Flooding Quiets Nashville's Music

While city officials reported progress today restoring Nashville's electrical and water systems after a devastating flood, the downtown remained dark, homes were sodden, and patience was wearing thin four days after flash flooding and storms blamed for at least 29 deaths in three states. Nashville's country music scene also began assessing damage from the floods. The blazing fiddles and screaming guitars in the city's famed downtown honky-tonks were quieter as business owners pumped water out of their restaurants and bars.

The Country Music Hall of Fame has closed and the Grand Ole Opry—the most famous country music show in the world—had to move its performances to other concert halls. Flood damage at the Hall of Fame was mostly confined to a mechanical room and did not get in the exhibit area where 112 of country's greatest stars are chronicled in down-home tributes. As for the Opry, it could be another 3 months before it hosts shows. (More Nashville stories.)