Ernest Tubb’s Midnite Jamboree

Texas Troubadour Ernest Tubb started a tradition when he set up a live radio show at the back of his Broadway record shop. The show was broadcast after the Opry [1] shut down across the street, and it lived up to its name, the Midnite Jamboree.

The Midnite Jamboree continues, now broadcast from the Texas Troubadour Theatre (Music Valley Village, 2416 Music Valley Dr., 615/889-2472, www.ernesttubb.com [2], no cover). Located across the street from the Opryland Hotel [3], the Jamboree gets started early in the evening, while the Opry is still on, but things really get swinging after midnight.

The Texas Troubadour Theatre is also home to the Cowboy Church (2416 Music Valley Dr., 615/859-1001, www.nashvillecowboychurch.org [4]). Every Sunday morning at 10 a.m., locals and tourists dressed in anything from shorts to Stetsons gather here for a lively praise-and-worship country gospel church service led by Dr. Harry Yates and Dr. Joanne Cash Yates. The church was founded in 1990 with just six souls; today it attracts hundreds to its weekly services. Country and gospel music legends make cameo performances now and again, but the real star is Jesus.