Latest / Takin’ A Walk Nashville / Takin A Walk Nashville: Exploring February's Rich Country Music History and Iconic Moments in Music City's Legacy

Transcript

Takin A Walk Nashville: Exploring February's Rich Country Music History and Iconic Moments in Music City's Legacy · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone. This is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a Walk Nashville, and I am back today to give
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you this month in Nashville History for the month of February,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and joining me today to talk about all the events
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: that happened in Nashville history in February is buzz night
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: from Taking a Walk Buzz.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me today.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: It's nice to be with you, Sarah.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: It's nice to be with you in person a little
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: while ago, but here we are back to virtual.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: We're ready to roll.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had so much fun at the listening room
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: interviewing the owner, Chris Blair. People can look forward to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: listening to that episode. And they have sold out of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: their anniversary show at the Ryman in March, which is incredible.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: I loved it. I loved getting to meet Chris.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: It's a wonderful venue, the working on his team, we're
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: all great. So it was a tremendous experience.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, it's been a wild couple weeks
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in Nashville with the ice storm and power outage, so
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I am so glad we could still make that conversation happen.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yep, for sure.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: All right, so let's dive into everything that happened in
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: February and Nashville history. There's a lot that happened in
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: February and Nashville history, starting with February third. A few
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: different things happened on this date. In nineteen seventy four,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Dolly Parton's iconic hit Joe Lene reached number one on
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the Billboard Country Chart. It still remains one of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: most covered and celebrated songs and music history. And I
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: don't know about you, buzz, but that's definitely one of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: my favorite Dolly songs.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Always will be, always will be for sure.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she is so iconic. And another thing that happened
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: on February third. This is a few years later. In
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, a young George Straight He recorded his
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: first major hit, Unwound, at the Music City Music Hall.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: This session effectively launched the neo traditionalist movement that would
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: define nineteen eighties country. So even though he's kind of
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: known for being a Texas country artist, he has had
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a lot of history here in Nashville.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: You ever hear his cover of the Tom Petty song
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I Think It's a You wreck Me is the name
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: of the song of you heard George Strait's cover.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Ooh, I'm not sure I've heard his version of that.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: That's a pretty cool song.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to check that out. I
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: love George straight.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: There's still more things that happened on February third. This
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: happened in nineteen ninety four. And this is kind of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: a trivia question because I interviewed Paul Kingsbury at the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Country Music Hall of Fame, and if anyone remembers from
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: listening to that episode, he mentioned the original location of
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: So it's not downtown. Do you remember where the original
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: location was?
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: Buzz I'm not really sure.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, so the original location of the Country Music
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame was on Music Row actually, so on
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: February third, nineteen ninety four, they announced their plan to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: move from their original home and Music Row to its
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: current place, which you can check out now, the very
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: massive location in downtown Nashville.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: They do such an amazing job there, and I love
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: how they bring in these new particular highlight shows that
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: are there for a number of months. A great take
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: if you're going to Nashville or if you are in Nashville.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, they always have such great exhibits and rotating exhibits. Okay,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: So more that happened in this month in history. February fifth,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty eight. Roy Acuff, he made his debut on
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the Grand Ole Opry. His performance of the Great Speckled
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Bird was so popular that he soon became the show's
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: biggest star and eventually a co founder of the powerhouse
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: publishing company Acuff Rows. And another little fun fact about
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: roy Acuff, he actually opened the first show and the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: new grand Ole Opry House with his performance of Oahbosh Cannonball.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: President Richard Nixon was an attendance. So very cool history
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: with roy Acuff doing the first performance of the new
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: grand Ole Opry.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, except for the Nixon part.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, everything was sounded good until then.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Gonna love that bart out.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: So another thing that the community has been reflecting on
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: this week is a great loss to film music. On
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: February fifth, twenty twenty four, it's already been two years
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: since we have lost Toby Keith, a modern titan of
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: country music. He's written so many songs in country music
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and he's always been one of my favorite artists. So
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: definitely a sad loss to the community.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, rest in peace, Toby for sure.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, four different things that happened on February seventeenth. So
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: February seventeenth, nineteen sixty Elvis Presley earned his very first
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: gold record for his self titled album. Though he was
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a Memphis boy, his biggest hits were recorded right here
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: on music Row at RCA Studio B. Tourists can come in,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: especially on the bus tours. They usually drop off a
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: lot of tour groups at RCA Studio B.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: You can tour it.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: They even have group recordings where you're doing a group
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: recording with your tour group.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: So always a fun stop.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: As long as I don't have to sing, it's perfect.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just rely on the other people in the group
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: to sing.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: So on this date, in nineteen sixty five, the Tennessee
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: State Legislature officially declared.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: The Tennessee Waltz as the state song. Written by Red
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Stewart and Pee Wee King.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: It became a massive hit for Patty Page and it's
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: a mandatory standard for any Nashville honky talk band.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: That's definitely one of my.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: Favorites, no doubt, for sure. Keep me away from getting
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: up on stage for that one.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Too.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So another thing that happened on February seventeenth and
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash famously teamed
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: up at CBS Studios in Nashville to record duets including
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Girl from the North Country, and this session was part
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of the recordings for Dylan's Nashville Skyline album, which cemented
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Nashville as a destination for folk and rock artist buzz.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Have you taken a listen to this album?
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: It's one of my favorites for sure. And I got
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: to go to the studio there. I'm not sure it's
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: the exact studio, but I know there was some of
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: those sessions that were there at the Quancet Hut. Have
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: you been to the Quancet Hut studio and taken a
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: little tour of that legendary place there on music Row?
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I have, And I went to Belmont University and minored
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: in production, so a lot of my audio engineering classes
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: were right there in Quancet Hut where so many legends recorded.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So it was amazing being able to take classes in there.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you actually feel almost like a presence of some
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: of what has certainly been there before.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: You know, the rates that have been there, so I
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: love it absolutely.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And another thing that happened on February seventeenth in nineteen
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: seventy one, James Taylor. He made his US television debut
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: on The Johnny Cash Show, which was taped at the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Riemann Auditorium. His performance of Fire and Rain helped catapult
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the singer songwriter era into the mainstream. I mean, it
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: seems to me like Johnny Cash had so many people
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: besides country artists on his show. You know, Bob Dylan,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: James Taylor, A lot of singer songwriter, folk artists were.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: On his show, and some of those are really great
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: to go look up on YouTube and more than likely
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: some other spots to chronicle those moments. Production values are
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: certainly of the time, but they're great performances.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So a few more things for everyone.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: On February twenty second, twenty sixteen, Sonny James, known as
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the Southern Gentleman, he passed away in Nashville. He famously
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: held a record for sixteen consecutive number one hits. Wow, Boss,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that's that's a lot of number ones.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: That is the Southern Gentleman. I love that name.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, me too.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: And then on February twenty fifth, nineteen thirty two, the
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Singing Sheriff Fair and Young was born. He became one
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of country's most colorful characters and a founding member of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the Music City News, and the Music City News still exist.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: See now, I had heard of fair and Young, but
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: I had never heard of who the Singing Sheriff was.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Reminds me of something that probably well before I know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: it's well before your time. Did you ever hear of
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: the Andy Griffith Show? Of course, I think I would
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: think we would see the Singing Sheriff pay a visit
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: to Andy Griffith.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: It would seem for some reason. Don't you think.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: That is true? Yeah?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: I remember being little and my dad making me watch
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the Andy Griffith Show with him and me just like
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: wanting to snooze on the couch.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Will I get it on? Yeah?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: I noticed how you said making me watch.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, against your wishes.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: It's great.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely at that time.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Well, we talked about so many events that happened in February,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: but I want to close it with something that happens
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: every year. It doesn't just occur in Nashville, but in
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: all of Tennessee. We have Tennessee Songwriters Week. It's an
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: annual tradition. The state celebrates Tennessee Songwriters Week every February.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So it features qualifying rounds at venues across Nashville and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: not just Nashville, but if you look it up on
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Tennessee vacation dot com, musicians all over Tennessee can apply
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: for this competition, so they host it in venues in
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: East Tennessee, Memphis, Nashville, all across the state, and people
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: who qualify at those rounds they get to come to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Nashville and compete at the Franklin Theater and the Bluebird
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Cafe for the winner, and I believe they get to
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: play at Bluebird during ten Pans South. The winner does
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: and they get a Taylor guitar. So it's an amazing
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: competition that happens every year and shines light on independent
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: songwriters in Tennessee.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: Sounds awesome. What a great way to celebrate what's important
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: the song right.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, So definitely check it out if you want
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: to go to a qualifying round and check it out
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: for next year if you're interested in participating. Buzz Man,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: that was a lot to cover in February. In Nashville history.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: We covered a lot, but luckily we only got away
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: with the one Richard Nixon mentioned, so that's perfect.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: But other than that, we had a good one.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: That is true. Yeah, I can I agree with you
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: on that, but you know, there's so much that happened
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: in winter months in Nashville.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: That, oh man, when we get to the warmer months,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine how much history will have to
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: go through.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: It's awesome, awesome doing it with you, Sarah. Thank you
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: so much for inviting me.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you buys, Yeah, thank you for everyone who's tuning in,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and definitely check out the other episodes of Taking a
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Walk Nashville