Field of Dreams

Nashville is hot. Yes, of course, there’s the very popular TV series, but there’s also Wildsam Field Guides, the Nashville edition, the first in “a new American travel series with a bygone sense of place.” Wildsam’s editor, Taylor Bruce, is a New York-based writer, and, not surprisingly, words, not pictures, are his means of unlocking a city’s character. Billed as “part almanac, part urban lore, part memoir,” it’s chock-full of interesting tidbits—like hand-illustrated maps and interviews with locals; newspaper clippings and historical data; essays by musicians and chefs; and little-known curiosities that weave together a richly detailed American portrait more akin to Steinbeck than Lonely Planet. And, of course, we should have guessed. One look at Wildsam’s simple but stylish, and oh-so-literary cover should have been our first clue.

Photo credit: Wildsam Field Guides