Owner of Robert’s Western World Buys Ernest Tubb Record Shop
The owner of one of the last remaining true honky tonks on Lower Broadway in Nashville’s downtown entertainment district has purchased one of the most iconic and historical businesses that happens to sit right across the street. JesseLee Jones—owner of Robert’s Western World and the lead singer of the Brazilbilly band—has purchased the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.
First opened by Ernest Tubb in 1947 after he became frustrated at the lack of records for sale from country musicians, and moved to its current location at 417 Broadway in 1951, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop is a landmark, and a historical marker for many with its famous revolving sign. The purchase includes the building, and the business.
The purchase also reportedly includes the WSM radio program the Midnite Jamboree which broadcasts after the Saturday night Opry program, currently from the Texas Troubadour Theater, and previously from the record store itself, giving rise to many memorable country music moments, including Loretta Lynn once dedicating a song to Patsy Cline while she was in the hospital after an automobile accident.
The purchase also reportedly includes Ernest Tubb’s antique bus, “The Green Hornet,” which sits in a strip mall in Music Valley across the street from Gaylord Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry east of downtown. The bus is literally built into the building, which used to house another location of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, but was closed down in March of 2016.
“The city is going through a lot of changes, and someone has got to hold the torch for old-school Nashville,” JesseLee Jones told the Nashville Post. “Robert’s is the undisputed home for traditional country music. Having been on the side of traditional country music, which made Music City, it just makes sense to continue that tradition by my buying the Earnest Tubb Record Shop business and building. My purpose is to protect, promote and preserve this great history. So this just made sense that Robert’s and Ernest Tubb be strong, be one and be family to perpetuate the tradition. Ernest Tubb Record Shops will be here for another 52 years, if it’s up to me.”
The building sold for $4.75 million according to local records, though it is undetermined if that purchase price also included the business itself. That is quite the return on investment for the previous owner, David McCormick, who purchased the building and the property for $128,000 in 1992 when Lower Broadway was at a low point. After the shuttering of the Ryman Auditorium in 1974, the area became mostly abandoned, with dirty bookstores and pawn shops moving into many of the buildings that once supported music-oriented businesses. In the mid 90’s, the area began to be revitalized by businesses like Robert’s.
In 2015, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop business began suffering from financial concerns, with the Midnite Jamboree being suspended on WSM for a short period, and customers noticing bare shelves at both locations of the iconic record store. However after closing the Music Valley location and focusing more on the Lower Broadway store with store takeovers for important releases and other promotions, the store came back.
At one point there were numerous Ernest Tubb Record stores across the country, including in Pigeon Forge, TN and Fort Worth, TX. But the Lower Broadway location is the final one, which will now be in the hands of secure ownership for the foreseeable future.
August 20, 2020 @ 8:26 am
Cool. Glad it’s going to be around a while.
Our bandleader did a podcast from there not too long ago. Check the link.
August 20, 2020 @ 8:33 am
This is great fucking news. Now if we can just get Jesse Lee to buy all of broadway we’ll be in business 🙂
August 20, 2020 @ 8:38 am
Good to hear. I’ve never been to Nashville but my wife and I want to make a trip coming up. I’d like to see all these historic country music buildings before they’re gone
August 20, 2020 @ 8:48 am
Good to know. I’ve never been to Nashville and we were going to go for vacation this year before the zombie apocalypse hit. Hopefully 2021…
August 20, 2020 @ 11:32 am
I grew up going to the Opry at the old Ryman Auditorium, then to the Ernest Tubb Record shop for the Midnight Jamboree after the Opry. So glad to see it continue. “The Green Hornet” was also my dad’s home away from home where he spent many, many miles traveling the roads all over the U.S. with Ernest and other fellow Troubadours. I’ve spent many hours on the bus with my family as well. I hope the new owner will honor both the business and the Green Hornet!
August 20, 2020 @ 11:39 am
Go Jesse Lee! So glad we have people like you who genuinely get it. You wanna keep tradition alive. And your not afraid to take some risk to do that. I applaud you. One of the good guys in Nashville for sure.
August 20, 2020 @ 12:37 pm
This is great news! I love to see people seizing the initiative. Let’s help make them successful so that in three years there will be another purchase, then another, then another, until country music has not just one home, but a whole city.
August 21, 2020 @ 4:25 am
Oh no you mean it’s going to still be there? I was so looking forward to it becoming another place where I could go get a broccoli and banana low-sodium sugar-free organically harvested free-traded politically correct caffeine free soy latte!
August 21, 2020 @ 4:55 am
Good on ya, Mr Jones! Robert’s is one of the few places that makes Nashville worth visiting anyway.
August 21, 2020 @ 7:39 am
On my trips to Nashville, I have spent many hours and much money in Ernest Tubb’s record shop. Often getting to meet many a star there to play a few songs. It is a great part of Nashville’s legacy. It will be challenging for it to succeed with the rise in downloads. I hope it does. I still prefer to buy a CD and browsing for the rare and new releases has always been fun. Good luck to the buyer.
August 21, 2020 @ 7:16 pm
Where did the “another 52 years” come from? The record shop has been around 73 years by my count.
Also, any word on Mr. McCormick? Is he still in bad health? I was a clerk at the Music Valley location many years ago, and worked at the broadway location, downstairs, taking mail orders over the land line.
August 21, 2020 @ 7:39 pm
I was wondering about the 52-year reference myself. Don’t really have an answer.
No word on McCormick’s health. Last time I heard he was gravely ill in 2015 from Eddie Stubbs. Obviously he recovered.
November 3, 2020 @ 9:30 am
Ike: How are you doing? Playing music anywhere?
August 21, 2020 @ 7:21 pm
This is great news.
I was fearful that the store would collapse and close,
I’ve spent a lot of time and money there over the years.
August 22, 2020 @ 1:04 am
Congratulations! You have proven your loyalty to Nashville and country music through the years. As a child that section of Broadway means a lot to me and my family there is a lot of history there. Once again you have our love and support.
August 22, 2020 @ 4:56 pm
My buddy gave me a Tubbs’ key chain from a recent visit. Carry it with me always.
August 23, 2020 @ 1:22 am
Have been to these shops every time we goes to Nashville and very glad we can continue to do so. Greetings from Norway!????????
August 24, 2020 @ 5:29 pm
Thank you Jesse Lee Jones. With you as the new owner, the shop is in good hands!
August 25, 2020 @ 5:30 am
Thank you, Jesse Lee Jones, for making this purchase and for your commitment to preserving Country Music. Traveling to Nashville and visiting the Ernest Tubb Records shops, Roberts, WSM Radio inside the Opryland hotel, etc. has been a part of our lives for many, many years. This is such good news and we are sending our Support and Appreciation to this new owner, Jesse Lee.
January 14, 2022 @ 12:12 pm
This would be great to see some of the Good Ole Days brought back to present day Downtown
For people who remember them and the rest who just heard about them