Road trippin' to Memphis and Nashville

Sun Studio. (All TSHIT photos)

When you get outta town, you must do it right.

Memphis and Nashville resided on our bucket list for a long time, and we finally checked 'em off during the last week. Twas a stellar road trip with good friends -- a formidable dirty dozen -- one of whom was celebrating her 50th birthday, so you know how that's gonna go down, right?

Tunes, drinks, tours and BBQ galore. Plenty of laughs and wrecked bodies from walking and rocking all over these damn fine towns. (From closing down the bars every night, of course.)

A smattering of our musical journey included a visit to Sun Studio, which has an excellent tour guide dude, by the way; Elvis' Graceland; The Grand Ole Opry; Grimey's Too records; and a shitload of music at every bar -- some three stories high, like Tootsie's -- up and down Broadway in Nashville and Beale Street in Memphis. Gotta give a shout out to Lonnie's Western Room in Nashville, where we tore the place down with our karaoke (more like, scary-oke) stylings.

Shawn Mayer, back and front.

One of the musical highlights was checking out Shawn Mayer at the Whiskey Bent Saloon in Nashville.

The first thing Andy noticed were the words, "Be Nice, You Fucker," scrawled on the jacket wrapped around her waist as he strolled through the doors.

Yep, this was clearly the place to be. Three hours' worth of stellar, hard-edged country/rock originals and choice covers.

We especially grasped on to her own heartrending tunes that had you stumbling along life's rickety ride with her. There are threads of hope within her songs, and her soaring and searing vocals and demeanor can surely help plow through whatever stands in one's way. It was a cathartic experience to the hilt -- punk rock-type stuff.

Here's some more pics to document the trek. If you ever get the chance, give it a shot, for sure.

Gotta love an Arsenal/punk spot in Nashville: Fleet Street Pub.

Peace out, Nashville.