The Blue Room

The Blue Room is a 250-capacity Nashville venue inside Third Man Records’ 7th Avenue South headquarters. Its defining feature is a direct-to-acetate setup: selected performances can be mixed live and cut straight to a disc in the building, giving the small, blue performance space a working connection to Third Man’s record-making operation. For concertgoers, that means a close-range room with the possibility that the night’s set becomes a physical release.

A label headquarters becomes a public room

Jack White launched Third Man Records in Detroit in 2001, and the label opened its current Nashville home in 2009, housing its store, offices, distribution operation, photo studio, and live venue. The Blue Room emerged within that larger vinyl-centered complex as a space for special performances, screenings, readings, and art events.

Its recording capability supplied the sharpest early marker. In October 2012, The Shins, The Kills, and Seasick Steve each played Blue Room sets captured live through the direct-to-acetate process; Third Man issued the resulting records in June 2013 as its first releases made that way. On July 22, 2021, Third Man opened the Blue Room Bar to the public on a weekly schedule, shifting the room from occasional access toward a regular night-out destination.

What the room feels like now

The calendar is event-based, with public nights generally running Thursday through Saturday; private hires are reviewed case by case. Pop sits in the venue’s listed genre mix, while the official program also makes room for live bands, guest DJs, dance parties, trivia, exhibitions, and 16mm film screenings. Most concerts use a general-admission standing layout. A large patio supplies tables and chairs, while the interior can pack tightly for popular acts; a vintage dip ’n’ dunk photo booth and cocktails reinforce the bar-room side of the experience.