Carol Elliot brings a group of the best local talent from Atlanta. That group includes The Indigo Girls.

The Bluebird Cafe adds early shows and the Monday Open-Mic nights, stops serving lunches to concentrate on music and songwriters.

The Bluebird Cafe adds their first official weekly Sunday Writers’ Night, featuring 8-10 songwriters chosen through an audition process. Don Schlitz was the special guest on the first show.

The songwriter In The Round format, which is now known worldwide, gets its start at the Bluebird. Thom Schuyler (16th Avenue and Old Yellow Car), Fred Knobloch (Used to Blue and Meanwhile), Don Schlitz (he would collect his second Grammy a few years later for Forever and Ever, Amen), and Paul Overstreet (future co-writer of Forever and Ever, Amen as well as a slew of other hit songs) were the first to perform in this format. To this day, a typical nightly performance consists of four songwriters seated in the center of the room, taking turns playing their songs and accompanying each other both instrumentally and with harmony vocals.

T. Graham Brown’s first performance.

Blue Monday, fronted by vocalist Roguie Ray, begins a weekly Monday Night blues band tradition at The Bluebird Cafe.  During his time, Ray along with band members, Eddie Blakely, Jimmy Greasy, Billy Earl McClelland, Johnny Neel and Dave Pomeroy, hosted many of the music industry great players such as Greg Allman, Dickey Betts, Lenny Breau, Steve Cropper, Vince Gill, Jimmy Hall, Dave Mason, Dee Murray, David Olney & Wynonna.

Kathy Mattea had been playing the Bluebird for several months and lands a record deal on Mercury Records.