Santa’s Pub: A Nashville Staple Finds New Life After the Legend Behind It Passes

Photo via @santaspub on Instagram.

On any given night at Santa’s Pub, the mic might be in the hands of a seasoned singer, a first-time tourist or someone who has never sung in public before.

The atmosphere was shaped by the late owner, Elmer Denzel “Santa” Irwin, who passed away in September at age 75. Known for his signature white beard and his strict no-cursing rule at the mic, he built a place where strangers connected across generations.

That unpredictability yet strong sense of community is what has made the double-wide trailer on Bransford Avenue one of Nashville’s most beloved dive bars.

Longtime employee Ryan Franco has bartended at Santa’s for 5 years and is no stranger to the community that unites there week after week.

“There’s a solid crew of like 10 to 15 people that I see consistently every single week,” Franco said. “And then there’s people that I see every couple of weeks or months. Just about every kind of person comes in here.”

The pub’s reputation extends beyond locals. A-list artists have been known to drop in at any given moment.

“Chris Young had his birthday party here, Jelly Roll used to come in sometimes and Kelsea Ballerini showed up one night,” Franco said. “Ed Sheeran and Noah Kahan even came in and did their whole thing, just hung out and let everybody watch.”

Karaoke remains at the heart of the pub and is often what keeps people in the place for so long.

“Last night there was a three-hour wait,” Franco said. “It goes back and forth between maybe the greatest singer you’ve ever heard and somebody just running around screaming, having fun.”

Santa’s grandson, Riley Ricketts, now manages the bar and carries on those traditions. He took ownership and started managing in September after Irwin passed.

Ricketts and his grandfather were close; they lived together during his early childhood and he learned a lot from his work ethic.

“Santa worked every day in some form until he physically couldn’t anymore,” Ricketts said. “He created the environment.”

One rule remains unchanged: keep it clean onstage. Cursing was never allowed at Santa’s Pub and will result in you getting kicked off the karaoke stage before your song ends.

“It’s a silly rule and some people hate it, but Santa always said, ‘Santa’s isn’t for everyone and that’s alright,’” Ricketts said. “It’s seemed to work for us so far.”

Santa’s has also served as a haven for Nashville’s music community, including music executive and Belmont alumni Shea Fowler.

“Santa’s was a refuge for me and my friends as we grew up in the music industry,” Fowler said. “We didn’t talk business like at some other haunts in Midtown, instead just shared our love for music and conversation.”

Fowler said the karaoke stage hosted countless early performances by artists who would later become stars.

“I remember magical moments like Maren Morris singing ‘9 to 5,’ Kacey Musgraves bringing her grandmother to hang out and Brittany Howard from The Alabama Shakes belting it out on the regular,” she said.

Some memories made at Santa’s were even more personal.

“When I was pregnant with my son, my guy friends Andrew Cohen and Marc Rucker were bummed my baby shower was women-only so they talked Santa into the bar being smoke-free for a few hours in the afternoon, which was a big deal at the time,” she said.

Another night, Fowler unexpectedly found herself receiving praise from one of the biggest artists on the planet.

“One night Ed Sheeran came outside on the patio to compliment me after I sang Etta James’ ‘At Last.’ There aren’t many artists that I admire like Ed, so that was a special moment for me.”

Through all of these memories: humorous, personal and iconic, Santa remained constant.

“Santa was always waiting behind the bar or out front to greet us, ready to kick someone off stage if they cussed,” Fowler said.

Even as Nashville is constantly changing around it, Santa’s Pub continues to hold onto the identity it was built on - a simple bar focused on community and unity.

“There aren’t a lot of legends left, but Santa was one,” Franco said.

The Christmas lights glow year-round, strangers still bond over karaoke classics and Ricketts says the goal is to keep everything exactly the way Santa intended.

“We’re still exactly what we were when we started, a karaoke dive bar in a double-wide trailer. We are what he made, and we’re going to keep it that way.”

This article was written by Nick Singer