A horse in the yard and The Tennessee Waltz

 

Some people have gnomes in their front yard, but in Nashville we have horses. Real horses and statues of them. 

This old stone house sits high on a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River and RH and I chuckled at their garden art as we drove on the river road that I traveled twice a day from first grade through sixth while attending elementary school and on family outings to Shelby Park. 

Even as young as I was, I coveted the houses on this street. These old houses were so different from the small post-World War II bungalow I grew up in.

 

 

So many of them were made of the stone that even as a small child I loved. I went to a birthday party in one like this, although I'm not sure if it was this particular one. I was hooked then, in stone love. 

But even ones on this street that were made of wood made me feel something I couldn't at that age name--house envy.

 

 Ones like the one above for the simple reason that they meandered, their footprint jutting out here, there, everywhere. It was what many years later I fell in love with at Valley View, our home for twenty-six years. A smaller version of these houses overlooking the Cumberland River that were added onto over the years. A room built here, a new wing jutting out behind as finances improved and needs arose from a growing family.
 

The house above and below made me want to tour it as well as the stone houses. Because...who has a garage like this?

Here's a house I got a poor picture of through the windshield. It's imposing, even has some stone, but for some reason it doesn't call my name. Maybe because it's too much of a McMansion? 

 Now we come to the house I always devoured with my eyes as my school bus rolled by it.

 

A log cabin. 

 

 But not just any old log cabin. This log cabin belonged to the King of Country Music. 

Roy Acuff lived here with his wife for many decades, unto her death. My family was surrounded by country music stars, both in this neighborhood and when we moved to a small town nearby when I was in the eight grade. In that new house our across the street neighbors were Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, bluegrass geniuses, with my best friend living in the house between them. Many people back in those days had country music stars for neighbors. 

But Roy Acuff,  well, as Hank Williams said, "For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God."

 Mr. Acuff may be remembered most for his recording of The Wabash Cannonball, but I love his recording of The Tennessee Waltz, perhaps even more than Patti Page's popular version.

When I was growing up, The Tennessee Waltz ended every dance, whether it was a formal or a hoedown. I'm going to try to embed Mr. Acuff's version of it from YouTube if I can. For those of you who don't care for country music in any form, just remember that these melodies came over with the British who settled in the Appalachian Mountains and brought their music with them. 

 https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&param1=mT_bNn8bGpOss0nFZ1v6AthlPdRzexgUbrsUPJTC30AxknM6H1Ft9HEzUCbyHuQIBO-FjiWXDV-9XxjAOIegfqVP0JCsjWsuEiB9fCopj67V-a754MN5c85t9G48Q9YIMAaxaFUPRwq8WHlp6v294zOsuDofzlhRwV5BZIdafuL_tWCiDyijfcTayCwN6rQOsIRhTbCBEKwBmmhHzjdVxiQ8FvvlWD-BucgbJC5POYKMS8bmrK_WM4Hes9z_lfdr5XvnGnM_5hxmi8WyMjHy4DhEQ2OFkpn5Lo6VspdACFaN0X_Xaal1tuZeH8_qO0Rt1g%2C%2C&p=youtube+Roy+Acuff+Tennessee+waltz&type=ANYS_A1GXS_set_bfr_%2452462_000000%24#id=50&vid=e83a911882bf3d4c73d823945d78a173&action=view
 

I think there's a better way of attaching this but I've forgotten how. Hope this works because this is the song of my youth.