Downtown
Robert's Western World
Honky Tonk · 416B Broadway
The Recession Special is a fried bologna sandwich, Lay's chips, a Moon Pie, and a PBR for six dollars. That tells you everything you need to know about where Robert's stands on Lower Broadway.
The building was the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company, run by Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons, before music left Broadway in the '70s. Robert Moore opened a rhinestone western wear shop in the early '90s; JesseLee Jones, born in São Paulo and nicknamed Brazilbilly by the house band BR-549, bought the place from Moore in 1999. No cover charge. No DJ. His own band has been the house band for more than 30 years.
Robert's is an explicit rebuke to what the rest of the block became. The tightest stage, the most grounded crowd on Broadway. It stays that way on purpose.