Taking in the Sights of Music City

The US doesn't have a great deal of cities that are good to walk around, but central Nashville is one of the best of them. Walking up 2nd Avenue (or The District, as the locals call it) takes you past an array of bars, shops and eateries that feel right at home in Music City: western stores, with racks of cowboy boots, wide brim hats and good country style duds; barbecue grill houses, with painfully good aromas enticing you to gorge yourself on prime Tennessee steak. These all add to the atmosphere that is rounded off beautifully by the live music that drifts out from the bars dotted all the way down the street.

Music is ingrained in the place. Apart from the street-side performers that are littered throughout the city centre, there are some excellent music stores, selling records, guitars and everything else besides. With the Hard Rock Cafe boasting some genuine nuggets of music history gold all over its walls.

But of course that's not to say that Nashville is dwelling in its musical past. On the contrary, at virtually any bar you go into there's a stage set up with someone playing good, toe-tapping tunes to keep you company while you have a drink or two. This was perhaps what impressed me most about Nashville: it's openness. You could expect a place with this sort of history and stature in the music world to look down its nose at people a little, but in two of the bars I stopped in people from the audience got up to play a song with the band on stage or just lend their singing voice to the harmony parts.

Quick Tips:

Get a good map, first of all, and if at all possible I would recommend getting precise directions from someone who knows the place well if you're driving into town. It's very confusing trying to find the right exit from the freeway and if you miss by a little it's not a simple matter to get back on track. The people I was staying with missed it twice, and they only lived an hour way.

Also, Nashville has a huge number of events coming through it, either in the excellent Gaylord Entertainment Center or at one of the thousands of musical venues throughout Music City. So it pays to check the local listings and find out what's on when you're in town. Though country is the favourite, all kinds of music come through the place, so you should be able to find something to your liking. And of course if music isn't what you're after there are numerous other events that make a pit stop in Nashville as they tour around the country.

Best Way To Get Around:

As with most places in the States, you really need to have a vehicle to drive around in or at least have access to one. The public transport isn't great, and whilst the city centre is good for walking around in, it's advisable to stick to the city centre unless you know the place. It would be easy to get lost if you don't.

If you're not driving in then you're probably taking the bus. If that bus happens to be a Greyhound then you have my commiserations. I had planned to take a cross country trip on Greyhound with the girl I was travelling around with and one short section of that journey was enough to tell me never to go near Greyhound again. I'm rambling here though - if you do come in on Greyhound then thankfully the station isn't too far form the city centre, so it's a short cab ride in. Make sure it's short though, the cab drivers aren't shy about taking you the long way round if they think you're from out of town, so scout out the shortest route and make sure they take something close to it.

Once you're in the 2nd Avenue / Broadway area then the best mode of transport is your feet. It's a comfortable place to wander around in, at pretty much any time of day, so take your time and soak up the atmosphere a little.

The Hard Rock is one of those franchises that acts as a means of support for the city-hopping traveller. I love to experience local cuisine as I travel about, but no matter where you go, if you want to have something really good to eat then you stop, go to the Hard Rock and be assured that pretty much anything you order from their mouthwatering menu will hit the spot. I don't want to sound like an advertisement for the company here, but I do love my food and everything I've ever had there—in several different countries and on several different continents—has been tremendous.

The Hard Rock in Nashville was no exception. Again, it's extremely easy to find at the bottom end of Broadway—you can spot it by the huge guitar mural that stretches above the front entrance and the oversized guitar sticking out the roof. Once you're inside, the quality of the memorabilia on the walls is, as you would expect, very impressive. This changes periodically, I believe, but last time I was there there were items from Jimi Hendrix, Roy Orbison, Jimmy Page and a huge array of other legendary figures. Being a guitarist myself, it was a genuine thrill to be in the presence of some of this stuff.

Speaking of guitars, this was one of the main reasons that this particular Hard Rock stood out in my memory - the bar. It's in the shape of a huge half-guitar. Some would call it tacky but I liked it a lot. The decor is all put together really nicely and there's plenty of stuff to look around at while you wait for your food.

Now I can't speak for the whole menu, but I had hickory smoked chicken wings (they apparently smoke their own chicken, and if that's true then they do a wonderful job of it) and then a half pound chicken breast with mashed potatoes. If you're stuck for what to eat - eat that. It was spectacular.

The service was excellent and the beer was alright. It's the only time I've felt moved to buy one of their T-shirts (which has turned out to be very good quality). The only downside would be the size of the place. There wasn't too many people in when I was there, but it was kind of small inside and I did feel a little bit crammed in. As I was travelling on a budget, I balked a little at the prices at first, but once I'd tasted the food itself it suddenly all seemed very reasonable. All in all I would recommend it wholeheartedly but suggest that you try to go there at an off-peak time, so you've plenty of space to manoeuvre. If you want something cheap, look up the street to one of the grillhouses or cafes, but if you want something mouthwateringly good you could do a lot worse than this.

Also known as the Nashville Arena, the Gaylord Entertainment Centre is a magnificent venue. Throughout the year it plays host to a wide variety of different events, from ice dancing, through religious events to a variety of music concerts and WWE wrestling; but from September through April/May/June (when the season ends depends on how well they do) it becomes the stomping ground of Nashville's ice hockey team - the Predators. The NHL (National Hockey League) plays a lot of games throughout the season, so there's sometimes two or three in a single week and there are almost always single game tickets available if you want to stop in and see the action live. If you're lucky enough to be going to a Stanley Cup game then make sure you book your tickets as far in advance as possible as these will all be sold out pretty fast.

I'm a recent initiate into the church of hockey, and if you've ever spoken to a die-hard hockey fan you'll understand why I refer to it as a "church." Hockey fans love their sport with an all-consuming passion, and that's precisely why it's such a good idea to go along to see a game live, even if you're not a regular viewer of the game itself.

Coming from Britain, where wearing the wrong colour clothing at a football game can get you spat on or worse, it was enormously refreshing to attend a sporting event where fans of both teams can sit side by side, cheering and jeering at the top of their voices and never once worry about any trouble starting. Despite the fact that there are regular fights among the players down on the ice, hockey fans (and most other North American sports fans, it must be said) really seem to understand that their beloved sports are still just sports and, as such, there to be enjoyed.

If you've ever watched a hockey game on TV and been bewildered trying to follow the puck, it's actually much easier to follow in person. The back room staff do an excellent job too, coordinating the music, lights and video playback to really get the crowd involved at every stage of things.

Tickets range from $15 to $100 per seat, depending on availability, and if you want to get to a sold out game their website (www.nashvillepredators.com) offers a forum for season ticket holders to sell off single game tickets. In addition, the 'New NHL' post-2004 is doing a lot to bring back the fans so there's loads of really good family and friends style deals on offer, so if you can get a group together you'll save a lot of cash between you.

There's also plenty on offer in terms of food and drink and lots of merchandise, but be prepared to pay a lot for it.

In short - give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Tootsie's was named after two things—the woman who took over from the original owner, 'Mom', and named it Tootsie's and the pink orchid paint job that it got shortly afterwards. What this means to the traveller is that it's extremely easy to find. Standing out a mile at 422 Broadway, you can spot it by the big pink neon sign above the front door and the music drifting out at any time of day.

When you walk into Tootsie's, you're walking into a genuine piece of Nashville folklore. It established its reputation as a haven for 'pickers and writers' very early on and Tootsie is reputed to have slipped a few dollars into the unknowing pockets of down-on-their-luck songwriters when they came to perform. This is the open, traditional persona that it's cherished to this day and it's still a beloved haunt of many famous - or soon to be famous - country music stars.

Willie Nelson got his first songwriting gig after playing at Tootsie's and numerous of his contemporaries are famous supporters - the likes of George Jones, Patsy Cline, Kris Kristofferson and many more. Indeed this is one of the first things that strikes you as you walk through the front door: the Wall of Fame.

This is a remarkable thing to see. Every available inch is covered with pictures and memorabilia from the Orchid Lounge's more notable patrons and it's well worth going in just to have a look and see who you can spot.

I've only been in once while I was travelling round the States, but it was heaving with people and the locals I was with assured me that this is usually the case. In some places this can be quite oppressive but here it just added to the atmosphere. It was full to the rafters but everybody was obviously there to have a good time and to enjoy the music.

This is the other thing that strikes you immediately—the music. They have live music taking place from 10am to 2am every day of the week, and these are usually regular performers so you can rest assured that you won't be forced to sit through some drunken karaoke rendition of Stand By Your Man while you enjoy your beer.

This music is what makes Tootsie's worth checking out. The drinks are a little expensive, but that seems to be the norm for central Nashville and when you consider that you're paying for the entertainment too it's really quite a good deal. Overall, if you're coming through Nashville this is one place you should make a point of going into. Whether you're a country music fan or not, the atmosphere, the history and the tunes should combine to give you something to write home about.

The Wild Horse is one of Tennessee's top restaurants and night spots. It's a converted three storey warehouse that's been decked out beautifully in stylish decor and truly stunning artwork. Whether you want to actually have a meal or see a show there, it's well worth popping in to check out the murals that cover the walls - beautifully painted wild horses, galloping around the room (and in three dimensions across the high vaulted ceiling).

To only check out the pictures would be to miss out on a lot though. One of the premier live music venues in Music City, they host an array of concerts and performances from any one of their various house bands throughout the year. I don't remember the name of the act that was playing when I was there, but they were excellent and not so loud that you can't still speak to the people you're with. In addition the Wild Horse boasts the biggest TV screen in Nashville, free line dancing lessons on certain days of the week, good beer and excellent food.

For me, this was the best thing about the place: the food. They pull a lot of people through the doors year in, year out but the food is of a really high standard. If you do go eat there make sure you have something that's been barbecued. It doesn't really matter what, but they make just about the best barbecue sauce I've ever tasted.

You can find the Wild Horse on 2nd Avenue and it's open 7 days. It's a great place to drop into just to have a look around as you're wandering around Nashville's city centre, but I heartily recommend that you stop in and have some BBQ. It's not cheap, but it's worth every penny.