Arriving in Nashville is like coming home. That is how much I love this city. It is vibrant and noisy and dynamic. It is fun.
But it is also frightfully expensive, so I am staying at the Comfort Inn in Downtown Nashville just across the bridge in Music City, about a kilometre from the Country Music Hall of Fame. After spending the past eight days cooped up in a car, driving across six states and travelling 3,000 kilometres, I look forward to stretching my legs in this town that is so easy to walk around in.
But I am also welcomed to Nashville with heavy torrential rain, so I am a little bit glad that I no longer have a car and that the room is on the second floor. A lot of water is falling from the sky, and I would hate to drive in these conditions – I still get the heebie-jeebies when I think of our Little Rock experience. It is good to remain indoors and listen to the steady thrumming of the rain hitting the ground outside. The noise subsides then returns with fury and I am just happy to watch it and listen to it for a little while.
Directly across the road is the starting point for one of the many pedal bars that we have seen gliding along the streets of Nashville. Although I go in to enquire about prices etc, once I realise that I would REALLY have to pedal and it is open to the elements, I go in search of an alternative party tour. I find the perfect one, but more on that later. Also across the road from our hotel is a cluster of bars, each offering different types of food and music. We decide on nachos and margaritas and enjoy the ambience, music, and banter with the bar staff.
One cannot visit Nashville without spending an evening at the Grand Ole Opry and I am not disappointed. I had bought tickets in the nose-bleed area – last row, heads millimetres from the ceiling, and a direct frontal view of the stage. The tickets are in the ‘least expensive’ range, which is OK with me because the artists are performing to those sitting directly in front, albeit a long way away, and the screens help with the view. Somehow my dodgy knee became a leading character in the narrative and very shortly afterwards, I am sitting on the side of the auditorium in the disabled seats. These, of course, are more expensive seats, but for now, I have lost the full frontal view I prefer. I must admit that the screens did an admirable job of ensuring I had a view of sorts. Along with the disabled seats, I seem to have my own private staff member allotted to me and who fills me in on some interesting information about the artists during the intermission. Crystal Gayle is the only person I recognise initially, but it doesn’t matter who is performing, the concert is brilliant. Crystal Gayle’s great niece and granddaughter of Loretta Lynn, Emmy Russell had been a finalist on American Idol, and she includes her grandmother’s signature song, Coal Miner’s Daughter in her set. I had not heard of Don Schlitz before, but he announced that he would only sing songs that he had written. What I didn’t know was that he had written some of the most popular songs of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Gambler and When you Say Nothing at All, amongst others. Also on the list is 80 year-plus Jeannie Seely, The Cleverlys, Tony Jackson, and Hiss Golden Messenger. It is an unforgettable experience and although it takes a while to get an Uber back to the hotel, it is also good to see that the weather has cleared.
Dotted around Nashville’s Broadway and surrounding streets are many small museums dedicated to this or that performer. There are plenty to choose from but the most popular of all is the Johnny Cash Museum squeezed in with the Patsy Cline museum at 119 3rd Avenue, just around the corner from Broadway. It is packed with memorabilia and with people and despite best efforts to allow a trickle of attendees in at time, it is like a sardine tin when I eventually get through the door. To be fair, the real congestion is at the door; the crowds dissipate fairly quickly once past the bottleneck. Perhaps there should be fewer really interesting items at the door, which would greatly assist in moving the foot traffic. I spend a couple of hours here and enjoy exhibits like the video of Johnny reciting The Ragged Old Flag. Johnny Cash might have had some tough periods in his life, but his legacy is huge and personally, I am glad that he somehow met Rick Rubin and was able to record those last albums before he died.
Lunch time in Nashville can be challenging. Don’t get me wrong; there are lots of places to eat. I wander in and out of a couple of bars, check the menus and even get as far as sitting at a table in one. But the noise of competing bands becomes too loud, too disjointed, and not at all comfortable for an old chook who is looking for some respite, some peace and quiet. I must be getting grumpy in my ole age! We do find a quiet place, one that serves frozen margaritas, and piped background music. I can enjoy the bar bands when I am outside walking along Broadway and immersing myself in the unique Nashville atmosphere.
Now for the good bits.
I had mentioned earlier the cycle bars, which litter the streets. I’m not sure how much the patrons are supposed to cycle during the tour, but my little fat legs, one with a fake knee, are just not up to that much exertion. Besides, the weather is erratic, and I don’t want to get caught out in a sudden torrential downpour. Alternate tours sell out fast, but I think we are the lucky ones when I select the Nashville Tractors tour. This is a party bus, pulled by a Massey Ferguson or similar, through the streets of Nashville, including Broadway. The noise from our tour adequately competes with the noise of the bars and the shouting of patrons on the street. We are loud; music blaring, DJ doing his thing organising silly games, with tourists hanging out the sides of the trailer shouting. Even for me, easily the oldest one on the tour, it was just good fun. We stop about halfway through for a toilet stop at a gin bar before lumbering our way through Nashville. To be honest, this, along with the Grand Ole Opry, is a superbly fun way to spend an evening in the city. It doesn't matter that our 6:30 tour had been cancelled, and since they couldn’t contact us, we were included in the 8pm tour. After providing free drinks and nibbles in the bar to compensate, we leave at the end of the night lifelong buddies. Or we do at the time.
People rave about New York or Chicago, or Los Angeles and I agree that all those cities have wonderful qualities. But if I were to choose an American city that I would return to time and again, Nashville is my choice. Nowhere else do strangers feel like family, and although I always am alert to possible dangers and threats and I don’t take risks, I feel safe in Downtown Nashville, and it has an atmosphere that is entirely unique.
Title Quote: Rebecca Correia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvbnbLrv8Qs
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