The Stars on Broadway
Last weekend I went to Nashville for Imaging USA. The night before I went out to downtown Nashville on Broadway. This is where some of the most famous honkytonks of all time are located.
The most famous is probably Tootsies Orchid Lounge. We tried to go in, but they actually wouldn’t let me because I had a camera. No idea what that was about, but it’s a stupid policy. As it turned out, I ended up getting my first shoot of 2026 on the back entrance of Tootsies. A local performer named Cade Bailey was leaving his gig, so I chased after him and asked him to be my model.
Over the last ten years, a lot of the property on Broadway has been bought by famous country stars to make their own venues. There have been a ton of new ones open since the last time I was down there, so I decided to go check out some of them.
The first bar we went to was Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa. It’s kind of an open secret that Miranda is my celebrity crush and I am still holding out hope that she leaves her husband for me. …anyway. This was actually pretty high in my ranking. I liked the design of the place. The Miranda Live! stage had a really talented young woman, Jessie Wilson playing with her band. Curiously, Casa Rosa was the most empty of the places we went.
My only complaint was that the Merch was exclusively female. So a guy can’t get a Miranda Lambert hat?
We briefly checked out John Rich’s Redneck Riviera, but it was small and packed. Good band though.
One of my favorite musicians is Eric Church, so I was super excited to check out his bar, Chiefs.
Unfortunately, I only have a few good shots of Chiefs, because they made mention of my camera. Unlike Tootsies, they didn’t ban me, but I was warned not to use it. So I took some cell phone shots instead. Like I said, it’s a stupid rule.
Chief’s was making a strong argument for it being the best bar on Broadway. I really liked the designs of almost every floor. I had planned on buying a hat or a tshirt, but the merchandise in Chief’s sucks. It’s really strange, because Eric Church puts a lot of money into having unique art posters for his shows. Pay someone to make a decent shirt.
I’ve become a bit of a fan of Jelly Roll in the last year or two, so I was excited to see his place, Goodnight Nashville. Great band, good atmosphere. And I finally found a bar with great merch! I even got a hat.
Unfortunately, the place is very loud. We left fairly quickly.
The real surprise for me was Post Malone’s bar, Postys. Malone isn’t a country star, but has been spending a lot of time with the country community and made some great songs. He even did an incredible cover of Toby Kieth’s Good as I Once Was in honor of Toby’s passing.
Postys is in competition with Chiefs for my favorite bar. I absolutely love the design of the place and ended up getting one of my favorite shots of the weekend there. Also, the band was fantastic.
By the time we were done seeing all the new places, it was getting later and the Nashville party scene was starting up. We decided it was a good time to go. I’d love to go back and actually eat and see a show at a couple of these places.
Maybe I’ll even run into Miranda.
It could still happen.
#postys #postmalone #jellyroll #goodnightnashville #ericchurch #chiefs #mirandalambert #casarosa #johnrich #redneckriviera #imagingusa #tootsiesorchidlounge
