dual personalities

Tag: Patty Loveless

August 28, 2023

Postcards from Music City

by chuckofish

Nashville sure has changed since we first went in 1996! And even in the five years since we last went in 2018–wow! So many tall glass buildings, so many tourists, so much partying and traffic and noise. You used to be able to walk around in the two square blocks where everything was, but now you really can’t. It is a real scene. Yes, Uber was a real good idea and daughter #1 is a whiz at getting around.

On Friday, after checking in to the very swanky Omni Hotel, we went to dinner at Bakersfield, then Uber’d to the Opry, which has not changed. We saw Ricky Skaggs, Deana Carter, Jeannie Seely, and Vince Gill, along with some up-and-comers.

It was a treat to hear good live music. However the Uber/taxi scene after the show was what I imagine Saturday night in Calcutta is like, but we managed.

On Saturday morning, we walked over to the Diner on 3rd Avenue that is 5 stories high.

We walked around on Broadway…

…and then went back to the hotel and to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum which is actually attached to the Omni. We saw the new Patty Loveless exhibit (and the Whispering Bill Anderson Exhibit) and then walked through the rest of the multi-level museum. It was full of great stuff!

We had tickets for the Patty Loveless sold-out concert/interview and daughter #1 got in line where she stood with Patty’s most devoted fans for good seats when the doors opened at 2:30–about an hour and a half. I came down after taking a quick nap in our room.

I was really surprised by my emotional reaction to seeing Patty.

The tears sprang to my eyes when she walked out (and they played a few notes of “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye”) and I literally did not stop crying as she sang through four songs. It didn’t help when a man yelled “We love you, Patty!”–reminding me of the boy in a similar moment back in the day. Thankfully I had a Kleenex in my purse. Why am I never prepared? Why do I bother to wear mascara?

Patty was crying during “Too Many Memories” and there weren’t a lot of dry eyes in the house. She is my age and she still looks great and sounds terrific. Quelle lady. After the mini-concert she was “interviewed” by one of the museum curators and talked for an hour and a half about growing up in Pikeville and her journey to stardom.

We thought about trying to shake her hand at the end, but I didn’t want to make a spectacle of myself, so we left.

We went to Husk, which is super hip, for a drink.

Then, exhausted, we went back to the Omni where we got a glass of wine for the room and watched The Fate of the Furious (2017). I really enjoyed it–Vin Diesel, the Rock, Jason Statham, Ludicris, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Tyrese Gibson, et al–over-the-top ridiculousness, but fun.

On Sunday we drove home (during a series of fierce rainstorms) and listened to the playlist of the “Western Edge: the Roots and Reverberations of Los Angles Country-Rock”, which was great too.

Love those Kentucky rest stops!

We had a great time in Nashville, but, boy, was Mr. Smith glad to see daughter #1 when we got home!

Thankfully, the OM did not burn the house down but Mr. Smith did chew up my vintage bicentennial rug in the kitchen. C’est la vie.

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April 6, 2023

With a picture of Stonewall Jackson above my head

by chuckofish

Congratulations to Patty Loveless who will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year! This coal miner’s daughter from eastern Kentucky always was a classy lady and a particular favorite in our family.

I will never forget the time the boy, age about 11, yelled out “We love you Patty!” at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville just as there was a moment of silence in the audience. She looked up to the balcony where we were sitting and smiled.

We’ll be dancing a jig for you, Patty darling.

Also being inducted are Tanya Tucker and songwriter Bob McDill, who wrote “Good Ole Boys Like Me”. Don Williams recorded it in 1980 and the song reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart.

This is one of the great country songs in my estimation. Pure poetry, man.

Nothing makes a sound in the night like the wind does
But you ain’t afraid if you’re washed in the blood like I was
The smell of Cape Jasmine through the window screen
John R and the Wolfman kept me company
By the light of the radio by my bed
With Thomas Wolfe whispering in my head

I can still hear the soft southern winds in the live oak trees
And those Williams boys they still mean a lot to me
Hank and Tennessee
I guess we’re all gonna be what we’re gonna be
So what do you do with good ole boys like me?

Do yourself a favor and listen to these YouTube videos! This is true Country Music. Just beautiful. And cool, cool, cool.

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April 25, 2012

The party ain’t over yet

by chuckofish

Lately I’ve been listening to the lovely Miss Patty Loveless on my rides to and from work. I have been a fan of her eastern Kentucky twang and ladylike demeanor for many years. She was born in Pikeville, the hometown of another favorite of mine, Dwight Yoakam. (Patty and Dwight are contemporaries of mine and I’m sure we would be fast friends if we ever met.) She is also a distant cousin of Loretta Lyn and Crystal Gale.

We have seen Patty at the Grand Ole Opry and once at the Ryman Theater where the boy famously yelled, “We love you Patty!” in that quiet moment after the thunderous applause suddenly dies down. I remember she turned and looked up at the balcony where we sat.

“How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye” always makes me cry, but my favorite Patty song is this. Listen and enjoy! (They played this song once on Justified, but it was the Brad Paisley version, which though good, cannot hold a candle to Patty’s.)

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