“The Truth” About Live Nation’s New Nashville Venue
On Tuesday, October 28th, Live Nation revealed plans for their latest venue in Nashville, with all the publicity fanfare, architectural renderings, and boilerplate media rebroadcasting that comes with such a revelation. Meanwhile, few if anyone is pointing out one of the most obvious things about it: This new venue called “The Truth” is Live Nation’s rival to the Mother Church of Country Music, The Ryman Auditorium.
To be located on Chestnut Street in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood, the new venue will reside only about 1 1/2 miles from The Ryman as the crow flies. The capacity of The Truth will range from 1,800 to 4,400 when going from seated capacity to standing room, which is right around the Ryman’s 2,400 seated capacity. The Truth even feels somewhat architecturally inspired by The Ryman with its rounded arched windows and center peak.
The new venue is expected to welcome all genres of music, but the name “The Truth” is inspired by songwriter Harlan Howard’s definition of country music.
“The legendary songwriter Harlan Howard said all you need for a good country song is three chords and the truth. The Truth is built on that same idea,” says Sally Williams, President of Nashville Music & Business Strategy, Live Nation. “Our goal is to create a space that could only exist here — where raw, honest music meets world-class production, and where fans and artists from across all genres can connect in a way that feels unmistakably Nashville.”
Where did Sally Williams work previously? She spent 20 years working for the Opry Entertainment Group, with much of that tenure spent as the general manager of the Ryman Auditorium.
In 2017, Sally Williams was promoted to senior vice president of programming and artist relations at Opry Entertainment, and was also named the general manager of the Grand Ole Opry. She left the Opry in 2019 to work for Live Nation.
Does this mean we should be worried about the future economic viability of The Ryman? Will The Truth undercut the Mother Church when it opens in the fall of 2026? Of course not. No artist or band is going to take to social media to tout their debut or sellout at the TEMU Ryman. But the new venue does illustrate the incredulous way Live Nation looks to corner markets and undercut competition. Since they can offer a slightly bigger capacity, The Truth will certainly siphon off some of the events The Ryman would otherwise be able to host.
The Truth is just one of many new pieces Live Nation is adding to their arsenal of venues as the company actively tries to corner the market on small and mid-sized venues after already monopolizing most larger venues and tours. This activity continues to put pressure on more locally and independently-owned venues that play such a critical role in the live music ecosystem, especially for local and independent artists.
AI is threatening to completely reshape the paradigm for writing, recording, and releasing music in the months ahead in very disruptive ways. But live experiences that only music can deliver in person are poised to remain insulated from AI’s onslaught, if not become even more valuable in the immersive technology era. Live Nation is actively working to corner that market, and in every capacity, with no bounds on who they’ll try to undercut. That’s “The Truth” about Live Nation, and their new venue.
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October 29, 2025 @ 10:39 am
SNORE. Nashville’s need for an overpriced ticketed venue wasn’t anything that I was aware of. High ticketing fees, lousy standing/ seated areas, brutal security without any knowledge or interest in public assemblage, crappy site lines, overdone lighting and did I mention HIGH ticket prices. Enough artist that are able to sell it???? Who knows ?? What greedy thoughts could be running through their corporate heads? Put the money where it is needed. Built up small venues, for developing artist. The artist that can’t afford to eat, pay rent or pay the power bills. WTF???? Live Nation is the only company that MADE money during the whole pandemic and following period. HOW? Merch fees from artist… High ticket prices and useless festivals.
November 2, 2025 @ 11:57 am
Um, Zoom made a sh*tload of $ during the pandemic! 😊
October 29, 2025 @ 10:48 am
The size of this venue is directly in line with The Pinnacle that opened this year in Nashville and probably about a mile from the Ryman. Adding another venue like this does not make much sense.
Live Nation is trying to steal market share and outlast the others to eventually be the last one standing.
October 29, 2025 @ 11:04 am
The Pinnacle is AEG’s property, who just like Live Nation, is moving aggressively into the small and mid-sized venue market to try and corner it. I highlighted The Pinnacle in my recent article about this issue. At least with The Pinnacle though, they’re not making it so obvious what they’re doing. I think they just wanted a mid-sized venue downtown. For Live Nation, “The Truth” can lose money for them. What’s most important is they don’t allow The Pinnacle and The Ryman to thrive. If it undercuts the business of their rivals, it will be a win for them, and they’ll write off the losses.
There’s a good chance all these venues cannibalize each other. But what The Pinnacle and The Truth don’t have is history and prestige. You have artists who can sell out arenas playing The Ryman because they want to. People will play The Pinnacle and The Truth because they have to.
October 29, 2025 @ 12:20 pm
The statement about “raw honest music meets world class production..and where fans and artists from across all genres can connect in a way that is unmistakably Nashville” is hilarious. Define ” raw honest music… and while your at it are they implying that The Ryman doesn’t have ” world class production? I’d say the sound at the Ryman is pretty great. Stage lighting is decent too. Plus it’s got the prestige of being The Ryman.
What does she mean by ” unmistakably Nashville” ? Does she mean the aesthetics of the building? As Trig pointed out it’s got similarities to The Ryman. And The Ryman already offers ” music from across all genres”. So my interpretation is it’s like The Ryman but more expensive ticket prices and drinks will be $20, and there’s still gonna be $40 parking, the new norm in Nashville. And your supporting a behemoth that’s looking to put your favorite venues out altogether. Hard pass…
I’ll take Music City Bar and Grill and Nashville Palace , The Ryman, The Opry, Third and Lindsley and Roberts, thank you very much.
October 29, 2025 @ 12:44 pm
“The statement about “raw honest music meets world class production..and where fans and artists from across all genres can connect in a way that is unmistakably Nashville” is hilarious. Define ” raw honest music… and while your at it are they implying that The Ryman doesn’t have ” world class production?”
Totally agreed, Kevin. What an utterly stupid statement.
October 29, 2025 @ 12:54 pm
The sound at the Ryman has always been great. Ticket prices aren’t terrible either for many shows. How many more venues does Nashville need?
I just wish they had a better road situation getting to First Bank Amphitheatre in Franklin TN
October 29, 2025 @ 1:09 pm
Great venue, but the traffic’s been a Charlie Foxtrot since day one.
October 29, 2025 @ 1:36 pm
Yeah you have to get there at least an hour early, and leave on the encore.
October 29, 2025 @ 11:00 am
Luckily I feel like this will fall flat on its face. The younger crowds that frequent Nashville go for the big names who are currently hot in country music. They’d be playing the bigger Bridgestone arena anyway. The older crowds who go to Nashville to see the classic acts, will I’m sure always pick the Opry or the Ryman over “The Truth”
October 29, 2025 @ 11:17 am
“TEMU Ryman”
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Concert Tickets Aren’t Expensive Enough Actually, Says Live Nation CEO
https://www.vice.com/en/article/concert-tickets-arent-expensive-enough-actually-says-live-nation-ceo/
October 29, 2025 @ 11:47 am
I’ll tell you EXACTLY what the truth is, concerning midsize venues. Regardless of who owns the business.
Provide people with Exceptional seating, Exceptionally clean facilities, Incredible traffic flow, (before, during, and after, the event) A community of volunteers, and paid participants seeing to their jobs, and you have an incredibly well oiled machine.
One that provides for an extraordinary experience for the concert/venue goer.
The Brown County Music Center, in Brown County, Indiana, may just be the only venue that has pulled this off, in the U.S., in extraordinary fashion.
So proud of the people who have made this work, and given the concert goer such a stellar experience.
Trigger, if you ever make it to this area, dinner is on me, for your group of people. Would be happy to run tickets over to will call.
Am in no way affiliated with BCMC, but we’re a community of people who love good music.
October 30, 2025 @ 4:35 pm
Doesn’t Live Nation do the majority of the booking at BCMC? From what I’ve heard, Live Nation has a pretty sweet deal there, they get the ticket proceeds, pay little rent, and the tax payers deal with the facility upkeep.
October 29, 2025 @ 11:56 am
I wonder what the Ryman asks for as far as radius clauses in their booking contracts. I bet it gets a lot more aggressive moving forward. This could get interesting.
October 29, 2025 @ 12:32 pm
Live Nation is the Walmart of live music. They won’t stop until they’ve put everyone they can out of business and you have to go to them if you want your “product” or music to sell.
October 29, 2025 @ 2:15 pm
They must want EVERY venue because “Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN” is listed as a venue on Live Nation’s website.
The Borg, anyone?
Resistance is futile!
October 29, 2025 @ 2:36 pm
Live Nation books artists at the Ryman (and anywhere, really), but it’s owned by Ryman Hospitality, which is the parent company of the Grand Ole Opry.
October 29, 2025 @ 1:05 pm
Nashville is the Temu of music towns at this point. You can find more authentic country music in San Francisco or New York City.
October 29, 2025 @ 1:24 pm
Amen, Brother.
Especially, in Upstate.
October 29, 2025 @ 5:03 pm
Is Ashley Monroe getting paid? “The Truth” is one of the great country hits of the past 30-40 years (even if it was sung by Jason Aldean).
October 29, 2025 @ 5:47 pm
Brett James estate too.
October 31, 2025 @ 4:58 pm
Thanks for that. I had no idea. Even with my favorite songwriters of all time it’s hard to keep track of who wrote what.
October 29, 2025 @ 5:44 pm
Looks like a Barnes & Noble bookstore, the same sterile corporate faux-vintage architecture.
November 1, 2025 @ 3:54 pm
It might be time for the government to start breaking up monopolies and duopolies in a number of industries, including in the venue and ticketing industries.