Chattanooga’s Songbirds Guitar Museum To Close Aug. 15

Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, with the museum closing for good on Aug. 15, as well as at its sister live music venues Songbirds North and South, reports the Times Free Press.

The three-year-old facility at the Chattanooga Choo Choo houses the world’s largest collection of rare and vintage guitars. When the larger Revelry Room venue closed in 2018, Songbirds acquired that space as well, adding Songbirds North and Songbirds South to their footprint.

President and Songbirds Foundation Chairman of the Board Johnny Smith revealed that the Songbirds Foundation will continue. The foundation is dedicated to teaching guitar to area youth, especially in low-income areas, and will soon have an increased presence in area middle schools and in the music therapy department at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

“Songbirds LLC is getting out of the museum and venue business,” Smith told the Times Free Press. “We will keep the name because it is just too good of a brand and we will focus on the work of the foundation. They’ve figured out how to make this work in this current world. They are actually thriving thanks to videos and teaching in a virtual world.”

Smith said anybody who bought tickets or memberships to the museum will have their money refunded.