Day Three: Nashville: (Saturday March 30th)

1) Bluegrass at The Station Inn

I ventured away from downtown last might to visit The Station Inn, which has been showcasing bluegrass music in Nashville since 1974. Of course, when I got there, there was a sold-out sign on the door, but I managed to weasel my way in, by agreeing to just stand at the bar, rather than seek a seat at one of the tables. A true hardship for me, because, you know, I have never stood at a bar before...

The Station is a nondescript compact bunker of a building. The interior, which has room for maybe 120 patrons, looks like someone's basement: wood panelling on the walls, uncovered ducts hanging from the ceiling, actual stand-up fridges behind the bar.

Tim O'Brien, who seems to play there regularly, was joined by Trevor Hutchinson from Dublin on stand-up bass and Jerry Paul from New Zealand on guitar, who were in town to record a disk with O'Brien. O'Brien himself played a number of stringed instruments including the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, bazooki and, gasp, electric guitar. They played two one-hour sets, featuring bluegrass, Irish reels, American folk, both traditional pieces and O'Brien's original compositions. It made for a fun evening, and for the second night in a row, I was listening to some great live music, which I would not generally hear in Ottawa.

2) Random act of kindness: Earlier in the evening, a couple from North Carolina picked up my dinner tab, solely because I scooted down one stool at the bar so that they could sit at the bar with their two daughters.


Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.