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Overview
When young James Kelly fled the Irish Famine in 1848, he arrived in America with a roll of copper tubing under his shirt. To make whiskey, of course. And he did—in the green rolling hills of Middle Tennessee. Later his son John would open a saloon, initiating the family custom of serving up “a great steak and a generous pour of whiskey” that continues to this day.
Readers will delight in tales of bootleggers and rumrunners, saloons and speakeasies, of hard workers with strong family values, the old genteel Nashville and the new Nashville recording industry, and the mysterious difference between whiskey and bourbon. There are stories about Jack Daniel, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (and even Trigger), Al Capone, Bob Dylan, Grantland Rice, John Jay Hooker Sr., and local characters only a Nashvillian could love.
The story of the Kelly family in Tennessee takes readers from the Civil War to Nashville’s postwar boom and the turn of a new century: the Roaring 20s that followed the first World War, the temperance movement that led to Prohibition, and the speakeasy solution that led honest Kelly men to defy a patently bad law as they built a family legacy of beloved restaurants in Nashville. Mike Kelly—James’s great-grandson—has written a fine and rollicking tale of a most interesting time in American history. His affection for his family and his community shows on every page.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781637631133 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Forefront Books |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2022 |
| Pages: | 272 |
| Sales rank: | 521,455 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Today, his great-grandson, Mike Kelly, collectively represents his Irish-American forebears who include a long line of successful restauranteurs, speakeasy operators, ice purveyors, saloon keepers, badass bootleggers, and moonshine makers.
The author, a former Tennessee Restauranteur of the Year and past chairman of the Nashville Metro Tourism & Convention Commission, knows more than a thing or two about Southern hospitality. He has helmed Music City’s oldest fine dining establishment for the last four decades.
As Jimmy Kelly’s Steakhouse enters into its eighty-eighth year of uninterrupted service, Mike Kelly continues to extend his family’s phenomenal legacy by offering diners, celebrities, and friends two of life’s most important things: a good steak and a generous pour.
Table of Contents
Prologue: A Great Steak and a Generous Pour of Whiskey 9
Part I Stills and Saloons
Chapter 1 The Day My Grandfather Met Al Capone 17
Chapter 2 What James Brought from the Old Country 23
Chapter 3 Whiskey, Wits, and War 27
Chapter 4 Kelly and Sons in the Men's Quarter 33
Chapter 5 John Kelly Buys a Saloon 39
Chapter 6 Nashville's Dueling Factions 43
Chapter 7 The Man in the Top Hat 47
Chapter 8 Ill Winds Blowing 55
Chapter 9 The Bishop's Advice 61
Chapter 10 Roads, Racetracks, and Railways 67
Part II Smugglers
Chapter 11 U-Drive-It 75
Chapter 12 A Wild New Decade Dawns 79
Chapter 13 The Bahama Queen 83
Chapter 14 The Real McCoy 89
Chapter 15 Motorboats and Motorcars 95
Chapter 16 McCoy Leaves the Trade 99
Chapter 17 A Private Lumber Train 103
Chapter 18 Harry Brown and George Remus 107
Chapter 19 A Touch of Romance 113
Chapter 20 The St. Louis Milking Scheme 117
Chapter 21 The Windsor-Detroit Funnel 123
Chapter 22 John Takes His Bride to Nassau 127
Chapter 23 A Ride with the Chief of Police 131
Chapter 24 Capone's Chicago 133
Chapter 25 Christmas Shopping 137
Chapter 26 Jimmy Kelly Chooses a Career 139
Chapter 27 Flood Tide 143
Chapter 28 Trouble in the Windy City 147
Chapter 29 The Crash 151
Chapter 30 Repeal at Last 155
Part III Speakeasies
Chapter 31 The Perfect Location 161
Chapter 32 The 216 Clubs Early Beginnings 165
Chapter 33 Huey Long Visits Nashville 169
Chapter 34 The Clubs Growing Success 171
Chapter 35 Tennessee Liquor Laws Begin to Loosen 173
Chapter 36 The 216 Club Becomes Famous 177
Part IV Nashville's Oldest Fine Dining Restaurant
Chapter 37 Jimmy Kelly's Move to Belle Meade 187
Chapter 38 The Problem with Crème de Menthe 191
Chapter 39 Jimmy Hoffa's Nashville Trial 193
Chapter 40 Finally! Liquor-By-the-Drink in Nashville 197
Prologue to an Epilogue 205
Closing Thoughts: A Living Bridge 253
Epilogue: Nashville Grows Up 257
Sources 263
Notes 269
Acknowledgments 272