Blues does mix with Bluegrass, but it's been a trip
by Nekos Barnes
In 1998 I made a decision that troubled many of my Memphis-based family members and their friends. That decision was to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. People would crumple up their faces in dismay and say, "Are you sure you want to do that? I hear that things are kind of backwards up there."
By "backwards" they meant a place of extreme racism, where barefoot hillbillies drink out of mason jars and play in jug bands. It was assumed that East Tennesseans had overall lower intelligence.
I had visited Knoxville several times and had never witnessed anything along these lines (if there is a jug band playing Knoxville regularly, please notify me). Before enrolling, I convinced my parents to take a college trip with me, and they were quickly convinced that Knoxville was the place for me. At the time the campus had an overall African-American population of 6.8 percent and the school was endeavoring to diversify the campus. Having always been a person open to change, I welcomed it with open arms.
Little did I know how drastic a change that was going to be. Metropolitan Memphis has an overall demographic of 50 percent black and white. I was amazed to find out that blacks account for a mere 6 percent of the population in Knoxville's metropolitan area.
Moving into my dorm I had the opportunity to live with two Knoxville natives. When I told them I was from Memphis many questions arose, mostly negative. "I heard that you can get robbed at gunpoint anywhere in Memphis, even in the 'burbs," one roommate told me. Another one said jokingly, "So do you pack heat when you walk around town?" I laughed, but things never seemed to change when I told Knoxvillians where I was from.
When I came home for the holidays, family members joked about me walking around the house barefoot more often than usual and listening to an excessive amount of bluegrass. "I think those East Tennesseans are getting to you," my grandmother told me. "You might need to come back home."
Over the past five years I have made it a mission to dismiss some of the biases that Knoxville and Memphis have toward one another.
Three hundred and sixty-nine miles stretch between Memphis and Knoxville, and though both are in the same state, they are definitely many miles apart in distance and ideals. I wish to dispel some nasty rumors about Memphis and prove that Knoxville and Memphis share something more that just Tennessee.
Memphis does have a high crime rate, but so do many of the major cities in the United States. When taking a look at crimes per capita, Knoxville is almost even with Memphis. By taking a look at the state as a whole, Chattanooga takes the cake with almost 12,500 crimes per 100,000 residents. I have never been held up in Memphis, and I've never seen anyone held up in Memphis, and no, there is no need for me to "pack heat." My car was broken into once in Memphis. But my stereo was stolen from my car three separate times when I lived in Knoxville at College Park.
Memphis has been voted by numerous health magazines as one of the unhealthiest cities in the United States, but along with New Orleans we make being unhealthy taste good! Memphis cuisine is second to none in the country. Every time my girlfriend comes to visit she leaves five pounds heavier.
Memphis has also been voted by Car and Driver magazine as one of the most driver-friendly cities. Though we have a much more complicated highway system with loops, byways, and parkways, I hardly ever have to endure traffic. However, I have hit the same traffic jams in Knoxville every year since 1998.
Perhaps the thing that Memphis and Knoxville have most in common is a love for music. Knoxville has roots that trace through a hodgepodge of musical styles. From bluegrass to country, rap to rock, all genres of music are represented in Knoxville. Memphis' musical culture, for which it is well-known, started with daily blues jams on Beale Street and now encompasses an ever-evolving enclave of music. Though all types of music are accepted, bluegrass and blues will always be the leading loves of each city, and both wail about heartbreak, cars and more heartbreak. Another thing that both cities share is a love for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is always packed; it's just that in Memphis there are more black people.
Through my experiences, both positive and negative, I have learned a great deal from Knoxville. It wasn't really evident to me how much Knoxville had changed me until I moved back to Memphis. Now when I meet people in Memphis they often don't believe I'm a native, mainly due to the way I talk and look. I don't particularly think that these are negative attributes, but ones that show that I have become a well-rounded Tennessean.
August 7, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 32
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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