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Follow Dad Rock's epic road trip

Patrick Foster, Jim Lenahan and Mike Snider
USA TODAY
From left, Patrick Foster, Jim Lenahan, Mike Snider. USA TODAY and Dad Rock podcast are setting off on an epic road trip to South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Why jet to Austin, Texas, for the famed South By Southwest music festival when there's so much music to be experienced along the way? With that thought in mind, the hosts of USA TODAY's Dad Rock podcast rented a vintage Airstream trailer and hit the highway Tuesday morning. The 1,500 journey, starting in the Washington, D.C., area, will include stops in Asheville, N.C.; Nashville; Memphis; and Dallas. We'll explore the musical spirit of each city, visiting the coolest places and talking to musicians as we go.

So be sure to check back throughout the week as we update our adventure with new podcasts, articles, videos and photos.

Let's start with a couple of videos we shot before setting off on this adventure.

First, here's a quick tour of "Lucy," the restored 1964 Airstream trailer that will serve as Dad Rock home base:

Then, meet the travel crew: Dad Rock hosts Patrick Foster and Jim Lenahan, USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider (a big music fan who will also produce a series on local brewpubs) and videographer extraordinaire Steve Elfers.

And here's a short Dad Rock podcast on which we announced the epic road trip:

And here's some road trip music we'll be listening to along the way. We'll be adding to this. Please tweet us your suggestions @DadRockShow.

Details on the trip:

Epic road trip takes 'Dad Rock' to SXSW

And check out our cohort Mike Snider's take on our adventure:

Voices: An alternate path to South By Southwest

(Editor's Note: Lucy, a restored 1964 Airstream Overlander trailer and the Dad Rock home for the tour, pictured above, is provided through a promotional agreement with Outdoorsy.)

First day on the Dad Rock road trip was a looooong one. We set off from the USA TODAY offices in Northern Virginia at 7 a.m. ET, with Lucy the Airstream in tow, made minimal stops (coffee, gas and down-home cooking at Judy's Family Diner in Wytheville, Va.) and rolled into Asheville around 5 p.m.

First impressions: Asheville is an eclectic oasis. Seems like every storefront is a local business just dripping in character. Very artsy. A perfect environment for music to flourish.

This incredible time-lapse video (thank you, video guru Steve Elfers), sums it up pretty nicely, with Lucy the Airstream as the star of the show:

We met up with Emily Patrick, entertainment reporter for the Asheville Citizen-Times (part of the USA TODAY NETWORK), who served as our tour guide for the evening. We visited:

  • Appalachian Strings, run by a local craftsman who makes his type of instrument that is a variation on the dulcimer. 
  • Asheville FM, an independent community radio station (and host Tom Peters put us on air!).
  • And the Grey Eagle, which has been one of Asheville's top live music venues for 22 years (caught some of the Luther Dickinson show and got an impromptu interview too; audio coming later).

Check out the video of our adventure:

Listen to our more detailed, and very tired, recap episode of Dad Rock:

Hear our appearance on Asheville FM:

And while we on our Dad Rock tour, USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider is visiting local brewpubs along the way. Here's a video on his visit to Wicked Weed in Asheville:

On Wednesday morning, we got a visit from two members of Asheville folk rock band River Whyless. They stopped by the Airstream and talked about the creative atmosphere of Asheville and how a former punk drummer blends in with fiddles. They'll also be performing at South By Southwest, our ultimate destination.

Listen to the interview:

We arrived in Music City on Wednesday night. It was another long day of driving, but we made good use of the time by recording a podcast all about road-trip songs. Spin it here:

We got a chance to relax a bit and enjoy some Southern cooking. (What's the deal with that little pancake? We don't know, but we like it!)


Here's our nightly recap, from the Airstream:

On Thursday, we set off for the No. 1 place we wanted to visit in Nashville: Jack White's Third Man Records. The small store, an outgrowth of White's record label, is a place of musical wonders. See for yourself here:

Then we went to the offices of indie label Infinity Cat and interviewed power trio Daddy Issues (how perfect). They even played a couple of songs for us, and we captured them in 360-degree video.

Listen to the interview here:

But our adventure was just beginning. Dave Paulson of The Tennessean (part of the USA TODAY NETWORK), took us on a whirlwind tour of some of his favorite, perhaps lesser-known, music spots. So much fun. Watch:

And read:

5 Nashville places for rock fans

Meanwhile, Mike Snider visited the famed Ryman Auditorium:

Nashville's Ryman Auditorium stands resilient

And then there was Mike's brewery visit — this one to Yazoo Brewing Co.

It was a crazy busy day. But glorious. Listen to our nightly recap from Day Three:

On Friday, we were lucky enough to do an epic in-store event at Grimeys New & Preloved Music. With live music from Escondido and Cory Branan.

Here's Dave Paulson's report:

'Dad Rock' hits Grimey's with live show

You can hear that in-store event — complete with the stunning full musical performances — here:

We rolled into Memphis late Friday — West Memphis, technically. That's just across the Mississippi River in Arkansas, where we could park Lucy at Tom Sawyer RV park. Although rain and fog prevented us from enjoying any scenic views of Johnny Cash's "Big River."

Hungry but without a lot of restaurant options in that area, karma intervened, and we discovered Sammy Hagar's Red Rocker Bar & Grill.

Hear our Day Four recap:

The next day was a full day in Memphis, and it began with a pilgrimage to Ardent Studios. That may not mean much to most music fans, but classic albums by ZZ Top, the White Stripes and Big Star — among many, many others — were recorded there. And Big Star's lone surviving member, drummer Jody Stephens, helps run the place and gave us a tour.

Stephens also sat down with us for a podcast interview:

We had to take a break for some Memphis barbecue, which came complete with more musical tales and suggestions from Bar-B-Q Shop proprietor Eric Vernon. People in Memphis know their music ... and food!

Then we met up with Bob Mehr, who covers music for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Bob recently wrote Trouble Boys, a book about one of our favorite bands, The Replacements. We talked with him about that for an upcoming Dad Rock podcast, but Mehr also showed us around Memphis a bit, starting off at Goner Records, then to the Sam Phillips Recording Service and ending up at Bar DKDC.

The visit to Sam Phillips Recording was definitely a highlight. Phillips was the founder of Sun Records, discovered and produced Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, among others, and essentially invented rock 'n' roll. His son Jerry and granddaughter Halley Phillips gave us a personal tour. Watch:

Here's the nightly recap from Day Five. As you can hear, we were still trying to process this truly epic day.

Then it was on to Dallas. We need to admit something here. We didn't pick Dallas because we were psyched about its music scene, but rather because it seemed like a good way station between Memphis and Austin. But it turned out to be perhaps the most fun evening of the trip.

We rolled in to Big D later than we hoped, so we went straight to Deep Ellum, a neighborhood considered to be the "cool" part of town. And it really was. Gavin Mulloy — creative director for two of the top clubs in Deep Ellum, the Bomb Factory and Trees — showed us around. The Bomb Factory was crazy impressive, a cavernous new venue that can hold about 4,500 music fans. It was beautify. We have video.

We passed through another club, Three Links, which was rocking hard with punk bands, sound blasting out the open garage doors on the front, and then made it to Trees (named for the decor in which the club's pillars look like tree trunks), where we saw Metalachi, a mariachi band that played heavy metal covers to a large party of a crowd.

We also sat down with Mulloy to discuss the Dallas music scene and just happened to meet "The World Famous" Tony Williams, a recording artist who calls Dallas his home, and who also has worked with Kanye West, his cousin.

We love you, DFW! Texas Forever!

Listen to the giddy Day Six recap:

We’ve arrived in Austin. South By Southwest, get ready for Dad Rock!

As soon as we got into town Monday evening, Mike Snider has to rush off to cover a movie red-carpet event for USA TODAY Life. It was an R-rated animated movie Sausage Party (we think you get where this is headed), co-written and co-produced by Seth Rogan. Read:

Seth Rogen: 'What if food had feelings?'

USA TODAY's Mary Nahorniak and Patty Michalski, who were in already in Austin for the interactive portion of SXSW, stopped by Dad Rock House to recount their musical adventures (um, Sia):

On Tuesday, we got a tour of great Austin music spots (including a lost one) from Bryan Richie of hard rock band The Sword.

Tuesday was the official start of SXSW Music, and it was a late night out. We may be old, but we can on occasion stay out past midnight. And it was worth it. Two big highlights: The Woggles, a '60s-style garage rock band, and The Octopus Project, electropop/rock (complete with a theremin!).

Hear our Day One recap, live from Dad Rock House patio:

On Wednesday, Mike moderated a session with Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo:

After 37 years, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo still live for love

While Jim had to put on his big-boy pants and do some real journalism for USA TODAY. Read about Michelle Obama's visit to SXSW:

Michelle Obama visits SXSW, calls for action on girls' education

Wednesday night was a flurry of more shows. We split up for a bit (Patrick took in hip-hop artist Anderson .Paak and country singer Margo Price; Jim saw soul singer Charles Bradley and indie band Car Seat Headrest) and came together (rock band Diarrhea Planet and punkabilly practitioners Waco Brothers).

Hear the Day Two recap:

On Thursday, we caught up with our new Asheville friends River Whyless. They were performing in a hat shop! Thanks to Goorin Bros. for letting us film part of the show.

Thursday and Friday were filled with more shows. And more shows. And more shows. Hear our recaps:

And Jim sat in on a session about X Ambassadors' rise to fame:

X Ambassadors singer: 'You work for the fans'

And Mike got to hang out with Iggy Pop and Josh Homme:

Iggy Pop, Joshua Homme talk music at SXSW

And ... we got to spend some quality time with another punk legend, Mike Watt, formerly of the Minutemen. He's one hell of a talker:

And then ... the last day of the festival, when it became increasingly tough to take in much more music. (It appears a limit to cerebral stimulation does exist, even for a music fanatic.) Here's the confessional recap:

Thankfully, before we reached our limit, we did get a private session from The Wild Feathers, which we captured on video (coming soon). They also gave us an interview from their van (also coming soon).

And we'll have more follow-up podcasts coming from the epic road trip and SXSW, including interviews with Protomartyr, Luther Dickinson, Replacements biographer Bob Mehr, Wall Street Journal pop music critic Jim Fusilli and Bruce Springsteen podcaster Jesse Jackson. And we got a behind-the-scenes tour of Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville. No cameras allowed, so it's true theater of the mind.

Signing off from the road  ... this is Dad Rock. Now, let's get home to our families while they'll still welcome us back.

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