Cruised in comfort across the State of Tennessee tonight.
300-plus miles of white lines, clear, star-studded sky, a mix
of Scotch-Irish/English place names punctuated with
multisyllabic Indian names....and the knowledge, if not the visible
evidence that I'm passing over sacred musical turf.
The road from Memphis to Nashville is called Music Road.
A good choice. Graceland and a seminal blues and R&B town
at one end and Opryland at the other. Lifelong stomping grounds
of Carl Perkins in between. Some Carl Perkins - inspired
licks on the John Fogerty CD I was listening to, so a suitable
accompaniment. And also, "I Put a Spell On You."
Forced myself to listen to one of many available Nashville-country-pop
stations for an hour. Heard the usual gamut of lost & found
love songs, cryin' in my beer songs. However, no one's hound dog died
during that hour. Did Paul Simon pass through here enroute to Graceland?
General Sherman stopped here enroute to flattening Atlanta, I found out..
I'll be doing MY work here in Chattanooga and then will charge downhill
toward Atlanta myself. In my comfortable rental car. Atlanta will
still stand after I've left. It struck me as odd they choset o hang
murals and portraits of Union officers and soldiersi n this old city,
firmly nestled in the heart of the South.