Robert’s Western World. Nashville Scene readers voted it the Best Honky Tonk in Nashville for eight consecutive years. Rolling Stone profiled it as the last authentic honky-tonk on Broadway. The musicians who come to Nashville specifically to play traditional country music, not to cover Journey hits in a megabar, play there. When Sting and Joe Walsh visit Nashville and want to see a real show, they go to Robert’s.
This is not a close call if you define “best” as the place most fully delivering on what a Nashville honky-tonk is supposed to be. Robert’s is the only venue on Broadway where the mission is unchanged from what the street was before tourism consumed it: traditional country music, cheap drinks, and a room built for listening and dancing without commercial spectacle layered on top.
What Makes Robert’s Work
The building at 416 Broadway previously housed the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company, which built pedal steel guitars in the 1950s and 1960s. Owner Jesse Lee Jones, who has run the bar since 1999, bought it with the explicit purpose of preserving traditional country music on a street that was moving in a different direction. His house band, Brazilbilly, has been playing there for over 30 years.
The music is old-time: Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn. The Recession Special is $6 and includes a fried bologna sandwich, chips, a Moon Pie, and a PBR. Domestic beers are $2.50. The walls are covered with memorabilia rather than branded merchandise. There is no gift shop.
Musicians including Joshua Hedley, who played there consistently for 17 years, and Sarah Gayle Meech, a long-running performer whose versions of classic country standards are genuinely excellent, are the type of artists who make Robert’s the bar it is.
If You Have Different Priorities
If you want the best view of the Cumberland River from a rooftop, Eric Church’s Chief’s at the riverfront end of Broadway offers the most compelling rooftop perspective of the water and Nissan Stadium. The Acme Feed and Seed at 101 Broadway, built in 1890, has a rooftop that looks directly down the strip with the river behind it. Nashville Underground at the far east end near the river has the largest rooftop on Broadway with a double-decker format.
If you want the most historically significant bar other than Robert’s, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge at 422 Broadway has been there since 1960, has launched more country music careers than any other venue on the strip, and still operates three stages in a building that functions as a living museum of the genre’s history.
If you want a full-production modern experience with celebrity branding, rooftop cocktails, and everything built for Instagram, Garth Brooks’ Friends in Low Places at the corner of Third Avenue and Broadway, or Morgan Wallen’s This Bar with its six floors of neon, are the current peak of that format.
The best bar on Broadway for you specifically depends on whether you are there for the music, the view, the story, or the spectacle. For the music, Robert’s is the answer.
Sources
- Rolling Stone, Why Robert’s Western World Is the Last Nashville Honky-Tonk: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/nashville-roberts-western-world-honky-tonk-1234579609/
- Atlas Obscura, Robert’s Western World: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roberts-western-world-nashville
- Nashville Guru, Best Rooftop Bars in Nashville: https://nashvilleguru.com/54030/rooftop-bars-nashville
- The Homebody Tourist, Best Bars on Broadway: https://thehomebodytourist.com/best-bars-on-broadway-in-nashville/