Musical, Nashville

One of things I love about Nashville is the number of free concerts and performances which are available. Each October for the past 5 years, before the announcement of the CMA award nominations, Capitol Records throws a huge street party and features a couple of "up-and-coming" artists and a "big name" headliner for a FREE concert - last year was Alan Jackson; this year was Luke Bryan. Yes, it is packed. Yes, there are semi-drunk college kids and adults all over the place. Just remember - it is a free show and is quite good. If you can't get close to the stage, there are big screens positioned further up the street where you can see everything perfectly. It's fun, and it's FREE!

The Wild Horse Saloon is truly an experience, especially if your not from the area. It is truly Nashville's #1 Dining and Entertainment destination. The food, staff, atmosphere, dancing is unbelieveable...we became country fans after this experience.
Country stars like Reba McEntire, have performed here. Free line dance lessons are offered, see their calender for dates and times.

The Wildhorse Saloon has turned a three-level historic warehouse into a 66,000 square foot live music and dance destination. The Wildhorse is a restaurant, bar, concert site, dance venue and TV studio.

The Charlie Daniels Museum is a small museum filled with memorabilia from Charlie Daniels. If you don't know Charlie Daniels, he's a singer who combined elements from country music, rock, and even a bit of folk music. He is probably best know for his song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" written in 1979. Although it is a small museum, it has many of Charlie Daniel's outfits, instruments, records, personal items, etc. Any fan of Charlie Daniels should definitely visit! The museum located in the back. When you first enter, you enter the gift shop, where you can buy Charlie Daniels shirts and other items. It's a nice museum, and best of all, it's free! I believe you can make a donation if you want to.

At the Country Radio Broadcasters seminar one of the exciting events for me was the " New Faces" Show.
Every year the CRB introduces new (on the radio) muscians. The following is a line up of the new stars I had the pleasure of hearing from in the year 2000.

2000 CRS
Andy Griggs
Montgomery Gentry
Brad Paisley
SheDaisy
Keith Urban

Do you recognize any of these names now?

When in "The District" with the kids (or anyone with an active inner child), head into Dixieland Delights for ice cream, fudge, "Jelly Belly" jelly beans, roasted nuts, and numerous other treats. Sit down for some live music, watch the overhead electric railroad, and find souveniers in the gift shop. This is a great way to give the little ones an idea of what the honkey-tonks are like (minus the rowdy beer drinking crowd). Plus... the ice cream is heavenly!

*Well, so much for that idea. I swear I was just in here less than two months ago! Found out this weekend (as I was wandering up the street muttering "it should be right here") that the ice cream shop is no more & has been replaced by yet another gift shop just like all of the others on Broadway.

I'm not a really big fan of country music, but CMT is broadcasted every day from Nashville, and it's headquarters is also here. I drove past it while in Nashville, but I didn't stop. Tours of the studios may be available. Contact the website below for further information.

The muscians are an excellent reason to come to Nashville. Though there are many cultural activities other than country music. I however did not have a chance to explore anything outside of the music scene.
Alan Jackson would be reason enough to travel just about anywhere. (swoon)

Broadway has some great little nightspots where you can just wander in as you are, no cover charge, and just sit down with a beer to listen to the talent at work! In our case, four of us tried Robert's Western World, one of the bars that I had been in last time I was in town and, once again, it did not disappoint. This time we sat right up front and listened to Dave Foley and his band as they went though their paces! Every once in a while, a patron or two would jump up from their table and do an impromptu dance for their own enjoyment, and our entertainment! We ended up buying a couple of the band's CDs to take home, but somehow the music is not quite the same without the surrounding atmosphere!!

Opened in 1947 by country music singer and actor Ernest Tubbs this shop contains an encyclopedic catalogue of country music recordings.
Whether you want Bluegrass or Cowboy, Gillian Welch or Patsy Cline Ernest Tubb
will have it.
My husband, Steve, wanted a copy of a song we had heard being covered by a band at the Bluegrass Inn. Despite knowing only two words and a small amount of the tune he sang it to the lady behind the counter who, with confimation from her colleague, identified it as "Hello Trouble" by Orville Couch and found the album for him to buy. Fantastic!
The shop sells C.D.'s, cassettes and some vinyl recordings.
Be aware if you are a music fan you may spend quite a lot of time and money in there.
The shop has hree branches. The original store on Broadway, shop number 2 at 2416 Music Valley Drive (where the "Midnite Jamboree" takes place on Saturdays) and inside Nashville Airport.

RCA Studio B was built in 1957 and run as a studio until 1977. During that time it played host to a number of recording artists including Dolly Parton, the Everley Brothers, Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves and Elvis Presley. Known as "The Home of 1000 Hits" songs such as "Jolene", "Only the Lonely" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight" were recorded there.
Now it is a museum run by The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The equipment in the studios and mixing booth are as they would have been when the studio was in use.
It is not so much what is in the studio that makes the tour, although seeing how recordings were made before the age of seperate studios, mutlti-tracks etc.. is interesting, but the guides who are full of information, trivia, stories, personal experience etc.. They bring the studio alive so that as you listen to Elvis or Dolly singing you can feel that you are there with them.
Tours are arranged by and start from the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.