The Roots Barn, Home for Music City Roots and a Diverse Tapestry of Musical Culture and Heritage, Sets To Open in 2022

July 8, 2021 - Nashville, Tenn. - The Roots Barn, a new, state-of-the-art music and events venue, is well under construction and set to open a new era of culture and community in the Spring of 2022. The old-world timber structure will be the showpiece of a campus in fast-growing Madison, TN encompassing historic Amqui Station, a future public park, and a new tree-lined Madison Station Boulevard. It is planned as a hub for music-making and an inclusive vision of Americana.

The creators and producers of Music City Roots (MCR) are especially excited about having a forever home for their Wednesday night shows. Launched in late 2009, Music City Roots became a fixture in Nashville and in the national roots music scene by channeling the spirit of the live radio shows that built Music City in the first half of the 20th century. MCR showcases four artists each week, mingling legends, veterans, and emerging artists in a journey of emotion and discovery. It started its successful run on American Public Television and a network of public radio stations at the Loveless Cafe Barn, and its theme song is “Born In A Barn” by Rob Ickes, so it will feel very much at home at The Roots Barn.

The Roots Barn is one of the most ambitious new concert venues to be built in the southeast in decades. Modeled in part on the legendary Barns at Wolftrap in Maryland, The Roots Barn will feature classic timber-frame construction with wood sourced from across the country by Big Timberworks in Gateway, Montana. The timber’s provenance includes a decommissioned sawmill in Oregon and tobacco barns in North Carolina. The Roots Barn will be sustainability constructed and designed for ideal concert audio for both electric and acoustic music. It will also feature a new free-standing “green room” building where artists will feel at home and taken care of so that nothing hinders their performance.

“The Roots Barn will encompass and celebrate the rich, complex musical history of Nashville,” said Nancy VanReece, Vice President of Public Affairs and Business Development for Roots Productions, LLC. “Nashville offers locals and tourists an experience like no other. The Roots Barn will be the home to roots music, no matter what your roots are."

John Walker, Executive Producer said “The Roots Barn will be a gathering and performance place to showcase all of these diverse musical backgrounds in a beautiful, state-of-the art setting. Our focus is on broadcasting real music - past, present and future - but in the spirit of true Southern hospitality, we will offer an authentic experience combining the best of elements of food and drink to our visitors.”

Besides Music City Roots on Wednesday nights, The Roots Barn will host ticketed shows of all kinds. Already in the works is a weekly Sunday Soul Brunch hosted by Nashville’s McCrary Sisters. The Roots Barn will also have a catering kitchen and event staff, permitting private events such as fundraisers, corporate dinners, release parties, and more. Adjacent to the barn, a separate building will house a remote studio for partner WMOT Roots Radio 89.5 FM, the 100,000-watt Americana-format public radio station out of Middle Tennessee State University.

The Roots Barn will host an old-fashioned barn-raising event on Thursday, August 5 to celebrate the Spring 2022 venue opening with friends, artists, and Nashville leaders. To learn more about the development, visit therootsbarn.com.

About Music City Roots:

Founded in October of 2009, Music City Roots is a weekly live musical variety radio show created to shine a light on the variety and diversity of roots and Americana music from and passing through Nashville, TN. Roots has hosted Grammy-winning artists like Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Emmylou Harris as well as iconic American acts like The Doobie Brothers and features a weekly emerging artist as well. A community of fans, bands, and brands, Music City Roots hearkens back to the golden age of live radio via traditional and contemporary platforms of discovery: radio, television, and streaming both live and on-demand. Its American Public Television series has reached up to 80% of the nation. The show was housed at the Loveless Cafe Barn from 2009 to 2014 and the Factory in Franklin from 2014 to the end of 2017.

About WMOT Roots Radio:

WMOT-Roots Radio 89.5 is a listener-supported National Public Radio (NPR) station based at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. As Middle Tennessee’s most powerful music station, WMOT has a 100,000-watt signal that reaches north to Bowling Green, Kentucky and south to the Alabama border. WMOT is located in the Center for Innovation in Media in MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, where students work alongside industry professionals in a dynamic, collaborative environment. WMOT Roots Radio features original Americana programming and is dedicated to the music most deeply connected to Music City’s legacy: classic country music, bluegrass, singer/songwriter, folk, soul, R&B and old-school rock and roll. WMOT also continues to offer award-winning jazz programming on secondary channels (89.5HD, 92.3FM in Rutherford County, and 104.9 in Williamson County). Please visit WMOT.org for more information.

“I’m really excited about The Roots Barn Campus and the opportunity for WMOT to be a part of it. WMOT and Music City Roots have worked together for nearly three years to bring Americana and Roots music to middle Tennessee on WMOT 89.5. This new space will allow that partnership to continue to grow and expand while growing our music community in Middle Tennessee and beyond.”

- Val Hoeppner, Executive Director, WMOT 89.5 FM

“The construction of  The Roots Barn as a music and entertainment facility as the new home of Music City Roots at the historic Madison train depot is a thrilling prospect for music lovers throughout Middle Tennessee. Madison itself is extremely rich in musical history, making it the perfect location for Music City Roots to showcase the best in roots music and Americana in its down-home, old-school format. At the Center for Popular Music and WMOT Roots Radio we celebrate the musical heritage of our region and our nation every day, and look forward to many exciting events at this wonderful new development.”

- Gregory Reish, Ph.D., Director, Center for Popular Music, MTSU

About Discover Madison, Inc.:

Discover Madison is a non-profit organization whose mission is to begin "laying new tracks" toward reviving Madison’s rich history and rebuilding a strong sense of hometown pride. Its mission is to celebrate, educate, promote, and preserve Madison, Tennessee through the historic Amqui Station and Visitor's Center.

• Immediately next door to The Roots Barn campus, working in a strategic partnership, is historic Amqui Station, the 110-year-old passenger depot that served Madison from 1910 until the early 1970s. When threatened with demolition, an American icon and train fan Johnny Cash spent $35,000 in 1979 to move the building to his property in Hendersonville, where it was refurbished and used as an antique store. After John and June Cash’s death in the early 2000s, Madison arranged to move the station back home, where it has served as a small museum, a community meeting place, and a seasonal Farmers Market.

"The Music City Roots focus on preserving grass-roots music and Discover Madison Inc.’s mission to protect and preserve Madison, TN’s rich music history go hand in hand. We are excited to create a space in which, our neighbors and friends, as well as future generations, will experience the music culture that Madison has to offer."

- Christie Cooper, Past President, Discover Madison, Inc.

"We are happy to have a new next-door neighbor like The Roots Barn! FiftyForward has always worked to partner with other organizations, and this is such a great opportunity for all of us. Many FiftyForward Madison Station members are part of the rich music history of Madison, so we’re eager to welcome The Roots Barn and be part of the fun."

- Sallie Hussey, Executive Director, FiftyForward.

“One of the areas of improvement we are excited to see in Madison is entertainment options. We want Madison to be a well-rounded area where its residents can live, work, and play. The Roots Barn will be an exciting and notable addition, especially considering its unique location next to Historic Amqui Station and Madison's rich musical history. We are so excited that Roots Productions, LLC has chosen to build this amazing campus here, and we cannot wait to see the attention and tourism it adds to Madison.”

- Laura Knots Jennings, Madison Rivergate Chamber of Commerce

MEDIA CONTACT:

Abby Brown

Abby.brown@finnpartners.com