Live music surrounds you in Nashville. Not only are there dozens of clubs featuring live country and bluegrass music, as you'd expect, but there's also a very lively rock scene. Jazz, blues, and folk clubs are also part of the mix, as are nightclubs and songwriters' showcases. And, of course, there's the granddaddy of them all, the long-running country music radio broadcast known as the Grand Ole Opry.
Some of this music can be found in unexpected places: street corners, parking lots, parks, or hotel lounges. Like Memphis, the city overflows with talented musicians who play where they can, much to the benefit of visitors to Nashville.
If I've given you the impression that Nashville is a city of live popular music only, let me point out the city's well-rounded, if lesser known, performing arts organizations. Nashville boasts a vibrant symphony orchestra, opera company, ballet company, the state's largest professional theater company, and several smaller community theaters.
The Nashville Scene is the city's arts-and-entertainment weekly. It comes out on Thursday and is available at restaurants, clubs, convenience stores, and other locations. Just keep your eyes peeled. Every Friday, the Tennessean, Nashville's morning daily, publishes the Opry lineup, and on Sunday it publishes a guide to the coming week's entertainment. Nashville nightlife happens all around town but predominates in two main entertainment areas -- The District and Music Valley. The District, an area of renovated warehouses and old bars, is the livelier of the two. Here you'll find the Wildhorse Saloon and two dozen other clubs showcasing bands on any given weekend night. On the sidewalks, people are shoulder to shoulder as they parade from one club to the next, and in the streets, stretch limos vie for space with tricked- out pickup trucks. Within The District, Second Avenue is currently the main drag -- where you'll find the most impressive of the area's clubs. However, there was a time shortly after the Civil War when Printer's Alley was the center of downtown Nashville nightlife.
Within a few blocks of The District, you'll also find the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and several other clubs.
Music Valley offers a more family-oriented, suburban nightlife scene. This area on the east side of Nashville is where you'll find the Grand Ole Opry Nashville Palace, and Texas Troubadour Theatre, we well as the Opryland Hotel, which has bars featuring live music. The Five Points neighborhood of East Memphis, just south of Music Valley, also has a growing number of excellent cafes and bars showcasing local talent.
Tickets to major concerts and sporting events can be purchased through Ticketmaster (tel. 615/255-9600), which maintains a desk at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center box office. A service charge is added to all ticket sales. Finally, for a comprehensive list of live music, performing arts, and sports events, visit www.nowplayingnashville.com.
