{"id":8807,"date":"2013-04-17T22:00:37","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T02:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8807"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:50:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:50:48","slug":"untangling-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8807","title":{"rendered":"Untangling Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"17<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Nashville, Tennessee <\/i>\u2013 \u201cThe thing I love about Nashville is that it\u2019s a big city that feels like a small town.\u201d I heard that statement three times in a row today, from people of different ages in different settings. The same exact words! \u201cA big city that feels like a small town.\u201d I asked each one to explain what they meant. \u201cPeople are friendly,\u201d was one answer. \u201cEverybody takes care of each other.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s just a bunch of good neighborhoods.\u201d \u201cPeople here have no pretenses.\u201d Dendy, who\u2019s in the music business, talked about the rich and famous who call Nashville home. \u201cThey like to spend time here because they can walk around and rub elbows with everybody else with no hassle.\u201d Martha, who travels the south in her marketing job, talked about the friendliness here. \u201cI\u2019d choose Nashville over any other city,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty, and there are a million things to do. We\u2019ve got good music and we\u2019ve got good churches and we\u2019ve got really good food. I always feel good when I get close to Nashville.\u201d I interrupted Martha at that point. \u201cI felt terror,\u201d I threw in. \u201cThe traffic!\u201d \u201cWell, \"17<\/a>yes, there is a lot of traffic,\u201d she conceded, \u201cand the streets can be confusing until you learn your way around.\u201d I\u2019ll say! Street names change at almost every turn; this road goes there and that road turns this way. There are freeways and parkways and boulevards and pikes. A lot<\/i> of pikes, for a lot of cars, for a lot of people. Nashville\u2019s population is 601,222 (US 2010 Census<\/i>) and it\u2019s the 6th<\/sup> largest capital city \u2013 just a tad smaller than Boston and a tad larger than Denver. My challenge is to untangle the mystery: why does big-city Nashville feel so small-town sweet? <\/p>\n

Nashville\u2019s nicknames may help to explain — Music City USA, and Buckle of the Bible Belt. \u201cWe go honky-tonking on Saturday night and then get up on Sunday and go to church,\u201d is another line I\u2019ve heard. Numerous music clubs and honky-tonk bars can be found in Nashville; especially in the downtown area near the river referred to as the District. You can walk Lower Broadway, Second Avenue, and Printer’s Alley till 3 AM; live music and open doors beckon.<\/p>\n

But Nashville has 792 churches too; and several seminaries. The National Baptist Convention, National Association of Free Will Baptists, and Gideons International are seated here. Christian publishing is a huge industry in Nashville; you\u2019ll find Thomas Nelson, the world\u2019s largest producer of Bibles; the United Methodist Publishing House; the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention; and LifeWay Christian Resources for the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n

\"17<\/a>To segue back into the city\u2019s musical leanings \u2013 the Gospel Music Association is headquartered here and a number of Christian music companies are located in Nashville along 16th<\/sup> and 17th<\/sup> Avenues South on Music Row. Yet you probably think of country music when you think of Nashville. Is Nashville a mecca for every country singer-songwriter in the world? It may be; certainly most tourists come to Nashville for the country-music scene. The top three tourist draws are Downtown\u2019s Ryman Auditorium and the Country Music Hall of Fame; nine miles away in Music Valley is the Grand Ole Opry House, opened in 1974, with country music stars raising the roof three nights a week.<\/p>\n

\"17<\/a>A little bit about the historic Ryman. It\u2019s called the \u201cMother Church of Country Music\u201d and in fact started out in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle; the Grand Ole Opry radio show didn\u2019t begin to broadcast from there until 1943. During the years of the Opry\u2019s residence (1943-1974) pioneering performers such as Hank Williams and Patsy Cline helped shape country music from the Ryman stage. It\u2019s a National Historic Landmark now; open for tours every day; exhibits show evolving styles from bluegrass to honky-tonk to hillbilly to country\/western. Stand on the stage where George \"17<\/a>Jones, Tex Ritter, Porter Wagoner, Johnny and June Carter Cash used to stand; see the mikes and instruments that were used. It still smells like it probably did back then, when lines formed clear around the block to get in, and families settled down on wooden pews with their picnic baskets on warm summer nights; come for the music, and the fun of it. \u201cRemove the gum from under the seats but leave the nicks and scars,\u201d was the direction given when it was re-opened in 1994 for tours and shows. http:\/\/www.ryman.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"17<\/a>The Country Music Hall of Fame doesn\u2019t reek of history and ghosts, as the Ryman does; it\u2019s a modern tribute to those who made country-music history. You need to stand a few blocks away to take in the architecture; the windows on the front of the building resemble black piano keys; the four disc-shaped tiers on the rotunda\u2019s roof represent the evolution of recording technology: the 78, the vinyl LP, the 45, and the compact disc. The tower rising from the rotunda is a reminder of the diamond-shaped WSM radio tower, which was \"17<\/a>instrumental in the growth of country music. The giant sweeping arch on the right side of the building portrays a 1950\u2019s Cadillac fin; the cylindrical shape of the rotunda reminds of the water towers and grain silos found in rural settings. Inside, an elevator transports to the third floor to begin; high-tech exhibits tell the country music story; special exhibits highlight specific artists such as Patsy Cline, open through June 10; see her letters and clothing and presence, on screen; listen to her crystal-pure voice. The building is currently expanding to double its size. http:\/\/countrymusichalloffame.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

To see the NOW of country music, you catch a show at the Grand Ole Opry House out in Music Valley. It bills itself as \u201cthe heart of American music\u201d as well as \u201cthe heart of Nashville.\u201d If you\u2019re a fan of Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, and Ricky Skaggs, they are just a few of the stars that make up the Opry family today. Brad Paisley had this to say: \u201cPilgrims traveled to Jerusalem to see the Holy Land; fans flock to Nashville to see the foundation of country music.\u201d The show goes on every Friday and Saturday night; weekdays vary summer and winter; you can get a Backstage Pass for a tour of the building in the daytime; or a post-Opry tour; the VIP tour takes you behind the scenes before the show begins and has you on-stage as the curtain is raised. http:\/\/www.opry.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"17<\/a>Fans adore the Nashville big name glitter. But \u201cI\u2019m just a good old country boy,\u201d is more often than not the proclamation of the stars. \u201cIt takes a lot of money to look this cheap,\u201d Dolly Parton laughs, and we love her; we know she\u2019s a savvy business woman, we also know she doesn\u2019t put too much pomp on herself. \u201cIt takes about four hours to do my hair, but I\u2019m not there while it\u2019s happening,\u201d is another Dolly kidding-ism. You\u2019d enjoy having Dolly come to dinner at your house. She\u2019d probably hug your neck the minute she came in the door, and thank you for having her over. That kind of sweet.<\/p>\n

As to the special appeal of the music we call country; I see it as equal parts humility and pride; equal parts hard work and having fun; garnished up with some fried chicken and turnip greens. Country music tells it like it is, good or bad. What is plainer, or makes you want to smile, more than Harold Barlow\u2019s 1949 lament \u201cI\u2019ve got tears in my ears from lying on my back in my bed while I\u2019m crying over you\u201d? The music may have gotten more technically sophisticated over the years, but note that Taylor Swift\u2019s latest release repeats over and over \u201cWe will never ever ever ever get back together\u2026.\u201d Ever. Boots may sparkle with rhinestones \"17<\/a>and rumpled tee-shirts may shout out opinions, but if you hurt, you cry, and sing. If you feel good, you go to church, and sing.<\/p>\n

Is that what makes big-city Nashville feel so small-town sweet? Is Nashville Music City USA, or the Buckle of the Bible Belt? Is it both? I haven\u2019t untangled that just yet, but I did observe that multi-award-winning country music star Keith Urban and his Academy Award winning wife Nicole Kidman, Nashville residents, named their two daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Nashville, Tennessee \u2013 \u201cThe thing I love about Nashville is that it\u2019s a big city that feels like a small town.\u201d I heard that statement three times in a row today, from people of different ages in different settings. The same exact words! \u201cA big city that feels like a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4587,1721],"tags":[2251,2249,2254,2246,2256,1924,1920,1929,2248,2245,2252,2250,2253,2255,3086,2247,2258,2257,2234,2259],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8807"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8810,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8807\/revisions\/8810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}