Preconceived Associations:
She says she was expecting:
- A suffocation of country music
- Cowboy boots and cowboy hats everywhere
- Flat farm lands around town
- Rednecky people with little education or culture
- Good southern cooking
- Jack Daniels, more Jack Daniels and Budweiser
He says he was expecting:
- A soulless capital city
- Country music recording studios, but no actual music ‘scene’ – just the production and money side
- Poverty
- 10 days with little to do but work
Upon Arrival – First Impressions
Similar to Santa Fe our preconceived notions were incorrect. And similar to Santa Fe, we rolled into town after dark, though this time in the even more agonizing pouring rain. It was the Monday after thanksgiving and our rental home was between Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities – so that meant everyone was getting back into town and everyone was in the grocery store. It was a horrendous entry to town and we felt very very sour about the city.
We woke up the next morning, the sun had come out and we were ready to start exploring. Over the next ten days we would see the sights, eat the food, and fall in love with this grand ole city. It may not have made it onto our list of probables – but it does get added to that list of ‘would consider if someone gave me a juicy job offer there’.
Upon Exit – Lasting Impressions
A Davidson at home in Davidson county.
I often tell people the world truly does revolve around me – I mean what else could explain the great luck I have had meeting Andy, having a job that lets me roam the country and see the world, having such great friends, etc.? In the case of Nashville though, the seat of Davidson county, I see the world as my oyster. Every single license plate on every single car bears my name. Numerous roads, hospitals, court houses and even prisons named after me. A megolomaniac’s dream.
Nashville is a surprisingly modern city – with double-digit growth since the 90s. Some tremendously risky/lucky/courageous mayor decided to adopt the ‘build it and they will come’ mantra. He brought in a sports team for each major sport – The Tennessee Titans (football), the Nashville Predators (hockey), the Nashville Sounds (baseball), the Nashville Soul (basketball) and even a soccer team, the Nashville Metros.
With two major universities – Vanderbilt and Belmont – and huge huge huge wealth from the country music industry, the city is more upper middle class and upper upper class than you can imagine. Where most cities have those few streets ‘where the rich folks live’ we found ourselves in many different sections of town oohing and ahhing at the mile after mile of colossal homes. True they may not be our style, but no one could naysay how glamorous they were.
Seeing as how our preconceived notions revolved around themes of country music, I was sure to check the listings to see who was playing while we’d be in town. Ironically, we were visiting Nashville during the week of the country music awards – and as these were being presented in Las Vegas, none of the local celebrities were in town. This explains why our pilgrimage to the Grand Ole Opry was not for some amazing legend of country music, but for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes Christmas show. It was a fantastic early glimpse into the people of Nashville. These were not hicks at all, in fact in my long maxi dress and leather boots, I was the one under-dressed. Velvet and lace and pearls were the fashion of the crowd; Men with sweater vests and bow ties and dark smoking jackets. Children dressed up in their Sunday finest patent leather shoes.
The Grand Ole Opry originally broadcasted from the Ryman Auditorium, said to have the second best acoustics in the world (after the Mormon Tabernacle). In the 70s or so it moved out of town to a bigger, but less charming building of its own. Around that an amusement park, Opryland was built. The amusement park has already seen the end of its life, replaced by an outlet mall. But the Gaylord Opryland Hotel is still there. Spectacularly vegas-like in its construction, but without gambling, the hotel is constructed in Disneyland style celebrating plantations and the white house with a delta river through it complete with tour boats. We chose the steak place “Old Hickory” for dinner and had a fantastic meal introducing us to Foyot sauce. What’s Foyot sauce you ask? Well it’s bearnaise sauce done with veal jus. Yummy yum yum.
Our second country music pilgrimage would be to the Ryman itself. Browsing the listings for what would take place while we were in town I ran across Arlo Guthrie and Judy Collins. Having been raised to listen to Alice’s Restaurant every thanksgiving at noon, I was excited to see Arlo. I didn’t know who Judy Collins was but I didn’t really care. The Ryman is great – it feels more church than concert hall constructed of large wooden pews (Opryland is also pews), and while we were in the second to last row the steep close seating meant we could see and hear everything. Arlo was the perfect entertainer – singing maybe 15% of his hour and telling stories the rest. You couldn’t help but think you were taking part in American History – in this fantastically old theater with this fantastically old gentleman telling you stories about his daddy Woodie Guthrie writing “This land is your land, this land is my land…” Judy Collins, another legend on the pre-TV-radio-show-stage, was not our cup of tea. I’ll take the ‘if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’ on this one.
There are rather a lot of churches in Nashville. Our in car satellite navigation was set to some weird setting where we got a warning ‘ping’ whenever we were near a church. On our drive from the west this was kind of cute. In Nashville it became quickly annoying – so much so that we dug out the instruction booklet and set out to reprogram the thing. It was like we had our very own carol of the bells kicking off the festive season in our car. I mean it when I say rather a lot of churches. Oddly we read that there is something like 10% of the population that is Muslim in the city and yet we saw no Mosques. I asked about this and was told that until the 90s, the city didn’t even ‘allow’ a synagogue to be built. That seemed odd for such a friendly place.
Our third and final pilgrimage to country music was to walk the strip of the Broadway honky tonks. They make their drinks strong, and you don’t have to pay very much. The bands play covers of songs you know. The vibe is welcoming. You can get a seat at the bar or a nearby table with a good view. Maybe this is a sign of my maturity, but this beats a crowded nightclub any day of the week. We saw couples dancing, and even a drunk group of british men on a stag night. You could get very used to this indeed.
He says:
In three words: Churchy Tacky Fun
It was much nicer and wealthier than expected with a cool but small downtown. With so many major motorways crossing in town it was scary to get around by car. The south side is full of the most fake ludicrously tacky antebellum style homes. On the other hand, it seems to have a lot of university and student areas which means it has these smaller self contained and fun neighborhoods.
She says:
In three words: Grand, glamorous and gentile.
The houses are huge and elegant. I’m not sure it’s my style necessarily – very few modern lines, but it’s lovely to look at. There are good restaurants with more opening – its not resting on a few institutions from the 80s. This is a city of Now.
Recommendations should you find yourself here:
https://thecatbirdseatrestaurant.com/
http://cityhousenashville.com/
http://www.nashtrash.com/
