Nashville Airport Offers Live Music While You Wait

In Nashville’s airport, more than 90 professional musicians are offering travelers free concerts, in an effort to make the airport waits a little more pleasant.

The Boston Herald reported on Sunday that despite the fact that the audience may be a little antsy, and leave in the middle of a tune, and overhead announcements interrupt harmonies, “it’s the best gig in town.”

“It’s a lot of fun. You get a lot of different people coming through,” says Bontempi, a singer-songwriter who plays all original material at his monthly two-hour airport shows. “I’ve had people on their cell phones walk by and say ‘Hey, they even have music here – listen’ and they hold up their cell phone.”

Nashville already has one of the busiest airports in the country for live music, but this month it will liven up even more with the opening of Tootsie’s, an offshoot of the honky-tonk where Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson once swapped songs and beers.

According to the trade group Airports Council International, Nashville International and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas probably have more live music than any other airport in the country.