Bob Harris: My Nashville

This programme contains some strong language.

Nashville, Tennessee.

It's long been known as Music City, USA,

but it's fast becoming the music capital of the world.

This is the undisputed home of country -

America's biggest music genre.

It could only have been born in Nashville

and I'm going to show you why.

In this programme we'll go back to the place where it all began,

tread the boards of its spiritual home

and find out how a few blocks in downtown Nashville became the heart

of country music in America.

We'll visit the historic recording studios of Music Row

and witness just how big the country business really is.

I'll meet a couple of fellow Brits who've made the pilgrimage

to Music City, and discover why this unrivalled Mecca of music continues

to draw songwriters and artists from all corners of the globe.

# That's why we call it Music City, USA. #

# The sign says welcome to Nashville

# From whatever road you've been down... #

Musicians have always flocked to Nashville because it's forever

been a place where songwriters gather to share songs.

Music has shaped and defined the town of Nashville,

and at the same time Nashville has massively influenced

the sound of American music.

This is the one city in America that still has a living, breathing,

and closely knit music community.

Nashville's roots as Music City stem from a prosperous past.

It lies on the Cumberland River in north central Tennessee.

After the American Civil War its strategic location as a river port

and rail hub made it a thriving centre of commerce,

and with many highly-regarded universities and colleges,

Nashville also earned the nickname the Athens of the South.

In fact, they even built their own Parthenon here

for the Centenary of Tennessee.

But in the 1920s Nashville's fate changed forever,

and that was all thanks to the modern miracle of radio.

# Welcome to Nashville on a Saturday night... #

Country music owes its existence to a Nashville insurance company

who saw radio as the perfect way to sell their policies.

In 1925, WSM created the Grand Ole Opry,

a play on words to describe

the late-night hillbilly music played after the opera.

The name stuck and it's now the longest running

live radio show in history.

This is WSM Nashville, Tennessee,

presenting the Grand Ole Opry.

Let 'er go, boys.

# Late in the evening about sundown

# High on the hill and above the town

# Uncle Pen played the fiddle Lord, how it would ring

# You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing. #

The very first Grand Ole Opry started with hard-drinking fiddler,

Uncle Jimmy Thompson.

Gold-toothed banjo-man Uncle Dave Macon and homespun string bands

like the Fruit Jar Drinkers and the Possum Hunters were all regulars.

The programme could be heard all over America

and right up into Canada, thanks to WSM's 50,000-watt transmitter

standing at a whopping 878ft.

It was the tallest radio tower in North America

and one of the oldest still in operation.

Everybody could hear WSM, couldn't they? Here and in Canada?

Yes, sir, in the early days before modern electronic marvels

started introducing interference,

-it was heard in the better half of the country.

-Yeah.

-Can we have look at it?

-Absolutely. Do you want to head on down?

-Yeah, lead the way.

This is very exciting, actually.

I've been so much looking forward to seeing this.

-You maintain this transmitter. This is your responsibility.

-Yes, sir.

Does it mean that you have to climb, sometimes,

-right up to the top there?

-I've never gone to the top.

A few years and 60lbs ago, I used to do some tower climbing

but we leave that to a man,

he's actually in his 70s and he runs up that thing like a squirrel.

I don't make a habit of going up it.

-It must be one hell of a view from right at the top?

-It's amazing.

What is the significance of radio to Nashville?

In regards to country music it IS Nashville.

It was given a stage here, it was given a home.

WSM is where the world discovered country music

and without this facility here that would have simply,

in my opinion, not happened.

# Turn on all your radios I know that you will wait

# Hear little Jimmy Dickens sing... #

As The Grand Ole Opry introduced America to country music,

fans eager to experience the music live journeyed to Nashville,

and it rapidly acquired an audience far too big for a radio studio.

Only one place in Nashville could cope with the ballooning numbers -

the iconic Ryman Auditorium.

Originally a church, it was built in 1892 by Thomas Ryman,

a prosperous businessman who had a miraculous conversion to faith.

It cost him 100,000 - 2.5 million in today's money -

and took seven years to build.

The Opry moved there in 1943 and the good word of the Lord

gave way to the holler and twang of country.

# At the Grand Ole Opry on a Saturday night. #

This is the Ryman Auditorium.

This is the mother church of country music.

It's impossible to overstate the importance of this building

to the history of country music.

As a building it attracted not just the artists who came to play

on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry

but it attracted a wide range of musicians into this town.

So the growth of Nashville and the growth of the popularity

of the Ryman in many ways went side by side.

# Hey, sweet daddy are you ready for me

# It's your good rockin' mamma down from Tennessee

# I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone

# With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on... #

There's a lot of emotion in this building.

This is the place where Johnny Cash told June Carter

that he'd marry her someday and where Hank Williams took six encores

when he brought the house down on his Opry debut.

The hallowed boards hold many stories,

and Emmylou Harris has trodden them more often than most.

Walking out onto this stage, how does it feel to you?

You must have walked out onto this stage many, many times?

I have. It's...I don't want to say it's intimidating but you do feel

it's not so much about you as that you're just continuing

a history of music.

This is such a special place where so much of the music

that we still are inspired by and draw on today

took place on this stage.

There is a little bit of, "Gosh! This is where Hank Williams stood..."

You know? A little bit of that.

But ultimately you just give yourself over to,

"I hope I don't forget the words!"

# Cos me and my boys got this rig unwound

# And we've come a thousand miles from a Guitar Town... #

It's not just a historical monument where music was played,

and we just keep it for that reason,

it's actually a beautiful performance hall.

The seats are still really uncomfortable.

They're church pews, aren't they?

It was a tabernacle and you must pay attention, you know,

when we're speaking the word!

# Wonderin' why I don't stop

# Gotta keep rockin' why I still can

# I got a two-pack habit and a motel tan... #

-You've been in Nashville for 30 years...

-Long time.

What are your observations about the town?

The core of Nashville, the heart of Nashville is always determined

by your friends and family, the people you interact with.

The song writing is still real important, the "in the rounds",

the beauty of words, the beauty of the melody.

To me it's the songwriters that are keeping that alive.

I know my way around and it's the only place I want to come home to.

# You're all I want

# You're all I love

# Please don't tear my soul apart... #

Nashville's Ryman Auditorium gave country musicians

a place to call home.

Fans travelled from far and wide to see their heroes,

and bars and shops sprang up nearby.

Ernest Tubb opened his record shop across the road in 1947

and it's still THE place to buy your favourite country tunes.

Hey, Peter!

'From here Tubb started the Midnite Jamboree,'

his very own radio programme featuring late-night gigs

from the likes of Loretta Lyn, the Wilburn Brothers,

even Elvis played here!

This little store is a Nashville institution.

This was the stage from which the Midnite Jamboree was broadcast.

What actually was it?

Well, it started actually in the afternoon and then that led to the

idea, let's do this at night, let's do it after the Opry for the people

who aren't ready to go to sleep after that 11.30 Opry segment stops.

And at midnight, Ernest Tubb or whoever it was that was playing

would come out and be on this little tiny stage

and sing into a WSM microphone.

They would just jam in here, you know,

and it would be hot in the summertime

and they would've just got out of the non-air conditioned

Ryman Auditorium and they'd come in here and just huddle in,

but hear the heroes of country music on this humble little stage.

# ..as my heart breaks right in two

# Waking the floor over you. #

It was live radio, warts and all, whatever happened.

But it had a lead-in of the Grand Ole Opry,

and if you're going to be up until midnight, why not be up until one?

Outside Ernest's shop the streets thronged with more

and more country fans, and in 1950 WSM radio announcer David Cobb

dubbed Nashville "Music City, USA".

A lot of people refer to that moment as being an absolute golden age

of country music here in Nashville.

Yeah, the late '40s, early '50s in Nashville.

This place was just bursting at the seams.

And for these musicians,

they had yet to have any competition from rock'n'roll.

This was still a music that young people enjoyed.

They were building heroes in the '40s and '50s.

Because of this nerve centre in downtown Nashville,

you had a reason for musicians to be here,

you had a reason for songs to be written so they could be performed,

you had radio to send all this out into the ether,

you had a place here where people could order the recordings.

You had the beginnings, the nucleus,

of what would become Music City and it spread from here.

# It'd be just another river town

# Streets would have a different sound

# There'd be no honky-tonks with whisky round

# No dreamers chasing dreams down. #

When the sun sets on Lower Broadway it becomes a different place.

Across the alley from the Ryman are Nashville's honky-tonks,

spit 'n' sawdust bars that have long been

choice watering holes for the stars of the Opry.

Johnny Cash famously kicked out the footlights

during an Opry show after one too many here in Tootsies.

With live bands playing 24/7,

they're the place for song writing hopefuls to cut their teeth.

OK, we're here on Lower Broadway

and I absolutely love this part of town.

It's a cacophony of sound

with all the bands playing in the windows for tips.

The musicianship here is unbelievable and we're just about

to go into this bar to meet up with a really good friend of mine.

# Singin' hey ho a lina Hey ho a lina... #

Good-time country band BR5-49 tasted success in the '90s

but they paid their dues here on Broadway in the '80s,

playing for tips in the window stage of Robert's Bar.

It was a different place, wasn't it, in the '80s?

-People tell me it was rough?

-Yeah, it was rough,

but when I was coming down here in the '80s I loved it.

I'd visit Adult World.

The Wheel across the street was a little peep show too, you know?

It was a little bit seedy, a little bit rough

but there was a guy always sitting in the window playing his songs.

And it was always great, that's what I wanted to do

when I came to Nashville, come down and play in this street,

because to me that was where all the ghosts of country music...

You know, Ernest Tubb's record shop and all that?

And it really turned me on.

We had this guy who would come in from Arkansas

with a gallon plastic milk jug full of moonshine

and he'd give it to us

and then when it got to be tedious time of the night, you know,

like midnight, and we still had two hours left and we were all tired,

take a little nip off of that, you know,

-everybody had a little more spring in their step!

-Absolutely!

COUNTRY MUSIC

And you weren't getting paid by Robert at that point, were you?

Well, Robert gave you 25 a man and then all the tips you could garner.

And that's the key thing now, isn't it? The tip jar.

Yeah. You get a base pay still, but then the real money comes from your

ability to garner a little bit of somethin'-somethin' for the effort!

How would you do that, then?

Well, you know, I'm more abusive than most!

I think this kind of place still holds the spirit of country music.

I mean, when people come into town and they call me,

"Hey, I'm going to be in town. Where should I go?"

Well, go to Lower Broadway

because you're going to get a good taste of it.

Today Lower Broadway is a tourist trap and in the last ten years,

downtown Nashville has developed beyond recognition.

Down the road from the honky-tonks is a modern monument

to the giants of country music - the Hall of Fame.

It's a special place if your family are like royalty in this town.

# We got married in a fever

# Hotter than a pepper sprout

# We've been talking 'bout Jackson

# Ever since the fire went out

# I'm going to Jackson

# I'm going to mess around

# Yeah, I'm going to Jackson

# Look out, Jackson town. #

I have this personal connection to the Hall Of Fame, you know?

I feel really connected to them

because so much of my family's archives are in that building.

And I go in and it's quite moving to me,

the things they've collected from my dad,

my step-mother, my step-grandmother, and myself, too.

I've given them a lot of things over the years.

My last record was based on this list that my dad gave me

of what he considered 100 greatest country songs.

And, of course, the Hall Of Fame was so supportive and I previewed

the record by doing a live show there in the Ford Theatre.

# I've told you baby, from time to time

# But you just wouldn't listen or pay me no mind

# Now I'm movin' on

# I'm rollin' on... #

Just sweeping round the square for a moment,

the Bridgestone Arena is there and, of course,

that's the home of the CMA Awards these days.

-The Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

-Beautiful symphony hall.

This is symbolic of the regeneration of the centre of Nashville.

Nashville has changed SO much, every time I come I see another change.

Since I moved away 22 years ago it's been phenomenal,

kind of breathtaking.

# We're movin' on

# Oh, hear my song... #

So, being so connected to this area specifically,

but Nashville generally,

in your life, Rosanne, what does the city mean to you?

Well, you know, I lived here for a decade,

I feel a deep family connection.

I come back and songwriters are still so valued here,

and, you know, as a songwriter, that means the world.

Radio, the Ryman, record shops and rowdy honky-tonks

created Lower Broadway, Nashville's country music hub.

It was built by great songwriters

and they're still what keeps this city alive.

# Sitting in this diner with a coffee in my hand

# Waiting on a bus to some promised land

# I got a one way ticket as far as it goes

# And I came out like a rose. #

Nashville isn't just about playing music.

Publishing songs is a major part of its history and success.

Through the 19th century,

the city was a major rail link between north and south

and its port on the Cumberland River bustled with trade.

Nashville was a distribution hub for all sorts of commodities

and was a prime location from which to print and publish music.

Publishing songs in Nashville began way back in the 1800s

with a book of hymns called The Western Harmony,

and the city's historic hand-cranked presses

are still in operation today.

Nashville was the fourth largest printing city in the United States,

mainly because all of the American churches had their publishing

houses and printing houses here so all of the Bibles and sheet music,

the original sheet music in America

that was printed was through the churches.

In addition to the publishing of the music,

people were touring and because Nashville was in the centre

of the country it was basically a day's drive

from any other city in most of the United States.

So, at some point they could stop in Nashville,

meet their printer and set up their orders

for the next leg of their tour, whether it was west or east.

So, the actual process of this then, Selini? How does it actually work?

Hatch has been printing posters the same way that they printed them

since they opened in 1879, 134 years ago,

and that's letterpress printing.

# Nashville is fine

# Fine as can be

# If you've got some juice

# You're good with me... #

I'm typesetting a poster for Willie Nelson's New Year's Eve show.

So, that translates into that? That's amazing. Look at that.

You can tell it's been printed so many times.

Once we've designed a poster and the poster is ready to print,

we lock it into the press bed here.

She just pulls this knob forward

and that moves the whole carriage over the press bed.

-It's sort of miraculous in a way.

-It is, for us.

Having a hatch poster is a tradition that any entertainer

that's coming to Nashville looks forward to.

Because so many of the forefathers of all the music genres

here in Nashville started with hatch posters.

So, a hatch poster is like a stamp in your country music passport

-in a way, isn't it?

-It is. Yes. It is, yeah.

-This is just great.

# I'd rather be in Nashville

# Than to be back at home... #

Printing sheet music was big business in Nashville

from the beginning of the 19th century,

but it was pressing songs on vinyl

that turned country into a multimillion dollar machine.

Drive down 16th Avenue and it feels like a regular Nashville suburb.

But these unassuming houses are the record labels and studios

that make up Music Row, the beating heart of Nashville's music business.

# So God bless the boys who make the noise

# On 16th Avenue... #

RCA Studio B was the first purpose-built studio here

and it's one of the most important in the world.

Roy Orbison cut Only The Lonely

and Elvis recorded It's Now Or Never in this very building.

Over 1,000 singles have been sprinkled with the Studio B magic.

When it was built in 1957, the rock'n'roll craze had swept America

and country music realised it needed to move with the times.

Studio B producer Chet Atkins invented a new sound

to compete with rock'n'roll -

a sweetened country music which appealed to the masses -

it became known as the Nashville Sound.

# Four walls too near me

# Closing in on me... #

But one guitar hero had a foot in both camps,

a rock'n'roller who couldn't ignore his country roots.

One of my great friends here in Nashville is Duane Eddy.

I used to know Duane well in the '70s

because he appeared on the Old Grey Whistle Test and stuff,

but we met up again here in Nashville.

It's become a tradition between us

to go for a curry on my first night when I arrive in town.

And, of course, Duane was part of that rock'n'roll revolution

that began to sweep country music aside.

But it was interesting because at his heart,

Duane has always absolutely loved country music and it was a massive

ambition of his to come down here to Nashville, and eventually he did do.

He came down in 1962 and recorded at the RCA studio.

-My goodness!

-Wow!

-Studio B! Great memories here.

-I bet.

Country music would be like...

COUNTRY CHORD PROGRESSION

And the same thing in rock'n'roll would be...

SPIKIER CHORD PROGRESSION

-You know? Just more drive and more power.

-Yeah, yeah.

Duane was a '50s megastar.

He took his country passions,

mixed them with a healthy splash of rock'n'roll

and became the grand master of a sound that he called twang.

Well, everybody in those days were going...

HIGH BLUESY RIFF

I can't even do it. I'm so sloppy.

-You know what I mean?

-Yeah.

-So, I thought, hey, down here...

LOWER PITCH

..is a much bigger, fatter sound, you know.

So, I wrote this song called Movin' N' Groovin'

where I played part of it up high.

HIGHER PITCH

Then higher...

BOB LAUGHS

BOB LAUGHS And that was, er...

..so, that was my first record.

GUITAR SOLO

Knowing they were onto a winner, the record labels arrived en masse,

colonising 16th Avenue.

Music Row was born.

It grew into Nashville's equivalent of the Hollywood Studio system.

It's a beautiful sunny day here on Music Row

and we're just about to meet up with Scott Borchetta,

who is the label manager of Big Machine Records,

the biggest record label here in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hey, Scott.

BOB LAUGHS

# Greetings from Nashville... #

Scott is the undisputed king of Music Row.

'His incredible instinct for developing new talent

'has brought him massive success.

'He certainly doesn't have to worry about his car

'only doing ten miles to the gallon.'

Scott, we've got to talk about this car first of all...

-SCOTT LAUGHS

-..because it's just so beautiful.

-It's a 1948 Cadillac

and you get this thing going,

you'd better give yourself a little bit of space

-if you want to stop.

-Yeah.

There's a lot of American metal right here.

BOB LAUGHS

MUSIC: Greetings From Nashville by Jason & The Scorchers

For people who come to Nashville for the first time,

you wouldn't know it was Music Row, would you?

Because I think people have this idea

that it's going to be big office blocks

and it's going to look very corporate,

-but of course it doesn't at all.

-No.

A lot of these are literally houses.

-You look at what's happened up and down these two streets...

-Yeah.

-..and it's truly remarkable. I mean, they were all here...

-Yeah.

..whether it was Johnny, or Kris Kristofferson,

or Willie Nelson and Chet Atkins, and all the greats.

-They still roam, man. You know?

-Yeah.

'Scott knows how to spot a true talent

'and take them all the way to the top.'

He discovered a country songbird

who's become a genre-smashing phenomenon,

selling in excess of 26 million albums.

Today the biggest pop star in the world is Taylor Swift.

# I was riding shotgun With my hair undone

# In the front seat of his car... #

So, really the things that Taylor already possessed,

I really thought could work.

The songs were amazing, she was incredibly smart and funny

and had almost an ageless look

and all the things that I loved about great artists,

I just thought she had them.

# Our song is the Slamming screen door

# Sneakin' out late, tapping on your window. #

I was just intrigued by her thought process.

You know, everyday life comes in and extraordinary comes out with her.

# Oh, oh...

# Trouble, trouble, trouble

# Oh, oh...

# Trouble, trouble, trouble... #

-What fun.

-THEY LAUGH

# Or anyone, or anything, yeah...

# I knew you were trouble when you walked in. #

And here's Taylor.

-There she is.

-Yes.

-My baby. BOB LAUGHS

Put the size of the country music industry

into some kind of context.

It's arguably the hottest format in America right now.

You know, we have 2,000 country radio stations.

You know, we have venues you can play in across the entire country.

So, it's...it's huge. You know,

we called the company Big Machine, almost as a challenge.

BOB LAUGHS You know, it was, "What makes you think we ain't?"

Nashville is the goldmine of America's music industry.

With an annual economic impact of 10 billion,

the percentage of locals employed in the music biz here

exceeds LA and New York put together.

There's room for a galaxy of stars.

Dierks Bentley is little known in the UK,

but with ten number one hits, he's big business here.

# I'm a riser

# I'm a get up off the ground Don't run and hider

# Pushin' comes to shove Hey, I'm a fighter

# When darkness comes to town I'm a lighter

# A get out aliver

# Of the fire

# Survivor. #

Country music has traditionally partly been about Christian values.

This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, it really is,

but those values and the reflection of those values,

everything's beginning to change.

There are new artists bringing in an entirely different

and contemporary take to life issues

and one of those artists is Kacey Musgraves.

# If you can't lose the weight Then you're just fat

# But if you lose too much Then you're on crack... #

Kacey has caused controversy with her lyrics.

She writes about gay relationships,

smoking pot and kissing whoever you like,

'subjects that grate against Southern conservatism,

'but it didn't stop her winning two Grammy awards

'and the hearts of young America.'

-Hey, Kacey.

-Hey! Hey, Bob, how are you?

I'm fine. How are you, then?

-I'm great.

-So, this is your local?

-Welcome to Santa's.

-Yeah.

-If it's Santa's, this must be Santa.

-Hey, Bob.

-How are you?

-Glad to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

# Follow your arrow Wherever it points. #

Lyrically you're brave,

you're putting yourself out there, aren't you, with your lyrics? You're addressing issues

that one wouldn't necessarily expect country radio to embrace.

These things aren't controversial to me, you know?

I mean, as a songwriter,

I'm just taking bits and pieces of things

that have inspired me along the way.

Just being inspired by real things that people really go through.

I don't care if, you know...

-Don't sweep it under the rug.

-Yeah.

-You know, this is music,

it's supposed to be embodied by what life is,

especially country music.

Specifically let's say, Follow Your Arrow,

er, where you use the word "joint" and a lot of the radio stations,

they just dip the fader down so that we don't hear that one word.

I mean...

how do you feel about that? It's strange, isn't it?

The thing is,

I mean, everybody's allowed their opinion,

and that's kind of what the song embodies in itself, you know?

Not everyone's going to agree with that and I'm cool with that,

that's everybody's freedom to be able to live how they want to live.

The thing is, I just don't feel like it's any different

than singing about moonshine,

which country has for, how long now?

# Roll up a joint, I would

# And follow your arrow wherever it points. #

I mean, that's one of the things I really love about country music

is that it's unabashed, or it should be, you know?

And it's, um,

it's for people who are hurting, and are, you know,

loving, and fighting

and just literally, just living, you know?

'Country lyrics have always had a brutal honesty about everyday life.

'When Loretta Lynn sang in support of the pill in 1975,

'there was public outcry.

'Controversy and country go hand in hand.

'Southern rocker Eric Church continues that tradition.'

-What would you like?

-Jack Daniels, Diet Coke.

Thank you. How much do I owe you?

-On the house?

-No, this is my...

BOB LAUGHS ..I've been here a lot.

# Boss man can shove That overtime up his can

# All I want to do Is put a drink in my hand... #

Well, even the first album,

I mean, Two Pink Lines was a song about teen pregnancy

and it was our second single on country radio

and it wasn't,

you know, wholeheartedly received!

BOB LAUGHS I just thought it was interesting,

I thought it was something, as a new artist,

it was a subject matter I felt people were talking about at night

when they sat around the dinner table and that should be written and sung about.

# Yeah, I was foolish and wild

# She was classic and regal

# We were fresh out of school Both barely legal

# We were young and on fire And just couldn't wait

# Six weeks in she was Three weeks late... #

I've never been afraid. I think that's music, that's what we're supposed to do,

to look at what's going on in society

and as songwriters and artists, write songs about it and make music about it.

# Drink a little drink, Smoke a little smoke

# Yeah. #

I think that's where we found our fan base

is talking about those things to middle America,

to the world, when nobody else was.

That's what made us country music, that's what made us popular.

I get a little concerned when we're not looking there.

We HAVE to do that, we have to mine that ground.

You can't worry about radio, you can't worry about sales, you can't worry about labels,

if we don't do that we go no farther.

I feel like as long as we're paying attention to that world,

we can do anything on the other side.

-Definitely drink to that.

-Thank you, sir.

-Cheers, Eric.

-I appreciate that. BOB LAUGHS

Nashville will always be home for a hot new songwriter

with something to say,

but it's also a place where old pros get new inspiration.

In 1968, Gram Parsons brought The Byrds here

to cut the first true country-rock album, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.

A year later Bob Dylan went country,

recording Nashville Skyline with Johnny Cash, here in Music City.

'No wonder Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame

'followed in their footsteps.'

# Love is a stranger in an open car

# To tempt you in and drive you far away. #

# Uh... #

-Hey, Dave.

-Hello, Bob. BOB LAUGHS

-Nice to see you.

-And you too. How's things?

-Great, considering.

-Fantastic space, this.

-It's amazing, yes.

-It's beautiful.

I idolise it, Blackbird Studios.

I think, best studio in the world, you know.

# And love, love, love Is a dangerous drug. #

So this is one of the studios

where I did a lot of the overdubs on my album,

but I was brought there by this guitar, strangely enough.

So this was a sort of divining rod that pointed you in this direction?

I saw this guitar on the wall in Denmark Street.

-Immediately it was like, I couldn't see any other guitars.

-Yeah.

And he brought the case and I knew I'd got something special,

because it was an original case with "Make Mine Country" on it.

God, that's brilliant. That's beautiful.

The guy said, "Yeah, it was owned by a guy called Red River Dave."

I thought, Red River Dave, that's another weird coincidence.

BOB LAUGHS

This incredible story came out about this Texan country-and-western guy

who was probably THE most eccentric songwriter.

I hadn't made a record in 13 years of my own.

'I thought, I'm going to come here and record one.'

# Here's a new song for Nashville

# That's kind of country blues

# Cos I love the way I'm feeling here

# It kind of goes with my tattoos. #

I sense that Nashville's got into your blood, Dave.

So, what is it, then, about Nashville?

Well, for me, you see,

I come from the north-east of England

and I started off playing acoustic guitar

and singing in folk clubs.

And I used to really get into the stories,

like this beautiful poetry about... down the mines, or,

you know, the wives waiting for the sailors to come home

and all this kind of stuff.

And so when I came to Nashville, I realised

this is exactly the same feeling as I had then

and I'd lost that feeling for years and years.

# All messed up on love

# All messed up on love. #

Dave Stewart rediscovered his first love in Nashville

and he joins the likes of Neil Young,

Robert Plant and Steve Winwood,

who've all made that special pilgrimage to Music City.

Nashville's popularity grew on the radio,

but today it has an international audience,

thanks to a primetime television drama

about the highs and the lows of making it in this town.

# Oh...

# I can hear 'em playing

# I can hear the ringing

# Of a beat-up old guitar... #

British actor and musician Sam Palladio

had never dreamt of coming here until he got the call to audition,

and the rest has been a fairy tale.

I had this impression that Nashville might be, um,

this kind of Southern hay bails, and "hey, y'alls",

and banjos, you know,

more the kind of traditional things that I'd heard.

But actually it turned out to be this sort of melting pot

of culture, of music, of artists and it really blew me away.

Did you find it a friendly town?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I come from, I'm from Penzance in Cornwall,

so I grew up with the... the kind of,

almost the Cornish hospitality of, "How's it going, boy?"

BOB LAUGHS You know, "How's your mother?" sort of thing...

-Yeah.

-..and found that was so similar here

with the southern hospitality of the states.

# Oh baby, what if?

# What if you wanted To feel alive? #

Sam films plenty of scenes in Nashville's Bluebird Cafe,

which started as a gourmet restaurant

with live background music, until in 1987,

Garth Brooks was discovered here.

Since then, many others have followed,

including Taylor Swift.

BOTH: Here we are! THEY LAUGH

-I know this place well.

-Yeah.

-So this is the world-famous Bluebird Cafe, Sam.

-Yes.

And the significance, then, of here, for you?

Um, it's pretty significant, actually.

The first live music night I ever saw was here at the Bluebird.

It was the first experience of, actually the songwriter

explaining the back story to a song,

-getting us all in that zone, and then delivering it...

-Yeah.

..which isn't something I'd experienced really before.

-The story element of it is a big thing here in Nashville...

-Yeah.

..and the Bluebird's famous for that.

# Don't let me sleep I've got a promise to keep

# You'll be on my mind saying Be strong in this flight

# Carrying me through These troubled times

# So wake me up in Nashville Cos it's where I want to be

# And I will meet you On the platform

# At 3:15 and I will

# Look into your eyes In the fading autumn light

# Wake me up in Nashville

# And let me hold you tonight. #

Country music is having a big impact in Britain,

-particularly with young kids.

-Yeah.

So, you know, what's your take on that?

I think it's really exciting

and this, our show has been a bit of a catalyst

in getting country music out to a wider audience.

And the show has done a lot to make people realise that there's this...

this kind of hotbed of talent here and song writing that,

that really is pretty unique and you don't find anywhere else.

-Yeah, and more power to it.

-Yeah.

# Kisses sweeter than Tupelo honey

# Little bit crazy like... #

Our perception of country in Britain

has been dominated by the rhinestone razzmatazz of the mainstream.

But does the glare of the spotlight

leave the real truth and soul of country music in the dark?

# Convinced it's not living If you stand outside the fire... #

During the '90s, it became bigger than ever.

Garth Brooks had the first ever country album

to top the pop charts

and filled stadiums with his Stetson spectaculars.

But for many, country music had lost its way.

This provoked a fierce reaction from those on the flip side

of the country coin.

# Hey, pretty baby, are you ready for me?

# A good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee. #

They rejected Music Row,

stripped things down and got back to the roots - Americana was born.

'Exactly what it is is the subject of much debate

'but I asked the man in the know, Jed Hilly.

There was a group of passionate people

who worked in the music business

who reacted to the commercial country music establishment

-saying that Rosanne Cash wasn't good enough to be on radio.

-Yeah.

That was very real.

That Emmylou wasn't good enough to be on your radio station.

-And it took a few years for the troops to get rallied.

-Yeah.

But it's fascinating that a group, and in some ways a genre,

came out of a reaction to a business model that did not respect the arts.

So how do you define Americana - what actually is it?

I think it's really simple.

It is contemporary music that honours and/or derives from American

roots traditions.

Period. It's that simple.

Americana has found a geographical home in East Nashville,

an altogether different place to Music Row and Lower Broadway.

The East Nashville music scene to me, it's rebel, it's vibrant,

-it's interesting.

-And irreverent.

-And irreverent!

It is a melting pot of talent that is off the radar.

It is not part of the neon Nashville exterior, but it's truly a jewel.

I mean, I don't know, Bob, that I want you telling everybody

about what is East Nashville because it is such a special place.

There's no make-up before rehearsal, before show. It's, "Can you play?

"Then let's play." That's East Nashville.

# There isn't nothing wrong with Nashville

# These rolling hills of Nashville, Tennessee

# All right. #

Cross the Cumberland River, drive for a few minutes

and you're the other side of the tracks, East Nashville.

There's a different feel here. Pockets of trendy bars, organic

eateries and hipster coffee shops have sprung up as musicians and

songwriters move in. It's become an enclave of Americana and

"alt country". Eric Brace has watched the scene grow.

-So I really love this part of town, Eric.

-East Nashville?

What is it about East Nashville?

Well, I moved here about ten years ago and I moved here

because it had this magnetic pull to it.

Musicians look for certain things. One is cheap housing

and the other is just being surrounded by other musicians

and other studios, you know? The quality of life for a musician,

you just gotta have that support system.

To a degree if you're writing songs for a major label on Music Row,

you're writing for a corporation.

They're making this thing, this product, and I think that

a lot of East Nashville musicians that I know say... In fact they say,

"please don't call it product, this is my music." And they just

want to write a great song. They just want to put on a great show.

'There's always been a rebel community here who didn't

'quite fit in with the Music City status quo.

'Those more influenced by the '70s outlaws than

'the pop hits of Music Row.

'East Nashville adoptee Todd Snider epitomises the spirit here,

'a man who refuses to be corrupted by the mainstream.'

So what's your take on what makes this area so amazing?

Well, to me it's like a cool, little, like a little drinking

neighbourhood that has a huge musician problem,

and I think it's the place that, if you're in Nashville

and you don't see yourself on CMT but you do see yourself as part

of Southern music, you come here and that's where your friends are.

# Like a Phoenix radio

# We used to listen and where did it go?

# It went off of the air so more Sheryl Crow could come on. #

There's a perception certainly from Britain looking at Nashville

that there is this kind of divide.

East Nashville cool, Music Row uncool.

East Nashville left wing, Music Row right wing.

It's pretty much that.

I mean, I wouldn't say they weren't cool.

You know, most of those guys that sing country music,

they were on the team in school

and their girlfriend was the cheerleader,

they sing for the popular.

Those kids don't want to hear some guy share their heart or some

poem kind of crap, they'd kick his ass, you know.

But if some guy goes, "No, the only reason I'm writing a poem is

"so I can buy a truck for my dad," then they go, "Oh!

"That makes sense, I don't have to kick your ass now."

But if you go, "I just wrote it cos I want to say it to the girl,"

then, "We're going to have to kick your ass!"

# East Nashville skyline

# Cross on over to a state of mind

# Leaving all my troubles way behind

# That old Cumberland River. #

The perception, obviously, of Nashville is that it's country,

that's it - full stop.

And nowadays it's become a magnet pull for music

right across the board.

Yeah, just because of what it has to offer.

You've got the Black Keys moving here,

you've got Jack White moving here and setting up Third Man Records,

and Ed Sheeran who moved to town. I mean, there's this big pop thing

going on also and Taylor Swift is sort of the queen of that.

But you can do anything you want here.

-And is this the home of Americana?

-I think so.

-Yeah.

Fuck, yeah.

East side.

It's a beautiful day, it's just incredible.

We've driven now about 25 minutes outside of the centre

of Nashville because we're heading to the home of one of my great

friends here in Music City, Beth Nielsen Chapman.

She was actually my sort of passport into Nashville in many ways

because she introduced me to so many people here.

Hey, Beth.

Hey.

Hey, stranger.

-How are you?

-Good to see you again.

So good to see you.

The famous and legendary Bob Harris is in the house.

And this is where the concert's going to be held today?

-Wow, it looks fantastic, Beth.

-We're going to have so much fun.

-Yeah.

In Nashville, gathering to share songs has always been

part of the fabric of life.

It's a tradition that harks back to the

homesteads of the Appalachian Mountains.

Beth opens her home for new talent

to play alongside established songwriters.

-How's things?

-You look nice. I like the jacket.

-Thank you.

This is great.

# There's a man who walks beside me

# He is who I used to be

# And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me

# I wonder who she's pining for

# On nights I'm not around

# Could it be the man who did the things I'm living now? #

There's so many different avenues in Nashville for a songwriter. You can

have more of a day job, you know. My best friend from high school

is a songwriter here now and he goes to work 9 to 5 like everybody else.

If somebody's written a great song everybody feels thrilled that

there's another great song and a little bit jealous that they

didn't write it, and that's the way it's supposed to be, I think.

# There's a man who walks beside her

# He is who I used to be

# And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me. #

-Sorry.

-It kind of made it cool.

He's so professional.

Having lived in London and Atlanta, as well

and other cities that have music as part of them, and a big part of them,

I feel like Nashville, the heart of the city is music,

so it gives it a really different atmosphere, I think, living here.

# Don't I feel like something when you're here

# Don't I feel my lungs losing air

# Don't I feel like I can show you

# I'm the one you can go to

# When you need another heartbeat near

# Don't I feel like something

# When you're here. #

The music community here in Nashville, it's very tightly knit.

I always get this impression everybody knows each other,

everybody's just a phone call away basically

and there's a great community feeling about that.

There really is, and it's very supportive.

If you come to this town and you have a great song - you don't

have to have a cute butt, you don't have to have a lot of other

things - but if you have a great song, you have the ingredient

that pushes you through a lot of resistance that would

normally face a person that's trying to make it in the music business.

The song is really the king in this town.

Three chords and the truth?

That's right. Sometimes there's four chords!

# Ooh, they always come back again

# Every time freedom tries to pull me out

# They shove me back in

# Ooh, gonna let that fire burn

# You tell me how you gonna walk on coals

# And water too. #

Nashville is so much more than ten-gallon hats, rhinestone

cowboys and showbiz sparkle. It stands strong as Music City because

whether you're writing for Music Row, or playing amongst friends,

Nashville is a city built on songs and the people that play them.

# So tell me how you gonna walk on coal

# And water too? #

Thank you.

Thanks very much.

Well, what an amazing week.

We've been to some of the little venues to hear

some of the newest stars, we've met up with country legends,

we've driven down Music Row, we've met great songwriters

and we've listened to some fantastic music.

And tonight the house concert in many ways pulls together the

threads of so much of what I love about this town. Great song writing,

wonderful, wonderful musicianship and above all great camaraderie.

It's what you find here in Nashville, Tennessee.

MUSIC: Nashville Without You by Tim McGraw

# Hey, crazy

# You know it's true

# That Nashville

# Wouldn't be Nashville without you

# It'd be just another river town

# Streets would have a different sound. #