Nashville restaurants, music create lively nightlife scene

(Courtesy: Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau)

By Rhonda Osborne

My parents used to pack the family into our car and head out on the road for a 1- to 2-week family vacationeach summer as soon as school let out. With family located in Kentucky, this meant an opportunity to drive down to Tennessee for part of our trip as well. It was always a special treat if we were able to go to Nashville during this time.

Now as an adult living in Memphis for work, I am fortunate to go to Nashville almost monthly for business and leisure trips. Nashville sure has changed from when I used to go as a kid, but it is a perfect travel destination for me still today. With all of the history of the city and its constant growth, I’m able to enjoy my old favorites and always find new gems.

The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson (Mike Rutherford/Courtesy: Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Once viewed as a city that only offered country music, Nashville is so much more. There are quite a few attractions that are must sees, like the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame, historic Ryman Auditorium, Belle Meade Plantation, the Hermitage, the Parthenon and Bicentennial Park to name a few.

The Opryland area has changed since I visited as a child.  Opryland Theme Park hasbeen replaced with Opry Mills Shopping Mall, the Opryland Hotel is now recognized as Gaylord Opryland Resort, and the General Jackson Showboat docks here. The Grand Ole Opry still has nightly performances, and it is always fun for me to still see Little Jimmy Dickens telling his jokes and the Osborne Brothers singing Rocky Top while enjoying new artists like Josh Turner, who performs quite often.
But there is much more to Nashville outside of Opryland that continues to draw me to the city. There is live music of all genres everywhere — not only country music. You can catch live music performances in the local restaurants, bars and hotels throughout the city — just look for the live music venue signs that will be posted at each establishment.

A room at the Hutton Hotel.

I really enjoy spending time in the West End/Vanderbilt area because of great hotels, restaurants and night life. On a recent trip I stayed in West End at the Hutton Hotel, a brand new luxury Nashville hotel within walking distance to some of my favorite upscale restaurants: Boundr’y, Lime and Virago. I was also able to hear some up-and-coming songwriters performing at Commodores inside the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt and at the lobby bar of Hotel Indigo — both in the West End area of Nashville and known for their nightly songwriters showcases.

Because I really still like country music too, I always head downtown for dinner and live music for part of my trip. West End and downtown are within a couple miles of each other and a short drive or cab ride. There are restaurants that range from casual, like Jacks BBQ, to upscale dining like the new Sambucca located in the Gulch. I personally like something that falls in between those, like the upscale yet casual Merchants, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is located right on Broadway. The restaurant is located in the old Merchant’s Hotel that was constructed in 1892 and had such guests as Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Porter Waggoner and many others. You will find photos, receipts, letters and much more that reflect that time currently hung from the walls.

After dinner I head out to Broadway to my favorite country music venues, which include Tootsies, the Stage and Second Fiddle. You never know who may show up to perform with the bands. One time this spring, Tommy Two Tone showed up at Tootsies and performed his famous “Jenny 867-5309.” Another dayI saw some of Randy Travis’ band playing at Tootsies, and on this past trip one of Joe Nichols’ guitarists was performing at Legends Corner.

Related Orbitz resources:

• Nashville hotels

Rhonda Osborne is a Market Manager for Orbitz. She grew up in Minnesota but always had the dream of moving to Tennessee because of the great vacations experienced to Nashville and Gatlinburg as a child. She is now living that dream as a Tennessee resident and a Tennessee Titans fan — go Titans!

Tagged: Uncategorized