Blake Shelton Partners With Ryman for New Bar and Entertainment Venues
Blake Shelton has partnered with Ryman Hospitality and the Grand Ole Opry to open a new bar, food and live music venue in downtown Nashville.
The new facility will be called Ole Red, after Shelton's hit "Ol' Red" from 2002. The different spelling reflects the partnership with the Grand Ole Opry.
Shelton and executives from Ryman Hospitality announced the new venture during a press conference at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Thursday morning (Jan. 5).
The fun-loving star is especially happy to be partnering with the Opry for the new business, which is aimed squarely at the country music demographic. Shelton refers to the venue as a lifestyle and entertainment brand.
"It doesn't even seem like I'm venturing that far out of my realm, because I'm doing it with these guys," he said in announcing it via Facebook Live.
Ole Red's Nashville location will open in a 26,000-square-foot historic building at the corner of 3rd and Broadway in the heart of downtown Music City. It will include a bar and a number of other lifestyle features, including live music stages, a restaurant, VIP booths and live band karaoke, as well as an outdoor rooftop space with fire pits and other amenities. The project also includes retail space and a private event space that can hold up to 450 people.
The building cost $6.6 million, and the venue is expected to cost $20 million to build. Ole Red will employ more than 80 people when it opens, and represents the most expensive entertainment project on lower Broadway in Nashville since the Bridgestone Arena was constructed 21 years ago.
Shelton will also open a special Ole Red location in his hometown of Tishomingo, Okla., where he hopes to stimulate some local and regional economic activity. Shelton bought a dentist's office in Tishomingo three years ago, and he also bought ex-wife Miranda Lambert's former Pink Pistol boutique after they divorced. He'll be turning the two buildings on Main Street into one complex to house the new venture.
"I know this is going to become one of those types of venues where people will just want to say that they've been there ... I'm excited about it," he states, adding that he will definitely take a personal stake in being on hand at the locations, both in person and via technology.
"I don't think there is a point to it if I don't," he says.
The Tishomingo location is projected to open around October of 2017, while the Nashville venue is tentatively slated to open in April of 2018 due to the extensive reconstruction involved in the project.
Shelton is currently promoting his latest single, "A Guy With a Girl," from his current album If I'm Honest. He will return to the new season of The Voice for its upcoming season in March, and his girlfriend, Gwen Stefani, will return to her judge's chair this season as well.
More details about Ole Red are available on the venue's website.
Blake Shelton's Most Unforgettable Moments
See Pictures of Blake & Gwen at the White House State Dinner