MuzikMafia: From the Local Nashville Scene to the National Mainstream

Chapter Three: August 2002 to March 2004: Growing Popularity in Nashville and Beyond

aUgUst 2002 to March 2004 growing Popularity in nashville and Beyond The Tin Roof was the first restaurant/bar to open along the Demonbreun Street Roundabout. Owner Jason Sheer had modeled the establishment after its counterpart the Tin Roof Cantina, which he had opened six years prior in the trendy Buckhead section of Atlanta. The Nashville Tin Roof attracted large crowds from its opening day on February 11, 2002, featuring music of varying kinds, little of which was country. The clientele who frequented the Tin Roof and later restaurants/bars on Demonbreun Street consisted of an eclectic mix of Music Row label people, interns, songwriters, artists, students from Vanderbilt and Belmont universities, and young professionals. Chapter Three GRoWING PoPULARITy IN NASHvILLE AND BEyoND 62 The Tin Roof is relatively small (see fig. 3.1). The restaurant/bar is about 3,300 square feet and has an indoor legal capacity of 200. During any given performance the Tin Roof can accommodate in excess of 500 people due to its sizable stage area outside the building’s rear entrance. At the time that MuzikMafia started at the Tin Roof in August 2002, the restaurant/bar was already a center of musical activity. The Tin Roof was popular among Nashville musicians because Sheer consistently paid more for musical talent than any other bar in town. The Tin Roof also became a trendy locale that attracted diverse audiences. Some patrons frequented the establishment to hear rock and pop music. Others came to be around the cultural elite of the music industry. Sheer had heard of the MuzikMafia through his bartender Regis. Following a meeting with Kenny that Regis arranged, Sheer invited the MuzikMafia to take over the Tuesday night slot indefinitely. There was no contract other than the fact that the godfathers would receive $600 or twenty percent of the house gross for each evening. The MuzikMafia’s audience demographic changed drastically. Damien Horne, whose association with MuzikMafia began at the Tin Roof in August 2002, later remembered the large number of college students who attended Figure 3.1 The Tin Roof, July 2005. 63 GRoWING PoPULARITy IN NASHvILLE AND BEyoND weekly shows. The new popularity of John and Kenny as major label recording artists combined with the new, weekly performance venue near Music Row and Vanderbilt and Belmont universities resulted in a decidedly different audience demographic from that of the Pub of Love. According to John’s brother Isaac, “The Tin Roof was a regular college crowd from Belmont and Vanderbilt; the [Muzik]Mafia show didn’t translate well; some listened to the show, some met other people, drank. It was more social; Gretchen is in the picture, record deals, popularity, and so on.” Saxophonist Max Abrams hated the Tin Roof because “the sound was funky,” and as a result, he did not perform there as often as he had at the Pub of Love. James and Gretchen also performed infrequently at the Tin Roof. James had signed his record deal with Mercury in early 2002. Gretchen divided her time between working as a demo singer and bartender, raising her daughter, and auditioning for various Music Row labels for a record deal of her own. As a result, the MuzikMafia’s weekly performance included only John, Kenny, Jon, and Pino, with numerous but inconsistent appearances by other MuzikMafia artists. For the first time, the MuzikMafia received payment for Tuesday performances . However, Sheer stated to me in 2006 that MuzikMafia performances were not much different from other songwriter nights at Nashville clubs: “MuzikMafia always thinks that they are on the cutting edge, like ‘Hey, look at us.’ But actually, people had been doing that for years in Nashville . It’s all marketing. They’re great marketing guys. They’re great business guys, and they’re very talented.” The defining feature of performances at the Tin Roof was the fact that the MuzikMafia had become a commodity in the form of a clearly defined show with a beginning, middle, and end. The godfathers had transformed a once disorganized group of Pub of Love entertainers into a structured show for public consumption, influential exposure, and economic gain. The MuzikMafia’s tenure at the Tin Roof was problematic at best. According to Sheer, the friction was with John almost from the beginning: “John Rich would take twenty-five shots of Patrón tequila and just give them to the customers. John never got the concept...