It’s not difficult to see why Nashville is better known around the world as “Music City”.

Home of country music, hot chicken, and Johnny Cash, Tennessee’s state capital is known for the Grand Ole Opry House - country’s most famous stage and home of the longest continuously running live radio program in the world. Legendary attractions include the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the historic Ryman Auditorium, which, along with the District – featuring honkey-tonks with live music and the Johnny Cash Museum – are both downtown.  

The factory that produces one-third of all vinyl records on store shelves today also calls Nashville home. United Record Pressings, the largest record pressing operation in North America, has the capacity to manufacture over 60,000 records per day and is responsible for pressing artists like Michael Jackson, Adele, Radiohead, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and even a few famous ukulele enthusiasts like London folk band Mumford and Sons.  

With a passionate, deep-rooted track record in music, it comes as no surprise that Nashville is also now becoming known for its love of the uke.

The city has recently begun to play host to a number of different ukulele stores, festivals and clubs. One in particular, the Nashville Uke Society (NUS), focuses on players of all skill levels. Members are varied in age, sex and occupation. In the past, group members have included an IT manager, a retired accounting professor, a former training director for the Metro Department of Public Works, and even a few professional musicians. Even their choice in ukulele is different: Some play the baritone, others the resonator. A few strum the bajolele, and the rest hold standard models. The one thing they have in common? They all love the uke.  

All NUS meetings occur on the third Monday of every month, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm, according to their website, with the group’s director, Tim Davies, choosing a specific theme for each gathering.  

Davies, along with fellow members Todd Elgin and Anita Moffatt, also play gigs around town as members of the Ukedelics, whose mission, according to their website, is to prove that “this little instrument can really swing!”

The band plays uked-up versions of a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, blues, pop, rock, country, classics, and – of course – a few Hawaiian songs too. They’ve been entertaining the Nashville area for over seven years, bringing ukulele fun to clubs, private parties, theatres and corporate events.  

In addition to the town’s seemingly unstoppable force of musicians, Nashville also boasts an annual ukulele festival, where uke enthusiasts can enjoy workshops, performers, contests, open mics, strum-alongs, and plenty of jamming.  

The three-day event is held at the Brown County Inn around January of each year.