The Fight For Music Row's Future — And Its Past — Heats Up

NASHVILLE, TN -- What is the future of Music Row's past?

Over the past five years, 43 buildings on Music Row - the heart and soul of the country music industry - have been torn down, as glitzy high-rise condos replace the quaint townhouses where writers penned country's classics and the old watering holes where stories and songwriting tips were once swapped bow out in favor of bars catering to who we are apparently calling "young affluents."

Now, more are threatened, as a developer plans a six-story office tower that will uproot, among other things, the stubbornly old-school Bobby's Idle Hour Tavern, where an untold number of future chart-toppers were first scribbled and starry-eyed dreamers learned about three chords and the truth from grizzled veterans.

MORE: Music Row's Soul Threatened By Development, Mainstays Say

Bobby's received its six-month notice this week and barring some kind of intervention - like the conglomerate that saved RCA Studio A in 2014 - it'll shutter by year's end.

At a "Rally The Row" event Tuesday, business owners, activists and non-profits joined up to raise awareness of the plight facing the Row and to raise money for a trust fund dedicated to its preservation.

"When our trust fund is fully funded, we would be in a position to buy any single property that we want to buy, if that would mean helping preservation in some of the old buildings where the old stories came from," Trey Bruce, Vice Chair of Historic Nashville, told Fox 17.

Among the fundraising methods: a t-shirt from So Nashville, a clothing company that just moved in down the block from Bobby's and now, like its neighbor, faces the wrecking ball for the same project. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the shirt's sale will go to the fund.

As for the instant issue, developer Panattoni needs a variance from Metro to build its six-story project as the zoning only allows for five. Councilman Freddie O'Connell, whose district includes Music Row, said nothing has been filed in that regard.

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