Every shop on Lower Broadway sells the same thing. A shot glass with a guitar on it, a magnet shaped like Tennessee, and a tee that says Nashville in a font that was picked by a computer three states away. It all ends up in a junk drawer by spring.
A good souvenir does one job. You see it six months later and you are standing back on that street with the band going. Here is what is worth the room in your bag, from people who live here.
A Letterpress Poster from Hatch Show Print
Hatch Show Print has been pulling posters by hand since 1879, and for most of that time if a country act was coming to town, Hatch printed the bill. The shop sits inside the Country Music Hall of Fame now. Buy a print, roll it in a tube, and frame it when you get home. It will look better on your wall than anything else you bring back.
Goo Goo Clusters
Caramel, marshmallow nougat and peanuts dipped in milk chocolate. Nashville invented the Goo Goo Cluster in 1912 and has been arguing about the best flavor ever since. They travel well, they cost next to nothing, and they are gone by the time you unpack. Buy two boxes.
A Record from a Nashville Shop
This is a music town, so bring some home. Dig through the bins at an independent record store and pick up something by a band you saw that weekend, or an old country record you would never find at home. Get it signed if the band is still at the merch table.
A Shirt That Was Actually Made Here
If you are going to wear Nashville on your chest, wear something with a story behind it. Every tee and hoodie we make is designed in Nashville and printed in Nashville, and every one of them is about this town or the West it came out of. The Broadway Tee has a cowboy riding his horse down Lower Broadway, which somebody swears happened. The Nashville Sessions Tee has a catfish with a guitar who has been sitting in on songwriter rounds since before there was a skyline.
Both are 240 GSM heavyweight cotton, garment dyed so they come out of the wash softer every time. That is the difference between a souvenir and a shirt you wear for ten years. See the whole Nashville shirts lineup.
A Cap for the Ride Home
A cap packs flat and goes everywhere. The Nashville Sessions Hat carries the same catfish as the tee, stitched over a green bill with Nashville Sessions in red script. Every one of our caps is embroidered in Nashville.
A Cowboy Hat Fitted to Your Head
If you are going to own one cowboy hat in your life, buy it in Nashville and buy it in person. A hat is the one thing you have to try on. It has to fit your head, not your hotel room mirror.
Come see us at the Hat Bar in Marathon Village. Pick a cowboy hat off the wall, get it branded and the brim shaped while you wait, and walk out wearing it.
What to Skip
Anything with a light-up guitar. Anything with a cartoon of a cowgirl in a bikini. Any tee that has the name of the city and nothing else. And any cowboy hat you pull off a rack without trying it on, because it will sit on top of your head like a mixing bowl and you will never wear it again.
Come See Us
Steel & Saddle is in Marathon Village, right outside downtown Nashville and about five minutes from Broadway. Stop in on the way to the airport, or shop online after you get home. Everything we design ships from Nashville within 2 business days. For more on where to go while you are here, read our guide to what to wear in Nashville and our rundown of Marathon Village.
