You hear Nashville before you see it. Come over the hills which surround the city, and you'll just begin to pick out the guitar notes of America's top country hits. Get closer and you can hear the saxophones and organs of jazz and soul sweep in alongside the drums and bass. Once you see the L&C Tower and the sound becomes overpowering, you know you've made it. This is Music City, where the dreams of country's most talented artists come to make their name.

Nashville finds its beginnings as a fort built during the Revolutionary War. Its strategic position on the Cumberland River instantly made it a quickly growing investment, both for military and economic purposes, and the city exploded in popularity as more Americans moved over the Appalachians. The Civil War mostly passed the city by, save for the early occupation by Federal forces and the Battle of Nashville in 1864, and that relative intactness allowed the city to prosper in the Reconstruction era and beyond. Healthcare, music, and universities such as Vanderbilt, Belmont, Tennessee State, and others have all become vital to the city's economy and culture, leading to the nickname "The Athens of the South".

The Athens of the South, however, is plagued by its original sin of slavery. Segregation and discrimination is buried deeply into Nashville's roots. The city itself was founded with slaves to work the streets. The Civil War ended the direct ownership of Black Americans, but Reconstruction brought no racial progress. The Daughters of the Confederacy made their home first in Nashville, and the first incarnation of the Klan found the city as one of its earliest hotbeds. The gruesome lynching of Ephraim Gizzard was only the beginning of the long, arduous, and brutal fight for equality in the city.

The Civil Rights Movement has not left Nashville alone. Recent years have seen some steps forwards in the move towards equality, but the systems of segregation remain in place both officially and unofficially. Tensions smolder under the neon exterior of the clubs and the studios. Still, the people of the city have a lot to look ahead to. The healthcare industry is booming, outside companies are making their new home in the city, and the road for music's best keep leading to Tennessee. At the end of the day, as long as the guitars keep playing and the organs keep sounding their notes, Music City remains hopeful for a brighter future ahead.