Southern hospitality is famous and real. In many ways it is a world apart from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On a recent nine-day trip to Tennessee, I encountered the enchanting nature of the land where Sir and Ma’am are part of the heritage. As they say themselves, it’s a southern thing.
This was my first trip to America since the 1990s and my first time in the south. I travelled over with the Phil Mack Tour Group, with close to 100 people, comprising of people from Ireland, England and a few from Scotland and Wales. Phil is the CEO of the Keep It Country Channel on Sky 376, where I host a weekly one-hour show.
Four days spent in the Tennessee town of Pigeon Forde was balm for the mind and soul. Not once did I encounter a frown in the shops or on the streets. These were perhaps the friendliest, most good-natured and engaging people I have ever met. And not even once did I hear a single profanity or curse word from the locals.
Dolly Parton's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.
Dollywood
Pigeon Forge owes so much to Dolly Parton. Her fame has single-handedly transformed the small town into a booming region where country music rules. The Dollywood theme park is just a few miles out of town and it is the economic driver of this region.
The town, which now has a population of around 6,000, has expanded rapidly since Dollywood opened. The theme park attracts thousands each day and, at peak times in the summer, there are miles of tailbacks in the area.
Pigeon Forge has also developed a Christmas Fairyland tradition and it is beautiful in its outreach here in the heart of what is sometimes referred to as the Bible Belt. It is an area where so many claim Irish ancestry and especially that of the Ulster-Scots tradition.
The Smokeys dominate the region and we took a trip way up in the tree covered mountains where phone signals fall quiet and the wonderful beauty and serenity of the place captures the heart.
Like most tourists, we stand at the sign that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina state-line with a foot on either side. There is history all around us in these mountains.
We had stayed the first night in Atlanta and journeyed by coach the next morning to Fort Payne in Alabama, where we enjoyed a lovely visit to the mountain top home of Jeff Cook, a member of the legendary Alabama band that sold millions of albums.
Among their classic songs are Dixieland Delight and It Feels So Right. Jeff and his wife, Lisa, were there to greet us and show us around their castle and mansion on Lookout Mountain.
On the way to Pigeon Forge we stopped by in Chattanooga in eastern Tennessee, along the Tennessee River and beside the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
The famous railway station has shades of old world charm and Gone With The Wind, and some of us enjoyed a relaxing glass of some local moonshine as the veils of night dropped gently on this most enchanting of places.
Cracker Barrel
On the outskirts of town, along with others I enjoyed my first meal in a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I had never heard of them before but fell in love with them during my stay in Tennessee.
The official title is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and it was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. The first store was in Lebanon, Tennessee. They are all almost identical and combine restaurants and gift stores with a Southern country theme. They are noted for their exceptional value and make sure you visit them if you are ever down in the southern states.
One thing it was impossible to ignore in these parts was the fondness so many people have for President Donald Trump. Away from the east coast liberals and the far left in California, Mr Trump resonates strongly with a people who have felt isolated and ignored for a long time. The economy is booming, with hiring signs everywhere.
During our stay in Pigeon Forge we took a day trip to the Carter Family Fold in Virginia. I found this to be an almost religious experience as I have always had a fascination with the Carter family and their pioneering role in country and folk music in America.
The narrow roads in the hill country could be anywhere in Ireland and the welcome from the family members was just what you would expect with no airs nor graces but a lovely warm simplicity.
Memories of AP, Maybelle and Sara Carter resonated everywhere, and I was transported back to the first time I heard my late neighbour Eamon Reilly from the parish of Claremorris pick The Wildwood Flower on a simple guitar when I was around nine or ten.
The Wildwood Flower, recorded by the Carter Family, is one of the truly great anthems of the mountain music of America and is revered in the heritage of this enchanting region. The family had invited along a lovely bluegrass band with connections to the acclaimed East Tennessee State University Old Time Pride Band to play a wonderful selection of country and bluegrass classics for us. We loved them.
As the possessor of a collection which features 287 songs in a 12-CD set of Carter family recordings, I was in awe of this place in the shadow of Clinch Mountain. This was the family who was there at the birth of recorded country music in Bristol in 1927, a session which also launched the career of Jimmy Rogers.
This relatively humble roadside theatre, which looks more like a shed from the outside, is where old time music is cherished and honoured every Saturday night. Tom T Hall presented his guitar to this place and it is lovingly placed on the stage.
It was here that Johnny Cash, who married June Carter, performed his last-ever show. We stood beside the chair where Johnny sang his last songs on this earth in the summer of 2003.
Though visibly ailing, frail and ill at the time, just some weeks after she died, he reflected during his final show: “The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight. With the love she had for me and the love I have for her, we connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit tonight, I guess, from Heaven, to visit with me tonight and give me courage and inspiration, like she always has.”
Next week, I will take a look at our visit to Nashville as well as a day trip to Louisville, Kentucky.
Southern hospitality is famous and real. In many ways it is a world apart from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On a recent nine-day trip to Tennessee, I encountered the enchanting nature of the land where Sir and Ma’am are part of the heritage. As they say themselves, it’s a southern thing.
This was my first trip to America since the 1990s and my first time in the south. I travelled over with the Phil Mack Tour Group, with close to 100 people, comprising of people from Ireland, England and a few from Scotland and Wales. Phil is the CEO of the Keep It Country Channel on Sky 376, where I host a weekly one-hour show.
Four days spent in the Tennessee town of Pigeon Forde was balm for the mind and soul. Not once did I encounter a frown in the shops or on the streets. These were perhaps the friendliest, most good-natured and engaging people I have ever met. And not even once did I hear a single profanity or curse word from the locals.
Dolly Parton's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.
Dollywood
Pigeon Forge owes so much to Dolly Parton. Her fame has single-handedly transformed the small town into a booming region where country music rules. The Dollywood theme park is just a few miles out of town and it is the economic driver of this region.
The town, which now has a population of around 6,000, has expanded rapidly since Dollywood opened. The theme park attracts thousands each day and, at peak times in the summer, there are miles of tailbacks in the area.
Pigeon Forge has also developed a Christmas Fairyland tradition and it is beautiful in its outreach here in the heart of what is sometimes referred to as the Bible Belt. It is an area where so many claim Irish ancestry and especially that of the Ulster-Scots tradition.
The Smokeys dominate the region and we took a trip way up in the tree covered mountains where phone signals fall quiet and the wonderful beauty and serenity of the place captures the heart.
Like most tourists, we stand at the sign that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina state-line with a foot on either side. There is history all around us in these mountains.
We had stayed the first night in Atlanta and journeyed by coach the next morning to Fort Payne in Alabama, where we enjoyed a lovely visit to the mountain top home of Jeff Cook, a member of the legendary Alabama band that sold millions of albums.
Among their classic songs are Dixieland Delight and It Feels So Right. Jeff and his wife, Lisa, were there to greet us and show us around their castle and mansion on Lookout Mountain.
On the way to Pigeon Forge we stopped by in Chattanooga in eastern Tennessee, along the Tennessee River and beside the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
The famous railway station has shades of old world charm and Gone With The Wind, and some of us enjoyed a relaxing glass of some local moonshine as the veils of night dropped gently on this most enchanting of places.
Cracker Barrel
On the outskirts of town, along with others I enjoyed my first meal in a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I had never heard of them before but fell in love with them during my stay in Tennessee.
The official title is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and it was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. The first store was in Lebanon, Tennessee. They are all almost identical and combine restaurants and gift stores with a Southern country theme. They are noted for their exceptional value and make sure you visit them if you are ever down in the southern states.
One thing it was impossible to ignore in these parts was the fondness so many people have for President Donald Trump. Away from the east coast liberals and the far left in California, Mr Trump resonates strongly with a people who have felt isolated and ignored for a long time. The economy is booming, with hiring signs everywhere.
During our stay in Pigeon Forge we took a day trip to the Carter Family Fold in Virginia. I found this to be an almost religious experience as I have always had a fascination with the Carter family and their pioneering role in country and folk music in America.
The narrow roads in the hill country could be anywhere in Ireland and the welcome from the family members was just what you would expect with no airs nor graces but a lovely warm simplicity.
Memories of AP, Maybelle and Sara Carter resonated everywhere, and I was transported back to the first time I heard my late neighbour Eamon Reilly from the parish of Claremorris pick The Wildwood Flower on a simple guitar when I was around nine or ten.
The Wildwood Flower, recorded by the Carter Family, is one of the truly great anthems of the mountain music of America and is revered in the heritage of this enchanting region. The family had invited along a lovely bluegrass band with connections to the acclaimed East Tennessee State University Old Time Pride Band to play a wonderful selection of country and bluegrass classics for us. We loved them.
As the possessor of a collection which features 287 songs in a 12-CD set of Carter family recordings, I was in awe of this place in the shadow of Clinch Mountain. This was the family who was there at the birth of recorded country music in Bristol in 1927, a session which also launched the career of Jimmy Rogers.
This relatively humble roadside theatre, which looks more like a shed from the outside, is where old time music is cherished and honoured every Saturday night. Tom T Hall presented his guitar to this place and it is lovingly placed on the stage.
It was here that Johnny Cash, who married June Carter, performed his last-ever show. We stood beside the chair where Johnny sang his last songs on this earth in the summer of 2003.
Though visibly ailing, frail and ill at the time, just some weeks after she died, he reflected during his final show: “The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight. With the love she had for me and the love I have for her, we connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit tonight, I guess, from Heaven, to visit with me tonight and give me courage and inspiration, like she always has.”
Next week, I will take a look at our visit to Nashville as well as a day trip to Louisville, Kentucky. 
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