Lots of music memorabilia hung on the wall and all the menus are autographed by celebrity visitors of every stripe: mine happened to be signed by Lennox Lewis, the English boxer and my brother’s by Lee Greenwood. Go figure. We headed back to the city in the early afternoon and ran into FoBro Kyle Everson at Legends Corner.
Great picker – great guy. Across the street was a steeler named J.R. Merciel on a Dekley D-10 backing up a couple of girl singer/guitarists.
BTW the music starts at 11am or so on Lower Broad and the bands turn over every couple of hours, so – like the weather – if you don’t like what you’re hearing, wait a while. Or go next door. Or next door… Or cut thru the alley where the old Sho-Bud store was.
Friday afternoon was the only time we were able to squeeze into Tootsie’s. So I’m sitting on a barstool and what do my wandering eyes settle on? About mid-bar on the wall facing the bar there’s a huge, signed, yellowing picture of a mid-career Buddy Emmons! Dang, these people know who’s king!
So we clean up and head out to the Bluebird Café. Small venue, 4 singer/songwriters in the round. Me and Paul (my bro) were seated about 6 feet away from the lovely, sweet and talented Julie Roberts (“Break Down Here,” “Men and Mascara.")
Talent? Eddie Heinzelman, Arlos Smith, Billy Yates and Julie cast a 90 minute spell over everyone with their songs, stories and jokes. Their names didn’t mean much to me beforehand but you should look at some of the songs they’ve had recorded. The highlight for me (after getting a firm but chaste grip on Julie for my close-up, that is) was seeing Billy Yates 12 feet away singing his composition “Choices” which George Jones and Alan Jackson made memorable at the 1999 CMA Awards show. Chills, baby.
