Knoxville
A short drive west of Pigeon Forge, Knoxville is the biggest city in eastern Tennessee and serves as the cultural hub of the region.
Travelers with a taste for the fine arts will find a number of ways to get their fix in Knoxville. The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Knoxville Opera Company perform at the Tennessee Theatre, a 1928 building that also has a Mighty Wurlitzer organ and hosts a series of concerts and traveling Broadway shows.
The city also has a variety of theater companies. The Tennessee Stage Company presents numerous productions around town throughout the year, including the annual Shakespeare on the Square festival downtown in July and August. Knoxville has several other community theater organizations, including one based at the University of Tennessee and another focusing on African-American productions. Another group, WordPlayers, is a faith-based ensemble that aims to tell culturally relevant stories with a Christian worldview.
While you’re there: Taking place over three days in mid-May, the International Biscuit Festival celebrates the heritage of home cooking and the staple of Southern breakfast: the biscuit. The festival features lots of food vendors, music, a bake-off and other contests.
Nashville
Nashville has earned its reputation as Music City USA over more than half a century. Some of the biggest names in music recorded and lived in Nashville throughout the 20th century, and the city is still the epicenter of the country music industry today.
For the definitive music educational experience in Nashville, groups should plan to spend some time at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. This institution tells the story of country music, from its early development to its modern dominance as a commercial industry. Along the way, visitors can see hundreds of instruments, costumes and other memorabilia from their favorite performers and hear hours worth of great music.
There are a great many opportunities for enjoying high-quality live music in Nashville. The Grand Ole Opry is a legendary live radio broadcast that groups can attend twice a week and that features performances by some of the business’ most respected artists. The Bluebird Café offers a more intimate experience, where guests can hear country hits sung by the songwriters who penned them.
While you’re there: Nashville boasts a number of historic homes, including the Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson.
Memphis
For a whole generation of Americans, rock ’n’ roll music was born when Elvis Presley burst onto the national scene from a Memphis record company. Elvis first recorded at Sun Studio in 1954. Since then, the city has been sacred ground for fans of rock ’n’ roll, as well as the soul music produced in its studios.
Sun Studio is now a National Historic Landmark, and groups can tour the studio to learn about its role in music history and the legendary artists that recorded there. Graceland, Presley’s home, gives fans a more thorough look at the life and career of the famous performer.
The Memphis Rock and Soul Museum gives group travelers a great overview of Memphis’ place in the music of the 20th century, as well as the city’s ongoing music-recording industry. And the Stax Museum showcases the soul music pioneered in Memphis by musicians such as Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding.
While you’re there: Memphis’ National Civil Rights Museum educates visitors on the country’s history of race relations and the struggle for equality. Exhibits detail slavery, the Jim Crow era, the civil rights movement of the 1960s and events surrounding Martin Luther King Jr.’s death in Memphis.
