A visit to Nashville was always on my wish list.  Luckly, I was able to spend 5 nights there with a bonus of my friend Roger joining me.  Roger drove his new camper from South Carolina and we stayed at the North KOA (near the Grand Old Opry area).  Nice place, would recommend.  Clean, great service and has excellent laundry facilities.

It was awesome spending time with a good buddy.  I mentioned to Roger that the time went quick and that I would have a hard time relating back to all the things we did.  His reply was “we drank a lot of beer and heard a lot of good music”.  And if you sprinkled that with some awesome BBQ, it provides a good summary,

Rogers Rig:

Roger (late at night) in front of Tootsies.

We had advanced tickets for the Osborne Brothers at the Ryman Auditorium and also Steve Earle at the City Winery.  Our only other focused goal was to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame.  The remainder of our time was spent walking / exploring the Broadway area as well as a day in East Nashville.

Let me highlight our main events first:

1) Country Music Hall of Fame –

 

I recommend a visit if you have a chance.  The facility has on-going exhibits as well as special exhibits.  I felt lucky with the special exhibits available at the time of our visit.  One was for EmmyLou Harris and the other was Outlaw Country.  I have always liked EmmyLou’s voice and songs.  Having spent a lot of time in Texas lately, the Outlaw country exhibit was perfect.

Some pics:

 

 

 

The real story on one of the above pictures:

Some other pics from the hall of fame plus one from Tootsies:

 

Ryman Auditorium:   The Brothers Osborne concert was pretty special.  I would put it in my top 8 of all time.  Wild Feather opened for Brothers Osborne and did a great job.  Everyone stood from the first song to the last.  A really good mix of blues, country and rock.  Enjoyed!  The Ryman has an interesting history (starting as a church and now a music venue).  Great acoustics.  The Grand Old Opry played here until the early 70’s and then moved to a money making complex on the outside of town.   If you get a chance, see a show here!

 

Pics from before and during the show.

 

– Steve Earle, with opener Sarah McLachlin

The City Winery is a great place to see a show.  It is a small venue with diner theater type setting.  The prices for food and drink are on the upscale side but good.  I recommend the seating towards the front or in the balcony in the back.

 

While we made a stop at many a bar in the Broadway area, we seemed to gravitate to Tootsies.  Liked the vibe.  Roger found out that some family was also in town and they joined us for a few beers at Tootsies.

 

BBQ at Martins BBQ Joint hit the spot.  We also enjoyed the Headquarters Beercade, where you could play free pinball / video games in a relaxed atmosphere.

 

Some other pics from our visit:

 

East Nashville is an older, laid back transition area.  The housing has already made a major transition and the businesses are following.

 

Logistics:

The KOA does offer shuttle service (at a cost) into downtown but we chose to Uber.  This gave more flexibility and with two people about the same cost as the shuttle.  Uber prices varied by the time of day and also by the day of the week.  In general, the cost was between $10 to $15 (when split per person) for one way.  This was wise for two reasons, 1) really hard to find parking downtown (and a high cost) and 2) you can enjoy your beverages of choice without having to make a drive.

I would like to come back and include some of the parks and no-music activities.  So much to do in such a little time.