What to Wear to a Nashville Honky-Tonk
If you're heading down to one of Nashville's honky-tonks, you need to know how to dress the part. This isn't about looking like you just stepped off a dude ranch or like you're trying too hard. It's about showing respect to the place, the music, and the people who've been doing this longer than most of us have been alive. The honky-tonk is a sacred space, and your clothes should reflect that.
The honky-tonk is a sacred space, and your clothes should reflect that.
Start with the Boots
Your boots are where everything begins. This is non-negotiable. You want something that's broken in, worn in, lived in. A good pair of western boots tells a story, and that story matters on a honky-tonk floor. Whether you're wearing leather that's seen some real work or boots that just look like they have, make sure they're authentic. Scuffed up is good. Shiny and new is not. Learn more about keeping your boots in great condition so they develop character over time.
Your boots need to have traveled some miles, even if those miles are mostly across hardwood floors in downtown Nashville.
Jeans That Actually Fit
Get yourself a pair of proper jeans. Not skinny jeans. Not whatever fashion houses are pushing this season. You want a straight leg or a slight boot cut that works with your western boots. Dark denim is your safest bet, but worn-in blue works just fine. The point is fit and function.
You need to be able to move, sit on a barstool without restriction, and stand for hours without complaint. Make sure the length hits just right at the top of your boot heel. That's the mark of someone who knows what to look for in properly fitting western wear.
A Shirt With Some Nashville In It
Up top, keep it simple: a heavyweight graphic tee that already looks like it has been somewhere. Our Nashville shirts were made for honky tonk nights, from the cowboy riding up and down Broadway to a neon cowgirl kicked back on a bar sign.
The two that walk out the door most on a Friday: the Broadway Tee and the Music City Neon Tee. Both are heavyweight cotton, garment dyed, so they already look like they've closed down a few bars.
On the left, the Broadway Tee: one rider working his way down Lower Broadway with every honky tonk lit up on both sides of him. On the right, the Music City Neon Tee: a cowgirl kicked back on the sign out front, glowing over faded indigo. Pick the one that matches how your night is going to end.
A Layer for the Walk Home
Broadway at one in the morning is colder than it looks from inside. Throw a heavy hoodie over the tee and keep the boots on. The Broadway Hoodie is 320 GSM fleece, heavy enough to mean it, and it doesn't care if somebody spills a beer on it.
Top It Off
For a daytime crawl, a cap does the job. An embroidered one like the Nashville Sessions Hat keeps it local without trying too hard. Going all the way with a felt cowboy hat? Get one that fits your head, not one off a souvenir rack. Come by the shop in Marathon Village and try them on.
Want something with more bite? The Rattler Hat has a rattlesnake coiled in a flaming boot and Check Your Boots stitched in red across the front, which is sound advice on Broadway at one in the morning. Every one of our caps is embroidered in Nashville. Felt more your speed? The cowboy hats are online too.
Where to Wear It
Robert's Western World on Lower Broadway, the Station Inn in the Gulch, any room where the band plays for tips. Get there early, stand close to the stage, and dance with whoever asks.
Where the Honky-Tonk Came From
The word is older than country music. "Honky-tonk" turns up in print in the late 1800s for rough saloons and variety joints across the old Southwest, Texas and Oklahoma especially. Cheap drinks, a piano in the corner, and nobody asking where you came from.
The music that took the name grew up in Texas bars in the 1930s and 1940s. Bands had to be heard over a crowded room, so they plugged in. Ernest Tubb, whose "Walking the Floor Over You" hit in 1941, was the first to play electric guitar on the Grand Ole Opry. Hank Williams turned the sound into heartbreak anybody could sing along to. Songs about drinking, cheating, working and leaving. Plain talk set to a steel guitar.
Lower Broadway became the honky-tonk strip because of the Ryman. The Opry broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, and the bars around the corner caught the pickers before and after the show. Tootsie Bess opened Tootsie's Orchid Lounge right behind the Ryman in 1960, and songwriters hung around there hoping to sell a song. Ernest Tubb opened his record shop downtown in 1947, and WSM's Midnite Jamboree went out over the air from it after the Opry. When the Opry moved out to its new house in 1974, the strip went quiet for years before it came roaring back in the 1990s. That history is why people still dress up to walk Broadway. You are walking where the music was made.
The Small Details
Once the boots, jeans, shirt and hat are handled, the little things finish the job. Keep them few and keep them real.
- Belt and buckle. Leather, and thick enough to hold its shape. Tooled or plain both work. A simple buckle always reads right. If you won a rodeo buckle, wear it. That is what it is for.
- Bandana. Cotton, knotted loose at the neck or folded in a back pocket. Paisley or a solid color. It soaks up sweat on a packed dance floor, which on Broadway in July is a real job.
- Watch. Leather strap or a plain field watch. Skip anything big and chunky.
- Jewelry. One good piece, like a turquoise ring that means something to you, or nothing at all.
- Boots for dancing. A leather sole slides on a wood floor and makes the two-step easier. Rubber grips and fights you. If you plan to dance, pick your boots with that in mind.
The rule underneath all of it: wear what you would wear again. A room full of musicians and regulars notices who is comfortable in their clothes.
Get the Hat Right Before You Go
If tonight is the night for a real cowboy hat, come see us at the Hat Bar in Marathon Village, right outside downtown Nashville. We will help you find one that actually fits, shape the brim while you wait, and brand it for free with any cowboy hat purchase. Want a band, ribbons or a feather on it before the band starts? Full customization runs $40.
Gear Up Before You Go
Shop the Nashville shirts and the rest of the graphic tees online and we ship them from Nashville within 2 business days. Or pick one up on the way: Steel & Saddle is in Marathon Village, right outside downtown Nashville, five minutes from Broadway.
