Music City (Nashville!) in Black & White

Music City, #37. Nashville, TN, 2018

Recently, we found ourselves in the “Music City” of Nashville, Tennessee for a few days for a workshop of sorts–and, of course, I made a few pictures whilst strolling about.

So, today I offer up a brief B&W tour of this historic city–it was a short visit so my visual story is obviously very incomplete. These are just a few things that happened to catch my eye in the limited time I had.

All images were handheld and made with the pocket-sized, but surprisingly capable, Sony RX100ii and processed through Abobe’s Photoshop Elements, then converted to monochrome with Nik/DXO’s Silver Efex Pro.

If you walk around the Music Row area, you’ll see sound studio after sound studio. Inside, a paradise of padded walls, glass enclosures, buttons, meters, and dials awaiting all you budding American Idols out there. I am not 100% sure, but I believe this is the back side of Sound Stage / Sony Tree Studio at 8 Music Square West. (You musicians can correct me if I’m wrong!):

Music City, #1. Nashville, TN, 2018

An example of some classic early 20th century architecture nicely preserved in among the studios in the Music Row area:

Music City, #2. Nashville, TN, 2018

This place is hallowed ground for many, although the buildings have changed over the years–Studio A, and Studio B (The Quonset Hut). Artists who have recorded here include Bob Dylan, Charlie McCoy, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Buddy Holly, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Rich, The Byrds, Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Simon & Garfunkel–sort of a mini-Hall o’ Fame. It is now an educational center for entertainment and music students:

Music City, #3 (Columbia Records Studio A). Nashville, TN, 2018

Music City, #4 (Columbia Records Studio A). Nashville, TN, 2018

Music City, #9 (Columbia Records Studio A and the Studio B Quonset Hut site). Nashville, TN, 2018

The building at 49 Music Square West sports some wonderfully large and attractive numerals. Apparently, this is currently just office space–not a historic site for music fans as far as I know (yet!):

Music City, #6 (49 Offices). Nashville, TN, 2018

Surprisingly, there are other jobs to be had in the Music Row area besides recording engineer and recording artist. This example probably pays better (at least more consistently) than that of “up-and-coming-singer”:

Music City, #8. Nashville, TN, 2018

Outside the BMG offices, the posters boast the latest hits. I checked out the videos on YouTube out of curiosity. The last time I listened to country music with any consistency was 40 years ago. The scene and sound has changed drastically since the Tammy Wynette, Charlie Pride, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Jr., Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn days:

Music City, #10 (BMG), Nashville, TN, 2018

The Warner Music offices are hidden back in here somewhere (see the fine print on the door?):

Music City, #12 (Warner Music). Nashville, TN, 2018

Then it’s on to the downtown area. Nashville sprouts some awfully modern architecture for a “country” city:

Music City, #14. Nashville, TN, 2018

Cummins Station was originally built next to the railroad tracks as an industrial warehouse way back in “ought-six”, 19-ought-six (1906), that is. It is now a modern work center with restaurants, offices, and unique retail outlets. In this image, I especially liked the bird and the plane converging in the sky above:

Music City, #17 (Cummins Station). Nashville, TN, 2018

And a mural just down the street at 10th and Demonbreun. Plants as musical notes, perhaps?

Music City, #15 (Parking Lot Grafitti). Nashville, TN, 2018

A segmented construction crane at the Marriott on Demonbreun Street was my attempt to add interest by including, in this case, a sort of distorted, tripartite “center o’ interest”:

Music City, #17, Nashville, TN, 2018

Another perspective on the new 33-story JW Marriott:

Music City, #18. Nashville, TN, 2018

Reflections on the downtown Nashville Convention Center. You can see the Bridgestone Arena in the glass if you look closely–the location of this year’s annual Country Music Awards and home of the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators:

Music City, #19. Nashville, TN, 2018

The convention center, just five years old, is actually named Music City Center and contains over two million square feet of space for exhibits and shows:

Music City, #20. Nashville, TN, 2018

A Veteran’s Day salute at the Country Music Hall o’ Fame:

Music City, #21, Nashville, TN, 2018

Nashville classic steel and glass:

Music City, #22. Nashville, TN, 2018

Another window washer! Looks like this is a popular vocation. I wonder how many of these folks are actually just musicians trying to make ends meet for the time being and will someday make the stage at the Grand Ole Opry? This guy was right across the street and a few floors up from the Johnny Cash Museum:

Music City, #24. Nashville, TN, 2018

More Nashville steel and glass. The AT&T building on the right is an iconic downtown landmark. Some call it the “Batman Building” due to the two “bat ears” (towers) you see from certain angles. Only one “ear” can be seen in this view:

Music City, #27. Nashville, TN, 2018

Now you can see both “ears”. You have to swing farther around to the right to get the full-on Batman effect. This one is about the mood and texture in the sky balancing (contrasting?) the mood and texture of the building:

Music City, #29. Nashville, TN, 2018 

A modern “brickad”, this one a Benjamin Moore Paint mural advert on the side of Nashville’s Hard Rock Cafe, near the base of the AT&T building, about 2nd Avenue and Broadway. These ads were popular across the country from roughly the 1890s through the 1950s. Many communities are now trying to find, stabilize, and restore the old, chipped-and-peeling, originals (many with lead paint issues). Maybe we are seeing a modern resurgence of this art form?

Music City, #30. Nashville, TN, 2018

A nice view of Nashville’s gladiator colosseum (or coliseum) built in 1999 for the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans. The Titans made it to Super Bowl XXXIV in January of 2000, but lost to the St. Louis Rams. I liked the contrast of the modern sports stadium (modern play) with the slow moving barge (traditional work) chugging along the Cumberland River:

Music City, #31. Nashville, TN, 2018

This photo is as out-of-place in this visual essay as the columned subject itself is in Nashville, Tennessee–yes, it is the Greek Parthenon. A quick trip over to Centennial Park and you can see it–well, a reconstruction of that famous building, anyway. The Nashville original fake Parthenon was built out of temporary materials for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial, then rebuilt in the 1920s and 1930s as a more permanent structure. It’s an odd sight to see in the middle of the southern USA:

Parthenon, #2. Nashville, TN, 2018

Meanwhile, back in the city center…a timely confluence of high-altitude contrails, an airliner on final approach, and earthly architecture reaching high, at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel (7th and Commerce):

Music City, #37. Nashville, TN, 2018

I was standing near the Barbershop Harmony Society’s building for this image, with a slightly-more-than-half Moon shining and smiling down on the singing quartet…Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby!

Music City, #39. Nashville, TN, 2018

Nashville odds, ends, and angles (with the Batman Building reflected in reverse):

Music City, #41, Nashville, TN, 2018

“Welcome to Smashville”–a tribute to Nashville’s NHL pro hockey team, The Predators. Now, they wouldn’t be condoning violence in sport, would they???

Music City, #42. Nashville, TN, 2018

You can easily spend a couple of hours perusing the mountain of material in the Johnny Cash Museum (and the Patsy Cline Museum just upstairs), at 3rd Avenue, just south of Broadway…all with the Batman Building towering ominously over you:. 

Music City, #23. Nashville, TN, 2018

Finally, wander in to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop for some serious country music history–they are experts! You’ll find all the classic CDs and vinyl, along with memorabilia, lots of signed photographs of ALL the stars, and a Loretta Lynn museum:

Music City, #43 (Ernest Tubb Record Shop), Nashville, TN, 2018