Nashville Calling

Monday night in Nashville and it's standing room only at the Station Inn, a modest venue in the Gulch district. The architecture has all of the charm of Moe's Tavern in Springfield. The lighting and the sound system is minimal, but none of that matters with the connoisseurs who have arrived early and expectantly.

The Time Jumpers have a median age to rival the Rolling Stones. They wear dapper shirts and jaunty hats. Their musical passion is Western Swing - that magical combination of jazz and western stylings that leaves holes in the music for the players to improvise and fly. And boy can these guys wing it.

Three fiddle players, an accordion, many vocals, a bass fiddle, drums and a guy on pedal steel called Paul Franklin who hurtles and shimmers on the strings like a downhome Paganinni.

On songs like 'San Antonio Rose' and 'Roly Poly', they pay respect to Bob Wills, the long-gone governor of the genre. Their own songs have some of that verve and fun while Ranger Doug - a week shy of his 65th birthday - likes to yodel in the old style. The guy on stage right is Vince Gill, who on our last reckoning had amassed 24 Grammy Awards. He is famous around these parts, but tonight he is just around for the pleasure of the ride. He sings 'Buttermilk John', a sweet tribute to an musician pal, perfectly underplayed.

There's another guest, at 81 year old champion called Jack Greene, who sang the first big version of 'There Goes My Everything', ahead of Elvis. Jack is not fast on his feet, but he returns to the song with all the need in the world, affecting us deeply. Heartbreak is spoken here.