The Rutledge

I was here, ‘cos my friend was playing onstage. The music was great, the food sucked.

The service certainly leaves a LOT to desired. A little disappointed, I really did expect much more atmosphere. Small balcony earned a star and comfy chairs/​strong drinks earn two more.

Had a great time listening to 3 great bands with friends. First time here but what a cool venue. I will definitely be back.

Great place to hear live music. The service isn’t great, you probably will wait awhile for a drink, but other than that, it’s great!

I’ve only been here a handful of times, but I’ve enjoyed it every time I’ve been.
I love the brick on the inside, they have a pretty decent outdoor area to hang out in and the sound quality of their shows has always been really good. The drinks are priced fair too.
All in all, a good rock venue!

Last year, my company’s annual holiday party was held at this venue. The party was great, but the venue… not so much.
Old, dirty, and smelled of cigarettes. Maybe we picked the wrong place to throw our Christmas party, or maybe it really just not a great venue. Overall I was just not impressed.

I love to come to shows at The Rutledge! The staff is super nice, speedy and can make some yummy drinks. Not to mention how great the place is to see a show. The sound is great. The music can be an eclectic mix, but that makes it easy to find a band you like.
Parking isn’t great with all of the construction but, I have only had a problem when there was something huge going on downtown. Drink prices and cover are both right on.

We came for the regional air guitar championships, which, while totally amazing, makes it kind of hard to speak to the acoustic quality of the space. That said, there isn’t a bad view in the house. Plenty of good beers on a tap and we had friendly service. The bathrooms are predictably not awesome.

Enjoyed the International Songwriters’ performance during last week’s Billy Block show. But the bar service??? Someone should really open a bar there… they might make some money!

Had a great time here last night for a fundraising event and realized that I don’t check out enough shows here?
The sound was good and the stage is setup nicely to where there really aren’t any blind spots in the crowd due to the layout.
Staff wasn’t super friendly but I am not sure if that was because they weren’t being tipped nicely with event drink tickets running rampant in the crowd? I felt bad and over-​tipped a bit.
I’d come back to check out a show…

Great place to take in some of the Nazzy music scene. I like the elevated seating area. Most events are 18 or older, but occasionally they have special events allowing 16+ music fans to partake in the merriment. This came in real handy when I was entertaining my niece and nephew.

My review is for Salvation, the once-​monthly event.
The DJs kept me dancing and even though I went alone and knew absolutely nobody, I had fun time and made new friends. I don’t think the venue was really set up for this type of event, but it worked alright for the night.
The bartender was a total sweetie and made all of my drinks right. The crowd was a great mix and everyone was just having a good time, great energy.
I’d love to come here again.

Cozy, yet acoustically wonderful, the Rutledge was quite the pleasant surprise. Went to a Jon Troast concert here with some friends (for those who don’t know about him, he’s wonderful! check out
). You enter the venue into the room with the bar, which is actually separate from the room with the stage. The stage has excellent lighting and the sound in this room is fabulous. Decent amount of seating, but if there’s a super popular show, you’ll probably want to get their early. Only gripe is that their drinks seemed overpriced to me and this venue isn’t really very close to any other venues or bars, which makes it difficult for a night of hopping.

There’s a problem with the basic layout, or the patrons… I’m assuming it’s the patrons on the second floor near the front who don’t know that once they stand up to cheer for their band/​friend/​etc nobody behind will be able to see. This happens every time I go to the Rutledge. A solid wall of people’s backs.
Tables with 1 – 2 people at them and all chairs reserved for some future person who does not show, the only possible seat on the cement wall near the back, and finally I see the stage for a bit and the people up front stand, then the people behind them have to stand otherwise they get to watch the back of the people in front of them, and so on until you can’t see anything.
Then comes the great migration to the side of the stage /​bar area where it will be a near empty bar and packed right in the side entrance but maybe you can get one of the 4 decent spots in the bar area to see the stage. Unfortunately this means you’re probably now blocking the path.
I’ve been to The Rutledge 4 times that I remember, it always involves a good drink, a terrible view, and that scenario. Last night was so frustrating after 20 minutes I wanted to leave, but had to pay $ 7 cover for 2 people to get in and was thoroughly pissed about that.
I don’t think there’s much that can be done for the layout, if I had not been obliged to go see a friend of mine perform I would not have been back there and paid cover.
Parking is — you know, I’m not sure — they closed down the area I used to park in and there was no parking for 3 blocks, but I’m not sure if this is normal or not.
Acoustically this place is pretty decent.
Have never ordered food as I have never seen a waiter.
If you go, be aware of the view of the people behind you.

My rating is a little bit different, in that we actually just got married at the Rutledge. After looking around Nashville for a good, affordable venue that was a bit untraditional, we landed on the Rutledge. I was surprised to find they have actually hosted a number of weddings, and it was clear that they knew their stuff upon our first meeting with Andy. He was so nice and helpful when it came to planning our wedding, and wanted to make sure everything was perfect for us. We even ended up having them cater, as we just wanted simple BBQ. Their BBQ was delicious, the Yazoo was cold, and the venue was the perfect place for us to dance to some live music. The live music was the best part, and the sound was amazing. If you’re looking for a good rock & roll wedding venue, this is the place.

Upon perusing the Nashville Scene, my brother pointed out that a Journey cover band was playing at the Rutledge Tuesday night. Given that I am the number one, all time, biggest Journey/​Steve Perry fan EVER, I knew that I would be going even if it was by myself. Plus, the price was right — FREE!
So we hopped a cab last night to go to the Rutledge so I could be judgmental of this band. My brother kept saying he’s never been there, but when we walked in we both recognized the place as the same location a friend of ours played a long while back.
The bar is located right when you walk in which is the best place for it! It is slightly separated off from the room where the stage and seating are for the band which is nice so people aren’t just fighting for position and fighting for a drink at the same time. There are tables up some stairs in the back of the room and also some tables down on the floor in front of the band. Naturally there is also standing room only area so you can rock out as you see fit. Apparently they serve food here but I cannot imagine why someone would possibly eat here. Just doesn’t look like it would be the kind of place with decent food.
Once the band came out I could appreciate the sound and lighting — it was great! It was loud without completely running me out of the front of the room. Acoustics sounded really good. I am definitely going to keep this place on the radar and follow what shows they have going on in the future.
That Journey cover band? Well, they were decent. The keyboard player and drum player could have added some extra touches to really sound like Journey. The singer — some songs he absolutely wailed and others he struggled with. None of this would have mattered if he’d just looked like 35 year old Steve Perry. Sadly he lacked the long dark hair, big nose, and skinny butt wrapped in tight spandex pants. Another hope dashed!

From a musician’s perspective:
The Rutledge is in my opinion the best sounding room in town. Great sound. Different genres all the time.
From a bar-hopper’s perspective:
The Rutledge has strongly poured drinks. I’m under the influence of two as I write this. However, the food — I can’t recommend it. I was surprised to find a black bean burger on the menu, however it was served completely DRY on a boring white bun. A side salad was an option, but The Rutledge was out of salad at the time, so I had to settle for salt and vinegar chips. One can’t go wrong.
Go to The Rutledge for great sounding music and drinks. Not food.

For some reason, every time I have been to the Rutledge it has been a really lame concert. This isn’t the necessarily the fault of the establishment (though perhaps the fault of the booking agent), but it still reflects poorly on my memory of the place. The tables on the raised part of the viewing area are so far away from the stage that it is easy to feel disconnected from the show, but the bands don’t make it feel worth standing in front on the lower portion.
The patio is nice with multiple seating areas and twinkling lights, but otherwise there just isn’t much to get excited about. I still give the place three stars because I think with a little work on their acts and their image this place could be pretty great.

I’ve had the good fortune of knowing lots of friends who have played this venue in its various incarnations. To me, it is a great space. It’s not a tiny venue, there are plenty of good seats, and the sound is awesome. For local bands and musicians, I think this is a nice place to play. I wish the Rutledge had more people come in. I don’t know if people don’t know about it, which is possible since it’s on the other side of Broadway, or what the deal is. Nevertheless, it is worth seeking out, especially if you know the acts playing there.
The bar is nice and big. There’s an opening so you can see the stage from the bar (the bar is a separate room from the performance space). You can only smoke on the very nice enclosed patio. It is a nice outdoor area, and it’s good to be able to see a show without all the smoke (and I’m sure the musicians like it better that way as well).
I just have to mention again I think the acoustics and the sound in the place are fantastic. Compared to some other venues around town, I think the Rutledge does it right. I would highly recommend checking out a show here sometime.

The Rutledge is a high quality music venue with great sound and lighting production. It is a smaller space than 12^th and Porter, with only 250 person capacity. I like to think of the Rutledge as sort of a scaled down version of 12^th and Porter. Going to see a band at the Rutledge is a real treat because they often book local artists, but it is a much better stage, so you get to see what the small time artist looks and sounds like with real production.
When you enter the building you enter into the bar section of the building. It is a smaller space that is somewhat isolated from the big room where all the loud sound is located. This gives you a chance to get your bearings and order a drink before walking into the big room to watch the band performing.
In the big room they have tiered seating. This is pretty unique in Nashville, and is a really great thing. You can sit in the back of the room and still see the entire stage since you are elevated above the crowd on the dance floor.
The only downside of this venue is the stone walls. They look really nice, but they make the sound a little bit boomy. If the room is full of people it’s not too bad but if it is only half full it can be a little hard on your ears. So, I advise taking a pair of earplugs when you go.