The Bluebird Cafe has seen an increase in traffic since the premiere of the hit ABC show Nashville. Reservations are made online and often sell out in minutes, but customers can line up before the shows to try for the limited number of seats at the bar.
The Bluebird Café is where country titans like Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift used to strum guitars.
“People in Nashville always think they need to be lucky, but an awful lot of skill will create that luck.” – Vince Gill, on “making it” in Nashville
Book an appearance at The Bluebird Café and you’re virtually guaranteed to perform in front of a maximum capacity crowd of 100 people.
Located right in the heart of Music Row, Bobby’s Idle Hour Tavern serves as a showcase for veteran and emerging local songwriting talent.
Bobby’s hosts Writer’s Night every Thursday and Makayla’s Music Row Showcase every Wednesday.
Carter’s Vintage Guitars is located off of 8th Avenue near the Gulch neighborhood.
Carter, who has had cuts as a writer with such country icons as the Oak Ridge Boys an Loretta Lynn, says that it’s a misconception that stores like his do well simply because they are in Nashville.
Steve Earle, Zac Brown, Chris Thile and Ry Cooder have all dropped in to sample the store’s wares.
“There’s a mistaken image of Nashville as a great place to have a guitar store because all these guitar players are here.” – Walter Carter, Owner of Carter Vintage Guitars
“The best guitar for a recording session isn’t the best guitar from a collectible standpoint or a live standpoint or a songwriting standpoint.” – Walter Carter
The historic RCA Studio B, where Elvis, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings and other legends recorded in the late 1950s and 60s.
Built in 1957, the studio is known as the originator of “The Nashville Sound.”
In 1977 the studio became a part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and is now open for daily tours and is used as a part of Belmont University’s College of Entertainment and Music Business.
RCA Studio B calls itself the “Home of 1000 Hits”. More than 35,000 songs were recorded there, including 200 Elvis Presley tracks.
In Nashville, music isn’t just an art. It’s an industry.
“People have the perception that Nashville is just a country music town. The truth is it never was just a country music town.” – Vince Gill
Robert’s Western World prides itself on being the home of the traditional “Honky Tonk” experience, in the shadow of the Ryman Auditorium on Lower Broadway.
Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway lit up and packed with music fans from around the world.
As well as showcasing local talent, Robert’s offers a full selection of boots and a grill that is open all night long.
Robert’s Western World shines like the star of Bethlehem for vintage country enthusiasts.
Opened in the early 1990’s, the Robert’s Western World website boasts that the bar “was an instant hillbilly success! You could enjoy a porkchop sandwich, drink a PBR, try on some boots, and listen to an old hillbilly singer.”
Some of Nashville’s best pickers have graced the stage at Robert’s.
Music fans often pre-game at Robert’s before an evening show at the Ryman.
Inside the recording studio at Welcome to 1979, which prides itself on using a traditional vinyl mastering process complete with a lathe.
Sessions at Welcome to 1979 run around $750 a day, engineer included.
The vintage lathe used in owner Chris Mara’s painstakingly precise vinyl mastering process at Welcome to 1979.
The process of cutting a vinyl master is a thing of beauty… It’s the miracle of birth, the triumph of science turning at 33 ½ RPMs and spinning out the magic of music.
There’s a reason that folks like Jason Isbell, JEFF the Brotherhood and Hannah Aldridge have recorded here – sweet gear.
“Have you ever taken a distillery tour, it’s just like that. It’s like whoever figured this out? You take whiskey and you put it through charcoal and you put it in a barrel and seven years later it tastes good? Same thing with vinyl.” – Chris Mara, Owner of Welcome to 1979
It’s easy in the digital era to forget that analog sound doesn’t just magically appear in analog formats – there’s a whole lot of physics and chemistry and people in between points A and B.
“Our goal was to have one record cut and into production by the end of the year and we did 250, just through some luck and skill.” – Chris Mara
“It’s not just a transfer. It’s a whole creative process and it can make or break how a record sounds.” – Chris Mara
It’s a unique operation, one that allows artists on micro-budgets to be involved in almost every step of their album’s production.
Chris Mara, Owner of Welcome to 1979, adjusts the soundboard inside of the recording studio.
Roots musician Derek Hoke hosts a long-running concert series called $2 Tuesdays at The 5 Spot.
$2 Tuesdays at The 5 Spot is a see-and-be-seen affair, the musical equivalent of putting on your best party dress and hitting up the dance club.
Inside The 5 Spot, which recently became smoke-free, you can’t throw a bottle cap without hitting a musician.
“A good guitar isn’t a matter of the age or price tag. The good ones feel alive.” – George Gruhn (Photo by Mackenzie Moore)
3rd and Lindsley Bar and Grill is a neighborhood bar and grill that hosts “National, international, regional, and Nashville artists. From up-and-coming acts to ledgends.” (Photo by Will Minter)
Springwater Supper Club and Lounge hosts events each week such as “Superstar Kareoke Bonanza” and “Adult Trivia.”
Opened in 1947, Station Inn is known internationally as a place to hear great bluegrass and roots musicians.
Cannery Row is a renovated flour mill and warehouse that was built in 1883. The building contains the popular venues Mercy Lounge, The High Watt, and the Cannery Ballroom.
Since 2003, The Mercy Lounge has prided itself on being both “locally-flavored and nationally-renowned.”
The Basement opened in 2005. The “cellar fulla noise” is beneath Grimey’s record store and can only be accessed from the alley entrance.
Just down the street from the Basement is Douglas Corner Cafe. The venue was opened in 1987, and is known for hosting up-and-coming singer-songwriters and comedians.
Housed inside of a former Marathon Automobile factory, Marathon Music Works contains 14,000 square feet of event space.
Commodore Sports Bar and Grille is located inside of the Holiday Inn on West End Avenue. (Photo by Will Minter)
Though unassuming from the outside, the Commodore Sports Bar and Grille hosts some of Nashville’s most promising songwriters seven nights a week. (Photo by Will Minter)
Exit/In opened its doors in 1971 and is now one of Nashville’s most well-known music venues. The space was featured in Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville.
A list of legendary artists who have performed at Exit/In.
The Family Wash claims on its website that the space is “like being in your own living room, except with live music, food and drinks, and like totally different decor and probably a lively atmosphere. So not like your living room at all, but you should come hang anyway.” (Photo by Will Minter)
The Stone Fox was started by siblings William and Elise Tyler. (Photo by Will Minter)
The eclectic restaurant is open from brunch through dinner and hosts nightly performances by local acts.
The End, the ultimate dive bar and indie-rock venue, has hosted bands on Elliston Place for over 30 years. (Photo by Will Minter)
