Nashville is a city of sublime contrasts, an intellectual hub built on a devotion to God, country music and the Devil's pleasures. Refined and raucous, it has long represented both culture and downright fun, capable of embracing pre-Civil war mansions and manners, as well as honky-tonk bars, trailer parks and dirt farmers. Nouvelle cuisine co-exists with barbeque and cornbread. The Frist Museum of Contemporary Art sits alongside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Nashville has, in less than 80 years, transformed from a Bible-reading city into a booming metropolis. Nashvillian Richard Schweid tells the history of how it all came to pass, and colourfully describes contemporary Nashville and the changes and upheavals it has gone through to make it the South's most exciting and thriving city.