It has been a long, long time since I’ve eaten drunken pizza at 3 AM with a table full of good friends after closing out a music club. But it was so f&@%ing worth it. Welcome to Nashville.

I came to town dressed in the clever guise of a conference-goer (and by the way, kudos to the hosting organization for its rocking choice of locale). Now truly, the corporate agenda can fritter out any travel buff’s adventure flame–three nights and four days in a schmaltzy uptown hotel, drinking catered coffee and eating tiny slices of pie in big beige rooms with the names of city landmarks on the doors. Dinner is usually a twenty-person networking event with a set menu at an expensive restaurant, leagues away from the other end of town, where locals savor lip-smacking specialties at half the price and twice the ambience.

The solution? You have to…