Owen Bradley Park and Musica

Welcome to Owen Bradley Park, named after—Owen Bradley! He’s the guy sitting at the piano and an important person in the history of the Nashville music industry. He built the first studio on what became known as Music Row and is considered one of Music Row’s Founding Fathers.

Owen was a Big Band leader during the 1940s and a staff musician at WSM. When Decca Records began recording in Nashville in 1947, Owen helped round up musicians and generally guided the musicians through the sessions. It was country legend Ernest Tubb who first decided to record in Nashville. His decision opened the door for Nashville to emerge as a major recording center during the 1950s.

As a record producer, Owen Bradley produced a whole batch of artists, including Ernest Tubb, Red Foley, Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Jeannie Seely, and Jack Greene. Yep, he’s the guy who produced “Crazy” “by Patsy Cline, “Don’t Come Home a-Drinkin’ With Lovin’ On Your Mind” by Loretta Lynn, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” by Kitty Wells, “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee, “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms and “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives.

If I told you all the hits he produced, well, we’d be here in this one spot all day! So I’ll stop now.

Now if you and look at the traffic roundabout you’ll see a bunch of naked people. This is the largest bronze figure group in the United States and is named Musica, but most of the people around here call it “The Naked People.” Locals have had some fun with this statue over the years—dressing the figures in Scottish kilts and even Predators jerseys.

There’s seven streets flowing into or out of this traffic roundabout. If you face the statue and stick out your left arm at 9 o’clock—you’ll hit Music Square West. Going clockwise, there’s 17^th Avenue South and then Division Street then 16^th Avenue, then Demonbruen—don’t say DEMON-BREW-IN cause us natives will know you ain’t one of us—then Division and then Music Square East. The roundabout is officially known as Buddy Killen Circle. Buddy Killen was the head of Tree Publishing, which he sold to Sony. More on that later.

The big building that says Roundabout Circle is a booking agency that books artists all over the world. To the right of that building is 16^th Avenue South. If you gallivant a little ways down that road and turn right you’ll be on McGavock Street—and on that street was a famous recording studio where Elvis recorded “Heartbreak Hotel,” the Everly Brothers recorded “Bye Bye Love” and “Wake Up Little Susie” and Jim Reeves recorded “Four Walls.” 

The guy that owned the lot bulldozed that legendary studio so he could park more cars. Luckily for us, not all of the historic studios have been torn down, and you’ll be able to see some of the most iconic studios on this tour. So let’s get moving.

Facing Buddy Killen Circle, turn LEFT and follow the sidewalk around, past the Music Row historic marker, and amble on over to Music Square West. It’s just a few steps—not enough to get your heart rate up much. The next stop will be on your left in front of a building that says ASCAP.