Music City, USA

There's a reason Nashville is called Music City. It is the home of the Ryman, Grand Ole Opry, Music Row, Country Music Hall of Fame, numerous recording studios, and countless dives where singers and songwriters can be seen any day of the week, any time of the day trying to get discovered.

There's no reason for me not to take advantage of all of these things.

Keith and I are no strangers to the Ryman. We've seen David Gray, Ryan Adams, and Zac Brown and have gone to the annual Bluegrass Night. In April we're seeing Vince Gill & friends and I really, really want to see David Gray there again in April too. (It's sold out. Does anyone have a couple of extra tickets for me? :))

Keith and me at Ryan Adams circa 2006

I must admit that I'd never visited any of the other venues or really had any desire to... until now. At the beginning of the month, the Country Music Hall of Fame opened its doors to the public for free. Although I didn't know who Brenda Lee was or really care about all of the old guitars on display (Keith loved them), there were a couple of cool things- like a massive dress worn by Carrie Underwood and a gold piano owned by Elvis. The best part though was an hour long songwriter session. Two local, successful songwriters answered questions and played their songs for the crowd. It was amazing! Check out Dave Berg's wikipedia bio here... pretty impressive!

Elvis' gold piano

Gold & Platinum Records

The previous owner of my china cabinet (see this post)

has a plaque on the wall!

Songwriters Dave & Georgia

I'm dying to go to the Grand Ole Opry. Kellie Pickler and Jewel will both be performing at the end of the month and Carrie Underwood is a frequent guest. The Bluebird Cafe is another place on my list. I recently heard through the celebrity gossip grapevine that Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted at the Loveless Cafe for Music City Roots.

Nashville has more to offer than country music. For example, Howie Day is playing at 3rd and Lindsley on Sunday (we've had tickets for a couple of months) and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center has some great shows throughout the year. Keith and I have already checked out the 2011 season calendar and marked some dates! One of the most fun music events though (in my opinion at least) is Frist Friday. One Friday a month in the summer the Frist Museum downtown hosts a concert on the lawn where you can expect everything from the blues to...

Super T!