Nashville’s Lower Broadway — the four-block strip the locals call the Honky Tonk Highway — is arguably the most exhilarating street in America, where live country music blasts from every open door from 10 a.m. straight through to last call. This Nashville walking tour follows that neon corridor from the oldest honky-tonks on Broadway out to the Gulch neighbourhood, where a former freight yard has been reborn as a hub of street art, food halls, and boutique hotels. Your video guide is the channel Estate Explorations, whose 4K footage lets you feel every guitar note bouncing off the pavement.
About This Walking Tour
Estate Explorations filmed this 4K walk along Nashville’s Lower Broadway — the historic block of honky-tonks that has been the beating heart of the country music industry since the 1940s. The video rolls along the famous strip where venues stack on top of each other, each pouring live country, blues, and rockabilly onto the sidewalk simultaneously. The camera passes the purple-painted exterior of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, one of the most historically significant small music venues in America, and lingers on the illuminated marquees and neon cowboy boots that have become synonymous with Nashville nights. From Broadway the walk moves south through the grid of downtown Nashville, past the Ryman Auditorium — the Mother Church of Country Music — and continues toward the Gulch, a redeveloped neighbourhood that sits roughly a mile south-west of Broadway. The Gulch was a rail freight yard for most of the twentieth century; today it is one of the fastest-growing urban neighbourhoods in the American South, known for its painted mural wings and its concentration of new restaurants and boutique accommodation. Estate Explorations captures the visual contrast between the neon-soaked, tourist-packed Broadway strip and the cooler, more design-conscious streets of the Gulch with the same unhurried, immersive framing that makes 4K walking tour videos ideal travel companions. The footage is shot in daylight, giving you a clear read of every building facade and street sign — useful if you are planning your own route on foot.
Highlights of Nashville
Lower Broadway is Nashville’s most famous attraction, but the surrounding streets contain equal quantities of history. Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, on the corner of Broadway and Fifth, opened in 1960 and became famous as the unofficial green room for performers at the Ryman Auditorium next door; Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson all played here before they were famous. The Ryman itself, a red-brick tabernacle built in 1892 by riverboat captain Thomas Ryman, became the home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show from 1943 to 1974 and is still one of the finest acoustic music venues in the country — walking past its facade is to stand in front of a genuine piece of American cultural history. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, a block east of Broadway, is the world’s largest music museum and houses Elvis Presley’s gold Cadillac, Johnny Cash exhibit materials, and thousands of artefacts that trace the entire arc of country music. Printer’s Alley, a narrow lane of brick buildings between Third and Fourth Avenues, was Nashville’s entertainment district from the 1940s onwards and retains some of that speakeasy atmosphere today. South of downtown, the Gulch is the city’s most striking recent transformation, its old warehouse walls now covered in commissioned murals and the air-traffic-style painted wings that draw a constant stream of Instagram photographers. Further south on 12th Avenue South, the strip known as 12 South has a more neighbourhood feel with local coffee shops and boutiques, including the Southern-prep clothing store opened by actress Reese Witherspoon.
A Brief History of Nashville
Nashville was established in 1779 as Fort Nashborough on the banks of the Cumberland River and grew into the capital of Tennessee by 1843. Its location as a transport hub made it strategically valuable during the Civil War — Nashville fell to Union forces in February 1862 and served as a major Union supply depot for the remainder of the war. The city’s musical identity solidified in the twentieth century. The Grand Ole Opry radio programme, which launched on WSM Radio on 28 November 1925, is the longest-running live radio broadcast in American history and gave Nashville its Music City identity. In 1950 WSM Radio announcer David Cobb ad-libbed the phrase “Music City USA” during a broadcast, and the name stuck permanently. From the 1950s onwards, a cluster of recording studios along 16th and 17th Avenues — now known as Music Row — made Nashville the recording capital of country music, eventually attracting artists from every genre. Today the city is one of the fastest-growing in the United States, with a technology and healthcare economy sitting alongside its music industry, and a wave of new construction has transformed the skyline around the original Broadway strip.
Practical Tips
Nashville International Airport is approximately 14 kilometres east of downtown. The WeGo Public Transit bus network serves the city, but most visitors find Uber and Lyft more practical given the spread of attractions. Lower Broadway and the surrounding streets are easily walkable; the Gulch is about a 20-minute walk south-west from Broadway or a short rideshare. The honky-tonks on Broadway do not charge a cover, and live music starts from around 10 a.m. daily. The best time to visit is spring (April–June) or autumn (September–November) for comfortable walking temperatures. The CMA Music Festival in June draws the world’s largest country music audience to downtown Nashville and fills hotels months in advance — book early or visit in the shoulder months for easier access and lower room rates.
Watch & Explore More
Estate Explorations’ 4K footage is a reliable companion for pre-trip planning across North American cities. For more American music-city walks, explore our guide to New Orleans’ French Quarter and Garden District or follow the neon trail through Chicago’s architecture and Riverwalk. Subscribe to more walking tour content at @walkingtoursvideoscom on YouTube.