If you have spent any time in Nashville you have probably heard of the Bluebird Cafe, the iconic music club founded by Amy Kurland back in 1982.
After twenty-five years, Amy decided it was time to exit her business. From the Tennessean:
Amy Kurland, who started The Bluebird in 1982 as a gourmet restaurant, is selling the now-legendary club to the Nashville Songwriters Association International. The group promises not to change a thing.
“I wanted to retire, but I didn’t want The Bluebird to go away,”‘ said Kurland, 52.
Amy could have sold the club for a lot more money than she did. But, money was not the only kind of wealth that Amy created in her business. She measured her success as much in terms of her ability to create a venue to help launch the careers of struggling songwriters and musicians as she did by the income and wealth that her business generated for her.
Instead of selling to the highest bidder, she sold to a group that would forever keep her vision alive. That is clearly the act of a good entrepreneur.
The list of now famous artists who got their start at Bluebird is unprecedented in the music industry: Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Josh Turner…. the list goes on and on.
My first experience with the Bluebird Cafe came while I was being recruited to work at Belmont University. The Dean took me to the Bluebird to give me a taste of what Nashville had to offer. Immediately I was taken back to my college days in the 1970s. Ann and I loved to listen to coffeehouse musicians — singer songwriters just like the Bluebird hosted night after night. (A note of trivia: I tried my hand as a coffeehouse musician a time or two in those days). I was hooked.
We now get season passes every year to go to Bluebird on the Mountain. Bluebird teamed with Vanderbilt University to offer a monthly Bluebird songwriters night under the stars on top of the nob (that is what we call big hills that are not quite mountains here in Tennessee) where Vanderbilt has their observatory. It runs from spring through fall.
Thanks, Amy. Thanks for having the courage to start Bluebird, and thanks for having the courage to insure it will stay the Bluebird now that you are moving on in your life.
I lived in Nashville in the late 1980s and have fond memories of many nights spent with a friend of mine who was one of those struggling songwriter singers that Amy gave a chance to perform. We’d go on other nights. I was always amazed at the number of well-known artists who showed up to hear some of the new talent and to encourage these new artists. I’m glad to know that the Bluebird will continue after Amy’s retirement.