Venues

Mother church of country music

The original Grand Ole Opry house. Built as a tabernacle in 1892, still the room every Americana artist wants to play. Acoustics that make even the bad nights sound like communion.

Honky tonk

Sawdust floor, two-stepping locals, a chicken-fried steak and a Willie sighting if you're lucky. Open since 1964, still run by the family.

Bluegrass listening room

A cinderblock box in the Gulch where the world's best bluegrass shows up unannounced. Cash only at the door for a reason.

Roots & rockabilly

South Congress institution. Junior Brown still plays the Sunday residency. The kind of bar where the headliner stays for the opener.

Texas dance hall

Houston's living-room dance hall — taxidermied armadillo and all. Real Texas country bands every weekend.

New Orleans music institution

Uptown shrine to Professor Longhair. Now band-owned (Galactic) and back to booking the kind of weird beautiful nights it was built for.

Songwriter dive

Tiny, loud, the right kind of grimy. Where the next Childers is probably playing this Tuesday for $7.

Mid-size listening room

The room where a lot of Americana artists graduate from the writers' nights.

Converted Victorian chapel

Working church, working venue, perfect for hushed Americana. Gillian Welch, Jason Isbell, Sturgill have all played the room.

Listening-room scale rock club

The intimate room at Vega. Treated like a cathedral when an Americana artist comes to town.

Converted church, two stages

Old Dutch Reformed church turned into the most beloved venue in the Netherlands. The Boven (upstairs) room is the Americana room.

Legendary club

Where Nirvana, R.E.M. and U2 played before anyone else did. Books Americana acts on the same loving terms.

Roots venue

The heart of Kilkenny Roots festival — and a year-round home for visiting Americana acts.

Front-bar / band-room

Melbourne's most reliable Americana room. The kind of place where Hayes Carll plays a Tuesday and everyone shows up.