That Crazy Town - Nashville Tennessee

While in Nashville we had been thinking of doing some sightseeing but from what I read on TripAdvisor.com the Opry isn't what it used to be and the Country Music Hall of Fame focuses a lot of attention on old time country and that just wasn't working for us so on Friday April 1 we decided to go down to downtown Nashville check out the music that was playing in the multitude of bars that play live music. As we had the RV in the airport parknig we took the shuttle to the main terminal and caught a taxi from there to downtown. That decision came from deciding that $25 one way was a  lot cheaper than checking out the food in the Nashville jail.

We had the driver let us out near the convention center and then we started walking. In the following video you will see just some of the street views from the area around the convention center including the Wild Horse Saloon which was only in restaurant mode when we stopped. We had also passed by the Cadillac Ranch and it was closed so we didn't get a chance to go in there. The three best stops were Coyote Ugly which you will see at the end of this video. Our two favorite stops, Buck Wild and Tootsie's which will be in the later videos with some of the live music. I really did love this sign that was behind the bar at Coyote Ugly!

We stopped at Buck Wild towards the end of the afternoon and saw they were doing karaoke. Not just amateur karaoke but some up and coming names were there too. The bartender, Kristen, was from Chicago and was singing when we entered. When Bill went up to get drinks from the bar she got them for him and never missed a beat. She was very good but then another singer sent around the tip jar as she wouldn't sing for free -- and did she have a voice.. Her name is Casey Simpson and she was actually a finalist on Nashville Star. In my opinion anyone who can sing Pat Benatar and sing it well has one hell of a voice. She is waiting to catch a break to hit the big time and as the song says, "everybody plays and everybody sings". She is planning on trying out again for American Idol and I would definitely be voting for her! We stayed there for quite some time and just had a ball. Junior decided (after a nominal amount of beer) to get up on stage and try singing. Well, we aren't sure but we pretty much think that he didn't realize that in karaoke he needs to actually SING the words out loud! It seems he forgot.


http://www.caseysimpson.com/
http://www.buckwildnashville.com/


After leaving Buck Wild we headed over to Tootsie's which is about the most famous bar downtown. It was the starting place for many country artists including Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and others. I have always wanted to learn how to play the fiddle -- NOT violin music but bluegrass or Celtic type fiddle music. The band that was playing, which we never caught the name of, had an awesome female fiddler who couldn't have been more than 25 years old but boy could she "rosin up the bow"! In all, it was one of the best nights out that we have had for a long, long time. I would recommend that everybody check out the music scene downtown if you are ever in Nashville.


http://www.tootsies.net/