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Journal

reveries and musings

HIGHLIGHTS

SPRING BREAK IDEAS FOR MUSIC CITY

Heading to Nashville for Spring Break makes for a something-for-everyone kind of holiday. Here are things to do in Nashville this spring, no matter how you like to spend your vacation or with whom you are traveling.

HIGHLIGHTS

SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL IS JUST ONE OF NASHVILLE’S SPECTATOR SPORT OPPORTUNITIES

Downtown Nashville will become hoops central as the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament dribbles and shoots its way back to Bridgestone Area. But the SEC tournament is not the only opportunity to see the best of college sports.

HIGHLIGHTS

VISIT BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES IN NASHVILLE

In honor of Black History Month, discover our top picks of Black-owned businesses that dynamically contribute to the cultural tapestry of the Nashville community.

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MOST ROMANTIC COUNTRY SONGS

Maybe it’s a little Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, or Charley Pride… Maybe you want to create some playlists for Valentine’s Day in Music City. Whatever the occasion, we’ve pulled together a list of 10 love songs best sung with a country twang.

HIGHLIGHTS

MOST ROMANTIC SPOTS IN NASHVILLE

Bobby might not be able to help you find the right person (although, you never know who you’ll meet in the lobby!), but we can help you scope out some of Nashville’s most romantic spots.

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WORD OF THE YEAR: CREATE

What singular word best captures Bobby’s drive to meet dynamic songwriters and musicians, eat delicious food, sip craft cocktails and come up with out-of-this-world activities from our Rooftop?

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FICTION NOVELS WRITTEN BY NASHVILLE AUTHORS

Nashville novelists craft fictional stories out of real-world experiences, resulting in books that resonate with readers. Here’s a list of five compelling novels by writers who live in Nashville.

HIGHLIGHTS

NON-FICTION PICKS BY NASHVILLE AUTHORS

While you may think of Nashville as a place for songwriters (and it is), but it’s really a place for storytellers, and that also includes authors, journalists, reporters and novelists.

HIGHLIGHTS

ARTIST PROFILE: GET TO KNOW SUNDAY SCARIES

Both Heim and Ezell are fans of New Year’s Eve and new beginnings in general. “It is always nice to have a fun celebration and look back on the growth of the year. And this year has been insane for the band,” Hein says, noting they signed a record deal, headed a tour and garnered more than 50 million streams. “We are going to send it off with a bang.”

HIGHLIGHTS

WHERE TO GO ICE SKATING IN NASHVILLE 

You might not necessarily think of Tennessee as prime skating territory. But Music City is home to the Nashville Predators, a professional hockey team with a rabid fan base and there are places for lacing up your skates.

HIGHLIGHTS

GIFT GIVING WITH NASHVILLE STYLE

Even if you didn’t come to town specifically to shop, you may want to take home some Nashville-specific goodies as holiday gifts or a thank you for the dog sitter (or souvenirs for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself).

HIGHLIGHTS

NASHVILLE’S LETTERPRESS LEGACY  

Music City sure made letterpress its own. Much of the Nashville credit goes to Hatch Show Print, the letterpress printer that has been using vintage type to make iconic art and signage since 1879. Here are five places where you can learn more about Nashville’s signature printing style, try your hand at letterpress and buy some pieces to take home.

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NASHVILLE SACRED PLACES 

No matter what holidays you observe, this time of year is one that makes us reflect. Nashville provides plenty of opportunity for that. Not that you need a special place to do it, but Nashville is replete with sacred spaces of different magnitude. Here are five top places for tapping into your inner zen.

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WINTER CAMP VIBES HEATING UP AT BOBBY ROOFTOP 

Did you think that because summer has come and gone that camping season is over? Not at the Bobby Nashville. Igloos light up under the stars, bartenders serve campfire-inspired cocktails and a DJ spins tunes in the adult “mess hall.”

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HALLOWEEN HITS IN MUSIC CITY

Nashville’s the kind of town where you can see people dressed in costumes every day of the year. You’ll see women dressed as brides along Broadway and musicians in stage costumes walking to their cars. Even with that propensity to dress up, Halloween is still something different to experience in Nashville. If you are in Music City at the end of October, check out these six themed activities for spooky season.

HIGHLIGHTS

ARTIST PROFILE: GET TO KNOW JOSEPH

If you just saw the name scrolling across your screen as you were looking for new music to check out, you might make an assumption about an act called “Joseph.” For the last decade, sisters Allison, Natalie and Meegan Closer have been encouraging their audiences to think about things differently.

HIGHLIGHTS

ARTIST PROFILE: GET TO KNOW BAILEY BRYAN

Like many musicians, Bailey Bryan got frustrated when people asked her what genre of music she plays. She was influenced by R&B and hip hop growing up. Living in Nashville helped her dial in her country music sensibilities. So, like any good songwriter, she decided to come up with a better way to say it herself.

HIGHLIGHTS

ALAN L. MAYOR: A NASHVILLE RETROSPECTIVE: 1974 – 1999 COMES FIRST TO THE BOBBY HOTEL

Alan L. Mayor, who grew up in nearby Clarksville, was the go-to photojournalist for the music industry starting in the 1970s. He was the person who captured famous faces, including Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker and Garth Brooks, many of whom were not famous yet.

HIGHLIGHTS

OLD SCHOOL PLAYLIST (PART 2)

The Bobby hotel takes its Music City roots seriously, making it easy to listen to up-and-coming musicians and hear the beat of the city. If you are visiting for the first time, you might want to get some perspective and how and why Nashville got its reputation. Instead of forcing you to download forever, here are 14 more essential songs to get you started.

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ARTIST PROFILE: MELODIE PROVENZANO

BASH, in honor of the Bobby’s fifth birthday, was an exhibit of colorful, dynamic work, an exhibition as a birthday party. It is on view through September 3, 2023. “I think it is genius,” Provenzano says about, not just BASH, but The Collection, the ongoing Bobby visual art program. “Life is all about change. Nothing stays the same. Why not have artwork that keeps having the viewer coming back? The more art the better.”

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ARTIST PROFILE: JILL ANDREWS 

Jill Andrews left the mountains of East Tennessee, where she grew up, for parts west, first to Knoxville, and then to Nashville. Andrews wasn’t new to music when she got to Nashville. She had been a part of the Everybodyfields, a popular Americana band that thrilled audiences, from 2004-2009. In 2009 she left the band to focus on her solo career.

HIGHLIGHTS

OLD SCHOOL PLAYLIST (PART 1)

Nashville is Music City, and the Bobby hotel makes it easy to listen to up-and-coming musicians and hear the beat of the city. If you are visiting town for the first time, you might want to get some perspective and how and why Nashville got its reputation. You could download forever, but if you want to get up-to-speed quickly, here are 14 essential songs to get you started. Add these your playlist to cover Nashville from the 1870s to the 1970s.

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GET OUT (OUTSIDE, THAT IS)

Just outside the doors of the Bobby hotel you can connect with the Greenway to get whatever kind of outdoor experience you crave. Nashville’s Greenway system is a connection of  largely paved trails—about 100 miles—which are basically a network of connected parks that wind their way along the riverbanks and through the city.

HIGHLIGHTS

ROOFTOP LOUNGE 4TH OF JULY BBQ

The Bobby’s not setting the sparklers off, but its rooftop is the best vantage point for the red, white and blue explosions. Each year Music City synchronizes its mammoth fireworks display to music from the GRAMMY-winning Nashville Symphony and in 2023 is offering other performances, too, including sets by Brad Paisley, Langhorne Slim, The War & Treaty and others. You can see it and hear it all from Bobby’s Rooftop Lounge.

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GARAGE SESSIONS BRING WRITERS IN THE ROUND TO GARAGE BAR

On the first Thursday of each month Brother Elsey hosts Garage Sessions at Bobby’s Garage Bar. Each night includes two rounds of three songwriters each, playing both popular songs and soon-to-be popular unreleased songs. Each songwriter is personally invited by Brother Elsey, a local band that plays a set in between each round.

HIGHLIGHTS

ARTIST PROFILE: GET TO KNOW ARCY DRIVE

Arcy Drive is a four-person indie rock band that got its start in an attic and then progressed to a shed in Tuozzo’s yard that was, you guessed it, a street called Arcy Drive. Bassist Pat Helrigel describes their sound as “rough around the edges, scratchy alternative rock.”

HIGHLIGHTS

IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY

We’re celebrating the hotel turning five years old by giving a tip of our conical birthday hat to the fun activities that got us to this point and offering a preview of what we’ve got in store for the next year.

HIGHLIGHTS

NASHVILLE’S MUSIC MUSEUMS, AN INDOOR ADVENTURE

If you’re visiting Music City from December through March, you may be able to sit outside at Bobby’s Rooftop Lounge or stroll downtown streets. Or you might want some options that allow you to have some fun without bundling up.

HIGHLIGHTS

ART IN BLOOM

TEMPTER, a group exhibition that sprouted a floral theme, includes works by Leah Guadagnoli, Sky Kim and Herb Williams.

HIGHLIGHTS

BOBBY GOES TO THE DOGS

Sure, lots of other hotels allow you to bring your dog with you as a guest (often with some restrictions and extra fees). But how many hotels have a dog who lives on site?

SPRING BREAK IDEAS FOR MUSIC CITY

There’s something special about Spring Break. November and December holidays, magical as they are, can be stressful with gift buying, decorating and coordinating seeing lots of family. Summer vacation is great, of course, but its length often necessitates gymnastics of summer camps and scheduling. But Spring Break? It’s just fun. An aptly named respite between…

SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL IS JUST ONE OF NASHVILLE’S SPECTATOR SPORT OPPORTUNITIES

Between March 13- March 17, 2024 downtown Nashville will become hoops central as the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament dribbles and shoots its way back to Bridgestone Arena again this year. Tickets for most games are available, so you can show up in person to cheer for your favorite college players. But you don’t even have…

VISIT BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES IN NASHVILLE

February is Black History Month. Certainly, while in Nashville one can learn about the Black experience of the past, including the vital role the city played in the civil rights movement. Nashville is also about the Black experience of today and the way Black business-owners, musicians and others are shaping the Music City of the…

MOST ROMANTIC COUNTRY SONGS

Most people, when asked to summarize the prototypical country song, come up with something along the lines of tears in my beer. There’s a breakup and a truck and any manner of down-on-your-luck circumstances. But country music knows its way around a love song, too. Maybe you want to create some playlists for Valentine’s Day…

MOST ROMANTIC SPOTS IN NASHVILLE

Romance is in the eye of the beholder. That’s not the expression, per se, but it’s true. With the right person, running errands and walking down the aisle of the grocery store can be an opportunity for quality time, to be fun and silly and gaze into each other’s eyes. On the flip side, it…

WORD OF THE YEAR: CREATE

Resolutions come and go (if you are like most people, your New Year’s resolution is probably long gone). Many people instead recommend coming up with a word of the year. This one word can be motivation to do something you want and can help keep your intentions on track in a way that resolutions don’t….

FICTION NOVELS WRITTEN BY NASHVILLE AUTHORS

Songwriter Harlan Howard famously described country music as “three chords and the truth.” That take on songwriting is part of what has shaped Nashville storytelling for decades. But it isn’t just in country music. Nashville novelists craft fictional stories out of real-world experiences, resulting in books that resonate with readers. Here’s a list of five…

NON-FICTION PICKS BY NASHVILLE AUTHORS

Yes, you know that Nashville is filled with songwriters. Perhaps, though, you didn’t know that many book authors call Music City home, too. While you may think of Nashville as a place for songwriters (and it is), but it’s really a place for storytellers, and that also includes authors, journalists, reporters and novelists. Get in…

ARTIST PROFILE: Get to Know Sunday Scaries

Artist: Sunday Scaries (Will Ezell and Alex Hein) Genre: EDM Favorite NYE Drinks:Champagne (Ezell) Casamigos Reposado (Hein) Will Ezell and Alex Hein met online when Ezell was a student at the University of Mississippi and Hein was at the University of Southern California. They two became friends, bonded over music, and started collaborating remotely. Eventually…

WHERE TO GO ICE SKATING IN NASHVILLE

There are few more iconic winter activities than gliding across the ice, hearing the blade of a figure skate connect with the ice as a skater flows into a jump. After all, figure skating is the oldest sport in the Winter Olympics. You might not necessarily think of Tennessee as prime skating territory. And it’s…

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