Nathan Zucker
Flip through the pages of Bill Rouda’s photography book capturing black-and-white scenes from Lower Broadway in the 1990s, and you’d swear the rapture had just happened. Even photos from New Year’s Eve look barren – a night no sane modern-day Nashvillian would dare wander downtown due to crowds.
But this book, Nashville’s Lower Broad: The Street That Music Made documents the beginning of a downtown renaissance. The Ryman had just reopened and missed the whiff of a wrecking ball. The Stage was still an Adult World. And Robert’s had carpet for crying out loud.
We’ve come a long way from those days. Too far, some say. But look past the bachelorettes, the twirling neon signs, and the pedal taverns, and you’ll still find the old soul of Broadway lurking.
Layla’s Bluegrass Inn
Nathan Zucker
Music drew Layla Vartanian to Nashville from Chicago in 1996. She got to know the scene by hanging out at places like Robert’s Western World, where she later tended bar and cooked in the mornings. When the band booked to play Robert’s on New Year’s Eve didn’t show, she stepped into the slot with her man at the time and played “from 6 to 10 that day, 40 days in a row,” she says.
Nathan Zucker
Robert Moore, who owned Robert’s in those years, opened another bar next door—the Bluegrass Inn—where Vartanian and her partner became the main band. Then Moore urged her to take the place over, which she did in 1997 by buying out his inventory for $5,000. They changed the name to Jim and Layla’s Bluegrass Inn. “Then Jim was out,” she says of their split, “and I scratched his name off the window.”
Nathan Zucker
Layla bought the building in 2010, and she remains the only female bar owner/operator downtown with her name on the window. She also encourages musicians to play their original music instead of the covers that blare through the windows of so many other Broadway bars. ”That’s what they’re here for,” she says. And she still takes the stage with various configurations of musicians, too, including an all-female group on Saturdays from 4 to 6 p.m. called Yesterday’s Makeup.
“So,” she says, “here I am.”
418 Broadway, 615-726-2799, laylasnashville.com
Robert’s Western World
Nathan Zucker
If you live in Nashville, you likely know (and have collected) some stories from this old favorite. From the boots along the wall to the beloved bologna sandwiches, to the remarkable rags-to-riches American dream story of JesseLee Jones, who went from Brazilian immigrant scrubbing floors of the General Jackson to country music player to owning the bar. But there are so many layers to the Robert’s legend.
Nathan Zucker
For example, John England and the Western Swingers have played Robert’s Western World every week for 18 years. England’s bandmate Gene “Pappy” Merritts has been there even longer. And Don Kelley of the Don Kelley band has helped groom many a guitar player from the stage. Also still there is Gail Norman, the longest tenured of the bar staff, who has worked Friday and Saturday nights since the 1990s. “We used to park right on the street in front of the club,” England recalls. “It was a little more lonely, but we had a little more people who loved the music.” While other bars might acquiesce toward the trends of the tourists (modern country to pop), Robert’s sticks to its guns with the traditional stuff. “Come along if you want to come along,” says England.
416 Broadway B, 615-244-9552, robertswesternworld.com
Jack’s Bar-B-Que
“When I went down there, it was really a red light district,” says Jack Cawthon,reminiscing about the early days of his Jack’s Bar-B-Que 25 years ago. “You wouldn’t be caught dead on Broadway. I really took a chance down there.”
But Cawthon as visionary felt the area “screamed barbecue.”
Beyond smoked meat and his legendary neon sign of flying pigs, it’s one of the only places in town you can still find corn light bread, a sweeter corn bread baked in a loaf pan. Cawthon, a Franklin native, says the bread has been a tradition in the area, and he first prepared it on the request of a catering client who gave him the recipe. Customers raved, and he’s used the original instructions ever since. “It’s a pain to make,” he says, but at 72 years old, he also shows no signs of slowing, especially with his son poised to carry on the legacy. “We’re gonna keep it going,” he says.
416 Broadway,615-254-5715; jacksbarbque.com
Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge
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Nathan Zucker
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Nathan Zucker
We can’t talk about history on Broadway without talking about Tootsie’s, and we have a woman to thank for launching the landmark. Hattie Louise “Tootsie” Bess bought the place (formerly called Mom’s) in 1960. During the earlier days of Tootsie’s reign, the bar became a watering hole across the alley from the Ryman for the likes of Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Harlon Howard, and Merle Kilgore. As Nelson used to say, “It’s 17 steps to Tootsie’s and 34 back.”
422 Broadway, 615-726-0463, tootsies.net
Ernest Tubb Record Shop
Even with the vinyl records resurgence of late, it’s not easy to keep a record shop afloat in today’s digital world. So imagine making it happen for 45 years. Ernest Tubb Record Shop, founded by its namesake along with partner Charles Mosley, has been a fixture in Nashville since 1947. After Tubb’s death in 1984, David McCormick has shepherded the cause including the Midnight Jamboree, a live radio show recorded from the shop on Saturdays since its inception.
417 Broadway, 615-255-7503, etrecordshop.com
Legends Corner
Nathan Zucker
Ruble Sanderson, a Paducah, Kentucky,native who came to Tennessee in the 1960s, had been in the heating and air business before spotting his opportunity along Broadway. He opened Legends in 1997 not long after the renovation that saved the Ryman behind him and construction of the new arena in front of him.
“And now I’ve lost count of how many hotels are under construction,” he says.
First order of business at Legends: “A good quality sound system and lighting system and good clean restrooms along Broadway for a change,” he recalled.
Nathan Zucker
A few years later he opened The Stage in the former Adult World. “People thought we were nuts,” he says. And then came Second Fiddle and Nashville Crossroads. He also owed the old Gruhn Guitars building, which he sold to Dierks Bentley and partners. (In a full circle of events, he says the country star played Legends when he started out.)
Even as Nashville strains at the seams with tourists, Sanderson still finds his greatest pleasure in hosting out of town guests—especially those from other countries who come for the music. At 83, he also makes his business a family affair with his wife, son, daughter, and grandson involved. But when it’s all said in done, Sanderson gives credit where he believes it’s due:
“Without the musicians coming here,” he says, “there would be no Nashville as we know it.”
428 Broadway, 615-248-6334; legendscorner.com