Belmont senior and rising artist Bren Joy was just added to the star-studded and diverse lineup of Jack Daniel’s Music City Midnight: New Year’s Eve in Nashville event. The event will ring in 2020 with free music, food, fireworks and Nashville’s spin on a midnight ball drop: the signature Music Note Drop®.
Reigning CMA and ACM Entertainer of the Year and four-time GRAMMY winner Keith Urban will headline for a fourth year in a row. Urban will lead an all-star and diverse lineup that includes Americana powerhouse Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit; English rock band The Struts; Americana award winner and 2019 nominee Amanda Shires, who is also a member of The 400 Unit and critically-acclaimed new band The Highwomen; and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The 11th annual event will take place at the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park and is free and open to the public.
Joy, a Nashville native, specializes in resonant soul and rhythm and blues. He was the winner of Belmont’s 2018 Urban Pop Showcase and only began writing music earlier that year. Also in 2018, he released his first three singles, “Henny in the Hamptons,” “Scottie Pippen” and “Twenties,” that earned placements on editorial playlists and attracted a growing fan base to his budding career. This year, Joy released his debut project, “Twenties,” an eight-song track list embodying the beginning of one’s 20s. Stream Bren Joy on Spotify.
According to a release from Visit Music City, the Nashville New Year’s Eve concert was featured on “NBC’s New Year’s Eve” national broadcast that was live from Times Square in New York City last year. It was the most successful New Year’s Eve event for Nashville with an all-time high $23 million in direct visitor spending over 2017’s $22.3 million. Attendance was approximately 175,000 to 200,000, a record attendance over 2015’s 150,000.
