Boots, Booze and Baptists

They call Nashville Music City, and indeed it has a long rich history of music--especially country music.  Folks like Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams all walked its streets and sang at that secular temple called the Grand Ol' Opry.

It is also called Guitar City, for obvious reasons.  All across the city there are guitars and guitarists, even big guitar statues on some corners.  You can't walk ten yards in some parts of town without passing a street musician with an open guitar case hoping for your coins, or better yet, your dollar bills.

But what really impresses me about Nashville isn't the music, which I expected, nor the guitars, they make perfect sense.  No what grabs my attention are the boots, the booze and the Baptists.

On one of my walks through the downtown area I passed at least four shops specializing in boots--cowboy boots if you will.  (Though nary a horse was in sight!)  One shop had a six-foot tall boot out front.  Another had custom boots in the window emblazoned with logos from different colleges including, to my surprise, this being Tennessee after all, the University of Kentucky!  A regular Appalachian hoedown!

The number of booterys, though, pales when compared with the number of bars.  Honky-tonk bars, dingy saloons, chain restaurant bars--what in heavens name does Jimmy Buffett have to do with Nashville?  And Hard Rock?  Hardly!  One spot even featured its own craft beers.  I imagine the multitude of drinking establishments makes sense, after all the musicians need someplace to play besides the streets, and most of them will never see the inside of a studio or play the hallowed halls of the Ryman! 

Which brings me to  the Baptists.  The place is crawling with them!  Next to my hotel is a Lifeway Christian Store.  The store is a part of Lifeway Center, a multi-story building complete with a fourteen-story cross on the front.  Lifeway is responsible for the "Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention."  Across town are the offices of the Sunday School Publishing Board, the curriculum producers for the National Baptist Convention.  The conference attending is being hosted by the First Baptist Church (most gracious hosts!)  They worship over 1,000 souls on the weekend.  As I said, Baptists are everywhere here in Nashville.

So what is one to make of this convergence of boots, booze and Baptists?

Is it somehow or another connected to that old joke about sinning on Saturday and confessing on Sunday?  Is it a reflection of society in general, or maybe Nashville's culture in particular?  Or is it no more profound than economics and smart marketing?  I really don't know.  But it makes for a fascinating combination!