Discovering the “Beat” in Music City

Nashville – A City Built on Music

Music is the soul and common thread of the people of Nashville, Tennessee.  From its very beginnings, Nashville’s foundation was built on the beat of its music.  Today Nashville, know as Music City is a hub for pop, rock, bluegrass, Americana, jazz, classical, contemporary Christian, blues, and soul music.  Visitors have many options for getting into the beat of Nashville from tours to museums to live shows to just walking down Broadway, a street-lined with honky-tonk bars.

Recalling past visits, it seems I am on a 10 year mecca to Nashville with visits in 1981, 1991, 2011, and now 2021.  So I’ve done tours of Andrew Jackson’s plantation – The Hermitage, the Parthenon – a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Opryland USA – a music based theme park, the Grand Ole Opry House – the new home of The Grand Ole Opry, the one-of-a-kind Gaylord Opryland Resort, ridden a paddlewheel boat on the Cumberland River – General Jackson Showboat, toured the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry began and visited the magnificent  Tennessee State Capitol.  Now to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, do the Grand Ole Opry House Backstage Tour, and a stroll down Broadway.

Country Music Hall of Fame
With tickets for a 10:15AM time slot, we board the elevator to the top floor for our Country Music Hall of Fame self-tour.  We quickly learn the museum’s core exhibition is Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music.  Posters and displays of The Roots of Country begin the tale of country music from its pre-commercial roots in the 19^th century through its vibrant life today.  The original folk music grew out of various folk traditions that came together in the New World.  The influences of the British Isles, enslaved Africans, and religious groups all impacted what is now called country music.  Their music was played on fiddles, guitars, and homemade banjos.

The initial displays go through the history with the different influences, including The Old Time Religion of gospel singing, the birth of Dixieland, country radio stations, and TV westerns, such as Roy Rogers.  The education continues with effects of the Tennessee and of Nashville sounds, the Grand Ole Opry, and into more recent influencers of Weylon Jennings and Willie Nelson in the country music from Texas.  Winding our way through the exhibits, we learn about newer country music stars and their impact of the country music of today.  Admittedly, we are more familiar with earlier stars and songs of our parents and our generation than some of the newer Hall of Fame Stars.
With the many artifacts of country music, the Museum is educational and entertaining.  So much to see and absorb!  In fact, on display are more than eight hundred stage costumes, over six hundred instruments, and hundreds of other memorabilia from microphones to automobiles each documenting country music’s history.  Growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia, one of my mother’s many favorite songs was “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny.”  It was Virginia’s state song from 1940 to 1997.  While my mother lived in Florida for 63 years, she stilled loved going back to Virginia.  At her Celebration of Life Service, as she requested, a musical version of “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” was played.  Seeing it on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame, I had to have a picture for my family.

On our self-guided tour we find certain items that are more significant for us.  We snap pictures of Elvis’ Gold Plated Cadillac.  Then we find several mini sound studios where we can listen to the songs of some of our favorite country music stars like Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline.  A couple of theaters have videos running that allowing us to listen and learn more about the many stars of country music.  Standing by the Wall of Gold Records it is astonishing.  Here we see the many stars whose music has achieved the “gold record” status.  It is a full morning of enjoyment, education and entertainment at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Grand Ole Opry House Daytime Back Stage Tour
Standing outside the Grand Ole Opry House we take a few pictures of the huge guitar near the entrance as we arrive for our 3:30PM Back Stage Tour.  The front of the Opry House is a nice lush landscape with benches giving a warm southern welcome.

First stop is The Circle Room.  Here Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood kick things off in an immersive video of country music stars being invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.  Country music muscians are thrilled and excited to be asked, “Do you want to join the Grand Ole Opry?”  Now we truly appreciate the honor of this “invitation” to country music stars.

Our tour guide gives good information about the theater, backstage activities, and more. We learn how Roy Acuff, known as the “Father of the Grand Ole Opry,” had the idea to cut out a circle from original floor of the Ryman Auditorium.  Then this wooden circle was inserted into the new stage of the Grand Ole Opry House when it was built in1974.  The theme is “Will this circle be unbroken.”  Getting to stand in that “circle” is an honor for those “invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.”
At Studio A, we see where Hee-Haw was filmed and recent shows are now filmed.

Touring backstage, we peek in the various dressing rooms.  Each dressing room has its own unique décor, purpose and how entertainers are assigned to a specific dressing room.  Dressing rooms have designations specifically performers.  “Now that’s fun” is assigned to comedians, while Cousin Minnie dressing room is for female comedians, and for entertainers who are veterans the US Flag is painted on one wall.  Touring the backstage area there are lots of exciting photos and memorabilia.  We see the pictures of Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan at the Grand Ole Opry.  We are familiar with many of the country music artists so that adds to the excitement and intrigue.

Walking across the stage, each person on the tour is allowed to stand in the “circle” for a picture.  On our tour a lady in our group from Texas, asks to sing and bellows out a fantastic “How Great Thou Art.”  Wow!  She is awesome.  Looking out from the stage we see the row after row of pews in a soft pink mauve fabric.  Having visited the Grand Ole Opry House many years ago, I remember the pew style seats and the mauve fabric.  The reason for the pew seats is to give a warmer and more spiritual aspect to the theater.  Touring backstage at the Grand Ole Opry House is intriguing and interesting.  We have a better appreciation of the thrill for country music artists to be asked to join the “Grand Ole Opry” and join “the circle.  Plus, seeing all that it takes to put on a production is a bit mindboggling.  So much is done “backstage” and behind the scenes.  While we didn’t get to see a live performance, it is still exciting that the Grand Ole Opry is again hosting a slew of live country music concerts and shows.

Visiting the Grand Ole Opry House brought back fond memories of my first visit in 1991 with my mother Clarice, my sister Cindy, and her daughter Brook.  Our tickets for Opryland USA included an afternoon show at the Grand Ole Opry House.  Sitting in the balcony on the pink pews, my 8 year old niece was excited as Randy Travis, her idol was performing.  I am not shy, so off I go with Brook to wind our way down the steps and aisles to the front of the stage so she can be up close to Randy Travis.  Later in line at the cafeteria at Opryland for dinner, a nice elderly gentleman kindly chatted with Brook.  It was Roy Acuff!

Nashville’s HonkyLower Broadway
The Lower Broadway strip of Nashville has over 32 bars, known as Honky-tonks.  So what is a honky-tonk?  It is defined by Wikipedia as both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments.  As we approach the Honky-Tonk area the surrounding dynamics change.  On the walk over only a few people on the sidewalks or on Upper Broadway, but Lower Broadway is jammed.  So many people crowded in to the sidewalks, it is difficult to just walk.  All while the music is jamming out of the honky-tonks, bicycle pub tours are in the streets, and even tractors pulling trailers of party goers.  There is a sense of “wild and crazy!”  With CoVid restrictions lifted, people are ready to get out!  People are standing in lines to get inside any bar or eatery.  This is a Saturday in June, so we get off the main drag for lunch then stroll down to the park at the end of Broadway on the Cumberland River.  That is enough excitement for us today.

Each visit to Nashville we reconnect to the dynamic city, its music and the beat of music city.  On a prior visit staying downtown, we liked the convenience of walking to Broadway and strolling the city.  On other visits, staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, we find the activities at the resort keep us very busy.  Visitors will find of activities in downtown Nashville and the surrounding area.  Wherever you go in Nashville it definitely lives up to its nickname of “Music City.”
If you go:

• Pre-purchase tickets – most have time slots even for self-guided tours
• Avoid weekends and peak seasons – the Hall of Fame was packed on our Saturday visit.
• Evaluate audio tours over just self-guided tours. We wish we had done the audio tour of Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Parking in Nashville – we recommend the Nashville Music City Center Parking. It has reasonable rates, is a huge parking garage, and is close to Country Music Hall of Fame and Broadway.

• Accommodations- two places we recommend are:
  •  Hotel Indigo – a great boutique hotel in Nashville. It is conveniently located downtown Nashville and just a short walk to Broadway with its honky-tonk bars, restaurants, the Ryman Theatre and Capitol Hill.. We highly recommend the Hotel Indigo for visitors who want to stay in the downtown.
  • Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center – a one-of-a-kind resort that has over 2800 rooms on 9 acres.  The Resort is unique in itself and now has largest waterpark – SoundWaves.  It has complimentary shuttles to downtown, the General Jackson Showboat, Grand Ole Opry House and Wild Horse Saloon.