I always watch the American Pickers show on Discovery Channel. But when I found out that Mike Wolf on the show has his shop in Nashville, I knew that I had to take a visit. The shop is in an area called the Marathon Village. It is a really nice place with a lot of small shops. Mikes store is called Antique Archeology. The shop has many items that has been on the Tv show. I even saw Bill Blacks bass (which isn’t really Bill Blacks bass if you have seen the show).
Recording in Jack Whites recordstore
I had read that Jack White has a recordstore in Nashville. I had some spare time so I decided to pay a visit. Outside I saw a garage door open. Out came a nice black car. I thought it might be Jack himself. It looked like him, it was him! I kept looking, he looked back and waved, I waved back.
Inside I immediately recognized the old recording booth that I saw on the Tonight show when Jack was visiting. At that time Neil Young recorded a song in that booth. It turned out that I could record myself for 15 $. So that is what I did! I have recorded in the same studio as Neil Young!
Barhopping on Broadway
Everytime I’ve been to Nashville, I have been so busy that I haven’t had time to check out the bars on Broadway. This time I decided to spend some time there. I found that my favorite place was Roberts Western World. I saw several great bands there. They all played good old honky tonk music. One really good band was Don Kelly Band. They had an awesome bassplayer – Slick Joe Fick.
CMA Awards
I have always thought that the big CMA Awards show in Nashville was only for people in the music business. One day I was walking by the big Bridgestone Arena and I saw a sign that said – Tickets for CMA Awards. I got in there and they had tickets! So, I had a chance to see this years great show. A highlight was to see Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake performing together.
Chris Stapleton
Nashville songwriting camp
Next stop on my Nashville-trip was the Nashville songwriting camp. I have been looking for a camp like that and now I found that Larry Cordle was going to be an instructor at the camp. If you don’t know him, he has written hits like Highway 40 Blues for Ricky Skaggs, Murder on Music Row and Black Diamond Strings. It was a great experience to meet Larry and the other instructors. The camp was held out in the country close to Goodlettsville.
Me and Larry Cordle
Larry Cordle, Donna Ulisse, Jon Weisberger.
Writers round at the Commodore
One of the places I always visit in Nashville is the Commodore Grille. They have writers rounds just about every night so you can see the best songwriters in Nashville. The night I went, I also signed up for the open mic. Luckily, this night the show was broadcast over local radio and also video filmed. So my little show can be seen here!
Grand Ole Opry and Brad Paisley
The first night on my trip to Nashville was a success. I had already booked tickets to Grand Ole Opry since I knew that Charlie Daniels was going to be there. I have never seen him and wanted to see him. What I didn’t know was that Brad Paisley had been added at the last minute, so I had the chance to see him also for the first time!
Getting ready for Nashville
I will soon be on my way to Nashville again! This time I will taking part in a songwriting camp. One of the instructors is Larry Cordle who has written for example “Highway 40 Blues” and “Murder On Music Row”. I will also catch up with old friends in Nashville and hopefully take a peek at the CMA Awards that take place during my stay.
Evening show
Back to regular thursday activities. A short show at restaurant Västerhus in Majorna in Göteborg.
Crippas cafe – Love on drugs
Today I went with a friend to a new cafe that has live music two times a week. Nice to find new places for live music. We saw Love On Drugs play in the small cafe. It was a pleasant evening.