Morgan Wallen and the City of Nashville have beef. The latter recently voted against the former’s bid to hang a neon sign outside of his bar on Lower Broadway.
However, it is the multi-platinum country music artist who will likely get the last laugh and made the Metro Nashville City Council look pretty dumb during his stop in Music City during his current tour.
For those who aren’t familiar, Broadway is to Nashville as Bourbon Street is to New Orleans. There is a large stretch of Honky Tonks on both sides of the seven(ish)-block stretch with live music playing at pretty much all hours of the day. Many of them are “owned” by country artists. Restaurant groups purchase the buildings and handle management. The artists lease their name out to the groups.
Wallen partnered with TC Restaurant Group, the same hospitality company that operates Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa, Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen & Rooftop Bar, and Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up. His bar, called ‘This Bar,’ opened over the weekend.
However, unlike most of the bars on Broadway, there is no sign outside of This Bar. Metro Nashville City Council voted against the proposal because of Wallen’s repeated incidents of ill-behavior over the last few years. Some of the councilmen allegedly received death threats because of their decision.
They tried to tell Wallen that he “doesn’t belong” in Nashville, which prompted him to mock the council with one simple image on Instagram. He sold out three nights at Nissan Stadium last month, home of the Tennessee Titans.
If that is the case, how does he not belong?
It gets even better, too! According to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation, more than 75,000 hotel rooms sold for that weekend alone. 94% of all hotel rooms in the Nashville metropolitan area were booked. 98% of hotels downtown were booked.
That is the most hotel rooms ever sold in one single weekend in Nashville. Taylor Swift (!!) played three nights at Nissan Stadium last summer and did not hit the hotel numbers of Morgan Wallen.
Metro Nashville City Council was more than happy to accept all of the money from patrons who stayed at those hotels, went to local bars and restaurants, shopped at local stores, and attended Wallen’s concert. They proceeded to tell him that he “doesn’t belong.” Uh, okay?
Wallen and TC Restaurant Group are going to get litigious about the sign and will win. It is only a matter of time before there is a sign with Morgan Wallen’s name on it outside of Morgan Wallen’s bar!