Bluebird Café
| Address | 4104 Hillsboro Pike |
|---|---|
| Location | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Coordinates | 36°6′7.3″N 86°49′0.6″W / 36.102028°N 86.816833°WCoordinates: 36°6′7.3″N 86°49′0.6″W / 36.102028°N 86.816833°W |
| Owner | Nashville Songwriters Association International |
| Type | Music venue |
| Genre(s) | country |
| Capacity | 90 |
| Opened | 1982 |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Bluebird Café is a dynamic 90-seat music club in Nashville, Tennessee that opened in 1982. The club is famous for intimate, acoustic music performed by its composers. Some performers are established singer/songwriters, and others perform hit songs written by other artists. The Bluebird receives over 70,000 visitors annually. The restaurant has been featured as a location on ABC's drama Nashville, and has hosted musicians such as Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks and Kate Taylor.
Founder Amy Kurland opened the doors of The Bluebird Café in June 1982 at 4104 Hillsboro Pike in Nashville, Tennessee. The location had already been home to a game room, a bar, a pizza parlor, a sewing machine store, a pharmacy, and Manookian Brothers Oriental Rugs. Kurland intended it to be a gourmet restaurant in which patrons would have the opportunity to occasionally listen to live music while enjoying their meals. Somewhat of an afterthought, Kurland added a stage. The occasional live music became a regular occurrence.
By March 1983, Kathy Mattea had landed a record deal; she had only been playing The Bluebird Café regularly for a few months. After that, The venue became known among musicians as the place to play. Others of The Bluebird's regular songwriters began to land record deals.
On July 1, 1984, the first Writer's Night (an evening in which up and coming songwriters have the opportunity to play some of their original material with a special guest who has had some songwriting success) was held and Don Schlitz was the first special guest. Schlitz had already won a Grammy for writing the Kenny Rogers song The Gambler. In 1985 Sunday Writer's Nights were officially added to The Bluebird's weekly schedule.
On March 29, 1985 the first "In The Round" show was held with Thom Schuyler (16th Avenue and Old Yellow Car), Fred Knobloch (Used to Blue and Meanwhile), Don Schlitz (he would collect his second Grammy a few years later for Forever and Ever, Amen), and Paul Overstreet (future co-writer of Forever and Ever, Amen as well as other hit songs). The "In The Round" format, which means that writers sit in the center of The Bluebird playing, taking turns, and telling stories, was suggested by Knobloch and Schlitz.
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