NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Robert’s Western World is known as Nashville’s most authentic honky tonk and synonymous with country music. But for an hour on Sundays, no one can drink alcohol; everyone must listen to Christian music.
This is “Sunday Gospel Hour” in the Tennessee capital known as Music City. For nearly 20 years, worship at this honky tonk has been led by the Rev. Ron Blakely — a 71-year-old musician and Catholic convert who was ordained a priest in another faith tradition.
“It’s been a blessing,” he said of his weekly gig. He was interviewed at his log cabin in the outskirts of Nashville where he rehearsed before the Sunday service with sheet music and scripture. “It’s not like I got a board of elders and I have to meet all the money to pay the bills,” he said, comparing it to regular houses of worship.
“I’m just there, playing my guitar and giving the message that God puts in my heart.” On a recent Sunday, he strummed his guitar, wearing a black crucifix and white cowboy hat, while his daughter, Mimi Fischer, sang Patsy Cline’s “Life’s Railway to Heaven” in an angelic voice that moved some to tears. The stage was decorated with a fluttering U.
S. flag. “Her voice was just beautiful,” said Sonia Davis, 53, a nurse visiting with her husband from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
She didn’t know about the Gospel Hour until she walked into Robert’s. “I cry a lot,” she said, chuckling and wiping tears after the show-turned-worship..