Out & About In Nashville
My parents used to pack the family into our car & head out on the road for a 1- to 2-week family holiday each summer as soon as school let out. With family located in Kentucky, this meant an opportunity to drive down to Tennessee for part of our trip as well. It was always a special treat if we were able to go to Nashville during this time.
Now as an adult living in Memphis for work, I am fortunate to go to Nashville almost monthly for business & leisure trips. Nashville sure has changed from when I used to go as a kid, but it is a perfect travel destination for me still today. With all of the history of the city & its constant growth, I’m able to enjoy my old favorites & always find new gems.
Once viewed as a city that only offered country music, Nashville is so much more. There are quite a few attractions that are must sees, like the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame, historic Ryman Auditorium, Belle Meade Plantation, the Hermitage, the Parthenon & Bicentennial Park to name a few.
The Opryland area has changed since I visited as a child. Opryland Theme Park has been replaced with Opry Mills Shopping Mall, the Opryland Hotel is now recognized as Gaylord Opryland Resort, & the General Jackson Showboat docks here. The Grand Ole Opry still has nightly performances, & it is always fun for me to still see Little Jimmy Dickens telling his jokes & the Osborne Brothers singing Rocky Top while enjoying new artists like Josh Turner, who performs quite often.
But there is much more to Nashville outside of Opryland that continues to draw me to the city. There is live music of all genres everywhere — not only country music. You can catch live music performances in the local restaurants, bars & hotels throughout the city — just look for the live music venue signs that will be posted at each establishment.
Because I really still like country music too, I always head downtown for dinner & live music for part of my trip. West End & downtown are within a couple miles of each other & a short drive or cab ride. There are restaurants that range from casual, like Jacks BBQ, to upscale dining like the new Sambucca located in the Gulch. I personally like something that falls in between those, like the upscale yet casual Merchants, which is on the National Register of Historic Places & is located right on Broadway. The restaurant is located in the old Merchant’s Hotel that was constructed in 1892 & had such guests as Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Porter Waggoner & many others. You will find photos, receipts, letters & much more that reflect that time currently hung from the walls.
After dinner I head out to Broadway to my favorite country music venues, which include Tootsies, the Stage & Second Fiddle. You never know who may show up to perform with the bands. One time this spring, Tommy Two Tone showed up at Tootsies & performed his famous “Jenny 867-5309.” Another day I saw some of Randy Travis’ band playing at Tootsies, & on this past trip one of Joe Nichols’ guitarists was performing at Legends Corner.