Down to Nashville

Quick apologies, I didn't intend to go this long between posts but got in between while prepping for a trip and next thing you know its been over a week. The good news is I actually managed to do some traveling that I can write about. Almost like a real travel blog.

It's always nice when a city surprises you in a good way. Maybe doesn't blow you away, but at least offers up more than you had anticipated. Of course this requires going in with preconceived notions, but most of us inevitably have them anyways. Most people would admit that it's hard to not plan on going somewhere without holding at least a small idea of what the experience might entail.

I had never been to Nashville before this weekend, only driven through it before on a couple road trips down to the dirty South. This was the first time I had made it off the interstate and caught more than just a passing glimpse of downtown Nashville. When I say I was pleasantly surprised by the city, what I mean was that somewhere along the line I had formed the idea that Nashville had entirely sold out to the idea of being the "Music City", and instead of really being a city where music is woven into the everyday fabric of life, it had become just some tourist trap filled with hokey theme bars and venues and lots of radio style country music. I envisioned myself sitting in some bar, large groups of overweight tourists in jean shorts and fanny packs stuffed into the booth next to us, with some girl from suburban Atlanta singing songs about growing up a country girl and loving life on the range.

Somehow I envisioned that Nashville wasn't really the "music city" as much as a city with a musical past that they had figured out how to exploit for the tourist dollars. I'm not trying to justify my preconceived notions, just state what they were going in.

But, thankfully, I was wrong. There was lots of real music there, and plenty of it good. What we found was a city where live bands, bands and musicians with actual talent, and a passion for creating something of their own, are a common sight. As we hopped out of the cab on Broadway you could immediately hear the music that flooded the street. From what I could see almost every bar in the nearby vicinity had a live band that night. It was a nice change of pace to see people, especially those of my generation, out at bars with live music instead of DJs and Ipod playlists. In retrospect I wish I had focused more on appreciating the music that evening, but the festive atmosphere and allure of tasty beverages and old friends proved too much. And so I woke up on Sunday with only a few memories: dancing to an alt-rock band, wandering the streets of Nashville at 1:30 in the morning, and trying to put money into a broken cigarette machine for 10 minutes. But with those also came the hazy feeling that I had had a good time in Nashville, and that it was a city with a personality and identity.

Now, one can't simply claim that getting drunk and catching a couple live bands is the best way to judge a city, but combine that with the people in our hotel warming up for the open mic night, and the bluegrass jam session we caught in The Gulch (in an old fashioned bar surrounded by the new trendy Nashville neighborhood), it formed in me an impression that music really is an important part of its identity. There's not too many places in America where you can say that.

Our stay wasn't long enough to get to see too much more of the city, though we did manage to check out the East End area of town as well, around the Five Points area that is becoming Nashville's new hip (read: hipster) neighborhood. It has a way to go, there was only one bicycle shop and not a ton of other bars and restaurants yet, but you could see it was on its way. We stopped by a bar and had some brews from Yazoo, the local brewery, though none of them seemed to be particularly noteworthy. But as always I was at least glad to see that they did have something local on tap to try, and I think if I lived in Nashville I would throw back a Dos Perros lager or the Pale Ale from time to time.

The food was another pleasant surprise, though not necessarily for Nashville but for Southern food in general. I'm going to do a separate post for this but I can say for now that the trip definitely improved my perception of Southern cuisine. I'm not a full convert yet, and I still believe it has its limitations, but damn did we eat well. And when you have good food, good drinks, and good music, its hard not to enjoy where you are.