What are Friday and Saturday nights in Nashville without live country music? Across from the RV park on Friday night, locals come and perform on stage in the Millersville Bluegrass Jam at the community center. It's free, donations accepted. Whatever bands want to play just show up, sign in, and they're given a time slot. You could tell that this is not your typical tourist trap, as most of the room was filled with people from this small town. There was some impromptu clogging and two-stepping from the audience, as well as banter between the performers and locals in the audience they knew.
Contrasted to the small town Friday night venue, Saturday night was spent at THE Grand Ole Opry. We lucked into a star-studded evening that included Vince Gill, Randy Travis, youngsters Josh Turner ("Long Black Train") and Randy Houser ("Anything Goes"), as well as the debut of Kevin Costner & Modern West (fun to see, but keep your day job, Kev). It was fascinating to watch a live radio show format complete with live commercials. We found it much more informal and less staged. Over the two hours, there were twelve groups/individuals with each performing 2-4 songs. It was impressive to see the changeovers during the 60-second commercials. The stage crew swarmed in to set up microphones and swap out equipment. And the next performers had to be in place before they were introduced--after all, it's live radio! Our balcony seats afforded us a great view of all the goings-on at this sold out Opry performance in Ryman Auditorium.
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