‘Nashville’ was canceled by ABC Network after four seasons early May 2016 and was thankfully revived a month later by CMT and Hulu. When I received the news about the cancellation I was in the process of writing a review about Nashville cast concert in Austin, Texas I went to couple of weeks earlier. The news threw me off and turned my story into my love story for this show and the journey it offers. That’s because, for me, more than the characters, the stories and the music – it’s the promise it offers. So here it is, a story about Nashville cast tour, a Road Trip to Texas, music, Promised Lands and Guarders of Dreams. Dedicated with eternal love for everyone that made this story irrelevant now because Nashville season 5 IS happening. 

About Nashville Forever  

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If you go to a Promised Land and lose your way just follow the trail of big dreams and broken hearts –it will take you there, I promise

I’m sitting now in Nashville, Tennessee and writing about the TV ‘Nashville’; The show I love so much, which also inspired my life and set me on a journey that, among other things, brought me here from Israel. It’s difficult to explain what this show truly means to me in my life, but I’ll try anyway by sharing with you the story of one trip I made from Nashville to Austin.

Read: How Why I Became A Nashville Fan and Created ‘Nashville Forever’?

In April this year a good friend of mine and I took a road trip from Nashville to Austin, Texas. Visiting Austin and doing an American road trip were two things high on my bucket list for a while. I waited for the right opportunity and it arose in the form a ‘Nashville Cast Tour’ performance there.

I have been in Nashville for a substantial amount of time before taking that trip. During that time I watched the cast perform several times on various occasions. Every time it was great at but also…a little strange.

On one hand this cast is truly talented not to mention one of the nicest group of people I’ve even met. They are great performers, kind, generous and humble and I sure love the music.

On the other hand, I didn’t really know them as people so meeting them in person created in me a dissonance  between TV closeness that came from being very familiar with their work and real life remoteness that stemmed from the mere fact these were people I just met they I don’t know nor they know me.

In a way it was easier to me to live my life in Nashville pretending the show is being filmed somewhere else, to solve this dissonance and other that concerts or random encounters that’s what I did.

But then I made all the way from Nashville to Austin City Limits.

My personal Nashville story started few years ago on the other side of the owrld when I was at a crossroad in my own life and stumbled upon a TV show named, you guessed it, ‘Nashville’.

Nashville was different, interesting and appealing to me in many ways but the one thing that truly set it apart was the music.

Read: What Nashville Taught Me About Circles 

There’s something about music that’s always beyond words and images and what ‘Nashville’ tried to do from the start is capture that “something” on-screen. ‘Nashville’ was never a documentary about music city, but a very ambitious attempt to dramatize something completely abstract like the heart of music city.

Over the course of its (so far) four seasons, the show tried many things and went into very directions. Not everything worked but this – its craziest most ambitious endeavor – did.

Whenever I watched the show, I felt it…it was powerful.

It changed my life.

More: A Life That’s Good Tells The Story Of Nashville 

Fast forward few years later to Austin, Texas and me sitting at the audience watching the cast of that show playing that “something”.

This time I felt different – no more mixed feelings. This time there was no confusion or frustration; the characters, the people, the fictional and the real – It all blended together. All I heard was the music and all I saw was Nashville, both the city and the show.

I was different as well as I suddenly didn’t perceive myself as merely a spectator. Sitting there and listening to the music it dawned on me in a way we are all part of the same thing – Nashville.

It means something else to each and every one of us, but it’s still something we all share and music is the connector.

Yes, I was still a fan but by understanding that, I realized I also had another role  – I was also a  guarder of dreams. I guard their dreams  by showing up and they guard mine by inspiring my journey. 

I took me a minute to pinpoint the reason for this sudden change, but when I did it made me smile. You see, I wasn’t in Nashville anymore and outside the place that creates and form the dream…there’s only the dream itself.

Ultimately I believe that what the show and what the city are to so many. It’s a creator, enabler and guarder of dreams. Nashville is a type of a Promised Land.

 

Due to an error of planning on my behalf, this Jew spent the first day of Passover on the road to Austin (sorry god and mom, not necessarily in that order). During this holiday, there’s a lots of emphasis on miracle of the liberation and the final destination,  but that’s just a small friction of the story. The majority of the story took place in between, during the long 40 years of desert that don’t vanish into thin air even when they reach their destination. No miracle and no ending, good or bad, can wash away the impact of a journey.

Read: My ‘Nashville’ Exodus 

Like all of us I have a desert inside me. Sometimes it’s big and sometimes these are only few grains. Every once in a while comes along a promised land that reminds me where I come from, shows me where to go next and offer this “something” that gives meaning to it all…you can forget that in the desert sometimes.

I walked out that concert hall in Austin happy, grateful and humbled.  

I realized that there, as a stranger in a new land, so far from ‘The’ Promised Land I was born into, I found my Promised Land.  

I made a promise there to I’ll keep guarding these dreams and following them wherever it takes me.  

When you get to a Promised Land, cherish every one of those dreams and love every broken heart. Then clear your mind to make room for your own dreams and open your heart as much as you can to let all the good enter and yes, also all the things that can break it. It’s on you now so make it count.