It was a bad sign for historic music retail in America when the building that used to house the famous Tower Records in West Hollywood was finally demolished in February. And now things are looking grim for the other most iconic record store in the U.S., and an even longer-standing one — Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop, a fixture in downtown Nashville since 1947 and in its present location since 1951.
“It’s with great sadness that we share the news that the Ernest Tubb Record Shop — building and business — will be sold,” said an announcement on the store’s social media, adding that the store will shut down some time in the spring.
The store is important in country music history not only as a retail site but as the longtime home of a radio show nearly as old as the shop itself, “The Midnite Jamboree,” which still broadcasts live following the Grand Ole Opry on…