Nashville, Tennessee - January 2018

On the way to Alabama in late January, we stopped for 2 nights in Nashville, which was about the halfway point. We had a good time doing the usual tourist stuff. Our hotel was at the edge of downtown and we took advantage of the free trolley route that goes throughout downtown. 

I had visited the old Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979, and the new venue is much larger, with modern technology. We learned a lot about the country music artists of past and present. 

We took the self-guided tour at the Ryman Auditorium, and learned the history. The venue is currently used for music concerts of many different genres.  

The older part of the building.

The new addition to the building. Statue is life-sized Little Jimmy Dickens. 

Nashville Convention Center

I visited the Frist Center for Visual Arts and saw a unique exhibit by the artist Nick Cave (who is not the same person as the musician by the same name).  

The installation on the upper right is composed of strings of beads hanging from the ceiling. It looked completely different as you walked around the piece. The lower right sculpture is made from many tiny sock monkeys. 

The popular "honkey tonks" are along Broadway St. in downtown Nashville. We stopped for a bite to eat and listened to some live music at World Famous Nudie's Honkey Tonk, which boasts the longest bar in Nashville (over 100 feet). Nudie Cohn was a tailor who created costumes for Hank Williams, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Roy Rogers, Elton John and many others. On display is a photo of him with Elvis Presley, wearing his famous gold lame' suit. 

We heard great live music at Layla's and Roberts, also on Broadway.