America 2015: Day Seventeen (15 August 2015)

Roll into town, step off the bus
Shake off the where, you came from dust
Grab your guitar, walk down the street
Sign says Nashville, Tennessee

                                                                                                           - Jason Aldean

Saturday 15 August

Didn’t wake up until after 8:00am, which is a massive win after basically no sleep on Thursday night.

The breakfast hall at our hotel is massive, and there is a large proportion of people who seem to think it’s acceptable to head on down in their pyjamas. Not just in Nashville, either. It’s something I’ve noticed all around America. That wouldn’t fly in Australia. Anyway, they sit around eating ridiculous amounts of food early in the morning, when I can barely stomach anything more than a bowl of cereal, a glass of juice and some coffee to take back to the room. There is food – mostly unhealthy, I might add – in plentiful supply.

Generally, every meal serving size is giant here, and I’m not used to it. Back home, I have a small breakfast, a reasonably large lunch and wait to eat a big meal at dinner. Here, every meal is giant, and something like having a giant lunch leaves me feeling far too full for the rest of the day.

 

We took the advantage of some quiet time this morning to do some washing before heading to the Country Music Hall of Fame, right in the middle of Nashville’s very busy downtown area. Most of the artists featured on display went right over my head – obviously, the Hall charts the progress of country music from it’s earliest days, through to it’s more modern incarnations – but the way everything was displayed, using video, graphics, music, spoken word and actual memorabilia, was nothing short of impressive. I give the place extra marks for featuring Keith Urban! Oh, and the Luke Bryan exhibit was interesting, too.

The Hall isn’t too far from lower Broadway, which is probably best described as a sort of Las Vegas Strip, but without the seedy undercurrent that Vegas has, which makes you feel kinda dirty. There’s less risqué clothing, more cowboy boots and hats, and everyone, no matter what time of the day or night, seems to be having a good time. There are literally two dozen different restaurants to choose from.

 

We ended up at the Broadway Brewhouse, which had a selection of on-tap beer you had to see to believe – I’m talking, like, at least forty. They also boast amazing food, and I can now say that they serve the best jambalaya I’ve ever tasted. It was loaded with shrimp (prawns), jalapeños and laced with chilli, and it was sensational.

There’s a great vibe in Nashville today, with superstar Tim McGraw returning to the city for a sold-out show at Bridgestone Arena. Plus, it’s Saturday and everyone is out and about having fun. The pedal bars are out in force, too, and every single spot along Broadway is packed with people, and most feature very talented live musicians, too.

Dinner came by way of a bus tour of Nashville, and was at Jack’s Bar-b-que, a very famous family-owned restaurant in the city. There are only three locations, and the Broadway one is easy to spot, because, no matter what time of day, it’s the only eatery on the strip. The food is tasty as it is plentiful and, as per usual on this trip, I ate more than is probably good for me!

Nashville's Broadway with a storm about to roll in

 

After dinner, the bus took us through Music Row, where there are a vast collection of record labels and other related buildings. Many of them have banners outside their facilities, boasting of songwriters or artists (and both) scoring number-one hits on the Billboard 200 charts. We saw Reba McIntyre’s compound. She has a helipad on the roof, but has been banned from flying it in due to noise disturbance complaints. Yep, poor Reba. Now she has to drive her Ferrari in. Tough break, right?

We also toured parts of Nashville that we hadn’t previously seen, including the very beautiful campus of Vanderbilt University and a few nice parks. One features a down-to-the-inch recreation of the Parthenon in Greece. It’s a very spectacular thing to see, especially at sunset. Of course, I recognised it from a few scenes in the Nashville TV series. I still haven’t caught a glimpse of Rayna James or Juliette Barnes, though! (Sorry, dad…)

The tour dropped us off on Broadway and we spent some time in a bar called Rippy’s, drinking beer and listening to a very talented trio of guys playing all sorts of wide-ranging requests – we had Eric Church, Matchbox Twenty and even Led Zeppelin – for $20. Those guys were sensational, and the whole experience was everything I imagined Nashville would be.

 

I must admit I was only paying half attention to the guys playing, because the bar had NFL Network on, and halfway through dinner, my phone started blowing up with Jarryd Hayne updates. The former NRL star was in his first NFL pre-season game, and had a 53-yard run on his second carry. They finally showed it on TV, and I gotta say, coming from a guy who didn’t believe he had a shot at making the final roster, he looked pretty good. Gotta run lower; he runs upright, rugby league-style, but other than that, there were many worse-looking running backs playing other pre-season games. Suddenly, his long-shot chance seems a little more likely.

A great day – off to Memphis tomorrow!