Southern Charm Nashville, TN

- Carole Dixon

On a recent trip to this steamy Southern city, dubbed “Music City,” word on the street was that entertainment and music industry folks from L.A. were moving here at a rate of 100 per day—the same fate fell upon Austin, which last year claimed 300 California residents per day were calling the Texas city home. There are obvious similarities between the two, from live music venues, a booming hotel scene and Michelin-worthy chefs moving to the suburbs. Now the industrial lofts of the urban landscape are beginning to look more like a fancy big city that’s ripe for a Soho House rather than its down-home Grand Ole Opry roots.

In addition to the art friendly 21c Museum Hotel, which just opened downtown, there’s the hip Thompson in The Gulch area, the rugged Urban Cowboy B&B from Brooklyn in the East, and a Dream hotel concept from Rockwell that is on the way. The Kimpton Aertson aims to give midtown and Music Row that same coolness that prevails in other recent outposts of the city, with a mixed-use development designed by Gensler.

The 180-room Kimpton hotel features industrial-sized rooms with exposed concrete ceilings, original art work and stitched leather headboards. As you enter the lobby, the Nashville playlist by the hotel’s music director, Lauren Bucherie, wafts through the air setting the tone. All of the international art for the property was commissioned by Boston-based Cynthia-Reeves contemporary gallery. Near the elevator, a stunningly intricate art installation of hot pink and orange Egyptian cotton threads, titled