Up On The Ridge

Bear with me as I let my inner music nerd lose for a few moments.  Last night I went to the church of country and bluegrass music: Ryman Auditorium.  I almost felt like I should take my shoes off for entering hallowed ground as I walked up the steps covered in thick carpet colored cranberry red.  The staircase looked like something that belongs in Gone With the Wind and once inside I passed glass cases filled with treasures.  Porter Wagoner's rhinestone suit, Dolly Parton's dress, outfits worn by Johnny and June and a Martin guitar played by a bluegrass legend were just a small selection of this country music time capsule.  I searched for the ghost of Minnie Pearl but only found her hat with the trademark price tag (Minnie held me once when I was a baby, I'm proud to say!).  The stained glass windows let in a rainbow of light and the entire building seemed to pulsate with history.  When I think of all the legends that have walked those steps, maybe even sat in the seat where I was, I couldn't help but get emotional.

I'd been dying to go to Ryman Auditorium for a while, but I wanted to find just the right person to see my first time there.  Call me biased, but I couldn't go see Hole at The Ryman.  It's just not right.  So, I was excited to actually win tickets to Dierks Bentley (from a Twitter contest no less).  With all due respect to Dierks, I'd never seen him live before and wondered if it would be any good... but then I saw that this was actually a bluegrass tour and part of the Del McCoury band was going to be with him.  Well, anything that Del McCoury's band plays is phenomenal so I was getting pretty excited.  When we saw Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton in February at the Grand Ole Opry, Del's band was playing and I nearly peed myself I was so excited!

A couple of the perks of winning the Ryman contest on Twitter was a hatch show print AND a meet and greet.  The entire experience was amazing!  I am beyond happy that my first concert at the Ryman was this show.  Hayes Carll opened the show and he wasn't really bluegrass; more like rockabilly.  I looked him up online and saw he was from Austin, Texas, which explains the red dirt sound he had.  Dierks was accompanied by the Travelin' McCourys and as I said before, they are mind-blowing (even Kristen who is not what you'd call a fan of bluegrass music was impressed at these guy's skills).  I was happy to see the great songwriter John Randall there too and learn that he'd been instrumental in this album.  As the show progressed, Chris Thile (formerly of Nickle Creek) and his new band, Punch Brothers, came out and rocked a few songs.  Chris reminds me a little of John Mayer in that when he's playing, it's like the entire room just fades away and he is alone with his mandolin.  It's intimate and you almost feel like you're intruding to watch.  But watch I did, as well as hoot and holler like a seasoned concert goer who was thoroughly enjoying herself.  Then, when I didn't think it could get any better, Del McCoury came out on stage and did a duet with Dierks.  I'm not lying, they did a bluegrass version of the U2 song "Pride (In the Name of Love)".  Never has a U2 song sounded so good.

In my own little way, I unleash my sentimental musical self on you as an inadequate way to say thank you to everyone involved with the Up On the Ridge tour and to every musical genius that has walked the halls of Ryman Auditorium.  Also, thanks to Lisaann at the Ryman for being so great at keeping in touch and giving me such an amazing opportunity.  I'm off to find a thesaurus as the word "amazing" has lost it's power due to my over-use in the last 24 hours.