Traveling to Nashville for Work - What to do if your not a country fan?

WormFOODx

WormFOODx

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So I'm going to a conference for work in Nashville. Some of my peers and I laughed because we usually go sight seeing when we do these trips and I am not the biggest country fan. I don't hate it but it's not very high on my radio dial.

So for those of you that live there or have been, any advice as to what I should take in while I'm there?

I saw there is a Belmont Mansion but I doubt it has anything to do with vampire slayers.
 
II have a brother that lives near there and I've hacked about there for a few days before. I'm not a big countyr music fan either, so I'll toss out some suggestions...

Even if your not a country music fan, Music Row & downtown Nashville can be interesting from a historical prespective. RCA, one of if not the oldest record labels in America, has one of their most famous studios there.

And if you are interested by presidential history the home of Andrew Jackson is there.

Their symphony hall is pretty amazing, supposedly one of the best in the country. I'm not a huge fan of the symphony either, but if you can catch some kind of performance there I still recommend it.

If you don't have an NHL team where your from you may be able to catch a Predators game.

Cheekwood Botanical Gardens was interesting and time well spent.

If you don't mind the outdoors there's some really nice state parks pretty close by.

If you or anyone in the group is a foodie you're golden too. They have some pretty famous places to eat and tons of really good BBQ places as well.

Of course they also have a ton of museums, parks in the city, and especially theaters, alot of which aren't related to country at all.
 
You could still appreciate Elvis since he was partially the father of modern rock n roll, or at least stepfather.
 
If you like BBQ, try Rippy's downtown on Broadway, delicious BBQ. Otherwise, there really isn't much if you don't like country music, that's from someone who grew up here.
 
Grimey's record store is sort of a big deal record store there. There are also a few breweries - Yazoo being the biggie - if you are in to that sort of thing. These are just a couple of the things that come to mind as I've started looking at things to do there as well since me and my wife and daughter will be there for 4-5 weekends in the next two months for work. We also talked about doing a tour of the Ryman. Jack White has a record store of sorts there as well - Third Man Records. I'm not a fan of "contemporary" country but I listen to a fair bit of bluegrass, old time and even alt-country which all have roots/connections with Nashville. If you are in to guitar/instruments - Gruhn guitars is sort of a big deal with vintage gear.
 
[quote name='pacifickarma']Isn't there a hockey team in Nashville?[/QUOTE]

Yes, but after this week, their season will be over. For that matter, there's an NFL team here too (Tennessee Titans). Not sure if he's just planning on being here for the summer or what, but sports wise, there probably won't be a whole lot going on. The Milwaukee Brewers AAA team plays here, the Nashville Sounds. Only one level below the big leagues, and tickets are usually dirt cheap. Vanderbilt University is also here...and their sports teams have really been improving lately too.

A lot of the other stuff has been covered, but I'll echo that heading down to Broadway and checking out the various bars and honkey tonks is still entertaining even if you're not a fan of country music. There's a lot of good food and even karaoke going on a lot of times. And if you decide you don't like it...there's a Hard Rock Cafe right down the street too.

For those who don't know, there are numerous bars for rock music too. It's not just all country all the time here. 3rd and Lindsley is a pretty cool place, and a lot of big names have played there over the years. Others include Mercy Lounge, Exit/In, The End, Dan McGuinness Pub, The Rutledge, etc. And the great thing is, because it's Nashville, there's live music every single night...at all of these places. Just start Googling and see what you like.

There are several museums if that's your thing and the Nashville Zoo if you like animals. Lots of malls and places to shop. Opry Mills Mall is huge and insane most of the time...and reasonably impressive considering it got hit bad in the flood in 2010, and was closed and potentially going to be torn down for a good while. Nashville is really like most any other good-sized city. Depends on what you're into.
 
[quote name='Clak']Sounds tickets are dirt cheap because they suck and Greer stadium is in pretty bad shape.[/QUOTE]

...and because it's Minor League Baseball, haha. You can still get good seats, a hotdog, a beer, and professional baseball (and a really good fireworks show a lot of nights) for cheaper than you can go see a shitty Michael Bay movie in a crowded theater most of the time.
 
Good point about the Bay movie:lol:

Actually the best game I ever saw there wasn't even a real game, it was Jeff Fisher's last exhibition game they did every year. They really need to fix Greer up though.
 
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