Nashville has its fair share of artists looking to make it big, tourists looking for cowboy boot stores, and hipsters looking to be creative. But after seeing Striking Matches, Charles Esten, and Kim Richey perform tonight, there is one answer to the above question on my mind: songwriters.
Monday through Thursday night every local venue has some kind of songwriter show booked. The Bluebird is an iconic example, a place where writers long to play, but there are plenty of others like The Listening Room and The Sutler. There are many reasons to go to these shows - to see your favorite songs performed live by the people who wrote them, to hear hit songs before they're cut by anyone, to hear the stories behind the songs - and they're all worthwhile.
Some of the writers may even become successful artists down the line like Luke Bryan or Brandy Clark, but what makes it more fun is that these songwriters are almost in their own little world. They've all worked hard to perfect their craft of writing lyrics and melodies, just so they can make it onto these stages and have artists cut their songs. They're a community. It's easy to see different groups forming when you go to enough writers rounds. People like Brandy Clark, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, and Josh Osbourne are often in the same writing room. While Lori McKenna, Hilary Lindsey, and Liz Rose even have their own group name - the Love Junkies.
The stories and talent you get to hear at these writers rounds are (almost) always incredible. There's no other city on Earth I know of that treats songwriters with such respect and adoration. So if you ever get a chance - I highly recommend seeing some rounds in Nashville. Tin Pan South is an annual festival that hosts hundreds of writers for a full week (see here for last year's highlights). It's truly a special experience.