Trisha Yearwood joined her husband, Garth Brooks, in every detail of their joint Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky Tonk. From the layout, to the paint colors, furniture and more, Yearwood wanted to make sure their new bar and music venue felt authentic to who they are, even if took a grueling two years to make their dream come to life.
“I’ve just always been not a person who puts my name on something,” Yearwood tells Everything Nash. “In the music industry, your name is on it, whether you take responsibility for it or not. My dad taught me that. He was a banker, and he was like, ‘Look, you gotta take responsibility for everything in your life.’ So from choosing songs, to hiring and firing my band members myself, all of the things in my life, I’ve always taken that responsibility.”
It was largely Yearwood’s idea to make sure that both she and Brooks were as hands-on as possible, in spite of the arduous work it required.
“When we were going to do this, it’s like, ‘Let’s invest in the building. Let’s make it ours,'” Yearwood shares. “Even though the name of the building is Friends in Low Places, everybody knows that this is Garth and Trisha. We just don’t know any other way, other than just getting in here.”
“And it’s so much more rewarding when you know every paint color on the wall, and you know you picked this and that,” she continues. “It’s just so much more fun for us. I can’t imagine being here, talking to you about a place that I really had no idea what was going on.”
Friends in Low Places has four floors, including a private event space on the third floor, where Yearwood custom-created a gorgeous, state-of-the-art kitchen where she can film her Trisha’s Southern Kitchen show on Food Network.
Although, by Brooks’ own admission it was Yearwood who had the final say in a lot of the design and decor, the original idea for Friends in Low Places was his way of expressing his gratitude that helped him build one of the most successful country music careers of all time.
“This one is a thank you,” Brooks tells Everything Nash. “This one has been a guilt trip for me forever. This city has been so good to me. And it’s like the musical Oz kind of thing. So if you’re one of the people that’s lucky enough to get to live the dream, don’t you owe this city? This is how we think about it. So it’s been piling up on you and piling up on you that you owe this city. Let’s give it something.”
Friends in Low Places Bar officially opens on March 7 at 7:00 PM. It is located at 411 Broadway, in downtown Nashville. Find more information at FriendsBarNashville.com.
Photo Credit: Russ Harrington