Nashville Skyline

I drove to Nashville the other day for the Southern Festival of the Book and found myself at the Hard Rock Café. There I ordered a salad and chamomile tea. What’s a country music song without a good drink? Mine had three lemon wedges.

When I finished, I strolled up Broadway looking for bright lights and finding the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Its neon guitar has been glowing for years. Inside, music plays to tempt you to buy some. I picked out an Emmylou Harris CD when Ray Price began singing Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times.” What’s a country music song without a little nostalgia? In 1970, Ray Price prepared me for a bittersweet romance I’d eventually find in real life.

Next afternoon, I took a break from the festival and walked back down Broadway. I was delighted to discover musicians playing in the afternoon. I was even more delighted to discover I could listen to budding superstars without going into bars. All I had to do was stand on the sidewalk. My favorite spot was in front of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, where I people-watched while I listened to old standards. A woman in a multi-generational group from Nunavut, Canada, took my picture for me in front of Tootsie’s.

What’s a country music song without a little kindness? After my photograph was taken, one of the men in the group gave me a lapel pin from Rankin Inlet, which is how I came to learn about Jordin Tootoo, a young man from that tiny town who just started playing for the Nashville Predators. Since I didn’t have any souvenirs from Meadowview on my person, I decided to send a token from Washington County up to Arctic Canada once I got home.

The Southern Festival of the Book, where I did spend most of my time, was near the capitol. As vibrant as it was, I sensed parts of downtown Nashville have seen better days. So have some of the townspeople. I gave an elderly panhandler spare change but ignored the young men who called me “Mama” and made me walk a little quicker.

What’s a country music song without a few people who are down on their luck? One afternoon, I saw one of the panhandlers setting up his own display to sell a few free books he had picked up at the book fair. I didn’t buy anything, but I hope somebody did. Later, I saw another man settling himself into a doorway of a diner for the night.

One morning, after sleeping in a hotel, I went to Starbucks and sat outside to drink my coffee. There I struck up a conversation with a young woman who had been discussing Nashville’s homeless with a man at another table. Somehow I ended up learning that she had taken drugs earlier in life but had completely turned her life around and had children she knew she would steer as far away from drugs as possible. What’s a country music song without a little redemption?

Just as I was about to leave Starbucks and head back to the festival, I saw a man I hadn’t seen in fifteen years. I called his name, and he came over and introduced me to his wife. He and she were happy as larks. Nobody passing by, not even novelist Lee Smith, who did pass by and stop to talk to us, would have guessed we had ever broken each other’s hearts. What’s a country music song without a happy ending? If I we hadn’t split up, he wouldn’t have found a truer love and I wouldn’t have either.

Who needed to go to the Grand Old Opry? I didn’t really have the time, given all the time I had to spend attending the Festival of the Book and walking around with my eyes wide open. Sometimes life itself is a country music song.

Felicia Mitchell. First published in Washington County News (Abingdon, VA), 22 October 2003, p. 6. WCN is a publication of Media General Operations. Copyright 2003.