Ashley McBryde spent her first night at Redemption Bar with family and friends as she celebrated the “first-of-its-kind” venue’s opening on Wednesday evening (August 27) in Nashville, Tennessee. The bar, focusing on non-alcoholic beverages, is open to the public on Thursday (August 28).

Redemption Bar serves as a nod to McBryde’s Jalopies & Expensive Guitars, her 2016 record, plus “the word’s most literal meaning,” per a press release issued Thursday. McBryde’s bar, located on the fifth floor of Eric Church’s six-story venue on Nashville’s famous Broadway, “creates a home on Broadway for anyone who needs it.” Redemption’s zero-proof cocktails include “Flickerin’ Flames of Hell,” “Martini McBryde,” “Gospel Night” and “The Devil I Know,” to name a few. It was inspired by McBryde’s own sobriety journey, and offers “Easter egg details” throughout the bar, notes the release.

“I had a bunch of friends in last night and some of them have been watching me play music since I was 19 years old in Memphis,” McBryde, who led a non-alcoholic champagne toast, said on stage. “I played in bars that I wouldn’t let you walk into now; places where your feet stick to the floor and there aren’t stalls in the bathroom. And then they got to walk into this place.”

Caylee Hammack, Harper O’Neill, Makayla Lynn, Peytan Porter, Terri Jo Box, Jason Nix, Wes Dorethy, Blue Foley and Cecilia Castleman are set to take the stage at Redemption in the bar’s first week. McBryde, who previously called songwriters the “backbone of this community” and aims to offer the venue to rising singer-songwriters, will take the stage at her venue for her residency later this year.

“The guys and I are so happy to be back in Nashville for four nights of ‘you had to be there’ moments to help close out this year,” McBryde said in a statement when she announced her residency shows earlier this month. “We’ve been making our kind of church wherever we go for years; from dive bars to back porches, Dahlonega to Lindeville. It’s something special to bring it all to the only Steeple on Lower Broadway.”

The Redemption Residency Dates

Tues. October 14

Weds. October 15

Thurs. December 11

Fri. December 12

Amy James