{"id":26072,"date":"2024-08-11T13:59:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T19:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nashvilles-iconic-honky-tonk-hosts-booze-free-gospel-hour\/"},"modified":"2024-08-11T19:59:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T19:59:45","slug":"nashvilles-iconic-honky-tonk-hosts-booze-free-gospel-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/nashvilles-iconic-honky-tonk-hosts-booze-free-gospel-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville\u2019s iconic honky-tonk hosts booze-free Gospel hour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Crosses
Crosses hang from one of the walls at the Rev. Ron Blakely\u2019s home near Watertown, Tenn., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2013 Robert\u2019s Western World is known as Nashville\u2019s most authentic honky-tonk and synonymous with country music. But for an hour on Sundays, no one can drink alcohol; everyone must listen to Christian music.<\/p>\n

This is \u201cSunday Gospel Hour\u201d in the Tennessee capital known as Music City.<\/p>\n

For nearly 20 years, worship at this honky-tonk<\/a> has been led by the Rev. Ron Blakely \u2013 a 71-year-old musician and Catholic convert who was ordained a priest in another faith tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a blessing,\u201d he said of his weekly gig. He was interviewed at his log cabin in the outskirts of Nashville where he rehearsed before the Sunday service with sheet music and Scripture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like I got a board of elders and I have to meet all the money to pay the bills,\u201d he said, comparing it to regular houses of worship. \u201cI\u2019m just there, playing my guitar and giving the message that God puts in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent Sunday, he strummed his guitar, wearing a black crucifix and white cowboy hat, while his daughter, Mimi Fischer, sang Patsy Cline\u2019s \u201cLife\u2019s Railway to Heaven\u201d in an angelic voice that moved some to tears. The stage was decorated with a fluttering U.S. flag.<\/p>\n

\"A
A group of people at Nashville\u2019s Robert\u2019s Western World listen to Christian music and words led by the Rev. Ron Blakely during Sunday Gospel Hour on July 28 in Nashville. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHer voice was just beautiful,\u201d said Sonia Davis, 53, a nurse visiting with her husband from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She didn\u2019t know about the Gospel Hour until she walked into Robert\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cry a lot,\u201d she said, chuckling and wiping tears after the show-turned-worship. \u201cI feel other people\u2019s emotions, and I felt there was a lot of emotion from hearing her, and the whole band, and the fact that she was performing with her father, and it was family.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was past 11 a.m. on Sunday, when many Americans are in their churches, sitting on wooden pews.<\/p>\n

At Robert\u2019s, some locals and dozens of tourists from across the nation instead found their church sitting on the bar stools of this beloved honky-tonk. It is on Lower Broadway across from Garth Brooks\u2019 multilevel entertainment space and just steps from the Ryman Auditorium \u2013 the so-called Mother Church of Country Music.<\/p>\n

Outside, partying bachelorettes and country lovers on a musical pilgrimage strolled through a packed Broadway of bars blasting live music. Inside, tourists and locals, including children (open to all until 6 p.m.; 21+ after), fidgeted on their chairs. Some seemed moved by the spirit, Christian\/country classics \u2013 or both. So, they sang along, clapped and even prayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sing those songs, I want for people who hear them to have a glimpse of what it is to feel and follow Jesus,\u201d said Fischer, who was joined that Sunday by his daughter Skyler, in charge of the red tip jar that later was passed around to the audience.<\/p>\n

Around them, posters and framed photos of musicians, neon signs for bourbon and beer and shelves lined with cowboy boots \u2013 a remnant of the locale\u2019s previous life: a boot and clothing store called Rhinestone Western Wear. At one point the building also housed the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company where a then-struggling country singer and pig farm owner bought what would become the legendary guitar named Trigger before he was universally known as Willie Nelson.<\/p>\n

These days, Robert\u2019s is proudly known for its no frills style as one of the last bastions of traditional country music and often stands out from the many brightly lit, TV-tuning bars on Honky Tonk row. It is home of the ($6) \u201cRecession Special\u201d with its famous fried bologna sandwich, Moon Pie, potato chips and a Pabst Blue Ribbon, although on Sundays drinkers must wait to get their beer after the worship service.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can hang for the entire service and then get a beer,\u201d said John McTigue III, the band\u2019s drummer and Blakley\u2019s best friend since they met outside Robert\u2019s more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people might come to visit or might have been there the night before. And they come back again, and they don\u2019t even know that there\u2019s a service going on,\u201d McTigue said. \u201cAnd once they\u2019re in there, they realize what it is \u2013 and \u2026 don\u2019t feel any judgment, pressure to stay there or get up and say anything. It\u2019s just a place to enjoy the spirit of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s is owned by JesseLee Jones, a Brazil-born longtime Nashville resident and the leader of the honky-tonk\u2019s house band, \u201cBrazilbilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The devout Christian likes to say that it\u2019s not about the building \u2013 for you can find God anywhere \u2013 and he doesn\u2019t mind losing money for a sober hour (or two) if \u201cFather Ron\u201d as he still calls him, can help everyone at Robert\u2019s have \u201cchurch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving church on Sunday brings a certain spirit into this place,\u201d Jones said at a storage space above the bar surrounded by boxes of beer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s bar.\u2019 Well, I beg to differ \u2013 Robert\u2019s is not a bar. It\u2019s a honky-tonk. Yeah, we sell beer and liquor, because we\u2019re in business. \u2026 But we ain\u2019t got no televisions on the walls. It\u2019s traditional country music from the time it opens, to the time it closes. \u2026 You have church services on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mimi
Mimi Fischer, right, and her father, the Rev. Ron Blakely, leave Robert\u2019s Western World after the Gospel Hour held at the Nashville honky tonk on July 28 in Nashville. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Rev. Ron Blakely rehearses with sheet music and Scripture for his Sunday Gospel Hour at Robert\u2019s Western World honky tonk at his log cabin home near Watertown, Tenn. next to his dog Ope on Friday, July 26, 2024. ((Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Rev. Ron Blakely looks at black and white photos of his parents, musicians Jimmy and Dorothy Blakly, at his log cabin home near Watertown, Tenn., on Friday, July 26, 2024. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Rev. Ron Blakely smiles on stage during the Sunday Gospel Hour that he leads at Robert\u2019s Western World honky tonk on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jeremy
Jeremy \u201cJB\u201d Duckett, an employee of Robert\u2019s Western World, poses at the iconic Nashville honky-tonk on July 28 in Nashville. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Musicians
Musicians perform at Nashville\u2019s Robert\u2019s Western World honky tonk after the Sunday Gospel Hour on July 28 in Nashville. (Luis Andres Henao\/The Associated Press)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A group of people smile at Nashville\u2019s Robert\u2019s Western World honky tonk on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A greeter at Robert\u2019s Western World looks at passersby on Nashville\u2019s Broadway after the Gospel Hour held at the iconic honky tonk on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mimi
Mimi Fischer and her father, the Rev. Ron Blakely, rehearse for their Sunday Gospel Hour at Robert\u2019s Western World honky tonk on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Blakely\u2019s log cabin home near Watertown, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A cowboy hat-wearing musician is reflected on a window as he sings and plays country music at Robert\u2019s Western World as Broadway bars are reflected on a window of the iconic Nashville honky tonk on Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Luis Andres Henao)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Locals and dozens of tourists get their church sitting on bar stools <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}