ROANOKE, Va. – On Monday, Arton Williams fired up the grill at Caribbica Soul for the first time since getting back to the Star City.
The owner closed down the Roanoke restaurant at the end of last week to cater for his newest regular: Grammy award-winning country singer Kacey Musgraves.
"It was great for us to get out there and do something of this magnitude," Williams said.
10 News first reported the story about Williams meeting Musgraves in July. Her band stopped by the restaurant for a bite before headlining FloydFest and invited Williams and his family backstage. That's when Musgraves and the band asked if they'd cater the wrap party after her last tour stop in Nashville on Friday.
"We just followed up with each other as the tour went by. She went onto Charlottesville and then New York. And when they left New York," Williams said, "they contacted us and said, 'Well, the next, next big thing will be in Nashville, so is you guys ready?' And we was, like, 'Yeah, we, we [are] ready'."
On Thursday, Williams and his family hopped in the car and drove to Tennessee.
"Some of the artists don't eat meat, so we had to prepare vegan food, Caribbean food, soul food," Williams said. "They got a house with a full kitchen for us to get this thing going. So they really supported us a lot in Nashville."
They also cooked up a special request.
"Kacey's manager texted us earlier, asked if we could make the chicken extra spicy. She likes a lot of spice with her food," Williams said. "So we did that, and they also wanted the curry goat."
Williams said the after-party and the food were a hit.
"Oh, people went bananas. I mean, they was, like, 'Oh, this is the famous jerk chicken Kacey Musgraves endorsed,' and people was coming all over Nashville, coming to the arena to try the chicken, so that was a good experience for us to see how people would react."
The Williams family even got to meet Musgraves' whole family.
"They all tried the food, and they was, like, 'Now we see why she endorsed this product. This is some good stuff,'" Williams said. "We didn't disappoint them a bit. Sold out. Sold out of everything. Even the plantains was gone."
Williams said the entire experience has been a dream come true.
"It make me feel good to see how just food can bring people together," Williams said. "Good food could bring music and artists together and make things happen like what happened for us."
He added that his family never expected anything like this to happen, and thanks to Musgraves and her band, they have big plans for their future.
"We thinking about a little expansion, thanks to Kacey."