A Visit (And Surprise Meetup) In Nashville -TNOCS Style

It’s no secret that I love to travel.

35 countries and 48 states – so far.

Most of my travels involved taking in the culture of new locales, wandering far from the well-trodden touristy areas…

Mrs Thegue also likes to travel. But her interests usually involve all-inclusive resorts where she can get a tan. So much like a marriage, when we decided to take our first vacation without the kids since before Covid, we had to compromise.

My wife does have a few “bucket list” places that don’t include suntan oil, so we considered those in June when we looked into booking a trip:

In particular:

I’d been camping in the Smoky Mountains as a kid, so I’d “done” Tennessee, but never Nashville. Sandi wanted the country music scene and to purchase a local pair of cowboy boots… but I don’t like country music, and would look absolutely stupid in a pair of boots.

For what possible reason would I want to go?

We bought tickets, then reached out to V-Dog for suggestions on how to make it a memorable trip. Bill came through. I’m not exactly sure what Bill does for a living, but he may want to consider working for the local tourist board.

We arrived in Nashville just after noon on Tuesday, where Uber Bill met us, complete with a V-Dog T-shirt on, just in case we didn’t recognize him. Check-in wasn’t until 4PM, so we dropped off our bags at Placemakr Music Row and he gave us the grand tour. 

Our hotel was almost directly between the two, incredibly convenient as we’d soon learn. Bill drove us around both, sharing interesting tidbits about all things Nashville… for instance:

• Most musical acts in the bars on Broadway are scheduled for four-hour acts, with no
  breaks.
• The musicians will work within those parameters to take bathroom breaks – for instance…
• An instrumental would give the lead singer a break, a capella the rest of the band.
• If there’s a solo act, they really, REALLY shouldn’t drink during their performance.

After a drive around town, past the Ryman Theater, Bridgestone Arena and Centennial Park, V-Dog brought us back to Hattie B’s, a Nashville Hot Chicken chain. It’s not home to the “original” hot chicken, but has a great reputation and worth a visit. After Bill left, the Mrs. and I got in line to order. At the counter, my wife ordered the mild version and her sides, then it was my turn…and for the life of me I could not hear the lady behind the counter.

Maybe it was her accent.
Maybe she used a low tone.
Or maybe, just maybe…

There’s various levels of hotness to a Hattie B’s Nashville Hot:

We never got a chance to go back.

Wednesday was a busy day. Sandi and I walked up 12S to Buttermilk Ranch, a breakfast place recommended by some hometown friends, and it was amazing. We stayed there for close to three hours, enjoying the company of the people next to us, the food, the drinks, and finally the bar, where we wrapped up breakfast with dessert and a Bloody Mary…as one does.

It was a fifty-minute walk from our hotel, so what was another fifteen minutes in the opposite direction?

She found a little independent cowboy boot shop, and (thank God!) found a pair of pink cowboy boots on the Clearance Rack. For $139, it could have been worse: this place had pairs of boots for $2600! It was a win in my book, and the Mrs. counted it as almost $2500 in savings, so we went and bought gifts for the kids back home.

Nashville is home to almost three-quarters of a million people, but it feels small. The return trip took less than twenty-five minutes, and would’ve been shorter had we figured out an easier way to carry cowboy boots, an umbrella and other goodies we’d picked up along the way.

I’d never been to (or heard) about Juke joints, which are African-American establishments which began as a place of socialization on plantations during the Antebellum period, but evolved over time into informal places of celebration. 

We were among the first to arrive, and Papa Turney himself had time to come and welcome us to his place. The food was great, and the company? Amazing!

On Wednesday nights, Papa Turney’s hosts a jam session. Musicians of all shapes and sizes show up, sign up, and after an opening set by the house band are called onto stage to perform a few songs…and these musicians were fantastic, and it turns out I knew a few of them!

Neither he nor I could remember which band had that font, so I reached out to Stereogum’s Scott Lapatine via Twitter.

(answer to the mystery band below…)

I also am disappointed in myself for not remembering to wear my ‘Gum shirt, an ode to Hüsker Dü. 

Officially, the “joint” closes at 9, but as long as there’s musicians to play sets, the party carries on. 

The mix of musicians was impressive as well – while typically a five-piece band played, that Wednesday saw a flutist (I wanted to write “flautist”, but that’s British English – the things we learn!), and a horn section, with the saxophone player doubling up with a fiddle. 

Sometime between 9:30 and 10, the crowd thinned, and us TNOCers grew tired. V-Dog and his wife provided my wife and I a ride home, but not before we shared hugs with LTC and Both Grouse.

I can not thank them enough for the wonderful time we spent together in Nashville, and I hope our paths cross again sometime!

(My daughter and I drove to North Carolina for a wedding over Thanksgiving, and I was 224 miles away from Tennessee. I had to send a picture to the TNOCS gang about a reunion. If only…)

Thursday was our 13th wedding anniversary, which we celebrated by venturing down Broadway for the first time.

If you haven’t visited, it’s really well done.

The pictures don’t do it justice – I spent close to two hours listening, reading and looking at a LOT of Johnny Cash material!

For those who haven’t been to Nashville but have visited New Orleans, Broadway feels more like Frenchmen Street rather than Bourbon Street, just wider and taller. Many of the bars have three floors, with live music on each. The street is packed no matter the time of day – a word of advice: if you’re going to visit this attraction via Uber, have them drop you off a block or two to either side, otherwise you’ll sit in traffic for a long time.

Printers’ Alley is another tourist attraction in Nashville, perpendicular to Broadway. Once the center to (surprise!) the city’s publishing industry, since World War II its been the center of Nashville’s jazz scene. We celebrated our anniversary dinner at Skulls’ Rainbow Room. 

Named after Dave “Skull” Schulman (who was shot and killed during a robbery just before the club was scheduled to open), they offer a jazz lounge and burlesque show four nights a week. The jazz was exceptional, and the burlesque good, though I could’ve done without one of the dancers topping off her sword swallowing by shoving a pair of scissors into her nose. NOT across the two nostrils, but up (down?) one of them as far the blade could go. Oof.

According to the emcee, she is one of only about 100 people in the world who can perform that “trick”, so my chances of randomly seeing it again are slim to none.

Scheduled to open 100 years after Tennessee became a state, it opened surprisingly on budget but a year late, in 1897. The exhibition featured a series of buildings which mimicked famous ones from around the world, including a life-size replica of the Parthenon in Athens. After the Exhibition was finished, many of the buildings were torn down, but the Parthenon remained, though not in great condition.

Today, it serves as an art museum, and houses a number of artifacts from the original Parthenon. FUN FACT: the original Parthenon was decorated with bright colors, washed away over time. The one in Nashville attempts to recreate it as it looked 2400 years ago, and might be a surprise to some, since the one in Athens is made of greyed marble.

The rest of the day we hopped around Broadway, checking out various bars and performances while just connecting with each other. This is the first vacation we’ve taken without our children since before Covid, and it was nice to sit in a couple of crowded clubs and just focus on each other. 

Our Uber picked us up Saturday morning around 4:30 (not V-dog, though he did offer, God bless him!) and we flew back to Philadelphia around seven.

While Nashville was never on my list of places I “had to see”, it turned out to be a cute little city that I’d love to get back to if given the chance. 

Thanks to LoveThisConcept and Both Grouse who gave us a warm welcome, but especially to Bill and Mrs V-Dog gracious hosts and perfect tour guides for such a neat place. 

If any of you plan on a trip to Philadelphia, hopefully I can pay the graciousness forward. Until then…

Good on you all.

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