That time I went to...Nashville, Tennessee

Greetings fellow travellers and readers! I can’t remember if I mentioned recently that on one of my long slips in Dallas in February I made a little trip to Music City USA, aka Nashville, Tennessee! Being a recent convert to country music, I was quite excited to explore Nashville and see all that it had to offer.

The week that I arrived in Dallas they were experiencing an unusually cold burst of weather, and the roads were absolutely ridiculous – covered with ice and almost impossible to drive on let alone walk on! Dallas had totally shut down. Nobody was out on the streets, the shopping mall across the road from our crew hotel was empty, and the drive from the airport to the hotel was eerily quiet. I was a bit worried about getting to the airport the next morning to go to Nashville – even Uber had hiked up its prices due to the treacherous weather and the still high demand for Uber cars.

But despite all that – I made it to the airport and hopped on my Southwest plane to Nashville. Travel tip #272: if you book early enough you can get mega cheap fares on Southwest! It’s fantastic. I got to Nashville much more cheaply than I expected to pay. AND they don’t charge you to check in luggage! Win win!

Just over three hours later (as my flight included a short stopover in New Orleans as part of the cheap price) I landed into Music City, and as soon as I stepped into the airport terminal I knew I was in country music territory. There were references everywhere – from the names of the restaurants and bars in the terminal to the sprinkle of treble clefs and musical notes stuck on the side of the shuttle bus that I took to my hostel. I quickly got the feeling that Nashville lived and breathed country music. And I was right. In Nashville country music seems to be the local religion.

 

I chose to stay at the Nashville Downtown Hostel ( www.nashvilledowntownhostel.com ), located in the heart of downtown Nashville. This hostel only opened in 2012 so feels new enough that you’re excited to use and take advantage of all its fresh and new facilities, but it is also still partly under construction. It is set over several floors and the ground floor holds a huge open plan area that combines everything from reception to a kitchen to couches, tables, chairs, foosball tables, even a small corner stage just begging for an unknown crooner with their treasured guitar to sit up there on a stool and sing their soul out. This floor seems to be the only one that is truly complete – the others are only partially done, but they are by no means unliveable. The worst is the floor that holds the free lockers (bring your own lock) – you must pick over and walk past a lot of construction junk and old furniture to get to the lockers. The floor above this houses the dorms, and this floor is spotless. Each dorm is labelled with the name of a famous band or singer – I stayed in the Rolling Stones dorm and was impressed that this four bed space actually featured those not often seen bunk beds that are a double bed on the bottom and a single bed on the top. Because it was clearly not a busy time for tourists in Nashville in late February, there was only one other person already staying in the dorm, so I got to snag myself the other double bed bottom bunk, which I was happy about. The room did not have much else besides the beds – for example no lockers for your luggage and not much in the way of hooks to hang your towel and clothes, but I made do. For US$32 per night I thought it was worth it, especially with a great swipe card system in place to get throughout the hostel and keep everything safe.

The best thing about this hostel however was definitely its location. As soon as I had dumped my stuff in one of the lockers on the second floor I layered up with my scarf and gloves and trench coat and hit the pavement. Like Dallas there was ice just everywhere and it made for some treacherous walking sometimes. I was suddenly very scared of slipping on some ice and breaking my arm and being all alone in a new city away from any of my crew back in Dallas! That would not have been an ideal situation!

 

Look at all that ice!

 

Anyway, within just five minutes of walking down nearby Second Avenue and past all its honky tonks and family restaurants I was in the epicentre of Nashville: Broadway. My friendly shuttle bus driver had pointed it out to me as we had driven to the hostel earlier in the day and insisted I pay it a visit during my stay, so I made Broadway my first point of call.

Broadway is just brimming with more honky tonks (Urban Dictionary defines a honky tonk as “A loud, rowdy bar that plays 'honky tonk' country music. Typically full of drunken hillbillies having a good ole' time” sounds like fun to me!) and plenty of souvenir shops selling typical Nashville fare – cowboy boots and hats, checked shirts, huge blinged out belt buckles, whips, saddles and everything cowboy and country you could imagine!

I wondered along happily, soaking it all in and poking my head into more than a few of the bars and shops as I walked past. But as I walked I noticed something I’ve never seen in any other city I’ve ever visited: in Nashville, at many sets of traffic lights, there is a chest high box (which I at first mistook for a fuse box or some kind of maintenance…electricity…telephone cable type box thingy you typically see on a footpath in a city, or even on suburban streets) painted in street art that has a small speaker or two inside it that belts out country songs day and night. Not too loudly, just nice background noise, creating a bit of atmosphere, as if constantly wanting to gently remind you that friend - you are in Music City now. It was such a cute touch!

I continued all the way up Broadway for several blocks, taking it all in before rounding a few corners and walking towards the Country Music Hall of Fame, one of Nashville’s most famous landmarks. On the way I passed gigantic Bridgestone Arena, home to the ice hockey team the Nashville Predators, if you’re into NHL (can’t say I am!). As I climbed the steps up to the entrance of the Country Music Hall of Fame I wondered if I should go inside, or keep walking around and exploring a bit more. I whipped out my phone and checked the temperature right then in Nashville to help me make my decision. Minus six degrees celsius. Yep, I was going inside.

By that time it was lunchtime, and I decided to get something to eat before I delved into the museum. Luckily there was a cute little café right in the foyer of the CMHOF and I enjoyed the perfect winter’s day lunch there – tomato soup served with a toasted cheese sandwich. Mmmm just what the doctor ordered!

 

 

Entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (its proper name) is US$24.95 for adults and US$22.50 for seniors and students. If you are a member of AAA, you can also get in for the seniors and students price. I wasn’t aware, but when I went to buy my ticket, the kind gentleman behind the counter asked me where I was from, and when I said Australia he asked if I belonged to a roadside assistance or automobile club back at home. When I said I did, he asked to see my membership card and after a quick scan of it he turned it over and pointed out to me the tiny little AAA symbol that was in the corner of my NRMA membership card and told me that I too was entitled to a discount because AAA (the American Automobile Association) has Australian equivalents, and NRMA (for those of you who live in New South Wales in Australia) was one of them. I have since found out my NRMA membership (or perhaps you have RACV, RACQ or RAC Western Australia) entitles me to many discounts in the United States – the one of which I’ll use most being Amtrak (we all know how much I love Amtrak!) – due to NRMA’s affiliation with AAA. Pro travel tip #273!

While I was at the CMHOF there was a Kenny Rogers exhibit featuring, and I made that my first stop upon entering this huge museum. There was plenty to see, in the Kenny Rogers exhibit and elsewhere, with walls upon walls of golden records, displays dedicated to the history of country music, its biggest stars, its costumes, famous concerts, biggest impacts, country music in pop culture, its most popular bands and husband and wife teams. And it wasn’t all ‘yesteryear’ country music – there was plenty of time and space dedicated to Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood (my personal fave!), Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. I spent a good few hours wondering around and soaking it all in, humming my favourite tunes as I went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I lurve this picture of Tim McGraw and
Faith Hill *swoon*

 

The following day I decided to continue the country music theme of my trip (was there really any other theme? Nashville is all about the country music. Like, SOAKED in it. No objections here!) and head out to The Grand Ole Opry.

The Grand Ole Opry is ‘the show that made country music famous’ – a large venue that to this day still hosts a country music radio show where a live audience can be a part of the broadcast. Today for a country music artist to be invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry is without a doubt the highest honour that could be bestowed upon them – perhaps even greater than a Grammy. To be a member means the artist performs several shows a year, but this, according to my tour guide who took me on the backstage tour of the impressive venue ($22 adults/$17 children) is more a privilege for the artists than a chore or obligation. The Opry is the holy grail of a country music artist’s career.

For the day time backstage tour I bought a ticket at the box office when I arrived – though the Opry recommends you book in advance online or by phone, but there sure weren’t many people out and about in Nashville in February when it was so cold outside!

The tour begins with a video presentation by Blake Shelton – a hugely popular singer in the US in case you didn’t know – and you are then taken through all of the backstage areas, dressing rooms, artists entrances, side stage, the auditorium seating area and finally onto the stage itself where you can pretend you are the star entertaining the crowd of screaming fans and have your photo taken with the famous mic used by country music royalty.

 

 

Also, if you are a fan of the drama series Nashville, several scenes are filmed at the Opry, and you can see some sets and areas used on the show as well as costumes and scripts in an informative exhibit hardcore fans will love.

Performances are held at the Opry several nights every week, as well as several nights every week at the Ryman Auditorium downtown, a sister venue equally as famous. Many artists appear during one show, so book in advance as this place is pretty popular. Check out www.opry.com for details.

 

 

After my day at the Opry and the nearby Opry Mills Mall, it was sadly time to head back to Dallas. I didn’t want to leave! Nashville isn’t big and brash – just small, honest, humble and sweet…a bit like country music itself. I thoroughly enjoyed myself there and would love to go back and catch one of my favourite artists performing at the Grand Ole Opry one day.

I have big plans to explore as much of the south of the United States as I can over the next few years, and after conquering Georgia, and now the heart of Tennessee, I am keen to get onto the other southern states after Nashville proved so delightful.

If you’re a country music fan, or even if you’re not, Nashville is a surprisingly pleasant city to visit. It’s calm and has character, and like everywhere in the south, the people are so friendly, which always endears me to a place, and leaves good memories.

Until the next adventure,

Jorgs