Skull’s Rainbow Room

About Skull’s Rainbow Room

Skull’s Rainbow Room first opened in 1948 in Printers Alley, which makes it one of the oldest entertainment rooms in downtown Nashville by a wide margin. It was founded by David Schulman, known as Skull, and over the decades its stage hosted Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Etta James and Patsy Cline. Schulman was murdered in the alley in 1998, the club later closed, and it was restored and reopened in June 2015.

The room sits in the basement of the Southern Turf Building and still uses its original checkerboard stage. It is an intimate vintage supper club rather than a honky-tonk, with jazz and live music and burlesque performances twice a night. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The crowd is couples, diners, and visitors who came specifically for old-Nashville atmosphere rather than a country band.

Skull’s is a reservations-style venue, and it is the pick for a historic, dressed-up night of jazz, dinner and burlesque. There is nothing else quite like it downtown, and the genuine 1940s nightclub heritage is the reason to go. Anyone looking past the honky-tonk circuit for something with real history should put this near the top.

Who’s playing tonight?

The live-music lineup for Skull’s Rainbow Room is part of the Bars on Broadway schedule, refreshed every morning and night. Check tonight’s Broadway lineup →