PAUL's NASHVILLE PAST

He's been rocking stages for more than 50 years, but on Thursday, Paul McCartney will play just his second-ever concert in Nashville. He made his debut at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in 2010, and the closest his famous former band The Beatles came to Nashville was a stop in Memphis in 1966.

Still, the 72-year-old rock legend has an interesting past with Music City, starting with a six-week stay in Wilson County in 1974 -- during which the Tennessean photographed and interviewed Paul and his late first wife, Linda, several times.

We've collected photos and highlights from that coverage here, as well as our more recent pieces on McCartney's 2010 Nashville concert and headlining performance at Bonnaroo in 2013. Read on to learn more about Paul's Nashville past.

1974

Paul McCartney touched down at Metropolitan airport with his family on the evening of June 6, 1974, emerging from the plane wearing a green battle jacket and flashing a peace sign. The Tennessean reported that Paul answered questions "briefly but willingly" and even humored a group of kids who were amused by his British accent (he said the word "elevator" at their request).

The music superstar told a crowd of about 50 fans and members of the press that he'd come to Nashville for his three Rs — rehearsing, relating and riding. Music producer and executive Buddy Killen, who would act as the McCartneys' Music City guide during their six-week stay here that summer, greeted the family upon their arrival.

The McCartneys rented a 133-acre farm just outside of Lebanon from songwriter Curly Putman ("Green, Green Grass of Home") for $2,000 a week. They had requested a farm within 50 miles of Nashville that had horses and swimming facilities.

"I've got a farm in Scotland," McCartney told reporters during an informal press conference on the farm. "You're not the only people who have farms, you know. Back in Scotland, we're country people in our own way."

Paul McCartney, right, and wife, Linda, who've been living the life of country gentlefolks on the Putman farm for the past five weeks, offer a toast to other "down home folks." They held a highly informal press conference on the porch with a host of newsmen July 17, 1974.

During their stay, the family visited the homes of Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins and even took in a few movies at their local drive-in.

McCartney and his family caused quite a stir when they joined the audience at Opryland for the third annual Grand Masters Fiddling Contest on June 16, 1974. During the intermission, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton performed their final show together before Parton embarked on her solo career. Linda McCartney got out of her seat several times to take photos of the duo. The McCartneys went backstage to meet with Wagoner and Parton, and then escaped into a waiting automobile.

 

Paul told Nashville reporters that he was raised on country music, and he tried his hand at a bit of country songwriting while he was in town: He wrote the song "Sally G." after a trip to Printer's Alley.

McCartney drove around on a newly purchased motorcycle during the family's Nashville visit. When a group of reporters waited at the Putman farm gate for a "highly informal" press conference, Paul and Linda rode past, smiling and waving.

Linda told The Tennessean she was "not much into materialism anymore," though she had made a recent trip to Rivergate to purchase gifts for her family. Another big machine Paul loved -- the Mellotron synthesizer -- was not readily available in Tennessee at the time, to his chagrin.

Paul takes his wife, Linda, for a spin around the lawn of the home of songwriter Curly Putman July 17, 1974, where the McCartneys have been living during their visit to Nashville.

 

As his time in Tennessee came to a close, McCartney told a group of local reporters that he hoped to mount a U.S. tour the following year, and that if it happened, Music City would definitely be on the itinerary.

"We just couldn't skip Nashville," he said. "We have too many friends here."

McCartney continued to skip Nashville for the next 36 years.

2010

There were no curtain drops, flashing lights or explosions when Sir Paul McCartney stepped onto the stage at Bridgestone Arena Monday night. Just a 68-year-old rock legend — and arguably the world's most famous living musician — emerging from the shadows and calmly greeting a Nashville audience for the first time.

Paul McCartney makes his entrance for the packed crowd during his concert at Bridgestone Arena July 26, 2010.

It was the audience that made the moment pure pandemonium — this was, of course, the former Beatle's first time performing live in Music City, some 46 years after his famous band first arrived in the U.S. As the cheers refused to die out in those first moments, McCartney gestured at the crowd to his bandmates, as if to say, "I'm going to like these guys."

McCartney and Nashville got along splendidly, as he and his four-piece backing band treated a packed house to three hours of Beatles, Wings and solo gems.

"Oh man, it's great to be back," McCartney said after the opening one-two punch of "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" and "Jet." "This is such a cool scene, I'm going to take a second here, just to take it all in for myself."

After taking it in, McCartney composed himself and quickly snapped his band into Beatlemania classic "All My Loving," to the house's delight.

"I knew we were going to have a good time," he said after wrapping up "Band On the Run." "It's Nashville, baby."

McCartney returned for the show's first encore triumphantly waving a giant Tennessee state flag. "You like your music in this town!" he said between "Daytripper" and "Lady Madonna."

A torrent of confetti washed down upon the crowd as McCartney headed off the stage, saved for just the right moment Monday night — as a living legend, live for the first time before a Nashville audience, sincerely thanked his fans and said goodnight.

2013

There was a lifetime of hits for Paul McCartney to cram into his near-3-hour headlining set at Bonnaroo in 2013, but he couldn't resist squeezing in a few stories of the old days with the tens of thousands of young folks assembled before him.

He told them about his friend Jimi Hendrix, who once performed the title track to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" only two days after The Beatles' landmark album was released in 1967. But Hendrix's guitar went out of tune quickly, and he asked Eric Clapton – who was in the audience with McCartney – to lend a hand. Clapton stayed out of it.

McCartney paused for a beat, and shrugged. "Anyway, a great memory for me."

But McCartney's memories played like myth to his youngest fans at Bonnaroo, who were born more than 20 years after his famous band called it quits. The concept of knowing Hendrix seems impossible to fathom, along with seeing the 1966 song "Paperback Writer" performed on the same guitar it was recorded with – a rock relic. Most of all, it's more than a little mind-blowing to see a Beatle – at age 70, one of two the world has left, and a performer many didn't count on ever seeing until he came to Bonnaroo – standing before them.

McCartney, of course, has survived the squealing highs of Beatlemania, so he wasn't too thrown by the roar that greeted him as he and his band took the "What" stage a few minutes past 9 p.m. He stuck his hand out to the crowd, then playfully pulled it back, acting as if he'd touched a hot stove. And by set's end, their unwavering enthusiasm had been noted. "You are something, Bonnaroo," he told them.

His set – much like his first Nashville stop in 2010 – wisely darted between Beatles, Wings and solo classics.

He and his four piece backing band came out swinging with the Fab Four's "Eight Days a Week," one of many Beatles songs McCartney is performing live for the first time on his current tour. They fittingly followed it up with "Junior's Farm," which he and Wings recorded during a multi-week stay in the Nashville area back in 1974. Paul later learned this wasn't much of a local crowd when he polled the audience. He asked who had come to Bonnaroo from outside of Tennessee, and after hearing a massive cheer, he replied, "Me too."

Still, he shared other connections with the region. He introduced "Blackbird" by explaining it was written in response to the civil rights movement of the '60s, particularly events in Little Rock, Ark. Another audience poll saw that at least half of the audience members had learned – or attempted to learn – the song on guitar.

A few of his piano ballads might be better left on his standard tour circuit, but "My Valentine" from 2012's "Kisses on the Bottom" was a crucial contemporary moment, and one dedicated to his wife Nancy Shevell. He mentioned one of his earliest solo hits – "Maybe I'm Amazed" – was written for his late first wife Linda McCartney, and was one of many tunes dedicated to departed figures in his life: producer Phil Ramone and late Beatles bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison.

In recent years, McCartney has become more apt to take on Beatles songs originally sung by Lennon and Harrison and his full-band takes on the Lennon-driven "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" and Harrison's "Something" were both surprising and moving bits of reverence for their work. The breadth of McCartney's contributions to the band – from ballads ("Eleanor Rigby," "Yesterday") to high octane rockers ("Helter Skelter," "Back In the USSR") was plain to see throughout the evening, and the energy trended upward as the show neared midnight.

"You wanna keep rocking, don't you?" he told the still-full field as he started a second encore with the clobbering "Helter Skelter." He'd been reading fans' handmade signs throughout the evening, and took one of their gifts – a stuffed walrus, referencing two Lennon-driven Beatles tunes "I Am the Walrus" and "Glass Onion." He sat the gift on his grand piano and launched into the final number – a medley that closes out the last album the Beatles recorded, "Abbey Road."

As confetti rained down on the fans up front, McCartney gave one last wave and vanished behind the accumulating stage fog – but on video screens, fans saw him keeping that energy up backstage, bounding into the darkness with an obvious spring in his step.