Tennessee Motorcycles & Music Revival
Whether you've been moved or inspired by the spirit of Loretta Lynn's music or the incredible life she lived it's easy to appreciate and honor her memory by visiting her Hurricane mills ranch property. Located just West of Nashville, Tennessee, the Loretta Lynn ranch has been a host to many great events over the years. The massive grounds include an amphitheater sound stage, a motocross track, a flat track, Hurricane creek access for swimming, multiple areas for bike shows, and more room for camping than you could ever fill up. It was only natural that event organizer Buck Shaw and a team of great people would utilize every inch of the ranch to begin hosting the "Tennessee Motorcycles and Music Revival" on the grounds. After a few great years building up the attendance of the event the 2022 show really shined with an all star cast of great live music performers, 2 great custom bike shows, the "fist city" flat track racing, the Ives brothers wall of death, trials bike stunt shows, amateur and pro hill climbing and multitudes of amazing vendors. We decided this was the year to finally join in the fun, see what everyone has been talking about and what kind of experiences TMMR had to offer.
Kicking off the weekend Friday Jeff Holt helped host the V twin visionary bike show which featured some really great ride in bikes that were centered around performance and style that were meant to be ridden. With a little bit of old and new bikes, the show offered many great motors from every era of the Harley lineage. We were also surprised to find a couple great Yamaha's in the mix. Custom or original vintage is definitely what we love to see and the V twin visionary show delivered with a solid line up and no disappointment.
Next to the v twin visionary show was the "fist city flat track" sponsored by Harley Davidson, which hosted a mix of different racing classes from hooligan to vintage and even some moto x bikes. The track proved to be a whirling dust bowl of speed during the hooligan class races and resulted in some pretty fierce competition and pretty intense wrecks.
In the downtime between races all around daredevils and distinguished gentlemen Josh Kohn and Danger Dan took turns racing a mix of other riders and each other all in the name of good fun. The hooligan mains were definitely where things heated up later in the day and put great use to this awesome track.
After the racing people looking for fun headed back to the campgrounds for some lounge time or hurricane Creek which included a Led sled customs sponsored free hog roast and a beach bar with live bands throughout the day. This proved to be one of the best ways to chill out in between event happenings and was host to some great folks and great conversation.
Overlooking the Hurricane Creek was the barn structure that housed the Bling cycles "BC moto invitational" which really shined this year featuring a huge list of top level builders from various parts of the country. The invitational bike show stayed open day-and-night all weekend long in order to make sure everyone got a chance to view these amazing bike builds up close and personal. The bikes were displayed on waist high platforms giving each attendee a perfect chance to see the bike from the bike builders perspective as they were building it. Bill Dodge of Bling cycles being a well known and very accomplished builder himself definitely made a great call curating and arranging the show this way. The show hosted so many great builds we had to make several trips walking through various times of the weekend to see every detail of every build. Bill picks only the best and it showed.
As the sun went down both Friday and Saturday night the Loretta Lynn soundstage came alive in the amphitheater to host the music portion of the motorcycles and music revival. The Friday stage kicked off with the Red clay strays, Tim Montana and then one of the weekend's most iconic figures in rock music, ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons performing many of his classic favorites and some new solo work. Saturday night Cordell William's kicked things off the mainstage then Loretta's own family, Tayla and Ernie Lynn took the stage for some great music along with Tim and TJ Watson. Then new sensation Bones Owen's kicked things up a notch with his blues rock fusion. Finally capping off the great performances, The Outlaws finished the night with many wailing harmonies and classic rock tunes from their entire catalog.
The weather in May in the South can be a bit unpredictable at times and Saturday afternoon made for an interesting twist as many begin trying their luck at the offsite hill climb area. The rain began pouring and a few brave souls dared tackle the hill despite the downpour. Josh Kohn, Danger Dan, noise cycles Scott Jones and Ethan White all took a shot until the hill was too muddy to keep on. The riders and onlookers took shelter in a nearby turned over grain silo area and continued the party there till things died down to ride back to camp. The next morning as everyone packed up their campsites a few of the previous days hill climbers and thrill enthusiast took another shot racing each other up the hill to see who was fastest to the top. The rain held out on Sunday for more than enough hillclimb fun for everyone to get their chance at glory.
While the thrill of hill climbing and flat track racing would often be enough for most festivals Buck and his crew decided not to stop there and also invited the Ive's brothers wall of death riders and a trials bike stunt show that had multiple jumps and backflips doing acrobatic things that most could only dream of on 2 wheels.
With more than enough to keep everyone entertained beyond their wildest dreams from the incredible live music, death defying stunt shows, blood pumping hill climb action and multiple mesmerizing bike shows the people of TMMR really shined through with a sense of community, comradery and a weekend packed full of great experiences all around. At the end of the day the people of TMMR really made it a unique experience to remember. Everyone came to explore the ranch to its fullest and have a great time and Buck and his crew knocked it out of the park setting up more than enough fun for everyone. Check out their website at motorcyclesandmusic.com for more info on how you can experience it for yourself May 18th-21st 2023!
Photos and words by Mike Vandegriff
Kicking off the weekend Friday Jeff Holt helped host the V twin visionary bike show which featured some really great ride in bikes that were centered around performance and style that were meant to be ridden. With a little bit of old and new bikes, the show offered many great motors from every era of the Harley lineage. We were also surprised to find a couple great Yamaha's in the mix. Custom or original vintage is definitely what we love to see and the V twin visionary show delivered with a solid line up and no disappointment.
Next to the v twin visionary show was the "fist city flat track" sponsored by Harley Davidson, which hosted a mix of different racing classes from hooligan to vintage and even some moto x bikes. The track proved to be a whirling dust bowl of speed during the hooligan class races and resulted in some pretty fierce competition and pretty intense wrecks.
In the downtime between races all around daredevils and distinguished gentlemen Josh Kohn and Danger Dan took turns racing a mix of other riders and each other all in the name of good fun. The hooligan mains were definitely where things heated up later in the day and put great use to this awesome track.
After the racing people looking for fun headed back to the campgrounds for some lounge time or hurricane Creek which included a Led sled customs sponsored free hog roast and a beach bar with live bands throughout the day. This proved to be one of the best ways to chill out in between event happenings and was host to some great folks and great conversation.
Overlooking the Hurricane Creek was the barn structure that housed the Bling cycles "BC moto invitational" which really shined this year featuring a huge list of top level builders from various parts of the country. The invitational bike show stayed open day-and-night all weekend long in order to make sure everyone got a chance to view these amazing bike builds up close and personal. The bikes were displayed on waist high platforms giving each attendee a perfect chance to see the bike from the bike builders perspective as they were building it. Bill Dodge of Bling cycles being a well known and very accomplished builder himself definitely made a great call curating and arranging the show this way. The show hosted so many great builds we had to make several trips walking through various times of the weekend to see every detail of every build. Bill picks only the best and it showed.
As the sun went down both Friday and Saturday night the Loretta Lynn soundstage came alive in the amphitheater to host the music portion of the motorcycles and music revival. The Friday stage kicked off with the Red clay strays, Tim Montana and then one of the weekend's most iconic figures in rock music, ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons performing many of his classic favorites and some new solo work. Saturday night Cordell William's kicked things off the mainstage then Loretta's own family, Tayla and Ernie Lynn took the stage for some great music along with Tim and TJ Watson. Then new sensation Bones Owen's kicked things up a notch with his blues rock fusion. Finally capping off the great performances, The Outlaws finished the night with many wailing harmonies and classic rock tunes from their entire catalog.
The weather in May in the South can be a bit unpredictable at times and Saturday afternoon made for an interesting twist as many begin trying their luck at the offsite hill climb area. The rain began pouring and a few brave souls dared tackle the hill despite the downpour. Josh Kohn, Danger Dan, noise cycles Scott Jones and Ethan White all took a shot until the hill was too muddy to keep on. The riders and onlookers took shelter in a nearby turned over grain silo area and continued the party there till things died down to ride back to camp. The next morning as everyone packed up their campsites a few of the previous days hill climbers and thrill enthusiast took another shot racing each other up the hill to see who was fastest to the top. The rain held out on Sunday for more than enough hillclimb fun for everyone to get their chance at glory.
While the thrill of hill climbing and flat track racing would often be enough for most festivals Buck and his crew decided not to stop there and also invited the Ive's brothers wall of death riders and a trials bike stunt show that had multiple jumps and backflips doing acrobatic things that most could only dream of on 2 wheels.
With more than enough to keep everyone entertained beyond their wildest dreams from the incredible live music, death defying stunt shows, blood pumping hill climb action and multiple mesmerizing bike shows the people of TMMR really shined through with a sense of community, comradery and a weekend packed full of great experiences all around. At the end of the day the people of TMMR really made it a unique experience to remember. Everyone came to explore the ranch to its fullest and have a great time and Buck and his crew knocked it out of the park setting up more than enough fun for everyone. Check out their website at motorcyclesandmusic.com for more info on how you can experience it for yourself May 18th-21st 2023!
Photos and words by Mike Vandegriff