Behind the Scenes With 'American Pickers' in Nashville How a commercial shoot for the History Channel's hit show brought several blocks of downtown Nashville to a halt one hot summer afternoon.

It's an oppressively humid late-May afternoon in downtown Nashville, Tenn. In roughly 48 hours, a History channel production crew will shut down several city blocks to film a lavish new American Pickers promotional spot, and today the commercial's director and choreographer are putting Mike Wolfe and a handful of extras through the paces of a dress rehearsal.

That's right, choreographer. The tongue-in-cheek spot, which cleverly updates Dr Pepper's long-running "I'm a pepper" campaign to "I'm a picker," features Wolfe and co-host Frank Fritz pirouetting their way through the city streets--pied pipers of picking trailed by dozens of dancing acolytes.

Neighborhood merchants and their patrons begin spilling out onto the sidewalk. "I love your show!" squeals one woman. "I just did my first pick--a 1918 Singer sewing machine!" Wolfe gives her a high-five. A dreadlocked skater dude sidles over from his perch outside a tattoo parlor, asking, "Hey, man, can I get a picture with you?" Wolfe obliges before turning back to the production crew.