Has Las Vegas Gone Country?
Sin City Is Turning Into The New Nashville
A smattering of people are alternating between their plates of smoked brisket and glances at the man with the guitar onstage. He’s singing to no one in particular inside this wide-open, low-ceiling restaurant, crooning a Garth Brooks cover over the clinks and murmurs of a small lunchtime crowd. The bar, which surrounds a giant green tractor, is serving cold beer and spiked lemonade, most patrons paying more attention to the basketball games on TV than the man onstage.
The scene seems ripped from a sleepy Wednesday afternoon in Nashville, as Broadway enjoys the calm before the bachelorette storm. But look outside and you won’t see neon cowboys and old honkeytonks. Beyond the windows of Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar, you’ll find a mocked-up Eiffel Tower in one direction and an Egyptian pyramid in the other. Because this scene is playing out in the heart of the Vegas strip. Country music is becoming big business in Las Vegas, and where this was once the place for sin, gambling, and general degeneracy, in the past few years it’s gotten a serious injection of God’s Country.
Vegas’ Latest Identity Puts Gambling In The Back Seat
Las Vegas is a city that’s constantly reinventing itself. It was a mob hangout, and then Elvis’ playground. It’s been a budget destination and a family destination, and a dry-heat version of South Beach. And though its image is constantly evolving, the one constant draw has always been gambling.
But over the past few years, that’s changed. People aren’t coming to Vegas to gamble anymore, and nearly every casino on the Strip has reported that gaming revenues are down.
“Gambling isn't the star of the attraction anymore,” says Anthony Carron, the CEO of JRS Hospitality, who owns Paris Las Vegas’ rooftop beer hall, Beer Park. “We saw this over the Super Bowl and March Madness. The town isn’t where it used to be for those big events because now, instead of having to come here to bet, you can bet on it on your phone. People still gamble as part of their experience, but they wanna be entertained, they wanna dine out, they want to do fun stuff. And that’s changed a lot of the crowd.”
As that crowd changed, so did Vegas’ offerings, and now it’s evolved from a place where entertainment was a sideshow for gambling to a place where gambling is ancillary to entertainment. And as country music has become more mainstream, it’s filled that entertainment void.
“What’s happened over the last decade or so is that country music has become international,” says Collin Reed, the executive chairman of Ryman, who, in addition to owning the famous auditorium, also owns Blake Shelton’s Ole Red—which has a location in Las Vegas. “Vegas is the #1 or #2 international leisure destination in America, so it was a natural extension for us.”
Country musicians have joined the list of international superstars from other genres who hosted residencies in the city. Where the big headliners were once Celine Dion and The Chainsmokers, now people come to town for Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood shows.
“There are all these country residencies coming to town now, because (artists) know they can come and get a little vacation out of it too,” says Alan Walker, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Rooftop Bar’s Director of Marketing. “And there’s this built-in party. You always get energy when you do a show in Las Vegas, it’s the environment the crowd brings to the shows.”
Is Sin City Becoming Music City West?
Big names are only part of what makes Vegas a legitimate country music destination now. The entertainment at places like Jason Aldean’s and Ole Red feels very Nashville, where up-and-coming musicians imported from back east perform every day from lunchtime to late night.
“We have this ‘Up and Coming’ concert series in partnership with iHeartRadio, we’ve got an iHeart studio right in the restaurant,” says Walker. “(Musicians) will come in, do an interview, hop on stage, and do a couple songs. It’s good for their exposure and something Jason wanted to do, because of the venues he played when he was coming up.”
Catty-corner on the Vegas strip from Aldean’s sits Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, wedged between the Paris and the Horseshoe hotels. It’s a towering, four-story music venue where the crowd is directly on top of the action, a high-tech take the classic southern honkey tonk. LED screens stand over the stage, and a million-dollar sound system makes the bar sound like a concert hall. It’s also much cleaner than a Nashville club. Not in a sterile way, but in that way that everything in Vegas feels like it was built in the last five years, and hasn’t had a chance to show the stains of character
Onstage, bands play with the same energy you’d find on a Broadway Saturday night, some on Ole Red’s rooftop stage overlooking the strip. It also sits conveniently across a skybridge from Caesars Palace, the same Caesars Palace where Shelton just wrapped up his 2025 “mini-residency.”
“Everyone was very happy with that,” Reed smiles. “Nashville was a bunch of sleazy bars 10 years ago, and now look, we’ve got all these great live music venues. I think Vegas is going through the same evolution, and rather than gambling, at its core is music. And I think it’ll be attracting those kinds of visitors from around the world.”
A More Cost-Effective Way To Do Vegas
To wit, Carron says he’s seen “a lot of cowboy hats” among the crowd at his rooftop Beer Park. It’s one of the cooler venues along the Strip, an indoor/outdoor beer bar with games and a front row, elevated seat to the Bellagio’s famous fountain show. It’s not fancy, but it’s the kind of venue that caters to the new Vegas clientele: Those who just want to have a good time, without blowing five figures.
“Country music is just so more mainstream that it is appealing to a much wider audience than a lot of music genres,” adds Walker. “It's usually at a more favorable price point as well. And people who are country music fans are usually just happier, more upbeat.”
That’s not to say the days of the $8.95 prime rib buffet are coming back to the Strip. Those LED screens and top-tier sound systems don’t come cheap, and a simple meal at Jason Aldean’s, Ole Red, or Beer Park will still set you back $50 each when it’s all said and done. But by Vegas standards, it’s downright reasonable.
“I think Vegas is at an inflection point right now,” Carron says, “that there’s a sentiment among guests and a lot of operators that we’ve just cut too deep and made it cost prohibitive for people who just want to come here and enjoy it.”
So, is Vegas becoming the new Nashville? There certainly are parallels, but the answer isn’t a simple yes or no.
“Las Vegas will continue to evolve as one of the great playgrounds of the planet,” says Reed. “If you look at the popularity of events like PBR, Vegas is a place that a ton of country lifestyle people visit. I think COVID sort of conditioned human beings to really appreciate and respect entertainment and being able to get out of your basement and have fun. And when you think about entertainment as a target, the bull's eye has got to be Vegas. In this country, for the adult, there’s not another market quite like it.”