Tested a theory on my four-day visit to Nashville, Tennessee: What’s the neighborhood vibe beyond the legendary music halls? Covered my bases with tickets to the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium…just in case.
Glad I wrapped music all around me with high-energy concerts in both iconic places, but Nashville’s possibilities extend wider. Here are some ways I stretched beyond the obvious, and you might too.
I was hosted for this trip. Opinions are all my own.
Stay Longer to Explore 22 Neighborhoods!
Music City shows 22 distinct neighborhoods on one version of a Nashville map. I strolled around nine of them, sometimes only to eat a meal, sometimes to shop, always to feel the vibe.
The common thread? Expect music everywhere because at least 250 venues sound out live music in these neighborhoods. Notice creative people running all sorts of other businesses among those singers, songwriters and musicians.
Are you ready to explore off the beaten path? Let us inspire you!
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Begin Your Trip at The Listening Room Downtown
For certain, spend some hours at The Listening Room in Downtown Nashville. Singers and songwriters share stories of ever-weaving collaborations here, singing, strumming and filling in the background of how songs came to life. Twenty years of partnering evidence fuels this place.
Brunch, lunch, dinner and drinks happen in The Listening Room while the songs unfold. Hitmakers means entrees; co-writers/sides and encores/desserts.
Explore the 12 South Neighborhood
The Vibe…
Both sides of 12th Avenue, lining the neighborhood called 12 South, mix up national brands to check out in person with local shops given life by creative visionaries.
Build in time along this half-mile stretch south of downtown Nashville for morning coffee, or an afternoon pick-me-up, and the hearty lunch that introduces Nashville barbecue.
The Smell’s the Thing at Ranger Station
Here’s a place to expand what you know about scents, the kind with perfumes and with candles. Imagine the debut scent a decade ago of leather and pine, like a park ranger might love!
Fragrance is unisex here, and knowledge-filled staff delight in discussing new combinations to sniff and wear.
Belmont University in a nearby Nashville neighborhood called Belmont/Hillsboro Village is the alma mater of Ranger Station founders Steve and Jordan Soderholm.
12 South is Nashville, not Paris, so don’t expect the vibe of a French perfumerie. What I dab on my skin created here may release a different fragrance on your skin.
Reacting to individual pheromones – that’s Ranger Station science. No chemicals involved, only natural oils.
Candles can be molded into cocktail glasses, with a drink recipe provided too.
Body wash, shampoo and conditioner for people express Ranger Station scents and so does doggie wash.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Comfy seating on the patio in front of Ranger Station invites relaxed breathing with a long view of the street. Need a fix when in New York City? There’s a new Ranger Station at 316 Bleecker Street.
Sustainability Meets Style at imogene + willie
Take home a t-shirt with no side seams, and jeans dyed with natural indigo.
Swap sustainability stories with the imogene + willie care team (that’s what they call staff) who know precisely where the cotton was grown with no pesticides, and in ways to protect the land.
Looks like a gas station from the era when workers washed windshields and pumped that gas. Inside are baskets of colorful socks with messages and art, jeans, jackets and shirts with origin stories from multi-generational farms, yarn spinners and mills no more than 400 miles from Nashville.
This vibe? A community ecosystem of farming and manufacturing ending up with clothes fitted and altered if needed, right on site.
Expect live music out back on Fridays. This is a Music City neighborhood.
Other specialty fabrics for imogene + willie fashions come with creation stories too from Turkey, Japan, Italy and Portugal.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Expect to absorb at least three imogene + willie passions: regenerative nearby farming, manufacturing that’s an ecosystem, fashions that last, instead of heading for the landfill. Price points may seem elevated – $28 socks, $61 t-shirts, $250 jeans.
Visit Judith Bright for All that Glitters
When the yard sign declares “shimmer shack” and the first wall art inside the front door declares “together we are an ocean” – good chance the jewelry designs feel beyond routine too.
Judith Bright designs jewelry as a lifestyle, and says she always has. Artisans create in the shop too, visible in their studio where jars of at least 40 types of gemstones of many colors fill the back wall. They’re from all over the world.
The large Judith Bright showroom, the double foyer and the open designing space invite imagination, and possibility too, because affordability means $30 to $500. Think sterling silver and infill for the 14 karat gold.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Knowing that Judith Bright uses her jewelry mind for other causes too might trigger curiosity. She’s a certified end-of-life death doula and a supporter of the Tennessee Innocence Project ending wrongful incarceration.
Fun Places to Eat in 12 South
Frothy Monkey
Morning coffee or tea, maybe a mid-afternoon pick-me-up available midway along 12 Avenue with seating inside and out.
The monkey on the wall – painted and framed – overlooks frothy drinks served hot and cold. Golden monkey latte is the signature order. Think honey, cucumber, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cayenne, coconut milk powder and pink salt.
Full all-day menu too at Frothy Monkey with brunch or burgers, sandwiches, pastas and tacos. “Little Monkeys” is the kids’ menu, including PB and J or buttered noodles.
Edley’s Bar-B-Que
Meats are smoked with oak and cherry wood, rubbed with dry cayenne and finished with habanero pepper sauce. Why? Because Edley’s believes this creates the distinctively Nashville barbecue taste.
I experienced the flavor with a Tuck Special: sliced brisket, over-easy egg, the sauce and sides of fried pickles, only lightly breaded, and pimento cheese, which was spicy and made in-house, from scratch. Filled me for a busy day in the 12 South neighborhood and beyond.
Edley’s brisket smokes for 10 hours, or sometimes longer. Pork shoulder is chopped for platters, sandwiches and tacos.
Nashville’s proud of hot chicken, serving it in lots of places. Edley’s pickles the chicken tenders in jalapeno juice before frying.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Eating in Nashville and its neighborhoods always involves music and Edley’s likes paying homage to the collaborative style of songwriting. Ask for recipes or ingredient lists because the partnerships are often abundant, like songwriting teams.
Why Belmont/Hillsboro Village is Worth a Visit
Gallery of Iconic Guitars
Getting up close to maybe 500 guitars with specific stories offered me deep meaning on a vacation in Music City.
I don’t play, but could have with some of these. Others did. Touching encouraged in this gallery.
GIG is the place, an acronym with meanings about ever-changing jobs as well as the description of being a Gallery of Iconic Guitars.
Ever wonder what to do with a really big inheritance, like maybe you were the grandchild of musical theater composer Jerome Kern, of “Ol Man River” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” fame? Buy stringed instruments maybe.
That’s Steven Kern Shaw, who gave Belmont University all these guitars and mandolins. Makes sense that this Nashville school also has a College of Entertainment and Music Business.
People in the know would realize GIG’s Loar Quartet of rare Gibson master series instruments is one of six in the whole world. That’s a mandolin, mandola, mandocello and guitar signed by Lloyd Loar in the 1920s.
SheBuysTravel Tip: The benefactor wanted his gift collection to be played and heard, so go to GIG planning to touch and strum, or at least listen to others doing so. Parking’s free on this campus of 9,000 students.
Frederick Hart Studio Museum
Bonus sculpture museum across the hall from GIG, in the Belmont University Library. The Frederick Hart Studio Museum looks like a working studio, filling one large room with figures both classical (creation figures for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC), current (President Jimmy Carter) and visionary (clear acrylic resin which Hart pioneered). Sculptor Frederick Hart died in 1999.
All-Day Stay and Play in West Neighborhood
Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery
Stay all day. The 30 acres and magnolia gardens wrap around bourbon and wine tasting in interesting spaces. Pair libations with chef-designed food. And, oh yes, tour historic buildings too.
Thoroughbred horses and studs set high standards at Belle Meade. Kentucky Derby winners trace their lineage here. Meet some in portraits in the 1853 Greek Revival mansion.
Horse stalls now hold fancy carriages, museum style.
Wine tastings happen in a gift shop atmosphere and a canopy-of-magnolias garden. Names evoke the thoroughbred history. Racing Silk red, Carriage House white and Big Win zin appeared on my menu.
Wondering what to eat as well as sip? My Belle Meade winery menu included apple brie crostini, shrimp piccata, duck wonton, bison brisket with aged manchego, cotija and cilantro lime on flatbread.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Branch out from conjuring “historic site” images even though they’re traditional here, and plan to delve into distillery flavors. Book the Bourbon Experience in the former ice house for a cave-like space with intimate tastings and whiskey history.
The Nations Neighborhood for a Unique Shopping Experience
ABLE
Caring about the sources of what we wear and who makes our clothes and jewelry distinguishes this shop in a Nashville neighborhood named The Nations.
Same is true in the 12 South neighborhood at imogene + willie with deep stories of regenerative cotton farming and nearby milling.
Women succeeding in local rehabilitation programs become ABLE designers and developers.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Talk to the staff. Listen for the undercurrent of an ecosystem-everyone working together instead of an us and them vibe. I heard “co-creation” a lot.
When You’re Hungry Head to …
Iggy’s in Wedgewood-Houston
Insiders say We-Ho for the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood of Nashville. Locally sourced ingredients and handmade pasta, including gluten-free choices, head the list of favorites for repeat customers at Iggy’s, an Italian restaurant serving dinner. Closed Mondays.
Who or what was Iggy? Chef Ryan Poli says Iggy’s was a Chicago “cool but welcoming” late-night spot he and brother Matthew, general manager and beverage director, loved.
Lively mood in the Nashville version, energy palpable but the noise level acceptable with conversations quite possible.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Do order starters of the whipped ricotta onion jam on sourdough toast and the burrata with caviar. Peekytoe crab and sea urchin butter earned praise at my table, wrapped within pasta shells and roasted seaweed. Beef, pork and Parmesan for Rigatoni Bolognese satisfied others.
Husk in South of Broadway
With SoBro as the location nickname, Husk offers sophisticated service in an elegant 1880s building, early on the home of a Nashville mayor. Side and back gardens, open for strolling, present ingredients for dinner and dessert, and weekend brunch menus. Maybe for craft cocktails too; I forgot to ask.
Husk posts farm names in the foyer, indicating just how local and fresh the food sourcing is.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Plan to share everything because the colors and textures become as interesting as the flavors. Savor menu reading too. How often do you see burnt scallion bear creek strip steak or candy roaster squash? Peanut jerk shrimp and grits or sprouted cauliflower stand out too.
Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery in Charlotte Corridor
Start with the deviled eggs. Really. Start with lunch at Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery to savor the food. Then move on to the distillery tour. It holds more information than lots I’ve taken.
Those white egg halves are piled high with creamy filling. Each on a platter of six is topped with different colors, spices, flavors.
My sandwich was duck pastrami Reuben. Also memorable and abundant. Dessert? Whiskey pretzel bread pudding a la mode with whiskey caramel sauce.
Gannons in Downtown
The view from front to back at Gannons stretches long, and sort of narrow, with a small stage for live music at the far end. Fill the dinner table with appetizers because every one I tried tasted wonderful.
Hours: Breakfast starts at 6:30, dinner at 5:00. But happy hour launches at 3:00! No need to consider lunch here.
SheBuysTravel Tip: Anticipate attentive server attention, noticing needs and offering advice.
My Brussels sprouts surpassed the filet mignon in excellence, even though the creole mornay sauce with crawfish and shrimp added oomph. Turtle soup with sherry highly recommended.
Where To Stay
The Noelle (Downtown)
Downtown’s a good location and Gannon’s restaurant is just across the street from the Noelle.
Plus, often rowdy Broadway is an easy walk from the hotel.
Spaces: 224 rooms for private time. Gathering places feature floor-to-ceiling windows, balconies and stairways with intricate Art Deco railings well worth noticing, ample seating and art of immense variety. Hallways become art galleries too, but the type’s really small on cards identifying those artists, and hallway lighting is dim.
Eating and Drinking: Open a new sense of Mexican flavors at Lona in the Noelle lowest level. Add artistry to those tastes with the pottery–some evoking Day of the Dead themes–and the arrangement of the foods and flowers. Drug Store Coffee on the street level offers quick options while Rare Bird bar adds to the rooftop experiences.
Several Lives: 2017: grand reopening as The Noelle, representing the visions and Art Deco knowledge of 55 designers. The hotel’s name for the 1930 original opening? Noel after the founding family. For decades in between hotel life, the 12-story building supported varied businesses.
W Nashville (The Gulch)
Gulch is the neighborhood name for finding the W Nashville.
Spaces: 60 suites if you need extra space and 346 guest rooms in this 14-story Marriott Bonvoy hotel. The check-in lobby is intimate and personal. Outside, the L-shaped pool and various cabanas offer hints of privacy. Yes, the gym overlooks the Gulch neighborhood but the lawn for yoga and movement classes stands out as special.
Eating and Drinking: Titles leave no doubt at the W Nashville. To eat: The Restaurant. To drink: PROOF at the rooftop bar. For steaks and dry-aged meats: Carne Mare. For live music, drinks, light bites: Living Room.
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