ABC/Image Group LA Two weeks ago during CMA Fest, fans got a preview of Jason Aldean‘s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar in downtown Nashville. But on Wednesday, the new venture from the three-time ACM Entertainer of the Year officially opened.
Jason says it’s something he couldn’t have imagined when he came to Music City two decades ago.
“When I moved to Nashville twenty years ago,” he reflects, “Lower Broadway was older honky tonks and little souvenir shops that you could go in and get a cowboy hat and a shot glass.”
“Now you go down there…” he continues, “there’s all these really cool things popping up everywhere. Nashville’s booming, just as a city. And that’s such a cool part of our town… that downtown area.”
Jason’s new 30,000-square-foot space has 250 seats for dining, as well as six different bars. It’s all part of a trend that includes Florida Georgia Line‘s FGL House, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red.
“You’ve got the FGL boys and Blake and Dierks and all those things are popping up now,” Jason explains. “And I think it’s cool for fans. You know, they come in and they get to in to go in the FGL House and see FGL memorabilia. They can come in my place and see all of our stuff,” he adds.
The “Drowns the Whiskey” hitmaker plans to spend plenty of time at his new honky tonk himself.
“Not only I can go with my friends and hang out and have a good time,” he says, “it’s like the same reason I play shows. I want to see people having fun and having a good time.”
“Twenty years ago,” Jason confesses, “if you’d have told me I’d have a bar in Nashville, I’d have been like, ‘Yeah, right!'”
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