The Man Who Rescued The Ernest Tubb Record Shop the 1st Time

This story has been updated.
In the continuing effort to keep the concern for the impending sale of the historic Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Lower Broadway in Nashville top of mind on what’s it’s 75th Anniversary (May 3rd), and while talking to former employees, customers, and boosters of the Record Shop, and even the Executive Director of Nashville’s Metro Historical Commission, W. Tim Walker about the dilemma, one person’s name kept coming up in discussion: Terry Tyson.
Terry Tyson was the manager of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop from early 2018 until early 2020. In that time, the Record Shop went from being chronically understocked and under-managed, to once again becoming a hopping destination spot in on one of Nashville’s most bustling areas. So in the interest of trying to workshop ideas and solutions for how to save the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, I reached out to Terry Tyson to ask him about his time as manager, and what might could be done to secure the business for the future.
Originally from near Boise, Idaho, Terry Tyson moved to Nashville in July of 1999. He wasn’t an aspiring country music performer or songwriter, but as a passionate fan, he knew he wanted to be involved with country music somehow, hoping to maybe land a job at the Grand Ole Opry, The Country Music Hall of Fame, or the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, recognizing these places as the most important legacy institutions to country music’s history.
When Tyson arrived in Nashville though—as will happen—life got in the way, and the business of paying bills became the priority. He ended up working as a manager for Lowe’s Home Improvement for 17 years, and interacting with the country music world in his spare time. While attending the Midnite Jamboree one evening, Terry Tyson met the long-time owner of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, David McCormick, and they became friends. Over the years, McCormick would say Terry could come work at the Record Shop if he wanted. But of course, working at a record store doesn’t come with the same kind of pay or benefits as working as a manger for Lowe’s. But in 2017, Tyson finally had enough of the big box world, quit Lowe’s, and rang up David McCormick.

Terry Tyson didn’t start as a manager at the Record Shop. He was hired temporarily to help build out the Loretta Lynn display in the back of the store, commemorating the moments that helped launch Loretta’s career from that location via her appearances on the Midnite Jamboree radio program. Tyson was a good candidate for the job, because he had a good rapport with the Loretta Lynn camp after working as Loretta’s merchandise manager in 2004. He received minimal pay for the project, but it was a labor of love.
At that time, the Record Shop didn’t have a manager. The previous manager had committed suicide, leaving the spot vacant. But David McCormick was so impressed with Tyson’s work on the Loretta Lynn display, he offered Tyson the spot in early 2018. Terry Tyson was very happy, but the job was also very harrowing due to owner David McCormick’s notoriously overbearing nature over his managers.
“Right away after I went to work for him I started getting the crazy emails, and a lot of hate came at me from nowhere,” Tyson explains. “And all the women who had been there forever told me, ‘Don’t let it get you down. We need you here. Just let it roll off your shoulders.’ And I did. I knew I was doing really good for the shop. The shop was seeing huge numbers and success coming in. I knew how to manage something, and I loved what I was doing. I went out and invited artists to come in for photo shoots, album release parties, pop up stores, just everything I could. I’d go over to the Hall of Fame for meet and greets and stand in line, and ask the artists if they wanted to do something with the Record Shop. I took the dead Facebook and Instagram pages and got them popping, and really started to get some movement going to make the Ernest Tubb Record Shop a real destination point.”
Terry Tyson turned the Record Store into a hopping store front once again, and was also was responsible for getting the store restocked, and with more profitable merchandise. “We’d make orders and sell it, sell it, sell it, and in increments we kept ordering a little more, make a little more money, order a little bit more until we really had that store stocked,” Tyson says.
Tyson also had a display case built so the memorabilia from the Music Valley location of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop that closed in 2016 could be put on display. He would drive out to Loretta Lynn’s ranch once a month, and load up his car with Loretta merch to stock the Record Shop with, and designed custom merch for the Record Shop. Terry Tyson’s experience in retail at Lowe’s, combined with his passion for country music is what made him such a savvy manager.

“I really worked hard to get people down there for Fan Fair events, book signings, meet and greets, everything I could … I worked and managed that store from the cash register. I didn’t have an office in the back. I didn’t sit downstairs. I stood there at the cash register, rung up people’s orders, turned around and ordered product, and ran the store from the front counter.”
But according to Tyson, nothing seemed to satisfy McCormick. Tyson was commonly working 6 and 7 days a week, and upwards of 50 and 60 hours a week, and would still receive emails from McCormick complaining about how he wasn’t working enough. “But it was a labor of love. None of us were working there for the money,” says Tyson. “I thought often that I needed a career that’s going to pay me well, a 401K, some insurance, benefits, paid parking. I wasn’t getting any of that, but the whole time I was thinking that I have a really awesome job here with a wonderful responsibility, and I didn’t want to walk away from that either. I wanted to ride that out. I thought I may retire a poor broke man, but I love what I’m doing.”
Then after working for David McCormick and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop for two years, Terry Tyson was terminated in a late night email. “People kept telling me that David doesn’t keep a manager here for any more than two years. I kept just blowing it off and thinking, ‘We’re gonna work through this.’ And it was exactly two years and one day after he hired me that he terminated me.”
It was in the wake of the Terry Tyson firing that the owner of Robert’s Western World, JesseLee Jones, decided to help David McCormick with the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, and eventually the two entered into a partnership to purchase the business and property. It’s that deal between David McCormick and JesseLee Jones going sideways and ending up in the courts that has resulted in the impending sale of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, putting the future of the business in peril.
“I think that none of this would be happening today if he hadn’t fired me. I’d be there, and we’d be rockin’ and rollin’,” says Terry. And many of the people who you talk to about the Record Shop feel the same way. Along with being well-known among many country legends, Terry Tyson also helped to restore Hank Snow’s Rainbow Ranch in Madison. He currently works as the merchandise manager for Richards & Southern, which is a merchandising company that does the concert merch for many big country artists and bands.
As for the future of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Terry Tyson says,
“I think in order to save it where it’s at, you’d have to have someone who’s buying it putting money behind it because they believe in the historic merit of the building, and know they may not get a huge return on their investment, but they’re doing something to save this landmark, and save this institution the Ernest Tubb started. I think the store could make money, but it needs to have someone who believes in it, and let myself or someone manage that place and really let them go.”
Hopefully, that benefactor will present himself once the Ernest Tubb Record Shop is officially put up for sale. Located at 417 Broadway in Nashville, the business was first opened on May 3rd, 1947, and has been at its current location since 1951. The building itself dates back to the 1850’s, and was once used as a Civil War hospital.
To celebrate the 75th Anniversary, the store is opening again for a celebration.
“We turn 75 years old today. On May 3, 1947, Mr. Tubb opened the doors to his vision and no one could have known the impact he and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop would have on the music landscape. Tonight we celebrate Mr. Tubb with a very special Midnite Jamboree at 7pm. We have some great guests lined up and 75th merch that will be available during the Jamboree. Our doors open at noon and they will close at 6pm to prepare for the taping. The doors will re-open and 7pm and we’ll all celebrate the way Mr. Tubb would have wanted, with world class musicians and some good old fashioned live music.”
No word as of yet of when the actual sale will transpire.
UPDATE (5/7/2022): After the posting of this article, David McCormick has responded in a comment,
“The comments made my Mr. Tyson are absolutely NOT TRUE. He was not a ‘Savior’ of the shop. The shop was not in bad financial condition at all nor was it poorly stocked. He is a ‘disgruntled’ because he was terminated simply because he decided to take a ‘extended vacation’ without letting anyone know where he was or when he would return. While he did a good job, he was never hired just to add the Loretta Lynn edition. That came later after his employment began. Too bad he has chosen to lie about his termination. I never did anything but support his employment as “manager” of the shop and certainly nothing more. He had no clue as to the financial status of the shop (which was fine and the time of his employment) nor making decisions that most ‘management’ positions make. I hate Terry wasn’t there that long and made the decision to leave himself. I thought he could have worked out and been a valuable asset to the shop. Why he has chosen to bad mouth me, I don’t understand. I have no bad feelings toward him and totally supported him during his tenure with the shop and will always wish him the best.
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Stay tuned to Saving Country Music for continuing developments on the sale of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. To sign the petition to save the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, CLICK HERE.
May 3, 2022 @ 12:16 pm
I’m gonna get flack for this, but how much can a legacy remain intact when it’s basically just a ‘Gift Shop’ now? It’s long past the time it served it’s purpose as a record shop. Is there a way to honor the past without propping up the dead corpse? The old Sho-Bud store which has been Roberts for decades, was a hugely significant place for country music. Many stories are on the steelguitarforum website. Roberts is the only establishment still carrying the torch for classic country and I’d argue that Roberts is doing more to keep country alive than if it was a still kept a Steel Guitar store.
May 3, 2022 @ 12:52 pm
The fastest-growing portion of the music economy at the moment is vinyl records. I don’t think we should think of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop as basically a gift shop, though actually adding little tickets and T-shirts for tourists to buy is probably an important part of that business. I didn’t put this in the article, but I was talking with Terry about the third floor of the building. There’s an entire floor that is completely un-utilized at the moment. It could be an event space, and Speakeasy-style honky-tonk, all kinds of stuff. What I wanted to underscore with this article and what Terry Tyson pointed out is that the business is salvageable, but you’re going to have to put people in place who are passionate about the business, as well as business savvy who know how to run it profitably.
May 3, 2022 @ 4:15 pm
Based on square footage downtown I don’t think there is any way the profit from a record store would come anywhere close to that of a Honkytonk. Intervention from the city making it a historical landmark would be the only option. It doesnt seem that anyone looking to make money would be interested in that.
May 4, 2022 @ 5:09 am
As being s singer and writer i think the record store should stay there as a memory of real country music. We have very little real country music as the new singers and their music. I am 81 and remember coming to Nashville every year for Dj convention back in the 70s before pop country took over
May 4, 2022 @ 11:36 am
Trig wrote in another piece (I’m paraphrasing, not quoting) The BUILDING is already designated historical, but the BUSINESS isn’t. The govt official Trig talked to basically said they don’t have a mechanism to protect a business like that.
May 4, 2022 @ 12:13 pm
Yes, according to Executive Director of Nashville’s Metro Historical Commission, W. Tim Walker, the building is already protected in the Broadway Preservation District. The business, however, is not something they have a mechanism to protect at this point.
But what I keep pointing out is, who is going to come in and move the Ernest Tubb Record Shop out? If Walker Hayes tries to put an Applebee’s-themed club there, the backlash from the public will be massive. Whomever buys that property will have a hard time finding a new tenant.
May 3, 2022 @ 7:30 pm
I had a chance to see Nashville and the historic landmarks before it turned into the drunken shit hole it is now. A bunch of money grabbing assholes that don’t give a Damm about the history or the soul of country music have set up shop and are destroying it.
May 3, 2022 @ 8:26 pm
Broadway had been a shithole for decades before this. From the 70’s thru the 90’s it was mostly dirty book stores, liquor stores, and loan companies with a few music clubs sprinkled in. Now it’s becoming the LA of the South. It was never an enclave of culturally benevolent entrepreneurs.
May 4, 2022 @ 4:14 pm
Eric I am well aware of Broadway history. As for culturely aware entreprenuers those are your words not mine. When the resurrection began the city had a chance to legislate the proper way to develop the historical aspects thru historic designations. But as always the powers that be were the greedy entreprenuers. LA of the south? Take a look at LA enough said.
May 5, 2022 @ 5:56 am
The sad thing is, I don’t know that this is true among the mass of folks touring down there these days. While the old school / die hard folks will flip, and the media might cover something like that for awhile, locally at least, I honestly believe if you polled the average tourist and asked them if they’d go to a Walker Hayes’ Applebees (or equivalent!) they’d say yes; then if you asked: “Even if it replaces the Ernest Tubb Record Shop?” I honestly believe they’d say: “The WHAT?” Not saying it’s RIGHT, just saying I believe this to be true.
May 3, 2022 @ 8:21 pm
Like trigger and Mr. Tyson said, it isn’t a place for someone that wants to turn a big profit. It’s for someone that already has a fair amount of cash and cares about the history of country music.
May 4, 2022 @ 4:15 pm
Well said
May 3, 2022 @ 8:44 pm
The shop would not be in the mess its in now if David McCormick wasn’t such a mental basket case. Now after all these years his true character is coming to light. I can guarantee that he was fine with selling to Jesse then later had a case of “sellers remorse”. Now it has to be sold. He is well known for firing someone over email because he doesn’t have the balls to say it to their face. How Mr.Tubb put up with his nonsense for years is beyond me.
May 4, 2022 @ 8:29 am
I don’t know anything about McCormick other than what Trig’s reported on, but that’s the exact conclusion I got. It sounds like this guy was purposefully trying to fuck up this business.
I commented on one of Trig’s other articles about this place and noted that I visit record shops all over. I see them dead, but also see successful ones that keep their places busy. It sounds like Terry Tyson was doing all the things needed for this place to succeed, and it would be in a much better place if he was allowed to do his thing without an insane boss sabotaging him.
May 4, 2022 @ 10:05 am
I just have to say that no matter what anyone says about David McCormick, if it wasn’t for him, there is no question the Ernest Tubb Record Shop would have closed decades ago. Even the people that I have spoken to about the Record Shop over the years, and the last couple of months specifically who are staunch defenders of David will all admit that he can be moody, emotional, bipolar, and tough to work with. But he is THE guy who kept the thing going, even when it was hemorrhaging money and he could and maybe should have closed it. I just have to say that. This situation with the Record Shop is very complex, and so is David McCormick, and how we should all consider him.
May 4, 2022 @ 10:29 am
Thanks for the additional context! If his heart was in the right place, that’s great, although it makes the story even weirder to me. Like I noted above, it almost seems like he was intentionally making that a toxic place to work; but I don’t know him or his motivations.
May 4, 2022 @ 5:09 pm
I have known David for many, many years and yes COMPLEX is the perfect word to describe him and this mess the record shop is in. I will just leave it at that.
May 5, 2022 @ 6:36 am
This is all just a sad mess that is likely going to end up as Trig mentioned a Hayes Applebee’s club, I hope the best for a future
for this icon unlike what Nashville has already turned into, though I don’t think the time clock is going back in reverse. Trigger mentioned “Whomever buys that property will have a hard time finding a new tenant” I don’t believe this at all, go do a poll of 1000 folks on music row and I’ll bet only a handful even know what the record store’s history is or even care about it’s future for that matter, they just want another overpriced (insert celebrity name) owned “honky tonk”.
May 5, 2022 @ 3:13 pm
I remember reading several years ago that David was brutally attacked at his home one night by an intruder. The story was pushed under the rug fairly quickly and there was a lot of gossip about it, but no real facts other than theories and hearsay. But I do know that David suffered a very bad head injury from the attack and nearly died. I’m curious if his mental illness started before or after the head injury?
I know that Ernest Tubb himself must have though a lot of David because in the late 1970s, he created a will that said in the event of his death, the record shop shares would be divided between Charles Mosley (ET’s longtime business partner), David McCormick, and Justin Tubb. Charles was the first to pass away. Then E.T. himself. That left David and Justin as the owners. Justin began having a lot of financial problems due to settling his dad’s estate, and declared bankruptcy around 1992 or 1993. This is when David bought out Justin’s share of the shop, and became the sole owner. Justin continued to host the Jamboree until 1995 when he and David had a big falling out not long after the Texas Troubadour Theater opened. (You can fact check all of this in Ronnie Pugh’s wonderful “Ernest Tubb: The Texas Troubadour” biography).
So regardless what anyone says about David McCormick, we shouldn’t forget that Ernest himself chose David as one of his “heirs” to to speak. Ernest wouldn’t have signed over the shop to just anyone. I don’t know anything about David’s mental state prior to his physical attack, but I wonder if its all a result of that?
As for Terry Tyson, kudos to him for keeping the shop going while he had a chance. And I greatly appreciated him keeping it COUNTRY. The new management that took over after Jesse got ahold of the place spent more time advertising Michael Jackson and Rolling Stones records than they did country music.
May 7, 2022 @ 5:49 pm
The comments made my Mr. Tyson are absolutely NOT TRUE. He was not a “Savior” of the shop. The shop was not in bad financial condition at all nor was it poorly stocked. He is a “disgruntled” because he was terminated simply because he decided to take a “extended vacation” without letting anyone know where he was or when he would return.” While he did a good job, he was never hired just to add the Loretta Lynn edition. That came later after his employment began. Too bad he has chosen to lie about his termination. I never did anything but support his employment as “manager” of the shop and certainly nothing more. He had no clue as to the financial status of the shop (which was fine and the time of his employment) nor making decisions that most “management” positions make. I hate Terry wasn’t there that long and made the decision to leave himself. I thought he could have worked out and been a valuable asset to the shop. Why he has chosen to bad mouth me, I don’t understand. I have no bad feelings toward him and totally supported him during his tenure with the shop and will always wish him the best.
May 7, 2022 @ 9:44 pm
Hello David,
Thanks for chiming in. I have added your comment here to the body of the article as a rebuttal. As always, I am more than happy to speak to you about this matter and others about the Record Shop.
May 7, 2022 @ 6:01 pm
The only person to ever “rescue” the record shop was Mr. Charles E. Mosely who Mr. Tubb made a full partner in 1948 after a recorded loss of $50.000 which would be about $500.00 today! In 1948, there were only 78’s. They were in the “learning process” of how to mail out product. Many 78’s were broken in the mail. All of them were replaced and the shop sustained massive losses due to this. Thankfully for Mr. Mosley (who has never been given proper acknowledgement for getting the shop back on track and making it successful until his death in 1980. There is but ONE who can be truthfully recognized for being the man that really “rescued” the record shop and no one else. Certainly Mr. Tyson could never qualify for this. I’m so sorry this his comment comes from anger for his termination and hatred toward me. I only wish him the best and am grateful for his service to the shop.
May 19, 2022 @ 3:50 pm
From your comments, I am struck by the perception that it’s seems to be all about you. You show very little humility.
May 19, 2022 @ 11:54 pm
IT HAS NEVER BEEN ABOUT ME…IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MR. ERNEST TUBB
I GAVE HIM 53 YEARS. THERE IS TAPED INTERVIEW WITH HIM WHEN HE
STATED “THE RECORD SHOPS HAVE EXCEEDED ALL OF HIS EXPETATIONS!!