Last minute ideas for a visit to Nashville

[abn556]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

Not guitar related, but grab you some hot chicken while you're there... and maybe a brew from Yazoo...

The hot chicken was good so +1 on that recommendation.

[SCVJ]

OP here - thanks for all the responses, please keep them coming!

I'm leaning toward seeing Junior Brown at the Station Inn. I've never been there before, and I think I heard that the seating is general admission, and you need to get there early. Also, is there a safe place to park? I've got a truck full of stuff I'd hate to have stolen. Last time I was in Nashville we saw a parking lot with 3 or 4 spots with broken window glass on the ground. Could have been an isolated incident, but was definitely worrisome. Anyone have any advice?

[rounder]

Originally Posted by SCVJ

OP here - thanks for all the responses, please keep them coming!

I'm leaning toward seeing Junior Brown at the Station Inn. I've never been there before, and I think I heard that the seating is general admission, and you need to get there early. Also, is there a safe place to park? I've got a truck full of stuff I'd hate to have stolen. Last time I was in Nashville we saw a parking lot with 3 or 4 spots with broken window glass on the ground. Could have been an isolated incident, but was definitely worrisome. Anyone have any advice?

Never been to Nashville but I would really love to go. Bought a guitar from Gruhn a few months ago that I love. Watched a video of Junior Brown playing Highway Patrol on the Paceline Forum (bikes) a few years ago that I thought was really cool. Broken glass sounds like an isolated incident, hope you have a good time.

[bkepler]

My wife and I spent a long weekend in Nashville at the end of March for my 40th birthday. Like you, I tend towards bluegrass and classic country. We adjusted our original dates to get into town a little early and saw Sierra Ferrell at the Ryman (plenty of guest appearances but my wife told me she realized she had never seen me truly excited, like I was when Tim O’Brien came out for a few duets). It was outstanding! The closing acts (Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich) at the Grand Ole Opry were fun, but the highlights were definitely the Wood Box Heroes and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder (I’m a big Russell Carson fan).

Over the past couple of years I’ve been having hearing loss/surgeries and chaotic sound gives me a lot of processing trouble. For that reason we skipped the Broadway bars and just observed from outside.

As I’m part of this forum, going to play instruments was a high priority for me. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Gruhn. I spent a good amount of time playing a wide variety of instruments and was able to find places to pick without bothering anyone (or being bothered). It was a quiet shop even though there were a good number of people coming through. There were definitely a few instruments that wanted to come home with me…a Rob Ickes Scheerhorn, a Pisgah banjo with a Dobson tonering, a Martin baritone that was just incredible, and a Collings D2H. Some itches that were scratched and don’t need revisiting were an Octolindo (I love my Pono guitar but this wasn’t doing it) and a Versitar (as a former Tacoma player I was very excited to play these…then not).

The Gibson Garage was a surprise hit for me. While everything is under lock & key, the attendant is more than happy to get you whatever you want in their small acoustic section. Admittedly, I haven’t played a ton of acoustic Gibsons and the J-15 was the only one that used to be a real consideration. I played pretty much everything on the wall and it was all nice, but nothing special - except for the Southern Jumbo they had. That thing was awesome and some people who were waiting for electric kids came over to listen when I played it. It was definitely a Gibson “lightbulb” moment for me.

Now, for the slight disappointment… I had really been looking forward to Carter. I’d been watching a particular Gallagher on their website for a month and was hoping to play the 6 or 7 they seemed to have in stock. We just don’t see Gallaghers in the wild here in Maryland. There were a good number of people there but it wasn’t too busy. My wife and I easily found benches to play on across from each other. The crazy part was that you just couldn’t hear anything in there. There was an HVAC system that roared (which maybe you can’t control much in a new place) but they were also blasting canned music. With my ear issue, it just wasn’t working for me. But it also wasn’t working for my wife who hears extremely well. Whereas she had plenty of insight at the other shops, nothing there. She plays with a light touch and thumb - she couldn’t even hear that she was playing. She said it was a really weird sensation to go through the motions but have absolutely no feedback. Anyway, that soured things a bit. I found the Gallagher and played it for a bit, carrying it around and trying to test different locations. While it was built well and felt good, I decided not to buy it, which was disappointing. I did play some nice mandolins that I rarely get to see, so that was nice. Unfortunately the only banjo I picked up to play had 2/5 of the strings hanging off of it, broken.

Our final night, we went to the Bluegrass Jam at the Station Inn. There were some really fine pickers. It was packed and even for that, the line to get in was down the block. We got there 30 minutes early and were probably about 20 people back.

If you’re looking for another museum, we enjoyed the African American Music one. I forget the exact name but it’s right across from the Ryman. There’s a lot of interactive stuff and it’s an interesting look at a wide variety of genres.

I hope you have a great trip!

[j3ffr0]

I love Carter's and Gruhn's. The Musician's Hall of Fame is worth it and so is the Johnny Cash Museum if you are interested in his remarkable career.

[fretfile100]

If you are stopping in Asheville, you must stop at DreamGuitars. Fair warning, leave your credit cards in the car.

[Norsepicker]

Nashville's gotten a little too big city for me, but I still like Franklin, and especially a little village outside of Franklin called Leiper's Fork, there's a good bar there with music called Foxe and Locke, and when I was there I heard some good music in a nice casual setting.

[CoachD]

Probably too late for the OP, but if you get a chance, Corner Music in North Nashville (Dickeron Road near I-65/Brliley Parkway) has an excellent acoustic room full of Gibsons, Eastmans, Bourgeois, and many other. IME the room has a great vibe and you can actually hear every nuance of the instruments (lots of mandolins as well).

[SCVJ]

OP here. We didn't make it to the Station Inn, but did go to Carter's Vintage new location, and to Gruhn's. I have been to Gruhn's a couple of years ago, and will always stop there when I can.

I've visited the old location of Carter's, and the new one is bigger and better! There's a coffee shop downstairs, and two big sofas if you're travelling with someone who thinks all guitars look the same.

Be prepared to have trouble finding the place! The address is on 8th Street, but it is not visible from that street. At least not that I saw. There is a small sign at ground level which I didn't see until I was leaving. to get to the parking garage entrance in the six (?) story building next door to the building the store is in you turn off of 8th St. onto Fogg St, for which there is no street sign. They do validate parking. There are signs to scan a QR code to register for parking payment, but we ignored that and they said in the store that they could validate it without the QR requirement.

I'm guessing some of the above will improve, they've only been there six weeks or so, and it is all worth it once you get inside.

[Moldstar]

I only know Carter's from its old location, where they had a number of small rooms off to the sides for quiet playing. That's too bad about the noise.