NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville is making the 2019 NFL Draft truly unique, and truly Nashville, by making music a central part of the event, both on the NFL Draft Main Stage and the NFL Draft Experience Stage by Nissan Stadium.
Artists Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley, Moon Taxi, and Cece Winans will perform on the Main Stage, as well as the house band Sixwire, while numerous other Nashville acts from all genres will perform on the NFL Draft Experience Stage.
One of those bands is Striking Matches, comprised of Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis, two guitar players, singers, and songwriters that met on their first day of class at Belmont University as guitar majors.
“We both have so many different influences musically and we come from very different parts of the country and so all of that I think meshed together,” Zimmermann said of their style, which she also described as a Pop-Rock Americana style.
While Nashville is known for Country Music, multiple genres of music will be presented to NFL fans from around the world, including DJ sets, soulful singers, country pickers, and guitar slingers.
“They’ve made the music portion of the NFL Draft be such a centerpiece to the whole event, which I think is super cool. I don’t know that any other city could do that,” Zimmerman explained, adding that the diversity in the lineup is also a big highlight. “I think if it were an all-Country lineup, it would make it very like, oh, I guess Nashville’s just a Country city.”
Davis agreed. “Nashville is diversifying in a really good way where I think people are just getting hip to the fact that all kinds of music is being made here, it’s being nurtured here. That’s the cool thing about Nashville is that it’s a friendly city and I think there’s room for all different kinds of music here, and it’s encouraging in that way.”
Striking Matches is taking the stage on Thursday, but other acts such as Charlie Worsham, Charles Esten, and Jason Eskridge will be taking the stage throughout the three-day draft as well.
“I would go to the show even if I weren’t playing,” Davis said. “That says something about the lineup.”
All of the shows are free and do not require tickets.
