You knew it was just a matter of time…
Although it was first discovered and reported on by Whiskey Riff a few weeks back, country music legend Garth Brooks has officially announced plans for a Broadway bar in Nashville, Tennessee.
As we suspected, Garth’s new entertainment concept and bar will be located at 411 Broadway in the old Downtown sporting Club location, or for those who remember, the location of Paradise Park. The 3-story, 40,000+ square foot property on Lower Broadway was purchased in December, 2021.
“We feel very lucky to have the chance to be part of Lower Broad, which is arguably THE hottest spot in the country.
The goal is a classic honky-tonk that welcomes all and encourages love and kindness while playing the greatest music in the world in the home of Country Music!”
Brooks will partner with Strategic Hospitality, a Nashville-based hospitality company owned by Benjamin and Max Goldberg, who weighed in on the partnership:
“Garth’s long-standing commitment to Nashville is far beyond music and has been so meaningful to our city. We couldn’t be more excited than to help him bring his concept to reality.”
There’s no word yet on a name or concept, but I suppose it won’t be all that different from all of the other artist-owned, multi-level bars on Broadway. However, much like Alan Jackson’s bar, I’m slightly more optimistic that they’ll play some real country music in there.
Garth Brooks will Alan Jackson, John Rich, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, and Dierks Bentley, who all hang their name in neon in front of massive bars in downtown Nashville.
And just last month, Eric Church announced that he would be opening his own six-story venue, Chief’s, in 2023.
Back in 2020, during a “virtual press conference” that he had something coming “in the next two years, three years.”
When asked about opening a bar on Broadway, Garth had this to say:
“Things you probably shouldn’t say, I’m going to say if you’re betting… kind bet toward it happening because it’s just something that’s coming. It’s coming in the future but it’s going to be done the way we do it.
So it’ll be its own place, very much like Blake’s is his own place and everything. So were going to do it our own way. And so it’s coming, I would say probably in the next two years, three years. Because, come on man, when you talk about Broadway that is ‘friends in low places’ right there. It’s the perfect place.”
Garth also addressed the idea of opening a bar in Nashville during a press conference prior his July 2021 show at Nissan Stadium (a show that was ultimately rained out and then cancelled due to the COVID pandemic):
“I hate to say this – it makes sense. So it can’t come soon enough for me.
I know exactly the way I’d want it to be because I live in the dive bars. Just take the fun thing out of every dive bar you’ve ever been in. Because for me that’s what it’s all about…
I tell you man, with getting to be part of arguably one of the most sing-along songs ever, in all of music, that’s a fun direcition to go to. I’d want the shirt alone, that I’d been in a ‘Friends in Low Places’ bar. That’d be fun…
I’m in the same boat with you. I think it’s something that should belong here and it would be an honor if I ever got to do it.”
Stay tuned… more details are sure to come.
I imagine more photos like this one are on the way…
Garth Brooks On His Chris Gaines Alter-Ego
Garth Brooks doesn’t talk much about his bizarre alter-ego Chris Gaines much anymore.
That sucks, because it’s one of the strangest, funniest, most incredible things a global superstar has ever done. I mean, anyone else would send their career into a complete nosedive for something like this, but not Garth… dude is still selling out stadiums two decades later.
To this day, there’s a small cult following for Gaines, and there was even talk of a “Chris Gaines Fest” coming to Nashville a few years back.
If you’ve never really dove into the Chris Gaines story it’s WILD. We’re talking sex, trauma, death, car crashes, plane crashes, house fires, scandals… the VH1 Chris Gaines special might be the greatest documentary in the history of the world. In fact, it might even be the greatest piece of filmmaking in the history of the world.
It chronicles the weird, full throttle, and completely insane (fake) life of Chris Gaines. It even featured appearances from folks like Billy Joel and “girlfriend” Maria Costa (Yes, Chris dated actress Maria Costa). And while Garth’s team has done a great job of wiping it from the internet, you can find pieces of it out there.
And Garth is still getting roasted for it and deservedly so.
In a 2019 sit-down with Yahoo Entertainment, Garth opened up about the character saying:
“A lot of people misunderstood it, and my ribs are still sore from getting the shit kicked out of me for it.”
There was supposed to be a movie to accompany the character and album, but that never happened. So when Garth was asked if he’d ever revisit being the soul patch singer, or creating a movie, he added:
“I would never even really get close to it again, because it really was a really tough time for me, because of the fact that I saw for the first time that people can be focused on something way past the music. And that’s never a good thing, when music takes a backseat.”
And while the ribs are still recovering, overall, he did enjoy some of the ride:
“All of a sudden you realize the people who got it, got it. And the people who never got it, never picked it up.
So that makes me feel good, because I got to tell you, I’m surprised you brought this up, but everybody that ever does mention to me it says it’s their favorite Garth Books album! I don’t know how to take that!
But it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work.
Welp, there’s that.
Take a trip down memory lane with this greatness…
Garth Brooks Says Unreleased Chris Gaines Music Is Coming
Chris Gaines is BACK.
In an Inside Studio G segment, he dropped a bomb on fans with the news that unreleased Chris Gaines material is on the way. A fan asked if she could get the Chris Gaines album digitally (a question they apparently get all the time) and Garth made her day with his response:
“When it comes to Chris Gaines, I can’t tell you anything except… you’re going to have it in every format you can possibly imagine. It’s coming, even in vinyl. And, you’re going to have Chris Gaines stuff nobody’s ever heard before either.
It’s all coming, but the Chris Gaines thing you just gotta handle it with kid gloves and put it together, but it’s coming. I love that project, so I’m excited.”
I recently dove into the world of Chris Gaines, watching the entire VH1 Behind The Music documentary and I’ll tell you what…. it’s the most hilarious, terrifying, brilliantly bizarre, downright most insane fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
For example, did you know that Chris Gaines was a raging sex addict? And such a raging sex addict that when he got into a severe car accident, all he could think about was if his dick was still going work afterwards.
Plane crashes, car crashes, trauma, scandals, sex, sex, more sex…. Chris Gaines is a fucking legend.
Be on the lookout people… it’s COMING.
