Garth Brooks has “Friends in Low Places,”, but will they soon have a new place “where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases” their blues away on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee?
Whiskey Riff took a look back at Brooks’ commentary about the possibility since 2020, when he initially hinted about it. During a virtual press conference, Brooks was asked about opening a bar on Broadway and said:
“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 we’re 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.”
Fast-forward to July 2021, when Brooks also addressed the possibility during a press conference before his show in Nashville at Nissan Stadium.
“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 direction 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.”
It’s been two years since Brooks hinted that he could open a bar “in the next two, three years,” so is he closer to making that a reality?
Whiskey Riff dug into public records to see if there was any truth to rumors that Brooks may be the new owner of an enormous space at 411 Broadway, which was sold in December 2021.
Downtown Sporting Club, a venue that included an ax-throwing bar and boutique hotel rooms, announced that the building had been sold in December 2021 and that it would be closing immediately.
Whiskey Riff found in publicly available records from the assessor of Metropolitan Nashville that the building at 411 Broadway was sold on December 28, 2021, and the new owners are a company called 411, LLC. They also found on the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website that 411, LLC is a company that was formed on December 9, 2021. The registered agent is listed as Cheryl Harris, and her address is listed as the office for a company called O’Neil Hagaman.
According to their LinkedIn profile, O’Neil Hagaman was founded in 1984 and is one of Nashville’s largest business management and consulting firms dedicated solely to the entertainment industry. They represent entertainers, producers, publishers, record labels, writers, and industry executives across the country, R&B, Christian, rock, alternative and adult contemporary music formats.
Harris is a co-founder and partner of the firm. One of her long-running clients? Garth Brooks.
Harris has served as Brooks’ accountant and business manager, according to her testimony during a 2014 trial.
Harris was pictured with Brooks as recently as 2020 in Billboard, along with other staff from O’Neil Hagaman, when Brooks received Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize. Also in the photograph was Nashville attorney Rusty (Russell) Jones, who is listed under the mailing address for 411, LLC on the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website. Whiskey Riff also found Jones’ biography on the Tennessee Bar Association website, which lists Garth Brooks among the artists who have been clients of Jones.
So what does this all mean?
Although it’s not definitive, the clues lead to a strong possibility that Brooks may have a bar coming to Broadway in the not-so-distant future.
And we’ll be ready to “slip on down to the oasis” whenever Brooks decides to pull the trigger.
