Entertainment, Music - Army Times

Road trip: In tune with Tennessee

ALONG THE I-40 “MUSIC HIGHWAY,” Tenn. - When “American Idol” withdrawal sets in for the summer, it strikes hard, strikes deep and silently carves a crater in your karaoke heart.

But listen up: There are cures to be found in Tennessee. Head for the hills, honky-tonks and hallowed museum halls of our most musical state and refresh your inner playlist. Revel in the immortal yearnings of guitar-slinging hillbilly cats. Study the social movement known as the Funky Chicken. Plink the piano that plunked countless country hits onto the charts. Receive the gospel via choir loft or AM radio.

From melting-pot Memphis to neon Nashville to bucolic Bristol, this state sings, strums, shimmies and sanctifies - and showcases America’s popular-music heritage like no other. They even name highway rest stops after the likes of B.B. King, Loretta Lynn and George Jones. (an erratic driver at best). And this summer Tennessee plays host to a harmonic convergence of anniversaries that will have baby boomers dusting off dance moves and restringing their air guitars:

— Memphis honors the 50th anniversary of soul music all this year, highlighted by a 7 Days of Soul celebration June 16 to June 22, during which Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & The MGs and other soulmates will testify. The festivities will emphasize the 1957 founding of Royal Studios, which launched the career of the Rev. Al Green, and Stax Records, which gave us Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Rufus Thomas (of “Do the Funky Chicken ”fame) and the Staple Singers, and played a notable role in the civil rights movement with its biracial ownership.

— Elsewhere in Memphis, Elvis returns to the building - Graceland - Aug. 11-19 to oversee a hunk of activities commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death, the 50th anniversary of his 14-acre estate and the 25th anniversary of its opening to the public. Visitors will find two new mini-museums at the complex, showcasing his nocturnal habits (don’t miss the TV set he blasted with a pistol) and 56 of his jumpsuits. But wait - as is always the case with Elvis, there’s more! The Richard Nixon Library in California is lending the suit The Prez wore when he shook hands with The King in that famous 1970 White House photograph; popular artist Thomas Kinkade is displaying his specially commissioned Graceland anniversary portrait; and the new Graceland Harley-Davidson shop is selling Elvis-themed motorcycles for just $58,815.

— Nashville gets into the act with tributes to the 50th anniversary of RCA’s Studio B, where Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Skeeter Davis, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves, Grandpa Jones, Eddy Arnold and others recorded 1,000-plus hits. The nearby Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is holding seminars on the studio’s history and conducting daily tours that allow visitors to tinkle Floyd Cramer’s piano and stand in the control booth from where producer Chet Atkins ogled Dolly Parton. (This is conjecture, but the odds are excellent.)

Those are just the major anniversaries. Among the significant first-ever events this summer: Country music renaissance man Marty Stuart unveils his 20,000-piece collection of musical memorabilia to the public at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville on Wednesday (through Nov. 11). Highlights of the stash include Johnny Cash’s first black stage suit, Patsy Cline’s cosmetics case, a Merle Haggard guitar and Hank Williams’ handwritten lyrics to “Your Cheatin’ Heart. ”

“Country music has always been aware of its heritage and history, and there were some passionate flame-keepers along the way,” says Stuart, who is looking for a permanent home for the display. “But a lot have passed away, and I’m here to welcome anyone who wants to keep it alive. It’s so important not to let it get away.”

At the moment there seems to be little danger of that. Music-based tourism, including museums, attractions, festivals, live-performance clubs and special events, is the second-largest segment of the state’s $12.5 billion tourism industry, behind natural attractions such as Smoky Mountain National Park, says Susan Whitaker, commissioner of tourist development. She can’t put a precise dollar figure on music’s share of the pie because many of the ventures are privately owned, but she notes that the two biggest draws last year were Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, which saw 2.5 million visitors, and Graceland, which drew 600,000. Even the off-the-beaten-track Patsy Cline airplane-crash site memorial near Camden draws about 3,000 annually.

“Tennessee music is its own brand,” says Whitaker. “It’s the one thing we have in common. There will be 800 festivals in the state this year, and music will be at every last one of them. Music ”owns “Tennessee.”

And Tennessee owns a wealth of unique, odd and tuneful travel options that address every genre and sensibility.

They range from the beloved Grand Ole Opry and year-old, $123 million Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville to the obscure vaudeville-themed Uncle Dave Macon Trail between Murfreesboro and Woodbury; the fulfilling Burger Bar in Bristol, which may or may not have prepared Hank Williams’ final sandwich; the charming Room 388 at the Gatlinburg Inn in Gatlinburg where “Rocky Top ”was written; to the bizarre International Rock-a-Billy Hall of Fame Museum in Jackson, which displays what are said to be the defibrillator paddles used on Elvis the day he died. (“It’s morbid, but it’s real. It’s life. It happened,” explains tour guide Linda McGee).

It also happens that even more attractions are coming to life: Graceland is rumored to be planning a major museum nearby; organizers of the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival held in Manchester recently bought property for a permanent home; and Nashville is considering an African-American cultural museum whose highlights likely would include the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

“Everybody is coming to the picnic - it’s part of the fate of the state to be associated with music,” says Del Bryant, CEO of the performing rights organization BMI and son of legendary songwriters Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote “Rocky Top ”in that Gatlinburg hotel room.

“The state is covered with a musical blanket of protection and luster from Memphis to the southwest to Knoxville,” he says. “And whether it’s the blues of B.B. King or the rock of Elvis or the bluegrass of Dolly or the music of Minnie Pearl from the middle of the state, it’s a blanket that was reluctantly pulled over by the business community. But in the last 30 years it has gone from being kicked off the bed at night to being held snugly in your hand.”

Sounds like there’s an“ Idol” song in there somewhere.