While Music City residents can hear the blues nightly at one location or another, for anyone seeking quality musical consistency, a mix of local, regional and occasional national talent and great barbecue, the place to be is Papa Turney’s BBQ and Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint. Founded 10 years ago by Mike “Papa” Turney, it evolved from a food truck into a brick-and-mortar combination restaurant and venue, and it’s been at the Marina at Nashville Shores on Percy Priest Lake for the past six years. Turney’s goal was and remains creating an environment modeled on classic juke joints. That’s especially reflected in the Wednesday and Saturday night jam sessions, which are hosted either by individuals or groups. As evidence of the high respect Turney enjoys in both the local and national blues scenes, his place hosted legendary Grammy-winning blues performer Bobby Rush in September. But most of the time, you will hear the best in local and regional blues talent giving their all in the jam sessions; you might even see Turney joining in the proceedings as well.
Best Blues Venue
