Soulsville to Yee-Haw Junction

Memphis is not only the birth place of Rock -n- Roll, but home of the Blues. The city has captured the very essence of soul. For our last stop before heading back to Nashville, we paid homage to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. This record company was founded in 1957 by a brother and sister team, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton. They took the first two letters of their last name, and Stax was born along with hundreds of soul, funk, gospel, jazz and blues artists. The museum highlights such incredible talents such as Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, the Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the MGs, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Ike & Tina Turner. My favorite exhibit was Isaac Hayes' restored, peacock-blue 1972 Superfly Cadillac El Dorado complete with television, refrigerator, and gold trim. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos or video, but were able to find someone on youtube that defied the rules. Below is a short clip of Black Moses’ famous ride.

It was Mason’s favorite as well, and was very upset when he could not find a toy version of it in the gift shop!




And then we were off for another three hour journey back to Nash Vegas... We thought it was so strange how the traffic increased in volume as we continued to approach the city limits… especially on a Wednesday. Our hotel was in downtown Nashville, right around the corner from Ryman Auditorium, a short walk to Broadway Street where Scott and I were looking forward to leisurely strolling down that street as well as Second Ave. As we checked into our hotel, the lobby was bursting from the seams with people… and not just anybody, but die-hard country folk dressed from head to toe in traditional yee-haw garb. We quickly found out we had picked THE worst week to explore downtown Nashville. Our next couple of days would be smack dab right in the middle of Country Music’s biggest party – CMA Fanfare weekend! So much for a peaceful and relaxing trip… but again, we made the best of it.