Famed Nashville record shop sign to remain standing
By Gregory “Highway” Hasman
The Ernest Tubb Record Shop was the place to buy the latest albums from Mr. Tubb, Hank Williams, and other country western artists.
When I lived in Texas years ago, I bought CDs of artists like Williams at its location in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Little did I know then that was just a satellite location. The original was, where else, in Nashville, Tennessee.
This year, the Nashville location closed its doors and the property’s ownership changed hands. While there is some uncertainty about the property’s future, one thing is certain: the iconic sign will continue to stay up.
Plans for the former record shop are not being discussed publicly, an unidentified representative with Creative Investments (one of the property investors) said in an email. “But I can assure you that the iconic sign will remain, and the Ernest Tubb name will remain on Broadway.”
A must-see on Broadway
Ernest Tubb and his tax accountant Charles Mosley opened the record shop at 720 Commerce St. in 1947.
After being seduced by the iconic guitar-shaped neon sign (the original sign was replaced by the current sign in the mid-1960s. The original is exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum), people came in and saw a plethora of records along with an “an eye-catching photo collection” and a large bronze horse head that was a gift from the Ernest Tubb Fan Club, the July 1947 issue of The Bill Boyd Ranch House News reported.
Four years later, in 1951, the business moved to its 417 Broadway location around the corner from the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry once took place. Its location down Broadway would become appropriate since parts of Broadway became known as the Honky Tonk Highway, an area where people can go from place-to-place and sample a variety of country music. (Satellite record shop locations later opened in Fort Worth and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, before eventually closing.)
The Ernest Tubb Record Shop was not just a place to buy a .45. It was where the Midnite Jamboree, a radio program lunched by Mr. Tubb that aired after Saturday night broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, took place. It was not unusual to see Tubb’s fans that night head for the record shop where they were treated to a show “by the man himself (perhaps he performed “My Tennessee Baby”) and his guest stars,” the January 1957 Country & Western Jamboree reported.
The Midnite Jamboree would move to multiple locations before coming back to the record shop in 2021. During the years the Jamboree was away, however, the record shop continued to be a popular destination for visitors. It not only housed music to purchase, but dozens of photographs and pieces of memorabilia such as the Coca-Cola boxes the late Loretta Lynn stood on while attending a Midnite Jamboree.
But like many things, the shop’s run would come to an end.
A change in ownership
The Ernest Tubb Record Shop closed in May 2022 and was later sold to a group of investors (Creative Investments co-founder Brad Bars, Ernest Tubb’s grandson Dale Tubb and Russian-born, local-based musician Ilya Toshinskiy) for about $18.3 million. The 3-story historic building and the 0.08-acre parcel it sits on works out to roughly $2,000 per sq. foot. The inventory and fixtures inside the establishment were sold for an undisclosed amount.
The record shop seller was an LLC affiliated with JesseLee Jones, owner of Robert’s Western World. In August 2020, Jones bought the building and the record shop business for $4.75 million from long-time friend and former record shop manager, David McCormick. McCormick had acquired the building and property in 1992 for $128,000, the Nashville Post reported.
Who knows what will replace the iconic business in the heart of downtown Nashville, but at least people can continue to stroll down the Honky Tonk Highway, grab their camera phones and capture the iconic Ernest Tubb Record Shop sign as they listen to an endless stream of country western music.