Is Nashville still the unequivocal capital of country music? (Memphis: transplants, live)

[southsidegal6743]

I love country and I was afraid that since the area is becoming so transplant saturated it will lose some of the Grand Ole Opry flavor that makes the area famous to begin with.

Is Country Music influence in the area going strong? Waning? Is it still the "place to be" for an aspiring country singer in the same way that New York is for a wannabe model and LA for a wannabe actor/tress?


Does Nashville still have that certain "country/southern" feel to the city or is it just now more like Charlotte which is a city that happens to be in the south as opposed to a southern city? I am a bit more familiar with Memphis which while still a big city is unmistakably a southern city that has been heavily influenced by the Delta.

[DonCorleone]

I've lived here all my life and while I don't have my finger on the pulse of the music industry, I very much believe Nashville is a place to be for an aspiring singer, songwriter, or musician. Look no further than the CMA Fest this week in Nashville. That said, I believe our music scene here is more diverse now that maybe it has ever been. And I believe cities like Austin have developed their own music scene to the point that you can't call Nashville the only Music City in the nation...but the last economical study I saw on industry in the city certainly indicates that Nashville is still very much The Music City.

I recall back in the early 90s reading an article in the Nashville Banner (I'm establishing my old-timer legitimacy here with that sentence ) that lamented that Nashville was losing its music identity because country music was becoming so commercial, blah blah blah. Fast forward 20 years and the city has grown far beyond anyone's imagination yet the same fear/critique is still there. I'm not too scared. However, it is very much worth noting that Nashville doesn't depend solely on the music or hospitality industry (though both are key components of our economy). Healthcare and service industries are much larger employers, though "Hospital City USA" doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Music City USA does.

Nashville is still a town that attracts starry eyed musicians/songwriters hoping to make it big. All that said, Nashville is also becoming a city where it is increasingly hard for those starving musicians to find affordable housing...which is a major problem that the next mayor has the pleasure of addressing.

And as far as Nashville losing its southern culture/flair...I definitely think that we are in no immediate danger of becoming a Charlotte. We've definitely done a good job of keeping our identity in spite of the large number of transplants. We've got a welcome wagon, hauled by an old pickup with a driver named Darryl, that visits each new citizen and gives them Goo Goos and Moon Pies, a six of Yazoo, an iTunes playlist of Jason Isbell, Johnny Cash, and Todd Snider, a bag of Martha White's All Purpose Flour, and directions on how to circumnavigate Old Hickory Boulevard. That seems to help.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by southsidegal6743

Is it still the "place to be" for an aspiring country singer in the same way that New York is for a wannabe model and LA for a wannabe actor/tress?

Yes.

Originally Posted by southsidegal6743

...is it just now more like Charlotte which is a city that happens to be in the south as opposed to a southern city?

No.

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

playlist of Jason Isbell, Johnny Cash, and Todd Snider

Perfect! And by coincidence, exactly what you will find being played on Lightning 100.

[CountryGirl2b=]

Coincidentally, in Sunday's Tennessean there was an interview with Colin Reed, president and CEO for Ryman Hospitality.

"Nashville is the authentic music capital of the United States of America, period, end of story. Austin sort of says, "We've got more venues," and they may have and that's fine - they're a bigger city. But we're where the artist management companies live, the artists live, the recording businesses are here, the songwriters are here, and it's every day that goes by you see more and more people in the music business wanting to be in Nashville, Tennessee."

[golden eagles fan]

Though Nashville is still the country music capitol, did Branson, MO, still some of Nashville's thunder?

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

Though Nashville is still the country music capitol, did Branson, MO, still some of Nashville's thunder?

OMG No! They are totally different.

Branson is like Pigeon Forge. It is a manufactured, photoshopped, sanitized place where country artists you once liked but had forgotten about can still play.

Nashville has some of that manufactured "slickness" to it in places, but there is still a lot of authenticity here and definitely innovation.

Nashville is Thanksgiving Day. Branson is leftovers.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

Though Nashville is still the country music capitol, did Branson, MO, still some of Nashville's thunder?

If they stole any thunder, then they lost it on the way back to Branson.

[Drake744]

It's the unequivocal capital of bro-country music and that's a fact.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Nashville country sounds more like manufactured mainstream pop music than country.

For the real gritty, down-in-the-dirt, outlaw country music, that's coming from Austin.

Nashville and Branson are nothing like Austin. Especially Branson. Emmylou Harris once said she will never play in Branson again.