• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Wellesley Square
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Camp
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Business index
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Kids
  • About us
  • Events
  • Natick Report
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Live government meetings
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Fire & police scanner
  • 2023 Town Election
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Beyond Wellesley: Tuning into Nashville

November 8, 2019 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

broadway nashville

You won’t find 2 more different places than Wellesley and Nashville. And that, of course, is the beauty of what people from either place will find visiting the other.

Nashville has so much to offer that you just don’t come across in Wellesley:

  • Vehicles driven by sober people lined on each side by drinkers peddling from their barstools while singing at the tops of their lungs.
  • Broadway, a non-stop party strip with country and other singers belting out tunes from open-air bars bearing the names of Kid Rock, Jason Aldean and others.
  • Pedestrians who more or less obey traffic signals.
  • A colorful pedestrian bridge linking the NFL’s Tennessee Titans football stadium to the central bar and restaurant area.
nashville at night
Nashville at night

 

peddlers nashville
A little rain didn’t stop the party bikes from cruising Broadway

On and under the surface, Nashville is more suited to grown-up visitors than families, though granted, we didn’t seek out activities such as the acclaimed zoo. We also traveled without renting a car, so confined our excursions to those within a reasonable walk, run or ride-share. 

I should mention that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Swellesley is much of a country music fan. We recognized some names and songs, but weren’t bowing at Music City’s altars like some visitors. We descended upon Nashville to attend a late-October journalism conference called the LION Publishers Summit, and take in the sights while there.

Nashville sights and sounds

 

We started off strong, taking a quick look at daytime Broadway after checking in to our hotel, which had a guitar-shaped pool we regrettably never used. Guitars are everywhere in Nashville, and southern charm and manners were alive and well, too. We made a concentrated effort to be friendly, and more or less succeeded.

We grabbed lunch at Acme Feed & Seed, which boasts a steady stream of customers and juicy brisket sandwiches. We ate on the rooftop bar, which

featured a nice view of the Cumberland River and the city at large. One nice find was Acme Radio Live, which has its studio in the restaurant building and provided background music for us whenever we went back to the hotel.

Acme feed & seed

rooftop view from Acme Feed & Seed
View from Acme Feed & Seed rooftop

 

We next popped into the Johnny Cash Museum. Touristy yes, and we had low expectations for our $20 entry fee, but were pleasantly surprised at the organization and solid collection of memorabilia. This included displays on Cash’s prison reform efforts, his acting career and remnants from Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s lakeside home.  We passed on the Patsy Cline museum, which was upstairs, not wanting to overdo it.

johnny cash museum

At night, we hit the Grand Ole Opry, which is now adjacent to a mall where an amusement park once stood. Tickets on a Wednesday night were easy to get (about $50 apiece), and from our balcony seats on the left side we had a fine view in this beautiful venue with a pitch-perfect sounds system. The Grand Ole Opry is throwback entertainment that works well for the modern short-attention-span crowd. It’s a variety show, and included a hokey warm-up act of singing and joking cowboys, followed by a series of talented singers, including a couple performers making their Opry debuts. In between sets, announcer Bill Cody read pitches, shared background on performers or history tidbits, and read notes about audience members (including The Swellesley Report). Grammy Award winners Little Big Town closed out the night with an energetic show. We pre-gamed at the Bavarian Bierhaus, which featured tasty brats and a punk polka band that assaulted patrons’ ears with their take on Beastie Boys and other music.

Grand Ole Opry
Kristian Bush performs at Grand Ole Opry

 

We spent the next couple of days at the conference at the expansive Music City Center. Offsite activities included a reception downstairs at the speakeasy section of FGL House and an on-our-own lunch at a 6-story Nashville Diner.

I ran the streets of Nashville most mornings to explore further. This included the statehouse, obligatory Andrew Jackson statue, and other state buildings. Another run took me through the greenery-and-brick of Vanderbilt University as well as Centennial Park (which community doesn’t have one?) and its remake of the Parthenon.

Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt University

 

nashville parthenon
The other Parthenon

 

Once the conference wrapped we became tourists again. This included a rainy day stop to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum (costs about $20 if you don’t go in for all the “experiences”). The museum, which is huge and well laid-out, attracts more than 1 million people a year and it felt like most of them were there the day we went. Maybe the latest Ken Burns documentary on Country Music has sparked additional interest.

Taylor swift costumes
Mrs. Swellesley sizes up Taylor Swift outfits at Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

 

country hall of fame records
Lots of award-winning records

 

nashville lyrics
Exhibits like this showed you how songwriters edited their lyrics, back before PCs

 

Country Music Hall of Fame
Lots of nice threads and instruments on display

 

Outside, we strolled the tiny Walk of Fame across the street from the museum that honored musicians from Jimi Hendrix to Dolly Parton. Inside, we learned about the roots of this genre, and the likes of the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, and took in displays of more modern artists such as Kacey Musgraves. Mrs. Swellesley even penned lyrics at the Taylor Swift Education Center. A nice surprise was the handout of tickets to see a young songwriter and artist named Josh Kerr, who played solo guitar, sang and answered questions from the crowd, including obligatory ones about how he got his break. We grabbed lunch that day at an historic and recently resurrected Woolworth on 5th, which served up burgers, shaved steak sandwiches, and tasty milkshakes (they’ve also got an extensive bar).

squash the armadillo game
Squash the armadillos game at Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

 

A busy Sunday in Nashville

 

We went our separate ways for the start of Sunday. Mrs. Swellesley attended services at an old Presbyterian church and then visited Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, which happened to feature a Halloween parade for dogs that day. Mr. Swellesley couldn’t resist attending the Tennessee Titans football game, since the stadium was literally across the street from our hotel and seats were available for a quarter of the price of Pats tickets. The Titans pulled off a win thanks in large part to their ex-Patriots players such as Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler (and I sat next to a Tennessee native who went to high school with Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts down there).

Titans fans
Titans fans cheered their team on to victory

 

We also scouted for a place to watch the Patriots play the Cleveland Browns and found our New England oasis at a place called Live Oak in the happening Gulch area of Nashville. The place was a scene. By game time, relaxed Tennessee drawls were gone, replaced with the staccato cadences of fast-talking east coasters. Sharp dressers were everywhere, some sporting Tom Brady gear, others with Julian Edelman attire. Nobody bade us “good afternoon” or called Mrs. Swellesley “ma’m” or Mr. Swellesley “sir.” We had found our people. The decor can only be described as tasteful and refined. Replicas of the Patriots Super Bowl banners greeted us, and signs behind the bar warned the unsuspecting that all TVs would be turned over to the Pats’ game at 3pm CST. 

Live Oak nashville patriots bar
Live Oak bar was crawling with Pats fans in the Gulch area of Nashville

 

We wound up our trip looking for dinner, venturing just off the main strip onto side streets such as the Printer’s Alley area. While we didn’t exactly know what we were looking for we somehow found it in Tazza, possibly the only restaurant in Nashville with no liquor license and no music. Our waiter greeted us, looking as worn out as we felt. We shuffled behind him to a dark booth at the far end of the place. It was us and one other couple, their heads bowed in prayer over their meal. We listened in. This was no hastily mumbled grace. The gentleman spoke loud and clear, reminding us that we did, indeed, have much to be grateful for. A couple blocks down the street, a straggly park served as a gathering spot for dozens of Nashville’s homeless and addicted. Like Boston, Nashville has its share of problems. As a tourist, the city felt as safe as Boston, and its problems felt as familiar. We navigated the streets without problems, the inevitable panhandlers accepting with good grace our head shakes to their requests for change. The city recently received a $3.5 million grant to address youth and young adult homelessness, as well as $3.5 million in federal funding to help Nashville reduce the number of people who sleep in shelters, on the streets or in encampments. 

 

cowgirls
Happy trails, Nashville

 

More ‘Beyond Swellesley’: Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon & 5K at Hampton Beach, N.H.

Support Swellesley: Here’s how to Advertise and/or Contribute to support our independent journalism venture

print

Filed Under: Beyond Wellesley, Churches, Gardens, Music, Sports, Travel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Riverbend, Natick

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

 

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Most Read Posts

  • Letters-to-the-editor day in Wellesley—important election-time updates
  • Wellesley business buzz: Board business liaison phased out; Help ID top business leaders of color; Hospital taps new president
  • Wellesley Cotillion makes a strong comeback
  • Business buzz: Nantucket wine bar to boast Wasik's cheeses; Needham Bank has new Wellesley branch manager; Thanks to new sponsor Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs
  • Wellesley Veterans Parade will be one big wonderful Tea Party

Upcoming Events

Jan 31
9:00 am - 11:00 am Recurring

Coffee and Conversation with the Wetlands Administrator and Staff

Jan 31
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Families Eat Together online presentation

Feb 1
11:59 pm

Deadline for Wellesley Hills Junior Women’s Club grants application

Feb 3
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

Feb 4
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sara Campbell winter warehouse sale

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • David B on Does Wellesley need a new traffic light? Slow down before you drive to any conclusions
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Peggy Heffernan on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Beth Dublin on Wellesley police officer injured in crash at intersection of Grove and Benvenue
  • Erika on Where to buy the Wellesleyest stuff in Wellesley

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (2)
  • Animals (428)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (592)
  • Beyond Wellesley (52)
  • Books (376)
  • Business (1,556)
  • Camp (10)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (236)
  • Construction (300)
  • Dump (130)
  • Education (3,189)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (36)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (47)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (46)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (613)
    • Wellesley High School (996)
    • Wellesley Middle School (204)
  • Embracing diversity (84)
  • Entertainment (814)
  • Environment (772)
  • Fashion (144)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (173)
  • Food (358)
  • Fundraising (641)
  • Gardens (164)
  • Government (604)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (866)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (399)
  • Holidays (440)
  • Houses (162)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (867)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (71)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (579)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (280)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (655)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (778)
    • Crime (395)
  • Politics (554)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (6)
  • Real estate (344)
  • Religion (138)
  • Restaurants (340)
  • Safety (155)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (127)
  • Shopping (163)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,012)
    • Athlete of the Week (12)
  • STEM (108)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (23)
  • Transportation (240)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,244)
  • Volunteering (350)
  • Weather (179)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (280)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login