Nashville, home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Honky Tonk Highway, is bringing a professional rodeo into town, Tim McGraw‘s entertainment group Down Home announced Tuesday. Music City Rodeo, the city’s first rodeo held by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, will bridge rodeo and country music. The event will include bull riding, barrel racing, and performances by founding members of the pro rodeo event Reba McEntire and McGraw, and Jelly Roll. Jelly Roll, the newest “artist in residence” on American Idol, called the rodeo “a history-making event for the city.”
“I have vivid memories when it was announced in Nashville that we were getting a hockey team with the Predators, or a football team with the Titans…and I watched Bridgestone Arena be built from the ground up,” Jelly Roll said in a statement. “Headlining Music City Rodeo in my hometown as a part of the first rodeo brought to town feels like the same type of milestone.”
The three-day event will take place May 29 through May 31 at the Bridgestone Arena, with Reba, Jelly Roll, and McGraw headlining the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday shows. Although rodeos have been held in Nashville before, it marks the country music capital’s first event hosted by PRCA. McGraw has performed at more than a dozen rodeos, and said those experiences inspired him to host his own.
“For eight decades, Nashville’s music stars have been the soundtrack to America’s iconic rodeos — country music and rodeo go hand in hand,” McGraw said. “So, it was time to bring the magic of the rodeo home to Nashville and I’m thrilled to be bringing it here.”
Attendees can also anticipate rodeo queen pageant shows and mutton bustin, a kid-friendly, sheep-riding event. Over the course of the rodeo, cowboys and cowgirls will compete for $200,000 in prizes. McEntire, who gave an emotive rendition of the national anthem at Super Bowl LVIII, also expressed her excitement to perform at the rodeo.
“It’s no secret that rodeo is in my blood, and I’m thrilled to be a part of starting a new Nashville tradition,” McEntire said. “Country music and rodeo coming together in Music City, what a perfect combination…I just knew I had to be part of it.”
General sale tickets are available March 7 at 10 a.m. CT, starting at $50, with pre-sale tickets available on March 5 at 10 a.m. CT. Along with Down Home, the three-day event is in partnership with Humes Rodeo and Skydance Media.
