Tennesse - Nashville

After our adventure out yesterday we thought it might be good idea to prebook our tickets for the Country Music Hall of Fame and the guided Studio B Tour. Good thing we did as it was sold out when we got there in the morning to pick up our "will call" tickets.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is one of the world's largest and most active popular music research centers and the world's largest repository of country music artifacts. Early in the 1960s, as the Country Music Association's campaign to publicize country music was accelerating, CMA leaders determined that a new organization was needed to operate a country music museum and to carry out research and education activities beyond CMA's scope as a trade organization. Toward this end, the nonprofit Country Music Foundation (CMF) was chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964 to collect, preserve, and publicize information and artifacts relating to

the history of country music. Through CMF, industry leaders raised money to build the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened on April 1, 1967. Located at the head of Music Row, the museum was erected on the site of a small Nashville city park. At this point, artifacts began to be displayed and a small library was begun in a loft above one of the museum's galleries.

To become more accessible, in May 2001 the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum moved to a new, 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) facility in the heart of downtown Nashville's arts and entertainment district. In 2014, the museum unveiled a $100 million expansion, doubling its size to 350,000 square feet of galleries, archival storage, education classrooms, retail stores, and special event space.

Other historic properties of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum include the letterpress operation Hatch Show Print (located inside the museum) and Historic RCA Studio B (located on Music Row); Nashville's oldest surviving recording studio, where recordings by Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, and many others were made.

RCA Studio B was built in 1956, originally known simply by the name “RCA Studios”. It became notable and famous in the 1960s for being an essential factor to the development of the production style and technique known as the "Nashville Sound". They eliminated the "spoons", banjo, slide guitar and the "twang" out of the country songs; developing a sophisticated style with background vocals and strings. The Nashville Sound both revived the popularity of country music and helped establish Nashville’s reputation as an international recording centre.

The RCA Studio is home to over 1,000 number one hits; located centrally in the historic Music Row district. Beyond the countless recordings made by legendary music artists here, Elvis Presley is known to have made more than two hundred song recordings at this location - his favourite recording studio throughout his career.

We toured the Country Music Hall of Fame as a self-guided tour and

then participated in a guided tour of Studio B recording studio. Our tour guide was amazing. She has lived in Nashville for 11 years and works part-time as a tour guide and performs at night at various locations in the city. I have never met someone so informed and enthusiastic about the music scene in Nashville. She was a real gem to have as a guide.

We wanted to check out another DDD location in Nashville for lunch , heading to Arnold's Country Kitchen. Arnold's Country Kitchen was opened by Jack and Rose Arnold in Nashville, Tennessee in 1982. In the years following, Arnold's has been written up in publications such as Garden & Gun, Maxim, Southern Living, SAVEUR and Bon Apetit - all of whom share the same love for Arnold's as the locals in Nashville. That's because Arnold's is a 'mom and pop' family business. On any given day you can bet you'll find at least three of us Arnolds here cooking and serving the folks lining out the door.

While we were out for lunch we stopped by Carter's Vintage Guitar Shop. They have some antique guitars that are priced up to $35,000 USD. You can pick up pretty much and stringed guitar-type instrument and its accessories at Carter's. If you can't find it here it probably doesn't exist. Amazing!

When we first came down to the Country Music Hall of Fame we parked in a lot for $10 (probably one of the cheaper options. Many lots go for $25-35 for

single entry parking). They did not restrict parking to a single entry and as long as there are spots available we can come and go as we please. A great find just off of Broadway. We definitely got our moneys worth out of that parking spot.

So.. after our day touring we headed home for dinner and a visit with Roxy. After dinner we headed back to Broadway street to check out some of the live music at night. There was a fair number of tourists out, but not nearly as busy as Sunday - thank heavens. There are truly some remarkable musicians out there, just hoping to get a break into the music recording scene of things. We went bar hopping all the way down to the waterfront; listening to a couple of songs at each place we entered into. A great way to experience Broadway Honky Tonk.