Anybody here from Tennessee?

[ahdoman]

My wife and I have been talking about living somewhere else other than L.A., California. We're getting tired of the high cost of living here and the masses of people (sometimes I spend 3 hours trying to commute 40 miles). I've got a potential job offer in Nashville. I've visited Nashville a couple of times and being a musician I love the place but I've only seen it briefly so I need some opinions.

[VX KAT]

Lived in LA/Long Beach for 15 yrs. Commuted 35 miles to Santa Monica for 12 yrs...., took min of 1 hr each way....ugh!
Ended up leaving by 600am and then it only took 45-50 mins!
Drive home grew to well over an hr.....holidays, rain or accidents often made it a 3 hr drive home! ..... Double ugh!

Been to Nashville dozens of times on business trips, and developed several friendships there. LOVE NASHVILLE! Would love to live there. I'm a country music nut, so this was like mecca to me!

Downtown is a a nice, reasonable size city. It's had a real renaissance over the past 2 decades and is quite vibrant with lots of new buildings, and MANY new, modern, hip, great restaurants .

Beautiful landscape and nature, moderate temps and climate with a great culture and social scene.

There's lots of nice people and "country folk", but don't fall for the stereotype that they're all country bumkins and wear cowboy hats and boots. I rarely saw hats or boots except at the music venues.

Visited Lebanon, Murphresboro, Franklin, Brentwood, Mt. Juliet and Gallitan many times. Can find nice new homes, or older ones. They cost a whole lot less than LA! And not congested or overcrowded!

Brentwood is the pricey area, with big beautiful homes and lots of acerage. Many of the country music stars have farms/ranches out that way.

Franklin is an area that has grown tremendously and attracted many new residents, coming from larger cities (like yourself). It's developed tremendous shopping areas and restaurants. The commute from Franklin to downtown is very reasonable.

Mt. Juliet has lake access and many many of my business associates lived here.

There's several State Parks and recreation areas, and a few lakes and rivers, so there's lots of summer activities.

Airport was completely renovated and enlarged at least a decade ago, and is close and easy to get to.

Several of the Interstates were enlarged a decade ago.

IMO, I think it would be a great place to live, especially since you're in the music biz.

HTH

[johnnyapollo]

I grew up North of Nashville and know the area quite well. Currently I live in Atlanta and have also lived in many other states and cites including the west coast. Nashville has a lot of potential, buy having grown up in Tennessee there's quite a bit that's rather backward there, especially the politics which you would have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Coming from the west coast, even if you are/were on the conservative-side there, will induce a rude awakening to you living in Tennessee. Nashville is a bit of an exception for TN (just as Atlanta is in ultra-conservative GA) but when you go 25-30 miles outside of the city you still hit a thought-wall that you may find disconcerting. The other issue, and it's shared by Atlanta, is the general absence of culture (arts, theater, etc) although for music it's compensated for with the "Nashville Scene." There's very little public funding applied to much there at all towards the arts or education. The standard of living is low in regards to property ownership, but more than compensated for by the nearly 10% sales tax - which puts the poor in it's place (sic).

Out of all cities in TN, I like Chattanooga the best, primarily for it's proximity to outdoor activity. Much to do there and they have some of the fastest internet in the US - great place to live if you're in technology. You're also close enough to states where the sales tax is cheaper so could plan bi-weekly trips for the essentials, paying about 4-5% less in taxes. It is a very small town compared to the west coast, though, with just enough crime to make things interesting and a good smack of racial discrimination along the edges. Just my two cents.

Otherwise, much of what Cat has posted is a pretty good depiction of Nashville. I just wanted to describe some of the negatives of living in South-Eastern states.

-- John

[VXobsession]

When I move from Arkansas, it'll be to Tennessee

[Mile High VX]

When I moved from AR I skipped TN and went straight to Kentucky...

Traveled there a lot for work though...was a nice place and I enjoyed my time there.

[tom4bren]

I moved to the upper east corner of TN whilst in high school. Went to UT Knoxville for my Engineering degree.

Not sure how the heck I ended up in VA after having lived in God's country for 7 years ... but I did.

I'll be honest & say that TN isn't for everyone but I sure loved it.

How 'bout dem VOLS!!!

[Seidmanrob]

I've been in Memphis for 36 years. Any place in Tennessee is just fine. No state income taxes, low cost (TVA) utilities, reasonable housing costs, and friendly people.

[ahdoman]

Thanks for all your input. Nothing is firm yet and I don't expect to have to make a choice for about 30 days so I appreciate all your insight. Even though I was born in Cali and grew up surfing and other water sports I've always wanted to live someplace that is anti-California (hope that doesn't sound bad). The masses of people and the cost of living is getting out of hand.

[tom4bren]

You'll just have to trade in your surf board for water skis

[ahdoman]

Tom4Bren - Actually I sold the ski boat back in September. They drained the local lake and sent the water to another reservoir in SoCal because of the drought. The level dropped 35' and the maximum speed limit is now 25 so no more skiing. They don't expect the lake to return to normal levels for another 5 years!

[circmand]

I've always wanted to live someplace that is anti-California (hope that doesn't sound bad).

Move anywhere outside of California.