Nashville Funds ABC ‘For The Love of Music’ Documentary

The hour-long film For The Love of Music: The Story of Nashville will debut on Sunday, Nov. 3 on ABC. The film was produced by Music City itself; For The Love of Music lists Butch Spyridon, of the Convention and Visitors Corporation, as an executive producer. The film was made for $300,000, which was paid for by a federal grant originally allocated for marketing the city of Nashville after the 2010 flood, according to nashvillepublicradio.com.

“It was a gamble, make no mistake,” Spyridon says. “We were spending some money that wasn’t really in the budget when we decided to go do it.”

Spyridon hired an out-of-town director to interview more than 30 artists over the course of 18 months. The film includes interviews and information on an eclectic array of artists who call Nashville their musical home, ranging from country stalwarts Marty Stuart, Eric Church, Vince Gill and Kris Kristofferson, to the Fisk Jubilee Singers, to rockers Dan Auerbach of the The Black Keys, as well as Kings of Leon and Ben Folds.

The prime target of the documentary, according to Spryridon, is to “set the story straight.” Though the city has garnered considerable press over the past year thanks in large part to the ABC drama Nashville, he says the city is far from an overnight success. “The worst thing that could happen is everybody writes about you for a year and then – next,” he says. “I worry about that.”

ABC won’t charge to air the documentary, something Spyridon says is a substantial savings, considering it cost his agency $100,000 to air a 15-second ad during the premiere of  Nashville last year.

Watch the For The Love of Music: The Story of Nashville trailer below.