Hidden Bar Speakeasy in the Noelle
I wouldn’t say that the music makes Nashville, but more like Nashville makes the music. The city was once tapped as Music City USA, but that has changed. Nashville is now just known as Music City, because there is no other place in the world that does for music what this city does. Musicians from all genres come through Nashville to produce, write, sing, play, and record music. Listening to live music on Lower Broadway Street is an experience. Broadway is a major thoroughfare going through the entertainment district renowned for honky tonks and live country music. A honky-tonk is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. Folks come to Nashville just to go honky tonkin’, which means that they go from bar to bar listening to live music. I would equate it to the liveliness of walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but with folks donning cowboy hats and cowboy boots versus beads. Tootsies and Robert’s Western World are two of the most popular honky tonks’, but some of country’s most famous musicians have a stake in a honky tonk including Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, and Kid Rock. Justin Timberlake even opened an upscale Supper Club called the Twelve Thirty Club featuring laid back honky tonk. I was able to enjoy a couple of Old-Fashioned cocktails on the rooftop overlooking Broadway which brings me to whiskey and bourbon. Oh, the whiskey!
I’m actually more of a tequila guy, but Nashville is all about whiskey and bourbon. Not long after my arrival in Music City we were whisked (no pun intended) away on a Mint Julep tour, which is a guide to the best distilleries in Tennessee. I learned all about the history and process of whiskey making and was