Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/407098
W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 | w e s t w o r l d 35 Pretty as the morning, Jenny Willis flashes a grin my way as I lean against the door of her dressing room, backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. At 18, she's already a virtuoso player of at least five instruments, including the mandolin she's tuning for a show tonight with the Willis Clan, a 12-member brother and sis- ter act from central Tennessee. I continue my backstage stroll to Jesse McReynolds' dress- ing room, where the veteran bluegrass picker is also dialling in on a mandolin. A lean and dapper George Hamilton IV is the master of ceremonies this evening, and he walks up to me to say, "Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry" before taking the stage to introduce players such as the great John Conlee. I'm free and unfettered to come or go backstage as I please, and for a lifelong country music fan such as myself, this is sanctum sanctorum, the holiest of all places in the country canon. Here is where all the greats have relaxed, practised, dressed and, yes, even pounded down a few before taking the stage. I feel giddy from this immense privilege and quickly peck out a text to my buddy Dave in Saskatoon who is also a C&W disciple. "Hey Dave, I'm backstage at the Grand Ole Opry." Dave responds quickly. His words can't be printed here. So, that worked. e Grand Ole Opry is a non-negotiable for first-time visitors to Nashville. But the pres- ence of all the gifted players, writers and pro- ducers as well as recording studios along Nashville's Music Row ("the Wall Street of country music") has been a magnet for musi- cians across many genres as far back as Bob Dylan, who recorded Nashville Skyline here in 1969, and Jimi Hendrix, who began his career playing Printer's Alley. e 2012 edition of the Encyclopedia of Country Music listed 90 record companies, 174 recording studios, 5,500 union musicians, 24 talent agencies, 300 music publishers, 17 professional music orga- nizations and 104 film and video production companies in Nashville. Rockabilly star Marty Stuart has referred to Nashville as "one of the last great artist colonies on earth," as artists from the far-ranging worlds of hip hop, blues, gospel, rock and even straight-up punk gather here to play, record, be inspired or simply live in a supportive community of kindred souls. e sheer weight of all this talent has cre- ated a kind of tipping point – talent follows talent – that has spilled the creativity of other disciplines beyond music into Nash- ville. For example, even foodies have a new region to explore with the creation of the WestWorld Tours has four exciting trips in 2015 featuring Branson, Pigeon Forge, Nashville, and Memphis. westworldtours.com