Non-Stop Nashville: 4 Days In Music City, Then Time For A Change
The Interstate cuts a sunken swathe right through the heart of Nashville, the gleaming skyscrapers of the city telling of its recently gained reputation as an economic powerhouse. Giant companies such as AT&T, FedEx, Nissan and Bridgestone have all set up major bases here as Nashville grows in confidence and influence, commerce clearly adding another string to its bow. Or maybe another string to its guitar.
It may have made that move, but as we walk down Broadway (aka Honky Tonk Highway) for the first time there’s absolutely no mistaking the fact that Music City is still Music City, not only another site of huge musical origins and influence but a massively vibrant, pulsating mecca of live music where it is instantly possible to believe that more musicians make a full time living here than anywhere else. But that’s all from Day 2 onwards, the Nashville leg begins a day earlier.
It’s early Saturday afternoon as we pull off the Interstate and into the hotel parking lot – this will be our first hotel room since we left Brazil, America has been all airbnb houses, apartments and a b&b up to now. Dark storm clouds hover over the skyscrapers and we wonder whether the torrential storms we passed through on the way here are about to catch up with us again.
Our time in Nashville really begins with our rendezvous with Meg, Brad and Tess which we linked to in a previous post – a lovely evening where Meg makes a great choice of venue at the delightful Loveless Cafe about 30 minutes out of town. A really great few hours and the perfect start to our time here.
Nashville’s live music scene is up and running by 10am and powers on till well after midnight. It is absolutely and utterly full on and virtually non-stop. There’s only a handful of shops on Broadway – most of them selling cowboy boots – the rest is made up entirely of music bars, and from any point on the street you can hear the sound of at least four different bands clashing. In every bar, the stage is by the window, so that the band face the customers in the bar but have their backs to the open windows, right by the sidewalk. Consequently the street is full of drumbeat. It must be one of the loudest streets on Earth.
Famed of course for country music, nowadays rock seems to have all but taken over. Sure, there’s some venues true to Nashville’s country roots, more during the afternoon hours, but at night this is rock territory – we hear more Metallica and Kings Of Leon covers than we do true country music. These aren’t really just bars, these are concert venues with a bar in the centre – large raised stages the domain of wannabe stars strutting their stuff, appreciative crowds joining in with the choruses and digging into wallets to fill the tips buckets.
For so many of these guys, this is full time work and, with this many bars running 16 hours of live gig per day, there’s room for plenty of talent. Not wanting to miss the legendary relevance of Nashville, we do pay homage properly to Music City’s country origins by touring the revered Ryman Auditorium and by visiting the Johnny Cash Museum. The Ryman is surprisingly compact given its massive back catalogue of top performers and its significant place in music history, being roughly the size of an average West End theatre in London.
The Johnny Cash Museum does full justice to the legend which is The Man In Black, but it’s so busy that it is for the most part a crowded shuffle through the Cash story with a loop repeating a short extract of “I Walk The Line” every few seconds which starts to grate all too quickly. Maybe we’ve done one museum too many.
For some air and a change of scenery we wander over the John Seigenthaler Bridge for views of the river and the city, and up the hill to the State Capitol, which is closed despite signage inviting us in via the West Entrance. Impressive building and gardens, mind you, even though we can’t get in. So instead we soon find ourselves in another Broadway bar as another lead guitarist makes his axe cry and wail and another singer milks the crowd like a true pro.
And then it dawns on us : we realise at the same moment as each other that we need some variety, we suddenly want to be out of the cities. Great music, fabulous histories, three vibrant but diverse cities in New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville – and terrific bars and music venues in all three – but we’re done with the city vibe for now and we need a change. We’re even done with barbecue. Maybe it IS possible to have too much of a good thing after all.
A small amount of research has us heading by car the short distance out of Nashville to Radnor Lake, where a hike around its perimeter is a breath of fresh air in both senses. Turtles bask in the sunshine on fallen boughs, deer move stealthily through the woods, and then a real treat as we spy a Bald Eagle, the symbol of America, resting proudly up in the trees. Just as we think about a second hike up into the surrounding wooded hills, the predicted rain finally arrives and we abort – a good decision as a heavy 2-hour deluge follows.
So it is that with a desire to move away from the city, we pack our bags on Wednesday morning and head for the mountains – The Great Smoky Mountains to be precise. Over TV in the breakfast room though, the screen is full of severe weather warnings across the southern states with major thunder storms, a month’s worth of rain and even tornadoes forecast.
They’re not kidding. At least the first two hours of the drive is in horrendous conditions, with heavy rain and spray reducing visibility to a matter of yards in places, deep surface water adding to the hazard. At times it’s as bad as driving in thick fog so poor is the visibility; traffic slows to about 35/40mph and we pass a couple of nasty wrecks. When visibility improves slightly, all it means is that we can now see the fork lightning more clearly. It’s a relief when it finally, finally, starts to ease.
We’re headed for Gatlinburg. Way back in Crystal Springs, Lee the barber had recommended it when we mentioned the Smoky Mountains, and, having liked what we heard in his description, we identified it as our destination mountain getaway. With our desire to quit the cities now about to be satisfied, we discuss what we would ideally hope to find when we get there: fresh mountain air, fast flowing rivers, hiking trails, rolling mountains, a change of cuisine and – maybe, just maybe, fresh trout for dinner.
Forty minutes or so from Gatlinburg, we’re at last out of the weather bomb and on to dry roads, finally leaving the Interstate and heading up, up and further up into the evocatively named Great Smoky Mountains. With just a handful of miles to go we pass through Sevierville, Dolly Parton’s home town, and Pigeon Forge, where we’re surrounded on both sides of the road by some dreadful Disney-like quasi metropolis of theme hotels and adventure parks, roller coasters and pretend scenery. Not our scene at all.
But then we’re soon out into greenery, mountains towering above us, a young mountain river crashing and frothing over rocks alongside the road. As if by magic, as we enter Gatlinburg the heavy clouds, present all day till now, suddenly lift, and the town basks in glorious sunshine under a sky quickly turning blue at the very moment we see the town for the first time.
We take an exploratory walk into town among Alpine style wooden lodges and trailhead way markers, crossing bridges over the fast flowing rivers and looking up at the tops of the mountains way above. The air is clear and a delight to inhale, so fresh and sweet after the muggy air of the cities. Turning a corner on the main street, there’s a little wooden restaurant which is called – and we can scarcely believe our eyes – The Trout House.
It’s as if our every wish has been granted.
31 Comments
leightontravels
Another city I’m really familiar with as an old friend of mine lives there. Love it all and glad to see that the place hasn’t changed a bit. I have fond memories of live music at Robert’s and like you toured the gorgeous Ryman. It is my dream to one day see Ryan Adams or Wilco play there, but let’s see. Gatlinburg looks interesting, I never made it down Smoky way, interested to read more.
Phil & Michaela
I imagine that tickets for Ryman shows are gold dust given the modest capacity of the place. Moody Blues have been regulars through the decades. I would have loved to have seen that.
Annie Berger
I don’t know about the Moody Blues at Ryman but their performance at Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver was fantastic. Look up the place as it;s also where the Beatles played!
Phil & Michaela
I will!
soap2day
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Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Sometimes you just get museumed/citied out and need a change. I understand about the nasty weather as we recently experienced similar driving conditions through the U.S. plains.
Phil & Michaela
Yes I saw! Still, through to the other end safely huh.
Toonsarah
I can absolutely see how Nashville would be one city too many, and I have to say it doesn’t appeal to me as much as Memphis. That rain on the Interstate looks horrible to drive in (we had similar once in New Mexico which Chris still talks about with some horror even though it only lasted about 15 minutes!) But Gatlinburg looks delightful 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Great Smoky Mountains!
Phil & Michaela
Nashville was good, nothing wrong with it and we wouldn’t to put anyone off, quite the opposite! But as you know we like to mix things up and it was starting to feel a bit too Groundhog Day if you know what I mean….
Helen Devries
Looking forward to Gatlinburg….how you have the energy for those cities is beyond me!
Phil & Michaela
I think it’s something to do with never really having grown up 😂
Annie Berger
Too funny!
Christie
Nashville has been on my list for a while, and I just realized I need to reconsider a visit soon(er).
Gatlinburg looks very pretty. Enjoy the fresh air, and the new scenery!
Phil & Michaela
Wait till you see what happened!!
Monkey's Tale
It’s like you were meant to stop in Garlinburg all along. I know the museumed-out or citied-out feel. Glad you were able to get some respite. Maggie
Phil & Michaela
And Gatlinburg was to give us an unexpected thrill
Monkey's Tale
oohhh can’t wait!
Flyway better
Nashville is a very beautiful city, as like Las Vegas, my friend is shifting to Nashville last year to establish his business and I am thinking of visiting my friend in Nashville in the fall of December.
grandmisadventures
So glad you could escape the loudness of downtown and get out to Radnor Lake for awhile. We love that park, but don’t go as much since dogs aren’t allowed. Also glad that you survived that crazy rain storm. The storms hit our neighborhood so hard that they canceled school for two days because so many roads were flooded. We couldn’t leave the neighborhood until the water cleared out. Pidgeon Forge has never appealed to me, but Gatlinburg is really lovely and you can’t go wrong with a visit to the Smokey Mountains. 🙂
Phil & Michaela
Wow yes we thought the weather was pretty extreme. Gatlinburg was great – and we had a pretty special experience there, as you’ll see 😁
wetanddustyroads
Many of our own country’s country singers have been to Nashville to make a television series for the local market or to perform there – and the women all come back with cowboy boots! After reading your post (and seeing all the music photos), I can understand why! Oh yes, now that I see the lake and wildlife, I’m just as eager as you guys to get out of the city … even in torrential rain! Gatlinburg looks like a fresh breeze after the city – yeah!!
Phil & Michaela
Nashville is great but yeah we needed some mountain air. Honestly, the number of girls in tiny shorts or skirts and big cowboy boots….Nashville is full of them!
WanderingCanadians
We visited Nashville a few years ago shortly after the border between Canada and the US reopened from the pandemic. It’s neat to see the Honky Tonk highway at night with all those neon signs. It looks waaaay more lively than when we were there. We didn’t have time to see the inside of the Ryman, but we attended a show at the Grand Ole Opry instead.
Phil & Michaela
Are you sure that wasn’t in the Ryman? The Grand Ole Opry is normally at the Ryman. Anyway, we would have liked to have seen a show as well but there wasn’t anything on in the days we were there. And yes, it was very lively down “the street”.!
WanderingCanadians
The Opry still takes place in the Ryman every so often. But they built a newer building east of downtown Nashville by some very large mall that also hosts it. And the day we went there was Black Friday. Poor planning on our part. It took foreverrr to get off the highway. And then we had to drive through the parking lot to get there.
Phil & Michaela
Oh I see, well there’s something we didn’t learn. Bad timing but I bet the show was good.
WanderingCanadians
It was! And we’re not really big into country music, so that’s saying something!
Annie Berger
Glad you were both safe and sound after the deluge. Driving through Smoky Mountain National Park can be harrowing even in decent weather but the views are just lovely. Glad you got the trout dinner you were hoping for after eating all that BBQ!
Phil & Michaela
Yes the weather on the journey was pretty bad….but we certainly enjoyed our stay in the mountains
Lookoom
While music can be distributed by virtual means, it’s remarkable that physical proximity is still so important in places like Nashville.
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely. It’s pretty full on there these days too.