I have fond memories of visiting the Earnest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville. For those unfamiliar, the Earnest Tubb Record Shop is a long running music store in the Lower Broadway District in Nashville. It first opened in 1947 and ran continuously until 2022. Along with the store itself, there was also a stage in the back that held the Midnite Jamboree, which was a concert that aired on WSM after the Grand Ole Opry. The show regularly featured the same musicians who performed at the Opry earlier in the evening, with them merely walking across the street from the Ryman Auditorium.
Here is an awesome TV commercial for the Earnest Tubb Record Shop featuring the man himself:
The first time I visited the shop I was probably 13 or 14 years old. My family took a summer vacation to Nashville and that was one of the stops. Conway Twitty was doing a record signing that day in the store, and we stood in a long line to get an autographed copy of Still In Your Dreams, which was his new record at the time. We also went to Twitty City on that trip. Good memories.
The second time I went was part of a road trip I took through Nashville in 1999. I remember buying some Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson CDs and went to the Midnite Jamboree. I believe Hayseed Dixie was the featured performer that night!
This cool video shows the shop how I remember it from that visit:
The store closed in 2022. This is what it looked like shortly before it closed:
For a few years it was supposedly being revamped as a multi-level bar that included a record shop. It finally did reopen in November 2025 and it shot back up on my list of places I needed to visit again.
Unfortunately, the reopening was short lived! It closed again in the last week: barely surviving two months! What is that about? It seems kind of fishy.
After reading about the recent closing of the shop, I went searching through YouTube for old videos of Midnite Jamboree performances. There are surprisingly very few. What did end up in many of my search results was an incredible performance of guitarist Kenny Vaughan performing there in 2011. I’ll return to those in a moment. First, let me provide some background on Kenny Vaughan for the uninitiated.
Kenny Vaughan first came across my radar as a member of Lucinda Williams’ band in 1998. He performed on the brilliant Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (which is a must-hear record) and toured with Lucinda to support the album. Here is Lucinda Williams playing “Right In Time” from Car Wheels on a Gravel Road on David Letterman, with Kenny playing some great guitar behind her:
Kenny gained much larger notoriety once he joined Marty Stuart’s band in 2003. He has been a member of his band (dubbed the Fabulous Superlatives) ever since. Here is Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives (including Kenny Vaughan) also performing on David Letterman’s show in 2010:
As I mentioned, Kenny is still in Marty’s band today (appearing on last year’s Space Junk). They appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert in 2024:
Kenny Vaughan only released one record under his own name. It was simply titled V and was released in 2011. That album is today’s pick!
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In a interesting role reversal, Kenny wrote the songs on V and performed lead vocals…and Marty Stuart just played guitar (along with the rest of the Fabulous Superlatives). It is an incredible record that ranks up there with the best Marty Stuart records. It really is incredibly underrated.
Which brings us back to the aforementioned performance at the Earnest Tubb Record Shop for the Midnite Jamboree. It functioned as a record release show for V and the band was on fire that night!
The record and the performance both start with “Country Music Got a Hold On Me” and it showcases exactly how great the album is and how incredibly tight the band is. If you only play one of the videos in my post this week (I realize there are many), THIS IS THE ONE:
This is classic, old-school honky tonk country, which in my mind is hard to top. “Hot Like That” is the next song on V and it also was impeccably performed that night at the Earnest Tubb Record Shop:
The last song I’ll highlight from that concert (that is also on V!) is the groovy country shuffle of “Okolona, TN”:
The performance of “Okolona, TN” on V is even better (if you can believe that) because it features The Oak Ridge Boys on backing vocals!
My favorite song on the album is probably “Stay Out of My Dreams” which is another high-energy shuffle. Below is the studio recording followed by a totally killer performance of the song on Music City Roots.
One of the other unique things about V is there are three instrumental songs on it. Far from just being filler between the vocal tracks, they are an essential part of the overall album experience. This is especially so with “Minuit Sur La Plage” (which is practically cinematic in scope), but all three are all awesome.
The group also performed “Mysterium” on Music City Roots:
Overall Kenny Vaughan’s V is a 30 minute all-killer, no-filler record that invites repeat listening. It’s a shame he’s never released a follow up record, but I’d imagine playing with Marty Stuart takes up most of his time. It’s been a very long time since I’ve listened to it, so while I’m sad the Earnest Tubb Record Shop is once again closed (hopefully only temporarily), I’m glad the news gave me a reminder to revisit Kenny Vaughan’s V. I hope you do the same.
