The Newest Must-Have for Hip Hotels? A Resident Music Curator
Music consultants on staff are bringing the sounds of the city right to you.
If your train chugged through Central Station in Memphis in the 1950s or ‘60s, you may have bumped into some bonafide music legends. Elvis and his latest fling, perhaps, or BB King imploring the conductor to “hold that train,” as both artists rode the rails to the city that jump-started their careers.
Walk into your room at the aptly-named Central Station Memphis hotel today—housed in the same complex as the still-running Amtrak station, walking distance from the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame Museum—and you might hear those same musicians piped in through the room’s EgglestonWorks speakers.
Those tunes would be the work of Chad Weekley. Official job title: Music Curator. But as he explains it: “The nerdy term for the head DJ booking all the guest DJs and local talent.” Weekley is the guy on staff who lives and breathes Memphis music, responsible for making sure that even if you never leave your hotel during your stay, you'll still get a real taste of his city's historic and still vibrant music scene.
It sounds like a too-good-to-be-true job for any music lover: Book your favorite musical artists nightly in a hotel space and compete with the best venues in the city—all with a built-in audience of tourists, plus the safety net of a hotel backing. But this type of dream staff gig is becoming more common in the world of hospitality—especially in cities with a musical legacy—as brands seek new ways to draw customers in while simultaneously offering guests a slice of local culture.
Seeing stars in Nashville
From the outside, housing a music venue inside a hotel can seem gratuitous. Those who aren't familiar with Nashville's music scene might rightly be confused by the Hutton Hotel's venue, Analog. The hotel is right around the corner from Music Row, home to a lineup of iconic music venues. Why was this one necessary? When Meredith DiMenna became the director of programming for the hotel, she was tasked with making Analog fit into the neighborhood.
“My goal was just to be a part of the ecosystem,” she explains. Since Analog’s cozy living room-style space only seats 300 people, it would be absurd to try to compete with bigger venues like City Winery or Brooklyn Bowl. So, instead, they found a niche. “Nashville already has all the greatest venues but we decided what the city really needed was a mid-size showcase venue.”
When it opened in 2009 as the only boutique hotel in the city, Hutton Hotel was a favorite crash pad for musicians thanks to its proximity to Music Row. So the hotel leaned into the legacy: They added recording studios—which they call “writing studios”—where local and visiting artists can noodle on concepts and, if they feel like it, put down some tracks. At the same time, they installed a music venue, a natural fit.
Analog has since been host to intimate fan shows for big stars like Carrie Underwood as well as up-and-coming artists like Noah Kahan just before he broke big, a few months before his SNL debut. It’s also found its calling with television tapings. Look out this fall for Kahan’s set on a new Austin City Limits-style show coming out on PBS called “Recorded Live at Analog.”
Keeping the party going in Memphis
The ideal candidate for these music connoisseur roles combines A&R authority with business savvy and a knowledge of culture bordering on obsessive. Weekley’s journey began in 1997, after moving to Memphis and launching his booking career on Beale Street. His first lineup of DJs didn’t go as planned for the hip hop head. “It was a huge learning lesson: We brought a whole bunch of guys out from California and New York and Chicago and half of them canceled,” he said. Nevertheless he counts it as a success. “It was a party. About 1,500 people showed up. Financially a flop but a success because people came out to see something new.”
He spent the next two decades building relationships with venues and talent, curating shows around the city. One day, he heard about the opening at Central Station, and applied. “They wanted me because of my experience and also who I know and who I can bring within the industry here,” he says.
Along with creating about six rotating playlists covering Memphis-inspired rock, blues, soul, and everything in between for the hotel, Weekley’s main duty is booking entertainment for Central Station’s massive, music-forward bar, Eight & Sand. Behind the bar’s DJ booth, you’ll find a towering, 30-foot-tall wall of vinyl records. He keeps his ear to the ground for new sounds (“social media is a beautiful thing for that”), and scours his favorite local stores like Goner and Shangri-La Records for ways to spend his monthly budget to add bulk to their 700+ vinyl library. He focuses on purchasing both well-known and obscure Memphis talent, the kind that even Shazam won’t help you with.
On a call, Weekley’s enthusiasm leaps through the phone. He tells me he just acquired a Black Keys album for the hotel’s collection. He’s particularly amped about the guest appearances on the album. “There’s two rappers on there from Memphis, " he explains. “And [Memphis singer-songwriter] Greg Cartwright wrote three songs. That new Black Keys record is really Memphis heavy.”
At the venue he’s already brought legends like DJ Spinna and house artist Larry Heard. The hotel has also hosted Run the Jewels’ and Killer Mike's Trackstar the DJ. Diplo has come through to hang and check out young musicians and DJs who could very well become the next Diplo. “It's not a bad thing to say, ‘Yeah, we had that guy before he blew up.’”
Shows at the hotel are also free, which attracts a mix of locals and hotel guests. “It’s just cool to get 20-year-old kids to 70-year-old people come in and jam out to DJs,” says Weekley.
He doesn’t see himself as competing with other venues, but rather filling a hole in the void of Music City. As Weekley says, “I'm trying to do something new that Memphis hasn’t done.”
Entertainment as an amenity, bathrobe optional
With an industry background including being both a musician and independent record label owner, DiMenna’s skills were a natural fit to bring Analog to its full potential. “When this job opened up, I thought, this really suits me because I can speak the language of artists and music, but I also understand the challenges and what it means to be sort of beholden to different types of forces,” she says. She’s sat in with bands on the Analog stage, so she has some basis for calling the venue “acoustically perfect.” “You just feel so close to the audience,” she says. “You're having a very up close and personal experience with them.”
There are of course limitations to having a venue in a hotel. Going to a show in a hotel is not everyone’s vibe. “There's a lot of things that wouldn't be successful here from a ticket sales standpoint, like it's just too loud or it's not the experience that people are looking for,” says DiMenna.
But having a venue attached to the hotel also comes with certain large perks. It’s why places like Cafe Carlyle in New York’s Carlyle Hotel have thrived for so long, and why the Sphere in Las Vegas is technically attached to the Venetian, a hotel. It means they can be a bit more adventurous in the bookings, in a traditionally risk-based business.
The symbiosis allows music nerds like Weekley and DiMenna to have a little fun scouting out the artists they choose to showcase, making the most of their enviable gigs and shaking up the music scene in their respective towns.
And it’s a win-win for those guests that want a Nashville or Memphis music immersion—but don’t want to work too hard for it. They can just mosey on down from their rooms and catch a great show. “Broadway can be overwhelming to certain types of consumers,” says DiMenna, “so we try to make sure that we have something available for people who are craving a different type of experience.”