- Nashville, Tennessee is famous for its hot chicken joints.

Well, as producer Clay Johnson discovered, you don't have to leave the state to enjoy hot chicken, beer, and live music, just head to Greenville.

♪ You know I ain't the jealous type ♪ [upbeat music] ♪ It's time you know you got it right ♪ ♪ 'Cause baby, if you love me ♪ ♪ Won't you do something for me ♪ - My name is Ryan Griffin.

I'm owner operator at Nash Hot Chicken at Nash Recording Studios.

Nash Hot Chicken was born from a trip to Nashville.

I really fell in love with the atmosphere and the vibes.

I've always been a fan of music, always been a lover of music, and you go down Broadway in Nashville any time of day or night, any day of the week, there's a ton of music all over the place.

- [Clay] Ryan Griffin blended his love of music and his food service experience into this chicken restaurant in Downtown Greenville.

- Our slogan is, good music, cold beer, good vibes, making sure that there's a safe and fun place for any and all people to come through and get a great bite to eat and catch some good tunes and see some friends and meet some new people and just create a crossroads down here, is kind of what we were after.

- [Clay] The menu is chicken-centric.

- It's Nashville style hot chicken.

Hot chicken has a distinct taste, it's a regional classic, and we just brought it to Eastern North Carolina.

Pan breaded, brined overnight, and then we think of all different kind of ways we could package that.

We go everything from a classic cheese steak to our version of a quesadilla, all the way up to the Nash, which is our signature sandwich on two Texas toasts, buttered up with a rooster sauce, and that's the classic right there.

But we do different variations of that throughout the menu, and some unique ways of kind of packaging Nashville style hot chicken that maybe you wouldn't think about.

- I mean, it is the most delicious thing you'll ever have.

As far as fried chicken goes, they do a good number on fried chicken.

- [Clay] There's cold draft beer and signature handcrafted cocktails.

- I just tried one of their new drinks, which was the pumpkin spice martini, and it was amazing.

And we loved the food, we loved the drinks, we loved the atmosphere, so, everything about it we enjoy.

They have great outdoor seating where you can just chit chat with people and eat some good food.

- It's really good food.

[laughs] We always just have a great time.

It's a really nice atmosphere coming in here.

It's also, it's a lot more relaxed than some places around here, which I love.

- [Clay] It may be a chicken restaurant, but music is on the menu too.

Tonight, the duo of Jordan and Paige are playing with their band.

The two got their start here at an open mic night, and then got their first paying gig here.

- I feel like they do a great job at getting a lot of musicians in and outta here, and, like, keeping it fresh.

- We play here, but we also go see people we know play here, so it's nice to, like, enjoy and play at, too.

- We've had jazz bands come here, like, kind of rock tribute bands.

I mean, any type of music you're interested in usually is here.

- [Clay] Even Griffin and Nash Hot Chicken co-owner Kurt Hauser are musicians in a band called Morgan Hudson and Company.

They opened the restaurant in May, 2022, and when an adjacent building became available two years later, they bought it and turned it into a recording studio called Nash Studios.

- Opportunity's knocking, and we both heard the knock, we both grabbed the door handle, ripped the door open, and jumped head first into something we had never done, and never looked back.

- [Clay] A wide range of musicians record here, including Morgan Hudson and Company, of course.

- [Ryan] It's kind of taken on a life of its own since we've opened, which is cool.

- [Clay] The restaurant stage next door can be a first step to coming in here to record.

- We like to market ourselves where anybody, any time, can come in and jam, and that's kind of how we set it up.

If you play for 30 minutes, you get a free meal on us.

We're not the only good restaurant in this town, we're not the only good experience in this town, but we are a unique one.

You know, just come hang out.

That's the whole point of this, is come enjoy the vibes.

We need some good vibes in the world now, and if we can be a little oasis in your life to come and just forget about some things, you know, that's what we try to do.

- Nash Hot Chicken is at 114 East 5th Street in Greenville, and they're open for lunch, dinner, and late night every day.

For more information, give them a call at 252-999-5444, or go online to eatatnash.com.