Picks and Pans – in and around Nashville, TN

Highway 70 is a great two lane way to see the verdant Tennessee mountains and the velvety green rolling hills. I loved driving through Eastern Tennessee and can see how people could quickly and easily develop a strong affection for this simply beautiful place.

I don’t know if you’ve all spotted the trend, but I love state park campgrounds. They’re reasonably priced, usually very clean and have rangers handy for any information you might need. Cedars of Lebanon lived up to my expectations and gave us yet another pleasant night in a state park.

At first glance, we weren’t sure that people in Nashville even drank coffee given the seemingly total lack of coffee shops (aside from Starbucks, that is) and just when we were about to give up all hope of finding a local coffee joint we found Portland Brew. It’s just our kind of place with local art hanging on the wall, free wi-fi and freshly brewed coffee.

This place seems like it’s been a part of Nashville since time immemorial. Its booths have juke boxes with country, rockabilly and blues. Its walls are covered with 50 year old posters advertising the joys of Purity dairy products. And it’s meat-and-3 plate lunches are not to be rivaled. It being Tennessee and all, I had myself some baked ham with slaw and butter beans (all of which were salty, creamy and satisfying in their own respective ways) and Sean’s BBQ short ribs fell off the bone into the thick, sweet sauce that we couldn’t help but mop up with our cornbread. The peach pie wasn’t anything to sniff at either.

We happened on to one of the best ways I could have imagined to spend a Saturday afternoon in Nashville while reading one of the local papers. Grimey’s, a neighborhood record store, was having a celebration of Record Store Day with free live music from noon til 8pm. We rolled in at around 4 and were treated to at least 4 (probably more) hours of music, fraternizing with the locals and a generally great day. We got to see bluegrass legend Del McCoury…. how lucky can two people get?!  Plus, we discovered a new band to love in The Ettes. Check ’em out, ’cause they can rock with the best of ’em.

After a long day in Nashville, Erica had to crash in the van, but fortunately we found a Comfort Inn walking distance to the Mercy Lounge. I think I was the only out-of-towner in the place… in fact, it seemed as if everyone knew everyone and the band too. Made me wonder if the Nashville music scene could get a bit claustrophobic at times. There was some seriously wankin’ guitar ballad rock from The Effects, Sterling Y, and Modoc. Wasn’t totally rocked by all of it, but some of it got my weary bones a shakin’ and it was good to see ballad rock is still alive!

So our initial concerns about the possible lack of coffee lovers in Nashville were rebuffed upon our discovery of Fido. On Sunday morning, people were lined up from front to back of the store to order their coffee and brunch and partake in the wifi and ubiquitous electrical outlets. With a spot this big and comfy, why would Nashville need any other coffee shop?

We drove into the Grand Ole Opry on our way out of town and, after meandering through the multiple huge parking lots, we arrived at what seems like the Disney World of country music. There were chain restaurants, a mall and a movie theater before we even got to the Opry itself. All this managed to turn us off enough that we decided it wasn’t worth it to battle the pouring rain to venture into the Opry house. For this reason, I will reserve all judgement as I have no evidence for and scant evidence against the grand dame of country.