My flight was booked, my bags were packed and my cowboy boots were on. With a smile on my face, I headed on down to the place where the tea is sweet and the accents are southern. I made my way to Nashville, Tennessee, along with a team of writers from all over the U.S. and even Canada. From the moment we arrived to the day we departed, the trip was filled with many mamarazzi moments.
It’s no wonder why they call Nashville “Music City”. Music is the heart and soul of the people who reside.
I paid a visit to RCA’s Historic Studio B and got a glimpse of where all the chartbusters were made. I even sat at the very piano where Elvis played.
You can’t talk about Nashville without mentioning the beloved Johnny Cash. The writers and I got a sneak peek at the new Johnny Cash Museum before it opened last month. What’s even better….we got a personal tour by Johnny’s youngest sister Joanne and brother Tommy! How often do you get to say you spent the morning with the Cash brothers and sisters? Not too often. Joanne told us all about life with Johnny, how she used to watch him play and loved hanging out backstage with Elvis. We even sang Happy Birthday to Tommy Cash, as he was celebrating his birthday that day. What a moment!
There was a whole lot of boot stompin’ fun at the honky tonks, a place where I felt the most at home, and where some of country’s greatest musicians first took stage. Former Santa Clarita resident and baseball player turned country musician, Cort Carpenter, was belting his heart out for his fans over at Honky Tonk Central. We featured Cort in the 2012 June/July issue of élite Magazine, and I was super excited to see him play live for the crowd.
The Nashville Songwriters Association International Tin Pan South club show, an annual music festival, was going on at the time we were in Music City. I sat in and enjoyed music from four great songwriters. Mark Nesler, who wrote Billy Currington’s #1 single, Let Me Down Easy, and Tim McGraw’s Just to See You Smile, to name a few, entertained crowds along with Patrick Davis and Corey Crowder. Singer/Songwriter James Otto, who also performed, was kind enough to snap a photo with me after the performance. James co-wrote Zac Brown Band’s, No Hurry, a personal favorite of mine.
On the last evening of the trip, the writers not only got a chance to sit in on Nashville’s number one attraction, the Grand Ole Opry, but we had the opportunity to go backstage and on stage with the performers! As we were getting a behind the scenes look at the Opry, I ran into American Idol’s Bucky Covington! .
It was indeed a star-studded trip to the south, and if you want to learn more about Music City, be sure and check out our Great Escape feature in the current issue of élite Magazine.
I’ve returned from Tennessee and am ready for more celebrities. Get those cameras ready, Santa Clarita. You never know which star you’re going to run into. And don’t be shy – snap a photo with your favorite celebrity and be sure and share your brush with fame with us. E-mail me at selgin@santaclaritamagazine.com. Happy sightings – Mamarazzi.
