Tennessee | Nashville, the Mecca of Country

The capital of Tennessee, and a mecca of country music, has been booming in recent years. Skyscrapers are springing up like mushrooms in a city center that’s as squeaky clean as a new penny.

While residents come to the heart of Nashville for work or play, few live there. To mingle with the locals, it’s best to migrate to more outlying neighborhoods, like East Nashville. But no matter. The downtown area has a lot to offer visitors who want to fill their ears with music. Country, of course, but not only that… With its many museums dedicated to the 4^e art, Nashville has what it takes to please music lovers of all stripes.

With its many recording studios clustered on Musical Row, the city attracts a growing number of famous musicians from diverse backgrounds (think Jack White or the rock band Greeta Van Fleet, several of whose members have settled in the area). The queen of pop, Taylor Swift, also spent part of her teenage years there.

In Nashville, music is everywhere. And it’s especially cacophonous on a stretch of Broadway called Honky Tonk Highway. Here, bars are stacked one on top of the other, and each hosts free live music every day of the year, from afternoon to midnight. Here, rockabilly. Next door, country. Over there, rock that rocks. And in the middle of the street, open buses with tipsy young people celebrating loudly (and in skimpy outfits) to very sugary pop. Welcome to Nashville, where you’d need several pairs of ears to miss a thing.

Visit the Nashville Tourism Office website

Check out our Spotify playlist East Tennessee in Music

Grand Ole Opry

If Nashville is today recognized as the motherland of country music, it is largely thanks to this radio show, the oldest still broadcast in the United States. For 99 years, it has been the place to hear the country tunes that will reach (or already have reached) the top of the charts.

It all began in a small studio at the instigation of an insurance company looking to expand its clientele. In 1943, the show’s live taping moved to the prestigious Ryman Auditorium. Since 1974, the shows have been broadcast from a large hall built specifically for the occasion, a stone’s throw from a highway and a large shopping center.

While the beauty of the surroundings leaves something to be desired, what happens within the walls of the Grand Ole Opry remains fascinating. All the big names in country music have been there. Others dream of it. And spectators vie for tickets to attend the tapings that take place in the evening, several times a week.

During our visit, Rhonda Vincent, nicknamed the Queen of Bluegrass, performed some excerpts from her new album. Don Schlitz came to sing two of his huge hits, including The Gambler (popularized by Kenny Rogers). Up-and-coming young guns, a Korean-born Texan comedian, and a Christian rock band that brandished the Bible in every chorus completed the picture.

We won’t soon forget this unusual evening spent among regulars, wearing cowboy boots – including a man who publicly proposed to his girlfriend after two short months of dating (she accepted)! A true snapshot of the country spirit as it is still lived in the southern United States!

Visit the Grand Ole Opry website

Ryman Auditorium

The Mother Church of Country Music. That’s how Tennesseeans call the Ryman Auditorium, a small architectural gem that has stood guard over the city’s downtown since 1892. The building began as a religious venue, but soon had to open its doors (and hardwood pews) to entertainment to pay the bills. Chaplin, Caruso and Houdini have all passed through this “Carnegie Hall of the South.”

The Grand Ole Opry was held here for 31 years before having to move due to the building’s dilapidated condition. Singer Johnny Cash also recorded his eponymous television show here from 1969 to 1971. It was also here that, in 1956, the author of False Prison Blues met his future wife, June Carter; the two sang there countless times, together and separately.

The visit, done independently or with a guide, allows you to learn about the history of this place rich in stories and songs, saved in extremis demolition peaks in 1993. Today, the shows are back and we marvel at all the greats who have stepped onto this illustrious stage.

Visit the Ryman Auditorium website (in English)

RCA Studio B

It was in this illustrious Musical Row studio that Elvis Presley recorded the vast majority of his albums, from 1956 until his death in 1977. While he was not the only prodigy to have performed within these emblematic walls of the “Nashville Sound”, he was undoubtedly the one that all visitors wanted to hear about.

The thirty-minute tours are only conducted with a guide. Departures by minibus are from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The guided tour culminates in Studio B, where Elvis sat at the piano to create his hits. In the darkness of a room where all the lights are off, we hear the King sing a rare and sweet version of Bridge Over Troubled Wateraccompanied by his piano alone. A moment of emotion that gives chills…

Check out the RCA Victor Studio B page

Part of the cost of this report was paid by the Tennessee Tourism Office, which had no say in the matter.