The iconic live show Music City Roots is to return to a new venue
Music City Roots
New Roots Barn
Madison Tennessee
Music City Roots, the ten-year-old live radio show and public television series, announced plans for a new venue this week. Co-founder John Walker and community leaders unveiled The Roots Barn, a new concert venue to be built next year in the growing music scene of Madison, TN. When live broadcasts return to the WMOT Roots Radio airwaves, scheduled for late 2020, it will be known as Music City Roots – Live From Madison Station.
The Music City Roots show launched at the Loveless Cafe Barn in 2009 and moved to the Factory in Franklin in mid 2014 and ran there until the end of 2017.
“Today is the perfect day for us to think more clearly about what kind of place we’re going to be, about what’s important to Nashville and the future successes of this city,” said Nashville Mayor David Briley at an announcement event at Amqui Station, immediately adjacent to the Barn site. “Music in Nashville isn’t just about nostalgia. It’s about creating new things. It’s about building new neighborhoods. It’s about inspiring new musicians to create. And that’s really what this barn is going to be 100% about.”
As well as embracing the seeping music scene of East Nashville, the site has yet another country music tie, through the 1910 Amqui Station, which was the depot on the L&N Railroad in the 20th century. When it was decommissioned, Johnny Cash rescued it from demolition and moved it to his property in Hendersonville. After his death, the non-profit Discover Madison, Inc. was established to raise funds to return the structure to the community, where it is now run as a community centre and museum. One dollar from every MCR ticket sale will go to the non-profit in perpetuity.
The Roots Barn is conceived to be among the best equipped music halls in the region, with a design partly inspired by The Barns at Wolftrap in Northern Virginia. It will hold about 700 people for seated shows and more than 1,000 for standing only events. MCR will also produce ticketed shows there and rent out the venue for special events.
Reproduced from an article by WMOT Roots Radio.
The iconic live show Music City Roots is to return to a new venue
