The Message
On February 6, 2025 I read the words, “Hi Emma, we are pleased to invite you to be our February Bluebird Golden Pick winner!”
At the time, I was sitting up to a plastic table in a church building and literally fell out of my chair and flopped on the floor, like a fish.
What Is The Bluebird Cafe?
The Bluebird Cafe is a music venue in Nashville, TN that provides a stage for singer/songwriters to share their work. Unlike other venues, they put emphasis on the performer and performance, enforcing a ‘shhhhhhhh’ policy throughout. Phone usage is advised to be kept at a minimum and recording is not allowed without permission from the performer.
Names like Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Keith Urban, have played that stage and some, like Taylor Swift, were even discovered there.
The Costco Conversation
I met a woman in Costco who I became friends with when we lived in Texas. She told me about this monthly contest the Bluebird Cafe does on instagram with Taylor Guitars and that if your song is selected as the favorite (judged by Bluebird staff) you win a Taylor guitar and the opportunity to play on the Bluebird stage.
The First Visit to Nashville
Now lets back up a little further. In 2024 my mom took me to Nashville for the first time. We went to the Bluebird and saw a show. I was inspired by the performer. I leaned over to my mom and whispered, “I’m going to play on that stage.”
Rejection and Persistence
Well after my Costco friend told me about this contest I began submitting. Rejection is not fun. And I knew rejection. For months. But the silence didn’t mean I wasn’t good. It just meant what I made wasn’t what they were looking for. And that’s okay. Rejection is part of life. Best not to dwell (though there was some intermittent dwelling during the waiting periods that lead to some character growth).
Standing on the Bluebird Stage
It was, I think my fifth or sixth submission that finally landed and later that month I found myself standing on the Bluebird stage singing a song about how we’re all Trying in life and that’s how it’s meant to be.
When I spoke with the representative at the venue, she told me my songs had been finalists multiple time prior to having won that month and she was glad I continued to submit. Don’t give up!
My brother went to Nashville with me, the same brother that challenged me to learn guitar when I was nine. Full circle moment.
Standing on that stage was more than just a chance to share a song with a small room of people. It represented dreams and ambitions I’d held in my heart for years but hadn’t realized. It represented being brave. It represented the hard work I had put into a craft I love for years that to many is just a 10 second scroll on their phone screen before bedtime.
Standing on that stage said, “I care and I’m willing to admit I care. And I’m showing up for you and I’m showing up for me.” That’s vulnerable.
Within a year, I had set a big goal and achieved it.
The Domino Effect
So much of what we don’t think is possible is in fact possible. We don’t always know how we’ll get there but there are so many dominoes lining up in our lives, right this very minute that are aiming us toward our hearts desire: a brother who challenged me to learn to play, a mom who recognized my need for an adventure, a singer/songwriter sharing her voice, a woman in Costco that went out of her way to share my dream, a loving husband home with kids, an audience and all the staff at a Cafe in Nashville.
There are people everywhere and we get to live life side by side with them.
What’s Possible for You?
So if The Bluebird is possible for me, with all the little details that made this experience a reality, what’s possible for you? Where does your heart call you? What dream makes you uncomfortable to say out loud?