Grammy Museum Gallery
Nashville
With the Grammy Museum Gallery now permanently housed in Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame, visitors can discover exactly what it takes to cut an award-winning record. The gallery opened in March and gets high praise from groups for combining storytelling with hands-on experience.
“It’s highly interactive,” said Amy Holm, spokeswoman for the gallery. “It’s aimed at drawing fans not just into the history of the Grammys, but also every step of the recording process.”
Holm said the performance exhibits get the most action. Visitors can throw on a pair of headphones and play electric drums, keyboard, bass and guitar on a live stage. In the karaoke area, they can sing along with Ray Charles and the Raelettes, the all-girl group that provided Ray’s backup vocals.
“It’s a lot of fun because you can be Ray or you can be the backup,” Holm said.
Those interested in what goes on behind the scenes can spend more time at the interactive exhibits for songwriting, engineering and producing. There’s also a recording studio and rehearsal room for the full Grammy experience.
Along the way, groups are familiarized with the most influential studios and musical geniuses of songwriting, producing and engineering. Greats like Mike Clink, producer for acts like Guns N’ Roses and Mötley Crüe, and Manny Marroquin, mix engineer for artists as diverse as Ludacris and John Mayer, lend their voices to the exhibits.
Although one purpose of the museum is to draw young people into the creative process, organizers present the material with a level of technicality that can challenge an advanced audience.
“The interactive experience isn’t just for kids,” Holm said. “It’s for all ages.”
The gallery is included with admission to the Musicians Hall of Fame.
Chattanooga Choo Choo
Chattanooga
When Chattanooga’s historic terminal station for the Southern Railway line was transformed into a hotel in 1972, organizers fenced it off from the rest of the neighborhood.
“At the time, it was one of the worst neighborhoods in Chattanooga,” said Adam Kinsey, president of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. “Now, in my opinion, it’s the best neighborhood in Chattanooga.”
In response to this welcome revitalization, the hotel has broken down the original barrier and is in the midst of a large-scale renovation. Guests can now easily wander from their rooms to dozens of local restaurants, shops and galleries within a couple of blocks. Opening up the area also allows the community to enjoy the expanding restaurants and entertainment at the Choo Choo.
While moving the hotel’s restaurants from within the kitchen to the street edge, renovators uncovered the original windows and exposed the historic ceilings from 1906. Stir, popular for its craft cocktails, rotating local food menu and an oyster bar, opened in the fall of 2015. Frothy Monkey, a Nashville favorite, expands to the Choo Choo this fall.
“We know groups don’t want the same experience everywhere they go, so we think they’ll love all the authentic options at and around the Choo Choo,” Kinsey said.
New entertainment venues include the Revelry Room, an intimate space for performing artists, and the Comedy Catch, a 30-year-old comedy club that relocated to the hotel. Songbird will be the world’s largest private guitar collection when it opens in October.
Several guest rooms have been renovated as well, and the Victorian sleeper cars are still available and cozy as ever. Guests also have access to indoor and outdoor pools, gardens with hundreds of rosebushes, a working 1924 trolley and a model railroad museum.
Lightning Rod at Dollywood
Pigeon Forge
The world’s fastest wooden coaster got off to an unusually slow start this summer. Lightning Rod, themed after a tricked-out hot rod from the 1950s, was set to open in Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge in March, but the manufacturer asked for more time to test the thrill ride that sets records at 75 miles per hour.
Instead of a traditional chain lift, Lightning Rod propels riders from zero to 45 miles per hour more than 20 stories up its lift hill using a magnetic launch. The first drop, 165 feet at a 73-degree angle, is where riders hit the world-record speed.
Unlike most wooden coasters, Lightning Rod’s track has a thick metal coating that entirely covers the wood, allowing for a smooth ride and crazy airtime. Riders can expect at least 20 seconds of airtime during their 3,800-foot journey through the hills and valleys surrounding Dollywood. They can also expect twin summit airtime hills, a 90-degree banked breaking wave turn, a 90-degree outside banked turn and a noninverting half loop. Dolly herself told reporters she was glad for the delayed opening because that meant she didn’t have to ride the dizzying coaster.
The new coaster is part of a $300 million expansion that also includes Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, which opened last summer. A stay at DreamMore includes special perks like a private entrance to Dollywood and no-wait access to top rides and shows.
