Sunday 11 August 2013

Nashville, Tennessee: Day 1

I arrived at Nashville, Tennessee on Friday at 11pm, having previously been to Columbus, Ohio (where I totally failed at being a tourist).  By the time I got to my room, it was midnight local time, which meant it was 1am Indiana/Ohio time.  Needless to say, I went straight to bed.  I'm just so hard-core.

I then slept until lunchtime because, well, I just don't like mornings!  I finally crawled out of bed, and headed out into Nashville.  My hostel is the Downtown Nashville Hostel, and it really is right by downtown.  I couldn't ask for a better location (or better value for money!).  The staff are so helpful and friendly, and there's every amenity that a young traveller could want.  Basically...there's a beer fridge.  It's on the waterfront, which is pretty during the day, but a lot of vagabonds hang out in a park opposite, which is a little unnerving as it gets dark.  Maybe I'm just paranoid.  Anyway, I was able to leave the hostel, walk down the street...and be right onto Broadway.

Music was pouring from every doorway, there was people everywhere, more cowboy boots than I've ever seen in my life...it was amazing.  I grinned like a lunatic for about an hour.  But it was ok, everyone else was just the same!  I did notice that the women all seem very well dressed, which made me feel slightly out of place.  They all had perfectly coiffed hair, pretty dresses, or cute tops.  Then there was me in my shorts, tank top, loose pony-tail, and legs covered in bug-bites...!

I had lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville which was kind of expensive (by my standards), but nice all the same.  It was hard to tell where was serving food, as most places just looked like questionable bars where people were having 'liquid lunches'.  I have no issue with that, I just wanted some real food for myself!

After I ate, I wandered around Broadway and the nearby streets.  I just spent a few hours taking in the 'feel' of Nashville.  I also visited several bars, of varying levels of disrepute, and sat listening to live country music.  It was awesome.




Sadly I didn't catch the names of any of the live performers, otherwise I would happily share them.  They all rocked, though!  If you recognise any of them, please tell me and I'll credit them.  I'm pretty sure that the first two photos were taken at One 50 One, and the third photo was taken at Rippy's Bar and Grill.

One of the most amazing performances came completely by surprise.  I was walking past a bar, Honky Tonk Central, and saw that there was a HUGE crowd, waving cameras and iPhones.  Being a curious person, I tried to see what was going on.  I supposed it was a surprise performance by someone famous.  I could hear that the singer was incredible, and had a big voice.  Yup.  Probably some famous person.  When I could finally see the stage...well, I wasn't expecting what I saw.

It was a little girl!  A tiny scrap of a thing (no offence, kid), who seemed no more than 8 years old.  It was hard to believe that a voice that big could come out of a child that small.  I did video some of her performance, but the quality is terrible and doesn't do her justice at all.  I'll upload it when my internet can handle it..!  Her name is Marissa McKay (sorry if I spelled it wrong), and she is absolutely a name to watch.

After a while, I headed back to the hostel to catch up with my e-mails etc, and to generally recover from the fact I'd spent my day drinking endless glasses of coke.  I'm pretty sure that if you shook me up and down, you'd have heard me fizzing!

I had dinner at the National Underground, which I had previously been told had "the best burgers in town", and I'm not one to turn down such an enthusiastic recommendation.

Truth be told, I was a little disappointed.  My cheeseburger had that horrible square, plastic cheese, and it came with crisps.  What kind of burger comes with crisps?!  I suppose I should have expected it, when the menu said "kettle chips", but it didn't compute that it didn't mean fries.  It wasn't a bad burger, but I've had better from Steak'N'Shake...

It wasn't a complete loss, though, as the live music was great.  The lighting was a weird pink colour, which meant that my photo is terrible.  Sorry!


The male singer was James McNair, but I didn't catch the name of the woman.  She had a powerful voice, so I think her mic was adjusted to accommodate that, which meant that I couldn't hear a word she said when she was just talking!

My favourite thing about their performance was that they actually sang some of their own songs.  Now, I might be being naive, but...that's what I expected from Nashville.  I thought this was a place filled with singer-songwriters pouring out their souls, waiting to be snatched up and thrown into a world of fame.  I thought it'd be a place of originals, not a place of tribute acts.

I understand that the bars need to be business minded, and that Nashville is full of Americans from Northern suburbia who want to come down south to dress up in over-priced cowboy boots and pretend they know "what country is".  They want to sit in bars, drinking themselves silly, and be able to sing (and sometimes dance) to their "OMG FAVOURITE SONG".  They can't do that if the performers are singing their own, original songs.  I really do get that.  But...can't they sing a few?

I'm not one to judge, not really.  I'm English, what do I know about "country" in America?!  Sure, I'd love to buy myself a pair of cowboy boots (if I can find some that won't require me to sell a few kidneys in order to afford them).  I get excited when my favourite country songs come on, and I'm less enthusiastic when it's one I don't recognise.  I do genuinely love the vibrancy and fun of Nashville, and how the whole city (or the part I've seen, anyway) seems to be dancing to a country beat.  I just really hoped I'd be able to taste a little music history in the making.  I wanted to be able to come to America in a few years, turn on the radio, and be able to say "I know this song, I heard it before it was famous".

Yup.  Definitely naive of me.

Moving swiftly on!

Last night I went out with a few people from the hostel (two Irish, one English, one American I think, and one Czech).  We bounced from bar to bar, listening to various live performances.



The first photo was taken in Honky Tonk Central, and the second in the Legend's Corner.

Before I went out, I asked one of my room-mates in the hostel what a night out in Nashville was like.  She said it was like "one big hen-night".  She wasn't kidding!  Every other group of women was on a hen-night, and I even saw a wedding reception!  I was slightly taken aback by the sight of an entire wedding party, and all their beautifully dressed guests, in a dirty, sweaty bar, but each to their own!

By the time we reached the third or fourth sweltering, claustrophobic bar, I was done.  I'd heard the same five songs sung over and over again, I've been struggling with a queasy stomach (I think my body is rejecting all the greasy burgers and fizzy pop), and I decided I needed to go to bed!  So, despite being the only sober person in the party, I was back in the hostel feeling decidedly unwell by 1am.

So rock and roll...!

All the best,

Charli

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