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Road Trip To Nashville Good Food Better Music

June 20, 2017 by John Leave a Comment

Road Trip To Nashville

We take a break from horses this week to share our trip to Nashville. We experienced the sights, sounds, and music of Nashville, a very exciting city. Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the US and Ranae and I could see why. The city is rich with music, art, sports, and great food.

Instead of renting a car we chose one of the ride-sharing options. Being driven around a new city by someone who lives there is an awesome advantage. Many of the drivers were in or wanted to be in the music business. On our first day, we met up with Lyft driver, musician, Bob Tyler, who suggested we go to Edley’s Barbecue and if we were looking for some music to check out the 5 Spot.

Thursday we checked out the Country Music Hall of Fame and lunch at Tootsie’s Bar downtown. Afterward, we walked around downtown and over the Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge and saw the Tenessee Titans football stadium. Later, we had an awesome dinner at Rudie’s Seafood and Sausage. We learned that Rudie’s also makes a fantastic pie!

Later that evening we had tickets to see the Gatlin Brothers and Ricky Skaggs at the old Ryman Theatre. We even got to tour the backstage dressing rooms after the show.

The intersection of Broadway and 4th is as crazy as Las Vegas. There is live music at almost every bar and dive, and there are bars and dives everywhere. We hung out and listened to music at Robert’s Western World, then headed over to Wanna B’s for some karaoke – to listen to, not to perform.

Nashville Blues

Stacy Mitchart

A very cool place for me to find was the area called Printer’s Alley. This is the bars in this area are more into the blues. At Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie we had the opportunity to hear the Stacy Mitchhart Band, and Dr. Yes Band featuring Matt Cummings. Stacy Mitchhart was kind enough to let me share some of his music on this podcast.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and we’ll get back to horse stuff next week.

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John & Ranae

Episode #105

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Cowboy Bill Cummins and His Horse King

June 13, 2017 by John Leave a Comment

Cowboy Bill Cummins and His Horse King

Cowboy Bill Cummins grew up in post-depression era Ohio with his father and four brothers. His mother died when he was 15. He nearly lost his fingers and thumbs when he was nine. Bill dreamed of one day becoming a singing cowboy in the same vein as Gene Autry and the wit and wisdom of Will Rogers.

Bill worked with his family’s horses on their farm and a local stable owner noticed he had a special knack working with the horses. Although he was only 15, the stable owner hired Bill to manage his stable and run his tourist trail riding business during the summers of Bill’s high school years. One year a traveling horse stage show came to town. Bill befriended the two main riders and trainers, Montana Frank and California Joe. Meanwhile, the stable owner had a palomino stallion he thought would back a good stage performer.

The scene was set when the two trainers worked with the young horseman and his palomino and the result was Smilin’ Cowboy Bill Cummins and his horse King. For five years the duo performed for audiences doing tricks and singing songs. While Bill got to live his dream of being a singing cowboy, he got to perform for people all over the midwest.

Bill later went on to pursue a career as a civil engineer. Then, later in life, in went into publishing and write several books. At age 86, Cowboy Bill Cummins is an inspiration.