There used to be a pretty reliable way to spot a Nashville tourist in the middle of summer.

Look for the person wearing a pair of brand-new cowboy boots in 90-degree heat.

These days, that doesn’t narrow things down nearly as much.

Western boots are enjoying a serious resurgence, and Nashville has become ground zero for a trend that’s spread well beyond traditional country-music fans.

Nashville public radio station WPLN recently looked into the boom and found boot stores throughout the city’s Lower Broadway entertainment district doing brisk business as visitors increasingly make buying a pair part of the Nashville experience.

But here’s the interesting part:

It’s not just tourists.

Locals are wearing them. Younger shoppers are embracing them. Fashion brands have incorporated Western looks, and cowboy boots have increasingly appeared far outside places where anybody actually owns a horse.

In other words, the cowboy boot has crossed over.

Again.

That’s actually happened several times throughout American fashion history. Western wear has a habit of disappearing from the mainstream for a while and then suddenly showing up everywhere.

Country music’s current popularity probably isn’t hurting.

As the genre has reached a larger and younger audience, some of the lifestyle surrounding it has come along for the ride. Boots, hats and Western-inspired clothing have increasingly become fashion choices rather than strictly workwear.

Nashville provides the perfect place to try it out.

You arrive in Music City wearing sneakers.

You walk past three boot stores.

You hear live country music coming out of a honky-tonk.

Two hours later, you’re walking down Broadway in leather boots with turquoise stitching wondering how you’re going to fit the box in your carry-on.

It’s practically a Nashville tradition.

There is one piece of advice worth remembering, though.

If you’re buying your first pair, break them in before spending eight hours walking around downtown.

Looking country is fun.

Blisters are not.