The Bluebird Café is a 90-seat cafe and music venue in

Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee Green Hills is an affluent neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Green Hills is located south of downtown Nashville on Hillsboro Pike (U.S. Route 431, U.S. Highway 431/Tennessee State Route 106). Green Hills is within a region ...

. The cafe features acoustic music performances and receives over 70,000 visitors annually.

History

Amy Kurland, a former waitress, opened the Bluebird Café on June 3, 1982, using an inheritance she received from her grandmother. Initially, it was intended to be just a cafe, but Kurland agreed to allow friends to provide live music. The cafe became a loud late-night location for Nashville musicians. After the cafe hosted a "writer's night" to benefit

World Hunger Year WhyHunger (formerly known as World Hunger Year, or WHY) is a 501(c)(3) organization (non-profit organization) that says it aims to end hunger by providing access to nutritious food both in the U.S. and the world. Scope The organization works ...

, the event became a regular fixture at the cafe, giving local songwriters a chance to showcase their latest work acoustically. In March 1983, future country star

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reac ...

received a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

after playing at the cafe regularly for seven months. In 1985, songwriters

Don Schlitz Donald Allen Schlitz Jr. (born August 29, 1952) is an American songwriter who has written more than twenty number one hits on the country music charts. He is best known for his song " The Gambler" (Kenny Rogers), and as the co-writer of " For ...

, Fred Knobloch,

Thom Schuyler Thomas James Schuyler (born June 10, 1952) is an American songwriter. Schuyler wrote songs recorded by more than 200 various artists including "16th Avenue" for Lacy J. Dalton, "Love Will Turn You Around" for Kenny Rogers, and "A Long Line of Lov ...

, and

Paul Overstreet Paul Lester Overstreet (born March 17, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He began his singing career in 1982 with a self-titled album on RCA Records Nashville. From 1986 to 1987, he was a vocalist in the trio S-K-O (Schuy ...

formed a new setup in the cafe whereby four songwriters would play in the center of the cafe, facing each other. After the female songwriters noted that most of the songwriters performing were men, in 1988, they launched "Women In The Round"; regular performers included

Pam Tillis Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra Records, Elektra ...

, Karen Staley,

Ashley Cleveland Ashley Cleveland (born February 2, 1957) is an American singer-songwriter best known as a background vocalist and Gospel music, gospel singer. Ashley Cleveland was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Career She sang "We're Gonna Win This One" in 1 ...

, and Trisha Walker. Also in 1988,

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

received a recording contract after a performance at the cafe; he had been turned down by the same label a week earlier. The cafe is a central feature in the movie ''

The Thing Called Love ''The Thing Called Love'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Samantha Mathis as Miranda Presley, a young musician who tries to make it big in Nashville. River Phoenix, Dermot Mulroney and Sandra Bul ...

'' (1993), the last film of

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor. He was known as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films and becoming one of the most preeminent talents of his generation. Pho ...

. In 1999,

Turner South Turner South was an American cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. At its peak, Turner South reached approximately eight million subscribers across a six-state region com ...

aired a program called ''Live from the Bluebird Café'', which built awareness for the cafe. ''The Bluebird Café Scrapbook'', written by Kurland, was published in 2002. It is a history of the club, its writers, events, and employees, as told by the writers, employees, and other witnesses. In 2002, the cafe received an

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

Award for Night Club of the Year. In 2004,

Scott Borchetta Scott Borchetta (born July 3, 1962) is an American record executive and founder of the Big Machine Records#Imprints, Big Machine Label Group. He started the label in 2005 with Taylor Swift as its first signed artist and 13 employees, he served ...

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta and ...

offered

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

, then 14 years old, a

after seeing her perform at the cafe. In 2008,

Nashville Songwriters Association International The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is a 501(c) Non-profit organization, not-for-profit trade organization that works to help songwriters in three ways: through legislative advocacy, through education and advice about the ...

acquired the cafe from Kurland, who remained as an advisor. ''Bluebird'', a documentary about the club, was released in November 2019. In September 2023, a

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

inspired by the café, titled ''Bluebird'', was announced, to be developed by

Wayne Kirkpatrick Wayne Kirkpatrick (born c. 1961) is an American songwriter and musician born in Greenville, MS, who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979. His younger brother is American screenwriter and d ...

and Don Chaffer.

In popular culture

The cafe is featured in nearly every episode of the drama ''

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

'' on

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...

. "Bluebird Cafe" is a track from

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English rock singer and musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You (John Waite song), Missing You", which reached No. 1 on th ...

's album '' When You Were Mine'' (1997). The cafe is also referenced in "Somewhere North of Nashville" (2019) by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

. The cafe is referenced in the

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

song "

Congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

", released in October 2014. On May 7, 2014, Foo Fighters frontman

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

performed an hour-long surprise solo acoustic set at the cafe.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bluebird Cafe 1982 establishments in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Nashville, Tennessee Culture of Nashville, Tennessee Event venues established in 1982 Music venues in Tennessee Nashville (2012 TV series) Tourist attractions in Nashville, Tennessee