• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Best spots in Nashville?

TheArchitect

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2003
Messages
497
What are the spots to visit in Nashville that aren't on the tourist lists? Good shops? Places for the family? What would you suggest?
 

Jeff West

Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2002
Messages
877
Musicians Hall of Fame Museum should not be missed, assuming you might like to see Hal Blaine’s drumkit from millions of hit sessions, Hendrix Strat, Guitar’s played on Roy Orbison sessions , Reggie Jackson Guitar’s a nd Electric sitar from iconic singles, and much more.
They even had the original stage below, with restroo dooors, etc., I think it survived the flood 8-9 years ago.

607cb947130bcc7edef17f3969da1561.jpg


PS: This is not the same as the Country Nusic Hall of Fame and Museum, which is also a bona fide mind melting American classic
 
Last edited:

corpse

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
4,876
Roberts Western Wear on Broadway starting about 9.
 

Thundermtn

Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2016
Messages
548
You can't miss Carter Vintage! The staff there was the best in a music store I've ever experienced. Hands down the best guitar store I've ever been to, including Gruhn's. Check out Eastside Music Supply also, good stuff from awesome little shop and more pedals than you can shake a stick at. Rumble Seat has a Nashville store now, excellent selection of vintage amps, usually a couple 50's variety LP's in there as well. Don't miss Hattie B's fried chicken just a couple blocks off Broadway, seriously the best I've had in my whole life, bar none, including Grandma's! Get there early or you'll wait a half hour + in line, even if you have to wait, it's totally worth it. I got stuck in line with musicians so we talked guitars and mic's for a while, dude had a LP Standard from the first year Shaw's were in them. I love Nashville!
 

Ed Driscoll

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
4,691
Don't miss Hattie B's fried chicken just a couple blocks off Broadway, seriously the best I've had in my whole life, bar none, including Grandma's! Get there early or you'll wait a half hour + in line, even if you have to wait, it's totally worth it. I got stuck in line with musicians so we talked guitars and mic's for a while, dude had a LP Standard from the first year Shaw's were in them. I love Nashville!

If you've got the time, a trip to Lynchburg to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery and take the tour to see how they make the stuff is lots of fun. Speaking of fried chicken, the nearby restaurant, Miss Mary Bobo's has some surprisingly good comfort food, including fried chicken. Both highly recommended, but it's a bit of a drive to get out there.

https://www.jackdaniels.com/en-us/visit-us

https://www.jackdaniels.com/en-us/Miss-Mary-Bobos-Restaurant

Here's a photo of Jack and me* from this past November:

ed_and_jack_daniel_11-16-18-1-800x450.jpg


* Neal was nowhere to be found, sadly.
smiley_emoticon.gif
 

GuitarMikey

Active member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
910
The Parthenon in Centennial Park would be a cool spot for the entire family :salude
 

DoubleBoogie

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
Messages
4,800
Great info! I'll be there the weekend of July 19-21 to catch Larry Carlton's show at the Franklin theater. :salude
 

Mike_D143

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Messages
10
You can't miss Carter Vintage! The staff there was the best in a music store I've ever experienced. Hands down the best guitar store I've ever been to, including Gruhn's. Check out Eastside Music Supply also, good stuff from awesome little shop and more pedals than you can shake a stick at. Rumble Seat has a Nashville store now, excellent selection of vintage amps, usually a couple 50's variety LP's in there as well. Don't miss Hattie B's fried chicken just a couple blocks off Broadway, seriously the best I've had in my whole life, bar none, including Grandma's! Get there early or you'll wait a half hour + in line, even if you have to wait, it's totally worth it. I got stuck in line with musicians so we talked guitars and mic's for a while, dude had a LP Standard from the first year Shaw's were in them. I love Nashville!

Carters is amazing, and super friendly staff who are happy to let you try pretty much anything. If you get hungry from all that gear lust, walk next door to Arnolds, and get a real deal "meat and 3" southern meal. Or walk a couple blocks to the Peg Leg Porker for some amazing BBQ. Rumbleseat is fun, too, but small.

There's another location of Hattie's about 10 minutes west of downtown that has pretty much no line, so Uber over and enjoy.

If you like whiskey, go for a tour at the Pennington Distillery, which is on the way to Hattie's, so a worthy stop either coming or going.

Go to the Exit/In for some great music, and check the list outside of all the folks who have played there. Incredible.
 

renderit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,950
Aw! Why be respectful?

But I was just joking. I have not spent any time in either. Just passed through them actually. But sometimes I just like to stir the pot...
 

TheArchitect

Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2003
Messages
497
Made it to Corner Music and Gruhns. Gruhns was what I expected. 80% acoustic stuff and generally higher end. It was a fun stop but its not a place I would visit on the regular. Only if looking for something very specific they would cater to. I liked Corner Music a lot. The guys working were great. The selection from beginner to top end was there and they had all of the instruments covered as well as pro audio. Its the kind of place working musicians need to cover all their bases.

We made it to the musicians hall of fame. We enjoyed that very much as well. Forgive the term but so many of the instruments were rather "pedestrian". You almost expect some of these instruments to have an aura about them. They don't. They are just standard off the shelf things that you would never know were anything special in terms of what they are. I found it inspiring as a player to see that we have more to work with they ever did in terms of guitars and amps etc and honestly are pretty damn close with recording gear. Access to the gear to do astounding things is no longer an obstacle. Great spaces to record in might be all that's left and looking at some of the studio pics, that difference is not nearly as large as most think. With so much knowledge of acoustics out there, that is not a huge issue either.

The rest of town was nice. We went studio hunting. A lot of them being on music row made it pretty easy. RCA and Curb stood out on the street. The rest just blended away if you didn't know they were there. Even blackbird looked rather non descript if you didn't know what it was. What I found most interesting was how small many of the buildings were. Blackbird has at least 6-8 rooms plus the chambers, rental, school etc. From the outside you wouldn't think it would contain it all, even with the all the buildings on the lot.
 
Top