Music City Midnight Partners with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee

Food collections taking place throughout city from Dec. 7-13 and at Bicentennial Mall on New Year’s Eve.

NASHVILLE – Nashville’s New Year’s Eve event is partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee for a citywide food drive from Dec. 7-13 leading up to Music City Midnight festivities, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today. In addition, the NCVC will collect non-perishable food items during Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville (#Nashville NYE) taking place at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park on Dec. 31. Attendees are encouraged to bring canned goods to collection bins that will be located near the event entrances. Music City Midnight is free and open to the public.

“I truly appreciate the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Second Harvest for combining our world-class New Year’s Eve event with a citywide food drive,” Mayor John Cooper said. “I encourage everyone to donate at one of the participating businesses or to bring canned goods with them to the New Year’s Eve concert. Nashvillians have a heart for lending each other a helping hand, and I can’t think of a better way to go into the holiday season and kick off 2020 than by helping feed hungry families across our city.”

“I am pleased to see Nashville’s hospitality industry come together to make a difference in the lives of struggling families through a citywide food drive,” said Dr. Bob Fisher, president of Belmont University and chair of the board of directors of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “Thank you to all our hotels, restaurants and attractions for participating, and we look forward to joining with Second Harvest on this worthy effort.”

Twenty-six local businesses in neighborhoods all over Davidson County and 65 Kroger locations in Nashville and throughout Middle Tennessee are participating in the food drive from Dec. 7-13. A full list of drop-off locations are below and will be updated at visitmusiccity.com/nashvillenye-food-drive. All Kroger locations in Middle Tennessee, along with locations in Gibson, Hardin and Henry counties in West Tennessee, are participating. Food items most in need include peanut butter, pasta, cereal, canned meat, canned vegetables, and canned fruit. Online donations also are welcome as part of a virtual food drive.

The food drive is part of the NCVC’s larger social responsibility efforts during major events to help benefit the city and its residents. Those initiatives include recycling, composting and donating unused food. Partners and vendors at Music City Midnight will undertake the following:

  • Recycling cardboard, aluminum, and plastic
  • Recycling solid grease and grease water
  • Using waterless handwash stations (hand sanitizer) instead of water and paper products
  • Using solar-powered work lights
  • Using LED on video screens and lighting throughout event site, cutting down on electric power usage
  • Composting organic waste material
  • Upcycling event signage for use as art supplies
  • Donating unused food to local nonprofits

Additionally, food vendors are encouraged to use biodegradable serving plates and food containers such as 100% paper, certified green-ware, corn products, and biodegradable cups. They are encouraged to serve all food condiments by pumps or recyclable bottles – no plastic packets and no Styrofoam.

Reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and four-time GRAMMY winner Keith Urban will headline Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville (#Nashville NYE) for the fourth year in a row. Urban will lead an all-star and diverse lineup that includes Americana powerhouse Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit; English rock band The Struts; Americana award winner Amanda Shires, who is also a member of The 400 Unit and critically-acclaimed new band The Highwomen; rising stars Bren Joy and Kalie Shorr; the Fisk Jubilee Singers; and GRAMMY-winner DJ Dave Audé. The 11th annual event will take place at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and is free and open to the public.

Hospitality industry partners who will be collecting non-perishable food items from Dec. 7-13 include the following, as well as 65 Kroger locations:

BearCom
Neighborhood - Southeast Nashville
714 Rundle Ave
Nashville, TN 37210

Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar
Neighborhood - Downtown
220 Printers Alley
Nashville, TN 37201

CorkDorks Wine Spirits Beer
Neighborhood - Green Hills
4009 Hillsboro Pike
Nashville, TN 37215

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Neighborhood - SoBro
222 5th Avenue S
Nashville, TN 37203

Four Points by Sheraton Nashville-Brentwood
Neighborhood – South Nashville
760 Old Hickory Blvd
Brentwood, TN 37027

Gallagher Staging & Productions
Official Production & Operations Provider for #NashvilleNYE
Neighborhood - East Nashville
760 Cowan St
Nashville, TN 37207

GLō Nashville Airport West
Neighborhood – Airport/Donelson
425 Glastonbury Rd
Nashville, TN 37217

The Hayes Street Hotel
Neighborhood – West End/Elliston Place
1909 Hayes St
Nashville, TN 37203

Hotel Preston
Neighborhood – Airport/Donelson
733 Briley Pkwy
Nashville, TN 37217

Hyatt Place Nashville/Downtown
Neighborhood – SoBro
301 3rd Avenue S
Nashville, TN 37201

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint - Belmont Location
Neighborhood - Belmont/Hillsboro Village
3108 Belmont Blvd
Nashville, TN 37212

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint - Mt. Juliet Location
Neighborhood - Outside Davidson County
200 Crossings Ln, Suite 500
Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint - Midtown Location
Neighborhood – West End/Elliston Place
2400 Elliston Pl
Nashville, TN 37203

MooTV
Official Production & Operations Provider for #NashvilleNYE
Neighborhood - East Nashville
10 Quality Way
Nashville, TN 37207

Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum
Neighborhood - Downtown
401 Gay St
Nashville, TN 37219

Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp
Neighborhood - Downtown
150 4th Ave N
Nashville, TN 37219

Nashville Underground
Neighborhood - Downtown
105 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37201

Parson’s Chicken & Fish
Neighborhood - Wedgewood/Houston
425 Chestnut St
Nashville, TN 37203

QNTM Fit Life
Neighborhood – The Gulch
114 George L Davis Blvd
Nashville, TN 37203

The Rabbit Hole VR
Neighborhood – West End/Elliston Place
1807 Church St
Nashville, TN 37203

Radisson® Hotel, Nashville Airport
Neighborhood - Airport/Donelson
1112 Airport Center Drive
Nashville, TN, 37214

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery
Neighborhood - Downtown
111 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37201

Sea Salt
Neighborhood - Downtown
209 3rd Ave N
Nashville, TN 37201

Sweet Magnolia Tours
Neighborhood - Downtown
330 Commerce St
Nashville, TN, 37201

Texas Troubadour Theater
Neighborhood - Music Valley/Opryland
2416 Music Valley Dr Suite 108
Nashville, TN 37214

Tru By Hilton Nashville Downtown Convention Center
Neighborhood - SoBro
500 5th Ave S B
Nashville, TN 37203

Several local businesses will participate by collecting food donations internally from company employees, including Bandit Lites Inc., Clair Global, D & D Events, Eventbrite, Heritage Trade Show Services, M Street Restaurants, Maple Ridge Events, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint - Downtown Location, Nashville Communications, Purity Dairy, and Superica.

Last year, the Nashville concert was featured on “NBC’s New Year’s Eve” national broadcast that was live from Times Square in New York City. It was the most successful New Year’s Eve event for Nashville with an all-time high $23 million in direct visitor spending over 2017’s $22.3 million. Attendance was approximately 175,000 to 200,000, a record attendance over 2015’s 150,000.

Gates at Bicentennial Mall will open at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31 with DJ Case Bloom providing entertainment before the Music Note is raised. The Fisk Jubilee Singers, an ensemble of students from Fisk University, will kick off the live music with a selection of Spiritual music. The show’s highlight will be the traditional Music Note Drop and accompanying fireworks display to usher in the New Year.

The NCVC is offering two visitor packages for purchase:

Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville is produced by the NCVC for the city of Nashville and presented by Jack Daniel’s. Partners include Advance Financial, Anderson Benson, Nashville International Airport, Nashville Farmers’ Market, Twice Daily, Monster Energy, Tennessee State Parks, Tennessee Highway Safety Office: Fans Don’t Let Fans Drive Drunk, The Soundtrack of America. Made in Tennessee, Dr Pepper, Kroger, Metro by T-Mobile, The BIG 98, WSIX-FM, NASH FM 103.3 & 95.5 NASH ICON, Ferguson Bath Kitchen & Lighting Gallery, Korbel, Budweiser, and Bud Light.

For more information: visitmusiccity.com/newyearseve.

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Keith Urban

Keith Urban is a four-time GRAMMY Award winner, the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year and two-time 2019 CMA Award nominee (Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist). He released “We Were” on May 14 as his first new single of 2019. It comes after the 2018 release of Graffiti U and his acclaimed “GRAFFITI U WORLD TOUR,” which played to more than a million fans in seven countries on three continents. Graffiti U debuted at No. 1 on charts in the United States, Canada, and Australia, is Urban’s ninth studio recording and follows one of the most successful releases of his career, 2016’s RIPCORD, which had five No. 1 songs including “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” which won Best Single at the 2017 CMA Awards and Favorite Country Song at the American Music Awards, where he also collected trophies for Favorite Country Album and Favorite Male Country Artist. He’s had an album simultaneously atop the all-genre charts in the U.S., Canada, and Australia twice and is the only male country artist to have achieved the mark even once.

In 2001, the Country Music Association honored Urban with its Horizon Award; he is one of only three in history to go on to win the CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year, a title he’s captured three times, and the coveted Entertainer of the Year, which he’s captured twice. The 2015 CMA Awards brought Urban his third win for Vocal Event of the Year, which marked the first time in history that an artist has received the award in three consecutive years. Urban has also won 13 Country Music Association Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards, four People’s Choice Awards and four American Music Awards. He is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and Music City Walk of Fame.

Urban’s musical virtuosity and fluidity has led to him collaborating with a diverse group of artists that includes Alicia Keys, Billy Gibbons, Buddy Guy, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, John Mayer, Julia Michaels, Justin Timberlake, Miranda Lambert, Nile Rodgers, Post Malone, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones and Vince Gill. He’s long supported numerous charities. His “All For The Hall” benefit concerts for the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum have raised over $3.4 million. He is the first Ambassador of the CMA Foundation, is an advisory board member at the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and is a longtime supporter of The Mr. Holland’s Opus Fund and The GRAMMY Foundation. keithurban.net

Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

Four-time GRAMMY winner Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have been touring in support of their album The Nashville Sound (winner of GRAMMYs for Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song for “If We Were Vampires”) and the highly praised live set Live From The Ryman. Isbell has become one of the most respected songwriters of his generation, with a penchant for articulating some of our deepest human emotions and creating poignant narratives inspired by the working class. Together with the mighty 400 Unit – Derry deBorja (keyboards), Chad Gamble (drums), Jimbo Hart (bass), Sadler Vaden (guitar) and Amanda Shires (fiddle) – they have become one of the strongest live acts on the road today. This fall will bring reissues of the group’s two earliest albums – 2009’s self-titled Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit and 2011’s Here We Rest – both remixed and remastered by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Dave Cobb. These records contain some of Isbell’s most beloved fan favorites, including “Alabama Pines,” “Codeine,” “Cigarettes and Wine,” “The Blue” and “Tour Of Duty.” jasonisbell.com

The Struts

The Struts released their sophomore album Young & Dangerous in the fall of 2018. On Young & Dangerous, The Struts let loose with the sing-along-ready and riff-heavy sound they’ve brought to stadiums and arenas all around the world. Young & Dangerous follows the 2016 release of The Struts’ debut album Everybody Wants. In just a few years, The Struts have found themselves massively embraced by some of the greatest icons in rock and roll history. Along with opening for Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Guns N’ Roses, the U.K.-bred four-piece was also hand-picked by Mötley Crüe to serve as the supporting act for their last-ever performances, while Dave Grohl praised them as “the best band to ever open for Foo Fighters.” In addition to the support slots, The Struts have been on the road nonstop since their formation including worldwide headline shows and prestigious festival plays including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Bottle Rock, Isle of Wight and many more. Formed in Derby, England in 2012, The Struts are Luke Spiller (lead singer), Adam Slack (guitar), Jed Elliott (bass) and Gethin Davies (drums). thestruts.com

Amanda Shires

Amanda Shires is a member of the new country music supergroup The Highwomen that also includes Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Maren Morris. They released their self-titled debut album on Sept. 6, which was described by NPR Music as a “really fantastic record, I would expect to see this one on a lot of year end lists.” Nominated for the Americana Music Association’s 2019 Album of the Year, To The Sunset is Amanda Shires’s second album with GRAMMY award-winning producer Dave Cobb and represents an adventurous move with an edgier sound and attitude. Shires continues to push herself artistically and sonically, but the spotlight always shines brightly on her unmistakable songwriting style and emotive and distinctive vocals. Recorded at RCA Studio A, the new album finds Shires joined by a few special guests including Jason Isbell (guitar), Dave Cobb (bass), Peter Levin (keys) and Jerry Pentecost (drums). To The Sunset is the follow up to Shires’s critically acclaimed My Piece Of Land, which was released in 2016.  My Piece Of Land became her most acclaimed album to date garnering high praise from outlets that included NPR, Associated Press, Rolling Stone Country, Entertainment Weekly, Garden & Gun, Texas Monthly and the cover of the Nashville Scene. Capping off a banner year in 2016, Shires was also the recipient of the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Artist Of The Year Award and made her solo national TV debut on Austin City Limits. amandashiresmusic.com

Bren Joy

Bren Joy was born and raised in Nashville and started writing music at the start of 2018. In the same year, he released his first three singles (“Henny in the Hamptons,” “Scottie Pippen” and “Twenties”) that earned placements on editorial playlists and attracted a growing fanbase to the budding artist’s career. In May of this year, he released his debut project, Twenties, an eight-song track list that embodies the new era of youth coming into the scene. It merges his love of gospel, R&B, hip-hop, jazz and pop all into one. It touches on the different emotions and experiences encountered during the beginning of your 20s, while conveying an underlying theme of hope and self-love. It embraces the musical culture we are in now, while highlighting something completely new. This project is in its own lane and attempts to redefine the mainstream sound and bring something new to your ear.

Kalie Shorr

Rolling Stone said this about Kalie Shorr’s recently released first album: “[Open Book] showcases the alchemy that Shorr concocts which manage[s] to conjure both Shania Twain, Red-era Taylor Swift, Dashboard Confessional, and Alanis Morissette all at once.” Shorr burst onto the Nashville music scene in 2016 with her self-penned hit “Fight Like A Girl” and shortly after, the Portland, Maine singer-songwriter became a SiriusXM “Highway Find” and was spotlighted by Apple Music, Spotify, CMT, Radio Disney Country, Pandora, Taste of Country, The Boot and even Billboard magazine. She was named a “CMT Next Women of Country,” “The New Nashville” by Teen Vogue and a “Top 10 Country Artists To Watch In 2018” by the Huffington Post. She made her Grand Ole Opry debut in 2018 and has gone on to play that heralded stage 15 times so far. Shorr has toured with Sara Evans, RaeLynn, Jimmie Allen and is spending much of December this year supporting LeAnn Rimes’s “You And Me And Christmas” Tour.  From her work with the all-female, singer-songwriter collective Song Suffragettes, Shorr has been featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “On Point,” as well as in ELLE Magazine. Her new album Open Book has already been praised by The New York Times, NPR Music and many more with Taste of Country describing Shorr’s raw and honest approach to songwriting as “courage they don’t manufacture on Music Row.” kalieshorr.com

Fisk Jubilee Singers®

Fisk Jubilee Singers® are vocal artists and students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., who sing and travel worldwide. The original ensemble introduced the Negro spiritual to the world in 1871 as they traveled and raised money to sustain Fisk University. The ensemble was also instrumental in preserving this unique American musical. During their early years of travel and performance, they sang for crowned heads around the world. The Fisk Jubilee Singers continue the tradition of singing the Negro spiritual around the world, and recently performed in renowned venues such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Smithsonian Institute, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, The White House and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. In 2007 the ensemble also traveled and performed in Ghana at the invitation of the Department of State in celebration of Ghana’s 50th Independence anniversary. The two-time GRAMMY-nominated and Dove Award-winning Fisk Jubilee Singers have received numerous awards including the induction into the Music City Walk of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. In 2008, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were awarded the 2008 National Medal of Arts by former President George W. Bush at the White House. The ensemble has collaborated with guest artists like CeCe Winans, Keb’ Mo’, Shania Twain, India.Arie, The Fairfield Four and Rodney Atkins and now has membership in the Academy of Country Music. fiskjubileesingers.org

Dave Audé

GRAMMY-winning songwriter/producer Dave Audé writes and produces original music for some of the world’s most prominent artists (Sting, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Madonna, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Katy Perry). He has also landed more number ones than any other producer on the Billboard Dance Club Songs charts—currently 133, of which 14 are his own singles as an artist. In 2016, Audé won a GRAMMY Award in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category for his remix of “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. He operates his own Audacious Records label and is represented by manager Martin Kierszenbaum and Downtown Music Publishing. daveaude.com

DJ Case Bloom

Case Bloom is the co-founder and co-owner of Tucker and Bloom bags and The Boom Bap hip-hop show. The DJ, entrepreneur, and promoter was raised in Music City on trips to local record stores and late-night hours taping DJ mix shows off the radio. Case caught the hip-hop bug early on and has been putting in work behind the turntables and in the streets for a number of years. Case’s diverse musical selection, impeccable timing, and seamless mixing hit dancers square in the sweet spot, taking crowds on a journey through party classics covering funk and disco, hip-hop, breaks, house, Latin and everything in between. casebloom.net

The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media:

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