What’s new in Nashville?
Jonjo Maudsley enjoys music museums and seafoods
With a new direct flight from Heathrow, visitors can experience everything Music City has to offer in under nine hours.
Music is the theme of this article, and rightly so, for everywhere one goes in ‘Music City’ (that’s the name Queen Victoria is said to have given to Nashville), one is bound to encounter it in some form or another. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the ‘honky-tonk’ bars along Broadway, the central strip running through downtown Nashville.
Take Tootsie’s (tootsies.net), for example. Its three floors each point toward a grand stage, upon which a different band or musician plays each night.
Nashville has always been a magnet for singer-songwriters, from Elvis to Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton to Taylor Swift. Many of them still take to the stage at Tootsie’s to play an impromptu set now and then.
Along Broadway, the true legends of Nashville are immortalised in the city’s endless list of museums.
The Johnny Cash Museum is a worthwhile visit, as is the Patsy
Cline Museum next door. These are not just museums about the people, but about the place that made them. As I peruse the incredible displays, I start to understand the uniqueness of Nashville. The true magnitude of the city’s relationship with music is revealed in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum – not only in its extensive collection, but in the building itself, which benefitted from a $100 million extension in 2014. Viewed from the front, it looks like a set of piano keys, while from above it forms the shape of a bass clef.
If, like me, you’re not entirely au fait with the story of country music,
this a great place to start your tour of Nashville. Look out for Elvis Presley’s gold Cadillac limousine and the Rotunda, modelled after the WSM radio tower, which contains the hard-earned plaques of Hall of Fame inductees.
A new museum is never more than a stone’s throw away in Nashville, and on the other side of Broadway is
one of exceptional quality.
Newly opened in 2021, the National Museum of African American
Music is an interactive journey like no other. Touchscreen visualisations help visitors build connections between black musicians through the ages, learning who influenced who, and how genres from jazz to hip-hop evolved as a result. Apart from being a crucial history lesson, this is without doubt the most fun I have ever had in a museum.
All these locations orbit the monumental Ryman Auditorium, the so-called ‘Soul of Nashville’
and original home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, which is credited with popularising the sound of country music across the USA. A visually astounding presentation welcomes my tour group to this church-turned-theatre, regaling me with tales of how the Grand Ole Opry came and went, and how the auditorium itself was saved from the brink by the musicians who owed their careers to this building. Nowadays, the show is broadcast from its own home on the outskirts of Nashville, the purpose-built Grand Ole Opry House. Taking place before a live studio audience of 4,400 people, visitors are invited to watch this breathtaking show on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Beyond music, Nashville has plenty to offer in terms of food and drink, too.
The cool and quirky Henrietta Red serves up delicious, avant-garde seafood – a special mention must go to the red snapper crudo. Roze Pony, meanwhile, offers brunch and dinner in a light and spacious cafe. Across town, beer lovers will delight in Tennessee Brew Works. This is home brewing writ large – their industrial-style taproom inside an old printing press is the perfect place for a knees-up.
Prefer cider? Then Diskin Cider, Nashville’s first craft cider brewery, is the place to be. As well as an eclectic and lovingly-made array of ciders on tap, this space acts as a linchpin for the community, hosting everything from writers’ nights to drag queen brunches.
How to plan your trip
Britishairways.com flies direct from Heathrow to Nashville. Prices start from £447 return.
Go to visitmusiccity.com.