Southern Music Scenes Span Nashville, Memphis, Jacksonville

Several stories explore how music traditions remain tied to place and personal experience. Jackson Dean’s “Blacktop Blues” captures a touring musician’s longing to return home, while its Nashville writers wrestle with turning small-town roots into songs while working in the city. On Lower Broadway, owners of Robert’s Western World are preserving a traditional-country honky-tonk atmosphere even as they plan to expand. Memphis’s musical legacy is also celebrated through its historic connection to Liverpool and rock ’n’ roll, while Big Don Valentine and his All Stars keep the city’s blues tradition alive at Wild Bill’s.