Searching for the best route to explore Nashville while laughing your way through a country music sing-along and comedy tour? Take a ride on the multi award-winning Music City Rollin’ Jamboree.
Jenny Carson, owner and comedienne extraordinaire, makes one thing very clear. “It’s a show, not a party bus, but the show is a party. This is a tour of Nashville you aren’t going to find anyplace else.”
A TripAdvisor Hall of Fame and Traveler’s Choice Award winner, and featured on "Good Morning America" and HGTV’s "Flip or Flop," the Music City Rollin’ Jamboree celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2022. Jenny added musician Gil Grand, CCMA and GRAMMY winner, to the experience. Together they’ve created an alchemy that garners repeat business, as well as referrals from previous satisfied customers.
Jenny says the idea for the Rollin’ Jamboree came when she and her grandparents took a ride on the Nash Trash Tour. All seats were sold out, and the pink bus ended up leaving a crowd of people behind. That crowd, and memories of the old Dolly Trolley that used to tour downtown, led her to an epiphany: “This is it. This is the time.”
A week later, she purchased a retired school bus for $5,000, painted it, put in a sound system, and the Music City Rollin’ Jamboree was born.
“I wanted to make it so my grandparents could get on it – anyone’s grandparents – have a good time, and leave knowing more about Nashville.” Back then, she drove the bus herself, and took a couple of years to develop the tour and find her rhythm. The gates opened once she started making people laugh.
“You get on that bus, you put everything down, and you have a good time for 90 minutes. You enter as a stranger, you leave as a friend, and possibly as part of our family,” Jenny says. She texts every rider to thank them personally, and they keep the jokes going. She even occasionally hears from participants when they run into fellow attendees at other Nashville landmarks.
“It’s just special,” she says, “when strangers let their guards down with one another and no joke is off limits. We don’t make fun, we have fun.”
And don’t forget the music. Jenny has high praise for Gil. “People don’t expect the music to be as excellent as it is. He surprises people.” Gil leads a dual life. After spending time in his native Canada touring, performing his own award-winning music and traditional country shows, he then returns to Nashville, gets “on a bus, and starts acting goofy. There’s never a ride where something unexpected doesn’t happen.”
Gil says Jenny commits to the jokes. "And there’s nothing she doesn’t talk about. She makes the comedy happen. I’ve never seen anyone pull out the character aspects of people like she does.”
"Many people come back, and it evolves the longer we work together," he says. “I never realized how fulfilling it is to bring laughter to people. There’s something special that happens on the bus that I don’t get from the stage and that’s why I love it.”
Bus tour tickets are $38 each. The tours take place at 11:30 and 1:30, Wednesday through Saturday, for ages 21 and up. No bachelorette parties or large groups are permitted. “We won't tolerate disruptions,” Jenny says. “People are here for a show.”
NEW!!! To combine a meal with a performance is the group's Nashville Jubilee Country Music Comedy Show, available at the Troubadour for bus tour groups, private events or pre-Opry attendance. In addition to May 3, there's another one available Sept. 22.
615.430.3109
MusicCityRollinJamboree.com
Catch the brand-new Nashville Jubilee Country Music Comedy Show on May 3 at The Troubadour Nashville on Music Valley Drive; sponsored by veteran-owned Leatherwood Distillery. Dinner/Show package available. Tickets: NashvilleJubilee.com/book-now, email hello@nashvillejubilee.com, call 615.307.0664.