Day Tripper, Monday Driver

I took the Monday after Thanksgiving off, so that my partner Brian and I could take a day trip up to Nashville. We started the day out at Assembly Food Hall. Assembly Food Hall is located at 5055 Broadway Place, conveniently close to the famous Ryman Auditorium and also the places we wanted to explore post-lunch.

They had many savory choices, but while we were there, we decided we’d have hot chicken from the Nashville Hot Chicken originator, Prince’s Hot Chicken. (You can find this specific Prince’s location in stall #2268 of the food hall.) I thoroughly enjoyed The Andre Chicken Sandwich with kickin’ ranch (xhot on their flavor scale) while Brian ordered the chicken tenders (also xhot). Speaking of which, Brian should have heeded the warning I was given about the heat level. He did not enjoy his meal (or the after-effects) as much as I enjoyed mine. He agreed it was delicious, but painful, and that he should have opted for a lower heat flavor, or perhaps one of the Hall’s 30+ other eateries. 

Afterwards we walked over to the Ryman, since it was so close, to see about buying tickets to one of the three nights that Dwight Yoakam will be there in January, but then I sadly realized that I have a board meeting on the first night he’s playing and then Brian has to work the other two. So looks like Dwight Yoakam will remain my unicorn band.

you are given a wristband

With this wristband you can save songs throughout the museum. Once you leave the museum you receive an email with all the songs you made and saved.

From the Ryman, we walked over to the National Museum of African American Music. The museum opened on January 30, 2021 and we have been looking forward to visiting it. The museum covers the complete history of African American music from enslavement to the present day. 

The museum is more interactive than most history museums I’ve been to. After you purchase your ticket you are given a wristband to keep. It is similar to the type of wristband you would receive at any major music festival. With this wristband you can use it to save songs throughout the museum. Once you leave the museum you receive an email with all the songs you saved and the ones you made. Your gallery of songs expires after 60 days, but you are given the option to download your songs and ‘favorite’ playlists on Spotify. Pretty cool!

The museum itself is spacious, making social distancing easy. 

Each exhibit has a station where you can listen to or even make music while learning the history, such as: Write Your Own Blues Song, Improvise, Roots & Streams (which links together musical influences and connections), Let’s Make a Hit: Producing, Create a Hip Hop Beat. There’s even a room just for dancing.

A short clip of Prince performing Purple Rain during the Super Bowl halftime in 2007 projected on museum wall. Article continues below image

We definitely took our time here and spent nearly 3 hours at this amazing place. I even bought one of those tiny mics from gift shop for potential storytelling on TikTok. (Maybe having some to hold will make me less nervous, doubtful, but we’ll see.)

After leaving the museum, we walked over to Hatch Print Shop. Hatch Print Shop is an historic property of The Country Music Hall of Fame. (So we’re sticking with the music history education here.) Looking back, I regret not taking the tour to learn more about how they have been creating posters for over 150 years, but it was still fun. We enjoyed the gallery where large prints for sale were on display. Brian bought a discounted print from the store for $5. While I was at the museum and the print shop I noticed a pattern with older posters. A lot of them had statements like “Live!”, “In-Person”, “Dance Concert”. I wonder if historians can date posters, by the time frame when it was common for event posters to have these messages. For example, many event posters today now have statements such as “masks required”, “vax required”, “negative COVID test required”.

event posters/FLYERS work

and make great souvenirs.

Which reminds me: Don’t forget event posters work. One caught our eye while we were in Savannah, Georgia back in May, and we went and saw a band we did not know. After that show, I took one of the posters down and it’s currently framed and hanging in my guest room. Posters can make a great free post show souvenir.

With all that said, I think with a little pre-planning, some fun in Nashville can be had and can definitely be walkable. It’s a great destination for a day trip, but the traffic on the way back home to Chattanooga was worse than the traffic going into Nashville. So I’m hoping next time we’ll have the time to stay the night, wake up, eat brunch and take our time getting home.

Please let me know your favorite Nashville brunch spots!