A COUNTRY music lover from Great Harwood embarked on a personal pilgrimage to two remarkable shrines to celebrate her 65th birthday.

Milton Abbott, of Russell Place, promised his wife Lynne he would take her on a trip of a lifetime to Hendersonville to see Johnny Cash’s grave, and then to visit Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion.

During their two-week stay they enjoyed a country music festival with performers including Reba McIntyre, Dolly Parton and The Oak Ridge Boys, while Lynne even met Johnny’s sister Joanne who was singing at a midnight session of the Troubadour Theatre’s Nashville cowboy church.

Lynne said: "Hendersonville is just on the outskirts of Nashville and is where Johnny Cash’s grave is. The graves of Johnny and June Carter Cash are right on the crest of the hill."

She added: "Joanne’s husband was the pastor for the day and she came along with him and sang a couple of spiritual songs. I went outside afterwards and she was stood in the foyer and I had my photo taken with her. It was one of the best things that has ever happened to me."

In the second week Lynne and Milton, 57, headed to Memphis to visit Gracelands, where Elvis is buried alongside his parents Gladys and Vernon.

stuart.pike@menmedia.co.uk