Behind the Venue: Nashville’s Bluegrass Capital, The Station Inn

Nashville has many places for the pickers and players to call home, but when it comes to bluegrass, the ground doesn’t get much holier than The Station Inn. From the outside, the downtown Nashville venue doesn’t look like much. Hidden within the pine-paneled walls is a rich history, colored by some of the genre’s biggest purveyors.

Bluegrass fans who don’t know about The Station Inn, use our guide below as an introduction to this iconic venue and the musicians that helped give it its prestige.

Origins

The venue was formed in 1974 by a group of musicians: Red Smith, Bird Lee Smith, Jim Bornstein, Bob Fowler, Charmaine Lanham, and Marty Lanham, alongside Fowler’s wife, Ingrid. It’s no wonder it has become a beloved place to play. Who better to establish a venue than the people who would be playing there?

Over the years, the venue has changed location and ownership, but the same spirit has survived. One step into The Station Inn will key you into its history. The vast amount of show posters covering all available space on the walls tells you everything.

The Station Inn was acquired by J.T. Gray in 1981. Gray saw the purchase as “an opportunity to have something of my own, and a way to be more into bluegrass music without having to be out on the road all the time.” Gray was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2020.

The Station Inn has managed to weather a rapidly changing city. Its neighborhood, The Gulch, is a far cry from how it was in the late ’70s. Nevertheless, long lines of bluegrass fans continue to line up outside the venue, hoping to hear some stellar live music.

Who Performed There?

When The Station Inn first started, it was a place for musicians who didn’t get a lot of work to find a consistent place to play. As it grew in reputation, many of the biggest names in bluegrass and country began to play there.

The “Father of Bluegrass” Bill Monroe often surprised crowds at The Station Inn. The likes of Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, and Reba McEntire also frequented the venue.

Major stars and up-and-comers alike have made The Station Inn their go-to when they want to connect with bluegrass’ fervent audience.

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Special Features

The Station Inn’s legacy is made more than apparent by the list of musicians that have played there. But, if you look closely, you’ll find bluegrass memorabilia that makes this venue even more of a singular force in the genre than first glance suggests.

Tour bus seats once used by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs are now used by the audience in The Station Inn. Elsewhere are collectible instrument boxes (namely a 1927 Gibson A-Jr. used to create the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?), used to collect entrance fees from years worth of patrons, and posters autographed by musicians who played at the venue.

If you ever stop by The Station Inn, make time to look away from the stage and soak up all the time-earned memories physically represented in the venue’s decor.

Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images