Bon Jovi rocks Nashville
A look at some Nashville Bon Jovi highlights over the past several years:
DECEMBER 1996
Bon Jovi records at Reba McEntire's Starstruck Studio on Music Row, the second time in two years the band has recorded in Nashville.
AUGUST 6, 1997
Jon Bon Jovi plays a private daytime show at the opening of the then-new Graham Central Station club on Second Avenue North. Jo Dee Messina is among fans who show. Radio personality and show host Mary Glen Lassiter tells the crowd Bon Jovi has "the best-filled pair of jeans in the world."
MARCH 1998
Jon Bon Jovi walks into a showcase at 12th & Porter for country duo The Warren Brothers, but by the time Brett Warren calls him to the stage to sing a song, the New Jersey rocker has already left with Nashville pal/rocker Billy Falcon.
MARCH 1998
A few days later, Jon Bon Jovi shows up unannounced to a songwriters' night at Douglas Corner, sitting at the bar near the restrooms — and suddenly there is a long line of lady patrons waiting to use the bathroom. Bon Jovi accepts an invitation to sing, drawing a standing ovation for his acoustic performances of Living on a Prayer and Wanted: Dead or Alive. "I just want to thank everybody for rejuvenating an old soul," he tells the crowd.
MAY 1998
After hearing Nashville comedian Beth Donahue was dying to meet him, Jon Bon Jovi stops by to surprise Donahue at her job at Zanies comedy club.
"Oh my God," Beth tells Jon, "I knew I should've brushed my teeth today."
OCTOBER 2001
Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, in town for several days, collaborate separately with Nashville songwriters Jeffrey Steele and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Steele said he unexpectedly had friends drop by the day he wrote with the rockers.
"Suddenly everybody wanted to hook up with me," he said afterward. "Well, all the females."
Johnson said her nervousness quickly went away.
"Once I got in the room with them to write, in a matter of moments, it was like I was with friends. We were all singing and jamming with our guitars," she said.
"The harmonies were very cool. A definite 'once in a lifetime' moment."
APRIL 14, 2002
Bon Jovi joins Dave Matthews, Brian McKnight, Norah Jones, Aaron Neville, Lee Ann Womack, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and others for a Willie Nelson tribute at the Ryman.
FEBRUARY 14, 2003
Dozens of Nashville's top songwriters gather at Merchant's to meet Bon Jovi after the rockers play Gaylord Entertainment Center.
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