Nashville is the self-styled Music City USA - with Dolly Parton, the Grand Ole Opry, Robert Altman’s Oscar-winning movie Nashville (1975) and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

It is often a surprise to the first-time visitor to find a stylish American city, glittering skyscrapers, and a healthy financial community, embracing new commerce, publishing houses and other offshoots of the music industry.

On the other side of the picture, reflected in these skyscrapers are the legendary bars where Hank Williams drank and where country singers still perform, ever-hopeful of becoming the next Willie Nelson or Loretta Lynn.

Located in the centre of Middle Tennessee, Nashville is the booming city of the upper South, where gracious Southern hospitality mixes with a genuine friendliness. Its population is rapidly expanding as it attracts citizens escaping the brutal northern winters, or leaving New York and Los Angeles for a more easy-going lifestyle. Its climate and scenic hills are a refreshing combination for many, while others come to work in the music and entertainment business. National Geographic Adventure magazine chose Nashville one of the Top 50 adventure towns for 2007, while American Baby Magazine nominated the city in their Top 10 Family Friendly Cities.

The city has long attracted singers and songwriters, ever since the Grand Ole Opry started its weekly radio broadcast in 1925. First established to rival Chicago’s ‘National Barn Dance’ radio show, the Opry remains so popular today that it is always Nashville that springs to mind when one thinks of America’s ’Country Capital’.

Nashville’s roots go back a long way. It was first home to bison and deer, which attracted the hunters who settled here. In the late 18th century, French fur trappers and traders arrived at this area along the Cumberland River, the most famous one being Daniel Boone.

Immigrants from the Appalachians began to settle soon after and established the beginnings of a sizeable community until, in 1843, Nashville became Tennessee’s state capital. Today the city is strategically located at the convergence of three major interstate systems and the centre of national transportation crossroads.

Nashville’s Downtown is currently undergoing significant change. By 2009 the city’s new 70-story Signature Tower skyscraper will be completed, featuring Kimpton hotel, condominiums, office and retail space and slated to be one of America’s tallest buildings. The Schermerhorn Symphony Centre opened in 2006 as a state-of-the-art versatile concert hall and convention centre, and anchors the future development of the Music Mile (south of Broadway).

This ties in closely with the US$100 million development in the Division Street/12th Avenue South area of The Gulch, turning an old area of Nashville into trendy, urban loft-style homes, residential units and retail space in a new 12-storey glass-encased tower. New businesses and restaurants have already relocated to this erstwhile-undeveloped part of town, with a vision the continuing addition of upscale dining, bakeries, bistros, cafes and markets. East Nashville is the growing enclave for the creative community of artists, writers, singers and songwriters. Trendy shops, eclectic clothing stores, wine bars and art galleries are springing up in this old revitalised neighbourhood.

To date most of the best hotels and the nightlife have been concentrated in an area of only about eight blocks square, but this is rapidly changing. The modern day empire of Music Row, the business heart of the music industry, is in midtown Nashville - a collection of recording studios, record labels, entertainment offices and music associated businesses.

While country music earned Nashville the title of Music City USA, other styles of music now form part of this integral heartbeat of the city. The growing contemporary Christian and gospel music industry is headquartered in Music City, and stars such as Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W Smith and Jars of Clay all live or spend much of their time here. Up-and-coming young rock bands are joining the scene as music of all genres fills the bars, clubs and local gathering places. Nashville continues to hold the title of highest number of working musicians per capita in the country.

To the northeast of the city is the vast Opryland complex, now home to the Grand Ole Opry and a cluster of country music museums, hotels, Opry Mills super mall, and the expansive Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Centre. Old Hickory Lake, developed in the 1950s when the Cumberland River was flooded for hydroelectric power, features 708km (440 miles) of shoreline and is popular for boating and fishing.

The bulk of visitors choose to visit Nashville in the spring and autumn, wisely avoiding the hot and steamy months of July and August. Winter months are quite mild, with occasional snow flurries, although December to March can be cold and drab, with temperatures often staying below freezing for days at a time.

June brings fans and stars together for the International Country Music Fan Fair. It is during an event such as this that Nashville satisfies what many visitors have come seeking - men in cowboy boots and 10-gallon hats walking down the streets with guitars slung across their back, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with country singers in downtown bookstores and bars.

Without country music, who would know the name of Nashville? There may be much more to this thriving and growing town than music, but the city pays homage to its musical heritage and the ever-changing beat that is an integral part of Nashville’s vibrant future.