Country madness, symbol of American identity withdrawal

Caught up in a whirlwind of blinding neon lights, bars with blaring music, packed fast food joints and a compact crowd of wide-eyed onlookers, you could be on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles or Times Square in New York. But it is the main artery of Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, a remote state in the American South, which is boiling over like every evening. On 1 kilometer of old red brick buildings, a myriad of bars specializing in country music – nicknamed honky tonks – attract tens of thousands of tourists with high-energy concerts.