The Steel Guitar Forum

Hope I can ask this here...

We are going to be retiring in a couple of years and Nashville is on the short list. It's really hard to form an opinion of a place by just visiting - you don't get the true feel for a place until you've lived there a few years.

My impressions of current Nashville:

Weather seems good (no MN winters or FL summers)

Diversified economy (not too dependent on any one industry or corporation)

City and country things to do.

Nicely situated in the middle of the US

Maybe I'm wrong in my impressions but I hope folks can chime in on (other than the music scene) what are the big postives and big negatives of living/life there?

Thanks all!

Taxes are a negative.

Taxes are a negative ANYWHERE!! No state tax though in Tennessee..........yet!

I Say Nashville Is The Place To Be. I've Been There So Much It's Almost Like Home I Love It. You Won't Be sorry I Don't think. SONNY.

Somehow a lot musicians who lived in Nashville moved to Austin texas...

Stay out of Davidson county. One of the outlying counties will be a trifle less expensive. The farther away from town you can stand, the better pricewise. South of town is more expensive than north.

We have no state income tax, but sales tax is 9.75%. Not very pleasant.

Summers are very humid, by and large, and winter can get pretty cold. Not MN, but not shirtsleeve, either.

Some guys move every year. Austin ain't that big a draw; it took the Willie crowd, that was about it.

It is nicely situated. 3 interstates merge here. Makes a lot of traffic, but the roads are really good. All the widening is done, I would think.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Sumner county is the place to be! North of Nashville
Mostly mild winters and can be humid in the summer. But, I wouldn't live anywhere else. Alot of good Music and Shopping close by and you don't have to drive far to be in the country!

Taxes are a tad higher in Davidson county but if you move farther out then it'll be more for gas and these days it makes a difference. I'm in Inglewood about 8 miles from downtown so it may take about 15 minutes to get there most anytime I leave. There's two of the best lakes in the country to fish at, Old Hickory and Percy Priest lake both 30 minutes from the time I leave until I put my boat in the water. Great places to eat almost everywhere and east Nashville has been transforming for a decade so it's a beautiful neighborhood to live in with great older homes and nice yards. The only thing that disappoints me about Nashville is the amount you make playing in bars or lounges. Unless it's one of the top bands in town or you're doing sessions, don't expect much at all. Texas is at least twice the pay for the same kind of places. You can make more money almost anywhere except here playing music.

I see you're from Virginia, so this won't surprise you, but anybody coming from a dry climate like the Rocky Mountains will probably hate the summers if you have to work outside at all. My first summer at Fort Campbell (a bit north of Nashville) I couldn't believe that human beings voluntarily lived there before A/C.

"The only thing that disappoints me about Nashville is the amount you make playing in bars or lounges."
When I visited Bobbe's store over 20 years ago, (he was in Goodletsville then) I told him what I was makin' 6 nights a week playin' in Cleveland, he was stunned! It was 3 or 4 times what players were gettin' in Nashville.
And, the climate seemed almost as humid as Memphis or St. Louis, or DC.

People knock Florida in the Summer but many "northern" places are as bad or worse. I lived in "Nashvul" in the early 70's and the winters wern't too bad but seemed like we got a lot of ice while I was there. I lived around the corner from Acuff Rose Publishing but that area is probably 100% different than when I was there.

I see a lot going north to Sumner Co and being retired you are not going to be commuting downtown to work.

I considered the Nashville area when I retired but opted for Central Florida (I'm about 65 miles north of Tampa), as the total cost of living, at the time, was less in Florida.

Someone mentioned what people got for gigs in Nashville. When I was there, "Broadway Wages" was $15 for a 4 hour gig. From what I hear it's not much better today.

Too hot and not enough rain.

My wife and I are both retired and we live in a Mobil-Home Park about 1½-mi. from downtown Nashville. I moved to Nashville in ’67 and was playing music for a living then, but; even though I don't play out any more, there is no place else that I'd rather live! Actually, most of the really severe weather always seems to go around this particular area where I live. (Either South, West or North) Actually, the state sales-tax is 9.25%, but; that's still on the high side! If you are not retired, with a guarenteed income; there are probably better locations to live in, but; in my case I have no intensions of moving from this spot! Since I moved here in ’67, I have also lived in 6-mo. in Honolulu, 7-yrs. in Pa. and 2-yrs. in Ms. and finally back here again in ’91. I felt like I was on the road for 9-yrs. and trying to get back home! And now I'm here for the duration! This is HOME!

As I mentioned in reply to another post, anyone moving to Nashville... I wish you well. It ain't what it used to be. I lived in Nashville 38 years and it went from a quarter million population to well over a million with all the big city problems. It just got too big and too nasty for me. Our sales tax rate has been mentioned and I might add that the sales tax applies to all things, including food. Also, being in the Cumberland Valley, Nashville has "bad air days" which adversly affects those of us with respiratory problems.

Having said that, don't get me wrong, I'm lovin' living in Tennessee but am happy to be here in Hohenwald (population less than 4,000) 80 miles Southwest of Nashville.

Ol' Don