18 Years Ago, Before The Big Change

This week 18 years ago, the #1 Country song was Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett’s “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.”

It would be #1 for eight weeks. The video was great as well and lives on YouTube still. The song is an evergreen, and on regular playlists all over. A feel good song that we can never get enough of. An automatic mood changer.

In 2003 Nashville, Buffett and Jackson are boat buddies, and both musical survivors. This was just after the turn of the century and just before Nashville really started to change.

The ’90s were a boom time for Music Row. The 2000s were going to be different, with the transition from physical sales and spins to streams. It nearly killed many, but today the streams are what they are and the town itself is almost unrecognizable.

Look at what’s gone away and what’s around today. It’s exciting yet sad. Who liked it the way it was? Nashville, the small town. And for Music Row, the groove it had is history. Berry Hill has as much going on as 16th Avenue now, maybe more. So much change. Buddy Killen is now a roundabout with ugly naked statues. Waylon, Tammy, Jerry, Chet, The SoundShop, Mario’s, Harlan, The Stockyard are all gone, but never forgotten.

Nashville is now sports city. That is so shocking as I was privy to research in the late ’70/’80s, and Nashville loved high school sports and Vandy basketball, but others could care less. Now it’s Titans, Preds, Grand Prix racing, Major League soccer and an MLB team on the horizon.

Nashville and Austin are the hottest trendy cities in America for folks under 35.

Nashville’s music scene was always diverse, you just didn’t realize it. It was Elvis Presley on Music Row, Brenda Lee and Roy Orbison with worldwide audiences, The Everly Brothers, and then Jimi Hendrix playing guitar on Jefferson Street. Nashville is Music City, has been Music City and hopefully will stay Music City.

Sports are in every town from Miami to Milwaukee. Nashville is Music City and will have to work hard to screw that up. Those honky-tonks may burn out, but hopefully the songwriters will find a way to afford to live in this town that is pricing itself out of the music business. A community made up of pickers, singers and writers, they can’t afford to live in Music City anymore. It is a real issue. Artists are more often than not limited financially. Roommates were always necessary. Waylon and Johnny were roommates.

Hope we can save ourselves. The Oracles and Amazons will change the town more.

How does Music City get to stay Music City? Will the Lower Broadway bars save the music in Music City, or will the geeks take over with their wine bars?

It’s five o’clock somewhere. What will Nashville look like 18 more years from now? I bet that song will still be good!