Music City, U.S.A., Nashville, was our destination for the weekend.
We arrived on Thursday and checked into the lovely Thompson Nashville hotel. I was happy to see the musical theme of the hotel – they had a god selection of vinyl albums and a turntable in the lobby. I was equally happy to see a very nice coffee shop off the lobby. The room was equipped with a Marshall blue-tooth speaker system and a really interesting coffee table book showing people with their record collections. The room was excellent – probably the nicest we’ve stayed in with a huge claw foot bathtub and shower.
A walk downtown stretched us out after travel and also let us know that the SEC basketball championship was in town – the place was infested with Kentucky fans in their blue shirts. We could hardly navigate Broadway, the street with all the music bars and clubs, for all the basketball hoopla.
After our exercise we headed to the rooftop bar to enjoy the beautiful day and downtown views with some great cocktails (mine was called “The Battle of New Orleans”). Then we had dinner at the Marsh House, a new John Besh restaurant in the hotel – the ceviche appetizer was delicious. Next it was off to the co
ncert that was the main reason for our trip. We saw the Southern Soul Assembly perform at the City Winery. This is a group of 4 singer songwriters – Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard, JJ Grey, and Luther Dickinson – who usually perform on their own but did this short acoustic tour where they each take turns singing with acoustic guitars. The music and the venue were both excellent – we appreciated the table seating with food and drink service and the sound was very precise. We had heard Anders and Marc perform separately before and both agreed that JJ Grey was the star of the show. Here are JJ Grey, Anders, and Marc – you can decide which you like best but the variety was really entertaining.
Friday started with coffee and the crossword followed by a workout on the elliptical machines. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Little Octopus near the hotel. We were disappointed they didn’t have ceviche at lunch but enjoyed the Caribbean style food very much.
After lunch we walked to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. We 
had a pleasant couple of hours exploring the exhibits and learned quite a bit about the local Nashville session musicians who played on music by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash and a host of others.
I was interested in the original song notebooks – particularly the one with one of my favorite songs, Angel from Montgomery by John Prine. It was fun to get inside a guitar too.
On the walk back to the hotel we stopped for a picture of Diana with her new angel wings – do you see the guitars in the wing design? We laughed as Diana jumped in between a group of silly young girls who were taking forever to take multiple typical teenage poses in front of the wings. There was another couple waiting patiently and Diana told them, “That’s how it’s done”.
We repeated 
Thursday night’s routine with a trip to the rooftop bar at the hotel – quite a bit colder this time though so we sat inside. Then it was a quick Uber ride over to the Butcher and Bee restaurant – excellent Mediterranean food. The night finished with a quick visit to the Sambuca music club across from the hotel where we enjoyed a good cover band.
On Saturday we awoke to snow outside – it’s amazing how the weath
er in
March can go from almost 80 degrees one day to snow the next. The coffee, crossword, and workout routine was repeated and then we headed over to Husk for brunch. Husk is in a small house in a residential/industrial neighborhood just outside downtown and had a great Southern brunch menu. The food was served on plates that looked like they were sliced from a tree trunk. One last delicious meal in Nashville before we had to head back to the hotel and pack up for the airport.
On the walk back to the hotel we made a diversion to visit the Third Man 
Record factory and store. This is run by Jack White of the White Stripes band. Have you heard of them? Diana hadn’t and didn’t recognize their song “Seven Nation Army” when I played it on my phone on the walk over.
The store was completely unique with old style listening booths and rediscovered blues recordings from the 20s and 30s that Jack White has repressed and released. I picked up a turntable mat with the Third Man logo for the turntable in my office at home.
A very enjoyable short trip to Nashville that we hope to repeat again sometime soon when there’s another good concert at the City Winery.