400 miles in and we are both still alive, which is truly remarkable when you consider how many times today we have listened to Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places (The Long Version).” This is what happens when you let the newly-minted Garth fan control the iPod.
After a quick stop in Nashville for lunch with an old friend, I introduced Earl to the Roadside America app. I navigated the quick rainstorm between Bucksnort, TN, and the Duck River while she explored. So, it figures that our first detour didn’t come from the app, right? We saw a sign for the Tennessee Fresh Water Pearl Museum, and Earl jumped at it. I hopped off the interstate and headed down the little 2-lane.
Looking at the website now, I kinda wish we’d actually stopped. As it stood, we couldn’t find anything about it on Roadside America, and the signs appeared to lead us straight into a trailer park. Now, I have no problem with people who live in trailer parks, but it was wooded and I sewanee there was banjo music, so I pulled a u-ey with Earl saying, “Can you drive faster?”
I proposed a stop in Jackson, TN, at the Casey Jones Village—a place I frequented in the summers of my younger years when I was dragged by my mother and her friends to the annual Miss Tennessee Pageant (Miss America system, not Miss USA, thankyouverymuch). They used to have a pretty cool little ice cream shop and general store. Earl agreed with a bit of a grumble and went back to the app.
“Ooh, Mama! I found somewhere I really want to go!”
Referring to Agreement #2, it was settled: We were detouring from our scheduled detour.
To the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame Museum in Jackson, TN.
That’s Lee Gaugh, our phenomenal tour guide. I’ll admit, our arrival was a little inauspicious. The door was locked despite the “Open” sign, and there was a sign saying to ring the buzzer for a tour. It seemed a bit sketch, but before we could back out, an older gentleman walked up the sidewalk and unlocked the door. There was a group in a room off to the side, and Earl and I kind of stood just inside the door and looked around for a moment. I was plotting our departure when Lee popped out and introduced himself.
It’s not your typical museum. Lee was quick to explain there aren’t any fancy exhibits, but there are lots of stories. And, boy, was he right. He grew up knowing Carl Perkins (who claims Jackson as home), and his tales were a wonderful mixture of legend, personal moments, and sheer history.
Earl was won over the moment Lee said, “Now, when you go to Graceland, one thing they won’t do is open up a display case and let you hold an actual artifact.”
She had no frame of reference for the significance of the blue suede shoes he placed in her hands, but she was duly impressed and obviously petrified she might drop them.
Did you know “Blue Suede Shoes” was written after Carl Perkins was performing in a club and heard a kid warn the girl he was dancing with not to step on his shoes? True story.
We heard tales of the history of rockabilly music, of Elvis and Sun Records, of Jerry Lee Lewis and the Million Dollar Quartet. Then we were led into the Dance Hall where, up on the stage, was a set of drums. They were given to the museum by Elvis’s drummer D.J. Fontana. Lee urged Earl up on stage and handed her a pair of drumsticks donated by Johnny Cash’s drummer W.S. Holland. Then this happened:
We’d only planned to stop for 30 minutes or so, but we were at Rockabilly for an hour and a half. I was certain Earl had been bored by the stories and all the talking, but as we walked out the door, she grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. “That was so awesome.”
Hopping back in the car, I agreed with her declaration. “Yeah, that was pretty cool, wasn’t it?”
“It was!” she chirped. “And it was all my idea!”
Yes, my child, it was. What a great idea it was!
Tonight, we’re bedded down in Memphis in a quiet hotel undergoing extensive renovation that seems to indeed be outside of the murder district (knock wood). Tomorrow: Graceland. Then westward we go. Earl’s excited. Once we leave Tennessee, we’ll be in all new-to-her states.
I’m just hoping I get to control the iPod for a bit tomorrow. Clearly, I need to properly introduce her to Rockabilly.
Paula says
sounds like a great 1st day.
Harvey says
It was SO much fun.
Nancy says
You are a good mama! That sounds like a great museum and I’d love to go. I hope her ideas are that fun during the rest of the trip!
Earl, I took my daddy to the Jerry Clower museum. Yes, off road proved to be very interesting. Keep playing the drums and entertaining your mama. Have fun!
Harvey says
OMG! There’s a Jerry Clower museum?? I MUST GO!