Whose music or which song says "Nashville" to you???? (Knoxville: home, construction)
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Whose music or which song says "Nashville" to you????
I didn't want to hijack the thread of a med student trying to decide if Nashville was right for him so am starting a new one . . .
Dave (IngleDave - whom I have much affection for) wrote that he drove around Nashville this afternoon with Bob Dylan tunes. Nashvols agrees that Dylan is the perfect soundtrack for a drive around the city.
Maybe I am too, ahem , young for Dylan, but Dylan does NOT say Nashville to me (although he is playing the Ryman August 1st). I'm thinking maybe more The Band or if we go modern Lady Antebellum or Keith Urban . .
MAYBE because, Dave, you lived your all your life, you are flashing back to being 17 and cruising around the city and listening to Dylan.
Anyone else have songs that say "Nashville" to you? That you walk to, jog to, drive to, sing in the shower????
(Perhaps I have not been here long enough . . . . )
Thank you CG. When I drive around, I don't see things strictly as Nashville/Music City. That's only a part of it. I look at the buildings, but mostly the people. I see the tourists and the amazing diversity thereof, I look at the office workers scurrying around, the executives and rising stars in their nice suits checking their iPhones, the tattooed alt crowd, the workers in the carriages trying to show the Nashville tourists come to see with their best Music City vibe, the construction workers, the conventioneers. I see the homeless including some faces that are very familiar to me as I've seen them many times before. When you do that, never forget a human being lives behind those eyes and their lives probably weren't always as challenged. I look to see how people walk, what they look at, how they react to things. Some of my favorites are the tourists whom I guess are often from the middle of Mid-America as they look around in bewildered amazement. I see the professional musicians unloading their equipment as they've done hundreds of times before...quiet, confident and determined to do just what they do best. I see people on the streets watching them do that and looking with fascination. I see the future when I look at what will become a billion dollars worth of steel and stuff resulting in the new MCC, Omni, and Hall of Fame expansion. I'm amazed at how packed the streets are and much more so than I generally remember. I noticed tonight (yes, I went back after a nice dinner in the Gulch, another, different soundtrack, more upbeat, modern.) As I moved on, I saw how the corner of 5th and Church was busting at the seams with people going into and out of Puckett's. That corner sat dark for so long. I saw extraordinarily beautiful men and women all over town, but am no more fascinated by them than I am the countless people whose faces are full of storied pasts.
I've soundtracked all my life. Today was a Dylan day. His music seemed to fit the pace and depth of the things I was watching. I saw him play the Ryman a dozen years ago. I also worked at the airport, the old terminal off Briley. One afternoon, I was outside on the sidewalk to smoke, it was raining and I was standing beside a man in a black hat who was doing the same thing. I looked at him and said hello. He returned the courtesy and then I asked him, "Are you Bob?" It was. It was 1977. So, naturally, deep in my soul Bob Dylan provides a soundtrack to some of my travels. Mostly back then, Billy Joel's Piano Man was my travel music of choice. Now, along with Dylan, it's my old Acoustic Alchemy CDs (I saw them downtown at a former restaurant/performance venue called Milano's.) But I also might listen to the Commodores, Adel. It just depends on time of day, state of the weather and state of mind. When I moved to NYC, Billy Joel's New York State of Mind was a favorite on my Walkman. If you want true depth, Johnny Cash's "Hurt" will do you in a big way.
Today, it was Dylan and Patsy Cline. One thing I can say and I've found this to be true since I was first able to get out by myself and drive around. Nashville is full of characters, the city has morphed during my life from a smallish, southern city with downtown being full of grit and grim, perversion and religiosity…often on the same street. Often, I hear people, even from within our own state, claim Nashville has no history, no heritage, but they just aren't willing to accept that it's a rich, varied one dating back over 200 years and light years beyond the early founding days in sophistication and fascination. I would never be arrogant enough to discount another city's heritage knowing I was wrong, but saying it to make me look or feel better about myself. Not my style and from what I see on these forums, not the style of many others either.
So, go downtown, put on some of your favorite music. Country is not required, but recommended to be in the mix. Get tunes with a nice, rolling bass and set your time to the pace of the people. Your soul will thank you and you'll discover the soul that lives all around you. This is one special place among many special places and will give you a sense that your feeling the past in a very deep way and seeing the future unfold before your eyes.
Must have been the late coffee. Oh, and I take one thing back, country IS required. No doubt about it.
I've soundtracked all my life, too, and I find music to be as necessary as air and water.
As far as which songs say "Nashville," if I had to pin down one artist I would say Keith Whitley. But that's probably because he was huge back when I moved here and I associate his voice with that very exciting, emotional time in my life.
So I think the answers go back to each of our emotional associations with Nashville. No way to pin that down to one pat answer. The variety will be interesting!
OP -- Check out Dylan's 'Nashville Skyline' for a good Dylan Nashville experience. The Nashville Scene had a great article about the making of that album a couple of weeks ago.
My Nashville mix would be heavy in Emmylou Harris, Jack White, Johnny Cash, and David Gray. (David Gray is not a Nashville artist per se, but he's been here so many times over the last few years, and his music has such a roots feel that I have to include him on my list.)
Oh, and my quintessential Nashville song would have to be Daddy Sang Bass, a song written by the late, great Carl Perkins (my former employer!). Weird choice, I know. But when I see that old film of Johnny Cash, June Carter, Carl Perkins, and the Statler Brothers singing together, I'm reminded--and in awe of--the great talent that has called Nashville home over the years.
Wow . . . if I had expected such eloquent answers I would have been much more thoughtful in wording my question.
I have soundtracks, too. Songs that transport me back in the first chord . . . I think I haven't lived here long enough or haven't found the heart yet or haven't spent enough time DOWNTOWN yet!
There's no question that Nashville feels like home to me. Ah, I know . . I have been stuck at home with an elderly parent and a diabetic but still funny cat and MAYBE I need to go away for a couple of days and then there will be songs that remind me of (my new) home?
THANK you for all the thought you all put into answering my question. Thanks for 'getting' what I didn't say all that well. Thanks for the song suggestions.
No one mentioned "Rocky Top"? Too obvious?
Last edited by CountryGirl2b=; 06-24-2011 at 09:55 PM..
Reason: missing word
Probably not to people like me, transplanted Yankees. I just sing the "Tennesseeeeeee" part with gusto and mumble over "Rocky Top". Does Nashville have an "official" song?
NO official Nashville song that I know of. I like the Tennessee Waltz, although the FBI tainted it when they used that to name the recent political sting operation.
Newcomer to these parts myself CG2B but my husband and I love Jason Aldean's "Crazy Town". I think it came out two years ago but it was all over the radio as we drove from New Hampshire to Murfreesboro and we just associate it with our move and with Nashville.
Just love the city. Having grown up outside Boston we appreciate the different kind of city that Nashville is.
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, young for Dylan, but Dylan does NOT say Nashville to me (although he is playing the Ryman August 1st). I'm thinking maybe more The Band or if we go modern Lady Antebellum or Keith Urban . . 
I just sing the "Tennesseeeeeee" part with gusto and mumble over "Rocky Top". Does Nashville have an "official" song?
