Ryman Hospitality Properties and Blake Shelton’s long awaited restaurant and bar Ole Red Nashville is officially open on famed Lower Broadway. The entertainment venue celebrated yesterday, June 6, with a full day of powerhouse programming with national television broadcasts and unforgettable performances from country’s biggest stars.
The grand opening celebrations began with Shelton co-hosting the fourth hour of TODAY with Hoda Kotb. “This is happening! This is real! We’re really here!” exclaimed Shelton as he and Kotb took their seats on Ole Red Nashville’s stage.
As Kotb and Shelton reminisced on memories made together over their years of friendship, the artist broke out a guitar to serenade Kotb and the audience with a verse of the new establishment’s namesake song, “Ol’ Red.” The co-hosts chose to forgo their traditional glasses of wine for Ole Red Nashville’s signature cocktails, Tishomingo Sunset and Cumberland Punch.
The broadcast also featured appearances by Rascal Flatts, Thomas Rhett and Darius Rucker. Big Machine Label Group recording artists Sugarland took the stage as musical guests, and performed their new song “Babe.”
Later that evening Shelton performed “Turnin’ Me On,” a song from his current album Texoma Shore from Ole Red Nashville’s rooftop bar, The Lookout, on the CMT Music Awards. Shelton won two awards at the ceremony including the night’s biggest award, Video of the Year for “I’ll Name The Dogs.”
After the awards the party returned to Ole Red where Shelton officially christened the venue’s stage with an exclusive “Blake Shelton and Friends” concert, where he opened the show with his hit song “Neon Light” and a cover of Hal Ketchum’s “Small Town Saturday Night, and Eddie Rabbitt’s “Drivin’ My Life Away." In traditional honky-tonk fashion, all of Shelton’s guests covered a high-energy song fans know and love. The all-star lineup included Trace Adkins, Lauren Alaina, Kelly Clarkson, Devin Dawson, Hunter Hayes, The Voice contestant Kyla Jade, Chris Janson, Jon Pardi, Raelynn, Michael Ray, Darius Rucker, Dan + Shay and Little Big Town. NASCAR driver Clint Boyer also made an appearance to sing John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind” on stage with Shelton.
Shelton closed the show with a collection of his hits mixed with 80’s and 90’s country classics, including George Strait, Conway Twitty and Rhett Akins. “I can’t believe this actually happened” announced an ecstatic Shelton as he thanked the crowd.
Ole Red Nashville is now officially open to the public, with operating hours of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fans who missed Blake last night can purchase tickets to his double show at the Grand Ole Opry tonight here. Everyone is invited to join in on the fun as celebrations continue all week long with live music programming presented by Spotify. Check out the full, talent-packed lineup here.
About Ole Red
Ole Red is a lifestyle and entertainment brand inspired by Blake Shelton’s clever, irreverent third-chart hit, “Ol’ Red.” You can find Ole Red entertainment venues and products in two locations in the United States by 2018, the flagship multi-story bar, restaurant and entertainment venue in the heart of downtown Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway, and the very first location in Blake’s hometown of Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Ole Red is owned and operated by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. as part of its Opry Entertainment division. For additional information about Ole Red, visit us online at olered.com.
About Blake Shelton
Country Music Association’s 2012 “Entertainer of the Year,” five-time Male Vocalist of the Year winner and GRAMMY nominee Blake Shelton continues to add to his superstar status. In November he released his album Texoma Shore, which became his sixth record to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and marked his 11th all-genre Top 10. Texoma Shore features his Top 10 and climbing single “I Lived It” as well as the smash hit “I’ll Name The Dogs,” a romantic tune that boasts over 68 million streams and recently became his 25th No. 1 song. In the week following album launch, Shelton became the first artist in Country Aircheck / Mediabase history to have six songs chart simultaneously. Texoma Shore follows 2016’s Gold-certified If I’m Honest, the best-selling country album release of the year, which spawned three chart-topping songs and earned him a No. 1 on both the Billboard Top Country Albums and the all-genre Top Album Sales charts.
A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Shelton has earned a host of honors throughout his career including 20 ACM nominations and the Top Country Artist title at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Shelton proved worthy of the distinction on this winter’s Country Music Freaks headlining tour alongside Brett Eldredge, Carly Pearce and special guest Trace Adkins. As a coach for the Emmy Award-winning television show "The Voice", Shelton is a six-time champion, most recently with his contestant Chloe Kohanski. Offstage, Shelton has teamed up with Ryman Hospitality to open a string of Ole Red entertainment restaurant venues, a nod to his 2001 hit of the same name. The flagship location in his Oklahoma hometown Tishomingo opened its doors in September 2017, with Nashville’s venue on lower Broadway open now.
For more information and upcoming tour dates, please visit www.BlakeShelton.com and follow @BlakeShelton.