How to spend a day in Nashville, America's soulful southern city

By Sacha Scoging

Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Roy Acuff and Patsy Cline: when one thinks of Nashville, country music reigns supreme. This is, after all, the city that gave the world the Grand Ole Opry — America’s longest-running radio show, which propelled country music into US homes, bore witness to the birth of bluegrass music and transformed both genres into something bigger, more electric and symphonic. 

But Nashville is also the crossroads where country, rock and blues converge, with roots in R&B and a thriving pop and indie scene. At any given hour, on any day of the week, chords and riffs of multiple genres can be heard rippling through its streets, be it a pop performance at the Ryman Auditorium, a gig at the foot-stomping honky-tonks of Broadway or a mellow acoustic set in Music Row’s intimate venues. Throw in fascinating museums and historic recording studios, and it’s easy to see why this is America’s ‘Music City’.

... read more.

 

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).