Best of Nashville
Music
Best Local Rock Contest
The Road to Bonnaroo 8 off 8th Series
With so many local artists dead set on success, Nashville is a competitive town. At no other event was the tension in the air more palpable than at 2009's inaugural installment of the Mercy Lounge and BMI's "Road to Bonnaroo" 8 off 8th series: a three-round battle that sent three local bands to play the largest music event in the country. Everyone expected Middle Tennessee's favorite band of the millennium, The Features, to win round one—but when they did so by only a single vote, it suddenly felt like anyone's game. By round three, bands were pulling out every stop they could conjure—crowd-parting entrances, bikini-clad dancers—to secure victory in a knock-down-drag-out scrum for glory. Eventually The Protomen and Heypenny joined The Features in gracing a Bonnaroo stage. ADAM GOLD
