Longtime Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge Proprietor Hattie ‘Tootsie’ Bess To Be Honored

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge (Photo: Eric Glenn/Shutterstock.com)

HATTIE LOUISE “TOOTSIE” BESS, the longtime proprietor of TOOTSIE’S ORCHID LOUNGE in downtown NASHVILLE, will be posthumously honored by TENNESSEE TOURISM and her native LEWIS COUNTY with  a TENNESSEE MUSIC PATHWAYS marker dedicated to her. The marker will be unveiled on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25th at the corner of Main and Maple Streets in her hometown of HOHENWALD, TN at 11:30a (CT).

From 1960 to 1978, BESS ran the now iconic TOOTSIE’S on Lower BROADWAY and several other area clubs with her husband, JEFF. She became known for her encouragement of a generation of songwriters and musicians who frequented the venue, including CHARLEY PRIDE, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, WILLIE NELSON, TOM T. HALL, ROGER MILLER (who reportedly wrote “Dang Me” there) and many others.

BESS died in 1978, but her legacy remains at the NASHVILLE institution.

Launched by the TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT in 2018, TENNESSEE MUSIC PATHWAYS is an online planning guide that connects visitors to the state’s musical heritage at tnmusicpathways.com, stretching across all 95 counties in the state and featuring hundreds of landmarks from the seven genres of music that call TENNESSEE home.

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