Ditto. (Though I mostly grew up a lot farther out in the sticks.) I think what they mean is "the area around Vandy and the recently-gentrified portions of East Nashville are liberalish".
That having been said, the general feel of Nashville has really changed over the past decade.
I used to see it as a "dirty, smelly big city", but it certainly feels more alive now than it used to.
Then again, perhaps a lot of that is the fact that I live somewhere else, and now I go there to visit friends and family.
At any rate, glad to see a pyTN conference springing up!