He didnt know it at the time, but Tim Ghiannis love affair with Nashville and its musical artists began on a steamy night in 1972, when the twenty-year-old author had unsolicited help from honky-tonkin legends Bobby Bare and Shel Silverstein during an after-midnight salvation of the city. It was the beginning of a lifelong urban romance that Ghianni would pursue during a career as a journalist in middle Tennessee, interviewing Nashvilles biggest stars and developing friendships with musicians of all kinds.
Pilgrims, Pickers & Honky-Tonk Heroes is Tim Ghiannis love letter and nostalgic swan song, recounting the storied musical history of Nashville as well as the dramatic changes the city has seen over the course of fifty years. The Nashville of todaywith one hundred newcomers a day from places like Los Angeles and New York and fresh waves of musicians making up a new modern soundtrackis not the same city he made his home in 1972, for better and for worse.
Time changes everything, even a beloved American city, but this briskly told and warmly remembered book recounts the countless friends, adventures, and anecdotes that capture the essence of Music City across a half-century.
