Babes in Nashville.

Nashville is an amazing place. With so much music, history, and delicious food packed into one city, I can see why people always want to come here and rave so highly about it. Lucky for me, two of my favorite ladies from New York City joined me for a few days. We saw everything; the Country Music Hall of Fame, Walk of Fame park, and great live music.

There are lots of places I'm going to mention that you are going to want to add to your list of Nashville musts, so take note. The area called "The Gulch" is just north of downtown off Broadway and it's more of a hipster scene. It's a very cool neighborhood with graffiti, bars, millennials, and of course Biscuit Love. This place is easily one of the most delicious restaurants I've been to yet. Whatever you get I guarantee it will be amazing so I'm not going to give you advice on that, but I am going to tell you to get an order of Bonuts. Bonuts are, you guessed it, similar to doughnuts. They're fried dough with lemon mascarpone cream inside and paired with blueberry compote. Do they make you want to get on a plane yet? They should. They're sweet, tart, and surprisingly light; on par with Beignets, I think.

While I am on the topic of food, I may as well keep going.

Go to Hattie B's Hot Chicken. It's not just fried chicken, it's a Nashville speciality. Little tip, go when they open at 11am or at 11pm right before they close, there will be a significantly less line. You can't go wrong here, especially if you order the potato salad and collard greens with your chicken. Even if the line is long, suck it up and wait in it. Trust me it will be worth it. I've also heard from a very reliable source that Prince's Hot Chicken is another winner and worth going to. I haven't had that one yet though, so you'll have to take my cab driver's word for it. Lastly, the fried green tomato BLT from Puckett's gets an honorable mention. In my opinion, it's hard to get a BLT wrong but it's even harder to get one just right.

Broadway is the main strip of downtown Nashville with bustling bars, neon signs and people everywhere. There's even a cowboy boot store where you can buy one and get two pairs free. I'm not joking. Since they are the real deal, one pair will cost you somewhere around $300. Most of the groups visiting Nashville are bachelorette and bachelor parties; it's like stepping into the southeast's version of Vegas. Everywhere you look there are people in matching outfits riding around on pedal taverns hooting and hollering. However, unique to Nashville is all the live music. That is, after all, why it's called Music City. Don't let the neon signs and bachelorettes fool you, Broadway is no exception. Music is pouring from all the honky tonks on street corners. We went into one that I knew off recommendation from my road trip book, Robert's Western World. Exactly as it sounds, the bar had cheap beers, cheap and very delicious burgers, and a band playing country up front to set the scene. I loved that bar, what a gem.

Music-wise though, the highlight and a place you should never miss, is The Bluebird Cafe. Since it's first-come, first-served, we got to the 6pm show at 3:45 (doors opened at 5:00) and we just barely made the cut. The 80-90 person venue situated just outside downtown in what looks like a strip mall, has been around since 1982. It has showcased some, if not all, of country's biggest stars, most notably before they were even famous. It's where, for example, Garth Brooks played at their open mic night and singer/songwriter showcase before he was discovered. The intimate venue is lined with headshots of those who've performed with a few tables, a small bar in the back, and some pews that face the raised stage up front. It's truly a once in a lifetime experience. Honestly, if we didn't make it into the 6pm show, I was prepared to wait it out for the 8pm. Matt Brown was the performer that night and I loved his style; simple yet beautiful and relatable. I asked him to sign my CD for me before we left. You never know, maybe one day he will make it big and I can say I saw him play at The Bluebird Cafe way back when.

There are many historical music sites to see in Nashville. We did not, I am sorry to say, go into the Grand Ole Opry. I had so many recommendations to go there but when we drove the 13 miles outside of downtown to take a look, we were told we could not go on stage during the tour. Unsatisfied, we changed plans and instead decided to take a tour of the Ryman Auditorium. For those of you disappointed and thinking I missed out, I can confidently say that I disagree. I am more interested in the history of music in Nashville as well as the Opry, so the Ryman was definitely the way to go. The "Mother Church", as it's more affectionately known, was my favorite place in Nashville. The 2,362 seat auditorium was actually the Opry's first major venue. The Grand Ole Opry is not a place, it's country music's highest honor to be inducted into and, most importantly, it's the longest running radio show to date. With on air broadcasting of their weekly on stage performances, it became a huge success, airing at the Ryman every Saturday for thirty one years. Fun fact, when they left in 1974 to move to their new location, they took a six foot cut out of the stage with them and placed it in the center of their new stage. Now when artists step out to perform they always have the memory of the good times at the Ryman with them. Originally built to be a tabernacle, the venue cost $100,000 to build; the equivalent of 6.7 million dollars today. It's amazing that even after 125 years since it's opening, the pews, floor boards, and ceiling planks are all original. The stage has been updated for safety three times, but the original stage cost $750 to build back in 1901. All of that money came from the city and, with it only being used as a house of worship, it wasn't making any profit. So, when the first live entertainment event, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra lead by Theodore Thomas, was a success, they quickly realized how the building should be utilized. The Ryman Auditorium is the reason Nashville is called Music City and it is all thanks to a woman named Lula Clay Naff. "LC" Naff as she liked to be called, was part of a booking agency involved with the venue and when the agency shut down she was hired full time by the Ryman in 1920. During her 35 year tenure as general manager she did what no one thought she could, build Music City from the ground up. She got everyone from actresses to TV shows to even radio shows to perform at her auditorium. Katherine Hepburn, Harry Houdini, Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong, Hank Williams, The Johnny Cash Show, and even Helen Keller were among the many. Little known fact - hers was the first sold out event at the Ryman. Believe it or not, country music was not prevalent at all in Nashville prior to the Opry coming to the Ryman. LC herself was not even a fan, and it didn't help that the Opry had a reputation of being a loud ruckus with an out of control fanbase. She was, however, a businesswoman first and foremost, and decided to ignore all that and bring them on. Lucky she did because in December 1945, Bill Monroe and his mandolin brought "The Original Blue Grass Band" to the stage, and Blue Grass was born. I could go on and on about this place. I highly recommend doing the backstage tour, it's ten dollars more, guided, and worth every penny. You get to see the dressing rooms, which by the way were not there prior to the renovation and reopening in 1994. In fact, there wasn't even air conditioning before 1994. Stars use to say the venue was "primitive" because all they had were the bathrooms next to the stage to get ready in. Nevertheless, they kept coming back. They loved the connection to the audience and how great the acoustics were. Since then, they've updated and added some dressing rooms to keep up with modern times. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash were actually the only artists that lived long enough to see, and stay, in the dressing room dedicated to them. When the Opry left the Ryman in 1974, Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff hosted the last show. Afterwards and off air, Johnny and June lead everyone at the Mother Church in one last chorus of prayer, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". If you go to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which you should, go to the hall of fame rotunda. You'll not only fall in love with country music, but you'll also find plaques of the many stars inducted arranged along the circular walls in a way that looks like they represent musical notes. Look up; the same words, "will the circle be unbroken" are written along the ceiling.

The last thing I have to do before I go is check out the Willie Nelson Museum. I'm going to do that on my way out of town, fresh New York bagel in hand and new CD playing in the background.

- G.

The Photo:
The stage at the Ryman Auditorium.
Nashville, Tennessee.
3/6/17.