RESIDENT Tamworth Golden Guitar winner Lawrie Minson and his extremely fashionable wife Shelley flew back into Tamworth late on Friday from the USA, tired but happy campers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Their fortnight spent in three US cities flew by, with lots to see and do and late nights aplenty.
I asked Lawrie and Shelley to write down a few of their experiences to share with Country Music Notes readers ahead of their gig this Saturday night in Legends at Wests.
If you get along to the show, you’ll probably hear lots more stories about their adventures.
WE STARTED our holiday in Austin, Texas and went to see Dale Watson play at world-renowned venue, The Broken Spoke.
They have had food and entertainment running consistently for more than 50 years.
We met James White, who owns the Broken Spoke, and though being in his senior years, he still got up onstage with Dale to sing a few old favourites.
As Dale has played in Tamworth, we were hoping to catch up with him when he took a break, but after two solid hours he was showing no signs of stopping and the jet lag beat us.
We were able to talk to him the following week at The Nashville Palace where he was playing for the Nashville Boogie Festival. What a great entertainer and a world class act!
Shelley and I are now on the Tamworth Sister City committee for Nashville and it was great to meet with Matt Watkins from Aristo Media.
Matt’s father-in-law was the late Jeff Walker, and their company has worked closely with many Australian artists over the years.
We talked through some ideas of how to use the common bond of music to more closely link our two cities. Stay tuned for more developments on that front.
A trip to Nashville would not be complete without a visit to the bars in downtown Broadway and Shelley couldn’t resist posing for a photo out front of the most famous of them all, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.
Another “must-see” is a night at 3rd and Lindsley to see the fabulous Time Jumpers band. Vince Gill has been in the band for the past few years now.
Another old legend who still sends us a Christmas card each year is Ranger Doug Green.
Aged 70, he plays in the Time Jumpers and also performs with his band of more than 30 years, Riders in the Sky.
Lawrie met with his old friend Charlie McCoy, the world’s greatest country harmonica player.
Charlie is included in a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame called Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and the Nashville Cats.
Charlie McCoy and a small group of “A-Team” session musicians played on some of the biggest records to come out of Nashville in the ’60s and ’70s.
Shelley caught up with the famous pin-up model Cherry Dollface at the Nashville Boogie Festival.
Cherry has used some of Shelley’s recordings behind her widely-viewed YouTube hair and makeup demo videos.
We completed our time in Nashville with a visit to the Grand Ole Opry and took in a stunning performance by Chris Isaak.
THEY rounded off the US trip with Lawrie catching up with the great pedal steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness in Los Angeles.
They met at the Brisbane Steel Guitar Festival last year and Lawrietook him up on his offer to pay a visit to the Steel Guitars of North County store.
This is as close as you will ever get to “steel guitar heaven”.
It was a party atmosphere in the shop that day and Lawrie found it hard to leave, being in such fine
company.
Lawrie bought an MSA pedal steel while he was at the store and is now in the process of setting it up.
The living room at home has pedal steel parts strewn from one end to the other!