Nearly a quarter million audience members have entered Brown County Music Center (and beer garden) since it opened in August 2019, shortly before the pandemic. Here are two main reasons people keep coming and top national acts keep booking at this 2,000-plus-seat modern venue in the age-old Brown County, Indiana, countryside. (As you exit your car in the 520-vehicle for-pay parking lot, look around -- you're smack in the bucolic hills.)
"Customer service is a big part of it. We have to focus on both patrons and performers," said Christian Webb, the center's executive director. "People don't have to come here. We know that."
One artist, when he realized his band was scheduled for Nashville, Indiana, not Tennessee, told Webb, "We had no idea what we were getting in for." After the show, the artist raved about the center's "great sound and service."
The band Chicago's October show is a center event that sold out -- remember, there's more than 2,000 seats -- and they're coming back. Ricky Skaggs has entertained at the center three times.
"Artists talk to their agents," Webb said. And, of course, artists talk to other artists.
Webb strives to ensure the talk will be enthusiastic. Using "economies of scale," helps Webb bring in big national acts. "I have buying power," he said, a smile in his over-the-phone voice.
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Webb came to the center, in 2019, just three months after it opened.
At the University of San Diego, Webb, a freshman, had dived in to sports and business. Afterward, he worked for the San Diego Chargers (now called the Los Angeles Chargers) and got promoted to the stadium operations manager position. Then he took on the venue manager spot at an Olympics teaching organization in Carson, California.
Live Nation staff then approached him. The entertainment behemoth had learned of Webb's sports reputation and risked hiring him to manage live entertainment. He relocated to Indianapolis and started learning how to manage arts events. Founded in 2010, Live Nation Entertainment is an American business created from the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
Athletics-to-acts suited Webb. He noticed audience members almost always exit the building in a good mood, a big switch from sports events. Webb served as general manager of Indianapolis' Murat Theatre at Old National Centre Tickets for six years. The venue offers a variety of event areas including a 2,600-seat performance theater and an 1,800-seat concert hall.
"Some smart business leaders got together in Brown County some years ago and said, 'We're missing the entertainment business opportunities the Little Opry used to bring,'" Webb said. Memories of the Little Nashville Opry motivated officials to undertake the music center's construction, as a method of saving Brown County's long tradition of live music. Webb liked the idea of getting into something this big and this new.
Arson demolished the Little Nashville Opry in 2009. Audiences had enjoyed the rustic venue for more than three decades. In the summer of 2019, the Brown County Music Center opened to a no-seats-left performance by Vince Gill.
Diversity may be tough to achieve in southern Indiana, but Webb keeps trying. "Entertainment doesn't leave people out," he said. "We've booked Buddy Guy, Patti Labelle." And RATT hard rock band may be coming. Webb also is adding more kids' shows.
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Vets Rock was a hit this past November, its first at the center. Now Webb wants it every year. Some of the ticket money from this southern rock show goes to the Brown County Veterans Affairs Department.
Speaking of ticket money, the Brown County Music Center is a nonprofit business. In 2023, Webb said the center gave $267,000 back to the community.
"Seventy-five percent went to the Brown County Community Foundation," he said, "and 25% straight to the county government."
A few of the center's past shows were Kenny G, Rickie Lee Jones, Chicago, YES, LeAnne Rimes and Lewis Black.
Some upcoming shows are "Dirty Dancing in Concert," Howard Jones and ABC, Diamond Rio, the Marshall Tucker Band, and the Moody Blues' John Lodge.
Find out more about Brown County Music Center, at 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville, Indiana, online at browncountymusiccenter.com.