introducing songbird

Did yall see? We finally get to share this.

For the past year, Charlie and I have been building a physical space.

Not just designing it, but living inside it mentally. Every surface. Every material. Every relationship behind what will eventually be placed in someone’s hand.

Songbird didn’t arrive all at once. It grew slowly, through observation. Through conversations with guests. Through noticing what people reached for, and what they wished existed but didn’t yet.

This June, Songbird will open at East End Market in Raleigh.

It’s a daylight-to-dusk bar built to move with the natural rhythm of a day. Mornings begin with coffee, juice, and smoothies shaped by what’s growing nearby. In the afternoon, the room pauses briefly to reset. In the evening, it reopens into a slower, more intimate pace of cocktails, food, and conversation.

More than anything, Songbird is built around attention.

Attention to ingredients. Attention to process. Attention to how it feels to sit somewhere and be cared for without needing to explain yourself.

Through Umbrella, I’ve had thousands of conversations about drinking, gathering, and what people actually want. One thing became clear: most people don’t live in a single lane. Their choices shift depending on the day, the season, or simply how they feel.

Songbird was designed to honor that reality.

There’s space for coffee. For cocktails. For alcohol-free drinks. For food. Guests can stay in one lane, move between them, or choose something different each time they visit. Everything is treated with the same level of care.

Seasonality serves as the structure underneath it all. Ingredients arrive when they’re ready. Menus evolve alongside them. Nothing is fixed, and nothing is forced to stay past its moment.

Physically, the bar itself reflects that philosophy. Drinks are prepared directly in front of you, integrated into the stone surface rather than hidden behind it. Nothing disappears. You’re close enough to see each step, without anything needing to be explained.

We’ve spent the past year building relationships with farmers, glassblowers, potters, and producers across North Carolina whose work will shape what’s served there. Not as an aesthetic choice, but as a responsibility. When you work this closely with ingredients and objects, you don’t just use them. You care for them.

Umbrella remains an essential part of this work. It continues as a bottle shop, pop-up bar, and provider of private events and experiences. In many ways, Umbrella made Songbird possible.

What’s different is that Songbird creates a permanent home. A place where these ideas can live fully, every day.

There’s still more to finish. Glassware being fired. Plants being grown. Ferments quietly developing. A thousand small details still in motion.

But today, it finally feels real enough to say this out loud.

Songbird is coming.

Thank you for being here through all of it. Truly. If you want to follow along, check out Songbird’s website and ig.

More soon.
Meg