#grand old opry

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Dolly Parton: Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Book Review + Kindle Deal $2.99 #KindleDeals #BookReview #CountryMusic #DollyParton #ChronicleBooks

#DollyParton is a living legend, and right now you can get her much-acclaimed #SongtellerMyLifeinLyrics book on #KindleDeals for $2.99. I enjoyed this book so much I have 3 different formats #audiobookreview #bookreview #amazondeals #countrymusic

Right now, you can get Dooly Parton’s Songteller book for only $2.99 on Kindle. That’s 91% off the list price and Bargain Sleuth approved. Below is my review of the audiobook and hardcover versions of the book when it came out two years ago. In the past year, there have been a couple of books released about Dolly Parton and her impact as a songwriter. I reviewed Unlikely Angel: The Songs of…

[afolksongs]

[costumeloverz71]

Julie Andrews & Carol Burnett 1989 Special, "Julie & Carol: Together Again" - The Phantom Of The Opry Pt. 1.

** Julie Andrews is "young back up singer (don't think she has a name) to Molly, a country singer at the Grand Old Opry. Molly tells her she could fire her any day, just like she did to her "identical twin sister Polly". Going back stage for a rest, the young back up singer is greeted by "The Phantom Of The Opry" who drags her down into the sewer, removing her ten gallon hat to reveal her face at last.

[bitter69uk]

“Rockabilly bombshell Sparkle Moore was born Barbara Morgan in Omaha in 1939. The quintessential bad girl, she dressed in leather (and often in men's clothes), with her short blonde hair greased back in an Elvis Presley-styled pompadour. Dubbed "Sparkle" in honour of a supporting character in the Dick Tracy comic strip, she signed to the Cincinnati-based Fraternity label to issue her debut single, the hiccupping "Rock-a-Bop," in late 1956, and though still just 17 years old she toured the US in support of the record, even opening for Gene Vincent at the peak of his fame. (A planned appearance on radio's Grand Ol' Opry was cancelled due to a bout with laryngitis, however.) The sultry yet sinister "Killer" followed in 1957, but soon after Moore learned she was pregnant and abruptly quit performing to focus on raising a family. No subsequent recordings are known to exist, although an unreleased Fraternity ballad called "Flower of My Heart" subsequently appeared on several compilations, most notable among them 2004's Good Girls Gone Bad: Weird, Wild & Wanted, the first to assemble her complete recorded output in one disc (including a handful of alternate takes).”

/ From Allmusic Guide /

Happy 85th birthday to enigmatic platinum blonde rockabilly icon - and perennial Lobotomy Room favourite - Sparkle Moore (born 6 November 1939)! Now sing along with me: “You should be labelled with a skull and crossbones / You're a jinx to my soul, oh yeah …”

[typewriter83]

Source: joelsguit4r on TikTok

I’m not well, this made me scream into the void - a pillow honestly so I didn’t scare the neighbors.

There seems to be a general consensus - just me? - that old folk songs, bluegrass, old country western music and the like, work well in the TLOU universe. This is definitely something that holds deep nostalgia for me as I was raised listening to the Grand Ole Opry in the back of the station wagon while traveling back and forth across the country.

Maybe it’s the scene of Joel and Ellie in the truck, listening to Hank Williams while Ellie gets her first glimpses of the broken country that tug at something deep inside of me, that makes me cling to desperately to this story. While of course this is a dystopian future timeline, there’s something deeply nostalgic about this story, and again maybe it’s personal experience and being able to tie it all back to those years spent on the open highway, listening to fiddles and banjos, watching the mountains and valleys pass us by, but this story is gonna stick with me for the rest of my life.

I know Joel is portrayed as having a passion for music and he plays a 90s grunge rock song for Ellie- but you can’t help but wonder what else he would have played. My head canon is that Joel grew up learning to play a lot of folk, bluegrass, country western, early rock, classic rock, etc. anything he could learn - but “Future Days” reminded him of Ellie, not necessarily because Pearl Jam was his favorite band. Hand canon - Joel is a country music fan, old country music, Johnny Cash, the Highwaymen, twangy country. Thoughts?

Anyway, this video just ruined me - please forgive the Xennial in me if I did not link this properly - give me grace and point me in the right direction if I messed up.

🫶🏻

[robertreich]

Why Are There Fees on Everything? 

If there’s one thing that brings our divided nation together, it’s our hatred of junk fees.

Junk fees are extra charges you don’t know you’re paying until you get the bill. They hide the true cost when you buy a good or service, so it’s impossible to comparison shop. For example…

Say I want to travel to go see my favorite musician Dolly Parton play at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

When I book my plane ticket, I have to fork up extra cash to bring luggage or change my flight. My grandkids are more into Blippi than Dolly — so they won’t be traveling with me. Otherwise, I might have to pay a fee just to sit with them.

I need a rental car once I land, so I’ll be stuck paying an extra fee to pick up the car at the airport and another fee they never told me about to cover the rental company’s costs for disposing old tires. Seriously?

When I pay my hotel bill, the price is way higher than I thought I’d pay when I booked the room, to cover wi-fi, pool access, a gym, state and local taxes and other special fees.

Before I get to the show, I better look at my checking account balance if I want to buy a record. Even if I see that I have enough money to make a purchase, the timing of other charges hitting my account could result in me getting slapped with a surprise overdraft fee. It's a simple mistake, but could make a $20 record end up costing $50.

Oh and don’t forget the concert tickets themselves. Major ticket sellers like Ticketmaster tack on fees to attend shows, which can drive up the final ticket price as much as 78% percent higher than what I was told the initial price was.

It’s all bait-and-switch. You thought you could afford to see Dolly Parton, but it turns out it’s gonna take a lot more than working “9 to 5”.

Corporations often label these types of charges “convenience fees” or “service fees.” Probably because they “conveniently” “serve” to pad their bottom lines, costing Americans at least $29 billion dollars a year we didn’t expect to pay. This is a huge problem spanning many different industries — not just the ones I’d encounter on my trip.

But there’s good news: President Biden has urged Congress to draw up legislation to prevent these outrageous fees.

Turns out, one of the few things as popular as Dolly Parton is tackling junk fees. 

It’s time for Congress to act.

[coconutcows]

It actually makes complete sense for them to have given Operetta the theme/style of Rockabilly.

- The Phantom of the Opera is French, a French Story by a French Author

- A lot of places in the southern United States have French influence (a good part of this is thanks to Canada btw), especially New Orleans which is in the French parts of Louisiana

- New Orleans in particular, and by extension New Gorleans, has had a long history of Opera, dating back to at least 1790

- my memory is fuzzy but I believe the Phantom moved his family to New Gorleans either before Operetta was born, or when she was very young.

- Country music is what’s known for the south, particularly being popular in the south

- Rockabilly is a blend of Rock and Country music genres

- One of the best known show houses for Country Music is a hall called “The Grand Ole Opry”. It got this name because they derived it from Grand old Opera.

- Rockabilly gives her a unique style inspired by Americana 50’s fashion

So yeah, the Rockabilly influence makes complete sense for her character and Monster Parent. In fact there’s a lot of thought behind it. I’m not really sure why people question her influences in connection to The Phantom so much though when other characters also don’t reference their parents a super lot, or at all like Lagoona

[thisaintascenereviews]

Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge - Wine On Venus

There’s usually some kind of talk about rock music being “dead” once a year or two, and it’s usually some dinosaur rock artist saying it, Gene Simmons of KISS comes to mind immediately, but other rock musicians have certainly said it, although it just isn’t true. Maybe what they mean is that their definition of rock is dead, like bands from the 1960s and 1970s are extinct, at least emulating that style, but that’s not true, either. There are a lot of bands that bring that style back, including some younger bands and artists that live that kind of music. The artist that I’ll be talking about today is Grace Bowers, an 18-year-old guitar prodigy that has both played the Grand Ol’ Opry and had her debut album, Wine On Venus, produced by one of the members of Brothers Osborne, a successful country-rock group that I happen to enjoy quite a bit.

If these dinosaurs want to say rock is dead, look no further than this record as being proof that it’s not. This record is more or less a hodge podge of styles of music from the 1960s and 1970s, and while this album isn’t anything unique, it does a great job at capturing that atmosphere. It’s got elements of blues, hard-rock, psych-rock, soul, and R&B, and the performances are all solid. Bowers isn’t a singer, as she only plays guitar, but the singer they do have is really awesome. Everyone does a great job on this album, although it’s mainly Bowers’ show. The album is named for her, so she has to be, but her riffs and solos are utterly killer.

I haven’t gone back to this album too, too much, but it’s more so because I’ve been listening to a lot, not because this album isn’t any good. It’s quite good, but maybe the biggest issue this album has is just not being anything special. It’s not a unique-sounding album, but fans of the styles it emulates will surely love it. I’m a sucker for a retro-rock band in that vein, and this record is quite good, especially for a really young guitarist that’s just making a name for herself. She co-wrote every track here, and she is a talented songwriter, even if it isn’t anything unique, so it’ll be interesting to see where her career goes from here. This album won’t quite win any awards this year, but it’s a damn good rock album that should shut up the “rock is dead” crowd.

[shefanispeculator]

Blake Shelton loves everything about Independence Day. The 48-year-old has fond memories of celebrating the holiday as a child in Oklahoma, which in some ways was the end of his multi-week birthday celebration.

“Fourth of July when I was a kid was extremely important, [a] big deal to me because the fireworks stands, or we called them firecracker, they always opened about four or five days before my birthday,” Shelton says. “My birthday is June the 18th, so they always opened a few days before that, so I got tons of fireworks for my birthday, which I loved.”

Unfortunately, Shelton’s eagerness for July 4th sometimes meant there weren’t many fireworks left by the actual holiday.

“I would try to save the cool ones until the Fourth of July, like the fountains, some of the bigger ones,” Shelton says. “Although by the time the fourth got there, I’d be down to almost nothing. But, I was just obsessed with them.”

Shelton’s July 4th celebrations now likely include his three stepsons, from his marriage to Gwen Stefani. After years of focusing on himself and his career, the Grand Ole Opry member is thrilled to place his attention on Stefani’s children from her first marriage.

“I take enjoyment in all of it. I also stress out a lot about it,” Shelton recently told CMT (via Music Mayhem). “It is important to me, and I don’t want to be the guy that advised them to do the wrong thing somehow.”

Shelton joined The Voice for its inaugural season in 2011, and likely would have stayed past Season 23 — his final season — if not for the three boys.

“I take that stuff — it’s about the only thing I do take pretty serious in my life,” Shelton explained. “Obviously, everybody out there watching that’s got a kid knows what I’m talking about …There’s not that one thing that I can put my finger on, there’s things every day.”

Stefani also echoed Shelton’s sentiments, explaining his departure from The Voice as a way to spend more time with her and their blended family.

“I think he just wants more time,” Stefani told Extra. “I don’t know if people realize if he’s doing two seasons a year, [and] in between that he’s touring. So he actually has two teams at the same time at a certain point; they overlap. It’s a lot of brain power. It’s a lot of time away from the family. Those kinds of things, he just got to a point — he just wants time at his ranch time to do the other things he loves to do.”

[countryhixes]

Leon Payne - Rolling Stone

Bullet 671. Leon Roget Payne was born in Wood County, Texas - a small town named Alba. His sight was impaired at an early age and when he was seven years old, he attended a school for the blind. He developed an early love and enjoyed singing. Then he learned to play the guitar. He continued to learn and began entertaining friends, too. He graduated from high school when he was 18 and started then to strive for a life in the music business. Leon was quoted in one magazine article in 1951 of his start: "My first job was with a small carnival. It wasn't the best paying job in the world, but it was a start." But his talent was such that his first job led to others and more offers. In fact, he got offers to appear on radio stations in St. Louis, Dallas, Houston and other cities. He had some aims as an entertainer - one was said to play the Palace as most 'vaudeville' entertainers wanted to in New York. Another was to appear on WSM's Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Leon became a songwriter of note. One of the all time country music classics was his tune, "I Love You Because". By 1951, he was playing and entertaining folks in the Houston, Texas area with his band, the Lone Star Buddies. Leon got married along the way - married his childhood sweetheart - whom he first met when he was in grammar school. One of Leon's aims was to make enough money from his songwriting to eventually retire from live performing and have his wife read a good book to him once in a while. He recorded for the Bullet, Capitol and Decca record labels that we know of along the way. --Hillbilly-Music.com

[msclaritea]

Rachel Zegler on ‘West Side Story’ Lipstick, ‘Y2K’ Butterfly Clips, and Gloria Estefan’s Enviable Hair | Vanity Fair

"This is Leonard Bernstein Zegler,” she says, panning over to the sandy-brown fluff beside her. (Lenny celebrated his first birthday last week; my hound mix, Pina, chewing a bone, is a month younger.) “I got him in June, right before the strike, and he is my best friend. I talk to him as if he understands me,” Zegler says, describing a silver lining of that industry-wide freeze. “We were all kind of miserable, but I got to train my dog. I feel like he’s got this human soul.”

"Our director, Bardia Zeinali, was so wonderful and fun,” Zegler says of the wintertime shoot, down coats layered over couture until the very last moment. “I have never instantly connected with somebody like I did with him because of our love of Lady Gaga and Boygenius and Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift.” Zegler, filmed in a red two-piece confection by Maria Grazia Chiuri and a matching lip, telegraphs restraint and verve: Maria and Anita in one."

"You wear a red lip in the scene where you’re onstage playing music. Did that connect you in some way to the cohort of Grand Ole Opry women, like Patsy Cline?

Absolutely. Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton were huge influences. Particularly with Dolly, you won’t find her not made-up on a stage."

"Being in a recording studio is very isolating, and you’re usually in a dark room all day. It was one of those things that I learned on West Side Story, when I would spend days just trying to lay down tracks. Jeanine Tesori was like, “You should have something that brings you comfort in here.”

"Being in a recording studio is very isolating, and you’re usually in a dark room all day. It was one of those things that I learned on West Side Story, when I would spend days just trying to lay down tracks. Jeanine Tesori was like, “You should have something that brings you comfort in here.” So I had one of my mom’s old Champion sweatshirts from the ’80s with me."

"When you think about your career ahead, what transformation—whether musical genre or time period—what would you love to get into?

I would love to actually make a movie in the Old Hollywood sphere, or something that takes place in the ’80s. Y2K was ’99, and the fittings were super fun to do because there were just so many different routes you can take for different characters who are dressed up for New Year’s Eve. You’re going to have butterfly clips in your hair and frosty lips, frosty eyeshadow. I keep saying, people are going to leave the theater with stuff in their cart on the phone, all of their nostalgic ’90s, 2000s clothes."

First off, this Variety article is like sitting through a string of brand commercials, only it's worse because you have to actually read them.

Dior Photo Shoot

Second.. it's been pretty obvious for a long time that Rachel Ziegler is another Monarch. Way to be so blatant. So, the mouthing off is by design. Disney is very adept at recognizing someone who is not under their own control, so continuing to push Zegler while simultaneously acting upset over the actress' behavior is nothing short of BOLLOCKS.

HAPPINESS IS A BUTTERFLY Cover

Rachel Zegler Butterfly Sticker

Dior Pink and Black Embroidered Butterfly Gown,

Ala BlackPink, the band connected to Choose Love

Having the young woman dress up like a famous Prostitute is just icing on the cake.

[dankusner]

OBITUARY

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

Country music superstar, A-list Hollywood actor

LOS ANGELES — Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma, died Saturday.

He was 88.

The country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, family spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

No cause was given.

Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville native wrote such classics standards as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.”

While Kristofferson was a singer, many of his songs were best known as performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”

He also starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in director Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore , starred opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 A Star Is Born and acted alongside Wesley Snipes in Marvel’s Blade in 1998.

Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music.

With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters along with such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.

“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said during a November 2009 award ceremony for Kristofferson held by BMI.

“Everything he writes is a standard, and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”

He was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master’s degree in English from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England and turned down an appointment to teach at the Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., to pursue songwriting in Nashville. Hoping to break into the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio.

At times, the legend of Kristofferson was larger than real life. Johnny Cash liked to tell a mostly exaggerated story of how Kristofferson, a former Army pilot, landed a helicopter on Cash’s lawn to give him a tape of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” with a beer in one hand.

Over the years in interviews, Kristofferson said with all respect to Cash, while he did land a helicopter at Cash’s house, the Man in Black wasn’t even home at the time, the demo tape was a song that no one ever actually cut and he certainly couldn’t fly a helicopter holding a beer.

In a 2006 interview with The Associated Press, he said he might not have had a career without Cash.

“Shaking his hand when I was still in the Army backstage at the Grand Ole Opry was the moment I’d decided I’d come back,”

Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He kind of took me under his wing before he cut any of my songs. He cut my first record that was record of the year. He put me on stage the first time.”

In 1973, he married fellow songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy awards.

They divorced in 1980.

He retired from performing and recording in 2021.

Sinéad O’Connor slams old pal Kris Kristofferson for toxic masculinity

Sinéad O’Connor – aka Magda Davitt, or Shuhada’ Sadaqat – is back on Twitter with a vengeance these days and has since shut down her account.

Over the weekend, Sinéad sent out a number of pleas from County Wicklow regarding her missing 14-year-old son Shane, who thankfully was found safe and sound on Monday morning.

Even the police got involved, and when Shane was found “safe and well,” Sinéad tweeted “alhamdulillah,” Arabic for “praise be to God.” (You’ll remember that she converted to Islam last year.)

The 52-year-old Sinéad also let the world know about a long-ago fling with the singer/actor Kris Kristofferson, who’s now 82.

A fan of Sinéad’s on Twitter shared the true story of how Kristofferson came to Sinéad’s aid in the days after she shredded a photo of the Pope on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992, and faced the wrath of an angry nation afterward.

Not long after, Sinéad was one of the featured performers at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden, and the crowd booed lustily.

Kristofferson was sent to the stage by the organizers to take the visibly upset Sinéad off, but instead, he told her not to let the “bastards get you down.”

So with Kristofferson’s words of encouragement, she continued, singing a capella about injustice and war, and he was the first one onstage afterward to give her a hug.

The aforementioned fan, Audra Williams, shared the story on Twitter in the context of the new Gillette ad that’s whipped up so much debate.

Williams tweeted, “The recent Gillette ad has started/furthered a lot of conversations about what alternatives to toxic masculinity look like. This is it.” Underneath the tweet was a photo of Sinéad being comforted by Kristofferson onstage during the Dylan show.

Sinéad, using her @magdadavitt77 handle, offered her take on the fan’s opinion and it was pretty surprising, not to mention crass.

“I would not agree Kris wasn’t toxically masculine. He took full advantage when he got the chance and then immediately turned nasty once…” and we won’t go on given that we’re a family site.

She ended the quote with the hashtag #NoHeroOfMine.

Sinéad further elaborated on Monday morning.

“In case my use of the words ‘took advantage’ [in] an earlier tweet might be misconstrued I wish to make clear that in no way, shape or form was I in any way sexually assaulted by Kris Kristofferson. And that the one time we did have sex, it was consensual.”

Sinéad seems to have made quite an impression on Kristofferson.

He wrote a song 10 years ago called “Sister Sinéad” in which he called her a “bald-headed, brave little girl.” Guess the feeling isn’t mutual.

[bitter69uk]

“Rockabilly bombshell Sparkle Moore was born Barbara Morgan in Omaha in 1939. The quintessential bad girl, she dressed in leather (and often in men's clothes), with her short blonde hair greased back in an Elvis Presley-styled pompadour. Dubbed "Sparkle" in honour of a supporting character in the Dick Tracy comic strip, she signed to the Cincinnati-based Fraternity label to issue her debut single, the hiccupping "Rock-a-Bop," in late 1956, and though still just 17 years old she toured the US in support of the record, even opening for Gene Vincent at the peak of his fame. (A planned appearance on radio's Grand Ol' Opry was cancelled due to a bout with laryngitis, however.) The sultry yet sinister "Killer" followed in 1957, but soon after Moore learned she was pregnant and abruptly quit performing to focus on raising a family. No subsequent recordings are known to exist, although an unreleased Fraternity ballad called "Flower of My Heart" subsequently appeared on several compilations, most notable among them 2004's Good Girls Gone Bad: Weird, Wild & Wanted, the first to assemble her complete recorded output in one disc (including a handful of alternate takes).”

/ From Allmusic Guide /

Happy 84th birthday to enigmatic platinum blonde rockabilly icon - and perennial Lobotomy Room favourite - Sparkle Moore (born 6 November 1939)! Now sing along with me: “You should be labelled with a skull and a-crossbones / You're a jinx to my soul, oh yeah …”

[disneydelights]

Before They Were Famous

The following article is the first in what I hope will be a continuing series featuring famous people who have a connection early in their careers to Disney.

Guy Gilchrist known affectionately as “Jim Henson’s Cartoonist” has been a successful artist since he was in high school. At first working for local shops and businesses, making logos and advertisements and doing editorial cartoons for local newspapers. Then at 16 getting his first gig for Disney. Guy was contracted by Whitman Publishing and under the oversight of John Celardo, he drew Pluto and the rest of the Disney Characters for Coloring Books put out by the Western Publishing company. This began his 50 years and running relationship with Disney.

By the time he was 20,  Guy was working for Xerox Education Publications Weekly Reader. This was the work that Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois saw that led to Guy working for King Features Syndicate which ultimately led to Guy being hired by Jim Henson at 23 years old. Guy worked exclusively for Jim Henson until he was 28 at which time they began bringing in tons of Disney work. For nine years Guy worked on Minnie and Me featuring Minnie Mouse as a tween. Guy also drew Ariel for two years and the Disney afternoon characters: Darkwing Duck, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and Duck Tales.

Guy’s career as an artist has had him working with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Looney Toones, Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry, Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Babies, The Muppets and many others.

He has published over 50 Children’s Books and has drawn several major comics for nationally syndicated newspapers, including Nancy and Mudpie. 

In addition to this many of you may not know that he is also a successful songwriter. After moving to Nashville, Guy became heavily involved in the music scene there and he is a respected member of the music community. His art is displayed prominently backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Guy currently makes appearances around the world at Comic Cons and his artwork is available for purchase at his website: guygilchrist.com

[ourpickwickclub]

Ref Gwen not being at any Ole Red Grand Opening. Uh, she was there for the Tishomingo Ole Red grand opening on 30 September 2017. Official Grand Opening of Olde Red.  Ole Red Tishomingo Block Party II [SA]; Starts out with a concert inside Ole Red then progresses for a show on Main Street with multiple performers managed by the Opry. 

And anon, it does count.

That was such a cute family day.

- B

[jazzynook]

Wanderlust: road trip stopover in Tennessee

Me and Paige kicked off our Dirty South road trip with a stay at The Hopestead, a historic bed & breakfast that felt like a hidden gem. Nestled deep in the Tennessee woods, about 90 minutes from Nashville, this charming place sprawls over 47 acres of rolling hills. We arrived late in the evening, the sky draped in a starry blanket, and were greeted by the cutest welcoming committee—two delightful dogs, a pair of darling cats, and a playful litter of kittens.

Vanessa and Michael, our warm-hearted hosts, welcomed us and despite our late arrival, they gave us a cozy tour of the house. We spent the rest of the evening lounging on the backyard deck with a glass of prosecco while our new feline friends weaved around our legs and even nibbled on my toes 😅 The starry sky offered a breathtaking glimpse of the Milky Way.

The next morning, the heat of the sultry air and thick humidity greeted me like an old uncle with a slap on the back. Before breakfast was served, I perched on the porch's rocking chair, and listened to the sound of the cicadas. I meandered through the farmhouse's grounds, where horses nibbled at the dewy grass and when I walked back inside the house, I was so charmed by the vintage tunes Vanessa played while cooking. Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” filled the entire first floor with a nostalgic warmth.

At breakfast, we shared stories with Michael and Vanessa, learning about their journey of restoring the house and their new life as empty nesters. They also recommended we attend a live radio show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and I've added it to the list for next time! Of course I couldn't visit Nashville for the first time and not visit the National Museum of African American Music. But more on that later…

After savoring Vanessa's homemade breakfast, I nestled under the generous shade of the lush magnolia tree to call my mom and share our safe arrival at this peaceful haven I was grateful to have found.

Our furry friends continued to shower us with affection and charmed us from our arrival to our final morning, though they seemed less enamored with the couple who arrived the day after us 🤷🏾‍♀️

The Hopestead, with its blend of comfort, nature, and warm hospitality, left an unforgettable mark on our hearts.

c. August 2024