Commodore Grill

What to Expect

The Commodore Grille sits inside the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt on West End, a few blocks from campus. According to the venue, its live music roots trace back to the early 1980s, when it first drew comparisons to the Bluebird Cafe as a room for original songwriters. The space cycled through a few identities before settling into its current one, a piano lounge, then a Vanderbilt alumni hangout, then a sports bar from 2001 to 2008, when Songwriter's Night began and has run nightly ever since. Two long-running rounds split the nightly calendar, Debi Champion's Songwriter Nights and the Nashville Songwriter's Showcase. Each puts three to four original Nashville songwriters on stage together, trading songs and the stories behind them. A 10pm open mic follows most nights for anyone who wants to sign up and play, and admission is free throughout. Jerry Foster, a 1994 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, still turns up on the lineup and has his own reserved parking spot out front. The kitchen runs a full dinner menu beyond the usual bar food: Nashville hot chicken, shrimp and grits, bourbon glazed salmon. Live music starts at 6pm Sunday through Thursday and 7pm on weekends, with free parking through the hotel.