Having experienced the craziness of Saturday night on Nashville’s downtown strip, Sunday morning dawns with an early start, our body clocks outta whack and our minds in need of a different taste of what Nashville offers. So, on the spur of the moment, we buy tickets for Nashville’s Hop On Hop Off city tour and at 9am are setting off on the first circuit of the day.
Chad, our driver, very quickly informs us that Nashville is the Buckle on the Bible Belt, boasting over 700 churches within its city limits, so that any excesses of Saturday night, “can be washed away” on Sunday morning. We’re virtuously free of sin today.
Magic bus
We initially pass by the sights of downtown, somewhat more placid at this early hour than the rowdiness of yesterday, before reaching the Tennessee State Capitol building and hopping off the bus at Bicentennial Park.
A short walk takes us to a stone map of Tennessee inlaid on the park entrance floor by pumping fountain jets, and then on through the park to the Farmers Market. Hailed as one of the main attractions of Nashville it’s somewhat underwhelming, especially compared to the myriad offerings in London, but there’s a couple of interesting outlets such as the fine coffee at Butter Cake Babe, and the more exotic fare at The Fountain of Juice, where we buy a CBD tincture for our creaking hips, and juices entitled Cannabliss Elixir and Turmeric Tonic for our “wellbeing”.
Hop On Hop Off
The next tour bus to arrive is driven by Gigi. She’s got a slow Nashville draaaawl, and is seemingly on the payroll of one of the forthcoming stops on the tour - Hattie B’s Chicken. “I’m aaaaalll about the hot chicken and the cupcakes, baby,” she announces to her passengers as we drive towards the up and coming area area known as The Gulch. “And I’m allllllllllll about the free too!”
Apparently Nashville’s ‘hot’ chicken is so-named due to the fiery spices that are slathered over it. “It’s hot going in,” pronounces Gigi, “and even hotter comin’ out. You know whatta mean?!?!” The reserved Southern lady in front of us turns to her companion and pronounces this as “T.M.I.”… and who am I to disagree?
Gigi tells us that while 650,000 people currently live in central Nashville, over one million more people will be moving to Nashville over the next ten years, with about 150 new residents arriving into this fast-growing city every day. It’s the lure of jobs that brings them in from all over America and beyond, many of those jobs in hospitals as Tennessee’s biggest industry is healthcare, generating over $30bn dollars annually.
Music Row
Gigi drives us past Centennial Park, which boasts an exact size replica of Athens’ Parthenon, but in pristine condition. On we go through the wealthy Vanderbilt district then Music Row, where we have some of our upcoming meetings.
We loop around again through Downtown and get off at the famed Ryman Auditorium, which bills itself as ‘The Soul of Nashville’. Originally a religious tabernacle, built to save souls after the wealthy Nashville merchant Thomas Ryman had been converted by fiery preacher Sam Jones in 1885, it almost immediately started hosting cultural events as a commercial enterprise too, becoming one of America’s most beloved venues.
The tour starts with a brilliant audiovisual presentation about its storied history before we’re free to wander around the auditorium, checking out the various exhibits and having our photo taken on stage. In one corner is a recording booth manned by the infinitely patient Nathan, who spends his day recording tourists massacring country classics. We’re no exception and duet our way through a rather unique version of the classic tune ‘Crazy’. Coman maintains it’s in the wrong key for him, but Nathan assures us he’s heard a lot worse – suffice to say, Patsy Cline will be turning in her grave.
“Craaa-zy”
We walk a couple of blocks in roasting heat to the Country Music Walk of Fame, where Coman has his photo taken next to the plaques devoted to Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire, and then in we go to the very impressive Country Music Hall of Fame.
A vast building, you could spend an entire day inside and still not have seen everything. We only have a couple of hours, so start on the third floor with the special exhibition to Emmylou Harris whose 2001 Grammy winning album ‘Red Dirt Girl’ is one of the most hauntingly beautiful records I know. Next door is the somewhat basic Taylor Swift Education Centre and a display dedicated to The Judds, but the Hall of Fame really gets going when we hit ‘Sing Me Back Home’, the history of country music from its roots in British folk music, blending with gospel and a touch of the blues at the turn of the 20th century.
A whole series of exhibits charts how it evolved from 1920s hillbilly music to embrace romantic Hollywood notions of cowboys in the 1930s and develop its strand of Country & Western with barn-dances and honky tonk music; essentially amplified steel string guitars, banjos and fiddles.
At the Temple of Country
The advent of rock’n’roll in the ‘50s and the overwhelming popularity of Elvis gave birth to rockabilly, which proved hugely challenging for country music. It’s trad sound was nowhere near as exciting as high octane, sexualised rock’n’roll for young teenagers but country fought back with the ‘Sweet Dreams’ Nashville movement, which channelled wholesome American pop influences to mass appeal in a very 1950s white suburban way, which continued well into the ‘60s.
Display case after display case charts the many faces of country, the clothes, instruments and memorabilia. There’s even Elvis’ gold plated Cadillac and walls of gold and platinum discs.
Descending to the second floor, the focus is on Country’s Roaring 70s. There’s a whole area devoted to the Outlaw movement typified by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson and then the Southern Rock vibes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Gram Parsons and more.
The mainstream crossover which included Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire leads on to 80s video culture and modern day country pop icons like Shania Twain and Lady Antebellum. There’s even a huge exhibit dedicated to Little Big Town, which seems to concentrate more on their fashion sense than their music. The whole thing finishes with an exhibit of 2018’s biggest artists, and then the circular Hall of Fame chamber with plaques honouring the biggest names in country music under the legend Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
Wall of Gold
By the time we wander back to Broadway we are hungry with fatigue and dodge a sudden rain shower to head into Acme Feed & Seed, a honky tonk that serves a couple of vegan dishes. Happy to rest our weary feet we listen to the bluegrass band singing songs like ‘Ridin’ Down To Utah On a Prison Bound Train’ and order a Down Home Falafel Sandwich and Vegetable Garden salad, plus a Captain Spice cocktail to share.
Too tired to face the carnage of another night in downtown Nashville, and with the finale of Game Of Thrones airing live on HBO later tonight, we walk back to our hotel over the Cumberland River, through a tranquil park on the east side. It’s a relief to escape the hubbub we can still hear over the water and enjoy a stroll in the evening sun. A swim and the TV awaits us, ready for tomorrow’s meetings with the great and good of the Nashville music industry.
