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Places to Visit

Music venues in Nashville

The icons, the songwriter rooms and the small stages where Nashville plays every night.

Music landmark·Downtown

Ryman Auditorium

Google 4.8

The iconsIndustry awardLocals' vote winner

The 1892 Mother Church of Country Music, still with its original oak pews. See a show at night, or tour by day and take a photo onstage.

$$$$

Luke Combs' 67·Downtown

Category 10

Google 4.8 (3.5k)Yelp 3.4 (159)

New venuesLocals' vote winner

Luke Combs' huge honky-tonk in the old Wildhorse Saloon, with free line-dance lessons Thursday to Sunday and a second-floor bourbon bar.

Bluegrass room·The Gulch

The Station Inn

Google 4.8 (1.4k)Yelp 4.5 (278)

The iconsIndustry awardEater 38Locals' favorite

The Gulch's bluegrass room since 1974: first-come seats, pizza and serious pickers.

$$$$

Songwriter room·Green Hills

The Bluebird Cafe

Google 4.6 (2.8k)Yelp 4.1 (523)

The iconsLocals' vote winnerIndustry awardVisitor favorite

Ninety seats, songwriters in the round, and a strict listening-room hush.

$$$$

Eric Church's six-story bar·Lower Broadway

Chief's on Broadway

Google 4.4Yelp 3.9 (220)

New venuesLocals' vote winner

Eric Church's six-story bar at 2nd and Broadway: free to enter, with Rodney Scott's whole-hog barbecue and a ticketed room lined with 1890s pews.

Supper club·Printers Alley

Skull's Rainbow Room

Google 4.6 (3.2k)Yelp 4.4 (1.6k)

Jazz + bluesNashville Scene pickVisitor favorite

A Printers Alley supper club dating to 1948, with live jazz every night and burlesque on weekends.

$$$$

Music club·Madison

Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge

Google 4.7 (851)

Clubs + small roomsNashville Scene pickLocals' favorite

The hub of Nashville's young bluegrass scene: a '70s-style country lounge in Madison. Go on a Monday, when pickers often sit in.

$$$$

Songwriter room + dinner·SoBro

The Listening Room Cafe

Google 4.7 (3.5k)Yelp 4.0 (874)

Songwriter roomsVisitor favorite

A downtown songwriter room with dinner service, open since 2006 and easier to get into than the Bluebird.

$$$$

Jazz club·The Gulch

Rudy's Jazz Room

Google 4.7Yelp 4.3 (249)

Jazz + bluesNashville Scene pickLocals' favorite

A small Gulch jazz club with ticketed sets most nights, from bebop to gypsy jazz to brass band, and a New Orleans kitchen. Closed Tuesdays.

$$$$

Jazz club·North Nashville

Jefferson Street Sound Museum

Google 4.9

Jazz + bluesNashville Scene pickLocals' favorite

Lorenzo Washington's museum of the Jefferson Street strip where Jimi Hendrix and Etta James played. Saturday tours run on the hour, 11 to 4.

$$$$

Veterans' post bar·Inglewood , East Nashville

American Legion Post 82

Google 4.7 (190)

Clubs + small roomsLocals' favorite

An Inglewood veterans' post bar with a free Wednesday bluegrass night and Thursday dance lessons with live bands. Anyone can come.

$$$$

Open-air NFL stadium·East Bank

Nissan Stadium

Google 4.5

Arenas + big roomsNashville Scene pickLocals' favorite

The Titans' stadium on the East Bank, in its farewell season before the team moves next door. Walk over a downtown bridge; concerts here are done.

Listening room·Lower Broadway

Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row

Google 4.2

Songwriter roomsLocals' favorite

Whiskey Jam, the free songwriter showcase running Mondays since 2011, now plays the second floor here Mondays and Thursdays at 8. Loud, 21+.

$$$$

Music Row neighborhood dive·Music Row

Bobby's Idle Hour

Google 4.7 (542)

Songwriter roomsLocals' favorite

The last songwriter bar on Music Row, behind a big plywood guitar. Wednesday to Friday afternoons, off-duty writers pick and trade songs.

$$$$

Music club·7th Ave S

The Blue Room at Third Man Records

Google 4.7

Clubs + small roomsNashville Scene pick

A standing-room live room and bar inside Third Man Records, booking touring indie acts. Pair a show with the record store and the 1947 Voice-o-Graph.

$$$$

Nonprofit jazz school·North Nashville

The Jazz Cave

Google 4.9 (37)

Jazz + bluesNashville Scene pickLocals' favorite

A nonprofit jazz school's 80-seat concert room in North Nashville. BYOB, Friday and Saturday shows, and a free Sunday jam once a month.

$$$$

Southern restaurant·Downtown Franklin

Puckett's

Google 4.6 (5.1k)

Songwriter rooms

A Southern restaurant in downtown Franklin with a stage; the first-Thursday Hitmakers round brings No. 1 songwriters for a $20 cover.

$$$$

Music venue·East Nashville

The Basement East

Google 4.7Yelp 4.0 (87)

Clubs + small roomsIndustry awardLocals' favorite

The Beast: East Nashville's rock and indie room for bands on the way up.

$$$$
How we rank and check these places

Every place here was checked on Oct. 1, 2026: open, at that address, with hours from the venue or Google. Happy hours appear only when the venue itself posts them.

Four scores, one rank. Locals is what Nashvillians say (the Nashville Scene readers' poll, local writers, the neighborhood regulars). Visitors is what travelers love (review volume, travel guides). Critics counts Michelin, the James Beard Awards, Eater, The Infatuation and the Scene's own critics. Crowd rating blends Google and Yelp stars, weighted by how many people rated the place, so 4.8 from 40 reviews does not beat 4.6 from 9,000. Top picks weighs them together; the sort menu lets you lean on any one.

Editor's picks are our own calls and say so. Sponsored places are labeled and never lead a list. Ratings are a snapshot; they move. Photos are of the place itself and credited, or there is none.

Every venue on our list, A to Z

Music Venues 52

Hours, deals and cover charges change, so check with the venue. "Reserve" links may earn us a commission. Sponsored spots are labeled.

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