Tennessee

In Nashville, country music is religion, and while famed concert halls like the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry may draw more disciples than this historic house of worship, the city’s Downtown Presbyterian Church—just a two-minute walk from the Ryman—is an icon in its own right.

With so much to see and hear and taste, it’s a good thing Nashville is also known as a town that rises early and stays up late, affording visitors plenty of time to take advantage of the round-the-clock fun.

On a hot Nashville morning, Charlie and Andy Nelson walk through a distillery that is at once brand new and steeped in history. The...

It would be easy for Vince Gill, to quote from his chart-topping 1995 ballad, to “rest high on the mountain” of his forty years of success. Instead, he takes pleasure in the everyday trappings of the life he shares with fellow singer-songwriter Amy Grant.

Dolly has been busy, and yes, she is tired. But it’s not time to rest yet; she wants to talk about Dollywood, the theme park-turned-entertainment complex she founded in 1986 and plans to expand more rapidly over the next seven years than she has in the past 37. She has put the competition on notice: Dollywood is about to seriously up its game. By the end of 2030, she will add four resorts to the one in which she now sits, plus open a high-end campground.

Johnny Baker’s hillbilly accent is as authentic as the moonshine his family has been making for generations, and he uses it to marked effect as he entertains tourists at their Gatlinburg distillery. “We are making coooorn liquor—moonshine,” Baker says, stretching out the vowel to emphasize the appeal of a distillate with a shady, complicated past.

“Bristol: A good place to live,” proclaims a giant glowing sign arching over State Street. In 1921, citizens of Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia, voted for the modest slogan.

If you visit Music City, you won’t have trouble finding Belle Meade Bourbon, and you just might bump into whiskey makers Andy and Charlie Nelson at a favorite watering hole or diner.

A champion pitmaster offers a taste of Memphis’s smokin’ hot barbecue scene

Travel is multisensory by definition, and after months at home living in a two-dimensional world of screens, a visit to the Joseph in downtown Nashville is a welcome jolt.