Nashville

Few cities in the landscape of America's music culture have a more pronounced influence than Nashville, the nation's original capital of country music. Located on the Cumberland River, this musically charged city has a storied past that begins at the very end of the American Revolution, continuing to the Civil War, where it was the first capital overtaken by Union forces. After the end of the war, the city's position along an Ohio River tributary made it even more of a transit hub, and the population boomed within from 1860 to 1900. The city is most famous for its country music history, the original home to the Grand Ole Opry and the site of numerous recording studios that launched the careers of figures like Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. Then again, Nashville flirts with a modern culture, evident from its prized contributions to the visual arts in the Frist Center and the LeQuire Gallery. Home to hot chicken and historic Germantown, a district with a renewed spirit that accommodates culinary treasures and retail pundits, Nashville is so much more than its country music origins.