Nashville Day 3:
I had my eye on this venue for a while… the renowned Bluebird Cafe! Taylor Swift was discovered there when she was first starting out. Other greats have taken the stage and it’s been on my bucket list for the longest time to sing there too.
“Over 70,000 people visit the venue annually, many of them as a result of seeing The Bluebird on television or reading about the club in publications such as Southwest Spirit, National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times or hearing it mentioned by the artists such as Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, Kathy Mattea, Trisha Yearwood, Kim Richey, Dierks Bentley, Faith Hill and Vince Gill, all of whom have had career moments over the past 31 years at the tiny, legendary club.” — bluebirdcafe.com
Monday evenings they have an open mic, but it’s not easy to get into. All music has to be original, and only the first 25 songwriters to call in at 11:00am get to play. The moment it hit 11:00am satellite time, Mom and I were both trying to call in to no avail. *Call. Busy signal. Call. Busy signal.* I was starting to think I didn’t make it in, but mom told me to not give up and keep trying. “You have to be persistent” she said.
After 248 phone calls and 13 minutes of thinking I didn’t make it through, the craziest thing happened… I was #12 on the list to sing at The Bluebird Cafe! As soon as I hung up the phone, I squealed with excitement and immediately started getting ready for the big night.
My inner perfectionist was begging me to practice before the show, but what do you do when you’re 753 miles away from home? Suddenly it dawned on me! “Where’s the closest Guitar Center? It’s Nashville, there has to be one.”
And there was one! About 5 miles away to be exact. So we grabbed an Uber and went to the local Guitar Center. It made my jaw drop as we walked through the doors. It’s so much larger than our store at home! And the very best part of all is that I got to practice on one of my dream keyboards… a Nord Stage 3 Full-Length Piano. (Ahhhhh!) My heart was happy! ? ?
The time finally came to line up outside the legendary cafe. I knew it was tiny from what I had been told, but wow, it’s tiny! People stand outside the doors for hours just to get a chance to go in and listen. I got to meet some amazing people and hear their stories and songs. I think it’s so fun to see people from all walks of life come together because of a mutual passion of music.
So there I was up on stage singing my next single set to come out soon, “I Left My Heart in May”. I’ll tell you what — it was so exhilarating! It got to the very end of the night, and Barbara Cloyd (the owner), randomly chose 6 people who got to sing a 2nd original to close out the evening. She called 5 names and I silently thought to myself, “Oh there’s no way I’ll get to sing a second one.”
The Lord surprised me another time today! She called out my name and I got to close out the night with the last song. Oh my gosh, it was so amazing! I sang, “Vanity” (one of the songs on my upcoming EP).
This whole week has been full of crossing things off on my bucket list. Nashville, you really are amazing, aren’t you?
