An appreciation of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville–but not in the way you might think

If you’ve ever done the stroll along Broadway in Nashville, you must have walked past the famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop, country music’s most important record store. Founded in 1947 and located to its present spot in 1951, it’s one of the must-visit places along that strip. Now, though, it’s closing forever due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

Me and my friends will miss this place, not because we were fans of country music but because of a ritual we developed over the years.

Whenever one of us were in town, the routine was to go into the store and ask “Do you have any records by The Good Ol’ Boys?” This drove the people at the store nuts because no such band existed; we were referring to this from The Blues Brothers.

More than one of us was shown the door after making our regular request. Things were stepped up a notch when one of the guys created a record separator card for the racks clearly labeled “Good Ol’ Boys.” He then took it to the counter and said “Excuse me, sir. I notice that you’re out of stock of Good Ol’ Boys records. Do you perhaps have any in the back?” That didn’t go over well.

Now that Ernest Tubb is closing, we can’t help wondering if they had stocked more Good Ol’ Boys they might have survived.