Nashville – not quite the TV show Nashville, but then again what is?

Our adventure continues to Nashville – via an obscenely large late breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. Myself & Jess had never sampled the delights of this bountiful establishment before & Kirby was more than happy to introduce us to it.

Butter + Salt. Two simple ingredients that effectively make any food items better. Cracker Barrel are fully aware of this gimmick. The pancakes were great (mostly down to the butter + salt) – so were the scrambled eggs (butter + salt) & finally the ‘biscuits’ (once more we reach a battleground in English vs American vernacular) – which were like light/fluffy scones. Plenty of butter & salt in those bad boys…..but the taste was obscenely good.  As we (literally) rolled ourselves out of the place, I somehow thought the signage was reminiscent to Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” – was it the similar font used – or from a distance, did the guy’s posture have a whiff of Mick Fleetwood about it? Who knows.

I’ve already covered their undying desire for butter + salt, the place also has a penchant for allowing you to smoke in bars. A novelty in only a handful of places in the City of Brotherly Love – Nashville should certainly be renamed Ashville for it’s multitude of acrid smelling salons.

We braved the downtown strip briefly & it was horrendous. Imagine living in a place called, Middleville, slap bang in the middle of the town, on Middle St….and your surname was Middle….and your favourite TV show was Malcolm in the Middle. That’s how MOR all the bands were that played along that depressing strip. Mainstream covers, bland, unoriginal, purely for the tourists that want….or at least expect some kind of diluted Nashville sound. Hell, in one of the bars you could have your photo taken on the back of a fake pick-up truck. All a bit lame.

Butwe did manage to find one diamond, just off the main loop –  John Carroll was performing upstairs at the Nashville Street Taco restaurant. He also succumbed to our harassment and was gracious enough to chat to us about what it’s like to be a singer songwriter in music city. Everyone should listen to this guy and you can check out more via his website.

Enjoy.