Who does downtown Nashville belong to?
That question is at the heart of a long-simmering debate that is currently boiling over. Broadway and its surrounding blocks are at the heart of a specific and lucrative subsection of Nashville tourism, drawing throngs of people from the world over to landmarks like Robert’s Western World and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, as well as heaps of bars and restaurants named for and/or co-owned by country stars.
Downtown is also a business hub, and a not-insignificant number of residents call the neighborhood home. As tourism in Nashville continues to balloon, Nashvillians find the district less welcoming by the day, pointing to a rampant culture of public drunkenness among tourist bargoers and its accompanying dangers. One example: the tragic death of 22-year-old University of Missouri student Riley Strain in March.
Then, of course, there was ChairGate, in which perpetually controversial, wildly popular country star Morgan Wallen — whom you’ll know for, among other things, getting caught using the N-word on camera in 2021 — threw a metal chair six stories off a balcony at Eric Church’s bar Chief’s on Broadway, nearly hitting police officers standing on the sidewalk below. A few weeks after the incident, the Metro Council voted to reject a proposal for a large marquee sign at Wallen’s new bar, Morgan Wallen’s This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen. (Yes, that is its real name.)
Speaking with Scene columnist Nicole Williams, Councilmember and former police officer Bob Nash explained his decision to vote no, saying: “My primary concern was, here we’ve got a young man throwing chairs off rooftop bars, endangering my former comrades and the public at large. And there should be consequences for that.”
Though the decision is unlikely to pass a First Amendment challenge, it still felt like a win to see the council put its foot down on behalf of its constituents, as Betsy Phillips pointed out in a recent Scene column. Wallen’s camp and legions of vocal fans were not happy. That tension embodies the rift between a big swath of Nashvillians and the broader country music industry, which drives a large part of downtown tourism. And it comes as nearly 100,000 country fans are expected to descend upon the city for CMA Fest.
Wallen is not part of this year’s lineup, having played a three-night stint at Nissan Stadium in early May. Some of his most vocal compatriots are on the bill, though, like rock-leaning artist and noted Beyoncé fan HARDY. And while Wallen retains a chokehold on country charts, this year’s CMA Fest lineup better reflects the diverse and exciting array of artists currently innovating the genre.
Brittney Spencer has a coveted slot on the Nissan Stadium Main Stage — where four nights of shows will be recorded for a three-hour special that will air June 25 on ABC affiliates — performing Saturday evening on a bill that also includes ’90s icon Terri Clark and white-hot star Lainey Wilson (who recently took home CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award, the Grammy for Best Country Album and three Academy of Country Music awards). Fresh off an appearance on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Spencer will likely pull from her January debut LP My Stupid Life, a long-awaited and critically acclaimed project from the Baltimore-raised singer-songwriter.
Her fellow Cowboy Carter collaborator Shaboozey will also appear on the Main Stage, performing Thursday evening. The genre-agnostic multihyphenate just released a new album, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, which features the fun and infectious viral single “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” The tune nods to both country and hip-hop influences in its twangy interpolation of J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy.”
Other Main Stage highlights include Americana Honors and Awards winners and CMA Awards nominees The War and Treaty, slated for Saturday, and a Sunday lineup that includes recent Scene cover boys Brothers Osborne, Carly Pearce and newcomer Megan Moroney. Reyna Roberts, yet another of the many Black country artists Beyoncé invited to join her on Cowboy Carter, will be the first to play the stage this year with a short set on Thursday. Jelly Roll, who took home New Artist of the Year at the CMA Awards in the fall, will close out Saturday night with a late-night slot that’s sure to be as rowdy as his music. And of course, the aforementioned Lainey Wilson’s Saturday set is sure to be a huge draw. Wilson has a new single, “Hang Tight Honey,” which she’ll likely perform alongside hits like “Watermelon Moonshine” and “Heart Like a Truck.”
Antioch’s own Jason ‘Jelly Roll’ DeFord went from handing out mixtapes to taking home a CMA Award
This year’s festival boasts an especially exciting undercard — see our rundown for even more detailed recommendations — with artists who span a wide range of interpretations of the genre. Quickly rising pop-country singer Dasha will play both the Nissan Stadium Platform Stage and the Chevy Vibes Stage, bringing her hits “Austin (Boots Stop Workin’)” and “King of California” along with her.
The Black Opry has a stacked list of artists slated to perform during its showcase on Sunday: Willie Jones (one more Cowboy Carter collaborator), Denitia, Jett Holden, Carmen Dianne and Aaron Vance. Denitia’s new album Sunset Drive is on the way in September, making this a great opportunity to get an early listen. Rissi Palmer’s organization Color Me Country also pulled together an ace group of talent, including O.N.E the Duo, who gracefully weave hip-hop and R&B influences into their sound.
Queer artists will be part of the festival too, including TJ Osborne of Brothers Osborne, Brooke Eden and Chris Housman. Housman’s new record Blueneck is one of the best releases of the year thus far, so make sure not to miss his set Friday morning at the Good Molecules Reverb Stage. The RNBW-organized Country Pride showcase is also back at the Hard Rock Stage on Friday, bringing Gina Venier, The Kentucky Gentlemen and more.
Like other country music institutions, the CMA Fest has struggled with diversity in recent years, and this year’s lineup feels like a step in the right direction. That’s particularly true on the Main Stage; headliners are typically current country radio chart-toppers, and thanks to the echoes of racist decisions about music marketing dating back a century, the lineups have traditionally been predominantly white. This year’s lineup is a better (though not perfect) representation of the genre as it actually exists, rather than just mirroring the Hot Country Songs chart.
There is still so much room for growth. While queer artists and fans have long been part of the fest, and the Country Proud showcase is one excellent and very visible element celebrating and welcoming the LGBTQ community, it’s still modest in comparison to the rest of the festival. There’s not an extensive presence of trans and nonbinary artists at CMA Fest. While it’s unlikely that anyone made this an explicit goal, it speaks to the high incidence of violence against queer people, especially trans individuals — and how the country industry at large isn’t great about making people who threaten the LGBTQ community, or Black and brown communities for that matter, understand that they’re not welcome.
That goes hand in hand with Betsy Phillips’ observation about the toxicity of “Broadway culture,” to wit: “I think a problem we have as a city is that, in reducing ‘host’ down to ‘the person who takes your money and gives you stuff,’ we have lost any expectations of our guests beyond them giving us money for our stuff.”
Nashville shouldn’t bend to the will of visitors who want to wreck the place because they feel like it and they’re paying handsomely to be here. And the country music business in general and CMA Fest in particular shouldn’t let anyone who wants to make BIPOC or LGBTQ artists or fans uncomfortable feel that it’s OK just because they have cash (or cultural cachet). Slowly but surely, the festival is inching away from the kind of culture propagated by chair-throwing slur-hurlers, making that seem a tiny bit more possible.
The who, what, when, where and why of CMA Fest and Bonnaroo 2024
