Bobby’s Idle Hour Tavern

We happened upon Bobby’s Idle Hour when we were walking around Nashville. A construction worker suggested this place. I must say, it was the best bar I have ever been to! The bartender and the regulars greeted us as we came in, Introduced themselves and started singing and playing guitar. The beer was really cold, the music was awesome, and the people were great. We went back everyday of our trip. No matter what famous place we were visiting, the conversation always went, «you ready to go to Bobby’s Idle Hour». Can’t wait to get back to Nashville to go again.

Nice place to catch a live performance from some local and not-​so-​local singer/​songwriters. If you can’t get to The Bluebird or The Listening Room, go to Bobby’s.

Love Bobbys. It’s a great dive bar off the beaten path. I love how they have song writers night and also have other nightly activities (comedian night etc)
Highly recommend for a good local time!

In town for the weekend and stumbled on Bobbys for a PBR tall boy. The dive bar theme with live music was great and not overstated. Much cleaner than a dive bar in Philly. Bartender was friendly and served up limes with Coronas. Great dart board. Plenty of local characters at the bar providing advice to the band. Worth a look in.

Quite possibly the best bar in all of Nashville. The staff and the regulars are welcoming and helpful. It’s on music row so there are always songwriters in house and they frequently break out in original songs. The beer is cold and affordable. What’s not to love???

Went for stand up and REAAALLLY liked it. For a dive bar, it’s actually fairly well lit and a couple of decent brews (in bottles mind you).
Baller as all heck! Go here!

My first dive bar experience in Nashville, and it does not disappoint. Walking through the door, I was greeted by a haze of cigarette smoke. I forgot that smell when Minnesota banned smoking in bars, can’t say I really miss it… but I’ll accept it for part of the «allure» of this bar that feels lost in a bygone era.
Dimly lit, sad country music playing from the soundsystem, and locals in small groups throughout the room… this is a place to learn something about this city.
No live music playing at the moment, maybe some will happen while I’m here.
Note, $ 5 minimum on cards, no local beer… standard American fare only… go for the Shiner Bock for 3 bucks. I dig this place, a lot.

What everyone else said, AND you can even talk politics here without fearing for your life. Mostly intelligent, and definitely diverse, points of view can be had for no charge. You get (at least) what what you pay for here, where «Cheers» meets «Deliverance,» and Music Row Democrats mix with Skid Row Republicans.

Yes, Stacey L., this place still exists, and it’s awesome. Of course, if you never set foot inside the place, I’m curious as to how you managed to rate it.
Spent an idle hour here with some cheap High Lifes. Bobby’s is a mercifully quiet bar, and that is especially meaningful in a town like Nashville where negative space has the almost inevitable inclination to be consumed by bawling (or worse, showy) karaōke singers, honky-​tonk bands or more distressingly, gaggles of loud, drunk hip people (East Nashville). Karaōke and live music is fine — but I could imagine the lack of anywhere normal to drink getting very old if you were to live here. Lots of wood, lots of doodads affixed to the walls and a wonderful statue of a country musician out front that looks like it was sculpted by a blind 10 year old.
A handful of regulars were communed around the bar discussing music when I arrived. The bartender was very friendly and welcoming — ‘Y’all a long way from home, but I hope you come back.’

I have been stopping here for 15 years. This is the kind of place that all big stuffy bars try to be. Just a cool place to hang out and chill.

Does this place still exist? Tried to go on a Friday night at midnight and found it unopened. Maybe some better signage and posted open times would be helpful…

This place is a really awesome dive. You can almost taste the tradition when you walk in (or was that cigarette smoke?) We came in on a dead night while some locals were watching the Vols play Vanderbilt. They were all really nice and funny when we walked in and I felt like I was home immediately, just as gracious on the way out. They serve Miller High Life, which seems like a rarity these days. Especially lovely for Champipple fans like myself. The décor is really cool, including signed dollar bills taped all over and a really neat budweiser sign. The beer is COLD. Really cold. I can’t wait to hear some live music there, definitely a great place to sit and have some beers if you are a cigarette smoker or don’t mind smoke.

Bobby’s was on our list of must visit places. Especially since it was within walking distance to where we were staying.
We weren’t disappointed. Yes, it is cash only and doesn’t have much for eats other than snacks but it is a great place to just «be». The night we visited we met a couple of nice guys who also played guitar along with the bartender. The guys also gave us directions to the Hermitage Café for eats.
For me, I did get bored with just beer as I like to have shots of Jameson on the side. But the beer was cheap enough. The bartender was very friendly and kept us going with stories of different famous artists who have been through the doors.
Bobby’s isn’t fancy which is just fine with me. It’s a gem of a bar that all cities should have.

Love Bobby’s It feels like home. Can’t say I like the old Washburn but I love it’s sprit. Too high strung for my itty bitty hands. Love the crowd, the vibe, the vienna sausage. I also like to go there way over dressed and watch the reactions. I swear one day I was mistook for being a FBI agent. The ladies are cool and love all of them. Only ladies with a well developed sense of adventure would be there. Unless of course she was drunk. And they are there at three in the morning! You will hear at Bobbys some of the best music you will ever hear in your life time. You will shake your head and wonder why when you leave they don’t play that on the radio instead of Lady Bullshit Gaga. If you need a lyric to complete a song try the bathrooms. You may find a good lyric there. Or you may want to leave what you think is a good lyric. Ask someone to tell you about the Jerry Garcia masters that Dennis the bass player has. If Dennis shows up very late see if you can get him to do a number. You won’t be disappointed. And if you are there and she is there and it is three in the morning, she is probably lonely too.

I have been DYING to come to Bobby’s Idle Hour Tavern since I first heard about it because, well, I am a dive bar lover. I prefer dives to all other types of bars. Prissy, snooty bars full of 30K millionaires trying to seem rich and fabulous suck! Hipster bars where everyone wears skinny jeans, seems put out about everything, and where you can only hear music you don’t know or like, SUCK!
So this is it. It is a real dive. Really. We walked in to find two people sitting at the bar and a bartender behind the bar. Names were exchanged all around as soon as we walked in and conversations were immediately struck up. They have beer and that’s it for booze and it is straight cash homie so don’t bring your credit card. You can smoke as many cigarettes as you can stand. There was no live music when we were there but the interesting people and conversations made it better that there wasn’t. A dude came in and brought snacks for the bar — like peanut butter cracker packs, etc. Since I hadn’t had dinner I totally got myself one. Packet of crackers = dinner enough to keep drinking! Um, they even have an apartment upstairs for rent so if you are in the market to REALLY become a regular then perhaps ask about it. Overall I loved it and definitely want to go back and spend some time drinking beer and shooting the shit.

Nothing to drink but beer, soda, iced tea, or V8.
People smoke in there.
Thursdays are the days to go and watch songwriters play their music.
Awesome, divey, amazing little spot full of personality and grittiness.
If they carried something I could drink I’d walk the half a block from my house and go there several times a week to chat with crusty old men and get retarded on cheap wine. But they don’t, so that’s that.

Agree with all the previous reviews, this is a great dive bar. We’ve been there twice and, while clearly from out of town, were made to feel like regulars both visits. Good people, great vibe.
Only potential downside is that you’ll smell like an ashtray when you leave, but that’s all part of the charm of being a dive.

There is perhaps no other bar in Nashville where you can walk in, order a beer, and next thing you know someone’s passing you a guitar and nudging you to play something you’ve written. This has happened to me at the Idle Hour on a number of occasions. They keep an old Washburn guitar behind the bar for such a thing. This is why I love the place.
Bobby’s is also the only bar on Music Row. Sure, there are several places to get a drink on Demonbreun or along Division, but Bobby’s is right on 16^th Avenue. It’s the type of tavern I imagine Kris Kristofferson singing about in «To Beat The Devil.» For sure, several patrons have arrived with «a stomach full of empty and a pocket full of dreams.»
Nashvillians who remember the old Idle Hour down the street from the present location remember it fondly. In 2004 it was bulldozed to make way for condos. But even in its relatively new digs, the Idle Hour remains a Nashville institution. Like I said, where else do they pass you a guitar when you order a beer?
Some items off the bar menu:
Regular Beer $ 2.50
Wine Coolers $ 3.00
Vienna Sausage $ 1.25
Rolaids $ 1.25
Pizza $ 8
Pot pie $ 3.50
Slim Jim .50
Cash only

Prior to my first trip to Nashville I, of course, checked here for the best off-​the-​beaten-​path dive bars that the city had to offer. I found Bobby’s and was not disappointed. The four or five guys there, bartender Jonathan included, spent the night passing the acoustic guitar back and forth, crooning out their original (no covers allowed!) lyrics and sharing life stories amid the tunes.
If ever you find yourself in Nashville, and non-​touristy watering holes are your idea of fun; if you love impromptu music and rolicking sing-​a-​longs, then do NOT skip over Bobby’s!
If you happen to make it on a night that John (tall, silvery haired guy with a loud laugh and an amazing skill for songwriting) is there, ask him to sing «The Mule Song» and tell him Jenna from Boston recommended it.

A great Nashville «institution», Bobby’s is a dive bar by all standards. Go there for a beer after work, and expect to sit around in a dense fog of smoke and hear great stories from the locals that inhabit the place. Hear some of the best unknown songwriters in Nashville perform there as well.
The clientele is grubby but some of the coolest people you’ll ever meet, and there are no judgments of any kind at Bobby’s. The new location is a shadow of what the original was, but they still serve up cold beer, great music, and good times. Bring your cash though – no credit cards accepted here! Look for the giant statue of the boy holding a guitar, and you know you’re there.