That very Sunday on the radio you had a choice of classical performances to enjoy, but most interesting for me is the different formats and call letters of several of the stations from today. FM radio was really catching on, but the big hitters were still on the AM band with WMAK and WLAC being the two big pop music ones.
The number one tune in Nashville for this week was "Dueling Banjos" which I have always loved. It also gives me a guidepost to where I was living then. I believe my family was a few months away from moving back to Murfreesboro. We had moved to Mississippi the previous year and my parents ran a place called Rainey's Cafe in Ripley. There was a jukebox and I remember I would dance when "Dueling Banjos" played. I really enjoyed being the center of attention back then. It's a really solid Top Ten with The Sweet, Elvis Presley, and Jim Croce making appearances.
There were many coming attractions on their way to Nashville from superstar pop groups like The 5th Dimension to Guy Lombardo. Just check out this ad below which you can always make bigger by clicking on.
You could go see Jim Dandy and the Black Oak Arkansas bunch along with Nils Lofgren's band Grin in a few weeks as they were booked at the War Memorial Auditorium. Not only was there a Sgt. Pepper's record store in Rivergate there was also a Sgt. Pepper's in Hillsboro Village. It was billed as a Whole Earth Store.
The Exit/In would show movies some nights back in the early 70's. Legendary songwriter Townes Van Zandt was playing during this week Wednesday through Saturday with a live broadcast on KDA FM. Yes, that's right it was KDA FM. Just scroll back up to the Sunday on the radio photo for confirmation. WKDA FM was progressive rock and WKDA AM was country. So the progressive station is broadcasting a show by a folk/country performer. That's one thing I love about the past; compartmentalized demographic research had not yet taken over radio.
I'm too young to remember much of the early 70's Nashville so I have never heard of this place called the Villa. When I saw the ad I figured it was a restaurant that featured soup. Like real soup. But then later on in the Showcase I discover that the Soup is actually a group. Just check out their photo. I don't about you, but I bet they were either awesome or awful. Perhaps both. This is one place I would love to hear more about. Are there any people around who joined the Villa Mafia back in the day? I would love to hear from you.
I wonder if the hippies who lived on the Farm would like the Soup? I doubt it, but Stephen Gaskin and the Farm Band would be performing a free concert at the War Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday of this week in 1973. I wonder if the "cultist teacher" part of the notice was provided to The Tennessean or if they inserted it? Gaskin did cofound the Farm, but I never thought of its residents as being part of a cult. The few people I've met from there over the years always seem pretty cool.
The biggest concert coming up was the return of David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars to War Memorial Auditorium on February 23, 1973. Note the photo insert telling us the return show will be expanded both in length and content, with the addition of saxophones, piano, and a new drummer.
From the last Ziggy Stardust performance at the Hammersmith Odeon later in 1973.
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