During COVID, Dierks Bentley’s tour manager Chris Thacker found himself with a lot of time on his hands. Stuck at home with no road gigs on the schedule, Thacker saw his touring music industry compatriots suffering without jobs, healthcare or any sort of safety net. He also felt troubled and sought therapy from Backline, a nonprofit organization that provides free mental health and wellness resources for music industry professionals and their families.
Looking for something positive to come out of the pandemic, Thacker came up with the idea to create a new product that could directly help out music industry pros then and going forward. And by a “new” product, I mean just about the oldest thing on earth — water.
Thacker developed StageWater, figuring it could be a product that would be available at just about any event featuring live music. Since launching, the brand has been adopted by all sorts of festivals and events, including Nashville’s Fourth of July celebration, Tin Pan South, AmericanaFest and others. Local bars have also adopted StageWater as their house beverage, including spots like Broadway Brewhouse, Acme Feed & Seed, Whiskey Bent Saloon, Teddy’s Tavern, The 5 Spot and Lipstick Lounge. Consumers can also purchase StageWater at many retail locations or online from the company’s website.
Chris Thacker
Other than tasting like, well, water, StageWater offers the benefit of coming in aluminum cans instead of single-use plastic bottles. It’s a whole ’nother story, but this city has a serious plastic and glass problem, fueled by the conspicuous consumption of tourists in primarily downtown establishments. In their marketing materials, StageWater shares: “Aluminum is infinitely recyclable and can be recycled into new cans repeatedly without losing quality. Plastic bottles are typically downcycled into lower-grade products and recycled at significantly lower rates than aluminum cans.” They also deservedly boast that their past sales replaced more than 265,000 single-use plastic bottles, keeping more than five tons of plastic out of the waste stream.
Even better, Thacker and the StageWater team donate 15 percent of profits directly to organizations that support the music industry — Backline, MusiCares, Music Health Alliance and The Roadie Clinic.
So if you happen to be brave enough to venture downtown this week during CMA Fest, you’ll see StageWater still and sparkling everywhere as the official water of the event. It will be available at any of the downtown performance venues, except for Nissan Stadium, and all the artists and crews will be hydrating on StageWater backstage at the stadium.
I’ve always tried to live by the maxim “one beer/one water/one beer/one water” while attending outdoor concerts. I don’t always succeed at the ratio, but now that I know that the water part is really doing some good beyond just keeping me upright, I’m going to try harder!
