Week 43: Tennessee

"The Mississippi delta was shining like a National guitar,
 I am following the river down the highway
 Through the cradle of the Civil War;
 I'm going to Graceland,
 Graceland,
 Memphis, Tennessee..."
 - 'Graceland',
 Paul Simon

Music and travel are part and parcel of Tennessee. From the south we could indeed be shadowing the mighty Mississippi so we can go walking in Memphis to the sound of the Beale Street blues. From the east we could have hopped onboard the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. From the east we would be coming in through the Cumberland Gap. Right in the centre of the state Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry (as seen in Coal Miner's Daughter) is the spiritual home of Country & Western. Back again to the Graceland estate of Elvis Presley, the 'King of Rock 'n' Roll'. As Alannah Myles once sang, "up in memphis the music's like a heat-wave". Country & Western or Rock 'n' Roll... Tennessee has been home to not just Presley but Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, B. B. King, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. In fact, the number of musical luminaries is too long to list.

 

 

I was hoping to see and hear some of Tennessee's music in this week's movies. I've seen Walk the Line previously, however, and have been unable to get hold of a copy of Robert Altman's Nashville. My three films for the week are hence:

• Inherit the Wind (1960)
• The Evil Dead (1981)
• The Blind Side (2009)