includ, ing Elvis played this piano. Of course Colleen and I had to sit at it and have our pictures taken. Even Mom took a seat at it for a picture. In the back parking lot there is a spot on the brick wall where there is a dent where when Dolly Parton was running late and didn't quite stop in time and hit the wall. Studio B closed by coindence the day after Elvis died. Belmont University uses the Studio still for there students to learn the recording business. Graduates from there that you may recognize are Trisha Yearwood and Brad Paisley.

Next we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.....wow, this place is amazing. They have one of Elvis' cars, the gold leaf piano the Priscilla gave to Elvis for their 1st Anniversary. Clothing from Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Roy Acuff, Kenny Rogers, and many more. They also have Guitars and fiddles from many artists. I got a picture of the typewriter that Cindy Walker (one of counrty music first femal songwriters) used when writeing songs for such artists as Ernest Tubbs, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison. On one wall there were 135 gold and platnium record and 37 of them were Elvis'.

Then we went to the Ryman Auditorium where we watched a short movie and got to have our picture taken up on stage, this was on of the highlights of mom's day.