Nashville offers new museums, hip neighborhoods, fashion

(AP) — Nashville is the home of country music, from the Grand Ole Opry to the Bluebird Cafe to the noisy honky-tonks of Lower Broadway.

Exhibits include the amp used to record "Folsom Prison Blues," his custom Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar, and his Future Farmers of America membership card.

The gift shop carries all things Cash and the cafe features locally roasted coffee with blends named for Cash songs like A Brew Named Sue.

Known as the "mother church of country music," the Ryman opened a $14 million expansion last summer that includes new exhibits telling the story of the famed music venue from its 1892 founding as the Union Gospel Tabernacle.

[...] it's worth spending the extra money to tour RCA Studio B. The squat, concrete-block building may look shabby, but it's where Elvis recorded more than 260 songs.

A preservation group took over the home more than 125 years ago, when Jackson's grandson still lived there, so its original furnishings, wallpaper, clothing and even a carriage have been meticulously preserved.

The proprietors won't divulge their recipe, but it's basically really, really spicy fried chicken, served with white bread and pickles.

The Germantown neighborhood offers several acclaimed new restaurants with upscale cuisine, but if you want to feel like you're in Nashville and not Brooklyn, Monell's offers traditional Southern food family-style, where you share heaping plates of fried chicken, green beans and biscuits with other guests.