Dreaming Out Loud
Chapter One
The sheets of rain were falling so hard and the rush of headlights was so expectant that it was easy to miss the cloverleaf exit that banks hard to the east off Briley Parkway and deposits the driver right into the heart of what the neon hails as Music Valley. U.S.A. Turn here for Shoney's. There for Cracker Barrel. You don't even have to turn at all to veer into the world-famous Nashville Palace, which appears to be a Denny's with an overly ambitious Vegas Strip sign attached. All these establishments, with their blinkety beacons and boppity billboards promising extra-fluffy biscuits and the best catfish anywhere!, are to the east off McGavock Pike, which itself is ten miles east of downtown Music City, not far from the blue-collar outposts of town, and just up the road from the real countryside. In short, in the middle of nowhere. A fine place to recreate a small corner of Everywhere, circa Anytime at all.
Welcome to Opryland. U.S.A. Turn right for the Magnolia Lobby.
Left for Old Hickory Lounge.
Unlike the ones across the street, these signs are written in soothing script. They are painted in white ... read full excerpt from: Dreaming Out Loud ebook
