OK, it’s 11:45 p.m. CST, and I’m sitting in the newsroom/studio of WKRN Channel 2 in Nashville, TN.
I’m visiting an old friend and colleague, Brad Schmitt, who is the entertainment reporter for the station here. After 9 1/2 hours on the road from Cranberry Township to Nashville, Brad took me to a Nashville honky tonk called The Station Inn to hear a group of studio musicians collectively known as The Time Jumpers. Now, I’m not much of a country or blue-grass fan, but these guys were awesome, and my toes were tapping away.
The next part of the story is going to make you sick if you’re a country music fan, or a fan of American Idol. First, Grammy winner Vince Gill stopped by and performed “Bartender Blues.” Then, a special friend of his, somebody named Jordin Sparks — I’m told she was last year’s American Idol winner — sang Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
Not bad for the first night of my road trip to the West, eh?