March 19 2007: Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, Asleep at the Wheel - Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville TN
Spring Break! So Caitlin and I got into the car and drove our asses out of cold and snowy Massachusetts and straight into the supple bosom of seventy-degree sun and the rolling hills of Tennessee. Oh it was beautiful, and oh it was good to get out of town.
And, um, we saw Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and Ray Price. At the Grand Ole Opry. With 4400 folks of all ages, decked out in their sunday best, all raising their glasses to some of the best musicians I've ever heard. And the Opry was pretty much my grandparents' church in Portland, only bigger and with better music and beer. We were sitting in fuckin PEWS! Tenth row pews!
Ray Price played first, and was incredible. At least fifteen musicians were backing him, including five or six string players and a guy playing better steel guitar than I thought was humanly possible.
And then Asleep at the Wheel played a couple tunes on their own before Merle came out and played while they backed him on numbers like "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."
And then on the second verse of "Okie from Muskogee" Willie Nelson came out and joined Merle! And for the next tune they did Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" together, which was probably the highlight of the night. And then they did some more tunes together. And then Price came back out and they ALL did some tunes together. And then Willie did a few on his own. And I don't know that I've ever seen such a well-dressed crowd cheer like Nashville did when the set finally closed with "Whiskey River." Goddamn.
And the show was over and Caitlin and I walked around in a daze and thank goodness she was driving.
And life was great. We went downtown and took shit in and I had a couple budweisers and things were just fine even though we couldn't fit into the bar where the band was playing "Fulsom Prison Blues," because we just went to the place two doors down where the band there was playing it. O the clear moment.
And wow was a lot of fun had. I really want to go back to Nashville.
And, um, we saw Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and Ray Price. At the Grand Ole Opry. With 4400 folks of all ages, decked out in their sunday best, all raising their glasses to some of the best musicians I've ever heard. And the Opry was pretty much my grandparents' church in Portland, only bigger and with better music and beer. We were sitting in fuckin PEWS! Tenth row pews!
Ray Price played first, and was incredible. At least fifteen musicians were backing him, including five or six string players and a guy playing better steel guitar than I thought was humanly possible.
And then Asleep at the Wheel played a couple tunes on their own before Merle came out and played while they backed him on numbers like "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink."
And then on the second verse of "Okie from Muskogee" Willie Nelson came out and joined Merle! And for the next tune they did Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" together, which was probably the highlight of the night. And then they did some more tunes together. And then Price came back out and they ALL did some tunes together. And then Willie did a few on his own. And I don't know that I've ever seen such a well-dressed crowd cheer like Nashville did when the set finally closed with "Whiskey River." Goddamn.
And the show was over and Caitlin and I walked around in a daze and thank goodness she was driving.
And life was great. We went downtown and took shit in and I had a couple budweisers and things were just fine even though we couldn't fit into the bar where the band was playing "Fulsom Prison Blues," because we just went to the place two doors down where the band there was playing it. O the clear moment.
And wow was a lot of fun had. I really want to go back to Nashville.
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 12:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home