Nashville, Tenn. ? Go anyplace else on Earth, and it’s a lead-pipe cinch that one thing people you meet will know about America is country music. Jazz might be more high-brow, rock ‘n’ roll more widespread, Hollywood more glamorous. But for better or worse, nothing seems to say “America” to the rest of the world as vividly as twangy songs about your cheatin’ heart.

Nashville, Music City USA, is the home of the country-music industry, and therefore has a lot to do with our image overseas. Most of the day-to-day business gets done on Music Row, which quite frankly is no fun to visit 16th and 17th avenues south of Division Street, two one-way streets lined with nondescript office buildings and homes converted to offices for record labels and song-publishing companies.

But Nashville’s role as a repository of country-music history makes it worth visiting.

Visitors will find other things to do, too It’s got the state Capitol, a major university (Vanderbilt), the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, the NHL’s Predators and minor-league baseball. But most of the notable attractions for out-of-towners do have a music angle.

Country Music Hall of Fame

At $14.95, this is somewhat pricey but well worth the cost. The museum is a sharply designed multilevel building that does a fine job of simultaneously outlining the history, staying current and keeping the flame.

You can easily spend an afternoon wandering among the displays, including stage outfits of everybody from Elvis Presley to Dolly Parton (yes, the latter is exactly what you’d expect). And it’s hard not to feel a bit of a chill when looking at the suit the one decorated with musical notes on the sleeves that you’ve seen in so many photographs of the late Hank Williams.

The facility also has audio booths where you can listen to classic recordings from the likes of Eddy Arnold and Jimmie Rogers, as well as various video displays. My favorite audio-visual attraction was the history of country music on television, including a priceless bit where Merle Haggard renders dead-on imitations of Buck Owens and Johnny Cash (after initially declining to mime Cash: “He’d kill me!”).

The New Grand Ole Opry's full stage two was unveiled in June 2000. The Opry left its home in the historic Ryman Auditorium in the 1970s and moved to the Opryland complex.

After you’re done at the Country Music Hall of Fame, you can wander a couple of blocks over to Hatch Show Print: Thanks to Hatch, country music doesn’t have just a sound, but a look. You’re probably familiar with the venerable print shop’s austere letterpress designs from posters and record covers, and you’ll have a hard time leaving without picking up at least a couple of posters (and if you don’t make it to the store/print shop, you can see some of Hatch’s wares on display at Nashville Airport).

Other attractions

Jack’s Bar B Que: Now this is not the time or place to get into arguments over which variant of Southern barbecue is “the real thing.” But if you’re interested in sampling the Tennessee version, Jack’s is a fine place to do so. The beef brisket is particularly choice.

After dinner, you can take a stroll up and down Broadway to check out live music in a few clubs. One of the nice things about Nashville is that a lot of fantastic musicians live there to do studio work, and you’ll frequently see them playing in unlikely places. Like Robert’s Western World, a no-cover/pass-the-tip-jar tourist trap next to Jack’s at 416 Broadway. Stick your head in the door on most weekend nights and you’ll see Johnny Hiland, the most jaw-dropping guitarist you’ve never heard of. BR549, featuring Lawrence, Kan., transplants Chuck Mead and “Hawk” Shaw Wilson, also has logged many hours at Robert’s.

Nashville's Parthenon is a three-quarters scale model of the original in Athens, Greece. A temporary Parthenon was constructed for the 1897 World's Fair in Nashville and was such a hit that a permanent version was built later.

The Parthenon: What is it about Tennessee and grandiose Mediterranean architecture? Memphis has the Pyramid, while Nashville has this wonderful and bizarre replica of the ancient relic in Athens, Greece. A temporary Parthenon was first constructed for the 1897 World’s Fair and was such a hit that a permanent version was built (and finished in 1931). The Nashville Parthenon was the site of a key scene in Robert Altman’s 1975 film “Nashville” and is worth a trip for how out-of-context weird it is a Greek-style building plopped in the middle of a park.

The experience won’t be complete unless you also venture inside to see the statue of Athena. It’s not just any old reproduction, either, but a 40-foot monolith that has to be seen to be believed. The statue was being gilded in gold this summer, which should make it even more impressive.

Farmers Market/Bicentennial Mall State Park: The farmers market is a quite pleasant place to have lunch and wander through, although it’s not appreciably different from similar places anywhere else. The attraction is adjacent to Bicentennial Mall, a 19-acre park. Built in 1996 for Tennessee’s bicentennial, it’s a skillfully landscaped park with lots of walls, columns, fountains and stuff to read. Spend an hour reading what’s on the walls, and you’ll come away with a pretty solid thumbnail version of Tennessee history. There’s also a 2,000-seat amphitheater, which presents concerts and a variety of other events.

Grand Ole Opry: Even if you don’t like country music, you simply can’t visit Nashville without going to an Opry performance, no matter who is playing. It’s an exceedingly corny experience, in the best possible way. The Grand Ole Opry is still a radio show (on WSM, 650 AM), and between acts the announcers still read advertisements for Tennessee Pride sausage and Martha White flour, just like they’ve been doing for 77 years. And it’s a show that everybody who’s anybody in country music has played over the years.

The Opry no longer happens at its original site, the historic Ryman Auditorium downtown (where the acclaimed 2001 concert movie “Down From the Mountain” was filmed). It moved north to the Opryland complex in 1974. But the upside is that going to the Opry also gives you the opportunity to check out the Opryland Hotel a complex that rivals anything in Las Vegas or Disney World for gargantuan splendor. The hotel is split into three biosphere-type zones, and it’s more than worth a few hours of your time to wander around getting lost and gawking.