When most people think of Nashville, country music is usually the first thing that comes to mind. while others envision loud honky tonks, and crowds of cowgirl clad bachelorette parties. This might be true for the main drag of party bars on Broadway, but once you spend a little time experiencing the real Nashville, you’ll quickly find that the city is so much more.
While music put Nashville on the map, savvy travelers are beginning to see that there truly is something for everyone in Music City. Proof of its ever-growing popularity can be seen in its growing accessibility to the city. According to Visit Music City, Nashville International Airport receives an average of 523 flight arrivals daily. It’s not just tourists; artists, chefs, and other creatives are moving to Nashville, making Nashville one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States for 2024. The U.S. Census Bureau shows a 14.4% growth from 2010 to 2024.
Nashville has become a haven for creatives, not just in the music scene but across all mediums and genres.
Creativity Overflows in Music City
Nashville’s creative vibe is a mixture of new, innovative spaces and ideas and historic, more traditional art.
One of the most interesting new experiences in Nashville can be found at Nashville Glasshaüs. This unique space allows travelers and locals to relax, sip in-house brewed coffee, and watch famed glass blowers work on their next masterpiece.
I had a chance to talk with Wyatt Maxwell, the Founder of Glasshaüs. A young artist turned entrepreneur, Maxwell’s vision was to create a space where more people could learn, experience, and appreciate the ancient art form of glass blowing. Maxwell’s mother, Juliana, curates an on-site glass gallery featuring glass from world-renowned artists.
Maxwell’s vision has come to life, creating a place unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Walking through the front door, you feel like you are walking into a hip neighborhood coffee shop. Friendly baristas greet you and serve up delicious coffee and locally made pastries. Locals gather at tables, catch up with friends, or work on their laptops. There’s a large window with barstool seating at the far end of the space, where you can look into the workspace of the glass blowers, giving you a front-row seat to the process.
If you are ready to try glass blowing, you can book classes here, too. Glasshaüs offers numerous experiences, from beginner to advanced, and a chance to learn from practicing artists.
Of course, there is no shortage of art galleries in Nashville either if you are interested in a less hands-on approach to appreciating art. The Frist Art Museum is a world-renowned museum in a historic post office building. Here, you can see art from local artists and traveling galleries from across the globe. David Lusk Gallery offers a glimpse into modern art, featuring rotating galleries from a variety of artists.
Fashion designers are calling Nashville home too, proving there’s more to the city than boots and rhinestones. Case in point, Savas. Owner and creative mastermind Savannah Yarborough was trained in Britain and worked in high-end leather in Europe, and she has decided to make Nashville her home base since 2015. Yarbourough believes that a well-crafted leather jacket can change how people see and feel about themselves. Savas creates bespoke leather pieces, from boots to jackets, serving high-end clients worldwide. Locals and visitors are also welcomed in Savas’ Nashville-based store with open arms.
Nashville’s Creative Food Scene
You can’t visit Nashville without being impressed by the food scene. While you can get some darned good hot chicken and bbq plates at honky tonks and drive throughs, the real magic can be found in pop ups, and collabs located around the city.
Visit Music City representative, Connely Merritt, shared that her favorite thing about Nashville’s food scene is the collaboration between chefs. Merritt said she loves that new chefs and restaurants are always welcomed and, instead of being seen as competition, are celebrated and loved by existing restaurants. Nashville’s chefs know there is room in this space for everyone as new chefs bring their own vision and artistic flair to the city.
Tucked inside historic Printer’s Alley, Black Rabbit serves inventive small plates in a century-old building with exposed brick and warm lighting. Voted Best Happy Hour in Nashville, the restaurant’s rabbit spam sliders have become a cult favorite, blending Southern flavors with unexpected twists.
Every meal begins with a ceremonial tea service at Choy, a restaurant that merges Chinese-American flavors with Tennessee ingredients. But here, the tradition has a local twist — guests sip sweet tea with champagne or a non-alcoholic Riesling before indulging in dishes that balance Chinese heritage with southern charm.
Then, there’s Chauhan Ale & Masala House, where James Beard Award-winning chef Maneet Chauhan fuses Indian flavors with Southern staples. Dishes like Tandoori Shrimp and Grits and Masala Ribeye and Frites prove that Nashville’s food scene is as inventive as its music industry.
But creativity in Nashville’s food scene isn’t just about the menu — it’s about how restaurants support their communities. The innovation goes beyond the kitchen at Biscuit Love, a local staple serving Southern comfort food. The restaurant has built a reputation for fostering a family-oriented work environment, offering in-house therapy services to support its employees’ mental health and well-being. It’s a business model that prioritizes people just as much as the food, proving that hospitality can be about more than just a plate of biscuits.
Nashville’s Craft Beer & Distillery Boom
Nashville also has a thriving beer scene. Breweries around the city offer guests locally sourced and brewed craft beers while they dine on fun and local food fare.
At Jackalope Brewing Company, a female-founded and locally beloved brewery, brewers craft bold, creative beers like a maple brown ale and a grapefruit-infused IPA. Tennessee Brew Works takes the city’s Southern identity seriously. It uses locally sourced ingredients to create small-batch brews, such as a farmhouse ale inspired by Tennessee honey.
At Ole Smoky Distillery, visitors can taste Tennessee moonshine straight from the source, a nod to the state’s bootlegging past turned modern tourism draw.
The Future of Nashville’s Creative Scene
As Nashville continues evolving, its creative identity expands beyond its country roots. The city’s accessibility, affordability, and innovative energy have made it a destination for chefs, designers, artists, and entrepreneurs, redefining what it means to create in Music City.
Places like Soho House, a member-exclusive space for creatives to network, work, and unwind, offer artists direct access to a built-in community of like-minded peers. Soho House is located in the up-and-coming Wedgwood-Houston neighborhood in a repurposed sock factory. It now features performance stages, a pool, a screening room, hotel rooms, a gym, and open spaces for working and socializing. Spaces like these offer Nashville artists a home that gives them space to continue to evolve and grow, ensuring that Nashville’s creative rhythm continues to play.
For travelers, there’s more to explore than Broadway’s neon lights. Over 40% of the U.S. population lives within 600 miles of Nashville, according to Visit Music City, and it’s an easy trip to experience a city reinventing itself through art, food, and culture.