54 replies to this topic

[ElectricBoogalo]

Since several people have already mentioned some of the locations used for shooting, I thought it might be fun to have a separate thread to discuss the real locations, artists/bands, and any other shout outs.

The Bluebird Cafe looks like it will be a regular on this show. Scarlett is a waitress there, Watty White likes to watch the performances there, Scarlett and Gunnar sang "If I Didn't Know Better" there in the pilot, Deacon sings there regularly, and he and Rayna sang "No One Will Ever Love You" there in the second episode.

Rayna was wearing a Loveless Cafe shirt in the pilot.

I've never been to Nashville so it would be awesome for any locals to tell us more about any of these places and what the show got right/wrong. I know someone mentioned the whole "Scarlett gets peer pressured into open mike at the Bluebird" premise was not even close to real, so spill!

[hammyhamster]

In the pilot, the Rayna's Evil Dad Day proclamation was in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, which is on the first floor of the Tennessee capitol building. When Rayna and her sister walk out (past the elevators, out to a balcony), they're on the third floor.

Edited by hammyhamster, Oct 18, 2012 @ 8:14 PM.

[loriro]

In the pilot, Rayna's dad wooed Teddy to run for mayor at the Capitol Grille. (Interesting aside...the restaurant is inside the Hermitage Hotel, which is widely considered to house the best men's restroom in America.).

They also opened the premiere at the Grand Old Opry. Tootsie's was also mentioned in the premiere. The Grand Old Opry used to be held at The Ryman Auditorium downtown, which is often called "The Mother Church of Country Music" (it is, in fact, an old church), and is considered one of the best venues acoustically to see a show. (I can attest to this...the sound, when mixed correctly... is absolutely awe-inspiring). It moved outside of downtown to the Opryhouse back in the '70s, and each Saturday's show is still simulast on WSM am and satellite radio. It's been on the air since the late 1920s.

The 5 Spot, a local music venue in the "hip" neighborhood of East Nashville, was also the setting for Avery's band's performance last night.

Juliette's video was filmed at the Musica statue on Buddy Killen Circle off Music Row.

Finally, the rehearsal space Rayna and Deacon were using in last night's episode was Soundcheck Nashville, which is a large rehearsal space/instrument storage facility downtown. It flooded back in 2010 when Nashville's horrible flood occurred, with likely millions of dollars of instruments (owned by people like Keith Urban, Vince Gill, etc) destroyed. (Which is nothing compared to the lost lives and livelihoods of so many, but still a loss for this community).

So far, I will say that they've done a really great job integrating real, honest-to-goodness Nashville locations into the plot in ways that seem organic and appropriate to the story. For example, I totally believe that high-powered Lamar (I have to wonder if "Lamar" is a shout-out to US Senator from TN Lamar Alexander) would lunch at the Capitol Grille, and that Avery would live in East Nashville and play at The 5 Spot. It's very cool to see real places used effectively rather than making up fictional locations or film in NOLA or someplace like that as a "Southern stand-in" for N'ville ( for the record, I like NOLA, but it wouldn't be the same to film somewhere other than Nashville.)

Edited by loriro, Oct 18, 2012 @ 9:38 PM.

[mscav]

I like the touch of bringing up the baseball stadium in the politcal subplot of the show. Politicians have been arguing about building a stadium downtown for at least 15 years. The topic has pretty much become a local joke as at least once a year the news will break a story about a site picked for the stadium, a developer willing the build the stadium, etc. only to see the plans fall thru in a matter of weeks. The same has been happening regarding a new theme park since Opryland closed. I wonder if they will work that in as well.

[thalia ann]

The pilot showed Rayna and Deacon on "the pedestrium" that connects Titans stadium to downtown Nashville, spanning the Cumberland River. I'm not aware of any studio space in that area of town; so for me it was one of those jarring moments. But there are some bars and things down on 2d Avenue, near the river, so it is possible that it was easy to have a casual walk up the very steep bridge.

[hammyhamster]

I found the walking on the bridge weird, too. I also don't know where Rayna was supposed to be driving her daughters that would have taken them through the Music Row roundabout.

When Juliette shows up at Deacon's house with the CD of their song, she's wearing a Hatch Show Print ballcap.

[thalia ann]

The roundabout -- I forgot to mention Musica! It was hard to tell from the editing and the way the girls were sitting on the statue, but the people in that statue are Nekkid! As the proverbial jay bird! There was a brouhaha when it was undraped, so to speak, and I seem to recall that for a while some groups were going in the middle of the night and putting clothes on it. And my all time favorite Halloween Costume suggestion is to find 6 friends, take off your clothes and pretend you're Musica.

I finally decided that maybe Rayna was taking her kids to the University School of Nashville. But that is not a section of town with a heavy traffic pattern, so it made even less sense to me that the other women were talking about the traffic snarl.

Edited by thalia ann, Oct 19, 2012 @ 6:27 PM.

[scarynikki12]

I finally decided that maybe Rayna was taking her kids to the University School of Nashville. But that is not a section of town with a heavy traffic pattern, so it made even less sense to me that the other women were talking about the traffic snarl.

Sorry, but nope. Their home is in Belle Meade and USN is next to Vandy. There is no scenario on earth that would involve their school route going through any part of downtown. I grew up in Belle Meade and went to USN, and we always took the streets that lie between Belle Meade, Vandy, and Green Hills. Even if they took the main streets, they could just take West End and cut over to 21st by campus, or take Woodmont to Hillsboro/21st, neither of which are downtown. Putting all that aside, as the reason they drove that route is to see Juliette's video shoot, their girls don't attend USN (or the show equivalent) for two more obvious reasons: 1) USN doesn't have uniforms, and 2) it's a liberal school. The girls were wearing uniforms that actually reminded me of both Harpeth Hall and Father Ryan (which then makes their route even more bizarre as HH is closer to their house and FR is in the direction of Franklin), and there's no way in hell that Lamar would support any political candidate who isn't a Republican and the Republican presence at USN is very much in the minority.

I will say, I'm going to just assume that the girls go to the show's version of Harpeth Hall (while Rayna doesn't want her father involved in her life, I think he'd constantly be giving her hell if she were sending her girls to a liberal school like USN or a Catholic school like Father Ryan). Even with the weird ass school route, I'm looking forward to learning more details from that part of their lives. I've also gotten a kick out of recognizing the various houses I've seen for years in my neighborhood.

[labresq]

Teddy announced his candidacy for mayor at the Schermerhorn.

The light fixtures are easy for us to recognize. And I agree with the info about the schools - I suppose she could have been taking the older daughter to Hume Fogg downtown, but I don't know if her age fits.

And this:

I forgot to mention Musica! It was hard to tell from the editing and the way the girls were sitting on the statue, but the people in that statue are Nekkid! As the proverbial jay bird! There was a brouhaha when it was undraped, so to speak, and I seem to recall that for a while some groups were going in the middle of the night and putting clothes on it.

Every time I pass that statue I remember when "Red Solo Cup" was a big hit and one day all the people in the statue were holding Red Solo Cups! And there was at least one other time when someone put scarves and hats on them during a very cold spell.

Edited by labresq, Oct 21, 2012 @ 8:29 AM.

[hammyhamster]

The recap reminded me: Gunner's band is playing at the Broken Spoke, which (for all that it is sad and located in a fairly gross hotel) is a pretty important venue for songwriters trying to get discovered.

[the fresh maker]

Spoiler

Based on a picture posted to Facebook, Nashville filmed at Legato Gelato today, a shop that has become extremely popular in its first few months (and it's right down the street from me!). Edgehill Village/Belmont area looks to be a future location.

Another former USN alumna here. I couldn't figure out which school Rayna was taking her daughters to, either. Franklin Road Academy, maybe? Although that still doesn't make a lot of sense...

[hammyhamster]

To get to FRA from Belle Meade, you'd take Harding straight across. There is simply not a real school in Nashville that makes that route make sense, knowing what we know about where Rayna is supposed to live (the house is on Page Road, IRL). They wanted to have Juliette's video shoot at the nudie statue, and they wanted Rayna to drive by it with her daughters and to hell with real-world geography. Since this, the bridge, and the one scene in the Capitol are my only nits to pick so far, I'm still happy with how the show is treating our fair city. At least they're using real places for the things that count.

[sammiekay]

.

Edited by sammiekay, Jan 29, 2013 @ 5:28 PM.

[loriro]

I *think* that was Percy Warner Park, but I'm not 100% sure as I've only been out there once. Someone else may be able to confirm.

[SpringIsHere]

Does anyone recognize the lobby of the place where the talent show was?

[scarynikki12]

I'm not certain, as I've only been there once, but the stage the girls performed on looked a lot like the ones at Nashville School of the Arts or Hume Fogg. If it's a choice between the two, I'd go with HF, as it's better located (downtown) but then NSA would be able to accomodate camera crews, trailers, etc., much better as it has a campus while HF is a building+parking lot only. All that said, watch it turn out that they filmed out in Franklin or something.

[labresq]

I *think* that was Percy Warner Park, but I'm not 100% sure as I've only been out there once. Someone else may be able to confirm.

According to this article it is Percy Warner Park.

Does anyone recognize the lobby of the place where the talent show was?

At first I thought the exterior was Cohn in West Nashville, but I'm not really sure. I don't think it was Hume Fogg - the brick was too dark. I didn't recognize the interior.

[Aunt Pittypat]

The exterior was West End Middle School. I'm not 100% sure about the interior, but I am pretty sure that was also WEMS, just based on my memory of it.

The park where Deacon and Rayna met to talk was gorgeous! Does anyone have any info on it?

It was Percy Warner. They were on the hill right above the entrance from Belle Meade Blvd. It has fantastic views.

(And "hi" to all the USN alums!)

Edited by Aunt Pittypat, Oct 25, 2012 @ 3:01 PM.

[SunBun]

I'm only watching this show because I'm a Nashville native resident and know this town like the back of my hand.
Also, I like to laugh at the hideous accents/bad weaves/silly wardrobes too. This is so campy it's delicious, but it's about damned time someone really decided to display the in's and out's of the local music scene here.

THAT SAID, there are a few inconsistencies as a resident that I found quite amusing:

-The "fan" who approached/hit on Avery at the 5 Spot and then somehow recognized Scarlet((or whatever her name is)) from her open mike duet at The Bluebird Cafe? That was ridiculous---The 5 Spot is strictly a hipster sort of music joint in Nashville's hipster-haven side of town, East Nashville. People who hang out at The Bluebird do NOT end up hanging out at The 5 Spot a few nights later, sorry.

-Open Mike Night at The Bluebird is usually INSANE. Like miles of people dying to get in there for their "big chance", sent by record companies/agents. And agents don't usually hang out there for open mike night strictly for this reason; that fictionally famous music exec dude who "discovers" acts would've been hounded and bombarded with CD's from wannabe artists if he was just casually sitting there watching performers. There's no way remotely possible that they would have enough time for the friggin' staff to get up there and bust out a song due to not enough people showing up to sing unless it was a goddamned blizzard/another flood. Also, this show only films outside of the actual Cafe, as it's too small to fit their camera crews---place is tiny, so they actually film those scenes on a set they've made.

-Rayna driving by Musica with her girls when they likely don't go to school anywhere around there? I'm going to just assume that maybe Rayna had some after school business/errands to run on that side of town. Otherwise, yeah, no one really takes those streets regularly unless they have no choice/it's a scenic thing.

-Rayna and Deacon walking on the pedestrian bridge in the pilot episode...that's a LONG friggin' walk from where she was practicing((the Ryman)). Like well over a mile and she's in high heel boots? And then she asked him about getting a drink at Tootie's, which is hilarious to me because you can't even sit down at Tootsie's it's so packed during regular drinking hours. And they'd probably wanna dodge all those tourists anyway.

-Percy Warner park is PACKED with joggers/walkers usually by that particular stairwell where Rayna/Deacon were sitting, so that made me roll my eyes.

I will say that we residents are usually VERY cool and respectful about giving stars/celebs their space, which is why so many of them like living here. I'm often sharing a bar with the likes of Robert Plant and John Rich; I see Nicole Kidman at my grocery sometimes; they feel comfortable here because it's considered rude here to approach/bug them for autographs or pics. So yeah, I like that the "stars" on this show are actually quite comfortably walking around town like normal folks.

-Avery and his girlfriend live in a ridiculously chic cottage in a ridiculously pricier side of East Nashville. No way they could afford to live there on a struggling musician/waitress salary.

[sportsgal]

I went out for lunch today and I'm pretty sure I saw them filming at the Scarritt Bennett Center. I was wondering when they would start showing the gorgeous Vanderbilt area!

[Magnatude]

I'm not familiar with the city, are these all real locations?

[SunBun]

I'm not familiar with the city, are these all real locations?

All quite real and some quite legendary, which is why we residents are loving it! Again, The Bluebird Cafe scenes inside are filmed on a set because the actual cafe is too small, but everything else is on location.

[labresq]

Does anyone know where the fundraiser took place? I've never been to "the" country club - I noticed they never named it.

I've loved the beautiful arial shots - all the green trees. Wonder if they are going to try to get some of our beautiful fall color, since the leaves are all different colors now?

[scarynikki12]

Odds are it's the Belle Meade Country Club, but I've never been inside so I couldn't say with certainty.

[hammyhamster]

The aerials were of BMCC. I didn't recognize the room they were in, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

[Last Time Lord]

Since the Bluebird is a set, how does it compare to the actual Bluebird?

Do they look identical?

[loriro]

Pretty close Last Time Lord .To see for yourself, you can compare the pilot to the subsequent episodes. They used the real Bluebird in the pilot ( they shot after hours) and then built the set for all subsequent episodes.

Edited by loriro, Nov 3, 2012 @ 3:29 PM.

[Last Time Lord]

Wow, I had no idea they did that. I couldn't even tell there was a difference, but I'm sure those who have been there themselves could pick them up right away.

[itsreal502]

The exterior was West End Middle School. I'm not 100% sure about the interior, but I am pretty sure that was also WEMS, just based on my memory of it.

Pretty sure it was WEMS. It was also used in Country Stromg.

The country club scenes were filmed at Hillwood CC on Hickory Valley, although the exterior shots and ariels were Belle Meade CC. They wanted a more old south look for the exteriors, but Hillwood had better filming conditions.

They have been on and around the Oak Hill School campus, not sure what the use was.

As for the unoforms, they are shopping at Parker in Brentwood and picking what looks most like David Lipscomb's plaid. Definately not Father Ryan, similar to HH, but hard to say. As for the route to school, sticktly for TV. Unless you are USN or maybe Lipscomb, FRA or Ryan would you ever even come near Musica. My guess in "real" Nashville terms is that her kids are Ensworth as a jab to Rayna's father for making her go to Harpeth Hall. Besides, weren't there boys in the talent show?

[scarynikki12]

My guess in "real" Nashville terms is that her kids are Ensworth as a jab to Rayna's father for making her go to Harpeth Hall

Ensworth is a good call. I wish they went to USN, cause we're the best [/totally biased], but the concept of private schools without uniforms doesn't exist in tv land, so of the non-USN private schools Ensworth works as a coed option. I have to say I'd laugh so hard if it turns out Rayna went to the show equivalent of Lipscomb, as that alone would explain a whole lot about her relationship with Lamar, but I think we've seen him drink right? And drinking is a no-no for Lipscomb true believers, so they're out.