Live from Nashville

Last night I took the family to Music City Roots, a live radio show broadcast weekly from the Loveless Barn. A trip to see and hear Music City Roots live and in person involves some of my favorite things, live music and driving on the Natchez Trace Parkway for a bit (the Loveless Barn is located just off the northern edge of the parkway). We also threw in dinner at the Loveless Café, a Parker ritual after a trip on the Trace.

Last night’s performers were:

Ray Wylie Hubbard

Jessica Stiles

Dana Cooper

Two Man Gentleman Band

Jim Lauderdale

Music City Roots is broadcast on WSM 650 AM, the same station that is home to the weekly Grand Ole Opry radio show. Music City Roots is in its first year of life and I have heard it referred to as the Baby Opry. At $10 for grown-ups and $5 for students, you can’t beat this value for live roots music.

If you are not in the Nashville area, you can listen to Music City Roots each Wednesday at 7:00 pm CST online.

I plan to go to another show, hear more music, and buy the t-shirt.

A Poet in the Family

DH (my darling husband) participated in a poetry reading in East Nashville last Friday. He read five of his poems, which were called “slice of life” poems by the head poetry guru. This means that the topic of life in the Parker household makes an occasional appearance, overtly or thinly-veiled. Some of this is flattering and some just plain truth, but since everyone gets a turn to make an appearance on occasion, it’s all good.

I had never attended a poetry reading before, so my first thought was I hope they like DH’s poetry and secondly, I wonder if poets are different from romance writers and children’s book writers. I consider most romance writers to be hard-core networkers, so when we gather at an RWA function, we usually start to work the room to greet our friends and meet new writers. At a gathering of children’s book writers, we talk about what we’re writing and the latest children’s books we have read. The poets were much more laid back, but maybe that’s because they were getting ready to perform.

The poetry reading was accompanied by instrumental guitarist, Charlie Rauh. Check out Charlie’s music here. I’m not sure if musical accompaniment is common at poetry readings, but we are in Music City, where great musicians are everywhere and it was a very nice addition to the evening.