The plan was to head downtown in the morning, see the Country Music Hall of Fame, kill the afternoon in a live music venue, and head back to the motel in time for a late dinner and an evening of writing. Instead, around midnight I found myself doing tequila shots with the band in a dive bar, singing along to “Gimme Three Steps” for the fourth time that night, and declaring that country was the Best. Music. Ever.

(I think that may have been the tequila talking, but now I’m sober I will say this: country just might be the best drinking music ever.)

The SEC women’s basketball championships were in town, and Tennessee was playing Louisiana State – downtown Nashville was crawling with fans wearing head-to-toe orange, and here and there pockets of noisy LSU fans in purple held their own, too. Everyone was going hard, and in the first bar I stopped in at – Tootsie’s Wild Orchid Lounge, a Nashville classic – the two sides got into a bidding war over whether the band would play “Rocky Top” or “Louisiana Saturday Night”. (The band collected over a hundred dollars in bids. Then they played both. Repeatedly.) As I have been everywhere else on this trip so far, I was wowed by the friendliness and total lack of inhibitions (I mean, in terms of shyness or self-consciousness or standoffishness) of seemingly everyone down here. I had started out the night planning to drink water and take some notes, but the vibe was just too much fun to resist – I wound up sucking up the cab ride and collecting my car in the morning, and it was totally worth it.

My interest in country music has never gone beyond Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, but Nashville was a blast – proof that you don’t have to be a hillbilly to enjoy what the town has to offer. The Country Music Hall of Fame was pricey, but fascinating – I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the history of American music. The exhibits do a great job of showing the development of country and its various sub-strains, and how they tie into other musical trends and traditions, and to events in the world more generally. I don’t think I’m going to rush out and buy a whole whack of new albums anytime soon, but from now on I’m going to give the genre a little more respect.

Soundtrack for the night: 1) “Folsom Prison Blues” 2) “Rocky Top” 3) “Louisiana Saturday Night” 4) "Gimme Three  Steps" 5) “Family Tradition”

Tootsie’s is a must-see, a historic dive with no cover and live bands upstairs and down, all day everyday. Robert’s Western World had an older crowd and a quieter vibe, but the musicians were seriously talented. The Wildhorse Saloon is a rowdier club-type spot with free line-dancing lessons. I can’t remember the name of the karaoke joint where I finished the night, but it was across from the Wildhorse, and everyone that went up made the kids on American Idol seem lame. Nashville has a serious over-abundance of talent.

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It’s been a hectic few days. I’ll be glad to arrive in Memphis tomorrow, where I’ll stay for a blissful three nights! I spent Wednesday and Thursday nights in Charlotte, then headed to Columbia on Friday – I liked both cities a lot, not in a touristy way but in a “this is probably a pleasant place to live” kind of way. Friday night I had my first-ever night in a press box at the Columbia Inferno game, and boy did I feel important! I did a bunch of interviews pre- and post-game, including a visit to the team’s locker room with the requisite peep show. (No wonder there are so few women covering men’s sports… Awkward much?) Saturday was an epic drive from Columbia to Nashville (okay, maybe not epic – it took 8 hours including a stop for lunch in Asheville – yum! – but that is a long time to spend alone in a compact sedan…), Sunday you’ve already heard about, and today I tackled my hangover at Waffle House (another “first” for me) and headed south to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where I'm settled in at a Super 8 with a pretty view of a lake.

I’ve been making a mental list of places I want to get back to someday soon, and Asheville and the whole Great Smoky Mountains area is definitely on it. The views made my long drive on Saturday a lot more interesting, especially the stretch from Spartanburg to Knoxville, and I managed to dodge that huge Tennessee snow storm too, which was a bonus.

What else? Today I had my first “wow, you’re not from around here, are you?” moment when I walked into a Piggly Wiggly (another first!) on the outskirts of Tuscumbia, Alabama, and asked where I could find the hummus. The salesgirl said, “Ummm, I don’t think we sell that… But at least I know what it is, right?” I decided not to follow-up with a question about baba ghanoush, but I did ask myself this: The store sells those pre-cut baby carrots, just like at home. What do the folks around here DO with baby carrots, if not dip them in hummus?

I guess that’s all for now. By this time tomorrow I’ll be settled into a cabin at the Memphis Graceland RV Park and Campground. Woot!