Nashville is the greatest place on earth, no competition. Well, in my humble opinion anyway.
And when it comes to live music venues in Nashville, nowhere does it quite like The Bluebird Cafe.
From Kris Kristofferson to Keith Urban, many a country music legend has played in this iconic cafe. And almost every evening, you can catch a live show or two to experience the magic of The Bluebird Cafe for yourself.
Why is The Bluebird Cafe famous?
The Bluebird Cafe is famous as one of the best listening rooms in the world. It’s unassuming from the outside and can only hold around 90 people, but you’ll find some of the greatest songwriters in country music inside this intimate venue.
From Garth Brooks, Keith Urban, Lady A, Faith Hill and even Taylor Swift, all have graced this stage before they were famous, because if you’re a songwriter, this is the big stage you’ll want to play and try to be discovered.
Where is it?
The Bluebird Cafe is a 15 minute drive outside of the city centre of Nashville, in the area of Green Hills. It’s full address is: 4104 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37215
I’d recommend grabbing an Uber to the Cafe and make sure to get there early in case of traffic and in case you’re planning to queue without tickets.
What to expect
What’s great about The Bluebird Cafe is that you’ll usually be surrounded by local Tennesseans. Some people have their regular tables and seats on a particular night, and others come to support their friends and family that are playing that night.
Personally, we’ve only ever been to the writers nights at The Bluebird, which consists of around 3-4 artists sat in a circle with their instruments (guitars and keyboards usually) and they take it in turns singing their own songs, and telling their stories.
Expect songs you’ve never heard before, and also expect to be surprised by some songs you will have heard of, but have just come to face with the person that wrote it (not the person who recorded it).
How to get tickets to The Bluebird Cafe
To get tickets, you’ll need to visit The Bluebird’s website and take a look at the calendar to see what shows are on during the time you’ll be visiting.
Tickets usually go on sale a week before the performance date and at around 10am Nashville time (4pm GMT) and cost around $10-$20 depending on the performance.
The tickets are sold on tables and once they go on sale, you select your seats/table of choice and try your luck to see if you’re the first one to select them. If not, then you go back to the main page to see what seats/tables are still available and keep trying until you secure tickets.
When we successfully got tickets in January 2024, both of us were trying at the same time on two different devices and we ended up on a table with around six other people who happened to be friends of one of the singers.
It’s likely that you will be sitting with strangers at a table, but it’s a very intimate experience and you’ll mostly be listening to the singers during your time there.
If you don’t get tickets
The first time we visited The Bluebird Cafe, we didn’t manage to get tickets. We tried the above method but clearly weren’t fast enough. What we were surprised at when we queued outside was the number of older people that had tickets.
A lot of tickets are kept for locals like I mentioned above, who come regularly.
If you don’t manage to get tickets online, fear not. You can queue outside as they always keep around 10-20 seats in the pews for walk-ins.
We arrived around 6pm to wait for the 7pm show, thinking that we were probably too late to get into the first show, but were willing to stick around and wait it out for the second show.
We were 12th and 13th in line for the first show, and when we got to the front of the queue, the lady on the ticket desk called a local that had their regular table up front to see if they were coming.
Luckily for us, they weren’t attending that night which meant we were given their table, right at the front of the room with the best view of the singers.
If you don’t get tickets, definitely still turn up and you’ll very likely get in as around eight more people in the queue behind us were let in too.
What happens inside
Once inside, you can take photos and wander around the different photos on the wall while the acts are setting up.
It’s an intimate atmosphere, but there will be waitresses walking around throughout the performances, grabbing you food and drinks, giving it a slightly informal atmosphere too.
However, everyone is there to listen to the musicians, so you’ll definitely be sat quietly listening to every word the person is singing and hearing them tell their story about the background of the song and how/why they wrote it.
There’s a small merchandise station at the till when you walk in too if you want to buy a Christmas decoration (like myself) or a t-shirt (also like myself), or a poster or guitar pick.
There’s also a small minimum spend of $10 per person once inside, which will usually be covered by two drinks or some food.
The Bluebird Cafe: Where great artists are discovered
The Bluebird Cafe is an iconic venue, where every country singer dreams of performing during their career.
You might know it from the Nashville TV series or if you’re a huge country music buff, then you’ll already know how famous it is.
If you’re travelling to Nashville anytime soon, make sure to add it to your list of things to do and also make sure to check out my YouTube vlog of places to eat, things to do and more, and my blog posts about our time there:
Related blog post: 48 hours in Nashville, Tennessee
Leave a Reply