'Willie Nelson rolled a joint on these speakers': Inside Sean Brock's new Nashville listening bar
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As a teenager, Sean Brock found himself at a crossroads: music or food?
In high school, Brock, now the chef-owner of Audrey and June and the newly revamped Bar Continental, chose music and moved to Athens, Georgia, in search of a big break for his band. He got a job working at the legendary 40 Watt Club, which helped launch R.E.M.'s storied career. But he never played a single note onstage.
That failure launched a career. Brock instead went to culinary school, a path that led to the Capitol Grille at Hermitage Hotel in Nashville and McCrady's and Husk in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, with the relaunch of the Continental at downtown Nashville's Grand Hyatt as Bar Continental, a listening bar, Brock is again making music a central focus.
Late this summer, the 45-year-old chef temporarily closed the Continental and started filling it with speakers and turntables. At a Sept. 30 soft launch, the chef manned the turntables behind the bar, spinning Tom Petty, remastered Bob Marley and other albums from a thousands-strong record collection.
"I started realizing that I'm at the halfway point of my life and I want to spend the next half focusing on music as much as food," he said in a phone interview the day before the soft launch.
While Brock is no longer involved with Husk, it was after opening Nashville's location in 2012 that he had an epiphany at Robert's Western World on Broadway.
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"I remember sitting there at Robert's, eating a fried bologna sandwich and drinking a PBR and listening to honky tonk," Brock said. "And I felt a fullness, this fulfillment I had been missing."
In May, Brock made his annual trip to Japan, where, he said, reverence for technique extends to food and sound systems. Both come together in Japanese kissas, or the listening cafes with excellent audio Brock loves to visit.
"This time, I sat in the perfect spot right in front of the speakers, and it almost felt like someone had dosed my drink," he said. "I couldn't believe the sound. It was almost 3-D."
He wondered why a similar experience didn't exist in Nashville.
"I couldn't stop thinking about it," he said. "It grabbed me. It was a life-changing moment."
Back home, Brock began searching for equipment to recreate what he had experienced in that kissa. Because it was Nashville, the local Facebook marketplace was an audiophile's dream. Brock assembled his sound system within a week.
Among the collection are speakers the late Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman had built for use during the mastering and mixing of "Highwayman," which he produced for Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kristoffer Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings' country music supergroup Highwaymen.
"These are the best speakers on the face of the planet," Brock said. "I'm sure Willie Nelson rolled a joint on these speakers."
Powering them are 300-watt solid-state McIntosh MC2300 amplifiers, notable because they're the same amps that drove the Grateful Dead's towering "Wall of Sound," a three-story sonic phenomenon of speakers.
Those amplifiers drive the sound at the Wolf Bar, named after a guitar Jerry Garcia first played during the Wall of Sound era.
On the other side of the bar is another listening zone called the Onken Bar, outfitted with Tannoy speakers in Onken cabinets powered by McIntosh MC60 tube monoblock amplifiers.
All of that is to say that Bar Continental features distinct listening zones, including one for those who don't care what sorts of amplifiers drive the speakers.
"That one has no speakers, and it's for people who would like to have dinner and could care less about the B-side of Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers,'" Brock said.
But the best speakers in the world don't mean much without quality music, and that's coming from a library of about 5,000 records, dating from 1958 to about 1990. Genres include classic jazz, Mississippi blues, soul, classic rock and honky tonk.
The music will guide rotating programming that includes soul music on Sundays and open table nights on Mondays, during which guests can sign up to spin Brock's records or their own over his finely tuned sound system.
Bar Continental will also feature ticketed whole-album listening parties with food pairings, with the first on Oct. 17. That event features Brocks's favorite album: a Robert Ludwig-mastered pressing of "Led Zeppelin II."
The original recording was so loud and hot that most record players at the time couldn't handle it, Brock explained. The result was a sonic sludge. The remastered version, he said, is a masterpiece.
"When you listen to this one, you almost faint," he said. "It's almost like riding a roller coaster."
Brock will preside over the turntables on many nights, but he also has two staffers who underwent training similar to that of a sous chef who will handle the music and album care on other nights.
The goal is to create a 3-D sound experience not unlike a live show.
"I want it to affect the body, not just the ears," Brock said. "I want it to feel like standing in the studio with the musicians. That's what I'm chasing."
Food and drink, location details
Bar Continental's food menu will feature a daily rotating selection of bar bites and larger plates.
Expect oysters, crudo, charcuterie and classics, including steak au poivre and a top-notch cheeseburger. Brunch, as well as the prime rib cart, will be served on Sundays.
The beverage menu features classic cocktails, zero-proof offerings, a curated wine list and local beer on tap.
It's adjacent to the Grand Hyatt at 1000 Broadway Suite 101. Guests enter the hotel lobby and turn left to access the bar.
Bar Continental will be open nightly seven days a week from 5-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 5-11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. More at @barcontinentalhifi on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Inside Bar Continental: Sean Brock's new Nashville listening bar
