Grand Ole Opry Brings A Little Piece of Nashville to the ‘Big Apple’

A little piece of Nashville is heading to the “Big Apple.” A new Grand Ole Opry themed restaurant is set to open in New York City’s Times Square this March.

Country music star and 25-year member of the Grand Ole Opry, Vince Gill joined the FOX Business Network’s Mornings with Maria to discuss why he’s excited about the restaurant.

“New York City has been a huge market for country music,” he said. “A lot of people probably don’t understand that and believe that, but it’s been a historically huge market for our music and the Opry is 91 years old and for the longest time…the only place you can find and hear country music was through the air waves...I just have a lot of love for this history of this place and the way things are going these days with all the technology, there’s no reason we can’t spread this brand,” he said.

Vince Gill at Grand Ole Opry

Ryman Hospitality Properties CEO Colin Reed, the hotel and entertainment company responsible for opening the restaurant, was also part of the interview. He explained how the “first-of-a-kind” eatery will be “unique.”

“We’ve negotiated with the songwriters here in Nashville the rights to put The Bluebird [an iconic club in Nashville] into this facility which will be great because we will be able to bring some of the great songwriters on the planet to New York City,” he said.

Grand Ole Opry

Reed also expects to expand domestically and internationally.

“This is going to be the first, we believe, of many of these. We want to put them in the great tourist markets of the United States of America and then potentially internationally,” he said.