If you have visited Nashville in the past, this piece may not be for you. Then again, I’m sure you could visit Nashville numerous times and never have quite the same experience. I recently visited for the first time, and this is my experience in the Music City.
My wife and I love music, so it stands to reason that Nashville was on our list of potential vacation spots. We left early on a Wednesday morning and made it from Culpeper, VA in nine hours flat. The clock changed to central time, so it actually seemed like we arrived in eight hours (left 6:00 a.m. eastern, arrived 2:00 p.m. central). We stayed at the Hyatt in the heart of downtown so we could walk to most places. Here are the highlights from the trip…
DAY 1:
After arriving and checking in, we headed for Broadway Avenue where all the Honky Tonk bars are located. It didn’t take long to learn what Broadway Avenue between 2nd and 5th Streets is all about. It’s bar after bar, multiple floors, cover bands on each floor playing 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. It’s true insanity and highly conducive to alcoholic tendencies. We picked one with a female singer and a rock n roll looking bass player where the crowd was smaller. Then we went to two or three more just to keep moving around. Lucky Bastard Saloon, Miranda Lambert’s place, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row…..you get the idea. We asked the bouncer outside one of the places what kind of music the band that was setting up would play, and he said, “Oh every band on the strip is the same.” He wasn’t totally wrong, but we saw some good variety.
WE DIDN’T GO TO ALL THESE PLACES, BUT I LOVE THE NEON SIGNS…
DAY 2:
We had purchased advance tickets to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum and for a tour of Studio B for Thursday. After our free hotel breakfast, we walked literally around the block to the Hall of Fame Museum. This was truly one of the highlights of the visit for me. I don’t even like country music that well, but the history is undeniably important to rock n roll, and this place truly told the full story and covered everything I could have imagined. And it did so with the most beautiful displays. The place was very roomy, not overcrowded and just so enjoyable to spend time in. We spent a couple of hours on the two floors and could have spent much longer. Without going on and on, the things I enjoyed learning about the most were more rock n roll than country. They had a feature called Western Edge that covered the influences of country music that went into The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Eagles and a lot of what was happening in California in the 1970’s. There were also displays that recognized some of the great country-influenced music that grew from the L.A. punk scene—The Blasters, Knitters, Rank & File, etc. I saw a stand-alone section on The Long Ryders, and on a personal favorite of mine, Jason & the Scorchers. Of course, all of the true country icons were well covered. You can’t have a Hall of Fame without the man in black, Johnny Cash!
THIS WALL WAS ENDLESS, AND FINDING SO MANY THAT WE LOVED WAS FUN
I WAS THRILLED TO SEE JASON & THE SCORCHERS RECOGNIZED
From the museum, we took a short shuttle ride to RCA Studio B where Elvis Presley, Charlie Pride and tons of other artists recorded some of the biggest hits of the 1960’s. Our tour guide was excellent and extremely knowledgeable. Sitting in the actual studio with several of the instruments that were used and hearing the stories was quite impressive. I can’t really do them justice here, but don’t miss out on these two attractions when you go to Nashville.
STUDIO B AT THE RCA VICTOR STUDIO, WHICH WAS ESSENTIALLY BUILT TO RECORD ELVIS EARLY IN HIS CAREER
DAY 3:
Day three in Nashville was a Friday, and we had a big day of more music history planned. Our first stop was a tour of the Ryman Auditorium. This amazing venue is historic and revered in Nashville. It was built as a church but later became a very important music venue and the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. The seating is still the old wooden church pews. The tour was excellent. It began with a short film that was extremely well done and then you could essentially roam through the venue looking at the beautiful displays. The tour culminated with an opportunity to briefly go to the front of the stage and get a photo. All-in-all, it was very cool. The Ryman is still a very active venue. We were sorry we could not catch a show there.
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS DISPLAY AT THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM
THE ICONIC RYMAN AUDITORIUM
After the Ryman we headed for the Johnny Cash Museum. This one had nice displays and plenty of info, but unfortunately it was in a very small space with way too many people. It’s a travesty really that they don’t do a better job of holding down the number of people they let in at once, and really, it should just be far more spread out in a much bigger, better space.
JOHNNY’S FIRST PROFESSIONAL GUITAR
Our final stop was a bit of a hike up the hill from 3rd Street to about 9th Street. Apparently you can no longer tour the Gibson guitar factory, but there is a shop—a very large shop—that is called the Gibson Guitar Garage. It’s in a kind of odd, large warehouse building with some offices and other establishments. It actually took us a few minutes to find. Wow, I don’t even play the guitar, but I was blown away.
ONE OF MANY GREAT DISPLAYS AT THE GIBSON GUITAR GARAGE
There were literally hundreds of guitars going around the entire huge shop on a conveyor hanging from the ceiling, plus many walls of them everywhere you looked. There was a Slash display and even a few listening stations to learn Gibson history. I bought a great Gibson sweatshirt, so feel free to call me a poser now…..
A FRACTION OF THE GUITARS AT THE GIBSON GARAGE…
DAY 4:
On Saturday we hit up the Honky Tonks again and did a bit too much day drinking. We did walk up a huge pedestrian bridge that crosses the Cumberland River and got a nice view of the city skyline and also the Tennessee Titans stadium, but I’ll just move on to our last full day in Nashville, which was another great day of history and music…
I CAN’T COUNT HOW MANY BANDS WE SAW IN ALL OF THE BARS ON BROADWAY. SOME WERE BETTER THAN OTHERS FOR SURE, BUT IT WAS ALWAYS FUN
DAY 5:
We made a plan to visit Belle Meade Plantation, which we knew nothing about. We went sans tickets and luckily fit onto a tour of the manor house almost immediately. The place had a ton of history, most notably tied to breeding race horses, but you’re not here for a history lesson. The tour ended with a complimentary wine tasting at the Belle Meade Winery, so there went my resolution not to day drink on our last day. As we headed for the car, we bumped into a young woman toting a guitar and an amp, an figured she was going to play the Winery patio. It was a beautiful day so we asked her what time she would start. She said, “As soon as possible, I’m already late.” And so, we went back and got a bottle of wine and took a seat. Her name was Zoe Cummins, and you can find her on your favorite streaming service. It was such a breath of fresh air to listen to some original songs played acoustic, as opposed to an average cover band competing for volume against the cover band on the next floor or the next door down. It was a pleasant afternoon.
BELLE MEADE PLANTATION HOUSE ZOE CUMMINS AT THE WINERY
Other than driving home the next day, the last real stop in Nashville was to see Squeeze and The Psychedelic Furs at the Grand Ole Opry. Sounds weird, right? (editor’s note: In my 71 years on the planet I swear I NEVER once expected to read a sentence containing the phrase, “to see Squeeze and The Psychedelic Furs at the Grande Ole Opry.”) We were surprised but we had bought tickets weeks earlier, figuring we could see the venue and a show for not much more cash than it takes to just get a daytime tour of the venue. It turned out to be a great decision. I don’t want to gush too much, so I’ll just say this: amazing sound, amazing lights, and we had amazing seats—I would not have changed a thing. As for the show, I will also try not to go on and on. The Psychedelic Furs played first and blew me away. They sounded so great, looked so great and played such a great set list, I just couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. My wife concurred. Squeeze was the headliner, and they also played a great set list and sounded excellent, but for my wife and I, they had been outdone by the openers. It was a great night.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL VENUE
THE PSYCHEDLIC FURS ON THE SPACIOUS STAGE - RICHARD BUTLER’S VOCALS WERE SPECTACULAR THE SAX PLAYER SOUNDED BETTER THAN EVER, DUE LARGELY TO THE AMAZING ACOUSTICS OF THE OPRY
DAY 5:
Get up, pack, leave. Arrived home nine and a half hours later (left 8:00 a.m. central, arrived 6:30 p.m. eastern).
We stayed really busy and we ate at some great restaurants that I did not elaborate upon. Bakersfield Taqueria, Southern Steak & Oyster, City Tap and Sixty Vines were all good. And we had to have a famous Nashville hot chicken sandwich from Prince’s Hot Chicken. Five days was just enough for us. I recommend a visit for sure.
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in the Nation’s Capital and grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. He just turned 60 years old, he has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter. He leads a bit of a double life, working by day as the chief administrative officer of a VA county, and spending as many nights as possible listening to live rock n roll with his wife at any club that has a decent band within 100 miles or so of their house (and sometimes further).