To a certain extent, the traveler knows what to expect when taking the direct flight from Seattle to Nashville for a long weekend. The throngs on Lower Broadway at the honky tonks, the bachelor/ette parties, the face-melting hot chicken, the Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline museums, the Grand Ole Opry. All of it is fun, and none of it is unexpected. But on a recent visit we found quiet, intimate moments of discovery in loud, rambunctious Music City.

 

The Vault at the Gibson Garage

Step inside the green room at Gibson Garage and you will see two tongue-in-cheek framed military portraits, in the Napoleonic style, of Dave Grohl and Keith Richards. The Garage opened in 2021 and instantly became a music mecca for guitar heroes everywhere. The Vault displays extremely valuable vintage guitars, including “Greeny,” Peter Green’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul, and “Big Ed” the 1958 Korina Explorer that was so ahead of its time stylistically it looks like something Devo might have played. Visitors can purchase from the shop or design their own, and the carousel rack above is actually used to dry recently lacquered guitars, which is a practical kinetic flourish. Check the listings for live events and signings, Slash and Jimmy Page were recent participants.

 

The Blue Room at Third Man Records

Before he was a famous musician, Jack White was an obsessive upholsterer of furniture. He is also faithfully devoted to analog music, live performance, and yellow and black as a color scheme — and his Third Man Records reflects all of the above. Book a tour ahead, and after exiting the whimsical record shop you will visit the labyrinthine production and rehearsal spaces. The Blue Room is home to the direct-to-acetate, live-in-front-of-a-studio audience recording studio, the only one of its kind left in the world. Artists get one take, with no restarts, no mixing, pressed for perpetuity. U2 was so excited about the challenge that it took the equipment into the bigger main performance space. No spoilers here, but it was fascinating to learn that some extremely famous bands were far less enthusiastic that they would have no opportunity to fix their mistakes. 

 

Red Phone Booth

In the heart of downtown, across from the Tempo by Hilton Nashville Downtown, sits an incongruous curio that looks like it belongs in London. Prepare to dial the secret digits for entry to Red Phone Booth. To enter you must be a member or know one, but hotel concierges will be happy to hook you up. The staff is extremely cordial to dress-code compliant outsiders, exuding real hospitality. Even by modern speakeasy standards the vibe is swank, and the people-watching of Southerners dressed to the nines is off the charts. Glacier-cold martinis are the correct prescription for a hot summer night. 

 

Ellie Monster at the Shoppes on Fatherland

In the back of a small shop in a row of tiny bungalows of similar shops, Eleanor Lahey sews. She embroiders wild creatures (snakes, wolves) onto vintage Western shirts in her store Ellie Monster. From her original French Quarter store in New Orleans, she moved to Nashville in 2012. Her one-of-a-kind creations, as well as her handmade originals, have been worn by dozens of notable musicians and also, reportedly, by President Jimmy Carter. On a recent visit we admired a beautiful scorpion number, and she smiled and drawled, “I knew someone was going to pick that up, right away.” 

The Lab at Audrey

Charleston transplant Sean Brock is one of Nashville’s premier chefs, and Audrey is his flagship. The restaurant, an ode to the Appalachian cuisine his grandmother cooked, creates mouthwatering Southern food using classic techniques. Brunches are decadent. The seasonal, local menu is always in flux, but think caviar deviled eggs, buckwheat pancakes, country ham, shrimp and grits. Step behind the curtain into The Lab to understand the level of precision and commitment required. Hundreds of beautiful cookbooks line the shelves, and whiteboards, test tubes, and beakers proliferate. It’s like the Los Alamos of food. Among other culinary adventures, Brock and his staff extract the flavor from a bushel of tomatoes into a single test tube. They put one drop onto tomato salad, and it’s the best tomato salad ever. 

Lockeland Leather

Down a nondescript street in East Nashville, in a spiffy new industrial park across from a sign that says “Howdywood,” Joseph Verzilli plies his trade. The handcrafted leather artisan is the owner and founder of Lockeland Leather, and he is enjoying the roominess of his new 1,500-square-foot space. His infectious fascination with leatherwork resulted in a booming career, and this spotless, impressive production facility. He keeps his fridge full of libations — this would be a fun place to work. His primary business is high-end corporate gifting for big companies, and leather activations at shows and conventions. But his passion is still all about the details. Studio visits are by appointment only. On our visit we made keychains. Magnifiers and tweezers were required for embossing the leather, and he patiently assisted. He explained why the fishhook design was advantageous. The keychains were beautiful, and he tried to make us feel like we had something to do with it.

Jackalope Brewing Co.

Bailey Spaulding was a Vanderbilt law student with a background in homebrewing, so in typical DIY Nashville fashion she started a brewery. Thirteen years later, Jackalope Brewing is still going strong. The vibe is quirky, with a mythical beast motif. The delicious Fennario IPA shares its name with a fictional place and a Grateful Dead lyric. The company opened a second location, “The Ranch,” in 2018, which is now an anchor in the rapidly growing Wedgewood-Houston district. As gentrification set in, the neighborhood acquired the predictable name WeHo. Soho House opened just a few feet away in 2022. Spaulding muses that rents are going up. Jackalope is locked into its lease for now, but its new landlord is a Fortune 500 company. Uncertainty prevails, but with beer this good it should be just fine.