A day in Nashville

I’ve come to view Nashville as a true dichotomy of country music. Mixed feelings. I spent a day there on a recent road trip and soaked up a tiny bit of the city. Camera in hand, of course. I had driven through Nashville before but had never spent any time there. 

Nashville has built a rightfully earned reputation for putting out cookie cutter music that appeals to the masses and makes tons of money. The downside (dark side?) of the formula is that there isn’t too much wiggle room there for real originality. Waylon Jennings warned us about it decades ago. Johnny Cash gave the middle finger to Music Row after winning a Grammy with American Records. More recently, Jason Eady told us about AM Country Heaven and FM Country Hell. 

I arrived in Nashville late enough on July 5 to rule out doing anything useful. I cruised down Broadway to get a feel for the layout and went to my hotel. 

Tuesday morning. Wake up, clean up, plan the day. Pick up some tourist flyers in the lobby.  Distillery tour in Nashville? Sounds good to a wannabe whiskey snob. First tasting at 11 am, less than an hour from now. Bourbon for breakfast sounds awesome! Off to Neslon’s Greenbrier Distillery, pictured below. I will be writing a magazine article about this visit for another publication, more on that later.

The tasting was led by Zach, who taught us about this new distillery it’s long history. Four samples in 40 minutes, all tasty. Add a T-shirt and a bottle of Tennessee Whiskey from the gift shop and the visit is complete.

Just down the block from Greenbier is the old Marathon Motor Works, a former auto manufacturing facility turned retail shop and museum. I’ve been a knuckle dragging grease monkey for most of my life. I was fascinated by how old lathes and other rotating equipment worked before electric motors became prominent. A single, long, rotating shaft turned a belt that attached to the lathe. Photos below:

I got to Broadway around 2 pm. Spent the rest of the day walking up and down the block listening to bands and solo performers. And taking photos, of course.

Zach Cornell at the Mellow Mushroom. Bill Roemer at Bootleggers, who figured out how to play Snake Farm because I requested it. Samantha Stroh with band at Kid Rock’s Honkey Tonk. Sydney Paige at Johnny Cash’s Bar & BBQ. George Shingleton at Doc Holiday’s. Sarah Montgomery Weaver at The Stage on Broadway. Last but not least, the Eskimo Brothers at Layla’s, which will get it’s own post soon.

A day is Nashville is clearly not enough. With the exception of Auto Works, I stayed out of museums. No time on Music Row. No parks. I’m sure I will go back. Hopefully not solo.