Fun time on Lower Broad.

Brazilbilly performs at Robert's

 by Rod Williams, September 3, 2023- Yesterday I spent the day on lower Broadway and had a blast.
This is the first time I have been downtown to listen to music in months. This is the first time I have been down in the evening in a much longer time. This being a three-day weekend and there being a UT football game in town, I knew Broadway would be crowded and it was, but I enjoyed it.

I went downtown with my good friend and honkytonk buddy Gene Wisdom, about 2:30 in the afternoon. We went to Roberts where the owner of Robert's, Jesse Lee Jones performed with his band Brazilbilly. He has been performing at Roberts for eighteen years. He is great. He does a lot of Marty Robbins songs, and the band does traditional country music with a lot of stuff from the 50's and 60's. In addition to Marty Robbins, when Brazilbilly takes the stage expect to hear a lot of Hank Williams, George Jones, Webb Pierce, and Faron Young. Robert Lee Jones has a pure voice and can hit the high notes on Cattle Call and songs like that. If you were wondering about the name, Jones is an immigrant from Brazil. 

A blurry selfie and me and Gene Wisdom

After standing though a few songs at Robert's we were able to find seats, right down front near the stage on the edge of the dance floor. Gene and I stayed until the set ended about 6PM. I had not been home long until I got a call from my brother who was in town for the UT football game. I had almost had enough of lower Broad for one day but wanted to see my brother and I headed back downtown. I enjoyed some time at Sinatra's where we could talk before heading back to Broadway and more live music.

I know it is popular to hate lower Broadway; I like it. Broadway has changed over the years. I am not a fan of a lot of the bars. Sometimes it is hard to even find real country music on lower Broad and much of what is country is contemporary country which I don't care for. Also, many of the bands are great bar cover bands but sound much like the radio version of the song they are playing. It used to be that most of the bands you would hear around town were real artist who were trying to make it big. It seems there were more people who were great musicians, maybe having played on the road with big name artists, and it seems more of the singers were artist who could make a song their own. You can still find that around town, just not as much on lower Broad, but it is still there too.  Robert's is the best place to hear real county music on Broadway and AJ's is a close second. 

Lower Broad, Sept. 2, 2023

I know not everyone likes Broadway. To each his own. To those who don't like it, you simply don't have to go.  While it may not be the type of entertainment you would enjoy, I don't understand why one would hate it. Tourism brings a lot of money into Nashville, and much of the reason Nashville is a tourist town is because of the lower Broadway experience. Tourists spend money here and then go back home. We are lucky to have them.  Tourists love this town, or we wouldn't have so many of them. As to not liking the bachelorette parties, I cannot fathom why one would object to bachelorette parties as does candidate for mayor Freddie O'Connell. I like the bachelorettes, I like the money tourist spend in Nashville, I like to see people enjoy themselves, and glad the Nashville experience brings people joy. 

I wore my Alice Rolli for mayor ball cap yesterday and got some good comments, thumbs up, and fist bumps. 

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