A common mistake

Today, when I saw this comment on Twitter, retweeted by a coworker I follow:

Hmm. Nashville. Way cool place. 2nd tier city…but networked, hip, hi-tech, entrepreneurial & nicely southern. Who’d’ve thunk?

A few Sundays ago, I spent the afternoon watching old episodes of Cold Case on some random channel and happened to run across the “very special episode featuring the music of Tim McGraw” and got to see how writers in (likely) LA perceived Nashville, since the two lead characters visited Nashville during the episode. I don’t think any of the “Nashville” scenes were shot on location and all the Nashville characters spoke with a remarkable southern drawl and the chief of police. . . well, he wore a cowboy hat.

I think there’s the perception that Nashville is a city full of hillbillies and country music singers. I think because of the country music industry and the long-standing history of country musicians here, people who’ve never actually been to Nashville think we all walk around in cowboy boots, wearing cowboy hats and sparkly Western jackets, and saying things like “sugar,” “darlin,” and “Hun.” I think that there’s this perception among people that Nashville is a backwards city and the people who live there couldn’t be hip, forward thinkers, or anything other than stupid.

And that perception is completely wrong.

All it takes is one visit to Nashville to have your perception of this city changed. Yes, there are people who wear cowboy hats and boots (our chief of police is not one of them) and people who say “sugar,” “darlin,” and “hun.” But there are those people everywhere. . . even in the North. Yes, country music is a big part of our heritage and our future, but Nashville is a city that appreciate music of all kinds. There’s a reason musicians want to come to Nashville. The people appreciate talent, trying something new, and working hard at your craft here. The session artists are some of the best in the country. The people here know good music when they hear it. If you’re a singer/songwriter, Nashville is the place to be!

I just think it’s interesting to see your city from an outsider’s point of view sometimes. It’s interesting that so many people have ideas about Nashville that simply aren’t true. But you’d have to visit and spend some time here to know that.

So I guess the moral of this story is that the old cliche is cliched for a reason: You really can’t judge a book by its cover. No matter if it’s a city, a person, or, well, a book, you’ve got to take time to get to know the people, the place, and the characters and learn what makes them tick. It’s way too easy and this world is far too interesting to over-generalize and apply stereotypes.

And people, Nashville is amazing. I’m just saying.