The Steel Guitar Forum

I’ll be in Nashville August 10-14. Hoping to stimulate the live music economy, if allowed.

Can anyone suggest a part of the city if you were staying a few nights? Where to avoid ?

Hope to see some of you.

Thanks, and stay safe.
Steve Spitz
New Orleans, LA

while obviously others can and will chime in, when Nashville was part of my sales territory, I stayed DOWN 65 S in Brentwood, no traffic either direction and maybe a 10 minute drive to downtown Nville. Easy access to the Broadway exit off 65 in the downtown area.

Plus Brentwood has some very fine eateries and BBQ !

There is a Comfort Inn (on Demobreun) and a Best Western just west of the broadway area and east of music row that is cheap for Nashville and within 15-20 minutes walk of the clubs. East of Broadway area across the river there is an area with a lot of hotels I stayed in once and didn't feel comfortable there. Any of the hotels in the downtown area around Broadway should be great but costly. In the Gulch area the Fairfield Inn is exquisite and you might get a deal there, fairly close to Broadway and a high rent area, it is one of the nicest hotels I have stayed at. Close to Opryland and the Nashville Palace there are a number of chain motels really close to the Palace and Music City Grill. If school hasn't started you might find a hotel close to Vanderbilt. I have been there a lot so if you have question about an area or special place please ask. It may be better now but the parking around Broadway is out of this world, no free street parking anywhere anymore. They do have some small bicycle powered and also Rhino type vehicles that act as taxis, they are open air so you might like them better than taxis. Concerning the Brentwood area, it used to be remote but now it is incredibly congested and the drive to Broadway from there is really far except maybe on Sunday morning. I checked just 2-3 days ago and the Opryland Hotel was closed, a really bad sign.

Darrell Criswell wrote:Brentwood area, it used to be remote but now it is incredibly congested and the drive to Broadway from there is really far except maybe on Sunday morning.

Well I can't speak to the congestion today,but its only around 8 miles to Brentwood down 65 . The Airport area and going out towards the Opry on 155 is probably the same distance . but there are tons of Hotels out that way.

I have stayed downtown a few times but always found it to be very limiting in both where to stay, parking and FOOD .

NVille is a nice city , a fun place to visit, but with it comes all the stuff associated with a "city ".

Now add that in Brentwood is Judge Beans BBQ, simply the best ! When we go back to Nville were going to Brentwood for the BBQ alone !

Hi Steve, I hope things open back up by August. Our mayor seems bent on starving everybody out.While so many musicians,clubs ,restaurants etc.are limited or plain closed or out of work,he is wanting a 32% property tax hike. Not good.

Hi Steve , I’ve stayed several times at the Marriott downtown. It’s just a few blocks off broadway. Nice walk to all the bars , restaurants, shops on broadway then you can hop a cab back that night.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the tips. I suspect I may do more eating than seeing live music. Hard to say what the city will be like in August. Any and all tips for a Nashville vacation greatly appreciated.

When you come to New Orleans, let me know , happy to help.

Stay safe, and thanks again.

Steve,
At this time, Only two Musicians are allowed on stage. So it will most likely be two acoustics.

Hopefully it will allow full bands by then. I have a feeling a lot of Musicians moved back to there home state as there was no money to be made here. Heck, there wasn't much money to be made anyway, but at least a bit to keep them here.

Average pay yearly ranged 35k or less and probably less. Before taxes.

The last 5 or 6 times we were in Nashville we stayed in the Goodlettsville/Long Hollow road area.

Jack Stoner wrote:The last 5 or 6 times we were in Nashville we stayed in the Goodlettsville/Long Hollow road area.

Not far from Where I live.

No matter where you stay in Nashville the food is incredible...It has become a world class town in so many ways. For an 8 to 10 mile drive into Nashville I plan on a 45 minute drive...Our afternoon rush hour providing there are no accidents starts at 4:30ish to 7:30. Mornings 7:00 to 9:30...Staying downtown is best and expensive. Its best to uber everywhere, especially if drinking or going there every night is planned. Also parking is expensive downtown.

my wife and I visited nashville last august...it was amazing.

we stayed in the five points area of east nashville at an airbnb. food around there was incredible, there were lots of great shops and sights within walking distance, and catching an uber to downtown was like 5-8 bucks.

who knows what the deal will be with live music by august, but we found broadway to be hit or miss (mostly miss), but we dug the bars out near the opryland, like scoreboard and nashville palace.

nashville is an amazing city, and not just for music. people were super cool, food was too good (bring the rolaids), there were great antique shops, and there's amazing historical stuff there if you're into that sort of thing (visiting the franklin battlefield was a highlight for me).

Franklin is really a quaint nice town, unfortunately it is suffering the extreme growth that plagues the area.

Thanks guys, Some really great info here. Appreciate it.
Sounds like my diet is going to take a hit at the very least. I’ve been trying to lose ten pounds during this quarantine. Only twenty more pounds, and I’ll make my goal....

Franklin wrote:No matter where you stay in Nashville the food is incredible...It has become a world class town in so many ways. For an 8 to 10 mile drive into Nashville I plan on a 45 minute drive...Our afternoon rush hour providing there are no accidents starts at 4:30ish to 7:30. Mornings 7:00 to 9:30...Staying downtown is best and expensive. Its best to uber everywhere, especially if drinking or going there every night is planned. Also parking is expensive downtown.

Great Tip from Paul. UBER is the best way to get around Nashville. I stay near the airport most of the time and it is convenient UBER to downtown. However, I like driving into the Opryland area and taking in shows at the PALACE or MCB&G.

Good Seeing you in Dallas Steve.....trying to get Da Lloyd to go with me to Louisiana soon. if we do go, I'll hit you up. Some time with you, Richard Comeaux and Dave Easley would be great.

Charley

I didn't think Uber was very available with the virus situation.

my wife and i were in nashville last april no real country music down town on broadway. just bad rock. no need to ever go back

Yeah, I have been going there for ten years and it has really gone downhill. However, there is still a bit of country. Some still at AJ's. I think the Nashville Palace has really deteriorated, the music there has been so loud you cannot sit and listen and mysteriously the bands I listened to complained about the loudness also. Music City Bar and Grill in the Nashville Palace area has a few good bands, Joshua Hedley in particular..

My friend Justin Weaver and his wife have one of the nicest AirBnB’s around. Super clean and maintained and not too far from downtown. Justin is a killer guitar player.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16945346?& ... 6887e1bb6c

After a few years here, assuming it will be business as usual by then (which I doubt) here are some recommendations- for highest steel guitar content, I'd suggest the Palace/Scoreboard/Music City Bar and Grill area- all bundled together. Sure bets are The Time Jumpers, Jernigan at the Station Inn, and Chris Scruggs and his killer band at the Local. Apart from a few venues and restaurants, downtown feels as cultural as Bourbon St on the weekend- if you have to go, I'd suggest parking at Nissan Stadium and walking the foot bridge- nice views of the city, and save that $30 parking $ for food/musicians. I'd suggest staying on the East Side for walkable neighborhoods and a high concentration of great food. The American legion off Gallatin hosts a Honky Tonk Tuesday that's worth checking out- it's a little traditional, a little hipster country, and there was that one time Paul F and Vince G backed up Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris showed up for a few- glad I didn't stay home and watch TV that night.

Great tips , thanks. Hoping live music is returning, as I know you all do.
Thanks again,
Stay safe,
Steve

in opryland theres several affordable hotels as well as nashville pallace and music city bar and grill which will have steel guitar tuesday wed nights is the playboys which is the best band in nashville im there on thursdays

Mike: Their websites say the Nashville Palace is indefinitely closed and the Music city bar and grill says they have no live music. Has that changed? Thanks!

Appreciate the tips guys I’ll follow up. What is closes today, might be open in mid August, or so we all hope.
Stay safe and thanks again,
Steve