Blues, jazz and open mic nights near GWCC and the hotels

You talked all day on the show floor. Tonight, let somebody else do the talking. These rooms book live blues, jazz and open mic nights, and each one is a short ride or a train ride from the show.

Blind Willie's. A small blues bar that has booked traditional, Chicago-style and roots blues for 40 years. Music runs Tuesday through Sunday, and it's closed most Mondays. A quick ride from the Midtown hotels. Virginia-Highland.

Fat Matt's Rib Shack. Barbecue and the blues under one roof since 1990. Open until 10pm most nights and 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Piedmont Avenue.

Smith's Olde Bar. Got a song? On Mondays, sign-up for the live band open mic starts at 7:30pm. Wednesday is Tha Jam, a live band jam from 9 to 11pm. Same stretch of Piedmont Avenue as Fat Matt's, a short ride from Midtown. Piedmont Avenue.

Red Light Café. It calls itself Atlanta's listening room, with Americana, bluegrass, folk, blues and jazz on the calendar. Wednesday is the jazz jam with the Gordon Vernick Quartet. The show starts at 9pm and players can sit in. On Amsterdam Avenue by the east side of Piedmont Park. Midtown.

Apache XLR. Live music, poetry and open mic nights, with dinner and a show six days a week. Closed Monday. Up Marietta Street from GWCC, an easy rideshare. Downtown.

Worth the train ride: Decatur

Take the MARTA Blue line east to Decatur station. It runs from the SEC District station next to GWCC and from Five Points.

Eddie's Attic. A true listening room near Decatur Square since 1991, where John Mayer and Sugarland played on their way up. Silence your phone and listen. Monday is the songwriters open mic, so check the calendar for the next one. Decatur.

Churchill Grounds. A longtime Atlanta jazz name, now in Decatur's 1935 post office building, with candlelit tables and a grand piano on stage. It lists live jazz seven nights a week. About a five-minute walk from Decatur station. Decatur.

Want blues on the Westside? Northside Tavern is in our local bars guide.

Some shows are 18 or 21 and up, so bring your ID. Getting back: check the time of the last train before the second set, or plan a rideshare.

Checked October 2026. Places change, so call ahead.

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