Nashville Scene 1-20-22

JANUARY 20–26, 2022 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 50 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: LOCAL IMMIGRATION ACTIVISTS WEIGH IN ON BIDEN’S FIRST YEAR PAGE 10

FOOD & DRINK: CAFÉ MOMENTUM NASHVILLE HOPES TO CHANGE LIVES PAGE 31

AARON VANCE

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THE STATE OF COUNTRY MUSIC NOW AND IN THE YEAR AHEAD 1/14/22 6:08 PM

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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A 2 N D AN N UA L E N

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February 8th

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Daughters of Jerusalem and Women from Galilee: The Jewish Women in the Gospel Story

February 15th

Soldiers at the Cross: Galilee, Judea, and Rome Co-sponsored by The Temple and the Reverend Charlie Curb Center for Faith Leadership at Belmont University.

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CONTENTS

JANUARY 20, 2022

9

25

Walk a Mile: Elizabeth Park and Buchanan Street ..........................................................9

Nashville Opera presents Favorite Son, The Boom Bap 14th Anniversary feat. Just Blaze & more, Graduate Nashville’s Dolly Parton Birthday Party, Hew G. Mixtape Release, Music City Mondays: Radio On, Movies We Missed: Writing With Fire, Mock Orange w/The Pauses and more

CITY LIMITS

In the 25th installment of his column, J.R. Lind walks a stretch of North Nashville swamped by gentrification

BY J.R. LIND

Local Immigration Activists Weigh In on Biden’s First Year .................................... 10 There was relief with Trump’s ouster, but now there’s frustration with Biden’s missed deadlines on key promises

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Pith in the Wind ...................................... 11 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

CRITICS’ PICKS

31

FOOD AND DRINK Forward Motion

Café Momentum Nashville readies to change lives one restaurant job at a time

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

12

32

COVER STORY Country Music Almanac

Taking the Stage ..................................... 12

ART

Nashville native Mika Agari bends perceptions at Electric Shed

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

BY JOE NOLAN

Escaping the Bear Trap........................... 14

Sound and Vision .................................... 33

Looking at the work that remains to truly support POC and queer professionals in country music

Artist talk: Andy Ness on his bombastic multimedia painting ‘Tripping the Light Fantastic’

BY ALYSSA DONYAE

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

We recommend 12 artists, from Aaron Vance to Morgan Wade and beyond, to keep an eye on this year

BY RACHEL CHOLST, ABBY LEE HOOD, EDD HURT, LORIE LIEBIG AND STEPHEN TRAGESER

Organizing Principles .............................. 18 Talking with Karen Pittelman, Ellen Angelico and Kym Register about advocating for queer and nonwhite people in and around country music

BY RACHEL CHOLST

Learn the Past, Know the Present ......... 20 Educator, historian and journalist Amanda Marie Martínez discusses teaching the full history of country music — without glossing over racism

BY ANDREA WILLIAMS

Wide Open Spaces .................................. 21 More Black artists are bringing hip-hop into the country mix in an authentic way

BY HOLLY G

Passing the Mic ....................................... 22 In our survey, journalists weigh in on the present and future of country music

J. Cole,The Chicks,Tool, Stevie Nicks, More to Play Bonnaroo 2022 GOP Redistricting Plan Splits Nashville Three Ways Arbo’s Is Making Waves in the Cheese Biz These Are the Days of Our Knives: The New Scream Delivers the Gore, but Is Uneven ON THE COVER:

She Shed ................................................. 32

The Black Opry continues its vital work to make space for BIPOC artists in country music

Great Expectations ................................. 16

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

Aaron Vance Photo by Daniel Meigs

34

BOOKS

Like Walking Into a Poem Kate Daniels’ Slow Fuse of the Possible stands along a psychological edge

BY JANE MARCELLUS AND CHAPTER 16

36 FILM

Emotional Motherlode Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers is a marvel of a film

BY JASON SHAWHAN

37

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

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FROM BILL FREEMAN PROPOSED U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT MAP

SPLITTING UP DAVIDSON COUNTY COULD COME BACK TO HAUNT TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS Every 10 years, after the census is tabulated, our General Assembly is required to reflect the population changes across our state in new district maps for our state Senate, state House and U.S. Congressional delegations. The redistricting process is one of the most political exercises our legislators do, as their decisions determine in many ways the future of political power in the state.

This year, that political exercise is very much focused on what is happening to Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Davidson County — the county has been contained in a single congressional district since at least the 1950s.

Nashville has been represented in congress by Democrats for the past 147 years, with the last Republican representative being Horace Harrison, whose term ended in 1875. GOP legislative leaders have been secretive about their plans for our district and kept their map away from the public until it was unveiled last week. House Minority Leader Karen Camper (D-Memphis) said, “No one in the Democratic leadership has seen or talked or had a conversation about this map until this very moment.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper has represented the district since 2003. He’s one of only two Democrats in Tennessee’s nine-member delegation. If GOP lawmakers succeed in splitting Davidson County, there will be eight reliably Republican seats, dismantling a district that has been Democratic for many, many years. Cooper is not the only one unhappy about the situation — though it will affect him greatly. He has called the plan a “legislative overreach,” saying, “What Republicans could not win in local elections they are stealing through gerrymandering.”

Should the plan gain approval, the new 5th Congressional District would include south Davidson County, in addition to some of Williamson and Wilson counties, and all of Lewis, Maury and Marshall counties. Northwest Davidson County would be pulled into the 7th, which is held

by Republican Mark Green of Clarksville.

The remainder of Davidson would become part of the 6th, which is held by John Rose (R-Cookeville). Rep. Green has voiced his lack of enthusiasm about the proposed redrawing, which takes away some of the stronger Republican parts of his district.

Voters will also suffer as a result of redistricting. Cutting Davidson into three sections will lump together rural voters and

urban voters, who have different priorities.

Many believe this gerrymandering could backfire on the GOP. The National Republican Congressional Committee considers Cooper vulnerable because he is seen as not being overly effective in his job, even after serving for three-plus decades.

Splitting Nashville could put incumbent Republican members of Tennessee’s congressional district at risk.

How, you ask?

In a recent op-ed for The Tennessean, political scientist Kent Syler points out that Republicans currently have 78 percent of Tennessee’s congressional seats. If they gain the eighth seat, they would control 89 percent of the state’s seats. Syler describes this as unsustainable — and I agree. The fastest-growing counties in Tennessee — Davidson, Williamson and Rutherford — gained more than 233,000 residents according to the 2020 census. Those three counties combined voted for Biden over Trump 54 to 46 percent. Davidson County was 2-1 for Biden. If trends continue as they tend to do, this whole thing could blow up in the faces of the NRCC and Tennessee’s Republicans.

As Syler observed: “Over the years, many Middle Tennessee Democrats have done Republicans a huge favor by selfgerrymandering themselves within urban Davidson County, which has limited their ability to impact congressional races outside of Nashville.” A grab for what Syler called the “hog’s share instead of the lion’s share” could prove problematic for Republicans.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) isn’t seeing it that way. He says he has “never bought into the approach that having multiple people represent a big city is a bad thing.”

Still, it does seem that if you’re already ahead in the game — for instance, holding 78 percent of the congressional seats in a red state — you might think twice about the people affected before trying to carve out even more for yourself.

As Syler concluded in his piece: “If legislators unleash these Democratic voters on multiple congressional districts, in addition to the currently Republican but trending Democratic suburbs, it’s eventually going to come back to bite them.”

I think that sums it up.

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editor Jack Silverman Staff Writers Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, Kathryn Rickmeyer, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Matt Masters, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Events and Marketing Director Olivia Britton Marketing and Promotions Manager Robin Fomusa Publisher Mike Smith Senior Advertising Solutions Managers Maggie Bond, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Advertising Solutions Managers William Shutes, Niki Tyree Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Advertising Solutions Associates Jada Goggins, Caroline Poole, Alissa Wetzel Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Corporate Production Director Elizabeth Jones Vice President of Marketing Mike Smith IT Director John Schaeffer Circulation and Distribution Director Gary Minnis For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

ELIZABETH PARK AND BUCHANAN STREET

Walk a

Mile

In the 25th installment of his column, J.R. Lind walks a stretch of North Nashville swamped by gentrification

BY J.R. LIND | PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND

with J.R. Lind Buchanan Street

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THE ROUTE: From Elizabeth Park, northeast on Jane Street, then left on 10th Avenue North.

Left on Buchanan, left on 16th Avenue North, left on Wheless Street. Then right on 11th back to the start.

CRANES: 0 ABANDONED SCOOTERS: 0 DECREPIT PAY PHONES: 2 Once a month, reporter and resident historian J.R. Lind will pick an area in the city to examine while accompanied by a photographer. With his column Walk a Mile, he’ll walk a one-mile stretch of that area, exploring the neighborhood’s history and character, its developments, its current homes and businesses, and what makes it a unique part of Nashville. If you have a suggestion for a future Walk a Mile, email editor@nashvillescene.com.

F

or the most part, the street grid north of downtown is fairly consistent. Nineteenthcentury presidents (Monroe, Jefferson, Garfield) make perpendicular intersections with numbered avenues.

But west of Rosa Parks, things get skewed. Some of Nashville’s most confoundingly bizarre intersections are in the neighborhood around Buchanan Street. There are scalene triangles. There are seemingly normal four-way stops with an extra road shoehorned in. More than 70 percent of the all-way stop signs in the city are in Elizabeth Park. OK, that’s (probably) not true, but there are a lot. There are so many triangular lots, a developer with an eye on rebranding could call it the Flatirons District. Not to give them any ideas.

Interstate 65 abuts the neighborhood, and it would be easy to assume that the labyrinthine arrangement is the result of the crass cynicism of the kind of Jim Crow-era infrastructure planning that sliced the neighborhood around Jefferson Street in two a little farther to the south.

There are former through streets that deadend hard at fences marking the interstate right-of-way, but this mishmash of streets dates all the way back to its beginning.

In the first half of the 19th century, what is now Elizabeth Park — the North Nashville neighborhood centered around the eponymous park and bound by Buchanan, interstates 65 and 40 and 11th Avenue North — was the Walnut Race Course, the less famous, less prestigious sibling to the Nashville Race Course at what is now Metrocenter. The race course’s biggest claim to fame is that it was the site of the first state fair in 1855. But its stint as fairground didn’t last long, because it was subdivided in 1856, with the lot lines and street grid of today more or less following the same pattern they did then. The biggest change is that poor Millard Fillmore lost his street. It’s now 11th Avenue.

The park itself is, in fact, on the original plan, a nice little triangle at one end of the neighborhood. Of course, there was no basketball court then, as James Naismith wouldn’t hang his peach baskets in a Massachusetts YMCA for another 35 years. Many of the cross streets in the original plan had women’s names, but like poor President Fillmore, most were lost to the city’s numbering system. But not Jane Street, which climbs gently from the park to the northeast.

What Jane doesn’t have is any houses. It’s an 830-foot relic without a single address.

Sure, there are houses on Arthur and 10th Avenue that border Jane, but their mailboxes face the longer roads. By and large, the housing stock east of the park is vintage.

Some have been renovated — or at the least repainted as gentrification jumped Rosa

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

LOCAL IMMIGRATION ACTIVISTS WEIGH IN ON BIDEN’S FIRST YEAR There was relief with Trump’s ouster, but now there’s frustration with Biden’s missed deadlines on key promises

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

P

resident Joe Biden made several promises on the campaign trail, many of which aimed to reverse Donald Trump’s harsh policies on immigration. Some of those goals were on the agenda to be accomplished within his first 100 days in office. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that the administration hasn’t yet fulfilled all of its pledges, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing for immigrants and advocates who have spent years fighting for policy improvements, including pathways to citizenship.

“He came in with a very bold vision of what was able to happen within the first 100 days,” says Jazmin

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and Buchanan. The sticker tells no lies.

The Trenches Gallery is next to a purveyor of fine leather goods. Beloved Blackowned bespoke pizza joint Slim & Husky’s is catty-corner to The Rollout, the S&H empire’s cinnamon roll shop. A former dry cleaner — the old verbiage on the fading sign is visible, just — was for a time highend barbershop Supreme Choppers. Now it’s waiting for a new tenant, but it certainly won’t be a laundry. Behind that is Salemtown Board Company, which borrows the name of another North Nashville neighborhood, much as The Best Western Plus Belle Meade Inn & Suites is at White Bridge Road and I-40.

There’s NKA Gallery and Creole-anddaiquiri joint Willie B’s. And then there’s the former home of Leon’s Liquors in the twostory, 5,500-square-foot home-plate-shaped

building on Buchanan between 11th and Arthur. Built in 1920, it’s sat vacant since the liquor store — and the adjacent night club, known as the Right Spot when it operated in the late ’80s and early ’90s — closed. But the building has solid bones, as those in the trade would say, and it’ll definitely turn into … something.

There appears to be one of those nowubiquitous “WE BUY HOUSES” banners fading on the side of the Mountain Dewgreen former gas station — pipes that once filled pumps peek still from the pavement.

But squint and you’ll see that it’s no advertisement, but satire. It isn’t a banner but rather a mural, and the full text includes a phone number: 1-800-GENTRIFICATION. This is, of course, the Buchanan Arts District — the signs on the light poles tell you so — thus the bright murals and the gal-

leries, including boundary-stretching space Elephant Gallery at Buchanan and 15th, though 15th is mostly just an alley south of Buchanan.

There are many new homes on 16th Avenue and more coming out of the ground.

There’s also a smattering of mid-20th-century single-story courtyard-style apartment strips. And there’s a shocking number of Philadelphia Eagles fans — OK, two based on the number of flags hanging from homes, but that’s a shocking number.

And there are freshly graded vacant lots, just waiting for the construction crews.

There are signs in yards from high-dollar Nashville real estate agencies.

On Wheless Street’s climb up to the park, it’s clear: Neither the sticker nor the faded satirical mural were lying.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

Ramirez, “and we quickly realized within those first 100 days that those promises … weren’t met.”

Ramirez (no relation with the writer) is the Latinx organizer with the Nashville-based Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and she spoke to the Scene on behalf of TIRRC Votes, the organization’s affiliate group focused on local elections. She says Biden’s lagging policy improvements have been “really debilitating and really frustrating” for advocates and TIRRC members who were impacted by those policies.

Cesar Rodriguez, a member of TIRRC, says he’s heard family friends express skepticism about what changes would come, and he agrees with the sentiment.

“Regardless of who’s been in office, most of these promises regarding that topic tend to not be kept, especially in terms of deadlines,” he says. “The more ambitious, the less likely they are to actually be fulfilled.”

Granted, there was a moment of relief when Biden assumed the office.

“I remember having community meetings,” says Ramirez, “and there was a sense of hope within our community of being able to just breathe after living under a Trump administration for four years.”

And certainly, there were some significant changes. Biden ended Trump’s policies that resulted in immigrant families being separated at the U.S.Mexico border. Another big improvement came in the form of a memo halting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s practice of raiding worksites, which often swept up massive numbers of undocumented immigrants at a time. Ramirez says the memo felt especially significant in Tennessee,

considering the 2018 raid in Morristown that saw nearly 100 people arrested by ICE and other agencies.

Even so, Biden hasn’t halted the use of Title 42, a health policy that has been invoked during the pandemic to bar and deport immigrants even without formal deportation orders. The president’s attempts to end Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy — under which migrants seeking asylum were sent to Mexico to await asylum hearings — have been unsuccessful.

Biden formally ended Trump’s so-called “zero tolerance” family-separation policy at the border, but

even that has yet to be tidily resolved. About 1,000 families remain separated, and some advocates have criticized the administration’s move to dismiss settlement claims with families affected by Trump’s policy. And even though the president raised the refugee cap to 62,500 from 15,000 in May, the U.S. resettled a record low of 11,411 in 2021. Ramirez also points to Biden’s increased deportation of Haitian immigrants, which some critics note may be the result of unclear policies and messaging.

Ramirez says proposed changes to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals would weaken the

A 2018 RALLY ORGANIZED BY TIRRC AGAINST THE BILL TO BAN SANCTUARY CITIES

PHOTO: VALENTIN & JON DRAGONETTE

Parks Boulevard — but not all of them. It’s a different story west of the park, where talland-skinnies have climbed out of the ground once the old homes met their fate at the business end of a bulldozer.

Along 10th, most of the houses are of the original stock, some more than a century old.

Owners have added their flairs of character.

One home is mostly slate-gray but features splashes of bright-yellow accents. Another’s porch overflows with Halloween decorations, and it neighbors a house with an impressive Christmas display. It’s quaint, and it’s clear the owners are, for the most part, interested in preserving what came before.

And then there’s Buchanan itself, where the area’s sudden come-up is as bracing as the January north wind.

“This Neighborhood Has Been Gentrified” reads a sticker on a utility pole at 10th

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

TIRRC HEADQUARTERS

program. The Biden administration would have beneficiaries apply separately for deportation deferral and work permits, seemingly an effort to navigate challenges in the courts. Ramirez says this makes work permits “open to being taken away” and would affect 7,000 current DACA recipients as well as 13,000 eligible recipients in the state. Other groups around the country have also warned this could complicate the application process.

DACA was implemented via executive order by Barack Obama. It allows undocumented immigrants who entered the country at a young age to work and get driver’s licences without the threat of deportation.

While it proved to be popular, that didn’t stop Trump from trying to end the program.

The highest-profile stumble may be the potential removal of Biden’s bill to create a pathway to citizenship from his stalled Build Back Better budget package. As that legislative package gets whittled down in Congress, that item seems less likely to make the cut. Rodriguez says that’s been the biggest disappointment for him.

“It wouldn’t just apply to DACA recipients, it would apply to essential workers as well,” he says of the bill’s aim to grant citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants. “My mother, a few years back, went back and got her GED and she became a certified medical assistant, and she’s been working, doing that for a few years now. So if that were to pass, the hope would be that she would also qualify as well.”

The emphasis on essential workers also points to the hardship immigrant communities have faced during the pandemic. These communities have faced higher rates of COVID-19 infection, and are more likely to work in essential jobs with fewer protections due to their immigration status.

Ramirez points out that — if the bill hadn’t stalled — DACA recipients and another 90,000 undocumented immigrants in Tennessee would have been eligible for citizenship. “That also is almost 100,000 people in the state of Tennessee that would be available to have some sort of relief to drive safer, have access to health care or health insurance through their employers,” she says.

“The pandemic has shown us exactly why we need some of that protection,” says Ramirez. “There is no paid time off. There is no sick leave. There is no vacation time.”

Rodriguez and his brothers also work at jobs deemed essential.

“The frustration there is that, if we were so essential when the pandemic started, what changed?” says Rodriguez. “Because clearly COVID is still running rampant. Clearly we’re still essential.

But the frustration of hearing that in words only and not seeing any actions taken — well, it really does get to people.”

But Ramirez notes that the shortcomings of Biden’s first year don’t mean it’s time to stop fighting.

“It gives us more fuel to keep fighting and to keep pushing until there is a permanent solution,” she says, “because we know that our communities are directly impacted by the inaction.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

As predicted, feared or anticipated (depending on one’s perspective), legislative Republicans intend to slice up deeply blue Davidson County in congressional redistricting. Nashville has had its own district in the U.S. House of Representatives for so long — and it’s been so consistently Democratic — it’s sometimes known as the Jackson District. Under the plan released last week, Davidson County will be split between three districts. The 5th will wind from western Wilson County through southern Davidson into eastern Williamson joining it with Lewis, Maury and Marshall counties — because the people of Antioch have so much in common with people in Lewisburg. Eastern Davidson County and the balance of Wilson County are drawn into the 6th, which stretches from Sumner County east to the northern half of Scott County on the Upper Cumberland and south to Van Buren County (East Nashvillians, meet your new confreres in Spencer!).

The newly drawn 7th takes in western Davidson and Williamson counties and reaches west to the Tennessee River. Needless to say, Democrats are displeased. “The damage this map does to the political influence of minority groups in Nashville is devastating,” U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper said. “Our robust, diverse communities in Nashville are represented and affirmed in Washington, D.C., today when Nashville has its own voice in Congress. That voice is silenced when we are colonized by outlying rural communities. The map was released for the first time today, and the more people learn about it, the more they will hate it.” His would-be primary opponent — activist Odessa Kelly (Kelly and Cooper would wind up in different districts; constitutionally, however, that’s irrelevant) — said the maps are “an intentional attempt to dilute the voices of Black and brown voters in Tennessee and destroy a progressive, Democratic stronghold in our state.” … The final piece of the redistricting puzzle — the state Senate maps — was also released. Davidson County retained four districts, though one district is now centered on Wilson County rather than Sumner. In rapidly growing and demographically fluid northern Rutherford County, Republicans moved LaVergne and Smyrna into a district with more reliably conservative rural areas. … Gov. Bill Lee nominated associate solicitor general Sarah Campbell to fill the state Supreme Court seat vacant since the death of Cornelia Clark. … The state department of education released a draft of a new schools funding plan to replace the Basic Education Program formula. The program adds student weight factors, allocating more funding for economically disadvantaged students and others. …

Bordeaux and North Nashville residents selected eight projects as part of Nashville’s first participatory budget initiative. Mayor John Cooper allocated $2 million for the octet in his budget proposal.

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WE LOOK AT THE STATE OF COUNTRY MUSIC NOW AND IN THE YEAR AHEAD If you’ve been in Nashville a while, you know that country music is far from the only kind of music made here. But it remains our biggest cultural product. We at the Scene are very pleased to bring you the inaugural installment of our Country Music Almanac, a look at where country music is now and where it might go in the year to come.

One thing that’s been made abundantly clear in the past 12 months is that artists who don’t fit the mainstream stereotypes for country hitmakers — Black, brown and queer artists, for example — are doing some incredible work. And they’re doing it with precious little support from major players. With that in mind, we’ve sought perspective about what kinds of changes can make this system work better for more people; musicians, critics, activists and historians are among the folks at the table for those discussions. We’ve also got a look at some artists you’ll want to keep an eye on throughout the year, as well as a survey in which journalists weigh in on the ups and downs of the industry. Pull up a chair and dive in.

TAKING THE STAGE

ROBERTA LEA

AARON VANCE

The Black Opry continues its vital work to make space for BIPOC artists in country music

BY BRITTNEY McKENNA

FOR READERS WHO ARE DISCOVERING YOUR WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME, COULD YOU EACH DESCRIBE WHAT DREW YOU TO PURSUE CAREERS IN MUSIC, AS WELL AS SHARE A BIT ABOUT HOW 12

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

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hough the Black Opry was founded less than one year ago, the quickly growing community for country artists who are Black, Indigenous and people of color has already made an indelible mark on the country music scene in Nashville and beyond. The grassroots effort, founded by country fan and advocate Holly G, saw many successes in 2021, including a much-celebrated Black Opry House gathering at AmericanaFest and Black Opry Revue events in cities across the country.

The Scene caught up with Holly G and two Black Opry artists, Roberta Lea and Aaron Vance, to talk about the organization and its influence on mainstream country music. Lea is a Virginia-based singer-songwriter whose 2021 EP Just a Taste was one of the year’s more exciting introductions to an emerging artist. And Vance, a Nashvillian by way of Mississippi, has been writing and performing for more than a decade, with 2021’s Cabin Fever finding a broad audience on streaming platforms.

Our conversation took place just days after Morgan Wallen, who was caught on tape using the N-word about a year ago, made a surprise appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. The incident sparked outrage from country fans who long for greater equity in the genre and inspired hateful, racist vitriol from defenders of Wallen, who at press time has done next to nothing to discourage his fans from perpetrating such attacks.

YOU GOT CONNECTED WITH ONE ANOTHER? Roberta Lea: I’m a singer, songwriter, producer. I write and produce all of my work.

Before, I was more in the lane of pop and R&B. I was in just about every lane. Now that I take a look at some of the work I’d written before, a lot of it was country. But as far as my pursuit in the music industry, I didn’t quite think that country had a space for me, despite the fact that I did write and sound like country. I would get a lot of compliments when I would do open mics and sing. I didn’t know how to receive that because I didn’t think there was space for me in country music. … When it came to doing country music, I started to follow [Apple Music Radio show] Color Me Country with

Rissi Palmer. I started to follow the conversation on Twitter just to see if we were out there. That’s how Holly and I ended up meeting, was commenting on one of Rissi’s posts.

My comment was that I wasn’t sure about our Black presence in Nashville, because I didn’t want to go down there and have them receive us reluctantly. What if they say, performatively, “OK, fine, we’ll let you guys in,” but is their heart there to support us? Holly pumped me up and we ended up following and being connected.

Aaron Vance: I’m the son of a preacher, singer-songwriter, artist. Everything I write, I publish it, own it, copyright it. What got me into country music was my family.

My dad’s a preacher and my granddaddy was a truck-driving farmer. When I was born, I come up around farming and country

music. My granddaddy was a big Waylon [Jennings] fan so I took to that, and my dad was a preacher so I sang in church every Sunday. With that, I’ve always been around it. I connected with the outlaw country and I connected with traditional country, like George Strait and Randy Travis. I was always around that type of living. … I guess you could say I’ve been in it since I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

Holly G: I just really, really love country music. I’ve always been a huge fan of it. It was just a matter of trying to figure out a way to continue to enjoy something that had basically unequivocally stated that it didn’t have any respect for me in return. That’s when I started seeking out these people. I have a background in hospitality management, and it became clear that my passion

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TO YOUR POINT, HOLLY, IT’S WILD TO THINK THAT BLACK OPRY IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD, GIVEN ALL THE SUCCESS YOU’VE HAD SO FAR. WHEN YOU FIRST BEGAN THE WORK, WHAT SENSE DID YOU HAVE OF HOW THE COMMUNITY WOULD GROW?

HG: I was hoping to find, like, five people I could talk to about Miranda Lambert.

[Laughs] I was like, “If I can find five other people that also have any mild interest in country music, I’ll be happy.” It really started as a journey to healing with my own relationship to country music. I felt like there had to be a better way for me to participate in it than to feel like I was always looking over my shoulder, or always having to prove my interest. As a Black person who says you like country music, there’s a test that comes after that. “Oh, you like country music? Well, name five artists.” Or, “You like Brad Paisley? Tell me one of his songs.”

To have a community of people where I don’t have to prove myself and I can be myself, I don’t have to present myself in a way that I feel like won’t piss them off for some reason, it’s a relief. I didn’t have any inclination that any of this would happen, because the message sent to Black people who are making country music or working around it is that you’re the only one. That’s why any time we get together, there will be a few moments when we get really quiet and go, “Holy shit, there’s a lot of us.” Can’t tell that lie no more.

ROBERTA, A MOMENT AGO YOU MENTIONED THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE INCLUSIVITY

HOLLY G

AND PEOPLE BEING PERFORMATIVE AND WANTING TO GIVE OFF THE IMPRESSION OF BEING EQUITABLE. CAN YOU DIG INTO THAT A LITTLE MORE, WITH RELATION TO HOW IT’S AFFECTED YOUR CAREER? RL: It’s interesting because, even locally speaking, if I grab my guitar and I go to a predominantly Black space and sing country music, it’s a very positive experience. All eyes and all ears, and respect for the stage, respect for the microphone — they hype me up, big time. But when I would go to predominantly white spaces that were etched out for country music it was completely different. I’ll never forget, when I first started going to open mics I went to one space and got up to perform a song I’d just released. It was a predominantly white bar and the artists performing that night were white men.

In the midst of singing my song, there was a drunk white man in the back mocking me, like, “Yo, homie, what’s up?” It’s like, “Wow, I didn’t notice you acting like this when the other guys were performing.”

It’s hard to have those experiences and think genuinely that if you go to the biggest country city in the world that you’re going to be received. … Even over this weekend, with the Morgan Wallen situation, people need to understand that it’s not just about Morgan Wallen. It’s about these layers of exclusivity when it comes to a community that’s heavily contributed to the genre.

WHEN WHITE ARTISTS MAKE MUSIC AND DO INTERVIEWS, THEY GENERALLY GET TO TALK ABOUT THE SONG OR THE ALBUM WITHOUT HAVING TO TELL A STORY LIKE YOU JUST TOLD, ABOUT BEING ASSAULTED WITH RACIST LANGUAGE. RIGHT THIS MINUTE, WE’RE

HG: Last year, when he actually said the N-word, we were still quarantining and I’d been holed up in my house, and the only thing I’d been listening to was Morgan Wallen. His music had brought me out of a very dark place. People think I do this stuff because I’m just trying to take the white man down. And I’m like, “No, you guys don’t understand. I really love this kind of music.

I’m doing it because I like it and I don’t want to have to feel the way that I feel when I listen to it.” So, I’d been really enjoying Morgan Wallen, and then he did that, and it felt really heavy and depressing and reinforced feelings I had of not being wanted in the genre. I had the idea for Black Opry and the time — I was thinking of launching it in 2023 ADDRESSING EQUITY AND — and then that happened and I was like, “It can’t wait that long.”

GATEKEEPING BEFORE The difference between then and now REALLY EVEN DIGGING is that I don’t really care what he’s doing. I INTO THE MUSIC ITSELF. don’t care that he’s on the Opry, because we THAT HAS TO BE A HEAVY have so many other things going on. I care EXTRA BURDEN TO BEAR. in the sense that I know now where the Opry stands, and I know that I don’t need to deal with them anymore. But it doesn’t affect me HG: I was talking to [CMT’s] Leslie Fram negatively anymore. I feel so energized. It’s about this. When a Black artist goes into an gotten so many eyes on what we’re doing. interview — even if it’s a great interview Black Opry platforms Black artists, but it’s and they only talk about their music — there not just for Black people. There are so many are so many other things they have to carry white people that are completely fed up with them into that interview. They’re with having to participate in a sysnot just going to promote or talk tem that they know is harmful to about their music. They have marginalized people and feel to make sure, when they walk just like I was — “I love couninto that room, that that perFIND LINKS TO LEARN MORE try music but I don’t want to son is not going to prejudge ABOUT THE BLACK OPRY AND sit on the same side as these them based on the color of LEA AND VANCE’S WORK AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC folks.” their skin. They’re walking in like, “How do I make sure AV: People are scared of that I don’t make them mad? things that are new. But it How do I know if they actually ain’t new. It’s old. Hank Willike me? How do I know that I’m liams was taught by “Tee Tot” — not being tokenized?”

Rufus Payne. The reason I say that is There are all these things they have to I’ve played in places where I’d be the only think about, whereas a white artist going into person in that bar this color. … During the an interview is focused on, “How do I get Morgan Wallen situation last year, I’d just them to like my music?” We have 15 steps come off the high of playing at the Country to go through before we can even get to that Music Hall of Fame. When I heard this, I point. … That’s also why we need more Black thought, “Man, what’s really going on in people in the journalism space. It’s a much country music?” different experience being interviewed by HG: People say to me a lot, “Why can’t you someone who looks like you. I’ve been injust forgive [Wallen]?” But honestly, it reterviewed a lot and the questions that come ally has nothing to do with forgiveness. And from Black people and the questions that it has very little to do with Morgan Wallen. come from white people are very different.

The problem is that, when he did what he did, he created an environment for racist people. He created a safe space for them.

GOING BACK TO YOUR He’s apologized for what he’s done, but at POINT EARLIER, no point has he come out and said, “I don’t ROBERTA, IF WE’D want these people at my concerts. I don’t SPOKEN A FEW DAYS want them to follow me. I don’t want them AGO, BEFORE MORGAN harassing Black people on social media.”

So, he basically created this bubble where WALLEN APPEARED ON people that are racist can come and feel safe THE GRAND OLE OPRY, and feel comfortable. When you invite him THIS CONVERSATION somewhere, like the Opry, the message you MIGHT HAVE GONE send to Black artists is that it’s also OK for DIFFERENTLY. AND the people who follow him to show up, too.

HOLLY, YOU SEEMED RL: I’m old enough to remember when Jennifer Lopez said the N-word in a song TO LAND RIGHT IN [“I’m Real”]. There was backlash. People THE MIDDLE OF IT. PHOTO: KIRSTEN BARNETT

for music, my business background — all of those things have come together and it made it easy for me for this to fall in line. My day job is a flight attendant, so I’m able to travel to get to these guys, and I have more freedom in my schedule to do this work. [To Lea and Vance] So, this January compared to last January, what’s the difference in how you feel about the trajectories of your careers?

RL: Well thanks to Black Opry, the trajectory is going straight up. That speaks volumes, of course, to you and Black Opry, but it also speaks to the country music scene and why there hasn’t been a space there [for Black artists]. Between last January and this year, it has been a whirlwind in a very positive way.

AV: Last January … I was offered an opportunity to write a song on a guitar with the Acoustic Guitar Project that was hosted by the Country Music Hall of Fame. Little did I know that a year later I would be singing this song and representing Black Opry with it. Within 365 days, the time I have spent writing songs and the opportunities I’ve taken, it’s like cooking biscuits. The Black Opry said, “All right, let me come put this bad boy in the oven.” And everything’s just rising. I’m glad I stayed ready. The timing was everything.

HG: Which is crazy, because we didn’t exist last January, when you worked with the Hall of Fame. I didn’t know I was going to do any of this.

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expressed that they didn’t like that. And then it was over and moved on. Why? Because R&B was not a hostile space for Black people. We just didn’t like that she used that word. But that space, R&B and BET, had Black artists, white artists.

There was space there. Why, in country music, are we not there?

PEOPLE HAVE REALLY WEAPONIZED MORGAN WALLEN. HIS ALBUM SALES SKYROCKETED AFTER HE USED THE N-WORD AND HIS FANS HAVE DEFENDED HIM VEHEMENTLY, IN A WAY THAT SEEMS MORE LIKE AN EXCUSE TO ENGAGE IN DEEPLY RACIST BEHAVIOR THAN A GENUINE INTEREST IN THE MUSIC. HG: That’s the problem. If he was coming out like, “Look, I don’t want to be a part of that. Stop bringing that to my fan base,” it would be something different. But he doesn’t. He characterizes the criticism as simply being “noise.” When you describe something as “noise,” that’s something you don’t want to hear and is getting in your way. When you do something that hurts people and respond that it’s a distraction to you, that means those people don’t matter to you. … What he said might not have been in a racist context, but it’s hard to argue now that he’s not when he’s OK with those around him.

INCIDENTS LIKE THIS JUST FURTHER UNDERSCORE THE IMPORTANCE OF BLACK OPRY’S WORK. AS YOU LOOK AHEAD INTO 2022, WHICH SOUNDS LIKE IT WILL BE A BIG YEAR, WHAT’S BRINGING YOU EXCITEMENT AND HOPE, BOTH WITH BLACK OPRY AND INDIVIDUALLY? AV: I ain’t gotta write no more songs for a little bit. I was at the office yesterday like, “Man, there’s a lot of shows coming up, and I’ve got nine years of songs.”

That’s a good thing.

HG: I think I’m most excited about us having more opportunities to get together. It feels like therapy when we all get together.

AV: It is.

HG: I’m always thinking in my head, “There’s no way the next time can top the last time,” but every time we get together there’s always something new and cool. Meeting each other was cool, but watching these relationships develop was even cooler. We’ll be at the house and there are 20 people in there and one of them will start singing their songs, and you’ll hear everybody in harmony all throughout the house. ■

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ESCAPING THE BEAR TRAP

Looking at the work that remains to truly support POC and queer professionals in country music

BY ALYSSA DONYAE

​​​​E

ven before I got thrown into the deep end of the country music scene, it was always a genre I admired. As a writer myself, I respect a good narrative. I’ve always loved how you don’t have to be the most incredible singer out there or a totally prodigious musician to make it in country — as long as you can tell a story. A good story is king.

Being raised between Georgia and Texas, I know my fair share of country Black folks who could appreciate the occasional country banger — even some who claim to “hate” country music. I always thought that was interesting, because it appeared that country’s cousins — roots genres like blues, zydeco, even folk to a certain extent — were all fine for them to enjoy, but country seemed offlimits. For a long time, no other genre was so clearly coded a “whites only” space, so my appreciation for the genre was something I mostly kept to myself.

When I was first presented with the opportunity to write this piece, I was ecstatic.

More than a few folks have been proclaiming that “it’s different now,” and that my time was coming, so the offer in my inbox felt like a confirmation. I read the assignment 10 times over and asked every mentor available what angle I should tackle things from. But I found myself in a scary position — I just couldn’t find any words. Days turned into a week, I was still coming up blank, and eventually, I realized the problem wasn’t exactly that I had nothing to say. The problem was that I had nothing new to say.

Still don’t. I have nothing unique to offer, because this conversation has been had time and time again for decades.

Though I’m still learning the lay of the land in this space, I’ve noticed there’s a trap that’s been set at the door. It’s an easy one to fall into if you haven’t lived your life looking for, evading and escaping such traps.

It’s easy to see a queer woman like Brandi Carlile receive two Song of the Year nominations at the Grammys and think queer people are safe and welcome in this space.

It’s easy to see seven Black women open for Jason Isbell’s run of shows at the Ryman and believe that Black women are finally getting their due.

It’s easy to witness the Black Opry House — a house full of Black folks networking and singing songs — become the talk of AmericanaFest and think things are different.

It’s easy to discover a Black man now has one of the biggest jobs in country journalism — congratulations to Marcus K. Dowling, who’s taken on a well-deserved staff position at The Tennessean — and proclaim “Ah! Things are changing.”

If you’re having these thoughts, I really hate to break this to you: You’re caught in a massive bear trap. And you’re gonna have to lose a leg if you sincerely want to get out.

“

IF WE DON’T GET MORE POC AND QUEER FOLKS PAST THE GATES AND INTO SPACES THAT MATTER, WE WILL LOSE EVERYTHING AS SOON AS “DIVERSITY” STOPS BEING PROFITABLE.

You’re going to have to let go of the idea that the accomplishments of a few means significant change for all.

Notice that almost every accomplishment was for performing artists? Only one marked a change in the actual mechanics of the industry. While there seems to be room being made for performers — and we should absolutely celebrate that — we have to acknowledge that there’s been little to no change made in the realm that’s kept behind a gate and fiercely protected. For journalists, producers, instrumentalists and other people in and around the music business who are people of color and/or queer, 2021 was another year where we clapped really loud for our favorite artists getting their flowers, and we waited eagerly on the sidelines hoping our time would eventually come too.

What happens when we don’t have Black and queer folks in these behind-the-scenes positions? Singer-songwriter and label exec Lilli Lewis can tell you that the lack of Black journalists in the industry can completely change the narrative of a project. “I only got to talk to one Black person in the press cycle for my new record,” she tells me. “Now I’m hearing that my album is about slavery, and apparently ‘My American Heart’ is a protest song?” We both laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of a patriotic spiritual being warped into a BLM chant, but the underlying frustration is clear.

Stories like these are present at every level for every position of the industry.

There are few POC producers out there, so the music isn’t staying true to the sounds of Black artists. Not enough venues, publications and festivals are owned by queer folks, so queer artists struggle to find a space where they can even feel safe performing if they are out. There aren’t enough POC photographers, lighting directors, stylists or makeup artists, and now you have POC looking absolutely abysmal at times. I’m talking casket-ready.

And if we have virtually no POC or queer executives? Suddenly every artist who draws on that part of their experience is too “out there” — not safe enough to market.

Just ask Jett Holden, who at the start of his career was told that he had to choose between being “Black or gay” in country music because he “couldn’t be both,” as if he had an option. Or you could ask Miko Marks, who is only now returning to country music after a 13-year absence precipitated by a traumatic experience at her former label.

Eventually (and soon — like, today, preferably) we have to take an honest, contextual look at what’s happening in this space.

“To showcase a few diverse artists and not have a diverse board or staff that you actually listen to and consider is to be performative,” says Rissi Palmer. I’d agree.

Celebrating diversity is fantastic. Seeing Sista Strings and Allison Russell close out the Black Opry Revue at Exit/In began the healing of a wound in me that I didn’t know was bleeding. Meeting so many Black and queer singer-songwriters this past year gave me hope that the next generation of country Black girls won’t have to hide their appreciation for country music, because they’ll see folks who look like them.

Soon, country may not be presumed to be a “whites only” space — but not if we all continue to fall for the obvious trap laid in front of us. If we don’t get more POC and queer folks past the gates and into spaces that matter, we will lose everything as soon as “diversity” stops being profitable.

I warned you: In order to get out of the bear trap, you’d have to lose a leg. So, can we have a moment of honesty? Finding a person of color who can sing is not revolutionary, especially among Black people. We be singing!

And finding a queer person who is talented, pushes boundaries and breaks barriers is not groundbreaking. To quote the Glee character Kurt circa 2009, “Mercedes is Black. I’m gay.

We make culture.” Country music is just now deciding to acknowledge an everyday occurrence. That’s beautiful, but there’s so much more we have to offer.

Truth is, in terms of the “general rethinking in country music of who gets covered,” I’m not concerned about the artists. Their revolution will be televised. But in terms of the “who gets to cover it” — well, now we have a story. And a good story is king. ■

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GREAT EXPECTATIONS

We recommend 12 artists, from Aaron Vance to Morgan Wade and beyond, to keep an eye on this year

BY RACHEL CHOLST, ABBY LEE HOOD, EDD HURT, LORIE LIEBIG AND STEPHEN TRAGESER

a Taste, her debut EP of country material. The common threads that run through her earlier R&B-oriented material — subtly sophisticated lyrics rendered in a rich voice — suit the new songs perfectly. Clever turns of phrase (see the supremely catchy “Sweet Baby Ray”) mark songs that ring true as she looks at maintaining healthy relationships in a world where there are all kinds of stressors to manage. It’d be a remarkable release for an established artist, and it’s one hell of a debut. STEPHEN TRAGESER Crying, featuring four interpretations of the titular Roy Orbison classic, weaves weeping pedal steel into a pulsing girl-group-style beat.

Four songs aren’t enough — here’s hoping 2022 sees more of the fruits of Medrano’s labors. RACHEL CHOLST

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here’s a veritable deluge of rising country talent that deserves your attention. To help you keep up, we’ve picked out a dozen artists who are coming into 2022 with superlative songs, outstanding voices and powerful perspectives to share.

FIND LINKS TO BUY AND STREAM THESE ARTISTS’ WORK AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC

AARON VANCE Of all the new country albums from 2021 that I’m just now hearing, Aaron Vance’s Cabin Fever is the one I’m the most excited about. Vance (who you can also read an interview with on p. 12) has a fine voice that he can use in a lot of different ways and a knack for writing songs that are frequently as fun as they are insightful and heartfelt — hear “Livin’ Above My Means” for a prime example. Some of the record leans more in one direction than the other; “Most Beautiful Boots” might make Roger Miller a bit jealous, while “Five Bucks Says” offers an honest, sobering perspective on trying to stay in the shrinking American middle class. But Vance always sounds like himself no matter what, and that’s a beautiful thing. STEPHEN TRAGESER

RON POPE The early phase of the pandemic forced many of us to put the brakes on our lives and take stock of what we had.

For some lucky few, we even found a sort of contentment.

Ron Pope is one of those people. Treasuring his role as a stay-at-home dad, Pope confronts fatherhood on his recent album Bone Structure. Pandemic notwithstanding, Pope’s road-worn voice — clearly suited to punk — is a conduit for all of us to wonder, stunned, at what happens when the struggles of our 20s morph into the stability of our 30s.

With his forthcoming EP It’s Gonna Be a Long Night, Pope continues to explore how raising a good human turned him into a better one. RACHEL CHOLST

SAD DADDY Over the past year, bassist, singer and songwriter Melissa Carper has made her mark as an exponent of slightly skewed traditional country. The former Nashvillian, who now lives in Texas, released one of 2021’s best albums, Daddy’s Country Gold, which combines jazzy string-band arrangements with songs about Chevy vans, farming and the lure of the Arkansas hills. Along with guitarist Brian Martin, banjo player Joe Sundell and fiddler Rebecca Patek, she’s a member of Sad Daddy, which plows a similar part of the alt-country field. Sad Daddy has been around for more than a decade. On their 2018 collection Live at White Water Tavern, Carper delivers material like “Christian Girlfriend” with sangfroid. Sad Daddy has a new studio full-length, Way Up in the Hills, set for release Jan. 28. EDD HURT

MARGO CILKER VERONIQUE MEDRANO

ROBERTA LEA At the very end of 2021, Virginia-residing singer Roberta Lea (read an interview with her on p. 12) released Just

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The Latinx community has a long, proud and sorely underappreciated legacy in country music — just ask Freddy Fender. Veronique Medrano is here to correct that whitewashing of history. Medrano’s music is steeped in the Tejano and conjunto traditions of Mexico and South Texas.

Whether she’s singing at the mic or helping preserve these genres and push them forward from behind her keyboard, Medrano’s passion for her art and reverence for the trailblazers who came before is obvious. Medrano’s 2021 EP

On her 2021 record Pohorylle, Pacific Northwesterner Margo Cilker showcases her superb storytelling skills and a nimble country-folk band that follows her all around the winding contours of her stories. Every song comes across as a chapter of a story that I want to hear more of, even if it’s about circumstances that no one should have to live through — not something you can say about every singersongwriter’s first full-length album. STEPHEN TRAGESER

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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singers with something to say. “I believe my life matters, do you?” Holden sings in a gravelly, Southern accent over gentle fingerpicked guitar, followed by the refrain he doesn’t want to end up “taxidermy for your Facebook wall.”

If country music doesn’t take that and run, it can’t keep pretending to represent everyday Americans. ABBY LEE HOOD

MYA BYRNE

A seasoned, multitalented musician, Mya Byrne has spent years actively recording, performing and creating space for herself and other trans women to be represented in the country music and folk communities. Her list of accomplishments is already lengthy and most recently includes an appearance on Lafemmebear’s remix of Reba McEntire’s “I’m a Survivor,” featured on the country star’s 2021 Revived Remixed Revisited triple album. Byrne has been hard at work on a new record produced here in Nashville by Aaron Lee Tasjan, which is set to position her as one of the genre’s most unique up-and-coming voices.

LILLI LEWIS

LIZZIE NO

Also known by her nickname “Folk Rock Diva,” New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Lilli Lewis brings an engaging, needed voice and perspective to the genre’s storytelling roots. Her stunning 2021 album Americana offers timeless autobiographical songwriting that digs into the realities of daily life for marginalized groups in America as it looks at our society as a whole. Outside of her talents as an engaging, honest lyricist, Lewis has actively worked to build safe spaces and push for diversification and inclusion for artists who are Black, Indigenous or people of color, as well as LGBTQ and disabled artists in the country music community and beyond. LORIE LIEBIG

Lizzie No’s debut album Hard Won immediately captured the attention of Billboard when it came out in 2017. The magazine called No’s work “simultaneously understated and fervent.” It’s a fitting description for the energy the Brooklyn-residing musician creates as she navigates easily between delicate harp plucking and soft singing to the full-throated indie-pop-leaning arrangements on her 2019 LP Vanity. “The Killing Season,” a standout in No’s wide-ranging catalog, illustrates the toll of perpetual and systemic violence against Black people in America. She brings a remarkably vivid and varied palette to the world of country. ABBY LEE HOOD

MORGAN WADE

PAISLEY FIELDS

Morgan Wade rocketed into the spotlight in 2021 with her second full-length Reckless. Released via stalwart indie Thirty Tigers, the LP was co-produced by Paul Ebersold and singer-songwriter-guitarist Sadler Vaden (who also plays guitar for Jason Isbell). It’s brimming with incisive songs shaped by struggles with mental health and addiction, and it rocks like nobody’s business. Wade, who the Scene crowned Best Country Newcomer in our Best of Nashville issue, signed with Sony Music subsidiary Arista and is set to release a deluxe edition of Reckless Jan. 28, and the sky ought to be the limit. STEPHEN TRAGESER

Paisley Fields is the name of both a country band and its piano-rocking frontman, and both lean hard into the theatrical aspects of the country styles they work in. Among those influences, country-rock and honky-tonk come to the fore in their songs, which proudly feature same-sex romances. Think of a heavy pour of Lavender Country (whose Patrick Haggerty makes a guest appearance on Paisley Fields’ 2020 album Electric Park Ballroom) with a couple dashes of Low Cut Connie’s take-no-prisoners stage presence and you’ve got a rough idea of what makes Paisley Fields so exciting. STEPHEN TRAGESER ■

LORIE LIEBIG

JETT HOLDEN Jett Holden hails from Elizabethton, Tenn., but the singer-songwriter has such a powerful message it’s not hard to imagine that he’ll soon have an impact on Nashville’s country scene — hopefully shaping it into a less stereotypically white space. Songs like “Taxidermy,” which Holden performed live at a Country Queer showcase during last year’s AmericanaFest, are just what country music needs: a kick in the pants to let go of tired tropes and lift up

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KYM REGISTER

ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES Talking with Karen Pittelman, Ellen Angelico and Kym Register about advocating for queer and nonwhite people in and around country music

BY RACHEL CHOLST

A

s the world has cautiously moved back toward “normal” over the past year (new COVID variants notwithstanding), it’s been easier to see how “normal” was not beneficial for everyone — not in our world, and certainly not in the country and Americana industries.

We reached out to some of the most creative voices for change within those spaces: Ellen Angelico (she/her/they/them), Karen Pittelman (she/her), and Kym Register (they/them). On a recent video call, the three offered their ideas about organizing philosophies, what it would take to change the music industry — and if it’s worth keeping around at all.

When Angelico is not on tour as a backing musician with artists like Cam, you can find her at Fanny’s House of Music, serving on Nashville’s Metro Arts Board of Commissioners, and on Zoom meetings for the Nashville Musicians Union, AFM Local 257.

Pittelman leads the Brooklyn-based country group Karen & the Sorrows and founded the Gay Ole Opry in 2011, laying the groundwork for the success of today’s queer country scene. She is also the author and coauthor of several books about philanthropy and activism. Register, based in Durham, N.C., performs under the name Loamlands.

Along with Kamara Thomas, they are one of the organizers of the Country Soul Songbook conference, and they’re a co-founder of The Pinhook, which may be the first openly queer-run ticketed music venue in the South.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ORGANIZING PHILOSOPHY? Ellen Angelico: Organizing is vital to layers of people in the music business. There’s the artists that are the top tier, that get nominated for the awards. And then you’ve got all different levels of artists underneath that.

People who you never hear about that still have some of the trappings of big success: They have a label, they have an agent. Then

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ELLEN ANGELICO you’ve got people under that who are trying to do it independently. And all of those types of artists employ people underneath them. Each one of those artists represents an ecosystem. So the task of organizing is, like, really big — it’s bonkers! The type of organizing that’s necessary for that top tier of artists is very different from the type of organizing that’s necessary for stagehands.

That’s a nut I don’t know how to crack.

The only way that I have been able to keep my head on straight about it is to focus on the sphere that I’m in, which is people who are working in what can mostly be described as mainstream country and Americana music as backup musicians.

The extent of my organizing is that I’ve made a very nice spreadsheet that I’ve sent to some people.

Kym Register: At first, my vibe was — and still is — “Fuck the system!” But I’m realizing through friendships with people like you, Ellen, and in working with Kamara [Thomas] of Country Soul Songbook, and wanting to listen to my Black friends, my Indigenous friends that are just, like, “Actually, [access to the system] is what I want.”

How do I reconcile “fuck this system” with working alongside people who are like, “And also I need to get paid, and this is how I need to get paid.”

Within the capitalist system, there will never be equity. That’s my philosophy, but it isn’t everybody’s philosophy. So Country Soul Songbook works outside of the industry, but is inviting industry folks in — creating a space that is artist-run for artists. But I hear you, Ellen. Where do I fit? Where, at this point, do my politics fit and with whom do they fit? Asking those questions makes you a good organizer, I think.

KAREN, I KNOW GAY OLE OPRY IS ALSO OUTSIDE OF THE MAINSTREAM SYSTEM. Karen Pittleman: Both Ellen and Kym reflected my general commandments of organizing. Number one is: Organize where you come from. Number two is spreadsheets and everything that entails. Organizing can’t happen without the often invisible logistics, often feminized labor, of just keeping track of everybody, reaching out to people, making lists, figuring out transportation, figuring out child care, food and so on. The third commandment is: You’ve got to figure out what people want, what people need. It doesn’t matter what you think things are

sort of offhand started, called Country Music Against White Supremacy. The first project that came out of that was the Change Country Pledge, which is still ongoing. That’s a thing that came out of listening to everybody else.

It’s clear that nobody is wanting to see anybody make any more statements. Everybody was very sick of that.

People want to see other people throw KAREN PITTELMAN down and share their resources, share their access.

But this means trying to organize people supposed to be — that’s never gonna work. who have more access, and I find that the EA: If you accidentally misattribute any more famous people are, the less interested of these guys’ quotes to me, I will be so they are in talking to you if you are not thrilled! equally famous. I find that a very kind of KP: Organizing in the music industry is so complicated position to be in that I have not different than other kinds of political orgareconciled yet and makes me feel gross. nizing because it’s an industry — but also it’s art, and it’s also musicians who are not usuKR: I’m working on a lot of things. I feel ally politicized. lucky to be a part of Country Soul Songbook, this amazing group of people KR: The music industry as a who are trying to connect, build capitalist system is based on this community. Kamara Thomas is falsehood of precarity. driving the fucking bus, she’s It’s like, we had the first got her [commercial driver’s single, what happens after FIND LINKS TO THEIR WORK AT license]! I think she would the first record gets a little NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC say Country Soul Songbook is bit of play, but not enough, trying to create a community or like Rolling Stone Country outside of the industry for wrote one thing about it. Oh, artists to gain power back over you really need an article. And their own image and their own art, then once you’re out there, you’re to be able to organize and fall back in always chasing something, right? love with what they do and have a place that Whether you’re politicized or not, I think, they can go to for sanctuary. it’s such an individualized industry. I think I love playing country music. I’m queer as that makes it really hard to organize each hell. I know a lot of queer people and Black other. Some musicians are some of the most people and Latinx people and Indigenous politicized people that I know — but they people that play country. It’s just been a need to make another paycheck. journey of coming back to having all these identities included through The Pinhook, the COULD YOU TALK A queer-owned DIY space I run.

LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR

CURRENT PROJECTS, WHAT SPARKED YOUR PASSION FOR THIS WORK?

WHAT’S BEEN INSPIRING TO YOU THIS PAST YEAR?

EA: In my short career, I’m super, super proud of everything I’ve done. Everything that I thought I was going to be as a kid, I am. That’s an amazing feeling. And so I think that given all that success and all that privilege, the only thing that I can do in response is try to serve. To that end, I serve on Nashville’s Metro Arts Commission, which is basically a body that promotes arts in Nashville and oversees government funding for the arts. It was something that Nashville came up with in the ’70s. I’ve been really interested in equity work there. But that’s reliant on my own connections, so it’s time to start expanding that circle beyond who I actually know.

KP: I started putting on the Gay Ole Opry and the Queer Country Quarterly and organizing queer people in country music 10 years ago. I also started thinking a lot about, “How does that work stay intersectional?

How do we talk about the relationship between country music and white supremacy?”

In 2016, I wrote this long essay that was originally just going to be a one-pager to try to bring people together for a group we just

KR: I’m going to say something that might be controversial: I love virtual. And I think this has leveled the playing field in a way.

I’ve been able to create relationships with people, and because I couldn’t tour, I had to sit and think, “Well, what was fucked-up about what I was doing?”

I’m excited by and interested in the accountability practice with the Americana Music Association. Before, any statements they made were gestural. Now there’s organizing around that. I’m cautiously hopeful about where we’re headed — and incredibly doubtful we’ll ever get there. But I know we need to keep trying.

KP: Over the last year or so, many people have stepped forward with their visions and making it happen, from Kym and Kamara and Country Soul Songbook to Holly and Black Opry. And seeing so many other people in the music world just come out to support and say, “I have been waiting for this!”

EA: I would just say kids — the kids in my life that are making art are totally unencumbered by a lot of what encumbered me, growing up, in terms of identity and equity. ■

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LEARN THE PAST, KNOW THE PRESENT

VISIT AMANDAMARIEMARTINEZ.COM FOR MORE ON HER WORK

Educator, historian and journalist Amanda Marie Martínez discusses teaching the full history of country music — without glossing over racism

Editor’s note: Amanda Marie Martínez is a Ph.D. candidate in the history department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Her work focuses on how race, pop culture and capitalism intersect, with a special focus on country music. Her dissertation is called “ ‘The Industry Is Playing the People Cheap’: Race and the Country Music Business in the Age of the New Right, 1969-1998.”

Currently, Martínez is a fellow at Middle Tennessee State University, where she’s teaching a course on the history of country music in the Department of Recording Industry. Journalist and author Andrea Williams spoke with Martínez about why it’s important to provide a fuller picture of how and why racism became ingrained in the country music business, from the early decision to market “hillbilly records” separately from “race records” and beyond.

WHAT DREW YOU TO THE STUDY OF RACE IN COUNTRY MUSIC? I wanted to better understand how country’s supposed whiteness was maintained beyond the ’20s, when the racial color line [in music] was created. I went into the archives expecting to find a smoking gun, of many overtly racist businessmen explicitly barring nonwhite people from the business. The truth is much more nebulous, a lot of coded racism that has kept a lot of people out in much more covert ways — which is a much more insidious form of racism when thinking about the past half-century, because it’s been much more effective than overt racism in maintaining the racial color line.

Things like label heads refusing to sign or support nonwhite artists, with the belief that their fans, who they only envisioned as racist white listeners, wouldn’t support the artist. Or refusing to believe that Black listeners exist. And then there is the issue of advertisers and needing to appeal to them, which has meant that the business has had to work very hard to define their listeners as white and not poor. So this has meant a lot of market research historically has only focused on putting evidence together to only show this, specifically. And in the process, Black listeners, for instance, have been very consciously not involved. Just a few examples of how the racial color line has been maintained.

HOW ARE YOUR STUDENTS RECEIVING THIS MATERIAL? When I taught the class [last semester] it was just “History of Country Music,” and it took a while for them to really see race.

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PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

BY ANDREA WILLIAMS

AMANDA MARIE MARTÍNEZ It was me trying to talk with them about racial double standards that have existed within the industry, but students were wanting to talk about women — that women have always had it hard in country music.

So that was something that was interesting to me, and I wonder if that will be different this semester, because race is in the title of the course.

But initially, with all this rhetoric about critical race theory and [accusations that people are] talking too much about race, I was a little bit scared that I would get some pushback. But I honestly didn’t. In my classes, I really try to take a “show, don’t tell” approach. I try to use a lot of primarysource documents and have students read those, and then make the class really discussion-heavy. I just present them with the evidence, and say, “Let’s talk about it.”

Then, hopefully, it becomes hard for anyone to dispute it.

WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE FIND IT EASIER TO SEE AND DISCUSS THE WOMEN’S ISSUE? DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT ONE OR THE OTHER, OR BOTH ISSUES AT THE SAME? Country music is so far behind in terms of equality, at every level. Whether you’re a woman, not white, not straight, et cetera, there’s so much fear going on. So the thing that I think is problematic, when it comes to not just women but also LGBTQ+ issues, is that collectively, a lot of people with knowledge of country music view any movement toward inclusion for one person as progress for all, which is absolutely not the case.

And they can really get ahead of themselves with thinking that a lot has changed because this one other person was included — never mind the fact they still look like a blond, blue-eyed white person. That is definitely most vividly apparent with the issue of women, where — as far as I’m concerned — it’s not feminism if you’re only talking about white women. So I think that we need to be thinking about equality for all and not just letting a few more people in.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST LESSON FROM HISTORY — COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY, OR HISTORY IN GENERAL — THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE APPLYING TODAY? Well, I think that things don’t change overnight, you know? They don’t change quickly or easily, right, and you’re gonna have to face a lot of resistance in that process. Or people are gonna look at you like you’re crazy. So, you just have to be comfortable with that fact, that people might look at you like you’re crazy, and it might be uncomfortable. But it’s just a long-haul thing, you know?

ARE YOU HOPEFUL THAT THINGS CAN CHANGE? It depends on when you ask me. I wrote that [essay for The Washington Post about Morgan Wallen’s use of the N-word], and basically, I was trying to say that country music is at a crossroads. It has all of this potential to be this really beautiful thing for all people. Or it can continue to do what it’s done for the last 100 years and has been incredibly successful at, which is to ride on whiteness and backlash politics.

So I am hopeful on the one hand, and I think that there has been this great community that has developed, and is developing, and I hope that it can somehow transform into something that can feed people. But I’m also more cynical in some ways too, because you see these clear opportunities that the industry has had to do something different — and then they don’t, ’cause they don’t have an incentive to.

I AGREE, BUT I WANNA TALK ABOUT YOUR USE OF THE WORD “THEY.” WHEN YOU SAY “THEY,” WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? AND I’M ASKING THIS BECAUSE I CATCH MYSELF DOING THAT — USING REALLY THESE VAGUE TERMS LIKE “THEY” — AND I THINK

IT MAKES IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO SAY, “OH, SHE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT ME.” I think that’s a good point, because I talk to people in the industry, and they’re like, “You know, off the record, country music does have a race problem, and there are very racist people in this industry, but that’s not me.” Or, “They’re over there, they’re in radio.”

RIGHT. BUT HOW CAN EVERYBODY IN THE INDUSTRY SAY, “IT’S NOT ME”? IT’S GOTTA BE SOMEBODY. I think the “they” is people in power in the industry, obviously people in radio and at labels. But also, a lot of people are complicit in the process at different tiers. So when we’re saying “they,” it’s so rampant. It’s harder to say “Who isn’t ‘they’?”

YOUR STUDENTS ARE IN THE RECORDING INDUSTRY PROGRAM AND COULD VERY WELL BECOME THE NEW GENERATION OF INDUSTRY “THEYS.” WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO IMPRESS UPON THEM SO THAT THEY TAKE A DIFFERENT ROUTE? I think there is a tendency to vaguely see the past as the past. I want them to see we’re still living the effects of the past and also to understand that progress and the push for equality hasn’t always moved in a straight line. Sometimes we’ve backtracked, and even now some things may be more unequal than they have been in the past.

Unfortunately, inequality often doesn’t go away, it just evolves and looks different. I want my students to see all of this, but most of all I want them to see that they have agency. They, like people in the past, have a choice to continue participating in and upholding unequal structures, or thinking about how they can reject them and envision a better, new way. ■

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WIDE OPEN SPACES

artists welcomed into the country music industry over time. When they did attempt to gain acceptance, they were warned that they needed to behave and make music in a certain way. In a 2020 interview with CNN, Mickey Guyton recalled being told that she needed to make sure her songs sounded country and did not sound like R&B. Chiyanti was aware of this double standard and decided to push forward anyway.

“That honestly was a concern in the back of my mind, like, ‘This isn’t traditional country,’ ” she says. “Will they even accept it as country, or welcome it in the genre? But I just said, ‘I don’t have time to worry, just do it. I’m a creative, I can’t limit myself.’ If I want to do it, I’m going to do it.”

Artist and Apple Music Radio host Breland has laid out a blueprint for what these artists might hope to achieve. After a successful career in hip-hop and R&B, Breland began experimenting with blending those sounds into country music back in 2019, following the success of “Old Town Road.” His song “My Truck” was a sensation. “I was aware of the fact that the biggest record of all time is a country-trap song by an unknown artist from Atlanta and now

More Black artists are bringing hip-hop into the country mix in an authentic way

BY HOLLY G

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espite the ever-present calls for “real” country music and condemnation of what many listeners deem to be “pop country,” the truth is that as time and culture have progressed, so has the sound. Country music is no different than any other genre in that it has seen many trends come and go as the music has evolved. The same listeners who condemn pop country tend to happily enjoy artists like Luke Bryan, whose catalog boasts hits with strong pop influences such as “That’s My Kind of Night.” With country music, the unwritten rule seems to be that nontraditional country music influences are welcome, so long as they are coming from an approved source.

While pop country has been frowned upon, the idea that hip-hop could or would fuse with country has been downright shunned. The country music industry has long kept the gate shut against the inclusion of Black people in all facets of the mainstream industry.

Their influence, however, has always been present. Contemporary hitmakers like Sam Hunt, Florida Georgia Line and Colt Ford have embraced hip-hop influences in their music and seen monstrous success in doing so. What’s been missing from the industry is Black people — the originators, heart and soul of hip-hop — to assert hip-hop influences within the genre.

Recently, notorious country music artist Morgan Wallen found success in a collaboration with rapper Lil Durk. While some would expect this as a next step for a genre that’s being forced out of its comfort zone, the reality is that it’s a perpetuation of the harm caused by the genre to an entire culture — not to mention that Black people played a major role in the birth of country music, and Wallen hurt their descendants by using the N-word. To Black listeners, the move felt like a smoke screen for Wallen’s bad behavior. Collaborations that are little more than public relations maneuvers are no step forward. But there is something else new and exciting happening in the country realm.

As the movement for a more inclusive country music landscape plows forward and grows louder, Black artists are becoming more vocal about their appreciation for country music and are reclaiming their right to craft it in new and exciting ways.

Some are not only incorporating hip-hop influences but also thoroughly blending the genres from an authentic perspective.

In 2019, Lil Nas X planted the seeds for the emerging movement, using his internet marketing mastery to create a viral hit with “Old Town Road.” While the country music industry actively fought against it, the song saw worldwide success and no doubt inspired many of the cross-genre projects that artists are now making. “I do think [Lil Nas X’s influence] is here to stay as long as it is conducive and beneficial to the culture of the genre,” says Dallas artist Hisyde. “Take

no one else is putting out songs that sound like that,” Breland told The New York Times back in 2020. “Wide open. Why on earth would I not give it a shot.” Since then, mainstream country has welcomed Breland. He’s collaborated with country chart-toppers like Dierks Bentley and Keith Urban — proving that the intuition he used to develop his sound was spot-on.

The call for “real” country music has revealed itself to be nothing more than a weapon against the diversifying of the genre.

Black artists are beginning to say “no more.”

If the goal is an authentic sound, artists like Chiyanti and Hisyde are giving compelling examples of what that could be. And they’re doing it in exciting ways that have the potential to reach a much wider audience than the industry typically markets to. ■

CHIYANTI Jimmie Allen and Nelly [collaborating], Kane Brown and H.E.R. It’s here to stay. All it needed was a window of opportunity.”

After spending years working behind the scenes in music, in 2021 Hisyde FIND LINKS TO STREAM THESE ARTISTS’ WORK AT stepped to the front of the stage with a NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC unique sound that melds country, hip-hop, blues and soul. For Hisyde, it’s a natural expression of the way he sees himself.

“When I decided to infuse hip-hop, blues, gospel, R&B into country, it wasn’t that I wanted to create a new version, or create a ripple in the much-beloved genre that would take away from the art of country music,” he says. “I was just introducing my country music fans and supporters to my life — to my upbringing, the rich history and culture that is the core essence of who I am. I am hip-hop, I am blues, I am R&B, I am soul, I am gospel, I am country.”

While it may appear at first glance that these experimentations with the genre will forever live on the fringes, Hisyde predicts a shift. “I think that the newer generation of country music listeners long for their favorite hip-hop or R&B artist to be infused with country,” he says. Still, he acknowledges that the willingness of listeners to embrace something new may not be enough.

“But as in all industries, there are invisible rules and influences that determine what is acceptable and who gets to introduce it to mainstream country.”

The woman behind “Big Ole Wagon” — a hip-hop/country crossover track that racked up hundreds of thousands of plays on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok — was surprised to find such a large audience. “It was honestly an experiment,” says Houston-based Chiyanti. “I just wanted to do something different. Wasn’t expecting people to go for it this much.” The song is undeniably hip-hop, with a fun, upbeat sound behind clever and confident lyrics. It’s also undeniably country, emphasized by expert fiddle licks from Dominique Hammons.

Though hip-hop, pop and R&B influences are not new to country music, what is new is the fact that Black artists are leading the charge. There have not been many Black HISYDE

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PASSING THE MIC

In our survey, journalists weigh in on the present and future of country music COMPILED BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

RESPONDENTS:

BRITTNEY SPENCER

PHOTO: HOLLY RAINEY

PHOTO: BONNIE NICHOALDS

MICKEY GUYTON

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

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wide array of folks spend a significant amount of their lives exploring and examining country music. Some work in several media, while others focus solely on writing or broadcasting. Many have published or are publishing books, or have taken on other projects like writing liner notes for historic reissues; some are also musicians. We’ve invited a handful of them to share their take on the present and future of country music in our survey. Read a sampling of their responses (along with some outlets where you’ve seen or heard their work in the past year) on topics from artists who deserve more recognition to the biggest challenges facing the industry in the year to come.

ADEEM THE ARTIST

The writing of Sierra Ferrell’s “In Dreams” is immaculate, and the main melody motif is exactly what I’d imagine a country siren’s song would sound like.

Tony Evans Jr.’s self-titled EP is carefully produced, with a solid vocal performance and cinematic songwriting. ALYSSA DONYAE Song: Adia Victoria, “Magnolia Blues”; album: Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days.

KELLY McCARTNEY Song: Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like”; album: Mickey Guyton, Remember Her Name. STEACY EASTON Song: Joshua Ray Walker, “Sexy After Dark”; album: Allison Russell, Outside Child. HOLLY G Honestly, my favorite album is Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album. It’s damn good and a damn shame it will forever be tied to something so ugly. CHRIS PARTON Elvie Shane’s Backslider upends the standard objections many fans and tastemakers have made about mainstream country. The album’s “Saturday Night Me” is simultaneously commercial, progressive and heartfelt. EDD HURT Song: Emily Scott Robinson, “Hometown Hero”; album: Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall and Jack Ingram, The Marfa Tapes.

OLIVIA LADD Song: Carly Pearce, “What He Didn’t Do”; albums: Charley Crockett, Music City USA, and Miko Marks, Our Country. RISSI PALMER Song: Kane Brown, “One Mississippi”; album: Mickey Guyton, Remember Her Name. RON WYNN Song: Mickey Guyton, “Love My Hair”; album: Carly Pearce, 29: Written in Stone.

BRITTNEY McKENNA Song: Aaron Vance, “Five Bucks Says”; album: Miko Marks, Race Records. RACHEL

John Mailander’s Look Closer. ABBY LEE HOOD The Steel Woods’ All of Your Stones took on a new meaning after the passing of the band’s founder (and a dear friend of mine), Jason “Rowdy” Cope. JESSICA BLANKENSHIP My fave single was Nelly’s “High Horse,” off his rap-country Heartland, with a twangy opening sample from an old George Strait record. Miko Marks’ Our Country was titled not only to question who and what can be called “country” but to embody answers.

DAVID CANTWELL Allison Russell’s Outside Child isn’t just steeped in the dynamic sonic traditions that have always marked country and Americana at their best, but also engages with trauma, persistence and rebirth in ways that speak to the thematic honesty and sophistication that the music requires.

Amid a larger confrontation with country’s tenacious politics of anti-Blackness and misogyny, Mickey Guyton’s Remember Her Name exemplifies a chorus of responses

by Black artists — particularly Black women — who are forcing a conversation while demonstrating vibrant talents across country subgenres. Filled with great songs and sparkling production, Guyton’s album isn’t just important, it’s great. CHARLES L.

CHOLST

HUGHES

I consider old-time and Appalachian folk to be part of country, so my favorite album is

Mickey Guyton’s “All American” and Eric Church’s “Stick That in Your Country Song”

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BRANDI CARLILE

made me most hopeful for country. Carly Pearce’s “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” and Miranda Lambert’s “If I Was a Cowboy” reminded me why I love it. WILL HERMES “Younger Me” was the first song Brothers Osborne released after T.J. came out — a high-water mark of vulnerability for the celebrated duo. For Mickey Guyton to release her first full-length album Remember Her Name on her own terms is an inspiration for all artists showing up and being themselves. HUNTER KELLY

WHAT SONG OR ALBUM WAS THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2021?

I’ll always miss the angst of Kacey Musgraves’ debut and will contentedly settle in for Golden Hour’s bougie countrypop. The heartbreak-to-hope arc of StarCrossed, though, left me cold. It’s static and monochrome in delivery, oddly cool and distant in disposition. DAVID CANTWELL Kacey Musgraves, Star-Crossed. HOLLY G,

STEACY EASTON, OLIVIA LADD

This might be bending the rules a little, but I was disappointed by the reaction to Kacey Musgraves’ Star-Crossed. It was one of the year’s most ambitious albums and

PHOTO: NEIL KRUG

NAME YOUR FAVORITE COUNTRY SONG AND YOUR FAVORITE COUNTRY ALBUM RELEASED IN 2021.

Jessica Blankenship: WFKY Froggy Kentucky Country, Kentucky Country Music David Cantwell: Rolling Stone Country Rachel Cholst: No Depression, The Boot, Country Queer, Rainbow Rodeo, Adobe & Teardrops Kevin Coyne: Country Universe, Reelz Alyssa Donyae: Country Queer, OffBeat, Nashville Scene Steacy Easton: CBC, Slate, Parton and Pearl, Journal of Popular Music Studies Holly G: Black Opry, Nashville Scene Will Hermes: Rolling Stone, NPR, The New York Times, Pitchfork Jewly Hight: 91.One WNXP, NPR Music Abby Lee Hood: Tennessee Lookout, Nashville Scene, Billboard Charles L. Hughes: Slate Edd Hurt: Nashville Scene Hunter Kelly: Spin, CMA Close Up, Apple Music, Rolling Stone Olivia Ladd: Nashville Scene Kelly McCartney: Apple Music Brittney McKenna: Nashville Scene, NPR Music, Apple Music Rissi Palmer: Apple Music Chris Parton: The Bluegrass Situation, Nashville Lifestyles, Sounds Like Nashville Marissa R. Moss: Rolling Stone, Billboard, Nashville Scene Ron Wynn: Nashville Scene, The Bluegrass Situation, The Tennessee Tribune

has several excellent country and roots moments. BRITTNEY McKENNA Walker Hayes, “Fancy Like.” ALYSSA

DONYAE, JESSICA BLANKENSHIP

Old Dominion, Time, Tequila & Therapy.

CHRIS PARTON Alan Jackson’s Where Have You Gone was a miserable listen. He was so intent on bemoaning the current state of country that he forgot to make some good music of his own. KEVIN COYNE Songs that pandered to fear, like Aaron Lewis’ “Am I the Only One.” RISSI PALMER Eric Church effectively made one of 2021’s best single LPs; too bad it was diluted across three uneven releases. WILL HERMES I thought Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days was a big fat dud. As cool as Sturgill’s The Ballad of Dood and Juanita was, I also wasn’t impressed. If either of these albums had been released by other artists, I don’t think they’d be garnering the same praise.

RACHEL CHOLST

WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE COUNTRY ARTIST WHO FLEW UNDER THE RADAR IN 2021?

On New Kind of Outlaw, D’orjay the Singing Shaman expertly blends country

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with R&B to create the kind of music I loved from Wynonna — who, it turns out, was a big influence on D’orjay. Plus, she has the style and stage presentation I long to see in country artists. HUNTER KELLY Aaron Vance is relatable, he’s hilarious, he can sing — you really can’t ask much else. ALYSSA DONYAE Davis Raines is a compelling singersongwriter who mostly performs to small audiences in Nashville. Caught live, he’s a master of unassuming stagecraft. EDD HURT Cody Jinks, Erin Enderlin, Sunny Sweeney. JESSICA BLANKENSHIP Tré Burt, Leah Blevins. MARISSA R. MOSS Sunny War. KELLY McCARTNEY Shane Pendergast. STEACY EASTON Kolby Cooper. CHRIS PARTON Adeem the Artist. RACHEL CHOLST Esther Rose, Morgan Wade, Charley Crockett. WILL HERMES Chapel Hart was named to CMT’s Women of Country class and released a full-length album, but they should be superstars right now. They are hilarious, beautiful, ridiculously talented, country as hell and can put on a live show that would put some current stars to shame. Also, that Valerie Ponzio hasn’t been signed is a crime. RISSI

PALMER

Miko Marks started to get back on the national radar in 2021. She’d been quietly carrying on her regional performing career since experiencing rejection in Nashville in the 2000s. Her return to releasing albums was not only on her own terms, but also a rich display of how she’s deepened her expressive abilities and her understanding of the place she claims in musical lineage.

JEWLY HIGHT That a queer woman like Lily Rose uses same-sex pronouns in her lyrics is exciting and refreshing, particularly given her spot on the mainstream Big Loud/Republic roster. BRITTNEY McKENNA Despite being left off basically every Best Of list I saw, Fancy Hagood’s Southern Curiosity is intensely personal yet universal, and intimate while theatrically over-thetop. Hagood’s songwriting is as sharp and poignant as his hooks and bighearted voice.

DAVID CANTWELL

WHO DO YOU HOPE WILL MAKE WAVES IN 2022?

Joe Troop is putting in the work to change the industry for the better and raise awareness in ways other artists are too shy to do. ABBY LEE HOOD Kane Brown can collaborate as authentically with blackbear as he does with Chris Young. And he’s been a powerful antidote to the toxicity surrounding the genre in recent years, and seems determined to lift country music up from within, as well as leverage his position to give opportunities to others. KEVIN COYNE Miko Marks, Camille Parker, Tony Evans Jr., Madeline Edwards. RISSI PALMER Emily Nenni, Mya Byrne, Erin Rae, Breland, Izzy Heltai, Jett Holden. OLIVIA LADD Hopefully all the Black women singers who are getting rave reviews — Yola, Allison Russell, Valerie June, Adia Victoria, Amythyst Kiah, Mickey Guyton — will get to enjoy the same success as Jimmie Allen, Darius Rucker and Kane Brown. RON WYNN D’orjay the Singing Shaman, Jett Holden, Mya Byrne and Graham Scott Fleming have each bowled me over with their talent, point of view and ability to capture the listener. I will continue doing all I can to bring attention to them and others working to advance country music artistically and socially. HUNTER KELLY The lane-jumpers and genre-refuseniks who shuffle-mix country, R&B, indie rock, etc. Hat tip to Yola, Waxahatchee, Soccer Mommy (that aching “Wide Open Spaces” cover), Brittney Spencer and many more — as well as the mighty Chris Stapleton, whose Santana collab proved he’s even a convincing reggae singer. WILL HERMES Priscilla Renea — who recently had a viral R&B hit under the name Muni Long with “Hrs and Hrs” — was ahead of the curve when she dropped her culturally and commercially savvy country-pop as a Southern Black woman in 2018. Here’s hoping her next country efforts are truly heard and taken as seriously as they oughta be. JEWLY HIGHT

WHAT WAS THE COUNTRY MUSIC INDUSTRY’S BIGGEST MISTAKE OF 2021?

Margo Cilker, Chapel Hart, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts and Morgan Wade are my easy breakouts, but I’m also deliriously excited for new Maren Morris.

The biggest mistake of 2021 has been the biggest mistake for a while now: the rush to gloss over major issues and get straight to redemption and forgetting without any real change or growth. A lot of folks missed a really big opportunity to REALLY address racial inequity among the industry and fandom. RISSI PALMER The country music industry seemed like it was stuck in a defensive posture throughout 2021, as though top priority was trying to maintain an image of unified respectability. Meanwhile, contrarian Morgan Wallen fans flouted his censure for being caught on video using a racist slur and a growing number of artists and advocates insisted on much-belated recognition of how the format marginalizes BIPOC and LGBTQIA folks on the basis of identity. That was hardly an atmosphere for adaptation of any kind, which is exactly why the leaders of the Black Opry, the Country Soul Songbook Summit and other grassroots efforts focused on building coalitions well outside of the traditional industry system.

MARISSA R. MOSS

JEWLY HIGHT

Roberta Lea is the sweetest, most earnest songwriter I met in 2021, and every song on her new EP Just a Taste feels like catching up with your favorite big cousin. ALYSSA DONYAE Roberta Lea. DAVID CANTWELL, CHARLES L.

HUGHES

Brittney Spencer. HOLLY G, BRITTNEY

McKENNA

S.G. Goodman. KELLY McCARTNEY Adeem the Artist. STEACY EASTON Jett Holden. RACHEL CHOLST Emily Scott Robinson. EDD HURT Morgan Wade, Kidd G. CHRIS PARTON Cole Chaney, Taylor Austin Dye, Rye Davis and Branden Martin are just a few Kentucky acts who are on the verge of getting onto bigger stages. JESSICA

BLANKENSHIP

Talking about stylistic diversity and truly becoming a welcoming industry is a good start. But when commercial radio playlists are super tight and critically praised artists still can’t get their songs aired, the music’s appeal is being limited. Americana is increasingly becoming the place for lots of edgy, intriguing artists. RON WYNN Of the 10 most popular artists on country radio in 2021, nine were middle-aged white men. That is what the industry still thinks that the listener and performer of country music needs to be. STEACY EASTON The ACM named Luke Bryan — who donated thousands to Tennessee’s antiLGBTQ Gov. Bill Lee — Entertainer of the Year, and the CMA allowed Morgan Wallen’s work to even be nominated. ABBY LEE HOOD The CMA gave noted reactionary Jason Aldean a prime slot on its 2021 awards show, which also gave the very idea of disinformation a leg up in a moment when it’s least needed. EDD HURT The country music tours that did happen could have been an amazing opportunity for public health messaging and getting people vaccinated. But since helping people avoid contracting a life-threatening disease is apparently political, I don’t know what hope Nashville has for being an agent for any kind of change. RACHEL CHOLST

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE FACING COUNTRY MUSIC IN 2022?

Unfortunately, it’s the same practices of racist, misogynist, queerphobic exclusion that has marked it for too long. I am hopeful about all the incredible artists who have entered the conversation so powerfully — from mainstream to underground — and I’m heartened by the creation of spaces outside the mainstream in which these voices can flourish. But I’m keenly aware that, on a mainstream level, we are likely to see continued exclusion and potentially a pernicious “anti-woke” backlash that will cloak its toxicity in the disguise of redemption, free speech and “keeping politics out of it.” CHARLES L. HUGHES Artists are getting more and more outspoken on social media, but those divisive stances rarely make it into the paint-by-numbers lyrics and tired melodies that make up most of the country radio chart. Mainstream country hits seem to convey less and less emotional truth with each passing year. The format needs — and needs to support — more artists who want to grow creatively over time. HUNTER KELLY Expanding beyond the white male singer — we rarely hear of Native Americans, Latinos and other cultures within country music on the radio. JESSICA BLANKENSHIP Does country want to stick to the narrative it’s been following for years, that it’s “white man’s blues”? Or does it want to embody what it’s always said it is, the music of the people? RISSI PALMER While there appears to be some room being made for performing artists who represent marginalized groups, it still feels as if there’s a “there can only be one” paradigm for everyone not under the spotlight. ALYSSA DONYAE There’s a lack of equity and diversity across the board: on artist rosters and radio playlists, in industry leadership positions

(and entry and mid-level positions, for that matter), in backing bands, in studio roles.

Change will be slow and frustrating until representation exists in every corner of the industry. BRITTNEY McKENNA Jason Aldean moved across the spectrum from sort of conservative to fascist-adjacent and still had a single (“If I Didn’t Love You,” a duet with Carrie Underwood) go to No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart and earn a Grammy nomination, making it feel like the kind of soft oppression represented by the Morgan Wallen debacle will never go away. Seeing RaeLynn, Brantley Gilbert, Dustin Lynch and other country stars on the bill for the AmericaFest event in December — which also welcomed Kyle Rittenhouse after his acquittal — shows that the mainstream isn’t reaching as wide as it could. STEACY EASTON What is the biggest hurdle to making important changes in the industry in 2022?

We have to get over the grandeur of the progress made in 2021. This year was a great year for Black and queer artists, absolutely. But we’ve still got a ways to go, and we eventually have to stop marveling at the minimal progress we’ve made and push forward with the momentum — not only for performing artists but for everyone in the industry, from journalists to venue owners.

ALYSSA DONYAE The system works really well for the straight white men at the top of the ladder, so it’s tough convincing them that there is any reason to change anything to help the industry better serve anyone else. That’s an issue that they have to tackle ethically and morally in order for there to be any significant, structural change, because they are the ones with the money and making the decisions. It’s an uphill battle. HOLLY G I think people are scared to talk about diversity, mostly because they think they’ll say the “wrong” thing. I also think white industry members, myself included, want to confront our white guilt. This is not unique to country music, and is for sure the biggest hurdle to making important changes in any part of our society. Pertinent to the music industry in Nashville, though, is that ideas about what diversity means are about 15 years behind everywhere else. Putting people onstage at awards ceremonies is a fantastic start, but it’s not the same thing as equity. RACHEL CHOLST COVID remains an issue. How do artists keep fans engaged and interested in their music when they have to limit interactions for the sake of safety? JESSICA BLANKENSHIP Bullshit genre litmus tests. Tradition should be cherished, but only insofar as it serves how we live, all together, now, in the real world. Otherwise, junk it with those damned war statues. WILL HERMES For all the progress in visibility for queer and BIPOC artists in 2021, the centering of the straight-cis-white narrative still dominates songs across the board. It’s even rare for a white male artist to have a hit that tells a different narrative taking place outside of generic bars or backroads. The incessant research and testing of songs at terrestrial country radio forces the sounds and subject matter covered in songs to be so narrow. The result is mostly bland background noise that most folks working on Music Row don’t listen to in their free time. HUNTER KELLY EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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February 5 at 11 am

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IN CONCERT

Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor SERIES PARTNER

WITH THE

NASHVILLE SYMPHONY

February 24 to 26

February 17 & 18

THE DOO WOP PROJECT

Nathan Aspinall, conductor

February 3 to 5

March 11

KOOL & THE GANG March 13*

World Premieres

AN EVENING OF FIRSTS All-American Program feat.

Winger & Warnaar March 17 to 19

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JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

February 19

February 27

March 22*

STEWART COPELAND: POLICE DERANGED March 24 to 26

JUDY COLLINS March 29

GREGORY PORTER

orchestral greatest hits

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

with The Nashville Symphony Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

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March 3 to 6

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*Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

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WITH SUPPORT FROM

CRITICS’ PICKS O F

NEVER SENT JAN. 20-21

The Barbershop Theater

T H I N G S

T O

[DRAFTED]

NEVER SENT

I don’t know about you, but the drafts folder of my Gmail account is a cringefest. “I’ve always resented you for not falling in love with me,” I wrote to an old friend, “and I don’t believe that you think of me often.” In another: “If you really want to understand, maybe you could pick up a book or read an internet thing.” But there’s good stuff in there too, like an email to my sixth-grade English teacher that I wrote on the dawn of my first (and last) year teaching high school. (“Please tell me it gets easier,” I wrote to a colleague seven days later.) In a draft to my second cousin, I recalled that the last time I talked to my grandmother before she died, she said, “Honey, I’m so happy we can talk together as adults.” If you’re not in the mood to brave those moody waters, you can watch other folks do it and laugh along at Never Sent, an “event celebrating the most important conversations we’ve never had.” People will read drafts of emails and text messages that they didn’t have the guts to send — or perhaps that they did have the wisdom not to send. The Barbershop Theater’s COVID protocols require that everyone in the building be vaccinated and that audience members wear masks throughout the performance. 7 p.m. Jan. 20 and 10:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at The Barbershop Theater, 4003 Indiana Ave. ERICA CICCARONE

MUSIC

FRIDAY / 1.21 [I CALL YOUR NAME]

THE TUMMIES RELEASE SHOW

Maybe you’re sick of hearing about The Beatles, the well-known English rock band whose career recently got a boost via Peter Jackson’s documentary series, The Beatles: Get Back, which covers the making of their penultimate album. (Yeah, I know Let It Be was finally released after Abbey Road — there are only about 10

THEATER

THURSDAY / 1.20 [PLAYING FAVORITES]

NASHVILLE OPERA PRESENTS FAVORITE SON

Nashville Opera returns this weekend with the highly anticipated world premiere of Marcus Hummon’s folk opera Favorite Son. The project follows a young man as he comes to terms with love, loss and redemption. It marks the second collaboration between Nashville Opera and the Grammy Award-winning songwriter — Surrender Road premiered in 2005. John Hoomes directs, and the cast features a unique blend of talent — including four-time Grammy nominee Darrell Scott; popular tenor and minor league baseball player John Riesen; Emma Grimsley, who most

recently led the North American touring company of The Phantom of the Opera as Christine; Nashville favorite Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, seen in 2020’s world premiere opera film One Vote Won; and an ensemble of musical theater students from Belmont University. Hummon is perhaps best known as a songwriter — he’s responsible for big hits such as “Cowboy Take Me Away” by The Chicks, “Born to Fly” by Sara Evans and the Rascal Flatts version of “Bless the Broken Road” — but he’s also enjoyed success as a recording artist, composer, playwright and author. His musical American Prophet is about the life of Frederick Douglass, and is set to open at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage Theater this summer. Jan. 21-23 at the Noah Liff Opera Center, 3622 Redmon St. AMY STUMPFL

DUE TO INCREASED CONCERNS ABOUT COVID-19 TRANSMISSION, PLEASE CHECK WITH VENUES ABOUT POTENTIAL CANCELLATIONS BEFORE MAKING PLANS.

D O

million books, articles and movies about The Beatles.) Still, The Beatles’ various styles continue to inspire musicians, and Nashville band The Tummies do a good job of re-creating the sound of Fab Four albums like A Hard Day’s Night and With the Beatles on their 2020 album 9:30 Girl. I wouldn’t call 9:30 Girl power pop, because that genre is a 1970s invention that adds heavier guitars and drums than The Beatles favored to the basic — and often very askew — song forms Lennon and McCartney (and yeah, George and Ringo) favored. 9:30 Girl fits into the post-Beatles genre that, say, the Tennessee band The Shazam has made their own, and that makes sense: One of The Tummies is former Shazam guitarist Jeremy Asbrock.

The Tummies sing a tune titled “Baby Blue,” which isn’t the foundational 1971 power-pop hit by Badfinger, and tracks like “Collector” and “Do My Eyes Deceive Me” make a case for the continued relevance of The Beatles’ early style. Friday at The Basement, The Tummies get around to having their longdelayed release show for 9:30 Girl. Also appearing will be Damon Johnson and Buck Johnson. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT MUSIC

R O U N D U P

THEATER

W E E K L Y

[WE LIKE TO PARTY]

THE BOOM BAP 14TH ANNIVERSARY FEAT. JUST BLAZE & MORE

As the pandemic drags on, I occasionally find myself thinking about the most crowded shows I’ve ever been to. Near the top of the list — a close second to a punk house show where one kid, who might have been clairvoyant, showed up wearing a football helmet — was a visit to longrunning hip-hop dance party The Boom Bap. At the time, circa 2012, The 5 Spot was home base for DJs Rate, Bowls and Case Bloom’s event, and even then, it was clear they had the formula on lock: There was nary a

THE TUMMIES

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CRITICS’ PICKS

ACTORS BRIDGE ENSEMBLE PRESENTS FIRST TIME STORIES

For more than 25 years, Actors Bridge Ensemble has been telling “the stories that Nashville needs to hear.” That tradition continues on Friday with the ensemble’s popular First Time Stories. Now in its 10th year, the monthly series started as something of an open-mic event, with tellers stepping up to offer real-life stories of first loves, first jobs, first heartbreaks and more. More recently, Actors Bridge has begun preselecting participants in order to accommodate COVID protocols, and this month’s installment will actually be presented via Zoom. But no worries — it’s a terrific lineup that features favorite ABE actors now living outside of Nashville, including Jillian Paige and Hayley Jo Pellis (both currently in New York), and Ani Pareek (L.A.). You may remember the artists, but you never know just what story they’re going to share. 6-8 p.m. via Actors Bridge Ensemble, actorsbridge.org AMY STUMPFL

FILM

CHILDREN

THE WAR ON DRUGS TBA, which he’ll celebrate Sunday night at The Basement. Hew G. will have a lot of friends along, including 2’Live Bre, who’s been circling back to writing verses after going hard into fashion for a while. Clover Jamez, who’s worked with Hew G. on several recent tracks — one of which was produced for a recent episode of Amazon animated series Fairfax — will join in too, as well as outstanding singer Ruby Camille.

It’s a scene in constant motion, so it’s a good time to pause and catch a glimpse. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S.

[CUPCAKE OF AMBITION]

GRADUATE NASHVILLE’S DOLLY PARTON BIRTHDAY PARTY

Dolly Parton’s birthday isn’t designated as a state holiday, but it might as well be. To celebrate the iconic performer’s 76th birthday, the Graduate Nashville hotel (which is home to the Dolly-themed bar White Limozeen) will host a family-friendly event honoring the Smoky Mountain songbird in partnership with her bookgiving nonprofit, the Imagination Library.

There will be a live reading of Joy JordanLake’s children’s book Sir Drake the Brave, and illustrator Susan Eaddy will lead a clay crafting project. Vendors will also be present to sell art and sweets. Proceeds will support the Imagination Library, and families can learn how to enroll in the program. 11 a.m. at Graduate Nashville, 101 20th Ave. N. KELSEY BEYELER

STEPHEN TRAGESER

MONDAY / 1.24

SUNDAY / 1.23 [SNAPSHOT]

HEW G. MIXTAPE RELEASE

One thing that’s consistently cool about hip-hop in Nashville is the kaleidoscopic array of unique styles. Hew G. has at least

[PERCHANCE TO DREAM]

SHAKESPEARE/KUROSAWA X3: THE BAD SLEEP WELL

MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: RADIO ON

TUESDAY / 1.25 [LIGHT TOUCH]

RADNEY FOSTER & CHARLIE WORSHAM

Here’s a bill featuring two Nashville singer-songwriters who bring a light touch to their pop-country tunes. Radney Foster came to Nashville from Texas in the 1980s, and he joined Bill Lloyd in the country-pop duo Foster & Lloyd. Their late-’80s work stands as Nashville Power Pop Lite — it’s enjoyable stuff that has a bit of, say, Marshall Crenshaw in its song craft. After the duo split in 1990, Foster made a well-wrought solo album, 1992’s Del Rio, TX 1959, which contained several chart-topping singles. Since then, he’s distinguished himself as a classy singersongwriter, releasing the reflective 2017 collection For You to See the Stars. On that album, “Sycamore Creek” is narrated by a successful musician who looks back on his early years in his hometown.

RADIO ON

HEW G.

PHOTO:STEFFEL MEDIA

FILM

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THE WAR ON DRUGS

The War on Drugs, whose music is an intoxicating amalgam of highway rock and trance-inducing post-shoegaze, knows that when you find a good groove there’s no good reason not to just hang out there for a bit. Their latest record, October’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore, is a perfect continuation of what came before, with drum beats that could go on for days, riffing pianos and guitars, and Adam Granduciel’s Dylanesque vocals combining into a haze of the best sort. The past two years have made one want to escape. If you catch The War on Drugs at the Mother Church, all the bad things will be waiting for you outside. But for a couple hours at least, you’ll be gone.

Proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test will be required for entry.

SATURDAY / 1.22

The Belcourt closes out its Shakespeare/ Kurosawa x3 series with this Hamletinspired black-and-white crime thriller from 1960 (shown in 35mm!). The foreverbadass Toshirô Mifune stars as a man who infiltrates a corporation — and even marries into the senior vice president’s family — in order to take down the bigwigs who made his late father kill himself. Along with being an engrossing tale of untouchable corruption and bitter vengeance, it’s also another down-and-dirty dip into film noirera Kurosawa (my favorite of Kurosawa’s eras, BTW). While he will forever be known as the master of the samurai epic, his big-city crime stories (which also include Drunken Angel, Stray Dog and High and Low) indicate that he could’ve had a nice career churning out postwar pulp — and he still would have been the goddamn man.

2:10 p.m. Jan. 22-23 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[HELL OF A DRUG]

[COLLAPSING AROUND OUR EARS]

How this 1979 “anti-road movie” (currently hitting theaters in a new 4K restoration) isn’t a midnight-movie staple is beyond me. In this British/German production, film-critic-turned-filmmaker Christopher Petit hooked up with German cinema god Wim Wenders (who serves as an associate producer) and his longtime assistant cameraman Martin Schäfer for this moody, existential black-and-white trip.

A London DJ (David Beames) travels to Bristol by car, heading straight to the flat where his brother killed himself. Along the way, he meets strangers (including a young guitar-strumming Sting) who are just as lost and tormented as he is. All during his travels, the radio keeps him company, either blasting tunes from such New Wave icons as David Bowie, Kraftwerk and Devo or hitting our boy with bad news. (There was a lot of tumultuous shit going on in the U.K. back then.) Even though it was made decades ago, this film will resonate with people who’ve had to take long, lonesome journeys — with their playlists always on shuffle — looking for some kinda closure. 7 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC

[FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME]

STEVEN HALE

MUSIC

THEATER

STEPHEN TRAGESER

7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Fifth Ave N.

MUSIC

square foot of the room that wasn’t occupied by party people and connoisseurs of beats.

The Boom Bap crew has changed locations a few times; wherever they’ve gone, they’ve filled bigger and bigger rooms to capacity, and even launched a Legends Series bringing in guests like Prince Paul and Spinderella. Their 10th anniversary party in 2018 (coincidentally, No. 3 on my list of packed shows) featured master beatcrafter and DJ Just Blaze, whose work you’ve heard on records by Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, to name just a few. Friday, he’ll be back to help The Boom Bap celebrate 14 years of block-rockin’, with some top-tier special guests. Dono Dagger and comedian Josh Black are your masters of ceremonies, who’ll introduce you to Nashville hip-hop heroes Tim Gent and A.B. Eastwood as well as master of beats and former Nashvillian Wally Sparks.

9 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N.

one thing in common with several other notable locals. He’s got a full band that plays with him at shows; they’re billed as Hew and the Gees. It’s all in service of bouncy and danceable tunes that flirt hard with pop-schooled R&B. After the pandemic slowed his roll, he’s rebuilding his momentum with a new mixtape, title

NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com CUTLINE

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Saturday, January 22

Friday, February 25

SONGWRITER SESSION

LIVE IN CONCERT

Leah Turner NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Colbie Caillat 8:00 pm

· CMA THEATER

Saturday, January 29

Saturday, February 26

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jim Collins NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Marc Beeson NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

Sunday, February 6 INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE

Florida Georgia Line

Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard

2:00 – 3:15 pm SOLD OUT

· CMA THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Josh Jenkins NOON – 12:45 pm

NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

· FORD THEATER

bookstore

LIVE IN CONCERT

Willie Nelson & Family 8:00 pm · CMA THEATER LIMITED AVAILABILITY

for

Saturday, March 12 SONGWRITER SESSION

Stephanie Quayle and Anna Vaus NOON – 12:45 pm

Saturday, February 12

POPOVICH PET LOS VIVANCOS COMEDY THEATER THE FLAMENCO KINGS Feb. 27 Mar. 4 & 5

Jimmy Fortune Thursday and Friday, March 10 and 11

Saturday, February 5

independent

· FORD THEATER

JAMES HUNTER SIX Mar. 6 independent

ALSO SHOWING

Saturday, March 12 LIVE IN CONCERT

Steve Vai Inviolate Tour

8:00 pm

· CMA THEATER

RICHARD MARX Mar. 30 - Apr. 1

people

Check our calendar for a full schedule of upcoming programs and events.

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

Apr. 8 & 9

Jesse Cook

Apr. 11

SNAP

May 6 & 7

Seldom Scene

June 10

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Museum members receive unlimited Museum admission, ticket pre-sale opportunities, and much more.

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Kitchen & Spirits | L ive music

Hide out tonight in Printer’s Alley, with a scratch, local kitchen and the next generation of bluegrass and Americana virtuosos. ja n e s h i d e away. c o m

NASHVI LLE, TN

THERE’S NOT NOT BOOZE IN HERE

scan here to listen

uscp123@gmail.com

AN UNABASHED,

FINGER-ONTHE-PULSE, LIVE-LIKE-YOU-

CAN’T-GET-

ENOUGH

EDD HURT [JUST A SHOT AWAY]

MOVIES WE MISSED: WRITING WITH FIRE

If you wanna see some ladies put a can a whup-ass on power-mad men and their misogynistic, patriarchal ways, you can’t go wrong with the 2021 doc Writing With Fire, which is scheduled to show on PBS stations in a couple months. Filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh follow the lower-caste reporters of the all-female Indian newspaper Khabar Lahariya (translation: “Waves of News”) as the paper expands to digital. Reporters are soon armed with smartphones, filming dispatches that’ll soon rack up YouTube views. They report on everything, from rapes and murders that haven’t been investigated by police to mining accidents that have left people dead to the so-called politicians who ignore it all in order to focus on staying in power. You may feel like cheering these diligent, dedicated ladies on while watching this, as they practically risk their lives telling stories their male-driven, heavily oppressed culture prefers they wouldn’t tell. 7 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

WEDNESDAY / 1.26 [ORANGE YOU GLAD?]

MOCK ORANGE W/THE PAUSES

Twenty-three years ago, Mock Orange made a Midwestern emo classic on their very first try with 1998’s Nines and Sixes, a heady blast of pop-punk energy and progressive-rock sweep. Nines has always, to me, felt like a lightning-in-a-

bottle, burst-of-genius set of songs, but the Evansville, Ind., combo — longtime friends and collaborators of Nashville engineer and former fellow Hoosier Jeremy Ferguson — has, over time, kept the spark alive, generating five more LPs of artful, thoughtful rock (most recently 2016’s Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse) that hold their own with the bands that shaped them: Braid, Built to Spill, Sunny Day Real Estate.

The band’s Music City-based bassist Zach Grace also put out a killer solo record last year, Intelligent Design Flaw, aptly dubbed “white-trash psychedelia” by Grace in an April 2021 Scene music feature. This several-times-delayed gig commemorates Nines’ more complex but just-as-catchy 2000 follow-up The Record Play, and will touch on the rest of the Mock Orange songbook as well. Floridian indie trio The Pauses supports. 8 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave S. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN MUSIC

NASHVI LLE, TN

FILM

PRI NTERS ALLEY

PRI NTERS ALLEY

Meanwhile, Mississippi-born singer, songwriter and picker Charlie Worsham is an interesting figure who operates on the fringes of mainstream country.

He’s a first-rate guitarist who co-writes catchy tunes that often slide into jokey, novelty-country territory. On his 2021 EP Sugarcane, Worsham makes like, say, Bruce Springsteen on a tune titled “Fist Through This Town,” which contains a message familiar to fans of The Boss: Music can save your life, even if you’re hobbled by the endless demands of everyday existence.

The proceeds from Tuesday’s show will go to the charity organization MusiCares. 7:30 p.m. at 3rd and Lindsley, 818 Third Ave. S.

MUSIC

Country songs available for artists

CRITICS’ PICKS

[STEEL WIRES]

MIKE YOUNGER W/AFTON WOLFE

The songs on Nashville singer and songwriter Mike Younger’s 2021 album Burning the Bigtop Down roll along in a New Orleans-meets-Memphis groove, and Younger sounds authentic exploring the mythology of the Deep South. Younger, who grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, began recording Burning in 2001 in Memphis with a crew of musicians that included bassist David Hood and guitarist Luther Dickinson. The sessions were curtailed by music-business machinations, and Younger ended up finishing the album in Nashville in 2018 and 2019. It’s a seamless match: The Nashville musicians, including guitarist Bob Britt and trombonist Roy Agee, sound great with the Memphis cats. You might hear echoes of The Band and Bobby Charles throughout Burning, which includes South Louisiana-style rock ’n’ roll songs like “Baby What Can I Say?” and Memphiscentric blues workouts like “Devil’s on the Rise.” Check out Younger’s other work, which includes 1999’s Somethin’ in the Air, which was produced by Rodney Crowell.

Also appearing will be Afton Wolfe, whose latest album, 2021’s Kings for Sale, is an eccentrically shaped — and compelling — post-blues album. Wolfe writes biting lyrics: The Kings track “Steel Wires” finds him declaiming, “Love is just a clay pot / In a burned-down New Orleans hotel.” 6 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. EDD HURT

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FOR 30 YEARS.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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1/14/22 4:05 PM

GUITAR LESSONS

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor

MARK BISH.

1/20 Skribe

Garage Folk One-Man Band (front bar)

1/21 Noisecult

w/ Black Sky Tribe, Oblivian Myth (venue)

1/22 The Relics

w/ Izzy Miller, Jaye Madison (venue)

1/23 Amy Darling

w/ Kurt Baker, Sad Baxter, Heath Haynes (venue)

1/24 Tio-Old Head (EP Release)

Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Fusion, Funk, Flamenco, etc. Technique, theory, songwriting. Programs available. 40 years exp.

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w/ Topnotch, Transistor (venue)

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Order now at nashvillesceneshop.com. nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

FOOD AND DRINK

FORWARD MOTION Café Momentum Nashville readies to change lives one restaurant job at a time

C

afé Momentum bills itself as “not a normal restaurant” — and that’s because, by design, many of its youth workers have been incarcerated.

One of those people is Cameron Carver. At 15, Carver found himself in lockup after robbing a gas station, which he says he did in hopes of helping pay his family’s electric bill. “My step-dad had passed away and the lights were cut off,” he says, “and my grandma was on oxygen and I panicked.”

His then-probation officer presented him with an opportunity. Café Momentum, a Dallas-based nonprofit restaurant and culinary training facility that started in 2015, was coming to Nashville to host a three-day pop-up during the 2019 NFL Draft. Carver might learn some culinary skills and get to meet some NFL players — turns out, he got both of those things.

That three-day event led Carver to a job at Geist Nashville, which he says changed his life. It also kicked off efforts in earnest to open a brick-and-mortar nonprofit restaurant to help young people like Carver who have been in the juvenile justice system.

(Not everyone working at Café Momentum has been incarcerated, but everyone has been directly affected by the criminal justice system in some way.) Café Momentum plans to replicate the model that has been successful in Dallas when it opens in Music City later this year. The team is also looking for a location in Pittsburgh, with goals to open in 10 markets in the next five years and 50 within the next 25.

“Our goal is really to work ourselves out of a job,” says acclaimed Dallas chef Chad Houser. Café Momentum is Houser’s brainchild. In 2007 — the same year he opened his first restaurant after years of working in other kitchens — he taught eight boys in the Dallas County juvenile detention facilities how to make ice cream. That experience changed Houser’s idea of what it means to work in a kitchen. He even did a TEDx talk about it. He sold his restaurant in order to focus on work that looked more like that ice cream class.

Café Momentum’s goal is to help kids ages 15 to 19. Yes, to give them skill sets and jobs, but Houser wanted to address more than that. He wanted to address the longterm hurdles formerly incarcerated young people face, like finding housing, support systems and health care. Café Momentum does this through a 12-month paid internship that teaches them how to cook and run the restaurant. The program also teaches life skills that are necessary outside of the restaurant, and even offers counseling, providing participants with case managers.

Each student rotates through all stations of a restaurant, from back of the house to front of the house, over the course of the year. Each station has a professional overseeing operations and functioning as an instructor. Students are set up for success

— a youth server might have three tables in a section, rather than the, say, eight that a professional would juggle. Because of that structure, the restaurant model is not selfsustaining. Foundation funding and donations are essential to the bottom line.

Since opening, Houser’s Café Momentum — which serves fine-dining, dinner-only meals in downtown Dallas — has gotten nods from food critics lauding it alongside Dallas’ top restaurants.

One day in 2018, Nashville Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway ate at Café Momentum. She said to Houser, in what he describes as her famously direct style, “When are you going to put one of these in Nashville?”

So, when the NFL Draft opportunity came about — thanks to interest from former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander and the Stand Together Foundation — Houser saw an opportunity to do as Calloway asked, at least as a pop-up. For the event, Houser partnered with Nashville’s Oasis Center, where Rokeisha Bryant had worked in a number of positions for more than a decade.

“We need more pathways for youth in general,” Bryant says. “This project combines all of my skills, talents, strengths and passions.” She helped Houser with the pop-up before returning to work at the Oasis Center.

Fast-forward to July 2021, when — after months of brainstorming and continued conversation — Bryant accepted the role of executive director of Café Momentum Nashville. “I was ecstatic,” she says. “I was really excited to jump on board and roll my sleeves up.”

And she has. Since the summer, Bryant has led a pop-up at Saint Stephen in Germantown and launched a pilot program at Riverside Revival. At the intersection of Porter Road and Riverside Drive in East Nashville, Riverside Revival is a community event campus with a culinary training kitchen, early childhood development center, space for yoga classes from Small World Yoga, and other initiatives. Funded by the Boedecker Foundation, Riverside also hosted a screening of a 41-minute documentary about Café Momentum designed to increase awareness of the program.

The Riverside Revival pilot is a shorter, smaller 10-week program, but it mimics the structure and aims of the yearlong model. In March 2022, the students going through the pilot — which is overseen by chef Ben Tyson of Patchwork — will host a pop-up meal.

The pilot and fundraising continue as Bryant negotiates Café Momentum Nashville’s permanent location. Originally, she had her heart set on North Nashville because of the cycle of poverty, displacement and incarceration that has plagued that part of the city. The ideal location will be around 6,500 square feet, with room for a restaurant as well as a community service center for the nonprofit’s educational programs.

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

ROKEISHA BRYANT AT RIVERSIDE REVIVAL

The location must be accessible via public transit to both the students who are working in the café and the customers who will eat there. After more research, Bryant expanded the search to Madison, Antioch and other communities.

Though the word “café” may sound casual, the vision is for a fine-dining restaurant. While the Dallas location is open just three nights a week, Houser says Nashville diners are more willing to leave their own neighborhoods to eat out, and that gives a Nashville restaurant the opportunity to be open more often, with a goal of five days a week.

After a year at the restaurant (which includes a two-week training period), graduates can opt to work in jobs with community partners. That’s what you call a win-win, particularly when you consider labor shortages facing the hospitality industry. Students who aren’t interested in food-service jobs are guided into the industries that interest them. Café Momentum works in part, Houser and Bryant say, because all of it is opt-in programming — students themselves enroll in the program and decide what to do next. Bryant is still developing a network of community partners, and the initial list includes many of the city’s hospitality leaders.

In Dallas, Café Momentum sees about 150 kids annually through its internships in cohort groups. Nashville will start off smaller, but hopes to grow to serve a similar number.

The structure of Café Momentum Nashville is not unlike West Nashville’s Café at Thistle Farms, which employs women survivors of trafficking, addiction and prostitution but features a different type of dining experience. Bryant says she often heads to Thistle Farms for inspiration as she works to open the restaurant’s doors. Café Momentum Nashville has applied for 501(c) (3), and it will be a stand-alone organization not directly managed by Café Momentum in Dallas or Momentum Advisory Collective, which is the entity working on the expansion goals. Café Momentum Nashville has its own board of directors.

Folks interested in Café Momentum Nashville’s mission can sign up for online newsletters and follow the organization on Instagram (@cafemomentum.nsh) to learn about upcoming pop-ups, Bryant says. Of course, donations are always welcome.

Carver is now 18 and has seniority in his station at Geist, having worked up from salads to proteins, and he trains workers twice his age. He says he earned almost $40,000 last year and has helped his mother out of her dire financial dire straits. (His grandmother has passed away.) Carver shows his pay stubs to other kids who are struggling as evidence that restaurant jobs are viable career paths.

“If it weren’t for Café Momentum, I would be doing the same things I was doing before,” he says, “and I would be in danger.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 20 – JANUARY 26, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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ART

SHE SHED Nashville native Mika Agari bends perceptions at Electric Shed

BY JOE NOLAN

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“‘THE APPLE,” MIKA AGARI

A

rtist-run spaces and programs are the backbone of Nashville’s visual art scene, and it should come as no surprise that one of the highlights of this sizzling winter art season can be found in a backyard shed in MIKA AGARI: I BEND A South Nashville.

BRANCH THROUGH FEB. 12 Mika Agari is a

BY APPOINTMENT AT Nashville native who ELECTRIC SHED, 254 graduated from WatMORTON AVE. kins in 2016. I Bend a Branch brings Agari back home on the heels of her recent residency at Stove Works in Chattanooga. The show at artist David Onri Anderson’s backyard gallery Electric Shed features Agari’s new creations on exhibit for the first time.

While she was living here, Agari made a reputation as one of the city’s most unique emerging local creators. She crafted a pair of challenging Nashville shows just before she left for her current home base in New York. Agari created a movable feast of a sculpture installation in her Nissan Sentra (Car Show, 2017) using everyday stuff like felt, rice, stickers from Kroger and dead insects. In another display, she embedded digital tablets in black sand at Anderson’s former curatorial space, Bijan Ferdowsi — viewers lounged on a mattress and watched Agari’s performances on video (Friction Fruit, 2017).

Agari is in her element responding to specific sites, mixing and matching materials and found objects in unexpected combinations. The artist’s installations can sometimes feel charged like ritual spaces, or infused with sexual energy, goofy charm and sensual celebrations — often all at the same time. With that in mind, I Bend a Branch is unmistakably Agari-an. The show consists of several small-object installations, a few works suspended from the ceiling, and even a painted ceramic butterfly affixed to an electrical outlet like a novelty night light.

Visitors to Anderson’s clean, well-lighted shed can pick up Agari’s small hand-drawn gallery catalog — a pile of the folded-paper guides sits on a tiny shelf just inside the entrance. One side of the single sheet of regular old printer paper features the artist’s illustrations of the works on display along with their poetic titles: “Little Chance,” “Fragments of a Moon Puzzle,” “Pure Suns.” The flip side of the catalog looks and reads like a fractured poem, but it’s actually separate listings of the materials that make up each of the constructions on display.

“Pure Suns” is a pendulous assemblage of salt-cured egg yolks in a ceramic basket suspended from the shed’s ceiling by a length of mohair yarn. A spotlight affixed directly over the basket shines through the yolks, giving them a solar eclipse effect when the work is viewed from directly below. Salt-cured egg yolks are a Japanese delicacy, and wasabi peas and ginkgo nuts

make appearances in other works. Agari has spent a lifetime around food — her family has owned and operated the excellent Sonobana restaurant and grocery in West Nashville since the 1980s. The cured yolks are umami bombs that you can grate like Parmesan cheese. The flavor and texture transformations are dramatic, and this work is a good overall metaphor for an exhibition that re-creates familiar objects and materials by simply recontextualizing them in surprising combinations.

Another salty work is “Fragments of a Moon Puzzle,” which features a hand symbol drawn in salt — since the Jan. 8 opening, it’s developed a ghostly halo as the drawing has gradually sucked all the humidity out of the shed. The salt drawing is centered on a round piece of clear glass

that is balanced on a selection of colorful “bouncy balls,” which gives the glass and the unfixed salt drawing an uneasy precarity. Pieces of the titular moon puzzle and colorful polished stones taken from a novelty pencil decorate the drawing and the surface of the glass.

“Fragments of a Moon Puzzle” gives viewers a complicated combination of pieces to contemplate, but other works in the show are absolutely minimalist. “A Bit of Scotch Tape” is a single piece of the eponymous adhesive material installed from the ceiling to the floor in a corner of the gallery. According to Agari’s materials list, the tape is enhanced with “remnants of gift wrapping” and “fingerprints.” “Little Chance” is my favorite title in the show.

This work consists of a single black die that

Agari received as a gift. “Small Blue Dots” is another sensuously formal work consisting of a small, handsome brass bucket hanging from a red bungee cord — the bucket is filled with tiny, intensely royal-blue beads with a chewed-up turquoise gumball nested in the center.

I Bend a Branch is simultaneously familiar and strange, deeply personal and universally accessible. Agari’s creative gifts aren’t particularly about meticulous crafting or realizing idealized images and forms. Her particular — and often peculiar — talents are perceptual and conceptual. Agari uncovers beauty in the banal, and finds art in the ordinary. And a display like I Bend a Branch doesn’t just promise new things to look at. It offers new eyes to see with.

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SOUND AND VISION

Artist talk: Andy Ness on his bombastic multimedia painting ‘Tripping the Light Fantastic’

BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

A

ll 20 paintings in Andy Ness’ exhibition The Satellite, currently on view at Julia Martin Gallery, showcase the artist’s idiosyncratic process, which evokes everything from batik textiles to glam rock icons.

ANDY NESS: THE SATELLITE In his own words, it THROUGH JAN. 27 AT shouldn’t work, but JULIA MARTIN GALLERY, it does. We spoke to 444 HUMPHREYS ST. Ness from his home in Minneapolis about one work in particular — a 51-by-82-inch diptych with a title that references a poem by John Milton by way of Grace Jones.

“Cy Twombly said that he often didn’t know what he was doing until three or four months after he’d finished something. And I feel like that about this work. I was just working, and from the work came the work. I was just trying to be a body in motion.

“I use lots of materials, and I’m not concerned with colors that work together or are harmonious.

I’m throwing everything in and seeing what sticks.

DETAIL There are old drawings, old wallpaper, spills, inks, polymers and pigments, and then I use a resist on top of that, and then I use a gold leafing on top of that.

“One of the major reasons that I’ve been using wallpaper and gold leaf in all of these materials that I almost think of as being bombastic in a way, is that these paintings, for me, are totally and completely about freedom. I’m breaking my own rules — I never thought I would use metallic leaf in a painting, because there’s just something so

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tacky about it. The same thing is true about wallpaper. Back in art school, if you really wanted to offend somebody you would tell them their painting looked like wallpaper — it’s just offensive. So there’s something really freeing about embracing the things you’re not supposed to do. And in a way, I feel like there’s something queer about it — there’s something decorative and unapologetic about it, which I think is very much where I am in my life right now. This might just be something that I’m finding in myself, but I think there’s an instinct to not use a pattern, or not appropriate something that was used for interior design or decoration because it’s something a nancy boy would do. It’s not serious. So I guess that instead of avoiding that, I started running straight toward it.

“A friend took one look at this painting and was like, ‘That painting doesn’t give a FUCK.’ I think that’s correct — it’s very selfassured, but I think it’s hospitable.

“The title ‘Tripping the Light Fantastic” comes from a poem from the 1600s. But how I resonate with it is through Iggy Pop, David

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Bowie, Grace Jones, and those people who have used that phrase in their music. Julia [Martin] even asked me, ‘Is this show about David Bowie?’ because so many of the titles of these paintings are from Bowie songs or album titles. And it’s not, but because he dealt so much with outer space and with the outsider — he loved that so much — it was sort of inevitable that I would draw parallels to him.”

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n the opening page of Slow Fuse of the Possible: A Memoir of Poetry and Psychoanalysis, poet Kate Daniels makes a provocative statement about the several years she spent with an SLOW FUSE OF THE analyst. “Sometimes, POSSIBLE: A MEMOIR it was like walking OF POETRY AND into the intensely PSYCHOANALYSIS

BY KATE DANIELS compressed words WEST VIRGINIA of a poem itself,” UNIVERSITY PRESS she writes. “Eventu216 PAGES, $21.99 ally it became like DANIELS WILL READ FROM walking into a poem HER WORK 7 P.M. THURSDAY, as it was actually in FEB. 3, AT 101 BUTTRICK the process of being HALL, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY written.”

Daniels’ analysis, which took place when she was in her mid-40s, was what she calls “classical form” — four sessions a week on a couch with an analyst who sat mostly silent, out of view.

Severely depressed and “a veteran of earlier psychotherapies,” Daniels had sought out Ama, who was still in training at the time. At first, Daniels was charmed. Ama was about her age, and Daniels loved her two-syllable name (a pseudonym, though we can assume the original was similar).

“It was a dyad, a duet, a couplet, a duo,” she writes. They fell into a routine: “two women alone together, by choice, for many months, and then for several years, in a quiet room.” Out of the silence Daniels heard her own voice, at first “querulous and petulant” and then full of images that “mushroomed up from the murky vacancy” of her mind.

Over time, Daniels exhibited deep feelings of both eroticism and hostility toward Ama, which she describes in candid detail. “I know that I was a difficult (and very resistant) patient. I was depressed, defensive, terrified, untrusting, and quick to challenge. Appallingly often, I was aggressive and hostile in my interactions with my analyst.” Expecting Ama’s office to resemble a scene from a Woody Allen movie or The Sopranos, she criticized Ama’s décor, including the shabby couch and the presence of an uncovered trash can, which made her feel like trash. At one session, she intentionally shattered a pot she had brought to give Ama. Mostly, she resented Ama’s refusal to read her poetry and her carelessness with words and details.

Now the Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University and author of six poetry collections, Daniels brings her poet’s sensibility to the project of recounting the ebb and flow of her mind’s wanderings, which she had recorded in a journal. Her shifting engagement with 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson is particularly intriguing.

As a professor, she had taught Dickinson in the typical way, stressing her solitary life and perseverance. In analysis, the “iconic facts of Dickinson’s life slid away” and she became “an interplay of language and silence: pure poetry.” Epigraphs from Dickinson’s work preface most of the chapters as well as the book itself, explaining the title: The Possible’s slow fuse is lit By the Imagination Over time, Daniels became aware that her analysis was not working, a realization she attributes in hindsight to a mismatch and Ama’s lack of experience. Earlier therapy had been “productive and warm,” but “cold” images for Ama emerged in her mind: “a frost-encrusted refrigerator; a frozen human heart stored in a Styrofoam ice chest; a cool air fan; an air conditioner.” In contrast, her time at a writing residency, away from Ama, made her feel better, as did medication that she obtained from another psychiatrist. She eventually ended analysis.

Slow Fuse of the Possible is not always an enjoyable read. That’s not a criticism, since the dark morass of the human psyche is not necessarily an enjoyable place.

It is a fascinating book, though — amazing in its candor and its ability to capture the flow of free association, like pinning down an ocean wave. Certainly, it offers a new way to think about poetry.

“To write a poem or to enter an analysis is to commit oneself to stand along a psychological edge — fragile as a hair — without retreating from the prospect of Terror it affords,” she writes. “This is where each of us meets our Self face to face.” As I finished each chapter, I found myself going back to the Dickinson quote at its beginning.

This usually offered an “aha” insight, though rarely one I could put words around.

In addition to her work at Vanderbilt, Daniels teaches writing at the WashingtonBaltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. She says the book came out of conversations with psychoanalysts and writers interested in the connection between the writing process and analysis. Near the end, the book seems aimed at this audience, and I found myself wishing she had said more about being “inside a poem” and perhaps how the experience influenced her writing process.

Daniels said she values the experience of analysis, though would probably not do it again. As for Ama, Daniels is generous toward her. “Despite the unpleasantness of our coupling, neither of us had given up on the other.”

For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

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FILM

PARALLEL MOTHERS R, 123 MINUTES; IN SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES OPENING FRIDAY, JAN. 21, AT THE BELCOURT

SCENERY Arts and Culture News From the Nashville Scene

EMOTIONAL MOTHERLODE Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers is a marvel of a film

BY JASON SHAWHAN

T Looking for the latest on art and culture in Nashville? Subscribe to Scenery, our weekly newsletter that covers visual art, theater, comedy, books, film and more.

Subscribe at nashvillescene.com/subscribe 36

here’s something about switched-at-birth narratives that just clicks in the human subconscious. It’s as primal a mystery as one can experience, shifting every aspect of a person’s life into uncertainty, making the indicative into the subjunctive, and taking the foundation out from under whatever sort of identity you’ve cobbled together.

Pedro Almodóvar knows melodrama well, and as a writer and a director he believes strongly in getting out of the way of amazing actresses and good stories and letting them unfurl. So to say that Almodóvar’s latest, Parallel Mothers, is an exceptional melodrama that showcases stellar work from Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit — well, that’s par for the course. But there’s more here than what we habitually rely on Almodóvar for, and the power this film wields is sneaky and deeply resonant, and will make the viewer want to do some difficult reading about early-20th-century Spain.

Janis (Cruz) is the kind of high-end photographer whose work defines the hottest of the haute. She leads a low-key glamorous life, but she’s putting her heart and soul into her photography and into an archaeological dig she wants to help find financing for. A fling with a scruffy forensic anthropologist (Israel Elejalde, bringing polyglot shades of fuckboy to global art cinema) lands Janis in a position that films since the ’50s have been working new angles on — unexpectedly pregnant. During the course of her preg-

nancy, she meets and befriends Ana (Smit), another expectant mother nearly 20 years younger than her. When they both give birth to baby girls, they make a point of staying in touch. Both are single mothers, and they’ve relied on each other more than any of the intermittent men who drift in and out of their lives. Janis grew up being raised by her grandmother (in the village she’s currently trying to raise funds for), so she’s conscious of the value of strong bonds and the uncertainties that can come from flaky men.

Things become complex in ways that are completely familiar to anyone who’s been kicked around by life. If the bonds of family can be broken easily, the strands of DNA are constant and immutable, and Janis and Ana are placed in a particularly fraught position that brings laughter, tears, crisis and several reckonings on scales both intimate and culturally vast.

After his semi-autobiographical 2019 magnum opus Pain and Glory, Almodóvar could have gone in pretty much any direction. His English-language debut — a 30-minute adaptation of Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice — was both a stylistic flourish and a new breaking of ground in uncertain spaces. But Parallel Mothers is a marvel of a film, one that builds on the director’s strengths and refinements even as it reaches back to the confrontational rigor of his very first films. (See especially Law of Desire and Pepi, Luci, Bom.) But back then the focus was on the newfound freedoms of sex, drugs and art following the death of dictator Francisco Franco, and now the focus is on the lingering horrors inflicted by the Spanish Civil War and the decades of Francoist rule following it.

From the beginning, Almodóvar has been very smart about broadening the discussion and awareness of queer lives, using genre and a deft eye to make “respectable” discourse expand itself simply through

acknowledging and addressing his work.

Given the varied assortment of topics and issues he’s addressed in his 40-plus years of filmmaking, it makes sense that he would find a way to use that accessibility to examine some deep wounds. But there’s not an exact equivalency between the journey that Janis and her childhood village are on and, say, what happens to Enrique and Ignacio during their youth at the hands of the church in 2004’s Bad Education — though both deal with an ongoing state of willful silence determined not to upend the status quo.

To say that Parallel Mothers is about speaking difficult truths in the face of habitual silence is completely accurate, but it doesn’t really get at why this particular story works so well and stays with you long after the film is over. Cruz is superb, finding nuances and textures in Janis that leave you wanting even more. May we also take a moment to appreciate the return of Rossy de Palma to the silver screen? She’s always iconic, always a singular presence — and as Janis’ friend and occasional editor Elena, she is absolutely the bedrock that any adventurous artist would like to have.

Almodóvar knows how to make a movie, and he does so with so much life that it makes other films seem anemic by comparison. I have never hated an Almodóvar film, and I have loved many of them. Most of them make me want to call my mom or get back in touch with my ’90s art-scene associates and college compatriots (or all of the above), and a few have reignited my instincts for finding the best parties or assisting with elaborate romantic schemes. But this is the first one to haunt me to my very soul. The final scene of this film is simply unforgettable, both tranquil and shocking and representative of an honesty and responsibility that humanity usually just runs away from.

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Marketplace

Rocky McElhaney Law Firm InjuRy Auto ACCIdEnts

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022

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In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon ROSELINE DICKSON. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Non-Resident Notice Fourth Circuit Docket No. 21D1821 STEPHANIE EID vs.

JULIAN RANDI CHIN In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon JULIAN RANDI CHIN. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 10, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 14, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff

dered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Robert H. Plummer, Ill Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

EMPLOYMENT Developer II - .Net (Multiple positions. GEODIS Logistics, LLC, Brentwood, TN): Reqs Bachelor’s (US/foreign equiv) in Comp Sci or rel; 4 yrs web app dev exp/training; 1 yr app dev using C#; 1 yr exp w/ SQL or PL/SQL; exp w/ JavaScript, CSS, jQuery, & Ajax; knowledge of leading industry tech w/ strong knowledge in IT governance, proj planning, & tech usage/alternatives available in a multi-platform envirn.

Qualified applicants mail resume to Sharon Barrow, GEODIS Logistics, LLC, 7101 Executive Center Drive, Suite 333, Brentwood, TN 37027 Ref #: DEVEL022612.

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Richard R. Rooker, Clerk M. De Jesus, Deputy Clerk Date: January 14, 2022 Mike J. Urquhart Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 1/20, 1/27, 2/3, 2/10/2022

Your Neighborhood

Local attractions: · Plaza Mariachi · Tennessee Agricultural Museum · Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery Neighborhood dining and drinks: · 404 Bar & Grill · Peachtree Drive-in · Rafferty’s Restaurant & Bar Enjoy the outdoors: · Cheekwood · Nashville Zoo · Radnor Lake State Park Best place nearby to see a show: · Regal Hollywood 4DX, ScreenX & RPX · Nashville Repertory Theatre · Zanies Comedy Night Club

Favorite local neighborhood bar: · Wilhagan’s Sports Pub Best local family outing: · Adventure Science Center Your new home amenities: · Saltwater Swimming Pool · Community Vegetable Garden & Herb Garden · Dog Park · 24hr Onsite Laundry Facility · Picnic Areas with Grills · Beautiful & Expansive Lawn Area · Park Like Setting · Unique 1 bedroom community only

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189 Wallace Rd Nashville, TN 37211 | sunrisenashville.com | 615.333.7733 38

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NASHVILLE SCENE | JANUARY 20, - JANUARY 26, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

Southaven at Commonwealth 100 John Green Place, Spring Hill, TN 37174

The Harper 2 Beds / 2 bath 1265 sq ft $1700

The Hudson 3 Bed / 2 bath 1429 sq ft $1950

3 floor plans southavenatcommonwealth.com | 629.777.8333 Colony House 1510 Huntington Drive Nashville, TN 37215 The James 1 bed / 1 bath 708 sq. ft $1360-2026

The Washington 2 bed / 1.5 bath 1029 sq. ft. $1500 - 2202 4 floor

The Franklin 2 bed / 2 bath 908-1019 sq. ft. $1505 - 2258 plans

The Lincoln 3 bed / 2.5 bath 1408-1458 sq. ft. $1719 - 2557

Rental Scene

The Jackson 1 Bed / 1 bath 958 sq ft $1400

liveatcolonyhouse.com | 615.488.4720

Gazebo Apartments 141 Neese Drive Nashville TN 37211 1 Bed / 1 Bath 756 sq ft $1,119 +

2 Bed / 1.5 Bath - 2 Bath 1,047 – 1,098 sq ft $1,299 +

3 Bed / 2 Bath 1201 sq ft $1,399 +

5 floor plans

gazeboapts.com | 615.551.3832 Sunrise Apartments 189 Wallace Rd Nashville, TN 37211 1 Bed / 1 bath 600 sq feet $950 - $1150

1 Bed / 1 bath 630 sq feet $999 - $1200

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sunrisenashville.com | 615.333.7733 River West 411 Annex Ave Nashville, TN 37209 2 Bed /1 Bath 1008 sq ft from $1349

1 Bed / 1 Bath 675 sq ft from $1159 2 floor plans

riverwestnashville.com | 615.356.0257 Brighton Valley 500 BrooksBoro Terrace, Nashville, TN 37217 1 Bedroom/1 bath 800 sq feet $1360

2 Bedrooms/ 2 baths 1100 sq feet $1490

3 Bedrooms/ 2 baths 1350 sq feet $1900

To advertise your property available for lease, contact Keith Wright at 615-557-4788 or kwright@fwpublishing.com

Studio 330 sq feet $900 - $1000

3 floor plans

brightonvalley.net | 615.366.5552 nashvillescene.com | JANUARY 20 - JANUARY 26, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

39

S U H P I TC

Nashville is a diverse city, and we want a pool of freelance contributors who reflect that diversity. We’re looking for new freelancers, and we particularly want to encourage writers of color & LGBTQ writers to pitch us.

Read more at our new pitch guide: nashvillescene.com/pitchguide BOTH LOCATIONS OPEN DAILY 11-9 FOR TAKE-OUT YOUR FAVORITE MEXICAN FOOD & ‘RITA, TOO!

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OF F

a tarot card reading 615-915-0515

284 White Bridge Rd Reach more than

400,000

Scene readers. Plugged-in, educated, active consumers who support local businesses.

FROM T HE

SCENE

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Apartment.

Home.

Whatever you call it, find yours in the Rental Scene.

Email Mike at msmith@nashvillescene.com to get started planning for a BIG 2022!

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