There are 17 (and counting) country star bars in downtown Nashville. One or two of those are exceptional. Most are pretty solid. A couple are … well, we’re too polite to say.
This comprehensive ranking of Nashville bars and restaurants owned by or affiliated with a country music superstar relies on average score on Google Business Reviews, but doesn’t stop there.
A consensus about why fans love (or loathe) each of these places is included. We tried to ignore circumstantial criticism, but pointed out relevant experiences.
Most venues have three things in common: Overpriced drinks, loud music and long wait times at night and on weekends. The highest-ranked bars make an effort to explain these inefficiencies, while the worst either shoulder-shrug or yell at you.
Nashville’s Best Celebrity Bars
Before you review the full list of country singer bars ranked by their reviews, here are a few superlatives based on the aggregate opinions of thousands of reviews.
Best Food: Blake Shelton’s Ole Red and Lainey Wilson’s Bell Bottoms Up, plus the BBQ at Eric Church’s Chief’s
Best Drinks: Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa
Best Family Experience: Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge or Luke Combs’ Category 10
Best Party Spot: Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, Jason Aldean’s Rooftop Kitchen + Bar
Best Overall: Luke Combs’ Category 10
The turnover of established downtown Nashville venues into celebrity owned bars began in about 2017, when Alan Jackson opened AJ’s Good Time Bar. John Rich and Dierks Bentley followed soon after, and then came a wave of star-named bars.
Typically, having your name on the neon sign is mostly a licensing deal — the artist has little involvement with the day-to-day operations, if any. Once in awhile a celebrity will show up at “their” bar, but those sightings are pretty rare.
Worth noting is that we’re now reaching the next generation of these kinds of bars. When FGL House closed in 2024, Lainey Wilson‘s bar and restaurant popped up in its place. That gives the impression that each establishment listed below could be as fleeting as fame itself.
Here is every country star bar or restaurant in Nashville, ranked according to their Google reviews. Plus, highlights (or lowlights) from those reviews so you can map your Lower Broadway experience with confidence.
Certain things are true about every country singer’s bar in Nashville: The drinks are expensive, they probably don’t serve draft beer and you’re going to wait for service during peak hours. A few bars go above and beyond at every level, while others … well, they might consider changes.
The difference between a 4.1-star business and a 4.8-star business is how you treat people (and how little water you put in the drinks).
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
Who had the most played country song during the year you were born? This list is a fascinating time capsule of prevalent trends from every decade in American history. Scroll through to find your birth year and then click to listen. Some of these songs have been lost through the years, many of them for good reason!
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes