Music City
- Kyle Rogers
- Oct 14, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 29, 2019
September 4th-5th.
After Greenville, S.C. I was headed to Nashville, TN to stay a couple nights. The drive through the mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee was familiar to me, but always a gorgeous scenic drive.
I was about an hour outside of Nashville when I stopped to go the bathroom and saw a sign for Burgess Falls. I went into the gas station and asked the attendant about the Falls and he highly suggested that I make the short trip if I had the time. He also mentioned another park in the area that was nice, but then proceeded to tell me to be careful because it was dangerous and there had been a few cases where people went and never returned. I told him Burgess Falls will suffice. The park entrance was only 15 minutes off the highway and about a 15-20 minute hike. There were 3 waterfalls on the trail with the third being the largest. We don’t have anything like that around Raleigh, so it was pretty cool to see such a drastic change of scenery. I didn't stay long, but the hike to the main waterfall was amazing and well worth the side trip. I hiked back to the car and headed towards music city.
I finally got into Nashville sometime after 4, and If I didn’t mention it earlier, I hadn’t planned on where I was staying through out the trip, other than Greenville and San Diego. Each stop and place I stayed was planned out after or during the previous stops. Luckily, my sister actually helped research and found me a good Air BnB for Nasvhille. It was a nice cozy place located in the middle of West Broadway, which is what I believe is called Midtown.
Other than driving around Nashville years ago, this was my first visit to the Music City.
I took a few circles around the block, but I finally found the place I was staying at. Also, to the neighbor of the Air BnB, Jordan, if you’re reading this, you’re awesome. She kindly gave me plenty of suggestions of restaurants and bars to try and also saved me a FREE parking spot right out in front of the Air BnB, which if you have been to Nasvhille, finding a parking spot is probably just as hard as trying to make it in the music industry. The fact that I got a spot right beside my Air BnB, for FREE all weekend was amazing. Thanks Jordan!!!
I took my bags upstairs, unpacked, showered up and got ready to go get some food. As I walked out the door and headed to walk down the street, I felt I needed to go back and check something in the car. I just had one of those feelings I had left something or I was forgetting something. Well, as soon as I got to the car, I noticed the car was still running. That’s right, the car’s engine was still on. If you don’t recall, I got hooked up with a brand new Audi SUV from Enterprise. It was super nice and fancy, clearly too fancy for me. The car comes with a fob, so all you need to do is have that on you and then press the ignition button. No key needs to be inserted, so I was still getting use to this higher living. When I parked the car, I just never turned off the car for some reason. In the time the car was running, I had gone up stairs, unpacked, did some computer stuff, showered and got dressed for dinner.
After figuring out how to shut the car off, I was finally ready for my first night out by myself. Which honestly, was something I was looking forward to. There is something about being out of town and walking into a bar or restaurant and enjoying some food and a cold beer by yourself. It’s the complete opposite from high school. I’ve been the new kid plenty of times and the biggest fear is sitting alone at lunch at a brand new school...which I've done before. Oh but how the tables have turned because high school Kyle would be freaking out right now if he knew I would be excited to enjoy some alone time in a foreign environment.
I walked towards downtown in search for some food. I ate at the Mockingbird where I actually caught up with an old family friend, Anne. She was working the bar and hooked me up with an awesome cocktail. So that whole part above about eating and drinking by myself…yeah, that started at the next bar.
I left dinner to head towards Broadway and as I got closer, the bar signs got brighter and the music got louder. The streets started to echo with instruments and unique voices. I walked up and down the main strip just to take it all in. It was a Tuesday night, so the bachelorettes hadn’t polluted the streets just yet and was kind of a quiet night for Broadway. I ended up at Crazy Town where I sat at the back bar and had a few beers while listening to some live music. Since it was a slow night, I sat there and chatted with the bartender, who eventually hooked me up with some pretzel bread and cheese dip! Score! After a few beers, I walked back to my Air BnB and called it a night.
The next morning, I woke up and headed across the street to JJ’s market. It was a neat little convenient store on the corner of Lyle and Broadway. It was also a coffee shop in the back. I sat down and enjoyed my coffee as I dumped my footage in the computer from the previous day. After the coffee shop, I grabbed my camera bag and hit the town to enjoy the city and get some different shots. I stopped in the Gulch area to eat some lunch and I landed at Saint Anejo, which I highly recommend. Amazing chips and salsa and ohhh man the fajitas were on point as well. Tyler, the bartender who was working at the time, also gave me some insight on things to check out during my stay. He actually had friends who lived in Raleigh and would visit time to time. Small world. After fajitas and cerveza, I walked towards downtown to get some more footage around the city.
With each stop and place I stayed, I made sure to film as much as I could. To help tell my story and journey, I needed to have footage that would reference what I would talk about. With that said, I have a huge respect for filmmakers and editors who do this kind of stuff all the time. I enjoyed every moment of the trip, but I was constantly in the mentality of “I have to shoot this, get that, that would make a cool shot...damn it, I should have gotten footage of that” and it took a lot out of you. After walking what felt like a marathon worth, I headed back to shower up and get ready to head back out for dinner.
I can’t remember where I ate my second night, but I ended up sitting next to this guy at the bar who was tindering pretty hard. Not sure if he matched with anyone, but I wish him the best. Eventually I ended up at the Tin Roof where, shocker, they had live music. I will say though, wherever you go in Nashville, you are guaranteed to find some very talented people. It also gives me a huge respect for everyone who is out there pursuing their dream. There is so much God given talent in this world and it’s awesome to see people chasing their dreams, no matter how hard it is or what life throws at them. I discovered some really amazing musicians and bands the short time I was there, and can’t wait to hear them on the radio one day.
After some bar hopping my second night, I headed back around 12 a.m. to get some rest before I hit the road the following morning. Next stop, Little Rock, Arkansas.
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