Chris Blair is the Founder and Visionary of The Listening Room Cafe, one of Nashville’s premier venues for hit songwriters. Raised in St. Louis, Blair balanced his time working in restaurants with a deep passion for music. After moving to Nashville in 2003 to pursue his own artist career, he saw an opportunity to combine the city’s renowned songwriter scene with top-notch sound, food, and service. In 2006, The Listening Room was created where guests can experience the stories behind the songs in an intimate setting
The venue owner recently submitted plans for a new Listening Room branded hotel and music venue. CityNowNext wanted to dig deeper to understand what this new mixed-use venue meant for the venue owner and its brand. In this 6 Questions Q&A we do just that with Chris Blair the owner of the Listening Room Cafe.
Can you talk a little about what the Listening Room Cafe is and its significance to Nashville?
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Our goal is to connect people with the stories behind the songs. The Listening Room highlights both up-and-coming songwriters and artists as well as hit songwriters. We give our fans an intimate setting where they can truly listen to the songs over a meal and drinks. The significance to Nashville is not only the experience you can’t find anywhere else, but also the platform for the performers.
One of the biggest reasons I started TLR is that I come from the artist and songwriting world myself, and years ago I noticed that musicians were not getting paid what they deserved. I wanted to create a place that was very special, but also one that paid songwriters properly. I feel like we have created that and as the brand continues to grow that will always be the center of what we do.
How do you plan to translate the experience from the venue to the new hotel?
One of the biggest challenges I have had over the last 20 years is not owning our land. We have moved four times, typically due to a forced move because the rent increased significantly or our lease ended, and we found out our building was no longer available because the landlord was tearing it down to build vertically. To stay ahead of this and feel confident in our future, I knew we needed to move to a secure location. For me, the location in downtown Nashville was very important, as was ensuring the intimacy of what we do translated well to a new space. I do plan to slightly increase the size of our venue, but not by much.
One of The Listening Room’s cool factors is its closeness and intimate experience. We have approval to go multiple stories in Pie Town, but that’s not what I wanted. I want the Listening Room Hotel experience to be similar to a Listening Room musical experience. That’s why I have spent so much time – three years now – working on this behind the scenes to figure out how we could build something that works. There are still things to figure out and hurdles to overcome before this project becomes a reality, but I won’t proceed unless I can maintain the boutique hotel feel with a sprinkle of songwriting throughout the entire project.
The hallways, the rooms, and the venue must all work cohesively to create an overall experience where guests feel something beyond just staying in a hotel. I envision a hallway like a Songwriters Hall of Fame museum, featuring lyrics that highlight the songwriter that wrote them. I also envision a rooftop bar area that will be partly private to provide a safe space where artist friends and songwriters can enjoy a night out.
Did your architect selection have a lot to do with the experience you want to create?
Many factors come into play throughout this process, which is how I was introduced to Eric McGinnis from Comma Designworks. Finance partners we are working with introduced him, and it just clicked. Eric’s wife is a songwriter who has performed at TLR several times. He loves and understands what we do. I needed more than just a great architect, I needed someone who listened to my vision and provided answers on how to realize it. Eric has more than delivered on that front and is an incredible partner in this project.
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With Pietown finally starting to emerge, how do you see the new hotel bringing a sense of place as it transitions from warehouse district to true downtown neighborhood?
I have had my eye on Pie Town for a while now, and it’s an incredible location. Although it’s still within walking distance of the convention center and many downtown areas, I see it developing into a more mature entertainment district. Think restaurants, other great entertainment attractions like Bad Axe and Lawn Street Fogg Club, the TN BrewWorks brewery and hopefully soon The Listening Room hotel and venue. Only a handful of owners possess the majority of the neighborhood’s properties, and I have gotten to know all of them well over the last several years. I think the synergy of us all working together to create a unique and needed area in Pie Town is amazing. I’m excited to see what that area looks like in just a couple of years.
Are there any celebrities involved with the development, or will you offer potential branding opportunities throughout the new hotel or through experiences within the building from music artists?
I am currently talking with several potential investors and debt partners, but nothing is finalized yet. A handful of major artists, along with songwriters and others outside the music industry, have expressed interest in investing. This project will not have any branding opportunities outside of The Listening Room, however. I want to continue growing our brand and I’m not looking for another artist-named bar or something clicky like that. I think Broadway is the place for things like this and this project will keep songwriters at the core. I have always been a huge champion for songwriters and emerging artists and that is what I want this entire project to represent.
How far are you from getting the project going after planning approval; is there a message to the investment community you’d like to leave?
We are ready to go. Once we get planning approval, the next step is to finalize our investor partners and secure debt approval for construction. The numbers look great for investors, and we are already having those conversations. I also welcome any investment opportunities from those who believe in this project, see potential for a great return on investment and want to support the Nashville music scene.
