Owen Bradley Park, Musica Statue, Buddy Killen Circle

What used to be a Double Eagle Service Station in the 1950s is now Owen Bradley Park. This park was created through a city planning project in 1974 and funded through a federal grant at a cost of $675,000. The park includes walkways, benches, and green landscape. First called Music Square Park, it was renamed for music legend Owen Bradley in 1997 just before his death. 

What we call Music Row today began in 1954 when Owen Bradley and his brother, Harold, purchased a house on Sixteenth Avenue South for $7,500 and converted it into the neighborhood’s first recording studio. Owen Bradley was one of the most influential country music producers of all time. He, along with Chet Atkins, made country music more mainstream by blending it with early rock’n roll and pop music in the 1950s and 1960s. He also worked as a Vice President of Decca Records, heading the Nashville Division, where he produced artists such as Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Conway Twitty, Kitty Wells, and Webb Pierce. We’ll visit Decca Records later on in the tour. Owen Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974 and is considered by many to be the “Father of Music Row.” A bronze statue commemorates Bradley, and captures a signature pose—with one hand on the keys and one in the air, conducting the musicians. Gary Ernest Smith, the statue’s artist and sculptor, completed this work in 1999. 

The next part of this stop is right in front of you—the Musica Statue.

Musica

Nashville is also the home of the largest bronze figure group in the United States, named Musica, and sometimes called by locals “The Naked People.” Locals have had some fun with this statue over the years—dressing the figures in Scottish kilts and even Predators jerseys. This grand piece of public art was created by Alan LeQuire in 2003. A massive new water feature is planned for Musica—designed by WET Design based in Los Angeles. Once installed, it will make this Nashville landmark all the more impressive. 

In addition to Musica, LeQuire also sculpted the Parthenon’s Athena in Centennial Park, as well as many other pieces including member plaques for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. LeQuire created Musica to depict people dancing because he believes dance is the outward physical expression of music. His goal was to convey the importance and impact that music has had on the city of Nashville and to represent the variety of music recorded, published, and performed here. 

The next part of this stop is also right in front of you—the Musica Statue sits within Buddy Killen Circle—a busy roundabout here in Nashville that connects Music Row to the Gulch.

Buddy Killen

Born in Alabama, Buddy Killen moved to Nashville where he played bass on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1953, Killen was hired by Jack Stapp — founder of Tree Publishing — as a talent scout and music producer, at a salary of $35 a week. In 1955, Killen met songwriter Mae Boren Axton at a club in Daytona Beach. She passed along a song that she had written, which would become a rock ‘n roll classic after Elvis Presley recorded it. The name of the song? . . . a little tune called “Heartbreak Hotel.” This was one of hundreds of songs that Killen would help to make famous. It was recorded at the first RCA studio in Nashville, located just about a block northeast of here.

After Stapp’s death in 1980, Killen became the president and sole owner of Tree Publishing, which we will talk about later in the tour. Killen sold Tree to CBS Records for $40 million in 1989. After the sale of the company, he formed the Killen Music Group, KMG Records, in 1990. Killen passed away in 2006 and is remembered as a key figure in the development of the Nashville music industry. Buddy Killen Circle, the traffic roundabout, is named for him. 

As you walk out of the park, along Division Street toward Music Square West, look to your right to catch a glimpse of Southern Ground studios, owned by Zac Brown, on the corner of Seventeenth Avenue and McGavock Street. Southern Ground is housed in a former Cumberland Presbyterian Church built in 1903. In 1968, Monument Records converted the church into a recording studio. In 2012, famed musician and singer Zac Brown bought and renovated the building, which still operates as a first-class recording facility with clients such as Eric Clapton, Carly Pearce, Blake Shelton, and of course—the Zac Brown Band.

Head west on Division Street out of Owen Bradley Park, away from the Musica statue and towards Seventeenth Avenue South/Music Square West. Turn LEFT onto Music Square West. ASCAP will be located on your left. For the second part of this stop continue to the building next door. Sony Music is located at 8 Music Square West.