To see what downtown was and what it is, one need only stand at the bottom of Broadway, downtown's main drag, at the Cumberland River. On one side of the street is the old Acme Farm Supply Store, with its banner offering "Free Dog Dip Every Saturday."

Across the street is the Nashville branch of the Hard Rock Cafe, which opened June 21, 1994, as the first Hard Rock outside a major urban area and has been packing people in ever since. The decor is basic Hard Rock with a country emphasis, so besides the Beatles and Stones, the memorabilia includes the stage outfits of people like Hank Williams Jr. and the cowboy band Riders in the Sky. The biggest relic of music history is the original mixing console from Nashville's famous RCA Studio B, where Elvis Presley and other stars recorded.

The spiritual center of the new downtown is the revived Ryman, which like the Wildhorse, is owned by Gaylord Entertainment Company, the firm that owns Opryland USA, the Opryland Hotel and convention center, and which runs shuttle boats along the Cumberland from the Opryland area to downtown. Opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, the Ryman instead became the sacred shrine of country music and the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, when it was moved to Opryland USA. Now it's been lovingly renovated and restored for concerts and stage shows. The current show is "Always . . . Patsy Cline" a salute to the country legend.

But if the Ryman is the soul of downtown, the most popular attraction these days is the Wildhorse Saloon, a $7.5 million country dance hall that offers live music, country videos on a 15-by-22-foot high-definition television screen and countless smaller television sets, and twice-weekly tapings of country dance shows on the Nashville Network.

Situated on Second Avenue, for years a gritty warehouse district, the Wildhorse isn't exactly Hank Williams. Relentlessly upbeat, the Wildhorse has a capacity of about 1,500 and usually packs in at least that many. The main attraction is the scene and the slick, state-of-the-art contemporary country music that pours out in a steady, danceable stream from young hunks in hats -- like Tim McGraw (son of the former Mets and Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw), John Michael Montgomery and Alan Jackson -- or country chanteuses like Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Pam Tillis.

The Wildhorse draws a crowd that ranges from grandparents in matching fringed denim and white Stetsons, to armies of young country fans in their new Garth Brooks finery, to families with kids, many of whom flock to the dance floor to do their own line dancing and two-stepping. There is a 190-seat restaurant, a gift shop full of Western wear and assorted bars.

There's more to Second Avenue than hunks in hats. Below Broadway, for example, is the Ace of Clubs, operating out of what looks like a renovated garage, which offers a steady diet of first-rate up-and-coming rock and rockabilly acts. There are some interesting nooks and crannies like the Great Escape in the Market Square Emporium, a vintage record, CD and pop memorabilia store, which also doubles as the Marty Party Headquarters, selling merchandise featuring popular country singer Marty Stuart.