The American party city home to honky-tonks, music legends and some of the world’s best cocktails
A VIOLIN screeches loudly from the speaker next to my ear as the band on stage charge into another frantic fiddle solo.
The piercing shriek startles me so much that I drop my fried bologna sandwich — something the locals had insisted I sample.
It’s fatty and salty, with crunchy lettuce and a spicy kiss from the drizzle of hot sauce.
This is how they eat on a night out in Nashville, Tennessee.
A fried meaty treat in a packed-out bar, accompanied by an unending playlist of country classics.
It’s a real assault on the senses, but far from unpleasant.
On the contrary, I’m having a magnificent time.
Ask any Nashvillian worth their salt where to end up after a day exploring and they’ll mostly say the same thing — “Go to Robert’s”.
That’s exactly where I was. It’s a bar on the city’s famous Broadway, a strip of neon-lit honky tonks, peddling booze and bluegrass, mainly to tourists.
Although Robert’s has also built a reputation among those from nearby, who visit every night to sample the town’s best known export: music.
In fact Nashville is so famous for its musical heritage, it carries the title “Music City”.
That used to be Music City, USA, but now they see their reach extending far beyond the borders of their own country.
And it’s a well-deserved nickname too, with every square inch carrying some reminder of the wealth of talent that has passed through its streets.
The country music hall of fame and the Grand Ole Opry theatre are just two of hundreds of shrines to the town’s favourite genre.
While places like RCA Studio B, where Elvis recorded Are You Lonesome Tonight in pitch darkness, or The Bluebird Cafe, where Taylor Swift and Kings Of Leon were discovered, remind you that this place has produced a great deal more than just a few ditties with banjos and fiddles.
The rest of the city is similarly versatile.
Of course, the spit ’n’ sawdust saloons that attract stag and hen parties and those looking for a drunken hoedown are there in abundance and absolutely worth a visit.
But beyond the debauchery of the Broadway strip, a great deal more exists.
Sport, for example, is huge in Nashville and if timed right, visitors could take in three different events in the same weekend, all within a five-mile radius.
The NFL’s Tennessee Titans, the newly-formed Nashville Soccer Club and ice hockey stalwarts the Nashville Predators are all so close to one another, they could be caught by a throw of the same lasso.
Menu printed in wingdings
Despite knowing little about ice hockey before my visit, a Predators match was my experience of choice.
I quickly found myself getting swept up in the drama of the game, bellowing Americanisms like, “You suck!” or getting my hopes up at the chance of a fist fight breaking out on the ice.
I’d gone to the game initially for the spectacle, but the infectious atmosphere had me baying for the blood of the visiting team, the LA Kings.
Nashville — or Smashville as they’re affectionately known — won, which naturally meant a return to Robert’s to celebrate.
However, Nashville’s nightlife isn’t limited to beer, sandwiches and music.
In fact, the sheer depth of food and drink on offer in a city containing fewer than 700,000 people is extremely impressive.
I experienced the full gamut of what was available there, ranging from cheap yet cheerful tacos at places like Red Headed Stranger to wonderfully intricate, yet pricier Asian-inspired dishes at Sunda, demonstrating the pull of Nashville for all palates.
Although visitors of all persuasions would be hard-pressed to find a dish they liked more than the Tennessee specialty of “hot chicken”.
Hundreds of places have it on offer, but Prince’s and Hattie B’s are the two purveyors to whom most locals pledge an allegiance.
Good food isn’t limited to evenings either.
The likes of the Buttermilk Ranch and Edley’s Barbecue are famous for their artisan breakfast pastries and catfish sandwiches respectively — both of which were so deliciously moreish the very memory of them is enough to tempt me into hopping on the next flight back.
However, it was one of Tennessee’s more well-known creations that had me considering a permanent move to Music City — the bourbon.
While most restaurants have well-crafted bourbon-based drinks to sample, the city’s cocktail bars and lounges rival the selection I’ve seen almost anywhere else, including London, New York and Tokyo.
Each of them put the hackneyed Jack ’n’ Coke to shame with an unrivalled array, highlighting just how big my blind spot was for American whiskey.
Justin Timberlake’s Twelve Thirty Club and Pushing Daisies were among the standouts, while the Fox cocktail club’s pretentious offerings delivered new and exciting tastes with each sip.
For the most part, I had no idea what I was drinking, and would’ve understood the menu just as much had it been printed in wingdings.
But if you go in and trust the experts with your selections, your tastebuds will thank you, I promise.
In fact, trust everyone in Nashville with their recommendations because pretty much everything they have to offer is worth sampling.
GO: NASHVILLE
GETTING THERE: British Airways and Jet Blue fly from Heathrow to Nashville from £433pp return. See ba.com and jetblue.com.
STAYING THERE: The Rodeway hotel in Nashville has rooms from £69 per night, while One Hotel has rooms from £272 per night. See 1hotels.com.
For more information, visit visitmusiccity.com.