Concert in The Caverns: Tommy Emmanuel

For years Dan and I have been fans of the PBS series Bluegrass Underground, which features music covering the full spectrum of the bluegrass, jamgrass, roots, and Americana genres. The first nine years of the program were recorded before live audiences in the Volcano Room, a cave 333 feet underneath McMinnville, Tennessee, but in 2018 the concert series moved to a new venue, The Caverns, located within the base of Monteagle Mountain near Pelham, Tennessee.

Our travel itinerary for 2018 allowed us to work in the stop in Manchester to catch a concert at The Caverns venue. Although they weren’t taping an episode of Bluegrass Underground the day we were there, we were able to see Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian guitarist, songwriter, and singer whose talent and live performances are among the best we’ve ever seen. We’ve been Tommy fans for years, and have seen him perform a few times before, so we were more than thrilled to be able to see him perform in this setting.

We were not disappointed! Our tickets were a full package deal that included meal vouchers, hats, tee shirts, posters, and a free download of a “best of” Bluegrass Underground music album. The cavern temperatures were very cool, we probably could have dressed a little warmer (we were warned, not a surprise!). While it probably wasn’t any cooler than most caverns we’ve visited, we normally aren’t inside for 2-3 hours, which is long enough to get pretty chilled. 

Tommy is a self-taught musician and has been playing the guitar since he was 4 years old. He traveled and performed with his family for years while he was growing up. He doesn’t read music - he watches, listens, imitates, and then creates his own style of music which is upbeat and high energy, and just all out fun. The show opened with another musician, Jack Pearson, who played electric guitar, and who joined Tommy on a few songs, and another musician who played a mean harmonica.

How exciting it was to actually realize this long time bucket list item!

 Below is a video of Tommy Playing one of his signature pieces:

Manchester, Tennessee (Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park & Rutledge Falls)

I find Tennessee to be one of the prettiest states in the country. It is so green, with so many trees, and so many waterfalls. It seems there is a waterfall just about everywhere you look, and we took advantage of them whenever we could while we were in Manchester in September and October of 2018. Below are pictures and descriptions of two more places we explored during our weeklong stay.

Located just 6-miles from our RV Park was the Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park, a prehistoric Native American structure most likely built between 80 and 550 AD. It is the most complex hilltop enclosure found in the South and was likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than defense. The main hiking trail around the wall of the fort threads through dramatic scenery where you can see the original entrance to the fort, designed to face the exact spot on the horizon where the sun rises during the summer solstice. There are twelve interpretive panels and graceful waterfalls along the trail as well.

Rutledge Falls, which drops 40 feet off Crumpton Creek is located on private property, but visitors are welcome, with the owners asking only that you respect the area and stay on the trail. From the parking area, it is a very short walk to the falls, and as you make your way there, you come upon a statue of a woman who seems to be gazing at the water. She has been dubbed “The Lady of the Falls”, and is a lovely addition to the serene setting. We felt like we were on a treasure hunt as we followed seemingly cryptic directions on how to find the exact location (“across the road from Rutledge Falls Baptist church, near the red barn, and the driveway with the millstone in the middle”). I’m sure to the locals, this all makes perfect sense. It was fun to look for, and find Rutledge Falls, and we enjoyed it very much.  

Manchester, Tennessee (South Cumberland State Park & Natural Bridge State Natural Area)

We left Luray, Virginia September 26, 2018 and took two days to travel 520 miles south and west to Manchester, Tennessee. The main reason we chose this particular route, and place to stop, was to attend a concert in the underground Cumberland Caverns on September 30^th (more on this in a separate post). Manchester is located halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga, and since 2002 has been the host city for the annual Bonnaroo Music Festival where the city’s population swells from 10,000 to nearly 100,000 for the four day-event. Unfortunately our timing wasn’t right for Bonnaroo, but we were there for a week and much to our delight there was an abundance of hiking opportunities in the area.

Two of the places we hiked are pictured below (additional hikes will be in separate posts).

South Cumberland State Park, 25 miles from our RV park, and located on the Cumberland Plateau, is a newer state park, filled with meadows, waterfalls, beautiful views, and old growth trees. We took the hike to Greeter Falls, which required a long descent on a spiral staircase, and Boardtree Falls, a trail with far fewer hikers, but with falls that were equally as rewarding.

On a separate outing we drove about 30 miles to the Sewanee Natural Bridge, part of the 3-acre Natural Bridge State Natural Area. A 25-feet high natural sandstone arch with a span of 50 feet, Sewanee Natural Bridge is essentially a giant sinkhole partially eroded to form a large stone bridge.