Ashley McBryde Christens Redemption Bar During Opening Week Festivities
Ashley McBryde. Photo: Aubrey Wise
Ashley McBryde celebrated her Redemption Bar opening in Nashville this week with a series of intimate soft openings, welcoming Redemption’s first 200 guests herself.
She christened the N/A Forward bar’s corner stage with an acoustic set that ranged from namesake song “Redemption,” and “Luckiest S.O.B.,” to some unreleased new songs and the Randall Clay original “Emptying Ashtrays.”
“I had a bunch of friends in last night and some of them have been watching me play music since I was 19 years old in Memphis,” McBryde shared from the intimate corner stage, reminiscing with a smile. “I played in bars that I wouldn’t let you walk into now; places where your feet stick to the floor and there aren’t stalls in the bathroom. And then they got to walk into this place.”
Located on the fifth floor of Eric Church’s Chief’s on Broadway, Redemption is inspired by McBryde’s personal path to sobriety, and designed as a space that honors authenticity, connection and songwriting. The bar is painted crimson, adorned with moody decor and features easter egg details of McBryde’s journey. In its first week, Redemption will see performances from a variety of artists including Caylee Hammack, Harper O’Neill, Makayla Lynn, Peytan Porter, Terri Jo Box, Jason Nix, Wes Dorethy, Blue Foley and Cecilia Castleman.
McBryde announced her four-show Redemption Residency at Chief’s Neon Steeple earlier this month. Each of the four nights will be one-of-a-kind show experiences, with McBryde curating set lists and themes. Attendees may receive a surprise as McBryde could pop up a level before or after the four nights in the Steeple to dish out a double dose of Nashville magic on the Redemption stage.
