From old-world charm to the new frontiers of Southern style, from high culture to hot chicken and honky tonks, Nashville is a greatest-hits package few other cities can top.
Nashville sits in the heart of Tennessee, just a four-hour flight from Los Angeles and a two-hour flight from New York City.
Nashville also sits at the heart of some of the greatest music ever to hit the airwaves of America.
From lonesome cowboy blues to boot scootin' boogies, since the earliest days of vinyl Nashville has produced a never-ending stream of country classics.
Today, music makers and music lovers of every genre make the pilgrimage to Music City USA, hoping to experience a magic called The Nashville Sound.
But visitors soon discover the city's magic extends far beyond music.
Nashville's soundtrack began with the sound of axes and falling timber, at Fort Nashborough.
Battling displaced Cherokee and fierce winters, there was little time for fiddle playing.
But over the decades Nashville grew into a prosperous city that embraced the arts, becoming the state capital of Tennessee in 1843.
Nashville's early prosperity was fuelled by the plantation and slave trade.
