Nashville isn’t just a city—it’s a musical experience, and this episode brings it right to your headphones. Pat Miller welcomes Chris Blair, owner of The Listening Room Cafe, to reveal what happens when the stories behind the songs take center stage at Imaging USA.

Episode Highlights 🎤💡:

(00:26) - Nashville Comes to Imaging USA

(03:30) - The Chris Stapleton Moment

(08:17) - Your Perfect Nashville Night + The Future of Music

Connect with Pat Miller ⬇

LinkedIn | Website

Connect with Chris Blair ⬇

Instagram | Website | The Listening Room Cafe

I'm Pat Miller, and this is The Professional Photographer podcast. Oh, Nashville. Oh, man, what a fun city. So you're coming to Imaging USA, right? And it's in Nashville this year, and when you're in Nashville, you gotta go out and experience Nashville, but you might be busy the whole time in Imaging USA, so what are you to do? Imaging has thought about that, and they are inviting Nashville to come to us. At this year's conference, The Listening Room is bringing TLR on the road, meaning singer-songwriters are going to show up at the conference each day. We're going to check in with Chris Blair, who runs the joint, to tell us what can we experience and who are you bringing and what is it like? And then we go into overtime. And I ask him for a little bit more information, like, how do you craft the perfect evening out in Nashville? If you know you were thinking about taking an extra day, like some people that I've heard of are taking an extra day so they can go enjoy the city. It's a fun one. Chris Blair is standing by. We'll talk to him next. Chris, thanks for coming on The Professional Photographer podcast. How are you today?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

I'm glad you're here. And we are so excited to get to Music City for Imaging USA with PPA. And if someone hasn't been to your venue, The Listening Room Cafe, tell us all about it because we gotta find time to check it out.

Yeah, thanks, Pat. The Listening Room, I mean, we started—we're celebrating 20 years pretty soon. So it is an intimate place that we share the stories behind the songs. So you come in, you have dinner and a show, and you get to hear the best songwriters in the world, get up on stage, and tell a little bit about why they wrote the song, when they wrote the song, how they came up with it and share it. So it could be, you know, something they wrote that day or most likely number one hit that you've heard on the radio multiple times.

I can't imagine doing what you're doing either as a guest or as someone that's working there and hearing someone talking about how they are so inspired and how this beautiful song came out of them. Does that get distracting after a while that you just want to sit and listen to them rather than do what you got to do to run the place?

You know, it's funny after doing this for so long, it's kind of the opposite. I get so numb, if you will, for all the songs I hear him so many times, and even new songs that I've never heard of. But, Pat, what happens now is that, you know, the cool part about it is we get to hear these songs before anybody else does. So what's happened is those special songs that are getting played for the first time on the stage, those are the moments where I'm walking and I'm busy, and then all of a sudden it stops, and I'm like, whoa, what is this? And then, you know, six months later, it's put out on radio by Luke Combs or, you know, whoever. So those are the cool moments that, you know, we get to hear when they're kind of testing out the songs and see how people think about them.

I can't help but ask, and I'm sure you get asked all the time, but can you think of one of those moments? Like, you heard a song for the first time at your place, and then it ended up being a mega hit, and it caught your attention straight away. Does anything come to mind?

Gosh, I mean, there are so many of those. The moment that just popped in my head was several years ago. Chris Stapleton, before the world knew who Chris Stapleton was, was playing the beginning of the song. I was sitting up in the balcony and just enjoying the show that night. And he stops and he points up at me, and he said, "Chris, this one's for you. I know this is your favorite song". And then he goes into, "What are you listening to?" And it was literally, I would say, about four or five months after that that he was on the award show with Justin Timberlake, and they did that whole duet, and he absolutely blew up. Of course, you know, we've known him in the industry for years, but that was one of those really special moments that, you know, it was literally months after that, and all of a sudden, this is a number one song. Everybody knows it. Everybody's talking about Chris and J.T. and it's like, yeah, this is pretty cool.

So if you just felt what I just felt, which was, oh, my gosh, that's so cool. You get to experience The Listening Room at Imaging USA because you' the listening room to Imaging USA with TLR on the road. So tell us about what you're gonna do.

Yeah, so we're gonna—we love doing this. So we're gonna bring and share what we do every single night of the week right down here, downtown Nashville. So we are bringing three incredible writers that are going to put on a show. I'm gonna do a little mini podcast. I've got a podcast called Stories Behind The Songs that I put out every Tuesday where I kind of dive deeper into these songs. So we'll do a little bit, a mini version of that. But Emmett Stevens Jr., Adam Hamrick and Emily Shackleton are all coming. And, you know, Emmett is a new up and coming artist. He's got a song called I Know a Man that is one of those songs that stopped me in my tracks. He's toured with Lo Cash, Josh Turner, Tyler Farr. You know, he's just crushing it. So I'm excited for everybody to see him. Emily Shackleton has written songs for Carly Pierce, Sarah Evans, Cassidy Pope, Lauren Elena, gosh, Reba McIntyre, Runaway June. There's so many. So, you know, one of her big hits is Every Little Thing for Carly Pierce was a big number one. So, you know, she'll share those stories. And then Adam Hamrick wrote How Not To for Dan and Shay, Somebody Else will for Justin Moore, Mattie and Tay, Eli Youngband, Lindsay L. I mean, just, you know, they're all fantastic. So, yeah, that's what we're going to get to bring and glad to be a part of it. And they are going to steal the show. They're so talented.

That's the neat thing about being in Nashville, is that you get to be a part of the scene and the fact that you're bringing it to us is really going to be awesome. As a music fan, what's it like for the singers and performers in Nashville right now? Is it a promising time? Is it a tough time? How's business?

Man, that's a tough question. You know, the music business is tough in general, and, you know, these writers go into a room every day. This is their job. They get paid to go in and write songs and then, you know, put them out and try to get them cut. And, you know, with everything going on in the music industry, it gets harder and harder with things like AI. I mean, just last week, we had the first number one song in history that was written by an AI artist. And that bothers me. But, you know, I love AI. I'm a big fan, but, you know, I like using tools to be creative, not to be the creation. And that's making the industry pretty tough right now. On top of, you know, things like Spottily and, you know, everything else, that just saturates the market with, you know, with hundreds of thousands of songs that get released every single Friday. So, yeah, you know, it is unchartered waters right now. Everyone's talking about it, but at least in our space, we're able to still provide that stage for real human beings to come and share their talent and. And what they work so hard to do. And when you hear the emotion behind the songs from the people who actually wrote them, it truly is a different experience that you have to live to understand.

My wife and I are coming to the conference, and we are purposely adding an extra night to the trip so we can go out and do Nashville right. So, as someone that's a part of the scene, what would you recommend? How would you craft the perfect night in Nashville?

Oh, gosh, man, some of my favorites. There is a Mexican restaurant in East Nashville that's off the beaten path called Cinco de Mayo. That is my favorite, like, kind of local hangout to go. Great food and just a cool hang. My absolute favorite restaurant in town is Luogo. It's in the gulch, Luogo Italian restaurant. Very, very nice. Very good. Of course, The Listening Room. You have to come to The Listening Room. Of course. You know, I'm a little bit older these days, Pat, so I stay off of Broadway. But, you know, there's for tourists, that's pretty much the time that I go is when friends from out of town come. So, you know, it's one of those things that you kind of have to experience that's, you know, it's just cool to go see all the different bars, and there's music playing in every single one of them. So, you know, I think one of my favorites down there is Jon Bon Jovi's. I grew up, you know, with rock and roll, and they have very good talent that isn't just rock, but they'll have country acts, too. They have different people playing on each each floor. So it's pretty cool. You know, I mean, Centennial Park is nice just to kind of go out and take a walk, see the Parthenon. You know, there's all kinds of fun stuff to do. Nashville is just ever growing. And of course, you know, you guys are doing this at one of the coolest places in town at Gaylord Opryland. So, you know, I mean, you can spend a week just getting lost there and—

Yeah, huge.

It is. It is a fun place to go. We're glad to be a part of it.

Yeah, we're excited that you're going to be there as well. TLR on the Road. Chris Blair, thanks for coming on The Professional Photographer Podcast. I appreciate it.

Thanks for having me. Good to see you.

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of The Professional Photographer Podcast. Now help us find you next time by subscribing to the show. If you hit that little subscribe button, we will show up in your feed. Also, leave us a comment and tell us what Chris said that got you excited, or tell us what you thought of the episode. All of your feedback helps us build a better show. One more thing, if you're not yet a member of Professional Photographers of America, you're missing it. PPA offers incredible resources like equipment insurance, top-notch education, and a supportive community of photographers ready to help you succeed. It's perfect for photographers who are serious about growing their business in a sustainable and profitable way. At PPA, you belong here. Discover more about membership at ppa.com. That's ppa.com. I'm Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community. I'll see you in Nashville. Thanks for joining us. I'll see you next time. Take care.