Tootsies Orchid Lounge

Live music is a staple just about every night at Tootsie’s, where you’re as likely to catch an up-and-coming local strumming a steel guitar as a big name musician like Taylor Swift. Visitors can opt to book tickets to a show (or two) and spend an entire evening here or visit on a honky-tonk hop through the country music capital.

Many Nashville tours (including walking tours as well as trips on golf carts or horse-drawn carriages) will take you past this quirky and colorful music venue. Take a nighttime ghost tour to hear about the bar’s spectral guests.

• The photo and memorabilia-lined walls make Tootsie’s a hit with history buffs.

• There’s never a cover charge at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge.

• The bar is wheelchair accessible.

Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge is located at 422 Broadway behind the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. Metered parking near the bar is free after 6pm and on Sundays.

Tootsie’s is open daily from mid-morning until the wee hours of the following morning, but it’s best to visit in the evenings, when the top talent takes the stage. There’s live music every night of the week, but expect the biggest crowds on Friday and Saturday nights.

Hattie Louise “Tootsie” Bess was a signer and the proprietor of this honky tonk from 1960 to 1978. According to local lore, a painter she hired accidentally painted the building orchid purple, and Tootsie liked it so much that she made it her signature color. In fact, she loved the color so much that her family later buried her in an orchid gown, in an orchid-hued casket, with an orchid in her hands.