Getting the flavor of...Country music’s capital

Country music’s capital

“Get past the so-yesterday stereotype of Nashville as Hickville,” said Kitty Bean Yancey in USA Today. Though Tennessee’s capital proudly preserves country music traditions, it’s also “humming with cutting-edge nightspots, restaurants, and newly trendy neighborhoods.” Follow other “lovers of the offbeat” to East Nashville, where cafés like Mas Tacos Por Favor are “tucked into neighborhoods lined with modest bungalows.” Downtown has serious dining options of its own, including the classic Elliston Place Soda Shop and the acclaimed Catbird Seat Restaurant, with its horseshoe-shaped counter and $100 tasting menu. Nearby sits the “must-see” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Of course, Nashville’s biggest draw remains live music. Big acts play out near the airport at the Grand Ole Opry House. The talent at the more intimate Bluebird Café also never disappoints.

Tennessee’s other music mecca

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God bless Elvis, said Marjie Lambert in The Miami Herald. Memphis may not be the only U.S. city that can claim to be the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, but its favorite son left a legacy that can be measured in sites that any music lover will consider worth visiting. Graceland, Presley’s former home, opened for tours in 1982, kicking off a trend. Don’t miss Graceland’s indoor waterfall and shag-carpeted walls, but Memphis now also has the Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, the Stax Museum, the Gibson Guitar factory, and Sun Studio, and each “has its own soundtrack.” Sun Studio is the smallest of the group, but it’s where arguably rock’s first record was cut, in 1951, and visitors can easily imagine the night when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins all got together to jam. Even Memphis’s famed Beale Street didn’t make a comeback until Graceland opened. Thirty years later, it’s a nightly party.