Country star John Rich is warning that Nashville’s Lower Broadway, the iconic entertainment district famous for its glowing neon signs, packed honky-tonks and live country music, could soon begin going dark.
In a video that Rich shared on Facebook last week, the 52-year-old Big & Rich member sounded the alarm, declaring that "the lights are going out on Broadway" as Nashville businesses struggle under mounting property tax bills.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Rich, who owns Redneck Riviera Bar & BBQ on Lower Broadway, argued that sharply higher property assessments along with increased taxes have pushed longtime Broadway establishments to a breaking point, which he said threatened not only the businesses themselves but the live music culture that earned Nashville its "Music City" nickname.
"It was a one-two punch," Rich said. "So the first thing he did was they reappraised everybody's property in the county, in the city, and as soon as they got that done, which was an extremely inflated appraisal rate, then they come in and raise the taxes aggressively on top of these extremely inflated appraisals."