If this show inspires you to rent a car and point it south, here are a few things to keep in mind. First, book a walking tour of the Ryman—the guided audio tour lets you hear actual performances from decades past, which is a spine-tingling experience. In Memphis, avoid the tourist traps on Beale Street after 11 p.m. and instead hit Wild Bill’s Juke Joint for the real deal.
Second, don’t skip the side roads. Brydon pulls over for a sign advertising “World’s Largest Peanut” and finds a family-run farm with a banjo player on the porch. The magic of the American South is often in the spaces between the cities, where the billboards are rusty and the stories are tall.
Third, pack a small notebook. You will hear lyrics that sound like they came from a Flannery O’Connor story, or meet a bartender who claims to have written a hit for Dolly Parton. These stories are better than any souvenir you can buy in a gift shop.
Cultural Footnotes
The show is peppered with delightful trivia. Did you know that the term “honky-tonk” likely comes from the sound of a piano being banged on in a wooden bar? Or that the original Sun Studio recording board still has scratch marks from Elvis’s belt buckle? Brydon shares these facts between sips of coffee and bites of fried pie.
Rob Brydon's Honky Tonk Road Trip Season 1 Episodes List - Next Episode
He also makes a subtle nod to the Great British Bake Off audience by sampling a “meat-and-three” plate, only to realize it’s a vegetable plate with a side of fried okra. His cultural confusion is our entertainment. It’s like watching a man discover fire for the first time, but the fire is a hot sauce called “Slap Ya Mama.”
One particularly fun sequence involves him trying to order a “Negroni” at a dive bar in Mississippi. The bartender stares at him blankly, then pours a glass of sweet tea with a shot of whiskey. Brydon sips it, shrugs, and says, “I think we’ve created something new.”
