Country Music Hall of Fame

These 3 urban kids were star struck at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grandma and I were tickled silly watching them swoon. This stop might even win the "Best Gift Shop" award.

They showed such delight here, and actually knew more country songs than I'd imagined. I'm a lover of old country (Don Williams, Patsy Cline,


Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, George Jones) and 80s country (Keith Whitley, the Judds, Randy Travis, George Strait, Reba) and I guess I've listened to my old cds more than I realized.

Little Man discovered a large video screen with nutso performers and he went wild, doing his best air guitar with about 15 old guys watching him; he was

completely unaware. This was his introduction to Carl Perkins (we saw his blue suede shoes), shakin' Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis.

Ohhhh, Elvis. We talked about why all the teenage girls in the audience were fainting (along with their mother's back home), and why Elvis talked with pouty lips "thankyuhvurymush" and why he was and will forever be special. I thought Little Man was going to faint. New heroes were born in his eyes today.

I asked the kids to tell me what they liked so much about this place, and more importantly what they learned. Their responses came back at me in a rush and here is my attempt to translate their responses:

1. Little Man's biggest thrill was seeing Johnny Cash's real guitar. "I recognized it because it had that black shiny part on it. It's really scraped up because he used it so much. He always wore black because he wanted the sad and bad people to know he was singing for them, too. He didn't take care of himself either and he was a mess, but June fixed him. She was healthy and she helped him. We didn't get to see their graves because of the rain."

Peanut added that June and Johnny were in love and that he even sang to the people in jail. She likes his deep voice and how he sings on the Children's Album. Doodle and Peanut both liked coloring their Johnny Cash pictures although Doodle's looks much more like a glitzy Elvis, don't you think?

2. Elvis. Little Man went berserk, "I like him!!!!!!! He's AWESOME!!!!!!! He shakes his leg when he sings and then he puts his hand on his leg and pushes it behind him to kind of say, 'Hey leg, stop shaking so much.' But he just feels the beat!"

Peanut adds that he got a piano completely made of gold for his birthday, and that no matter how famous he got or how much money he made he always remembered to take care of his mother. "That's very important."

3. Watching Glen Campbell's video. We sat in benches in a small make-shift theater surrounded by plexi-glass, which Little Man tried to walk through at one point -- funny as could be. This video had us all captivated; it was basically old 1950-1990 footage of all the commercials (Loretta Lynn selling Crisco) and various shows (Hee-Haw) all run together. This was the first time the kids had ever seen Dolly Parton perform, for example. Minnie Pearl was beyond comprehension. Anytime someone sang a song they knew, they were pleased as punch, especially when Oh! Susannah rang out. This was certainly a new world to them, while it was such a walk down memory lane for Grandma and me.

4. The clothes! Doodle has fallen head over heals in love with Dolly Parton (and her wigs and dresses). She also likes the other girl's dresses and the cowboy boots with sparkles on them. Little Man would just like to add that he thought it was really funny when he learned that Dolly had big boobs.

I happen to truly love Dolly, too. She has the best sense of humor and is an unelievably talented song writer (up there with Willie). You know she wrote and sang Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, right? Well, here's something she said on an NPR interview that just cracks me up:

"I will always appreciate her -- I made a lot of money, and I need a lot of money, because it costs a lot of money to look this cheap," she said with a laugh.