Having visited Nashville on a few occasions, mainly on my way south to visit with Don Mason, I got to talk with dozens of street and club entertainers, nearly all of which played a beat up Gibson guitar with unclipped strings protruding from the head stock and ready to stab them in the eyes, all of which hoped for some form of recognition to make it into the big time. Unfortunately, for the vast majority, they were already at the pinnacle of their musical careers. And, by and large, many of them knew just that. They were playing club jobs for $100 for four hours, hoping to get some big tips from the tourists. By and large, there were very talented entertainers, but Nashville is a tough town for "Have Guitar Will Travel" entertainers. They're pretty much a dime a dozen there. Some, but not many, actually, as UD said, paid to be able to perform in some of the clubs. Yep, they shelled out what few dollars they had in their pockets to a greedy club owner who often claimed to have big connections to the music producers, but in reality, he or she didn't and was scamming the wannabes who just rolled into town.
Good luck,
Gary
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