LAST night, my band and I, Azmyl & the Truly Asia, took a half-day trip on the music highway from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky for a gig.

Naturally, the first stop after loading up our musical gear at our venue, Camp Social Club in a nondescript back alley downtown, was Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

After filling up at a gas station (as Americans call it), we looked up the closest KFC drive-thru and made our way there in our rented van.

The lady who served us even mistook my drummer Ammar who was sitting next to me for a Virginian because he showed a peace sign which apparently is a sign for people from Virginia.

While I expected our friend who was waiting at the venue to probably find it amusing, he said there is a place which serves KFC in the authentic manner as it had originally been served before becoming a franchise.

It was a legit attraction. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have the time as that would have been quite a pilgrimage.

It took us a bit of adjusting driving on the right side of the road. We had to remind each other by taking turns driving and designating a “Captain” and “Co-Pilot” not only keep an eye on the map but also our driving.

I had taken up the first leg of the drive from Memphis where we had been based the first days in the States after performing at the Beale Street Music Festival, to Nashville.

Our time in Memphis was an extraordinary experience.

While we were cautioned by our wonderful host, local singer-songwriter Nancy Apple (who is also popularly known as The Cadillac Cowgirl) and other locals to be careful and take care, the renowned “southern hospitality” just emanated from everyone we met, even strangers.

As a songwriter and musician, going to Memphis is a true musical pilgrimage.

While there ,we visited Sun Studio where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins (“The Million Dollar Quartet”) were discovered, it struck me how such a small and rather nondescript studio had given birth to not only legendary musical careers but also changed popular music history.

It’s never about pomp and splendour, it’s about pure heart, sincerity and of course, a good ear and timing.

I could go on all day about our visit to the incredible Stax Museum, home of legendary Stax Records which bridged and healed the racial divide in its heydays and produced many iconic Black and White artists, of which its genesis was also inspired by Sun Studio’s humble beginnings and eventual success.

And of course, there is Graceland, Elvis’ former mansion and museum of sorts.

While the word “mansion” may conjure different images in Malaysia, his Graceland mansion is rather humble and homely, not one defined by excess.

I may not be the biggest Elvis fan but visiting Graceland did remind me that a lot of musical greats started out as music fans first.

The highway connecting Memphis and Nashville, both in the state of Tennessee and Louisville is dubbed the music highway. As we rolled out into Kentucky, the scenery shifted to rolling greens of farmlands and cows grazing.

The gritty urban landscape of Memphis and the rather sleek and touristy Nashville gave way to the popular America we associate with farmers, ranches, motels, diners, and truckers.

And trucks, there’re so many of them and huge. As my bassist took the helm of our tour van as “Captain” and I took a backseat, I was riddled with equal measures of anxiety and awe each time one would pass us on either side.

While the gig in Louisville was great, it’s the people, as always, that makes it greater.

After being feted by the Malaysian community in Memphis, whose joy and hospitality went way beyond our expectations, and made comfortable by the festival organisers, it’s good to be on our own again like we’re used to, in our do-it-yourself (DIY) style. 

On our drive back to Nashville after the gig in the dark and occasionally foggy Music Highway, I’m sure the spirits of the great American musicians of old were humming some tunes for our safe trip back. – May 12, 2023.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.