Ernest Tubb Record Shop Property Sold, Hope For Preservation Renewed
The iconic Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Lower Broadway in Nashville has officially been sold to a group of investors for $18.3 million, as well as the current contents of the Record Shop including the inventory and fixtures in a separate deal for an undisclosed amount. The new owners are Nashville-based real estate investor, developer, and former NFL player Brad Bars, Russian-born renown Nashville studio musician Ilya Toshinskiy, and Ernest Dale Tubb III, who is a businessman located in the Nashville area, as well as Ernest Tubb’s grandson.
The country music landmark had become embroiled in a legal dispute between the previous owner David McCormick, and the new owners JesseLee Jones and Emily Ann Cousins, who also own the honky tonk Robert’s Western World on Lower Broadway. Jones and Cousins purchased the property from David McCormick in 2020. What first appeared to be the perfect deal to preserve the property and business by transferring it to JesseLee Jones ended up with the respective parties announcing the Ernest Tubb Record Shop would be closing, and put up for sale.
“It’s with great sadness that we share the news that the Ernest Tubb Record Shop — building and business — will be sold,” the March 11th statement said conclusively. “Due to changes in circumstances out of our control, it’s now clear the best way forward is to sell the business and the real estate.”
The $18.3 million price for the 3-story historic building and the 0.08-acre parcel it sits on works out to roughly $2,000 per sq. foot, which according to the Nashville Post, is in line with recent deals for similar properties. JesseLee Jones and Emily Ann Cousins purchased the same property for roughly 1/3rd of that price in 2020—for $4.75 million. David McCormick purchased the building and property for $128,000 in 1992 when Lower Broadway was at a low point after the shuttering of the Ryman Auditorium.
The most pressing question many country music fans and preservationists have is what the plan is for the historic building and the iconic Ernest Tubb Record Shop business. Saving Country Music has attempted to contact all three of the new owners for comment on their plans for the property after the deal was announced Friday (7-29) afternoon, but have not heard back at the time of this post.
However, with the investment group including both a musician and a direct heir and namesake to Ernest Tubb, it should give individuals concerned for the future of both the property and business some guarded assurance. Including Ernest Dale Tubb III in the deal gives it at least some tie to the Ernest Tubb family.
Ilya Toshinskiy is one of the most prolific current studio musicians in Nashville, having played on recordings from George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, and scores more. Playing guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, and other instruments, Toshinskiy is a two-time winner of the Academy of Country Music Player of the Year (Specialty Instruments), a five-time winner of the MusicRow Award for Best Guitar Player, and has been nominated for the CMA Musician of the Year. The 44-year-old also has his own band named Bering Strait.
Toshinskiy also has dabbled in real estate investment on the last few years, including purchasing a piece of property in the Nashville suburb of in Berry Hill and developing it into five townhomes, as well as purchasing a small downtown office building in March for $2,725,000 to also convert into residences.
Real estate investor Brad Bars played briefly for the New York Giants in the NFL, and has been a part of multiple development projects in Nashville over the last few years, including paying $4 million for a 2.37-acre property near Tennessee State University housing 46 apartment units.
What we do know is the new ownership group will not be able to demolish or significantly change the historic Ernest Tubb Record Shop building at 417 Broadway, which among other uses, once housed a Civil War hospital. In an interview with Saving Country Music in April, the Executive Director of Nashville’s Metro Historical Commission, W. Tim Walker, said the structure is protected by a historical designation.
“It is in a local historical overlay district. It’s in the historic Broadway Preservation District, which runs from 1st to 5th Avenue, and picks up all the properties on both sides of the street,” W. Tim Walker says. “The building cannot be demolished. It’s a contributing, or historic building to that local district.”
Though previous Ernest Tubb Record Shop owner David McCormick has refused to comment to Saving Country Music directly on numerous occasions about the sale and purchase, while commenting on an article here at Saving Country Music on Sunday, May 8th, he did say, “On a lighter note, the record shop will be reopening.”
Recording musician Cliff Gerken also said on May 9th, “Hundreds of news articles…Thousands of fans…Multiple petitions…And wonderful people who love country music and prayed for it’s heritage… Great news! The Ernest Tubb Record Shop is not closing!! They will be reopening soon!! Details will be forthcoming!!”
Cliff Gerken then posted in part Friday evening (7-29), “IT’S ALL OVER!!! MY TWO YEAR NIGHTMARE HAS ENDED. RECORD SHOP WILL NOW BE IN GOOD HANDS WITH ERNEST TUBB, III. I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER. THE ORDER JUST CAME DOWN FROM THE JUDGE. AND INCLUDED AN ORDER FOR THE “BAD GUYS” TO HAND OVER THEIR KEYS.”
Saving Country Music will continue to report on this developing story, and the plans for the building and business of the new ownership group when the information is available and confirmed.
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First opened in 1947 on Commerce St. as a retail enterprise for country legend Ernest Tubb, it moved to its more iconic location on Broadway in 1951. Frustrated at the lack of country records stocked at many retail establishments across the country, instead of complaining about it, Ernest Tubb decided to do something about it, opening up the store right around the corner from the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry was held.
The location also became the venue for the Midnite Jamboree—the official/unofficial afterparty of the Opry every Saturday night. Along with the record shop becoming a landmark, the Midnite Jamboree also became a cultural staple. This is where Loretta Lynn got her big break, and dedicated a song to Patsy Cline as she laid in a hospital bed after a tragic auto accident—just one of many legendary moments in country history facilitated by the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, and the Midnite Jamboree.
Soon both the Ernest Tubb Record Shops, and the Midnite Jamboree became national institutions. Multiple ET Record Shops opened across the country, including in Pigeon Forge, TN and Fort Worth, TX. The Midnite Jamboree was broadcast on WSM in Nashville, and simulcast in scores of markets.
July 29, 2022 @ 8:29 pm
Sure sounds like good news!! It would be great for the future of Nashville to keep it as is, even make it a museum ( which the back part is already).
February 10, 2023 @ 2:05 pm
Is this place turning into a Honky Tonk??
July 29, 2022 @ 10:46 pm
I’m just finishing a two-year long historic preservation job, it has been wild and very rewarding. I hope this project turns out as well both as a builder and country musician. I think this development team is going to make it happen.
July 30, 2022 @ 5:58 am
18 mill for an old three story. Can you say “property bubble”?
July 30, 2022 @ 8:46 am
Location location location LOL.
July 30, 2022 @ 6:18 am
I’m very excited about this news!. This is one of the most historic places in Nashville Tennessee. It’s one of first places I visited when I came here in the fall of 2000. It’s part of Ernest Tubb’s legacy and it must be preserved. It’s a huge part of Downtown Nashville history.
February 29, 2024 @ 2:35 pm
looks like it’s not going to saved.
July 30, 2022 @ 8:09 am
As one of the Ernest Tubb Record store employees (1962-64), I have plenty of good memories and would hate to see the legacy of this place destroyed. David McCormick became my boss in 1963 even though we were the same age. I helped organize the Midnight Jamboree and paid artists their royalty checks, along with being behind the counters to record sales. As a R&B and rock & roll girl, I learned to appreciate and love country music. I was befriended by many of the country artists like Patsy Cline and the ET Troubadours.
July 30, 2022 @ 11:57 am
Curious..How did David McCormick become your boss in 1963 if he didn’t start working at the shop until 1967?
February 10, 2023 @ 2:06 pm
Is this good news that it appears to be a honky tonk??
July 30, 2022 @ 10:28 am
I will continue to pray ????❤️???? that they keep the record shop open because I don’t want our music history to be lost, and when I heard that they were going to close it I took my daughter to Nashville so we could at least see it before it may be lost and it was a sad day for me but it was a great time for me and my daughter to go back to Nashville and see a part of our history because I have taken my girls to Ernest Tubb record shop each time we have been to Nashville so it is like a part of our family tradition PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON’T CLOSE IT
July 30, 2022 @ 12:48 pm
I’m so happy for the good news David!
Marie from Nebraska
July 30, 2022 @ 3:41 pm
Well, first of all, thanks for reporting on the story and giving us an update – and a positive one at that! Let’s hope it all shakes out in a way that I’m sure all of us hopes it does… I.e. – the record store stays open for another 75 years or more…
July 31, 2022 @ 6:57 am
l always believed that they should have made prints of all those autographs they have on the walls and put them in a book for people to buy l would have loved to have one l mentioned it about 8yrs ago to the staff they thought it was a good idea but a big under taking.
July 31, 2022 @ 2:02 pm
I love the history of the place, but I’ve been there probably 10 times and never bought anything. I would say that’s what most folks do. I wouldn’t want to be the bank on the hook for that $18 million dollar note unless it’s somehow guaranteed. As our economy continues to shrink; it seems like a really dumb buy if you intend for it to really be a record store. It seems like a ran down building in need of a bunch of money to restore. My guess is that in 10 years it will be Luke Combs or some other persons restaurant. It’s sad, but that’s just reality.
July 1, 2024 @ 6:18 am
First visit to Nashville and seeing the Record shop closed and abandoned amid the new-age slick-haired Gen Z in plastic boots and over priced sports jerseys for players with no talent made me sick. It was the only place I actually wanted to go on the strip. I had to waft past flat-noted talentless window performers and homeless to even get to it. Imagine the disappointment. My husband and I got off the freak show bar scene by taking a right and stop g at the first bar that didn’t smell like hormones and like and relaxed at the “Loser’s” bar, where we heard deftly-played acoustic and had the first pleasant experience of the evening. Somebody get off their ass and bring this iconic legend back to life so the generations who really know what country music is can come back and regale times when artists actually had talent and not synthesizers. God bless ya’ll. Love from Tx.
July 7, 2024 @ 6:50 pm
I was in there with my parents when it came over the radio that Elvis was found dead.