Craig Campbell & Friends at Legends Corner & The Stage on Broadway

June 7 through 20, 2009

Craig Campbell & Friends at Legends Corner & The Stage on Broadway

This travellog covers the two weeks we spent partying on Broadway in downtown Nashville.

We stayed in Seven Points COE Park 12-miles east of downtown Nashville. Paved sites & interior roads with water and electric for $10 with our "geezer" pass. It will cost you young whipper snappers $20.

Next door to Legends Corner is the famous Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Old Opry

I think everyone no matter what genre of music floats their boat has heard of the legendary Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Old Opry was broadcast for many years. Well, that brick building that you see is the Ryman Auditorium. It is located in downtown Nashville, Tennessee with the front door on 4th street and the back door on 5th street.

I am taking this picture looking north from a block away at the Sommet Center where the CMT Music Awards were presented on Tuesday night after the CMA Music Fest.

The street lights you see are on Broadway as it intersects 5th avenue. The legendary Tootsies honky tonk is the two story building blocking out our view of the right side of the Rhyman Auditorium. Tootsies has a purple facade that is hard to distinguish in the fading light present in this picture but if you look closely in the bottom right side of the picture you can barely make out that purple facing. Legends Corner another famous honky tonk on Broadway is the building directly behind that bus passing under the street light.

Legends Corner Broadway & 5th Ave Nashville, Tennessee

Legends Corner is one of our favorite honky tonks in Nashville.

Craig Campbell & Mindy Ellis at Legends Corner Broadway & 5th Nashville, Tennessee

Craig and Mindy Ellis Campbell are two musicians that perform in Legends Corner and in "The Stage on Broadway" another honky tonk located a few doors away. This is an extremely talented couple that make great music.

In January of 2011 Craig had a song "Family Man" climbing the charts. The third week of January 2011 it was at #24 on the charts. Craig isn't playing at Legends Corner on a regular basis any longer. In 2011 he was/is touring with a variety of top tier artist.

Craig Campbell is a Singer/Songwriter & Keyboard player extraordinaire.

I will guarantee his CD is great. Since he has signed a record deal that CD may not be available any longer......but I bet one of his CD's is probably in record stores or online now.

Kyle Wentworth performing at Legends Corner on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee

One day when we were in Legends Corner a visitor to Nashville, Kyle Wentworth, got up and sang a few songs. He has a great voice. We got to know Kyle, actually we made friends with him. He is from Michigan and is a high-end computer engineer.

There is a great story behind Kyle and our friendship but you will have to wait and read about that in another travelogue.

Mindy Ellis at Legends Corner at 5th and Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee

Mindy Ellis (Craig Campbell's wife) performing in Legends Corner.

You can learn more about Mindy and her music at:

http://www.mindyellis.com/

Gary Hannon wrote Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off and was in Legends Corner

Joyce is getting her picture made with Gary Hannon the song writer who wrote Joe Nichols' hit song Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off. Gary just stopped in Legends Corner for a cold one. There is always a good chance that someone like this will appear in these honky tonks.

Texans enjoying themselves in Legends Corner

This is a group of really cool men, they are partners in a construction company that builds shopping centers and have been together for over 20-years. The center guy lives in Kentucky while the other two live in Texas a bit south of San Antonio. They frequently get together and bar hop here in Nashville in the same honky tonks that we frequent. We have seen them here on previous visits but had not met them. Frankly, we thought they were music producers looking for new talent.

We met them this trip and will look forward to visiting with them in the future. The older guy on the left also writes music and has an interesting story to tell. Long years ago his sister was dating Johnny Cash, this was before Johnny married June Carter Cash, but June was singing with Johnny's band or something like that. It was about the time Johnny went to prison for selling dope --- at least that is what he said.

Anyway, on with the story, it seems that after a hard night of drinking Johnny and this fellows sister along and with June Carter (not June Carter Cash at the time) made it back to this fellows mother's house (I guess this fellow and his sister were still living at home). An argument ensued. I think the argument may have involved his sister, June Carter and Johnny --- I am not sure if others were involved.

In any event this fellow said he told them this wasn't anything but a "Ring of Fire". From that acorn June pinned the famous song. This fellow says he helped some with the lyrics but it was his "acorn" that sprouted the idea for June Carter Cash writing the song "Ring of Fire".

Now that is his story as told to us and I am "sticking to it". VBG

Mike and Joyce in Legends Corner on the corner of 5th and Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee

And these are two other celebrities that frequent the best honky tonks on Broadway.

This picture was taken in Legends Corner.

Roger Wills Alan Jackson's base guitar player performing in The Stage On Broadway

There is no telling who you will see performing in The Stage on Broadway. It really isn't, we have literally seen it all.

This is Roger Wills, Alan Jackson's base guitar player who has been playing with Alan for over 20-years. He plays down here as part of his "boys night out" routine. We have met him and he is every bit as nice and unassuming as Alan. We always look for him when we see Alan performing on TV or in a live performance.

Roger is the inspiration behind Alan Jackson's hit song Don't Rock the Jukebox. As Alan tells the story Roger was with him in the early days when they played honky tonks.

It seems that during a break Roger warned Alan not to rock the jukebox.... and the rest is history.

Gary Morris, Brooks & Dunn's steel guitar player in Nashville Crossroads

Gary Morris is Brooks & Dunn's steel guitar player enjoying a "boys night out". He is good friends with Roger Wills, Alan Jackson's base player and we always see them playing together.

He has been with Brooks and Dunn for -- well forever it seems.

This fellow is now a session drummer but he was with Merl Haggard then Dolly Parton before slowing down and just doing session drumming. Like the others this is just a "boys night out".

If anyone wants to help me with his name I certainly would appreciate it.

Just put "info" in the place of "FAKE" in this address: FAKE@travellogs.us

The Stage on Broadway on Honky Tonk Row Nashville, Tennessee

And finally a picture of the signs outside the Stage On Broadway.

Ain't life grand?

That is all there is.