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About ten years ago Beth really started getting into country music. She began watching the Country Music Awards and the American Music Awards on television. She also began watching a lot of country music videos. Beth’s absolute favorite country artist was Keith Urban and mine was Carrie Underwood. We had “fan crushes” on them and I would always buy her Keith’s new cd’s when they came out.

I have always liked a wide range of music so along with gospel, Motown, R&B, classic rock, and ballads, I also enjoyed country music. I was a big fan of Glen Campbell, Scruggs and Flatts and Alabama growing up. I was very excited in 2006 and 2007 when I got the opportunity to launch Alabama’s first two gospel cd’s on QVC during a live remote from a recording studio in Nashville. I also hosted a big Corvette show from Nashville about ten years ago. I always carved out some time to stop into Tootsie’s to listen to music when I was there. Tootsie’s is legendary and the walls are filled with the headshots of the biggest names in country music that got their start playing there.

Since Beth enjoyed country music so much I decided to take her and Kelsey to Nashville for a long weekend. We flew into Nashville on Thursday, May 15, 2014. It was almost 3pm when we landed, so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the airport. We were happily surprised to find a “Tootsie’s” in the airport complete with a country music singer. He played some of our favorite songs and I knew we were in for one of the best weekends ever. 

I wanted to stay downtown so I booked us into the Nashville Hilton which is located right across the parking lot from the Country Music Hall of Fame. After checking in we headed for Broadway St. which is where much of the music scene takes place. It was only one block from our hotel. We took in the sights of Printer’s Alley stopping in several cute shops and finally ending up at the world famous Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. We found a table on the second floor and sat down right below a huge photo of Willie Nelson (I had the privilege of working with Willie a couple times on QVC.)

What makes Tootsie’s so unique is they have a stage immediately on your right when you enter the front door. There is another stage on the second floor and from the time the doors open at 10a.m until they close at 2a.m. the best up and coming singers and musicians in Nashville perform for free. I like to be generous with their tip jars.  When one band ends another one is waiting to hop up onto the stage and take over. And they can all sing, play guitar and fiddle! We stayed there for a couple hours and enjoyed the great music. Everybody tends to sing along so we fit right in. We enjoyed a burger and their awesome fried green beans.

The next morning after breakfast we walked across the parking lot to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. That building is amazing! Every country artist who has been inducted has a display that features artifacts and videos from their career. From Elvis Presley’s cars to Glenn Campbell’s guitars, this is a fantastic stroll through the history of country music. One of the highlights was watching a video that featured old clips of all the greats like Elvis, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty and others. There were clips from the Hee Haw television special, which I really enjoyed growing up in Michigan.

We stopped into the Honky Tonk on Broadway and enjoyed some lunch while listening to a couple of bands that featured energetic and talented fiddle players. They both did the song “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker and “Them Boys Round Here” by Blake Shelton. We could have sat there for days. I remember looking at Beth and she was grinning from ear to ear. She was so happy and I remember wanting to “freeze’ that moment in time. We ate dinner at a really cool, upscale restaurant which was about two blocks from our hotel and then walked around and shopped for some souvenirs before calling it an early night. 

Saturday morning we met my nephew’s wife, Lindsey, and her son Liam for breakfast. My nephew, who is also my namesake, Daniel, was out of town touring with his Christian rock band “Lybecker.” We went back to our hotel after breakfast and changed clothes and then caught a shuttle up to the Grand Ole Opry. We took the tour in the afternoon (I highly recommend it if you are ever in Nashville.) It’s cool to visit the Green Rooms where the artists hang out before they perform. We also saw where they film scenes for the television show “Nashville.” I took Beth’s picture by a picture of Keith Urban. We ended the tour by having our pictures taken on the stage. They have a center circle of floor which was brought over from the Ryman Theatre where the show really became famous. And every famous name in country music has stood in that circle. The Grand Ole Opry is the longest running radio broadcast in the U.S. which started in 1925. It is so much fun to catch the show live in this beautiful auditorium and watch the stagehands scramble to change out the different acts during the live announcements and commercials. This was the perfect way to end our Nashville trip as we flew back to Philly the next morning.

I always wanted to take Beth back to the Music City one more time, but as her health declined the last two years she really didn’t feel like traveling much. However, this was a trip I will never forget and one of my favorite vacations with my Cakies. She was so happy the entire time and we talked about that trip often. If you are thinking about going someplace you have always wanted to go with your spouse or loved one, do it if you possibly can. You never know if you will ever get the chance again. I plan on going back to Nashville hopefully this summer.  It won’t be the same, but it will sure bring back some great memories of “the love of my life!”

God bless and thanks for joining me here and on Facebook.

Dan Wheeler

If you missed last week's blog, you can see it here.