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Garth Brooks marked a monumental grand opening day of his honky tonk, Friends In Low Places, on Thursday (March 7). The bar is located on the famous stretch of honky tonks on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Friends In Low Places — named after the Oklahoma-born artist’s iconic 90s anthem — is the latest addition to the “neon neighborhood.” It totals more than 54,000 square feet, and includes multiple floors and a rooftop space. It’s located at 411 Broadway, formerly Downtown Sporting Club. Brooks previously held a soft opening dive bar concert. Now, all floors of the bar will be open seven days a week. Friends In Low Places is also complete with a menu inspired by Trisha Yearwood’s Trisha’s Southern Kitchen and her cook books.
“I get to be ‘Mr. Yearwood’ at home, and ‘Mr. Yearwood’ here,” Brooks said during an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Thursday. Earlier in the conversation, when asked why now was the time to open his honky tonk, Brooks replied, “this is a ‘thank you.’ This town has been fabulous to me. And I gotta tell you, of all times — maybe it’s not the bar we’re creating. Hopefully it’s love that we’re creating. Right now, it just seems a little tense, right? Let’s get a place where everybody’s welcome. Everybody’s good. …There’s people here that sometimes are your best friends, whether you know it yet or not.”
Yearwood also appeared on Good Morning America with Roberts, where she unveiled the Friends In Low Places kitchen and walked her through a recipe bar goers can expect to see on the menu: collard-stuffed wontons. Yearwood noted that one of the desserts on the menu is the wedding cake she and Brooks shared when they got married in 2005. Yearwood said it “was my mom’s recipe.”
Brooks teamed up with Nashville-based Strategic Hospitality to bring Friends In Low Places to life. He also included a new police substation in the former alley next to the bar in partnership with the Metro Nashville Police Department to increase safety measures. MNPD shared a video earlier this week of Chief John Drake activating the blue POLICE substation sign. He said in the video that it’s “a historical time to see this happen.““
Friends In Low Places will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Brooks previously announced. The highly-anticipated venue joins previously-opened and upcoming establishments by Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs and other country stars. Brooks and Yearwood are giving fans an inside look at the process to open the bar in a Prime Video docuseries, available Thursday.
“This was so much more than I bargained for! With that said, what we have built is far more than just a business,“ Brooks said in a statement. “This is, by far, the craziest ride I have ever been on.“
“We started down this road fueled by passion, dedication, and a shared vision,“ Trisha added. “I'm really proud of the team that has built the Friends Bar and Honky-Tonk. We are excited to share the culmination of everyone's efforts. It's even bigger than we dreamed!“