All language subtitles for Bluebird.2019.1080p.WEBRip_Eng

MAN 1: I don't think
that there's an artist

that I know that doesn't have

a Bluebird story.

WOMAN 1: The kind of songs
that have come out of here

have had a depth

and the careers

that have come out of here
have had depths.

MAN 2: If you had a discography of all the songs

that got played in here,

I bet it would
just be staggering.

MAN 3: It's almost like

seeing something
you're not supposed to.

MAN 4: If you can get a ticket, if you can get in,

you get to see.

WOMAN 2:
Whether you're the biggest
songwriter in Nashville

or someone
that's been there a week,

it's an equal playing field.

MAN 5: There could be
a show there tonight

where a special guest gets up

and a couple years from now,
they're all over the radio,

they're all over the TV
and everybody knows
who they are,

but the crowd
that's here tonight
gets to say,

"I saw them back there
at the Bluebird."

♪ From the corners
of the country

♪ From the cities and the farms

♪ With years

♪ and years of living

♪ Tucked up
underneath their arms

♪ They walked away
from everything

♪ Just to see a dream come true

♪ So God bless the boys
who make the noise

♪ On 16th Avenue

JOHN OSBORNE: When you hear
a hit songwriter play a song

that they just finished

and you're like,
"Wow, we are some
of the first people

in the world
to ever hear this song."

Any of the biggest writers
you've ever heard of

or haven't heard of
have played there.

It just made you feel
like you could dream

and you could be
on the stage right there.

It just made the dream
a reality, like, in the room.

The Bluebird Cafe is a place
to come and be found.

It's a place to come
and call home.

♪ With a million dollar spirit

♪ And an old flattop guitar

♪ They drive to town
with all they own

♪ In a hundred dollar car

♪ 'Cause one time
someone told them

♪ About a friend
of a friend they knew

♪ Who owns you know a studio

♪ On 16th Avenue

CHARLIE WORSHAM:
Whether it's me

just having moved to town

with songs I've never sung for anybody, or me a week ago,

I get the same butterflies.

There's a couple of places
I get nervous. One, playing
at somebody's wedding

and one is, for some reason,
playing at Bluebird.

It's like the first time
I've ever performed

every time I play there.

You'd see the people
you're about to play for
in the bathroom,

-so you usually just try...
-Yeah, it's true.

Just try and hold it.

♪ 'Cause they walk away
from everything

♪ Just to sing for me and you

♪ So God bless the boys
who make the noise

♪ On 16th Avenue

Thanks so very much.

You're very kind.
I'm so glad you're here.

AMY KURLAND:
When I rented this place,

it was the Greenhouse Game Room

and there were pool tables
and pinball tables.

BARBARA KURLAND: And it was
bright yellow, as I recall

and looked much bigger.

BARBARA: I do remember
when you were getting
the bar built.

-Yeah.
-And that was very exciting

-because she wanted it
to look antique-y.
-Yeah.

I love the neon.

I think that's really beautiful.

Whoever designed it for you
did a wonderful job.

A songwriter named
Gove Scrivenor did it.

He just took it neon class
and that was what he chose

to make and then
he brought it to me.

And I remember going out
in the country

to really terrible
antique stores

and digging those pews
out of the back

of old collapsed barns
and things.

Guess you put a lot of people
in those chairs.

We have, we have.

JAY PATTEN: A one, two, three.

ROGER COOK: Amy got this place

and she didn't intend it to be a music venue, initially.

She just wanted
a restaurant or a cafe.

She had gone to cooking school

and she became
a really good chef.

It was a, you know,
an established lunch place.

It was kind of a ladies
who lunch type situation

Folks would come over
from next door

after they had their hair done
at the salon.

There were fancy tablecloths
on the table,

Crab Louie on the menu.

People like Minnie Pearl

would come over
after she had her hair done.

And then a couple
of friends, I think

it may have been Jay Patten.

It may have been
Bob White.

"You should have some
live music in here."

PATTEN: Ladies and gentlemen,
I'd like to introduce you

to the Anniversary Choir.

Jonnell Mosser, Carrico
and Sheila Lawrence.

PATTEN: Opening night
was so beautiful.

I come in,
everybody was all dressed up.

And I thought, "This is
gonna be very special."

♪ So nice to be with you

♪ So nice

I went to work
for The Tennessean

as the music reporter
in the summer of 1981

and almost a year later,

The Bluebird Cafe opened.

♪ So nice to be here
with you tonight

♪ You're exactly
what I want to see

♪ So very nice to be
where the vibe is just right

♪ It's an absolute pleasure,
indeed

OERMANN: It was different
in several respects.

It was not in Midtown,

It was not near Music Row

and it was not Downtown.

It was out here
in a suburban strip mall.

♪ So nice to be here with you

♪ Tonight

♪ So nice

RICHEY: We'd have
some lingering diners

and we'd have to play
some music

that wasn't especially

conducive to, like,
an intimate dinner.

I remember it was the '80s,
so we had Talking Heads

and we cranked them up
a little more and more and more

to get rid of the diners,
so then we could turn it

into a club and that's when
the music would start.

RICHEY: It was like
a regular, you know,

any other club back in the day,
you know,

drinking and smoking
and talking.
There wasn't any...

There was definitely not
the shushing business going on.

The room was loud,
it was smoky.

Four people deep at the bar,

you could not move
through this room

without putting your tray
up over you head

and shoving people
out of the way.

My band played louder back then.

People wanted louder music.

AMY CLEVELAND:
The room was rocking.

It was loud and people...

Glasses were clinking
and people were having

a good time and, you know, getting their hair blown back.

I had the waitresses dancing
over the bar

which was a sight to behold.

VINCE GILL: If you still had

an hour or two left
in the night,

it was midnight
or whatever you need,

you could come over here
and catch the end of something.

They would all come down,
support their friends

when they were playing
and then everyone

would hang out
at the bar late night.

CLEVELAND: Maybe it was
a little bit folkier,

maybe it was a little more
rock and roll,

Maybe it was a little more R&B.

It was Steve Earle
and the Dukes

and John Scott Sherrill

and The Wolves
in Cheap Clothing.

None of them
were hardcore country acts.

I remember The Bluebird
as a rock joint

more than I do anything else.
I remember my memories

at the Bluebird
are starting in the kitchen

with a wireless guitar rig

and playing Rebel Rouser

and rocking to the stage
to the back of the house.

That's the Bluebird to me.

When I first opened
the Bluebird, we did everything.

We did all kinds of music

and it was fun.

But the number one complaint
I got was,

"It's too loud in here."

And in that first summer
we were open for business,

the guy who was helping me
book it

booked something
called a Writer's Night.

I didn't even know
what that is.

♪ On a warm summer's evening

- ♪ On a train bound for nowhere-

♪ I met up with a gambler

♪ We were both
too tired to sleep

♪ So we took turns a-starin'

AMY KURLAND:
Everybody was just silent.

All they were doing
was focusing on the song

and the person
who was playing it

and it was magic.

And over time,
I just transformed

to what I think this room

was crying out to be

as a place where people could
really listen to the songs.

The idea
of showcasing songwriters.

Well, there was no such thing
as a songwriter venue

or a songwriter club

where you would go in
with the expressed intent

of hearing not a star,

but of hearing
a great songwriter.

♪You got to know
when to hold 'em

♪ Know when to fold 'em

♪ Know when to walk away

♪ And know when to run

♪ You never count your money

♪ When you're sittin'
at the table.

♪ There'll be time enough
for countin'

♪ When the dealing's done

♪ You've got to know
when to hold 'em

MAN: ♪ When to hold 'em

-♪ Know when to fold 'em
-MAN: ♪ When to fold 'em

♪ Know when to walk away

♪ And know when to run

♪ You never count your money

♪ When you're sittin'
at the table

♪ There'll be time enough
for countin'

♪ When the dealing's done

♪ There'll be time enough
for countin'

♪ When the dealing's done

♪ There'll be time enough
for countin'

♪ When the dealing's done

THOM SCHUYLER:
I think the world at large
doesn't realize

that, you know, Kenny Rogers didn't write everything he sang

and you know, when you hear

Schlitz start The Gambler,
or something, they go,

"No way. This guy
didn't write that song."

Until I got into
the music business,

I just thought, if I wrote
songs, and they recorded them,
and they put them out.

Like, I didn't really know,

until I was taught.

I didn't realize that, uh,
these artists,

that I listened to growing up,
didn't write all these songs

That there's this community
of folks in Nashville,

a small handful really,
writing the majority
of these songs.

And, then I go,
"Where did they play?"

Because there are venue
for people that's not an artist,

to play the songs,
that they wrote for the artist.

That's whenever
the Bluebird,

and what the Bluebird does,
started to be real to me.

♪ I came

♪ See you over there
Starin' at your drink

♪ Watchin' that ice sink
All alone tonight

♪ And chances are you're
Sittin' here in this bar

♪ 'Cause he
Don't treat you right... ♪

AMY: These people are true artists.

They may not be
performing artists,
but they are artists.

And they deserve
to be recognized,
for how wonderful they are.

NATALIE HEMBY: Whenever
I go to the Bluebird,
I can be an artist.

And I... I'm not someone,
who wrote a song
for somebody else.

They nurture the songwriter,
in an artist way.

♪ 'Cause blue

♪ Looks good on the sky

♪ Looks good on that
Neon buzzin' on the wall

♪ But darlin',
It don't match your eyes

♪ I'm tellin' you...

Whether you've had
30 number ones,

or whether you're brand new,

songwriters want
to be heard.

The Bluebird provides that
for both.

FAITH HILL:
I learned in that room,

being a songwriter
is a legit job.

I would never say,
"Oh, yeah, I'm a songwriter."

It... I just have
so much respect
for songwriters.

And I always have,
and it's because of that place.

It's because of Bluebird Cafe.

♪ I'm not tryna

♪ Be another
Just pick you up kinda guy

♪ Tryna drink you up
Tryna take you home... ♪

DAVE BARNES:
It's as much educational
as it is,

I think, entertainment,

and that people can
hear these songs,

from the people
that wrote them.

And a lot of times, I think,

what's so unique about that
is their version of that song

is sometimes more personal
than the artist's version.

Even if you've heard a song
a hundred times on the radio,

and then you hearing
the songwriter sing it,

there's different inflections,
there's reasons
that different lines stick out.

BARRY DEAN: The songs hold

the pictures of their lives.

That's what songs do.

So, if I play the song

from when
you're in high school,

you see the pictures.

They wanna know
how that song get written,

it's connected,
it's holding these things
that are precious to me.

♪ Blue ain't your

♪ Color

Thank you guys, so much.

AMY: We stayed with the music
on stage, for a few years,

until Don Schlitz
and Fred Knobloch,
came in one Sunday night,

perhaps having, uh,
imbibed a few.

KNOBLOCH: Don was upset about
people talking
while we're playing.

And, I said, "Well, you know,

"we could make them shut up,
if we set up
in the middle of the room."

I mean, if you sit and write
next to you,
they're not gonna say anything.

And so, it's kind of...

We decided to try it
the next time

and it was me, Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz and Thom Schuyler.

Tom and Paul

were not too crazy
about the idea.

I considered it really bizarre
and stupid idea

and I reluctantly
showed up the first night

to do that with them.

And...

two hours later, it was like,

it's the most fun I ever had
with my clothes on.

I became aware of the
original man in the room

because one of
the original guys,

Fred Knobloch,
is from Mississippi.

I'm from Mississippi.

And I thought,
"Let's see if we can get
four girls

"who can do this,
sitting around
and do the same thing."

She said, Ashley Cleveland,

who's a gospel singer,
who I knew,

is very good friends.
They were college roommates

with Pam Tillis,

who was a successful
country star,

and Karen Staley,
who was writing
a lot of hits.

They came in. I gave them
the chance to do it,
and what do you know?

STALEY: They became the next
true, in demand,

you gotta get there
and see these shows.

The guys that did it first

were sort of their, you know,

sisters, in a way,
that just seemed

a natural thing
for us to do that.

To be the women in the ramp.

♪ Ain't shinin' bright

♪ And the stars the stars
the stars

♪ Won't shine for you tonight

PAM TILLS: It was almost,
like, an alternative persona,

Like, to be,
to have my own career,

but then, to be
a part of something fun.

Maybe the world
didn't know about it but,

you know, we had
our little groupies, you know.

♪ Out of hand

♪ Come to mama

ASHLEY CLEVELAND:
I drive up to the club
and think,

"What are all those people
doing that were lined up
for the show,

you know, I mean, I just...

It didn't occur to me
that it would be anything.

♪ If you need

♪ If you need a satisfier

STALEY: We weren't trying to hit people over the head with anything

or prove anything.
That's just who we were.

TRICIA WALKER:
I never gave much thought
to the fact

of trying to find out
how many women writers
that were here.

But I think
as the years have passed,

I can look back
and see that we were

some of the first ones
to really

trying to make a foray
into the Nashville
songwriting community.

Which at the time,
was mostly men writers

and there are some
great female writers
who have come along

behind us, you know,
just blowing the doors off.

So, if we had a hand in that,
then I'm... I'm pleased.

THOM SCHUYLER:
We were just, kind of,
opening a vein, you know.

It's like, well,
here's who we really are.

We're just gonna sit here
and be ourselves.

It was modeled
after a guitar pull,

you know, which is songwriters
get together in the living room

and pass the guitar
and take turn playing songs
for each other.

It's what you dream of,

is having a bunch of really
great musicians

come over to your house,
sit in the living room

and play their songs for real.

♪ Bet your window's rolled down and your hair's pulled back

♪ Bet you got no idea

♪ you're going way too fast

It's almost this voyeuristic
kind of thing

where the people
on the outside,

they're not quite in the circle
but they feel like they're
a part of it.

TILLIS:
You feel like you're inside
the music business.

You're not just
inside the Bluebird,

you're inside
the music business.

Everybody feels like
they're in the round

even if you're not
sitting in that circle.

You know, you really do
feel like you're in that circle.

Someone's eating chicken,

and they can
touch your shoulder.

Oh, I've, I mean,
I've shared some french fries
with strangers.

My water's sitting
on this lovely couple
from Iowa's table.

♪ The highway won't
dry your tears

♪ The highway don't
need you here

♪ The highway don't care
if you're coming home

♪ But I do, I do.

GILL: It's a neat environment where,

where, kind of,
everybody gets to shine.

If somebody's playing
a song over here,

you know, the guy or girl
across the aisle from them,

when they hear a lyric
that they really respond to,

they'll nod their head
or smile, or you know,

react in a way that musicians
don't normally react
in a larger venue,

because they're
part of the audience too.

As soon as
you finish your song,

then the round passes you,
you become part of the audience.

I was excited in this moment
by watching

other writers sing their songs
because I...

Even if it wasn't
a song I heard before,

I could just understand

what would make them write it.

♪ But I do, I do

♪ I can't live without you,
I can't live without you,
baby

♪ No, I can't live without you, I can't live without you, baby

♪ Baby

ELLIOT DUKE:
The Bluebird is,

you know, it had a life

before the Bluebird cafe
was in this room.

And so, the infrastructure,

as a building,
is always a challenge.

The air conditioning in here
is not up to par.

So, we try to get the room
as cold as we can

before we open doors
and as soon as
we seat the room.

The roof used to leak.

The plumbing's always
a challenge.

When I first started
working here,

the water pressure
was so bad

that they used to keep
a bucket of water

around to be able
to go flush the toilets.

And several years later,
they, um,

renovated the offices downstairs

and as they were
tearing down a wall,

they discovered
a faucet down there

and someone turned it on
and all of a sudden,

we magically
had water again.

We had water pressure.
It was like the greatest thing

that ever happened
to the Bluebird

was that no one was
toting buckets of water

to the restroom
all night long.

♪ There ain't no number

♪ There ain't no sign

♪ The secret code is just
you knock three times

My first time coming
to the Bluebird, I go,

"This can't be it."

When I drove to it
the first time when
I moved to Nashville,

I couldn't find it.

Directions are pretty easy.

It's right before
you get to McDonalds.

You could drive by that place

looking for it,
determined to get there

and never imagine that
that was it.

You pull up and it's like,
next to a dry cleaner.

You're like,
"Am I at the right place?"

♪ Bamboo curtains
and a neon moon

Think about your favorite spot

that's like the place to go.

Most of those places
are in odd spots,

the decor hasn't changed
in 35 years,

and that's kind of
what you love about it.

♪ We got it all
at the Jungle Room

HUNTER HAYES:
And it's small.

You see it in pictures
and you think it looks small.
It's smaller.

You feel like you might be
in a small town

where it's the only restaurant in town.

MAN: Cool and hip,
and grungy and greasy.

MAN 2: Dark, friendly.

There's a scent of whiskey.

LUKE LAIRD: All the headshots.

Does anybody still
get those headshots?

♪ Bring it on home
to the Jungle Room

♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah

Can I say the one thing
that people do not
get to enjoy

unless you come here,

is the smell.

You can feel
and taste and smell

years and years of grease
from french fries.

TILLIS: You might see
the acoustic tile ceiling

and the not fancy chairs,

and the vinyl table cloths.
You might see all that.

Well, that means, there's just

people rolling their sleeves up
and working here.

♪ A little dirty dancing

♪ Blue collar romancing

♪ I can get cleaned up
If you ask me

♪ But I can only get so fancy

♪ Got a little dirt
On my boots

♪ But I'm taking you
Uptown tonight ♪

TILLIS: If you start
studying the walls,

you realize what's really
going down here.

BRANDY CLARK: It's not about
the ceiling or the bathrooms.

It's about the songs.

And songs have
humble beginnings.

♪ Got a little dirt
On my boots

♪ So we're gonna dance the dust right off them tonight

♪ Yeah, girl

ERIKA WOLLAM NICHOLS:
The really unique piece

of what we do here
at the Bluebird cafe

is our audition process.

That audition process
has been going on

since the '80s.

Some of the biggest names
in country music,

songwriters and artists

have come up through
that audition process

here at the Bluebird cafe.

♪ Looking back

♪ On the memory of

♪ The dance we shared

♪ 'Neath the stars above

I got a call
from a woman I knew

who said, " I got a young kid
from Oklahoma, you know,

"he's really wanting
to make it.
I think he's really good.

"Can we get him on the songwriter's audition?"

And so, one of the Sunday
auditions, he showed up.

Late, may I add.

♪ And now

♪ Glad I didn't know

♪ The way it all would end

He passed the audition.

He came back
and he played one of those

showcases we have.

He'd already been turned down
by all the labels.

But for some reason,
Lynn Schultz

from Capitol Records
was here anyway,

and that vulnerability,

that honesty, that truth
that he does

made all the difference
and Lynn Schultz
grabbed him

and said, "I think
we made a mistake.

"Come in the kitchen.
I wanna talk to you."

And they signed that deal
the next day.

♪ But I'd have had to miss

♪ The dance

Nothing like the writer
that sings this song.

♪ Holding you

Ah.

♪ I held everything

♪ For a moment

♪ Wasn't I the king

LAIRD: When I graduated
high school,

I came up and drove up
to the Bluebird

and auditioned.

I had a cowboy hat on,

I think I had a vest on,

And I actually have
brought that paper with me

from when I did the audition.

You have to do
a self-addressed envelope.

♪ Our lives

♪ Are better left to chance

♪ I could have
missed the pain

♪ But I'd have had to miss

♪ The dance

LAIRD: If you made
the audition,
they sat you and told you

you know, you got in.

I mean, this was like,
you might as well have

told me that I won
the lottery because...

This was one of those moments
I thought,

"Boy, maybe I have
what it takes to do this,"

and it was a huge deal
because people thought

your song is good enough
to get to play
at the Bluebird Cafe

and I still almost get emotional
talking about it because

this was my dream and...

And this was one step closer
to living that dream.

BARBARA:
We do about 65 writers.

They'll come in on that
Sunday morning check-in,
with their instruments.

The room is full
of these people.

Guitars and nerves.

And each one of them
will play a minute
of the song.

That was established

by Amy, long ago.

Her theory
for that was that

that's how long it would take you to change the radio station

if you didn't like a song.

NICHOLS:
How are you guys?

Thank you
for being here

as part of our
Bluebird auditions.

We're glad to have you.

We know it's a stretch
for everybody to be here
on a Sunday morning,

including our judges
who we appreciate so much.

You're gonna play
a minute of a song

which is basically,
a verse chorus.

And you're going
to not do a long intro.

You wanna get
right into the song

because that's
what we wanna hear.

MADELINE MCDONALD:
I actually had no idea how
to get into the Bluebird

or how I could even get my foot in the door to perform there.

I literally
called the Bluebird.

And I was like, "Hey, guys.

"Hi, I'm Madeline.
I'm from Texas.

"And I love your place,
and can I sing there?"

And so, they were like,
"Of course, you can.

"But you need to go
through this process."

♪ I was going out tonight

♪ With my friends on my side

♪ It's been too many weeks

♪ To not be on my feet

♪ They've been
pushing me... ♪

When I stepped
on that stage,
my voice was shaky.

I was trying
to think to myself,

"Don't forget the lyrics.
Don't forget the lyrics."

which I never do to myself,

but just knowing

the... the heaviness
of the Bluebird just really...

It was really awesome.

♪ That old Silverado

♪ Took me right back

♪ It would take me downtown

♪ Spin me around

♪ Till the night ends

I mean, that kind of
changed my life in a way.

I know that sounds cliche,
but it really did,

because you're surrounded

by people with the kind
of the same dream as you.

To be a part
of that with them,

it was just so cool.

♪ Oh...

Thank you.

TONY WOODRUFF:
I came in for a part time job
and ended up barbacking.

I stuck with it

and started
working full time,

quit for a while, came back.

Still here.

It all started
in the kitchen

and quickly
just became
the prep guy,

where I would come in
in the afternoon

since it's prep all day,

and got to go home
by 6:00

so it was
the perfect schedule,

and then Erika asked me to...
To come and be the manager,

so at that point,

I was here earlier,
and stayed later.

My first job here
at the Bluebird

was a lunch waitress.

KIM RICHEY:
They were looking
for a cook,

and it just seemed like
a really, you know,
great place

with music
and everything.

Worked in a kitchen
for about two years.

After about two years,
I graduated to the bar

and I worked for the bar
for about four years.

RICHEY: It was a really
great place to work.

Amy Kurland
was great to work for.

It was...
It was kind of a family,

and like a big gang of people, we hung out a lot together.

WOODRUFF: It's a
small business,

so it's a small
family of folks.

AMY: Maybe they could make more money somewhere else.

They like to work here
because they're
music lovers, too.

And a lot of them

are up and coming
musicians themselves.

We've had some
of our staff go on

to fame and fortune
in the music business.

MARK IRWIN:
I was lucky enough

to get a song cut,
that was a hit

and in my fourth year,
I graduated to a publishing deal

and I was able
to leave.

♪ Well, cowboys
don't cry

MAN: Yeah.

♪ And heroes don't die

♪ Good always wins

♪ Again and again...

IRWIN: When I was
attending bar,

my first single
was a song I wrote

with Alan Jackson called
Here in the Real World.

It was his first number one,
my first number one as well,

and some of the writers
that would play here

were sweet enough
to announce to the audience,

"Your bartender right now
has the number 20 song
on the charts,

"number ten song
on the charts."
Whatever it was.

And I started to notice

as people were buying
drinks for me,

they'd stopped
tipping me.

♪ But here
in the real world

♪ It's not that
easy at all... ♪

They were sweet,
but they would say,

"Eh... you don't need that tip.

"You're doing great.
You don't need the tip."

You know, I mean,
I think they thought

that Alan Jackson showed up
at my door every week

with a check
for a million dollars
or something.

So, I had to ask the writers
to stop making the announcement

'cause I was going broke
having a hit song on the charts.

♪ Here in
the real world...

You have this awesome staff
who actually really cares

about what
the Bluebird represents,

and cares about
the songwriters,

and takes care
of the songwriters.

The bartender
is so quiet in making drinks.

I still don't even know
how they do that.

MAN: The sound guy in there
is really considerate

which is usually
not the case.

It's because we ask

for too much,
and they're
stressed out already.

I've never seen better balance
and grace among the wait staff.

GARY BURR:
They'll wait in time,
and the song's over,

and you go,
and you put the gin,
and you put the beers down,

so you're not gonna hear
a margarita machine go off,

you're not gonna, in the middle of the ballad going off.

"Here's your beer."

They're part of
the performance.

SHANE MCANALLY:
I mean, I was, as a staff,

many times,
and seeing them lost
in the song,

that feels really rewarding
to those of us sitting there

'cause we know they hear

every song first.

And so if you
can stop one of them
in their tracks,

you better pitch
that song.

♪ But here
in the real world

♪ It's not
that easy at all

♪ 'Cause when hearts
get broken

IRWIN: I was
lucky enough to be here,

just watching
who is playing,

and to now be able
to play a hit myself here,

I mean, it's hard for me
to articulate it right now.

♪ Here in
the real world ♪

NICHOLS: Mark Irwin.

IRWIN: Thank y'all.

MAN: I'm just gonna
go over the ground rules
real quickly.

Tonight's show,
there's $25
cover charge

but you should have
already paid that online.

Yes?

ALL: Yes.
MAN: Yeah?

FRANK HURD: A friend
of mine, uh, was...

Was working
at the Bluebird.

MAN: You all enjoy, okay?
WOMAN: Thank you.

Job opened up there

and I figured it would be
kind of a perfect place

for me to work
a little bit there
part time,

and just get to be exposed
to such great songwriting

on a regular basis.

I first heard
about the audition process

after playing
an open mic night
at the Bluebird.

I went ahead and found out
when the date was to register,

and so then,
I registered for it,
I think about a year ago.

The audition, it's a bit
of a stressful process
for sure.

There's this long
line of people,
you know, all lining up,

and you're trying
to size 'em up
and figure out

if, you know,
if they're talented or not,
or how talented they are,

or kinda assuming
that they're all amazing.

They're all like,
George Strait and Garth Brooks

about to walk in there.

Hello, my name
is Frank Hurd.

Perhaps you've heard me.
Likely you haven't.

♪ If life is a flame

♪ I wanna
make it dance...

I think my preparation
was probably unconventional.

I played a song that I hadn't finished writing.

I just went
to the audition,

and had been working
on this song,

and I knew
that I only needed
a verse and a chorus.

I was like, "Well, I guess I can just use the song I've been working on."

And so that's
the song I played,

or the fragment
of a song I played.

♪ So I will run

♪ With my arms spread wide

♪ And I will
leave my fears
a mile behind

♪ Oh, I'm old enough to see

♪ And not a
moment's guaranteed

♪ While my fire's
still burning

♪ I will never
stop learning ♪

I think there's always
a little bit of self-doubt,

and I think
I'm my harshest critic,

so I certainly didn't think
it was in the bag per se,

but while I felt
like this audition went well,

I also thought
that my first audition
went pretty well,

but I didn't end up
getting through that time.

INTERVIEWER:
How would you
describe the room

to someone that's never been
to Bluebird before?

SAM HUNT: Um.

Huh.

It's kind of
a combination of like...

...your living room
and a church sanctuary.

♪ I've cussed on a Sunday

♪ I've cheated
and I've lied

♪ I've fallen down
from grace

♪ A few too many times

♪ But I find
holy redemption

ERIC PASLAY: We're on the road,

and you get out,
and you play shows,

and you can
feel disconnected
from Nashville.

But getting to go back
to the Bluebird,

you're, like, filled
with the songwriter
holy spirit again.

♪ Can I get
a hallelujah?

♪ Can I get an amen?

♪ Feels like
the Holy Ghost
running through ya

♪ When I play
the highway FM

♪ I find
my soul revival

♪ Singing every
single verse

♪ Yeah I guess
that's my church

♪ Hey, can I get a hallelujah

RUSTON KELLY:
There's this
built-in reverence

towards what
a song means

and how it can affect people,

and, like,
this is the genesis
of where it happens.

You feel the energy
of that reverence

whether you are aware
of the Bluebird's
reputation or not.

Even though it might be
a place you've never been,

with people you've never met,
songs you've never heard,

it will feel
like home.

I have had the most
spiritual experiences
in music in my life,

and many of them
have been in that room.

♪ Yeah I guess

♪ That's my church

Thank you, Nashville!

BARRY DEAN: Live music used to be where we touched things.

We go to the show.

But the show's
gotten so big.

That's one
of the reasons

a place
like the Bluebird
becomes critical,

'cause we're all
seeking touch.

We're seeking that,
the real thing.

I wanna see the real thing
with none of the tricks.

It's always
a fun experience

to watch people
come into this room.

They don't know
what to expect.

They see the musicians
in the center of the room,

it's crowded,

cramped.

People are stiff.
They're seated with

people they don't know

and then,
all of a sudden,
the music starts,

and people relax,

and there's this energy.

♪ There's a jersey
on the wall

♪ In a high school gym

♪ In my hometown

♪ In the corner
by the scoreboard

♪ Where the bleacher
seats fold down

♪ 27 took the Tigers

♪ To the finals that year

♪ But that's not why
it's hanging there

DEAN: It will help you find
where your soul is located.

You'll have a lot of fun.

You'll laugh,
you'll enjoy things,

but you will also have a moment,
someone's gonna sing a song

that will
locate for you

where your soul is.

♪ I bet somewhere
there's a yearbook

♪ In a box under a bed

♪ With a senior
picture missing

♪ And loving memory instead

♪ And somewhere
there's a mother

♪ Who stopped
going to church

♪ 'Cause Your plan quit
making sense down

♪ Here on earth

♪ If I ever get
to heaven

♪ Got a long list
of questions

♪ Like how do you
make a snowflake?

♪ Are you angry
when the earth quakes?

♪ How does the sky
change in a minute?

♪ How do you keep
this big rock spinning?

♪ And if you got
your hands

♪ On everything
that happens

♪ Why couldn't you stop

♪ That car from crashing?

♪ Forgive me,
I'm just asking

♪ Oh, I'm just asking

MAN: Yeah.

Thank you.

♪ Where's that angel
with dirty knees

♪ Who wasn't
hard to please
when we first met?

♪ She don't act like
she needs me now

♪ And even seem
to be upset

You always feel humbled by...
by this kind of room

because you know
what's happened
in here before.

If you're
a songwriter
and you're singing

your own songs
in and around
at the Bluebird,

you think,
"I better give it my best,

"because people are here
to hear the words

"and the melodies
and, you know,

"that's all
that really matters."

♪ And the chairs
go up on the bar now

♪ And the table lights
go black

♪ So I order
one last double

♪ And start calling
people back

I think this
was probably
the first place

that I
ever performed
in the round

and I was terrified

and I played this song,
uh, Streetlights...

And when I got
to a certain verse in the song,

the lyric that I was
supposed to say

was, "Part a block away"

and I said,
"Blocked a park away."

I was nervous and jittery
that I'd mess it up,

but when I finished
the song,

the rest of the songwriters
in the round,

especially Angela Cassidy,

was sitting
immediately to my left,

said, "I love that line
where you said,

"'I blocked
a park away,'"

and I didn't tell her,

you know,
that it was
an accident.

I was just, like,
"Oh, thank you
very much," you know,

and pretended
that I meant to do it,

and the song
stayed that way.

I hadn't recorded it yet,
so it rem...

I kept that line as it was

because I thought,
"Well, she liked it,

"then there must
be something to it."

♪ Think I blocked
just a park away

♪ But I can't really say,
it's been all night

♪ How I wish
you would
call me here

♪ But you
just disappeared

♪ It wasn't right

♪ And the streetlights
help a little

♪ But they're
barely half alive ♪

WALKER HAYES:
One thing I loved
about the Bluebird is

it's a place
where you wanna go.

I wrote this on Tuesday.

I don't really know
if I know it.

Probably gonna
mess up some words,

but I wanna
try it on you guys.

It's okay
if you mess up.

It's okay
if you need
to start it over.

It's okay if you got
your lyrics in front of you.

Multiple times
I've written
a song that day

and played it
that night
at the Bluebird

and it's, like,
all of a sudden,
you're very aware,

like, this is the song
that's either gonna

not go over
or it's going to.

PASLAY: Some of
the greatest songs
in the world

probably won't
ever be heard

except through
the Bluebird Cafe

and that's
the magic of Nashville.

Some of the greatest songs
that have ever been written

in the world
we'll never hear.

ASHLEY MCMILLEN:
Yes, so, this...
This is actually...

We laughed
for many years

because I would
write songs on my napkins.

I shouldn't be driving
and writing, but that's where

a lot of my s...

Especially in
the very beginning,

that's where
a lot of my songs
would happen.

Like, because
I've always lived
far from my family

and traveling,
and I would always,
in the car

when there's
no distractions
and it's quiet,

the hum of
the interstate.

I had auditioned
once before

and I didn't
get through.

You know,
the selection is so small

and I was
pretty bummed out,

but I knew
that it would
take another chance.

So, when it came time
to sign up again,

I knew I was
super pregnant,

but I was, like,
"You know what,
you only live once."

Due to my condition
I'm gonna have to sit down.

My name
is Ashley McMillen.

♪ We can build a fire
from one little stick

♪ Build a house
from leftover bricks

♪ Who needs a room
with five stars?

♪ We've got a million
in our own backyard

♪ We know how
to make the most
of what we have

♪ When we hit
the bottom dollar

♪ We'll make it last

♪ I'll take
this little bitty ring

♪ On my left hand

♪ Out of city
Asked if all you gave me

♪ Was a box of sand

♪ Don't need
a big shiny thing

♪ You've got
nothing to prove

♪ In a case
full of diamonds

♪ The one
I would choose

♪ Is this
little bitty ring ♪

Thank you.

NICHOLS: Hey, everybody.
Once Rob rolls in,

let's get started
real quick.

Um... All right,
let's talk about auditions.

MAN: Auditions were yesterday.

Um, looks like
we have about eight people
that are gonna pass.

Liv, Nate Chancey...

-...Frank Hurd.
-Yeah.

Oh, right.
That's great.

-Yes.
-Yeah.

Ryan Larkins,
Madeline McDonald,
Ashley McMillen

Michael Peterson

and Josiah Siska.

I'm gonna reach out
to him this week

and, um,
they will play
their first show

sometime in
the fall.

Excellent. Great.

KATHY MATTEA: I got
my record deal in this room.

And, uh,

played the first time
with a band in this room

and got over
my stage fright
in this room

and kind of
grew up here.

♪ Claire had all
but given up

♪ When she and
Edwin fell in love

My husband's
getting cuts
from all kinds

of people in town,

but I've never cut
one of his songs.

We got upstairs
to his listening room
and he puts it in

and when
the first chorus
goes around

and the hook is,
"Where've You Been..."

I know
my husband's
family story,

so, I knew.

♪ Where've you been

♪ I've looked
for you forever and a day ♪

When his grandmother
was in the hospital

and was dying,

his grandfather
got a brain tumor

and went in
the same hospital
on a different floor.

He asked the doctor
if he could go get
his grandfather

and bring him in
to see his grandmother

and she had kind of

moved into dementia.

Wouldn't talk,
wouldn't speak

wouldn't even look
at anybody,

and he said that when he

wheeled his
grandfather in,

his grandmother
looked him right in the eye,

just looked at him
all the way around,

and she looked up
and said, "Where have you been?"

And it was
the words
she ever said.

♪ He asked her
for her hand for life

♪ Then she became
a salesman's wife

MATTEA: The story goes,

that every
publisher in town

had a cassette tape
of that song
in their desk,

but nobody
would touch it,
'cause it was so sad,

so there was
a showcase night

here at the Bluebird

and my husband
was on the showcase

and he sang,
Where've You Been

and the whole place...

...started sobbing.

♪ Where've you been

♪ I've looked
for you forever

♪ And a day

The reaction

was huge and...
And she went back

and said,
"Can't we just
kinda tuck this

"on the end
of a record?"

And it kinda just sat
on the end of the record

and that's all
it was ever
supposed to be.

♪ They'd never spent
a night apart

♪ For 60 years
she heard him snore

I'll tell you,
I don't how many times

people have come up
after a show

and said, "My mom
and dad went through that,

"or my grandparents
went though that thing
in Where've You Been.

"It's exactly like that."

I don't know
if I have any other
songs that do that.

Thanks to...
To Jon and Kathy,

I'm involved
in a little piece of music

that might live
a little longer
than me, I hope.

♪ No, I'm just not myself
when you're away ♪

BURR: It's kind of funny

how many roads lead back
to this little building.

When I first came
to town,

the main songwriters
that I wrote with

all wrote
for Gary Morris Music

and their receptionist
was a young girl.

She heard me sing
a song of mine called

Where Love Is Concerned.

I had heard him
perform at the Bluebird

and I was obsessed
with the song.

And one day
she just came up to me

and said,
"Would you teach me

"how to sing with you
on that song?"

He goes, "Okay,

"I mean, can you sing?"

I go, "Yeah, I can do it."

He goes, "Okay, well,
let's go try it."

So, we go upstairs
with the, you know, publisher

and another songwriter
was up there

and he plays it
and I sing it,

like, note for note with him,
the harmony part,

and he goes,

"You're in."

So, the first time I played
at the Bluebird Cafe

was with Gary Burr,

I sing harmony for him.

BURR: So, then
when I would
do showcases,

I made her
a part of the band

and fast forward, after many
soul crushing rejections

doing my
showcases for me,

I decided
I was gonna
do one more.

Martha Sharp,
who is an executive

at Warner Bros. Records
was in the audience.

Everybody left
except the lady
from Warner Bros

and I thought,

"Okay, she
must be here
for a reason."

"She wants to talk to me,"
and she did wanna talk to me.

She wanted Faith's
phone number

because she said,
"I want to give Faith
a record deal."

♪ Where love is concerned...

FAITH HILL:
Being in that room,

playing in that place

can change your life.

As it did mine.

WOMAN: You're okay?

CRAIG WISEMAN:
Got a little surprise.

I was doing a solo thing
when I got a phone call

from a friend of mine.

Somebody who
I have know since...

Since day one.

We actually did
a charity show way back

and this little girl got up

and now she's
singing this song

and I was, like,
"Holy crap, who's that?"

And I went back
to meet her

and she asked me
for my autograph,

and I was, like,
"I wanted your autograph."

So she called
and asked to do this

and, um,
ladies and gentlemen,

would you please
put your hands together

for Taylor Swift?

WOMAN: Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Well, hello!

-Oh, hi.
-Hi.

How's this going?

It's... it's... it's...

It's picking up considerably.

Amazing.

SCOTT BORCHETTA: In 2004,

the first time
I ever met Taylor Swift
was November 2nd.

She said, "Hey, why don't you
come and see me
on Thursday night?

"I'm playing at the Bluebird."

SWIFT: This is the place
where I played
in a Writers Night

When I was 14 years old.

And, uh, the guy
right in front of me was sitting
literally right in front of me,

13 years ago
and gave a record deal.

When I first went to Nashville
and even before that

I would come here and I'd think

that this was such a rare
opportunity to see people

who have written these songs
in rooms up and down Music Row.

But when I would play
Writers Nights in the round

I was playing songs that

I knew I was gonna be
putting out and hopefully...

Hopefully like, praying
people would one day
hear in the radio.

I didn't have the experience
of a writer.

Writing something and then
it going out into the world.

Then you're hearing it
from someone else's voice
and someone else's perspective,

and them putting their own spin
on it until Little Big Town

heard a song that I'd written.

And they gave me
that opportunity
to feel that way.

This's a song
called Better Man.

♪ I know I'm probably
better off on my own

♪ Than loving a man
who didn't know

♪ What he had when he had it

♪ And I see the permanent
damage you did to me

♪ Never again,
I just wish I could forget
when it was magic

♪ I wish it wasn't four a.m.,
standing in the mirror

♪ Saying to myself,
"You know you had to
do it,"

♪ I know the bravest thing
I ever did was run

♪ Sometimes, in the middle
of the night

I can feel you again

♪ But I just miss you,
and I just wish

♪ You were a better man

♪ And I know why we had
to say goodbye

♪ Like the back of my hand

♪ And I just miss you,

♪ And I just wish
you were a better man

♪ A better man

♪ Sometimes,
in the middle
of the night

♪ I can feel you again

♪ But I just miss you

♪ And I just wish you
were a better man

♪ And I know why
we had to say goodbye

♪ Like the back of my hand

♪ And I just miss you

♪ And I just wish you
were a better man

♪ A better man

♪ We might still be in love,
if you were a better man

♪ You would've been the one

♪ If you were a better man

WISEMAN: Good night.
Ah, that was a good song.

-That was a good song.
-Thanks!

Bluebird Open Mic.

All right, sure.
What's your name?

You're guaranteed one song.

If we have extra time
at the end,

we do draw straws for your
who gets to play a second song.

All right, you're welcome.

MAN: All right.
Come on in, guys.

BARBARA CLOYD: When I first
moved to town in '83,

the Bluebird was already
the cool place to play.

And then a woman
named Gail Sherry started
the Sunday Writers Night.

And I used to go to that
faithfully.

And one night somebody else
was filling in for her.

And I'm like, "Well, hey.
I could do that."

So, next time I saw her
I told her,

"Oh, you know, I used to host
open mics in St Louis,

"if you ever need somebody
to fill in, I can do that."

That was December of 1986.
The first December...

First Monday in 1986
is the first show that I hosted.

Good evening.

I'm Barbara Cloyd
and I'm the host for the show

I'm gonna tell you everything
you need to know

about how the show runs
and then I'll go

run the sound
and let the songwriters
run the show

This is a Writers Night
for you all to play
original material.

We have 28 people
on the list tonight.

Number One is
Michelle Poppola.
Two, Credenda.

Three, Cory Wilson.
Four, Landon Wall.
Five...

LANDON WALL:
My name is Landon Wall.

I'm a 14-year-old
singer-songwriter.

You know, the Bluebird Cafe's
changed my life.

When he was seven years old
he went to a guitar store,
asked them to take lessons

and they said,
"You're too young,
come back in a few years."

I showed him
a few chords I knew,

and he got online
and learnt a few more,

and before you knew it,
he was playing guitar.

Hey, guys. This is Landon Wall.

And his is one of my new songs
I'm learning.

KEN WALL: At that age

there weren't songs
for him to sing

So we started writing
songs together.

In the car we'd play game
called "The Rhyming Game".

I'd give him a rhyme
and he'd have
to rhyme back and

we just kinda play that game
and he learnt to get
good at rhymes,

and then few years ago,
he said "That rhyming game,

"you were teaching me
how to write songs,
weren't you?"

Well, yeah. Yes.

♪ Mary had a little lamb

♪ Its fleece was white as snow

♪ Everywhere the child went

♪ That lamb was sure to go

KEN WALL: We learned
about the Bluebird
around the same time

as he started playing music
and got interested
in country music.

I'm a huge Garth Brooks fan.

And I'd seen that, you know,
whenever he first played
the Bluebird,

that's where he got found.

So, I was like, ever since
I was nine years old

it was my dream
to play the Bluebird.

- Right when I had just turned
ten, I was in Nashville.

And I found out
about the Open Mic.

This song is one
me and my dad wrote.

He's over there.
I love him to death.

CROWD: Great dad.

It's called "Nashville
Never Leave You, It's True".

LANDON: Me and my dad we're just riding on the road,

listening to country radio.

And we heard
Kelsea Ballerini's Peter Pan.

So, me and him look at each
other. And we're like, there's
two sides to every story.

So, we gotta write
Peter Pan's side of the story.

So, we go home
and wrote the song

and we did a little video of it.

♪ Saying I'm a lost boy

♪ Girl that's probably true

♪ Because I lost my mind

♪ When I found myself
in love with you

KELSEA BALLERINI: I started
getting a lot of tweets
about this kid

who had written a response
to Peter Pan.

And it was basically
why he was Peter Pan.

And it was adorable.

Couple of my friends,
they sent me a tweet,

they were like,
"Kelsea Ballerini
retweeted your song."

I'm like... No way!

And I was in Nashville
and I was gonna play
the Bluebird.

♪ Lost Boy...

And so, everyone started
tweeting me like, "Hey,
he's playing the Bluebird,

"he's doing Open Mic night,
he's playing tonight."

And I was actually in town.

Thank you.

Oh, my gosh!

- If you're gonna sing
the response,
- WOMAN: What?

I get to sing mine too.

Great song. He's amazing, y'all!

KEN WALL: From that point on,
anytime we were in Nashville,

we had to stay over
a Monday so he could play
the Bluebird Open Mic,

and looking back at our videos we have of him, we've watched him grow up on that stage.

He's just been embraced.

BARBARA: There's
just nothing cooler

than the fact that anybody

whose phone call is one
of the 25 that gets through
on a Monday,

can stand and play on the stage where Garth Brooks played,

and where Taylor Swift
got her deal.

So, every week I get to watch
these people come in

from all over the world,
and go,

"This is the Bluebird!"
I get to go,

"Yeah, it is, isn't it!
It's pretty cool."

Thank you all very much.

This is for Jack.

♪ This old guitar and me

♪ And the things
that we've been through

♪ C.F. Martin built him

♪ Back in 1942

♪ I remember when we met

♪ I was only seventeen

♪ Spent all my college money

♪ On a half a dozen strings

GILL: It's an aspiring place
to young songwriters.

There's a kid that works
over here at Nashville

where I go eat
breakfast everyday

He's a young writer
and he finally got to do

a round at the Bluebird.

You know, and he couldn't have
been more excited.

♪ They said your future's
written on your face

♪ When you sing
those traveling songs

♪ So we headed for Kentucky

♪ With a suitcase
full of dreams

♪ Rough-out boots,
a few t-shirts

♪ A worn out pair of jeans

LAIRD: Whenever I see
new writers,
or somebody comes up

to me at the Bluebird,

I hope... What I say
to them is,

it can be encouraging,
because I've been
in those shoes.

You gotta be careful,

to be just encouraging enough.

Every show you do,
there's somebody
in the audience that

you might make them
pack up a U-Haul

and leave everything
they love to come here.

♪ Now my dearest old companion

♪ Lies underneath my bed

♪ Our traveling days are over

♪ But the memories fill my head

♪ I've settled with my family

♪ Here in the hills
of Tennessee

♪ To teach
my children's children

♪ About this
old guitar and me

I got a buddy that's here
and he's a young kid.
He's only 20.

And he's a...
He's crazy talented.

A great little guitar player
and songwriter and singer.

I just mentioned I was
playing tonight,

if he
want to come by.

And he goes, "Yeah that's, uh,

"That's a bucket list
for me is to get to sing
at the Bluebird."

So I thought tonight
we might see if we couldn't

get that bucket list to get
filled up.

- Jack, would
you come sing a song?

- Say hey to my friend
Jack Schneider, everybody.

Whoo!

♪ Remember that swing set

♪ In Riverside Park

♪ Remember that cold wind

♪ Blew after dark

♪ Remember the day

♪ I bought my first guitar

♪ Counting coins on the counter

♪ Sure took me far

MAN 1: The Bluebird is
almost scary.

Because you're so exposed.

Everywhere there is
wall space,

there is someone
that you should be nervous
to mess up in front of.

HILL: I have played some
big places.

I sang the national anthem
at the Super Bowl.

But going back
to the Bluebird

to sing now,

would probably make
me more nervous.

Because the room is full of

the kind of talent
you just simply don't see
in one place.

At one time ever.

♪ Hoping life gets you again

♪ Remember to dance

SCHNEIDER: Thank you all
for letting me, um...

Letting me play a song
up here.

Made a dream come true
for me tonight.

Young Jacky Schneider
right there, y'all.

AMY: This is an
exciting night for me.

Of course we have gone
through the world's greatest
songwriters perform.

But it's also a chance for me
to tell you about my plans for
the future at the Bluebird.

This has been the celebration
of our 25th birthday.

A great year of shows,
parties and awards.

I thought a lot about the
Bluebird's place in the
Nashville community

and how to make sure
that it will be here
for songwriters

and for Nashville
for years to come.

And for that reason,
I've made the decision

to entrust to the hands
of Nashville Songwriters
Association International,

as of January 2008.

NICHOLS: Amy just decided
she wanted to retire after
her 25 years.

And she had options,
lots of people that

perhaps wanted to take over
the Bluebird Cafe.

But she decided she
wanted to protect
its legacy

and make sure it was
a home for songwriters.

So she choose to turn
it over to NSAI.

So, it's not only
songwriter's showcase,

that place where you go
to your songwriters.

It's a place where
the songwriting community
owns it.

WOMAN 3: She left it
in good hands to
respect her...

Her life's blood,
her baby you know.

And also to make sure
all of us songwriters

still had a place to go.

One of my dearest friends
in the industry

is Erika Wollam Nichols

who succeeded
Amy Kurland.

Grows up from being
a waitress.

She understands

what this club means.

She understands how
important it is.

And she understands
how dang cool it is.

NICHOLS: Although I had done
many, many things at
the Bluebird,

to actually take over
Bluebird was a big learning
curve.

To really understand
how a small business
operates from every aspect.

Our budget was getting by,

but it wasn't terrific.

So I needed to work
on finding new ways

to generate revenue
for the venue.

And at that point,

unfortunately, I got a call
from Steve Buchanan at
the Grand Ole Opry,

who was working
with Callie Khouri
to create

a new television show
called Nashville.

And they wanted
Bluebird team
involved in that.

So I thought, "well,
here's our opportunity."

♪ I'm old enough to know that

♪ I'm too young to know a thing

♪ But I' seen what I seen

♪ And in you I see everything

♪ I'll ever need

STEVE BUCHANAN: The experience of music at the Bluebird is so pure and honest,

that that really helps convey,

what you're trying
to tell people,

about what motivates
and drives

songwriters and artists.

CALLIE KHOURI: If you're gonna do a show about Nashville,

you have to put a
stake in the ground

around the songwriters,

and is the place that is
been the most supportive
of the songwriters.

ALL:
♪ The night ain't long enough

♪ I ain't leaving without
your love

♪ I ain't leaving without
your love ♪

Yay!

NICHOLS: When they
came and filmed
the pilot at the Bluebird,

of course, nobody knew
whether the show
was gonna take off to not.

And once it did,

they determined
that it would be a good idea

to re-create the Bluebird,

and to build a set that is absolutely remarkable.

And action!

STEVE EARL: I haven't been
in the Bluebird in at least
10 years.

Maybe 15 years.

But I shot the penultimate

episode of Nashville.

And I hadn't seen the set
that they had built.

And if you're standing on
that stage,

I swear to God,
you're on stage
at the Bluebird cafe.

It's frightening how
accurate this is.

CHARLES ESTEN: One of the early things about our show

that made me have hope

that they were so intent
on re-creating this room.

CONNIE BRITTON: I never
got over, how,

exactly the same

our set of the Bluebird was,

in relation to the real
Bluebird.

ESTEN: If they had just
some Bluebird-ish
type placed there,

I mean, there are
shows literally

where we would have showed
up to some place called
the Blackbird and it would

have been
completely different,

but basically the same, no.

This is a cast member
of Nashville.

This isn't a set or a location. This is a cast remember.

SAM PALLADIO: My first night
in Nashville,

the producers and Callie Khouri took us to the Bluebird

to show it off, to get
the essence of what

this character was gonna be,

'cause it is really a character
in our show.

This is the most
perfect introduction

to what I didn't realize
was gonna be the rest
of my life.

♪ Sitting here tonight

BOTH:
♪ By the fire light

♪ It reminds me, I already have

♪ More than I should

BRITTON:
The Bluebird was really
the centerpiece of the show,

I think because it was
so important to us,

on the show to really have

the show being about
the songwriters.

And to be about the ground
of where this music
comes from.

ALL:
♪ Two arms around me

♪ Heaven to ground me

♪ And family that always
calls me home.

♪ Four wheels to get there

♪ Enough love to share

♪ And a sweet, sweet,
sweet song

NICHOLS: We were so lucky
to have this cast of actors,

who were also musicians
and songwriters.

Who came to the Bluebird,
learnt about what we did.

Integrated it into

what we did as part of
the songwriting community.

And took what
they found from us

and brought it back
out to televisions.

BOTH:
♪ Sometimes I'm hard on me

♪ When dreams don't come easily

♪ I wanna look back and say

ALL:
♪ I did all that I could

ESTEN: Nashville the city
is not Nashville without
the Bluebird.

And Nashville the show

ain't even close to Nashville
the show without the Bluebird.

ALL:
♪ I have a life that's good

Hey everybody, welcome
to the Bluebird cafe.

Nice to have you all here.

How many people are here
for the first time?

Well,

Welcome everybody.

How many of you are
fans of the television show
Nashville?

Once the television
show started to air,

I would say a few weeks
into it,

things started to get
really, really crazier out here.

Two to three hundred people
at a time in the parking lot
trying to get in here,

when you see 90 folks
at a time.

It was just an onslaught.
It was lord of the flies.

It was big shift, it was
a life changer for all
of us.

And we were completely
overwhelmed.

DUKE: There are lot of people
here tonight.

I don't know if we're
gonna accommodate everybody.

But we'll give you
updates periodically.

And, uh, good luck.

All right?

Okay, thank you guys.

At staff meeting each week,
we would say to ourselves,
"What do we do?"

We had to
have security.

Elliot was at the parking lot,

trying to help people
be reasonable.

I came here at 7:30
this morning

from Mother's Day,
26 hour trip
to Nashville.

And the first place was
coming to the Bluebird

and see Sam Palladio.

I was in line at 9:45
and nobody was here,
for a 6:00 show.

We heard that Charles Esten
was going to be at the
Bluebird Cafe tonight.

And we're standing in line
hoping to see him.

And we're on our
honeymoon.

MAN: Constantly all day long, people are looking in the windows,

tapping on the glass.

A bunch of families pull up,
get out the car, they stand
in front of the door

and take these family
photographs.

We're from
Granger, Indiana
on a family reunion.

And we're big fans
of the Nashville show.

So we wanted to come
see the Bluebird cafe

and have our picture taken.

WOMAN: In some ways,
the Bluebird was best
kept secret in the world.

It always had an audience.

But you could always
get in.

And then that TV show
came on,

and everything exploded.

The running gag is, now,

"Hey man, I did a round
at the Bluebird,
we sold out."

I said, "Dude, everybody sells
out at Bluebird."

I always ask when we start
the show.

Like, "How many of you are
from out of town?"

It's like 80 percent, at least.

Everybody in the world now
knows about the Bluebird.

And people make their vacation
plans based on, "I wanna
go to Bluebird."

MAN: It's great to have
the folks coming in,
we appreciate that.

Maybe could have done
without some of
the bachelorette parties.

MAN 2: I don't think there's
ever been a time
where songwriters

were more respected.

The show has made
songwriting suddenly
become a groovy profession.

We're from Monterey, California.
It's actually my
60th birthday weekend.

This is a bucket list
thing, so,

I love music, I'm a singer,
and I've always wanted to

go here and watch the process
of the songwriters.

NICHOLS: So along the stretch
of the road,

which used to be the small
businesses basically.

Now we have a
lot of chains.

We have a huge condo building
going up beside our office.

And you just never know
what's gonna happen.

They've torn down
several buildings next
to the Bluebird.

This whole property
belongs to the developer.

We're tucked in the middle
of what the developer owns.

And all around us is becoming
extremely built up

because the developers
bought that

piece of a strip mall,

it could be essentially
be demolished.

And once they get the order
to be able to demolish
that building,

who know what will happen
to our building,
we're about this far

from the wall of the building
that the developer owns.

INTERVIEWER: What happens
if the strip mall goes away?

I mean, you can't anticipate
what that would look like.

Sure, I mean, you could have
a plan B, that's, you know,

we get investors
and we build a new building.

But, I don't wanna make
a decision too quickly

on a space that has
a sense of holiness to people.

MAN: Over the years, we've all said, "Why don't we just move? Build a new building."

Then you realize, it's like
the new Yankee Stadium,

where everyone would go
"Yeah, its's the Bluebird,"
but not that Bluebird.

MAN 2: The fact that Amy
kept it open even when times
were hard,

because she really
wanted a place for writers
in this town.

Anybody else could have easily closed the place down.

I'm sure she had some real
financial troubles with it.

AMY: I suppose
it would have been nice

to have had a business
where I was minting money
hand over fist.

But the real joy
in this for me is getting
to listen to the music

and to participate
in helping people that
I really love and really admire.

MAN 3: As this town
has exploded and grown

and become this giant thing,

what made Nashville unique,

what made Nashville special,

and what keeps Nashville
special has been preserved

because of the Bluebird cafe.

No one goes to Europe
to see condos.

History is everything.

It breaks my heart driving down Music Row, going,

"Wasn't this historical?" Now we're tearing it all down.

The fact that the
Bluebird cafe is still there,

when a lot of money
is trying to erase

why everybody is moving here,
makes me hopeful.

MAN 3: There's something
beautiful about something
unassuming.

The Bluebird remains
in a place that gets

continually built around
and upon, and gentrified.

But it still remains
where it's always been.

They never sold out.

They never said, "We can
make way more money
if we do this, this, this."

They stayed the course.

LAIRD: You can have a great
experience sitting
in the back corner

sitting at the bar,
sitting in the church pews.

That's why I think it's so cool
that it's still small.

I know that that hasn't
probably been
easy to keep that way.

The Bluebird cafe lifted
our community up

and gave us a sense of pride
and ownership in the community.

WOMAN: The fact that it doesn't change

yet seems to change constantly with the people inside of it

is what's so
magical about it.

I want this to be that place
when I'm much older

and I'm bringing
my grandchildren in here
and I can go,

"This is the Bluebird.

"This is what it is
and it is what it was."

MAN 4: We know
everything's gotta change.

And if change meant,
this place would close down,

well, that's not
the change I want.

I'd rather it evolve
and keep being here

as a showcase for songwriters
and a place for artists
to find new songs.

And for audiences
to hear songs,
not just the hits.

But the ones that may never
be hits, that may be better
than the hits.

♪ The gravity of a dream
don't wait around

♪ So you chase it down
It throws out of a small town

♪ Fills the parking lot
with out-of-state plates

♪ Words are more like wheels
They won't stand still

♪ Once they're rolling off
of the back of your mind

♪ Trying find
some brand new way to say

♪ I love you
or I hate you

♪ Or I miss you,
goodbye ♪

NICHOLS: We are not just
a performance space.

We're a community builder

When they come to audition
not everybody is great.

But they're getting a chance.

And that chance means
that maybe they can
get to be great.

KACEY MUSGRAVES: No matter
if you're known,

If you waited
in line all day

and you're from
Wichita, Kansas,

you're gonna be treated
as equally as someone
that everyone knows.

The circle has to continue,

and the only way to
do that is to keep
the doors open

for those that may not
have a publishing deal.

All of us, whether we are
singer or songwriter, we
all got started somewhere.

Nobody knew who we were
in the beginning.

And so, there's got to
be that place, there's
got to be hope.

♪ I end up on the sidewalk
trying to get in

♪ Where the troubadour ghosts
are whispering

♪ So you show me
what you got

♪ And take a breath
while the pen drops

♪ These are the songs
we sing

♪ These are the truths
we tell

♪ These are the words
and the rhymes

♪ The lives and the lines making sense to the way it felt

♪ The heaven and the heartbreak

♪ It's all waiting in one place

♪ Where you find that
missing part of yourself

♪ You thought you lost

♪ Right here in the songs
we sing ♪

NICHOLS: We have people
who have been playing here

since Open Mic and
Sunday Writers Night

who are playing here
on the late shows,

and they're family to us.

We've watched them change

from somebody that is just
learning to write a song

to somebody that's got
a number one hit.

I mean how many places
can say that?

MAN: We're all
crazy dreamers, you know.

♪ Way back on the radio dial

♪ The fire got lit inside
a bright-eyed child

♪ Every note just wrapped
around his soul

♪ From steel guitars
to Memphis,

♪ All the way to rock and roll

♪ Oh, I can hear 'em playin'

♪ I can hear the ringin'
of a beat up ol' guitar

♪ Oh, I can hear 'em singing

♪ "Keep on dreaming,
even if it breaks your heart"

♪ Some dreams stay
with you forever

♪ Drag you around but bring
you back to where you were

♪ Some dreams
keep on gettin' better,

♪ Gotta keep believing
if you wanna know

♪ For sure
Here we go

♪ Oh, I can hear 'em playing

♪ I can hear the ringin'
of a beat up ol' guitar.

-♪Oh, oh
-I can hear them singing.

♪ Oh, I can hear em singin',

♪ "Keep on dreamin',
even if it breaks your heart"

♪ "Keep on dreamin', even if it breaks your heart" ♪

♪ I know they say

♪ You can't go home again.

♪ I just had to come back
one last time.

♪ Ma'am I know
you don't know me from Adam.

♪ But these hand prints
on the front steps are mine.

♪ Up those stairs,
in that little back bedroom

♪ Is where I did my homework
and I learned to play guitar.

♪ And I bet you didn't know

♪ In the shade
of that live oak

♪ My best dog is
buried in the yard

♪ I thought if I could
touch this place or feel it

♪ This brokenness inside me
might start healing.

♪ Out here it's like
I'm someone else,

♪ I thought that maybe
I could find myself

♪ If I could just come in
I swear I'll leave

♪ Won't take nothing
but a memory

♪ From the house
that built me ♪