Jack's Sign Goes Dark for Earth Hour.

The three neon-lit pigs jumping over Lower Broadway — one of Nashville's iconic signs among the honky-tonks — will get their first respite on March 28.

The Jack's Bar-B-Que sign will go dark from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. along with other businesses as Nashville joins Earth Hour, an international movement by the World Wildlife Fund calling attention to climate change.
Jack Cawthon, owner of Jack's, said he'd be cutting power to the famous neon sign that's never been turned off in nearly 15 years.

It was one of the first neon signs to go up on Lower Broadway after a contentious battle over Planet Hollywood's globe at Fourth and Broadway. Without approval, the now-defunct Planet Hollywood erected its trademark, rotating massive globe to the dismay of the Metro Council.

"That opened the doors," Cawthon said.

But the neon lights with three little pigs has a bigger meaning, Cawthon said. "One of the councilors had said that if they let the globe stay up, then it'll be pigs over Broadway."

Now, they're a downtown trademark. The neon sign is wired directly without an off switch. Cawthon wanted to be sure the sign was always on for marketing opportunities in case television and movie cameras rolled into the Music City.

- Chris Echegaray - The Tennessean

Oprah Returns
To Her Roots
She has a mansion in California, a condo in Chicago and an estate in Hawaii, but Mississippi-born Oprah has a real soft spot for a Southern specialty: barbecued ribs. Oprah, who went to high school in Nashville, Tennessee, knows the best place in town to get them: Jack's Bar-B-Que, which delivered "a takeout order of ribs and pork to Oprah on her private plane."
-In Touch December 4, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Jack Cawthon and his award winning sauces put another notch on his barbecue smoker when he took away three top honors for Jack’s Bar-B-Que Carolina Mustard, Texas Sweet Hot and Best Gift Pack at the National Barbecue Association Conference and Expo last week.

Jack’s Bar-B-Que also won third place for its Tennessee Original Vinegar Sauce and fifth place for the Music City White Sauce. The event was held in Austin Texas., February 19 through 22.

“This is quite an honor for Jack’s Bar-B-Que and Nashville, given all the different sauces that were entered from across the county,” said Jack Cawthon, owner of Jack’s Bar-B-Que. “It was a very competitive contest, and we’re proud to bring home these Grand Prizes and help put Nashville on the map for barbecue lovers.”

The Rend Lake Culinary Arts School in Ina, Ill., judged the competition.

Jack’s Bar-B-Que has a very high profile when it comes to good barbecue sauce. In 2004, Jack’s won “Best Sauce On the Planet” for its Kansas City Style Sauce at The American Royal Barbecue contest. Last year Jack’s Bar-B-Que won first place with Sauce-A-Palooza Best Gift Packaging.  This competition, considered to be “the World Series for barbecue,” started in 1980 when psychiatrist Rich Davis won first place for his sauce and gave up his medical practice to start marketing his famous KC Masterpiece. Some say this is what put Kansas City and The American Royal on the map for barbecue and sauce.

Twenty-eight years later, in Nashville, Tenn., Jack’s Bar-B-Que is steadily building a reputation in barbecue and fine sauces, boosting Nashville’s ability to rival cities that historically have been more popular for barbeque lovers.

In 2006, The American Royal Barbecue took more than 20 acres in the Kansas City Historic Stockyard District, where 500 cooking teams and more than 400 BBQ sauce entrants competed for the top prizes.

Jack also serves fine plates of smoked pork and beef brisket. Jack has been in the barbecue business for 20 years, catering and running a succession of Nashville restaurants. His latest location couldn't be
better. Its’ a few doors down Broadway from Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, the famous honky-tonk where legendary Grand Ole Opry stars lingered in the radio show’s Ryman-based heyday. Like Tootsie’s, Jack’s enjoys an unobstructed view across Ryman Alley to the hall’s arched, stone-and-brick stage entrance. After decades of minimal use, the rejuvenated auditorium began hosting performances again. Jack spruced up a former loading zone behind his place, set out tables, and kept doing what he does well in the kitchen.

Customers lately have recognized Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Lorrie Morgan, Garrison Keillor, and many others among the luminaries dashing toward those venerable steps. How’s the food? Good, basic, flavorful, filling. Variety counts too. In his formative years as a barbecue connoisseur, Jack couldn't settle on one idea. So he studied techniques for smoking Tennessee-style pork shoulders, Texas-style beef brisket, St. Louis-style dry ribs, and sausage and chicken treatments drawn from his travels in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Kentucky. If you get a table on the backdoor patio, kick back and enjoy the show. There’s no playbill. You watch whoever happens down the alley-just like Jack does.

2006 Nashville Christmas Parade
District Contest Rewards Holiday Light Displays

The winners of an annual contest designed to encourage downtown merchants to decorate their buildings for Christmas were announced last night. The District, a downtown non-profit supporting economic development and historic preservation, sponsors the annual contest awarding cash

prizes and the opportunity to ride in the Nashville Gas Christmas Parade, held (Friday, December 1, 2006).

Jack’s Barbecue on Lower Broadway took top prize this year. According to David Koellein, coordinator of the judging process this year, “The judges felt that Jack’s was dressed up just right, melding the honky-tonk spirit and color of Broadway and the spirit of the season.”

A striking display of white lights earned the Wildhorse Saloon second place in the contest, while Posh Hair Salon at Second Avenue and Church Street won third prize. Miss Marple’s Dinner Theater on Second Avenue earned an honorable mention for its Dickensian storefront display. The winners were escorted in vintage automobiles in the Nashville Gas Parade, provided by Buddy Messer, driving lead car was Patty Hornbuckle.

Serving as judges for this year’s contest were Sandra Duncan with the Metro Historical Commission, Ted Kromer, President of the Tennessee Art League, and Jenny Crookston with Everton Oglesby Architects.

“Downtown has really come alive during the holiday season over the last several years,” notes Koellein. A lot of the larger office buildings and smaller merchants have pitched in to make the city a compelling place.