Nashville, Tennessee: Music City USA
Nashville, Tennessee, the country-music capital of the United States and one of the world's most active recording-studio cities across country, rock, indie, gospel, and Christian-music production. Home to Patrick Carney + many CYS-profiled producers + studios. City facts, music-scene context, and fun trivia.
Reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
About Nashville, Tennessee
Population
~715,000 (city); ~2.1 million (Greater Nashville metro)
Founded
1779 (settled); 1806 (incorporated city)
Region
Middle Tennessee
Country
United States of America
Known For
Country music recording + publishing capital; Grand Ole Opry (radio show + venue, 1925-present); Music Row recording-studio district; RCA Studio B (where Elvis Presley + countless others recorded); Country Music Hall of Fame; the Bluebird Cafe (songwriter listening room); Belmont University music-business program
Notable Music Venues
Grand Ole Opry House; Ryman Auditorium (the Mother Church of Country Music); Bridgestone Arena; The Bluebird Cafe; Exit/In; Mercy Lounge; 3rd & Lindsley; Nissan Stadium
Music Row + the country-music industry
Music Row is the Nashville recording-studio + publishing district, centered on 16th + 17th Avenues South. The neighborhood houses the legacy studios (RCA Studio B, Quonset Hut, Sound Emporium, Blackbird, Ocean Way Nashville) + dozens of newer rooms, plus the major + independent country-music labels' Nashville offices, the music publishers, the booking agencies, and the songwriter rooms. The infrastructure has made Nashville the global country-music capital for over six decades.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum + the Country Music Association (CMA) + the Academy of Country Music (ACM) all operate from Nashville. The Bluebird Cafe (4104 Hillsboro Pike) is the canonical songwriter listening room + has launched many country + Americana songwriting careers.
Beyond country music
Nashville's musical output extends far beyond country. The city has been a major rock + indie + alt-country recording hub since at least the 1960s; Bob Dylan recorded Blonde on Blonde (1966), John Wesley Harding (1967), and Nashville Skyline (1969) at Columbia Studio A in Nashville. The Black Keys relocated to Nashville in 2010 (Patrick Carney + Dan Auerbach both currently Nashville-based). Jack White's Third Man Records is a major Nashville-based independent. Kings of Leon are Nashville-area natives. Modern indie + rock crossover has made Nashville one of the most-active recording cities in the United States.
The city is also the gospel + contemporary Christian music capital; Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business is one of the largest music-business education programs in the world.
Nashville fun facts
- RCA Studio B at 1611 Roy Acuff Place is where Elvis Presley recorded over 200 songs (more than half his catalog), Roy Orbison cut his hits, and the Everly Brothers recorded their best-known songs. The studio is preserved as a Country Music Hall of Fame property + open to public tours.
- The Grand Ole Opry began as a radio show on WSM in 1925; it is the longest-running radio broadcast in United States history. The Opry now operates from the Grand Ole Opry House (built 1974) but still uses the original wooden circle of stage flooring from the Ryman Auditorium.
- Nashville is nicknamed Music City USA officially; the city earned the nickname through the Grand Ole Opry's national reach + the city's recording-output density.
- Music Row's Quonset Hut studio (built 1954-55, demolished 1985) was the original Nashville commercial studio + tracked Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Brenda Lee, and many of the early country-pop crossover records.
- Belmont University's music-business graduates populate a substantial portion of the modern Nashville label + publishing + booking-agency workforce. The university's program is widely cited as the most-influential music-business educational pipeline in the United States.
- Nashville hosts the CMA Awards (annually since 1967, broadcast on ABC) + the ACM Awards + many other major country-music awards shows; the city's awards-show calendar is part of the music-industry ecosystem.
Related on CYS
Native + based CYS musicians. Patrick Carney (The Black Keys, currently Nashville-based).
Native bands. The Black Keys (relocated to Nashville 2010). Profiles for Kings of Leon, the Black Crowes, Paramore, and others pending.
Related locations. Los Angeles + London (the other major recording-industry capitals).
Also from Nashville, Tennessee
3 CYS profiles with documented base of operations here.