Optional Day Three

Hank’s Nashville…
from Roots to Reality

This optional 3^rd day of the tour will wrap up like a fireworks finale on the 4th of July. Which came first: Did Hank make Music City or did Music City make Hank? You decide.

Included on this day will be the fabulous Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. A major exhibit focusing on the remarkable legacy of Hank Williams, the Williams family and their enduring impact on generations of artists will run from March 2008 thru December 2009.

The exhibit will feature unique, previously unseen Williams family artifacts including instruments, stage costumes, photographs and video footage.

We will visit Historic RCA Studio B where the Nashville Sound was created putting Nashville on the music map as the Third Coast. More than 35,000 songs were recorded at Studio B by artists such as Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Hank Snow and Elvis Presley.

There will be free time for lunch and shopping on the famous Lower Broadway and 2^nd Avenue.

We’ll tour the Mother Church of Country Music: The Ryman Auditorium. During the Ryman Museum daytime tour you can sit in the original pews, step onto the historic stage and have your photo taken and stroll halls filled with fascinating memorabilia. Extra! Extra! We’ve added a backstage tour. See the dressing rooms of the stars. Stand in the wings exactly where Hank would have, waiting for his turn in the spotlight.

A very exclusive side trip will link Hank to the very foundation of Music City’s business. A visit to the final resting places of Jim Denny who hired and fired Hank at the Opry, Fred Rose, who gave Hank his start as a professional songwriter and guided his entire career and the man who built the church where it all came together, Captain Thomas G. Ryman.

You can choose to end your day with a show at the world famous Grand Ole Opry the country’s longest running live radio show. At some point just close your eyes and imagine Hank bent over that WSM microphone wailing out your favorite tune with his Drifting Cowboys. Then, we’ll call it a day.