Van Morrison To Be Given "Freedom of Nashville"

Van's the Man of the moment in Nashville

Van Morrison, the Belfast Cowboy, is to be given the freedom of Nashville, Tennessee.
Van the Man will become an honorary citizen of the world centre of country music at a ceremony in the Ryman Auditorium next Tuesday.
The Mayor of Nashville Bill Purcell will interrupt a concert by Van in the auditorium to perform the ceremony which will make the Ulster superstar a freeman of the city.
It will be an emotive occasion in hoe-down town especially as Nashville has been twinned with Belfast for several years.
The honour comes just as Morrison devotes his latest album, Pay the Devil, to a range of his favourite country songs including Your Cheatin' Heart, a hit for Frankie Laine back in the '50s.
It was a tune Van used to sing as a teenager and he will be performing it at the show.
In the audience will be millionaire businessman Dr Ian Brick and his wife Catherine who are from Northern Ireland.
On Pay the Devil, Van pays tribute to songwriters Hank Williams, Rodney Crowell, Webb Pierce and Leon Payne.
He plays tracks such as Half as Much, Big Blue Diamonds and There Stands The Glass, as well as three original songs of his own including the title track.
The album - and especially the Your Cheatin' Heart track - is creating a stir in Nashville, where Morrison is revered.
And by coincidence a novel by Belfast writer Annie McCartney has just arrived on the Nashville bookshelves. Its title? Your Cheatin' Heart.
-Eddie McIlwaine