TENNESSEE - Nashville, the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and home to Vanderbilt University, is known for its legendary country music venues like the Grand Ole Opry House (home of the iconic stage and radio program); 
An emerging arts scene can also be seen. At the Frist Center for the Visual Arts - housed in an art deco post office - changing exhibitions are featured every two to three months. At Nashville Public Library's Civil Rights Room, visitors can explore Nashville's role in sit-ins that led to segregation ending; visitors can sit at a replica of one of the lunch counters where activists first assembled.
Nashville Home to Country Music
Nashville has long been known as Music City and has seen all sorts of musical genres flourishing there over time - from gospel and jazz to country and, more recently, Punk music. Nashville can trace its musical legacy back more than 100 years, to when Fisk Jubilee Singers formed in 1871 to raise funds for a school founded after the Civil War specifically to educate enslaved people; their performance before Queen Victoria was taken as evidence that Nashville should indeed become known as a city of music; hence earning it its nickname of Music City.
Grand Ole Opry House
Since its doors opened, country music legends like Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, and George Jones have graced the Grand Ole Opry House stage. When the Opry moved to its current venue in 1974, its old home at Ryman Theatre became known as Grand Ole Opry House; here was where genre-defining moments would occur throughout genre history; also where Johnny Cash made his mark upon country music audiences as an iconic performer.
Today, the Grand Ole Opry remains an essential destination for music fans. A tour of its facility includes photos and memorabilia of past performers - plus it houses the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum as well as an Opry Store selling CDs by artists inducted into its Hall of Fame, such as Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton & Carrie Underwood!
The Mother Church of Country Music
Visits to the museum give visitors a unique opportunity to witness Ryman Auditorium - known as "the Mother Church of Country Music." This historic venue saw Hank Williams and Dolly Parton start their respective careers there and hosts like Foo Fighters and Janelle Monae.
Broadway, the main street of the District, features numerous honky-tonks with live music nightly. It's an ideal spot for discovering rising country stars; some of the oldest bars, like Bluebird Cafe and Ole Ole Opry, are frequent stops for current stars like Dierks Bentley and Gretchen Wilson; The 5 Spot is another popular stop among rockers; its bands often perform on an intimate stage set against an understated red curtain backdrop and attract hundreds of music enthusiasts each night.
