Whiskey Jam Celebrates 10 Years at Ryman

Over the earlier 10 years, Whiskey Jam’s no cost weekly concert events at neighborhood venue Winners Bar & Grill have turn out to be will have to-see evenings. Whiskey Jam has also become a proving floor for aspiring musicians, with much more than 3,500 artists, bands and songwriters possessing done to day. Now-residence names including Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde, Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves and Chris Stapleton all performed the Whiskey Jam phase early in their occupations. A lot more than a concert sequence, Whiskey Jam promptly turned a networking hub, with top marketplace execs and musicians in attendance.

“Whiskey Jam is the most significant rite of passage in present day-working day Nashville,” claims singer-songwriter HARDY. “Every single songwriter and artist in this town that is on the radio appropriate now has gone by means of Whiskey Jam. Ward has designed these types of an outstanding system and I hope that Whiskey Jam carries on to be a put where by new artists get their start and individuals go to community.”

Dozens of subsequent Country Airplay No. 1 hits have both been created or carried out by Whiskey Jam attendees, this kind of as Tyler Farr’s “A Person Walks Into a Bar.” Farr recorded the track immediately after listening to songwriter Jonathan Singleton execute it at Whiskey Jam. The music turned Farr’s first Country Airplay chart-topper in 2015.

Guenther recalls Stapleton executing for the very first time at Whiskey Jam in 2012, a few many years prior to Stapleton’s star-making change at the 2015 CMA Awards, when he gained 3 trophies and collaborated with Justin Timberlake. “It was the initial time in Whiskey Jam background that I don’t forget the place currently being completely silent. It’s this sort of a rowdy environment, but when Chris started off singing, the space went peaceful. To this day, I’m not guaranteed that is occurred once more.”

Combs’ to start with efficiency came in 2014. “He developed this unbelievable subsequent. Fans realized all the phrases to music that weren’t even out. I stumbled on some previous photos the other working day from the first handful of periods they performed… it’s the similar band members he has now on tour, marketing out arenas. In his circumstance, it was just ready for the environment to find him.”

Still, Guenther maintains, “It’s not about observing somebody well-known, it is about figuring out you happen to be heading to be certain wonderful music.”

Guenther, who moved to Nashville in 2003, introduced Whiskey Jam right after dealing with his personal frustrations as a musician. “I experienced been doing it for a lengthy time, no matter if it was protect gigs, on the highway, writers’ nights, and the scene stayed the same for so very long,” Guenther suggests. “I would locate myself at writers’ nights, bored of my possess tracks. I was actively playing cover gigs and I was not owning enjoyable.”

A person evening in January 2011, Guenther joined fellow musician Frankie Ballard for an unpromoted “bar tab gig,” just to participate in music for exciting. The future day, Guenther shared an off-the-cuff write-up about the night on Twitter, calling it “Whiskey Jam.” Fellow musician Josh Hoge loved the name and grew to become Guenther’s early husband or wife in the venture.

“We needed to make an celebration in which good friends could get jointly,” Guenther states, adding, “There’s no pretense, no shushing. There were no lineups, not even truly a headliner. It was just purely a group of good friends acquiring together to do the matter we moved to Nashville for: enjoy music. In the earliest times, we ended up textual content messaging hundreds of our buddies about Whiskey Jam, and you experienced folks exhibit up, all artists and musicians, who could converse the very same language.”

What began as a weekly Monday evening jam session for artists with a night off, expanded to include Thursdays and a Tuesday night time “New In Town” exhibit, for performers who have been in Nashville for a calendar year or a lot less.

The loose, natural and organic vibe of Whiskey Jam drew extra than newcomers: A numerous selection of artists, like Melissa Etheridge, The Fray, Woman A, OneRepublic, Brad Paisley, Chris Youthful, and additional have attended.

“They experienced been touring all weekend and they wanted a location to hold out with pals. You have artists like Sam Hunt and Miranda Lambert coming in and sitting down at a desk. I have experienced Randy Travis appear in and sit with my mom and dad,” Guenther suggests. “The natural environment is comfy enough where by they can appear in and individuals are extremely respectful. It turned this experience of, ‘This is Nashville’s greatest-stored mystery that everyone is familiar with about.’”

Eventually, Hoge left to emphasis on his personal new music vocation, and Guenther teamed with ROAR government Ryan O’Nan to spearhead Whiskey Jam’s progress, incorporating small business ventures in products, booking and artist/author solutions.

“Merchandise grew to become a large aim when we recognized we ended up providing hundreds of pounds of merchandise at a neighborhood writers’ night time, several periods a 7 days,” Guenther states. ”I’ve marketed on the highway just before — those people are major figures for an artist.”

The company’s Roadshow Amusement allows Whiskey Jam artists e book standard, spending demonstrates in and further than Nashville. Roadshow has also booked Whiskey Jam activities in Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Memphis, and at Vital West Songwriters Festival, with designs to expand to additional markets.

As the business has been approached by partners in artist enhancement, publishing and label services, O’Nan states they are working with yet another undertaking, King Song, as component of “building out an arm of our business enterprise that will help build far more possibilities for the standout artists that occur as a result of Whiskey Jam on a weekly foundation.”

Over the earlier decade, Guenther has resisted suggestions to move Whiskey Jam to a distinct location or charge a deal with. “The spark below has been everything for us — it is what manufactured artists like Woman A arrive again, in our ninth year, and participate in a free of charge present to a few of hundred people. We want a comfortable, reduced-pressure environment for artists. If you attempt to blow it up even larger than it should be, you’d eliminate that help, that magic.”

A essential factor of Whiskey Jam’s accomplishment has been the team’s capacity to concentrate on the wants of the Nashville local community. On March 15, 2020, Guenther recalls Whiskey Jam “shut down rather considerably overnight” due to the pandemic. O’Nan prompt a livestreamed party via Instagram, which grew to become Risky Jam. As with in-particular person occasions, the Whiskey Jam crew welcomed set up performers such as Cole Swindell, Travis Denning and Craig Campbell, together with newcomers — and the audience held increasing.

“We understood some thing was major when Facebook couldn’t manage the amount of money of site visitors that was going on in their servers. You believe about the outdated days the place men and women collected all around their radios and felt like they’re portion of the Grand Ole Opry — it felt practically like a new radio [outlet],” Guenther suggests.

Offered how Nashville’s tunes local community has assisted set up Whiskey Jam, Guenther claims all proceeds from tonight’s Ryman Auditorium concert will go towards setting up the Jam Fam Foundation, which will fund tunes-oriented charities and organizations. Tickets are $27, $37 and $47.

Guenther hints the show’s lineup will align with Whiskey Jam’s ethos, that includes a combine of newcomers and proven artists. “The lineup ranges from folks who have been there on the really 1st night time, to some that have under no circumstances played right before. That is significant to me, that this not just be a ‘greatest hits’ show. It’s additional about, ‘Here’s the get started of the subsequent 10 many years.’”