STOMPING GROUND
With its music and wild beauty, Tennessee state is a huge hit with Kim Carr
Crowds spilled out on roads as the sound of cowboy boots stomping on pavements blended with live country music streaming from every bar… Welcome to Saturday night in Lower Broadway, Nashville, a unique four-block area bathed in glorious neon where the party people gather for 24/7 drinking, dancing and good times.
Affectionately known as Music City, the Tennessee capital was my first stop on a US road trip, which, as a lifelong music obsessive, is the ultimate pilgrimage.
I’d planned my route to include a bit of everything, stopping off at bars, breweries and boutique hotels, seeking out the best of the scenery and discovering more about the people who made this state sing.
I had started the day with a trip to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which is positively bursting with memorabilia about everyone who has impacted the scene (countrymusichalloffame.org).
Tucked inside is the Taylor Swift Education Centre, an encouraging space for young women in particular to – like the Look What You Made Me Do singer – follow their dreams.
What quickly became apparent to me here is that some truly remarkable women have risen up here to call their own shots.
None more so than America’s first lady of theatre management, Lula Clay Naff. In 1920 she took the reins at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville – where Johnny and June Cash first met, his TV show aired, and his funeral was held – creating an iconic venue which has hosted modern-day acts including Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.
On a backstage tour I felt the spirits of performers gone by seeping through the pews of the former church before moving on to RCA Studio B where I revelled in the moment as I sat by Elvis’s favourite piano in the room he recorded – with the lights turned off – Are You Lonesome Tonight? (ryman.com, country musichalloffame.org/experiences/studio-b)
If you want to experience a typical Nashville night out, start with a home-style dinner at