What Happened to BoondoxXx BBQ & Juke Joint After Bar Rescue?

On the "Music City Mess" episode of Bar Rescue, filmed for broadcast in November 2013, Jon Taffer visited BoondoxXx BBQ & Juke Joint in Nashville, Tennessee, owned by Chris Ferrell, who had borrowed roughly $100,000 from his parents to open the barbecue-and-bar concept. Recon visits found slow, disorganized kitchen service, refrigeration that was not holding food at a safe temperature, and repeated conflict between Ferrell and his staff, including incidents in which he raised his voice at employees within earshot of customers. Taffer brought in a mixologist and a barbecue chef to retrain the kitchen on food safety and a simplified menu, and had the bar's seating reworked to fit a country-and-barbecue identity, adding outdoor seating.

Following a stress test that again showed slow ticket times and staff conflict, Taffer confronted Ferrell about his management style before proceeding with the relaunch. For the makeover, the bar was renamed Pit and Barrel, with new bar stools, a point-of-sale system, and additional outdoor seating. At a six-week follow-up, producers reported a 29% increase in sales, which Ferrell used to begin repaying his parents' loan. The bar closed in November 2013, according to national outlets including USA Today and The Tennessean, which reported that co-owner Chris Ferrell was involved in a fatal shooting at the bar involving country singer Wayne Mills that same month, an event unrelated to the operational issues addressed on the show; Ferrell was convicted of second-degree murder in 2015 and sentenced the same year.

Because the shooting closely preceded the episode's scheduled broadcast, the network initially substituted a rerun before airing the Pit and Barrel episode in a later time slot. The Pit and Barrel building was demolished in 2016, and the site at 515 2nd Ave S, Nashville, has been vacant land or a parking area since, with no bar operating at the address in subsequent years.