Learn the Stories Behind Your Favorite Songs in Nashville

Nashville bills itself as Music City (notice that’s not just country music), and it’s not exaggerating. From its 13-time Grammy-winning symphony and the Grand Ole Opry to the live music spilling into the streets from every honky tonk on Broadway 365 days a year, music is on more than just every corner. Thanks in no small part to its famed recording studios and management offices, Nashville launched countless musical careers and, while the true heroes of the industry are unsung almost everywhere else in the country, they’re beloved in Nashville. They’re the songwriters, and, in Nashville, you have a unique opportunity to meet the minds behind at least half the hits on the charts at a writers round.

During a writers round, a small group of songwriters take turns performing their work, often explaining the genesis of a song through the events, emotions or other factors that sparked its creation. It’s up to the writer to choose which songs to share on a given night, and you’ll likely hear a healthy mix of chart toppers you can sing along to (she wrote that?!) and new songs even the writers themselves may not yet remember all the words to (it may have just been written that day). There’s no shortage of songwriters in Nashville, where songwriting is a full-time job and some are tasked with producing a song per day. It’s estimated around 1,000 new songs are born in Nashville every single day and less than .001 percent of them will ever be recorded and released, but a writers round is your chance to hear the lost trove of songs you’ll never encounter elsewhere.