Travelers to and from Music City experienced quite the celebrity encounter on Saturday afternoon (April 29) when Blake Shelton took the stage at his Ole Red chain of bars' Nashville International Airport location.
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Shelton revealed that it was his first time visiting the airport branch -- much less his first time on its stage -- before performing the bar's namesake, "Ol' Red." Footage shared in an Instagram reel by Ole Red captures the crowd's reaction upon Shelton's arrival from the kitchen. We also get a vantage point of how few weren't capturing social media content of their own during the Oklahoma native and The Voice coaches' one-song set.
"POV: You're having lunch at Ole Red during a layover in the Nashville airport and the bossman shows up," read the Ole Red Instagram account's caption.
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Footage shared by the airport's Instagram account shows Shelton thanking regularly-scheduled performer Morgan Alexander for the stage time and the borrowed guitar.
Ole Red's airport bar opened last summer. A second Nashville location on Lower Broadway is the home to the USA Network's recently-renewed game show Barmageddon, which is co-hosted by Shelton and one of his best friends, Carson Daly. There's three additional bars so far: in Tishomingo, Okla., Orlando, Fla. and Gatlinburg, Tenn.
Opry Entertainment group, owners of not just the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium but also the Wildhorse Saloon and the Ole Red chain, announced on April 13 that another modern country megastar is joining the bar branding game. By summer 2024, the Wildhorse Saloon will become a 69,000-square-foot complex themed around Luke Combs. Its main stage will be designed to attract touring acts. In addition, there will be a sports bar, a rooftop bar, a songwriter's lounge and a "Beautiful Crazy" section for bachelorette parties.
