Nashville
THE AMERICAS · CITY · LIVE MUSIC
Nashville is a working music town before it's a party town — songwriters in every bar, three record labels a block, and studios on a street literally called Music Row. Broadway's honky-tonks are free, loud and open from ten in the morning, but the good stuff is in the listening rooms where writers play their own songs. Hot chicken and a lot of bachelorette parties come with it.
The plan
The Bluebird Café
Ninety seats in a strip mall where songwriters play in the round and the audience is silent. Book the moment tickets drop.
Lower Broadway honky-tonks
Robert's Western World is the real one — Tootsie's and Legends either side. No cover, tip the band.
Ryman Auditorium
The Mother Church of Country Music. Take the backstage tour by day and a show by night.
Country Music Hall of Fame
Far better than it sounds — Cash's guitars, Elvis's gold Cadillac, and the whole arc of the genre.
Hot chicken
Prince's invented it, Hattie B's made it famous. Start at medium and respect the ladder.
Book before you fly
Bluebird Café
Ninety seats. Online tickets release a week ahead at noon and sell out in under a minute.
Grand Ole Opry
Weekly shows; tickets are usually available but the Ryman winter run is not.
Honky-tonks on Broadway
No cover, no booking — just tip the band.
Getting there
Fly Nashville (BNA)
Twenty minutes from downtown, one of the fastest-growing US airports, with direct flights from London. WeGo bus 18 runs downtown.
Drive from Atlanta or Memphis
Both about four hours, and the Natchez Trace Parkway south of town is one of the best drives in the South.
Getting around
Downtown, the Gulch and Germantown are walkable. Use rideshare for East Nashville and 12 South.
When to go
Best time to go
April to May and September to October — warm, dry, and the outdoor stages are running.
Cheapest months
January and February, when it's grey and rooms are cheap.
Priciest & busiest
June to August, when it's humid and every weekend is a bachelorette convention, and CMA Fest in June.
If you've got one day
Morning
The Bluebird Café
Late morning
Lower Broadway honky-tonks
Lunch
Hattie B's Hot Chicken
Afternoon
Ryman Auditorium
Evening
Dinner at Rolf and Daughters, then Country Music Hall of Fame
If you've got a week
Day 1
Arrive, settle in around The Hermitage Hotel, and take it slowly — Hattie B's Hot Chicken for dinner.
Day 2
The Bluebird Café.
Day 3
Lower Broadway honky-tonks. Dinner at Prince's Hot Chicken Shack.
Day 4
Day trip — Great Smoky Mountains →.
Day 5
Ryman Auditorium. Arnold's Country Kitchen at some point.
Day 6
Country Music Hall of Fame.
Day 7
Hot chicken. Finish with Rolf and Daughters.
Staying longer?
Nearby & day trips
Three and a half hours east to the most-visited national park in America.
Memphis
Three hours west for Sun Studio, Stax and Graceland.
Franklin
Twenty minutes south, a Civil War town with a very pretty main street.
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