The Mother Church of Country Music

It’s our last day here in Nashville. We start the drive home tomorrow. But in the mean time, we still have a few things that we wanted to do. First up was a trip to the Opry Mills shopping center to check out VF Outlet’s summer clearance. On our way to lunch, we stopped to see another Kelsey Montague’s mural called Hot Air Balloon. I think next time I am in Nashville, I will make a point of seeing all of it’s murals.

Lunch today was Nashville’s famous hot chicken. Whenever we would ask a local where we should go, most of them mentioned Hattie B’s. Now I bet you are asking yourself … what is hot chicken. It’s chicken that is first marinated in a seasoning blend, then deep friend and lastly seasoned to a varying degree of spiceness. Hattie B’s has six levels of heat … Southern – no heat, Mild – touch of heat, Medium – warming up, Hot! – feel the heat, Damn Hot!! – fire starter and Shut the Cluck Up – burn notice. Which one do you think I went with? Southern of course. The chicken was very flavourful. It was back to the hotel for a mid afternoon lounge by the pool.

Hattie B’s
Nashville Hot Chicken with Banana Pudding

The final thing on our list was to see a performance at the Ryman Auditorium. It was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974 and before that it was the Union Gospel Tabernacle. The show we went to see was called Opry Country Classics ($55 USD / person) which celebrates the classic songs of country music. The host of the show was Larry Gatlin. Tonight’s performers were Mo Pitney, Mandy Barnett, Don Schlitz and The Gatlin Brothers. The featured artist was supposed to be Crystal Gale but instead it was Connie Smith who we saw last night at the Grand Ole Opry. In between the performers, Larry would come out and do his schtick. The show reminded us of an old time TV show.

Opry Country Classics at the Ryman
Ryman Auditorium
Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers
Larry Gatlin
Moe Pitney
Mandy Barnett
Don Schlitz
Announcer Eddie Stubbs and Larry Gatlin
Larry Gatlin
Connie Smith

After the show, we walked down to Lower Broadway. For a Thursday, it was hopping … lots of people and lots of music.

Lower Broadway
Lower Broadway
Karaoke Uber

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