Visit Nashville on the cheap

updated 8:10 p.m. ET March 9, 2009

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - There is no beach. No theme park. No casinos.

No Super Bowl. No Mardi Gras. No World Cup.

Nashville is the city that tore down its theme park to build a (gasp) shopping mall.

Yet this central-Tennessee city, famous worldwide for its records and rhinestones, is a worthy destination for tourists pinching pennies — recession or not.

There's plenty of free music plus educational and cultural attractions to fill up a few days without lightening the wallet. You can stay, eat and be entertained at less cost than in many comparable cities.

"We look at it as a value destination," said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. "You can have an instant vacation at minimum expense."

Music
Nashville has built much of its reputation on fiddles and fringe, marketing itself as "Music City USA."

So check out the cluster of a dozen or so honky-tonks along a three-block stretch of downtown Nashville near the Cumberland River. The beer is cold, the music is loud and the admission is free. The joints stand together like sturdy soldiers in formation, awaiting the jean-clad, cowboy-hat wearing patrons with well-worn boots on their feet and anticipation in their throats.

Just walk in, find a table (if there is one), order a brew and have a good time. The only concession to revenue is a tip jar passed around periodically. The especially savvy bars leave it near the door to signal customers coming or going.

"It's an experience that can't be duplicated anywhere else," Spyridon said.

These aren't just a collection of bars run by fly-by-night rubes. Most have been in business several years. Tootsie's, one of them, even has a public relations firm.

"You get to partying, and pretty soon you're dancing on the bar," Steve Smith, Tootsie's owner, said in describing a typical visit.

The most upscale of the businesses is the Wildhorse Saloon, though its Web site doesn't describe it as a honky-tonk. It's referred to (sniff, sniff) as "a mecca of entertainment."

It has three levels, 66,000 square feet and has sold around 10 million bottles of beer since opening in 1994.

It's $4 to $8 to get in, and there are three dance instructors on staff giving free lessons nightly except for Monday when the club is closed — possibly to give all involved a chance to recover.

Beer specials at the honky-tonks are as little as $2.50.

At a Nashville shrine, in the heart of the downtown entertainment district, you can request your favorite country song and hear it from a friendly guitarist — for free.

Mark Humphrey / AP Kristin Garstka, center, and Mitchell Romano, right, both from Detroit, listen as guitarist David Andersen performs in the atrium of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tenn

David Andersen performs daily at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, strolling throughout the atrium before patrons pay their $17.95 to enter the museum area.

On his 15-year-old Epiphone wireless guitar, he'll play just about anything you want to hear: "You Are My Sunshine," ''I Can't Help Falling in Love," ''Spanish Eyes."

Andersen will politely ask you to sign his journal — and it's helped him keep track of the people he's met. He claims it's more than 1 million.

"I just really enjoy playing these songs and meeting so many people," he said.

Tickets for the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville's legendary country music show, are $38 to $53 for around 2 1/2 hours of performances.

For nightowls, the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree is held every Saturday night (actually early Sunday mornings) at a theater near the Grand Ole Opry House northeast of downtown. Entertainment is free with performers like Michael Martin Murphey, Charlie Louvin and Jack Greene. Gospel music great Dottie Rambo made one of her final appearances on the show last May before she was killed in a bus wreck.

Cheap eats
Nestled between the honky-tonks sits Jack's BarBQue — and tourists must get some Southern pork barbecue or they'll remain virgin visitors. A pork shoulder sandwich, baked beans, cole slaw and tea or a soft drink cost just $8.66. A slice of chess (a custardy pie) or chocolate fudge pie is $2.50.

A few miles away, for another traditional Southern meal, the At The Table cafeteria offers fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes and hot water cornbread for a mere $7.25.

Throat need a jolt? Prince's Hot Fried Chicken Shack 15 minutes north of downtown has been burning mouths since 1945 with its 500,000-volt chicken fried in cast iron skillets and served with white bread and pickles. Add a couple of sides and you can still leave (likely steaming) for around $10.

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