Fetch Magazine by Taigan

Last week Taigan welcomed us to their hometown where we fell in love ~ with the music, the architecture, the food, the shopping ~ but most of all with the charm of its people. Trust us, if you haven’t been to Nashville, go. It’s one of those great cites where you don’t need a reason, an itinerary, an agenda – and if your experience is anything like ours, by the time you leave, you’ll feel like you already have a couple of friends to look up when you get back.

So, here’s a glimpse into our 48 hours in Nashville – we like to mix the high and the low, the old and the new, and that’s exactly what we got…

Day One – Check out the fabulous setting for the trunk show that also featured other great Taigan vendors and benefited the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign. It was an honor to be there, and thanks to the shopping ladies of Nashville, we raised some great money for a wonderful charity. By the way, the owners of this incredible home were so easy going about all the rolling racks and piles of boxes, the phrase “Southern hospitality” must have been coined for them. And the surrounding area? Wow. We didn’t know what to expect, but what we found was winding tree-lined streets with impressive homes, flowering hedges, lush green lawns, hundred year-old stone walls, and everything done with a just dash of restraint.

Later that night…When the Taigan team overheard us mention that we wanted to go “downtown” (aka Lower Broad Street, aka “LoBro”) – none other than Taigan top-dog Elizabeth Nichols volunteered to personally take us honky tonkin’. Quick change from cocktail attire to jeans, and before we knew it Elizabeth was expertly maneuvering her SUV through historic Ryman Alley, briskly charging through the gauntlet of patrons at Robert’s, heading straight to the back, up the stairs, right in front, and ordering drinks and cheeseburgers for us all. Needless to say, we were impressed. The music was fantastic, and the 18 year-old electric guitarist seemed destined for stardom. This was our kind of night.

Day Two – Great fun at the trunk show getting to know the awesome (and gorgeous) Taigan staff who ably doubled as models, fellow vendors,  and all the lovely ladies of Nashville who made us feel so welcome and appreciated. The day flew by, then it was already time to pack it all up. Someone suggested we head to “The Gulch” for dinner, a trendy part of town with cool restaurants and shops and a great moonlit view of Union Station. At Kayne Prime we sipped on well-deserved martini’s and dined under the Edison bulbs on tuna tartare and Wagyu filet mignon. After dinner we strolled a bit then took in the sights of Nashville by car. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the vintage neon store fronts, the brick facades of downtown, the churches, the glass high rises ~ it all evokes Nashville’s past and present, the world-famous “Music City”.

One last look – The next morning we only had a few hours to spare, no time for the beautiful gardens and museums, so instead we headed to Two Old Hippies, an unbelievably cool store who’s owner had shopped with us at the Taigan show the day before. My daughter turns 23 this week so this was an ideal opportunity to pick up gifts at a shop unlike anything we have in Palm Beach. Jack even found a pair of new jeans designed by a Nashville musician who had back pain from always sitting on his wallet when he played guitar - Southern Blues jeans have a clever pocket on the outside leg that’s just perfect for a cell phone or wallet.

After that we needed one more brief chance to roam around downtown, and even though it was only eleven in the morning live music flowed from every door on LoBro. We grabbed a bite at the bar at Puckett’s (a light lunch of turnip greens, loaded potato soup and grilled cheese), and had just enough time left to visit the Ernest Tubb record shop where we purchased a bunch of great Nashville music, including an album by “Brazilbilly”, the house band from the honky tonk we’d been at the night before, named for the band’s frontman and owner of Robert’s, Jesse Lee Jones, who is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil. We didn’t get to hear them that night but their repertoire includes everything from Samba to Marty Robbins.

Appetites and thirsts quenched, purchases in hand, we headed to the airport which is literally about 10 minutes from downtown Nashville (super convenient we thought for all those music celebrities). Before we knew it we were seeing the Everglades below us and headed back to our version of reality. You won’t be surprised to learn, not a day had passed before we’d spoken to some of our new pals and were musing on when we might be able to get back there to explore some more. In the meantime, Jack’s wearing his new favorite jeans and thanking a musician in Nashville for designing a great pair of pants.

Have a wonderful rest of the week from the two of us at CJ Laing,

Jack Laing and Ali Russell

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