Seems like we’re past the point of no return for Broadway.
It’s hard to overstate the change that lower Broadway in downtown Nashville has undergone in the past couple of decades. The 5-block strip used to be filled with local honky tonks, boot shops, and artists and musicians who were hoping to make a name for themselves in the country music industry.
But long gone are the days when you’d find artists hanging out at Tootsie’s after a show at the Ryman Auditorium, because now Broadway mostly consists of massive 6-story bars named after pretty much every country artist imaginable, most of which are owned by giant hospitality corporations.
And if you’re looking for country music on Broadway? Well you might be looking for a while, because you’re more likely to find bachelorettes partying to Journey covers than Johnny Cash.
Despite the recent outcry from many local bar owners over skyrocketing property taxes that threaten their businesses, there’s still plenty of interest in capitalizing on the popularity of Broadway. Within the past year we’ve seen several new bars pop up, and just this month, Kane Brown announced that he would be opening a bar down there (in partnership with an out of state hospitality company).
And apparently Cole Swindell is the next artist who’s hoping to strike while the iron is hot…but instead of opening his own bar, he’s bringing in a chain restaurant.
Swindell announced this week that he was partnering with Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux to open a location of the sports bar franchise on Broadway.
Walk-On’s currently has nearly 80 locations across the country, and for their first Nashville store Swindell will be partnering with franchisee Jamie Daniel of Kentucky based Daniel Hospitality. The restaurant will be located at 215 Broadway, between Jelly Roll’s Goodnight Nashville and Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk, and is currently slated to open in 2027.
Speaking on the project, Swindell said he hopes to pair his love of sports and country music to the venue:
“Anyone who knows me knows that outside of music, sports are my biggest passion. Partnering with Walk-On’s is a full-circle moment for me. To finally bring a location to Nashville and create a community for sports fans in a city that has given me everything is really exciting.”
And listen, before we get into it: I love Walk-On’s. Their food’s great, especially for a chain sports bar, and I would be pumped to have one in Nashville (and would probably be a regular) if it were pretty much anywhere but Broadway.
Putting a chain restaurant on Broadway just seems like the next step in the already-overwhelming corporatization of a spot that used to be uniquely Nashville. At this point most of the bars look the same, play the same kind of music, and sell the same $12 beers to the same drunk tourists.
And to be fair to Walk-On’s, it’s not like it will be the first chain on Broadway: Raising Cane’s opened up a location a couple years ago, and Mellow Mushroom has had a spot on Broadway for nearly a decade now. Not to mention the Hard Rock Café and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, which are staples of Broadway at this point and have outlasted many of the local bars.
But it just seems like adding more chain restaurants – even ones I like as much as Walk-On’s – is just the next step in the inevitable corporatization that will ultimately turn Nashville into every other city. If I want to go to a Walk-On’s or a Raising Cane’s, I can go to 80 other cities in the country. I can’t go to Robert’s Western World or Layla’s anywhere else, and it’s those places that make Nashville special.
I know it’s like beating a dead horse to keep complaining about it, because at this point nothing can stop the runaway train that’s taken Broadway far from its roots and firmly into one of the top tourist destinations in the country. But it’s still a little sad to see so much of the authentic Nashville give way to massive corporate venues in the name of “progress.”
And yes, I realize I’m the old man yelling at the clouds at this point, but at what point does Broadway stop being uniquely Nashville and become like the downtown area of every other major city in the country?
I think we may have already passed that point…but hey, at least our corporate venues have neon signs.
