NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – If Acme Feed and Seed is the Lower Broadway music venue for locals and millennials, then its recently launched Internet radio station, Acme Radio, is hoping to become the platform that exposes “Nashville’s underbelly” to the rest of the world.
In the two years since it opened inside the historic building at the corner of First Avenue and Broadway, Acme has carefully cultivated a reputation as the alternative honky-tonk, with an upscale food service and music programming, unlike its well-established neighbors.
Acme owner Tom Morales explains: “When I was growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, Lower Broad was the place you wanted to get on a stage to be discovered,” Morales said. “And over time, tourism has taken over where now they’re just playing Garth Brooks and covers from 1992, and there’s no real discovery going on.
“When Patsy Cline came to Nashville, she wanted to be on that Opry stage to become a star. And once she got on the stage, she became a star. Now there’s nothing down here. We’re trying to be the voice; we’re trying to give them a showcase.”
Acme’s alternative take on live music includes “Grateful Mondays,” dedicated to the Grateful Dead and its jam band peers. Local music blog No Country for New Nashville curates a non-country music night every other Tuesday. Star studio guitarist Guthrie Trapp leads “Trapped Above Ground” each Wednesday night, showcasing the city’s top session musicians, songwriters and legacy acts. On Thursday nights, Acme becomes a Funky Tonk, where a house band of emerging younger musicians plays three-plus hours of funk and soul covers.