West End/Music Row

West End Avenue, 21st Avenue, and Music Row (16th & 17th Avenues) are adjoining thoroughfares running southwest from downtown. This area is home to Nashville's established music community, as well as Vanderbilt University and a giddy array of businesses. Among the many entertainment options in this part of town are three long-standing bars that typify Nashville's diverse nightlife.

Located just off West End Avenue, the Exit-In (2208 Elliston Pl., 615/331-3240, www.exitin.com) is perhaps Nashville's best-known live music venue. The club has undergone several renovations since opening in 1971 and is best known for its appearance in Robert Altman's classic 1975 movie Nashville. Over the years the Exit-In has featured shows by everyone from Jimmy Buffett to R.E.M. The club has live music seven days a week, and start times vary.

From the Exit-In, if you cross through Centennial Park (home to the Parthenon, which was also featured in Altman's movie), you'll find yourself at the Springwater Supper Club & Lounge (115 27th Ave. N., 615/320-0345, www.springwatersupperclub.com, noon-3 a.m. Mon.-Sun.). Don't let the name fool you--the Springwater is a divey roadhouse pure and simple. Though no one's eaten food there in recent memory, the roadhouse does serve the coldest, cheapest beer in town--a banner at the bar reads "A Dollar A Swaller." Other than a pool table, a jukebox, and a mid-70s nudie poster above the bar, the Springwater is pretty Spartan, but if you're looking for the hottest in hardcore, indie, and underground music, this is the place.

Music Row's oldest continuously operating bar is a little, NASCAR-friendly beer bunker known as Bobby's Idle Hour (1010 16th Ave. S., 615/726-0446, 10-3 a.m. daily). Though it's open late, Bobby's isn't really a nightclub. Most of the regulars drop by in the late afternoon, when the Row's many recording studios, publishing companies and record labels shut down for the day. In fact, it's not unusual to see songwriters passing around the old guitar that serves as Bobby's primary source of entertainment. If you're new to the place, don't be surprised if they hand the guitar to you--around these parts it's taken for granted that you've got a song or two up your sleeve. If nothing else, you can read the blog.

The preceding reviews were compiled by Paul Griffith, a Nashville freelance writer and drummer.