those darlins’ nashville

the southern rocker girls tell us where to go in “music city.”

by ali hoffman

Some love them for their hand-clapping. Others swear by their electric stage presence. But above all, it's their authentic Tennessee rock-meets-punk sound that makes Those Darlins so damn good.

So who better to put together a guide to Nashville's coolest spots than lead guitarist Nikki Darlin and lead singer and writer Jessi Darlin? Check out their top picks below, including the best place for a good ol' Pimm's Cup and where to find a really, really awesome guitar. 

Belcort Theater

"The Belcourt Theatre is Nashville's only independent movie theater. Sometimes they have bands play there. They also have really good food there--not like average, movie theater food. And you can drink there, so you can booze and watch the movie [laughs]. We went to see Moonrise Kingdom there, which was great. Oh, and we saw this amazing movie there recently called Beasts of the Southern Wild." -Jessi

"Yeah, that was such a good movie! We both bawled balled our eyes out." -Nikki

Stone Fox

"Stone Fox just opened up. It's a really cool venue and bar and a lot of our friends are cooking [there]. Pretty much everyone we know are bartenders there, too. I like going there because it feels like your just hanging out at your friend's house."  -NIkki

"It's kind of like if you gave the people that are the heart of the music scene a place to go and make their own, that would be it.  I'm excited to see what's going to happen there. I think it's going to be a really big thing." -Jessi

Santa's Pub

"This place is in a trailer and it has a spray-painted Christmas mural on the outside of it. It's a bar owned by a man named Santa, who has a big white beard, and his wife. They close whenever they feel like closing and they open whenever they feel like opening. "- Nikki

The Groove

"The Groove is a newer record store. It's one of the only record stores on the east side, which is great because it's right around the corner from where we live. It's really small but cool. I'm always going in there and asking them questions about how to fix my record player. I just got this Ornette Coleman record there." -Jessi 

"The last [record] I got there was Django Reinhardt."- Nikki

Fanny's House of Music

"It's a small guitar and instrument shop…. And they have some vintage clothes. But the music store is all-female run and everything they pick is really affordable and a really cool selection. Everything is picked out specifically to be in that shop." -Jessie

"They're also really supportive of female musicians there, which is really cool." -Nikki

Holland Housee

"It's a cool restaurant on the east side. They have the best cocktails in Nashville for pretty good prices. Ya know, we're just little old ladies that meet there on Thursdays to talk shit." -Jessie

"We both really like their Pimm's Cup. It's definitely the best one I've had." -Nikki