Total Wife at Drkmttr for Drkmttr Fest, 10/19/2024
One of the most exciting bits of good news in the Nashville music venue landscape in years was all-ages DIY spot Drkmttr becoming a federally recognized nonprofit organization. Founder Kathryn Edwards, fellow owners Olive Scibelli and Chappy Hull and their staff and volunteers have been showing up for Nashville in all kinds of ways for nearly a decade, and this move opens up many more opportunities for the place to thrive.
Meanwhile, the revamped and rebranded Cannery Hall suite of venues hosted its first shows in January. While an array of musicians from Hanson to Lilly Hiatt has played, the quantity of electronic dance producers and DJs is noteworthy, and the space joined the also-new Night We Met nightclub in hosting events around the Deep Tropics festival. Over the river, Eastside Bowl scuttled its sitdown restaurant and repurposed the 225-capacity room as The ’58, which has remained busy.
Deeper into Madison, the former Timberhawk Hall project has been reimagined under new ownership as Harken Hall, though its official opening was not announced at press time. Downtown, the Nashville Yards complex has been in development since well before the pandemic. A key component is a 4,500-cap venue called The Pinnacle, operated by ticketing and promotions giant Live Nation’s rival AEG, which has its first shows scheduled for March. Dance-rockers COIN, expert songsmith Jason Isbell and rock champion Jack White all have dates on the books. On a related note, Tennessee joined other states and the District of Columbia in signing on to a Department of Justice antitrust suit against Live Nation.
The Nashville Independent Venues Study and Greater Nashville Music Census both released extensive reports on the music business in Nashville, the people who are part of it and the vital role indie venues play. There’s a lot of data here that can help us figure out what to do, but it all supports the concerns people have been raising for years: While music plays a huge role in the city’s cultural identity and our economy, it’s increasingly hard for people and small businesses to participate. The state legislature voted to create a Live Music Fund; while it doesn’t directly solve any of the problems that are now represented in data, it’s one step in the right direction.
Talking with stellar songsmith and producer Brittany Howard, counting down the year’s top local albums and more
