Sisters Brenda Kay and Sheri Lynn wanted to be closer together. So in a California bar in 1996, Sheri concocted a plan that would evolve into the iconic NashTrash pink tour bus.
“I wrote it all down in one fell swoop on a piece of paper,” Sheri says. “I woke up the next morning, sober as a judge. I said, ‘Well, that’s a good idea.’ I called Brenda. One year later, I [had] moved to Nashville, we had a bus, it was pink, and we were open for business.”
After 26 years in business, The “Jugg Sisters” act is coming to a close. At 65, Sheri is looking at retirement in the next year, she tells the Scene.
These days, every show of the musical-comedy tour of the city sells out, and includes repeat customers. It’s high-energy and raunchy, and feels like a plea to take notice of the things that have always made Nashville special. On top of bits about country music legends, as their pink bus rolls through the most tourist-friendly parts of the city, the sisters talk about the accolades of Nashville’s Fisk Jubilee Singers, closing with, “Didn’t that just blow your mind?” They cover important moments from the civil rights movement and the namesake of Rep. John Lewis Way — and “Get ready to shit your pants,” because the Nashville Symphony Orchestra has won two Grammys.
Over the years, Brenda and Sheri have also become more true to themselves, they say. They started as Dolly Parton-esque country music caricatures complete with spandex, wigs and blue eyeshadow. The look has been toned down, but the comedy has gotten even more confident. On the day the Scene accompanies the sisters on a tour, NashTrash kicks things off by pulling out of the Nashville Farmers’ Market and gesturing up at the state Capitol — the “assholes up on the Hill.”
But there’s room for a new guard on the pink bus. Comedian Ben Oddo hosts one tour, and thespians Jenny Littleton and Hank Haggard are manning another. After Sheri leaves, Brenda has plans to do a solo show while mentoring the newcomers. The bus is its own beast — one they’ve mastered.
“It’s hard to find a comedian musician, plus do a show on the bus,” Brenda says. “It’s a different ball game. You have to be good at improv, you have to think on your feet, you have to point out shit and also be funny.”
“We’re trying not to put any pressure on the new kids,” Sheri adds.
After the Jugg Sisters’ tour wraps up in about a year, they both have plans to leave town — but not together. They have other interests — gardening, cooking, boating, “drinking nice wine, hearing nice music.” Don’t be surprised if you hear about Sheri directing a community theater production in Kentucky, or Brenda managing a rescue farm in Pennsylvania.
“I think about that, I just start crying,” says Sheri. “We have to be together. I always say that to Brenda. As we get older, we’re getting, I think, more close, because we just don’t care about the petty stuff anymore. We realize our time on earth is fleeting. Better not spent pissed off at each other.”
Sheri’s plan to be closer to her sister worked. They’ve been side by side on the bus, working within inches of each other, for the past two-and-a-half decades. If their plans to move elsewhere, separately, come to fruition, they’ll have to get used to living hundreds of miles apart. And Nashville will have to get used to the gap they’ll leave.
“We came along with that pink bus, and we did that without any competition at all for 10, 12 years,” says Sheri. “Slowly but surely, there was a party bus on the street and another weird little comedy bus and a sing-along bus — and well, well, well, look at all the little children we spawned.”
Summer Guide is presented by Black Sheep Tequila
From family activities to concert series and beyond, here’s our roundup of great summertime stuff to do and where to do it
