Touring Tennessee Day 21: Country Music Hall of Fame & Wildhorse Saloon

CrispyA · 4 Nov 17, 07:27 PM

We made it to breakfast a bit earlier this morning and fared a bit better with seating, so we all felt like winners.

After breakfast, we drove downtown and parked at the Nissan Stadium again, before walking across the bridge and up to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

We were there not long after opening time and as we were queuing to get our tickets, a man came along the queue to ask if we would like to go to the free songwriters session later on that morning? "Why of course we would" was our answer and so we got our tickets to the show.

The museum was absolutely fascinating and we really enjoyed it. The exhibits about the history of country music were really well done and we did smile at the Elvis section. There must be a by-law in Tennessee that absolutely every museum has to feature Elvis in some way - we were imaging the Tennessee Museum of Knitting having an "Elvis in jumpers" section. It was pretty cool to see one of his cars there though.

There was a new exhibit all about Loretta Lynn which was really good and made us realise that we didn't know enough of her music (we've rectified that now). Paul also got quite excited by the guitars, pausing to study each of them. This is Hank Williams guitar.

We went downstairs halfway through our visit for the songwriters session which was with Shawn Camp, who has written for Garth Brooks, Loretta Lynn and George Strait amongst others. He sat and talked about his songs and then played them for us.

It was a wonderfully intimate show and it felt like a real privilege to listen to Shawn talk about how the songs were written and then hear them. He told some great stories and we could have listened to him for much longer.

We hadn't realised that this happened on a Saturday so it was even more of a bonus extra treat and worth the price of the admission alone.

The museum is absolutely full of memorabilia and stories and we spent a long time there. We weren't as interested in the modern section downstairs - Luke Bryan's Diesel t-shirt doesn't really compare with the rhinestone suits that Nudie's Rodeo Tailors made for Elvis Presley or Buck Owens! There was quite a moving exhibit for Randy Travis though, talking about him performing Amazing Grace when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, after his wife gave his speech for him - he had suffered a quite debilitating stroke that had affected his ability to speak and sing.

When we came out, it was early afternoon. It is definitely worth a visit if you are a country music fan, or even just a music fan - the exhibits are really interesting and there is just so much to see.

We were going to revisit Jimmy Johns for lunch but as we had the car, we decided to make the short drive to East Nashville to a Taco place had been recommended to us by the Grahams, Nashville residents.

East Nashville was quite a contrast to the bright lights of Broadway - much more chilled out. There are some really good venues here and lots of good music, but unfortunately, we couldn't take the kids to those places. So we'll clearly have to come back . . .

We found Mas Tacos Por Favor quite easily and parked up nearby. It was a really hipster place, with mismatched furniture and plenty of man buns and beards. We all ordered a selection of different tacos and the food was really delicious, definitely worth the drive out there.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed in the room for a little while, before getting changed and heading back into town. This time we had to pay $5 to park as there was an event on nearby (Blackberry Smoke were playing at the ampitheatre) but after all the free parking, we could hardly object to that!

Heading to Broadway, there were again lots of loud shrieking groups on pedal taverns or in trailers being pulled along by miserable looking guys on tractors. It seemed worse at night and we kept the kids close by as we walked to the Wildhorse Saloon which was one of the few bars they could go to.

The Wildhorse is huge with a balcony overlooking the dancefloor. We got ID'd again, with one of the bouncers telling that I needed to prove I was old enough. He became my favourite person for that day! This time the kids had either a large M or W drawn on their hands - possibly W for Wildhorse or M for minor?

We sat on the balcony, enjoying the music iwith a Music City beer and judging the diners sat below us.

There were a number of couples ignoring each other while they sat on their phones and so many people over ordering food and leaving most of it. One couple ordered huge meals and ate barely half of their food. When they asked for a dessert menu, we couldn't believe it and were tempted to nip downstairs and ask them what on earth they were thinking? I know it's very judgemental but we really hate wasted food!

One of the reasons for going to the Wildhorse was for the line dancing class. The boys couldn't be persuaded but Hannah and I took to the floor to learn the Nashvegas Slide. It wasn't very difficult and Hannah, being a dancer, picked it up straight away and looked fantastic doing it. So much so, that lots of people around us were keeping an eye on her to copy!

We had fun doing the slide - see if you can spot us!

After the dancing, there was another musical act - a very young man called Preston James who had appeared on the Voice. His show was very high energy and good fun but the place was filling up and we didn't want to be walking around Broadway too late, so we headed back to the car after a few songs.

The Nashville skyline looked great from the bridge at night with all the lights.

We were quite hungry when we got back to the hotel - we hadn't had any tea as we'd had lunch so late. There was a Wendys across the road, so we had a quick walk there to get a snack. We were served by the very pleasant Rayshawn, who was clearly very new to the job. Paul managed to completely confuse him as well as he put the order on a tray for us by asking him if it was "good to go"? Poor Rayshawn then got worried that we had ordered "to go" rather than "for here" and we had to explain the language differences. It was all a bit embarrassing and we hope Rayshawn had a better night at work after we had gone!

Melbatb · 5 Nov 17, 05:52 AM

Another busy day - you certainly pack a lot on.

It certainly seems te place to go if you are a country music fan! The tacos sound delicious! I am with you are wasting food! And what fun on the line dancing - I have the rhythm of an elephant so no-one would be following me

**WileyCoyote** · 5 Nov 17, 09:03 AM

Hall of fame does sound good, dang nabbit !
Great day, Broadway is crazy isn't it, glad you had a good evening though with the dancing, my sic and people watching. It is terrible the amount of food waste isn't it. We shared meals a few times as the portions were so huge.
Sounds like a fun packed day
And I will be first in the queue for Elvis in Sweaters exhibition !

**RachelM** · 5 Nov 17, 05:58 PM

A very bust day but looks like you all had a great time x

katiebaz · 5 Nov 17, 09:46 PM

A great day, we loved the hall of fame too and your tacos sounded delicious, and I really want to see the Elvis in jumpers exhibition 😀

Poor Rayshawn, wonder if he still confused from your conversation...

CrispyA · 6 Nov 17, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Another busy day - you certainly pack a lot on.

It certainly seems te place to go if you are a country music fan! The tacos sound delicious! I am with you are wasting food! And what fun on the line dancing - I have the rhythm of an elephant so no-one would be following me

The line dancing was great - Hannah was totally fabulous!

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Hall of fame does sound good, dang nabbit !
Great day, Broadway is crazy isn't it, glad you had a good evening though with the dancing, my sic and people watching. It is terrible the amount of food waste isn't it. We shared meals a few times as the portions were so huge.
Sounds like a fun packed day
And I will be first in the queue for Elvis in Sweaters exhibition !

Yeah, the over ordering does bother me, as do the huge amounts of food that get thrown away.

Elvis in sweaters, Elvis doing science, Elvis eating food - the possibilities are endless!

Originally Posted by RachelM

A very bust day but looks like you all had a great time x

It was busy but so much fun!

Originally Posted by katiebaz

A great day, we loved the hall of fame too and your tacos sounded delicious, and I really want to see the Elvis in jumpers exhibition 😀

Poor Rayshawn, wonder if he still confused from your conversation...

I still feel a bit bad about Rayshawn . . . Hall of fame was one of the favourites of the whole trip

4 Nov 17, 07:27 PM	#1
	4 Nov 17, 07:27 PM CrispyA Imagineer
CrispyA Imagineer Join Date: Oct 11	Touring Tennessee Day 21: Country Music Hall of Fame & Wildhorse Saloon We made it to breakfast a bit earlier this morning and fared a bit better with seating, so we all felt like winners. After breakfast, we drove downtown and parked at the Nissan Stadium again, before walking across the bridge and up to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We were there not long after opening time and as we were queuing to get our tickets, a man came along the queue to ask if we would like to go to the free songwriters session later on that morning? "Why of course we would" was our answer and so we got our tickets to the show. The museum was absolutely fascinating and we really enjoyed it. The exhibits about the history of country music were really well done and we did smile at the Elvis section. There must be a by-law in Tennessee that absolutely every museum has to feature Elvis in some way - we were imaging the Tennessee Museum of Knitting having an "Elvis in jumpers" section. It was pretty cool to see one of his cars there though. There was a new exhibit all about Loretta Lynn which was really good and made us realise that we didn't know enough of her music (we've rectified that now). Paul also got quite excited by the guitars, pausing to study each of them. This is Hank Williams guitar. We went downstairs halfway through our visit for the songwriters session which was with Shawn Camp, who has written for Garth Brooks, Loretta Lynn and George Strait amongst others. He sat and talked about his songs and then played them for us. It was a wonderfully intimate show and it felt like a real privilege to listen to Shawn talk about how the songs were written and then hear them. He told some great stories and we could have listened to him for much longer. We hadn't realised that this happened on a Saturday so it was even more of a bonus extra treat and worth the price of the admission alone. The museum is absolutely full of memorabilia and stories and we spent a long time there. We weren't as interested in the modern section downstairs - Luke Bryan's Diesel t-shirt doesn't really compare with the rhinestone suits that Nudie's Rodeo Tailors made for Elvis Presley or Buck Owens! There was quite a moving exhibit for Randy Travis though, talking about him performing Amazing Grace when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, after his wife gave his speech for him - he had suffered a quite debilitating stroke that had affected his ability to speak and sing. When we came out, it was early afternoon. It is definitely worth a visit if you are a country music fan, or even just a music fan - the exhibits are really interesting and there is just so much to see. We were going to revisit Jimmy Johns for lunch but as we had the car, we decided to make the short drive to East Nashville to a Taco place had been recommended to us by the Grahams, Nashville residents. East Nashville was quite a contrast to the bright lights of Broadway - much more chilled out. There are some really good venues here and lots of good music, but unfortunately, we couldn't take the kids to those places. So we'll clearly have to come back . . . We found Mas Tacos Por Favor quite easily and parked up nearby. It was a really hipster place, with mismatched furniture and plenty of man buns and beards. We all ordered a selection of different tacos and the food was really delicious, definitely worth the drive out there. Back at the hotel, we relaxed in the room for a little while, before getting changed and heading back into town. This time we had to pay $5 to park as there was an event on nearby (Blackberry Smoke were playing at the ampitheatre) but after all the free parking, we could hardly object to that! Heading to Broadway, there were again lots of loud shrieking groups on pedal taverns or in trailers being pulled along by miserable looking guys on tractors. It seemed worse at night and we kept the kids close by as we walked to the Wildhorse Saloon which was one of the few bars they could go to. The Wildhorse is huge with a balcony overlooking the dancefloor. We got ID'd again, with one of the bouncers telling that I needed to prove I was old enough. He became my favourite person for that day! This time the kids had either a large M or W drawn on their hands - possibly W for Wildhorse or M for minor? We sat on the balcony, enjoying the music iwith a Music City beer and judging the diners sat below us. There were a number of couples ignoring each other while they sat on their phones and so many people over ordering food and leaving most of it. One couple ordered huge meals and ate barely half of their food. When they asked for a dessert menu, we couldn't believe it and were tempted to nip downstairs and ask them what on earth they were thinking? I know it's very judgemental but we really hate wasted food! One of the reasons for going to the Wildhorse was for the line dancing class. The boys couldn't be persuaded but Hannah and I took to the floor to learn the Nashvegas Slide. It wasn't very difficult and Hannah, being a dancer, picked it up straight away and looked fantastic doing it. So much so, that lots of people around us were keeping an eye on her to copy! We had fun doing the slide - see if you can spot us! After the dancing, there was another musical act - a very young man called Preston James who had appeared on the Voice. His show was very high energy and good fun but the place was filling up and we didn't want to be walking around Broadway too late, so we headed back to the car after a few songs. The Nashville skyline looked great from the bridge at night with all the lights. We were quite hungry when we got back to the hotel - we hadn't had any tea as we'd had lunch so late. There was a Wendys across the road, so we had a quick walk there to get a snack. We were served by the very pleasant Rayshawn, who was clearly very new to the job. Paul managed to completely confuse him as well as he put the order on a tray for us by asking him if it was "good to go"? Poor Rayshawn then got worried that we had ordered "to go" rather than "for here" and we had to explain the language differences. It was all a bit embarrassing and we hope Rayshawn had a better night at work after we had gone! __________________ West Coast July - August 2014, Howdy Texas! August 2015, Rocking in the Rockies July - August 2016, Bier, Bratwurst und Bahnsteige: Berlin 2017, Touring Tennessee 2017, Expedition East Coast 2018, Hola! Madrid 2019, Great Lakes Grooving 2019, It's Czech, Mate, Prague 2022, Veni, Vidi, Edi, Bibi Italy 2022

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