When Janna Abraham posted a video of a Nashville bar packed with revelers dancing to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1987 “Fishin’ in the Dark,” she probably never saw this coming.
“Downtown Nashville is undefeated,” Abraham wrote on March 15 as the world was trying to wrap their minds around self-quarantining and extreme social distancing. In other words, not bar hopping and packing dance floors.
Downtown Nashville is undefeated. pic.twitter.com/BFIOzukFct
— Janna Abraham (@SportsPundette) March 15, 2020
When Maren Morris — who is due with her first child in about a week — saw the video, the mother in her took over.
“While the rest of us are trying to be responsible in our homes and get this shit over with, THIS?! Broadway, you aren’t a hero for staying open,” Morris wrote when she saw Abraham’s video. Morris has since deleted the tweet, but did defend herself to someone who questioned her stance because she’d just played a show on March 7 at the Houston Rodeo.
“I did. And think of the information and national emergency declarations and major league/festival cancellations (including the rodeo) that have happened in our country in just the last week to tell everyone how serious this actually is that we’re abiding by now,” Morris replied.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Morris told the crowd of roughly 64,661 during her show, “If I go into labor during this show, it’s all good because it just means that my kid really wanted to be born in Texas. He’s kicking. He knows that my adrenaline is on full blast.
“For the rest of my life, I’m gonna look back at this show and show my son footage of it,” she said. “And tell him it got him out the door.”
Just four days after Morris’ show, on March 11, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was shut down in the interest of public health. Mayor Sylvester Turner ordered the shutdown due to concerns about coronavirus after a Montgomery County man with no recent travel history tested positive for COVID-19.
In the interest of public health, the City of Houston and the Houston Health Department have ordered the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ to close. The grounds will close at 4 pm More info >> https://t.co/jDO5pQEFhf pic.twitter.com/qL5KgjRnaE
— RODEOHOUSTON (@RODEOHOUSTON) March 11, 2020