Steven Tyler’s Acoustic Set Surprises Crowd at Nashville’s Historic Bluebird Cafe
In 2013, Aerosmith’s legendary frontman, Steven Tyler surprised the Bluebird Cafe crowd by taking to the stage for an impromptu acoustic performance, spiced up with some hilarious anecdotes. This clip has gone viral over on YouTube, amassing over 3.7M views to date!
The intimate Tennessee venue can only squeeze around one hundred people in its doors, making this an extra special moment for those lucky enough to attend. That night, a songwriter’s circle was taking place in the Bluebird Cafe, with four Nashville songwriters — Mallary Hope, Phil Barton, Lindsey Lee, and Marti Frederiksen — sharing their tunes.
Steven lent his raspy rockstar voice to two songs, entitled “Jaded” and “Dream On” – performing the latter song solo on a keyboard. “Jaded” saw Steven rally the crowd to sing along to the chorus as he belted along to an acoustic guitar, played by an unseen performer.
An anecdote split his two tracks apart, reminiscing on his hilarious musical beginnings with the spellbound audience: “I started with the key of C and my whole world opened up. My daddy was a classical pianist and when I discovered the key of C I almost lost my s***. I went places, I fell between the notes.”
“Dream On” saw Steven perform the Aerosmith power ballad completely solo and, as he worked through the chords on piano, Steven’s dark, moody voice proved itself a perfect match for the small country crowd who chanted the chorus lyrics without being prompted. He even scattered some hilariously cliché 80s rock falsettos throughout both hits!
Steven, aged 65 at the time, later admitted to The Associated Press that this set took the crown for being the smallest crowd he’d ever played to. His Boston-based band, Aerosmith, rank among the living legends of rock, and had already collected four Grammy awards and six AMAs throughout their 43-year run, with innumerable stadium shows under their belt.
Steven had been songwriting in Nashville when he attended the songwriter’s circle at The Bluebird Cafe. This venue is legendary in its own right, gaining “worldwide recognition as a songwriter’s performance space where the ‘heroes behind the hits’ perform their own songs; songs that have been recorded by chart-topping artists in all genres of music,” according to their website.
Opened in 1982, countless songwriters have made their break at Bluebird Cafe, and countless more have returned to their roots to join the communal songwriter’s circle, which sees its performers play their tracks live one by one, while adding harmonies and other instrumental accompaniments to each other’s songs. The Bluebird Cafe has been such a staple of the Nashville music scene, the venue even appeared on ABC’s drama show, “Nashville” in 2012.
