Nashville Scene 1-5-23

Remembering some of the irreplaceable Nashville figures we lost in 2022

JASON SHAWHAN

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THE TROUBLE WITH MARSHA: SEN. BLACKBURN IS

FOR WHICH TENNESSEANS, EXACTLY?

On her own website, Sen. Marsha Blackburn claims: “I support the efforts of Tennessee’s innovators who are currently working to improve the health care system and find cures for diseases.” But as reported by The Tennessean back in August, Blackburn voted no on capping insulin prices, even though a Yale study this year found that “14 percent of insulin users spend at least 40 percent of their post-food and housing income on insulin.” Plus, “Tennessee has the sixth-highest rate of death from diabetes among all 50 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Though the word “diabetes” is not specifically mentioned on the senator’s website, certainly she recognizes that diabetes does fall under the “disease” category. Does her idea of “find[ing] cures for diseases” mean she is going to ignore treatments that currently work, leaving medical patients in limbo until “cures for diseases” — like diabetes — are found? On Sept. 16, the Daily Kos verbally flogged Sen. Blackburn, naming her the “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” and reminding readers that when she was a member of the U.S. House, Blackburn “voted against equal pay for women multiple times, insisting that ‘women don’t want it.’ ”

The senator also came under fire in August for her original vote against the PACT Act, which extends support to veterans suffering from exposure to burn pits. Tennessee’s U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, who seems to share every reported headline with Blackburn, also voted no. Eventually both senators changed their vote and agreed to back the PACT Act. But shame on Sen. Blackburn for later reportedly admitting she only voted no to get the goat of Democrats. Politics over people? If you read up on what a burn pit is and the suffering that comes from it, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would vote no.

Blackburn has cast a stream of no votes,

and has not gained any popularity with — well, popular folks. Ahead of Blackburn’s election in 2018, Taylor Swift stated unequivocally that she cannot support Marsha. “I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans,” wrote the pop star. “She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape.”

What’s more, Sen. Blackburn is still a staunch supporter of former President Trump — despite the fact that the congressional Jan. 6 Committee recommended that the Department of Justice prosecute him for his part in the insurrection. Does the fact that Trump could be directly responsible for lives lost not have the senator at least a little concerned? Writing for The Tennessean in October, guest columnist Jack Bernard noted that Blackburn follows “the herd mentality … supporting Trump’s ‘big lie,’ regardless of facts.”

This habit of “herd following” despite the facts might explain why Blackburn has voted no on items that could truly provide better health and wellness to Tennesseans. These might seem like small things to many, but for those in need of them, they are huge.

Is Sen. Blackburn really the best the Tennessee Republican Party can do? Are Tennesseans and their lives really important to the senator? I’m not seeing the evidence.

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.

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In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

CARING

MARSHA BLACKBURN

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

Remembering some of the irreplaceable Nashville figures we lost in 2022

An iconic longtime country music DJ. The founder of The Nashville Food Project. The former first lady of Tennessee. A barber and former Metro councilmember, who was also a famous father. An acclaimed music journalist, gone long before his time. The co-creator of Ernest P. Worrell. Business leaders, public servants, athletes, mentors and the world’s most famous coal miner’s daughter.

These are just a few of the Nashvillians, former Nashvillians and other locally significant figures we lost over the course of 2022. In our annual In Memoriam issue, we at the Nashville Scene commemorate some of the irreplaceable figures who died over the past year.

Join us as we remember their legacies.

VERNON WINFREY Councilmember, business owner, community member, father

I remember my first visit to the barbershop owned by Mr. Vernon Winfrey — a Metro councilmember, longtime business owner and father of Oprah Winfrey. As I looked to my left, I saw a barber placing the final touches on a young boy’s head. I observed a woman in the middle using a straight razor, which she skillfully wielded to finish a lineup on her client. The third barber bumped fists with a client in celebration of the near-perfect work he had put in on his beard. While caught up in those moments, someone sat down next to me and smiled. It was Mr. Winfrey.

Mr. Winfrey offered me some chocolates along with multiple questions about myself. I told him who I was, where I was from, and what I was doing in his city. He told me he used to live near TSU, and he took my dean and her friends to Sunday school when they were young. We also chatted a bit about the boxing paraphernalia that adorned the walls of the barbershop.

The few minutes of conversation we had revealed volumes about this gentle man and this space. He was a man who cared deeply about his community, a pugilist both in the ring and Metro chambers, and a person who wanted to ensure that people both looked good and felt good about themselves.

Vernon Winfrey, his smiles, and the joy he shared with us will be sorely missed.

—Dr. Learotha Williams

didn’t like being in the limelight. During the 1996 New Hampshire presidential primary, when Lamar was vying for the Republican nomination, Larry King asked her: “Do you really want to be first lady and live in the White House?” Honey answered quickly, “No.”

The Alexanders had four children: Drew, Leslie, Kathryn and Will. They remember her as someone who liked to jog, plant flowers, and read historical novels. She is preceded in death by her eldest son Drew Alexander, who passed on Dec. 31, 2021.

“It is not what I have given over the years but what I’ve gained from working with such inspirational people,” she said in 2019 during the dedication of the Honey Alexander Center at F&CS. It’s a bright and uplifting space that will continue to benefit families the way Honey always sought to do.

—Hannah Herner

BARBARA JEAN NORMAN HAYNES

Judge, trailblazer, grandmother

Among the more ostentatious things Barbara Haynes was known for during her tenure as a Davidson County judge was her unruly mop of curly red hair — which clashed a bit with the crimson judicial robes she sometimes donned, smoking on the bench (Marlboro Reds) and singing Christmas carols with the jail docket.

“A deeply intelligent and deliberative legal thinker, he was an ardent defender of the liberties that form the foundations of our Constitution,” former Vice President Al Gore told The Tennessean Merritt was 86. —Stephen Elliott

PHILIP EVANS SMITH

Judge, trial lawyer, respected analyst Phil Smith — proud graduate in 1988 of the University of Tennessee School of Law — had a view of both sides of the bench in the 20th Judicial District Circuit Court. He began his career as an assistant district attorney, working in child support enforcement, appearing frequently before Judge Muriel Robinson, who took her seat on the bench in the 20th Division IV in 1967. In 1990, Smith went into private practice, and later served as a special judge for the Davidson County 2nd Circuit Court, 5th Circuit Court, Probate Court and as a special referee for the Davidson County Juvenile Court. A highly respected trial lawyer, he was often called upon by legal reporters for trial analysis in complicated and highprofile cases.

Crime Stoppers. Within MNPD, he broke ground when he assigned the first female officers to the patrol and motorcycle traffic squad and promoted the first Black officer to the rank of assistant chief.

Several buildings bear Casey’s name, including the West Nashville precinct, known as the Chief Joe D. Casey Building. Current MNPD Chief John Drake summed up his career by saying, “Chief Casey’s legacy is his dedication to Nashville and law enforcement, his caring concern for the employees of our department, and his effort to make life better for those less fortunate.”

—Holly Hoffman

HONEY ALEXANDER

Leader, public servant, learner Though her legal name was Leslee Kathryn Buhler Alexander, “Honey” is a childhood nickname that stuck hard for life. You’ll see it spelled out on the Family & Children’s Service building in Nashville, an organization Alexander played a role in for a number of years. Serving the best interests of families and children is exactly what Honey Alexander dedicated her life to doing.

Honey was married to former governor and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander for 53 years and served as first lady of Tennessee from 1979 to 1987. During that time she led the state’s Healthy Children Initiative, which sought to provide access to prenatal health care for all. Throughout her career she worked on causes including infant mortality, access to child care, and youth alcohol and drug abuse disease prevention. She served on numerous boards in Nashville, including those of the Junior League of Nashville, Adventure Science Center and Vanderbilt’s Kennedy Center. She was the co-founder of Leadership Nashville and Blackberry Farm, now a luxury resort. She is one of the cofounders of Corporate Child Care, which would later evolve to become the world’s largest provider of employer-sponsored day care.

Despite these accomplishments, Honey

But it was Haynes’ true grit, brilliant mind and iron will that paved the path from her childhood in Bordeaux and Inglewood to her destination as the first person in her family to attend college (University of Tennessee, 1959), enter law school a decade later, graduate at the top of her Nashville School of Law class in 1976, enter practice with her husband Joe Haynes and five years later, successfully run for General Sessions Court judge. She was the first woman to serve in the position. With no one foolish enough to oppose her, Judge Haynes ran for 3rd Circuit Court judge in 1990 and remained until her retirement in 2011.

She was proud of her role as a groundand ceiling-breaking inspiration to other women, was a co-founder of Lawyers’ Association for Women, racked up numerous appointments from government leaders of both parties, was deeply devoted to children’s causes, loved her family and friends with all her huge heart, and fully enjoyed a Jack on the rocks with a splash of water after a good day being Beebee to her grandkids. —Kay West

GILBERT MERRITT JR.

Judge, attorney, thinker

Gilbert Merritt Jr. was a longtime appeals court judge and a fixture of Nashville legal circles. Merritt was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. He ultimately rose to chief judge of the court and had been on senior status since 2001.

Prior to joining the federal bench, Merritt practiced with Boult, Hunt, Cummins and Connors and with Gullett, Sanford Robinson and Merritt. He was an associate metropolitan attorney for the city of Nashville, taught at Vanderbilt University Law School and was U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1966 to 1969. Then-President Bill Clinton considered Merritt for a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s.

In late 2008, Judge Robinson decided to retire after 41 years, effective Feb. 15, 2009. In March 2009, then-Gov. Phil Bredesen appointed Smith to fill the remainder of Robinson’s term; he was elected to the position in 2010, reelected in 2014 and again in 2022. Four days before his unexpected death in September at age 62, Smith became the presiding judge of the 20th Judicial District.

Shocked friends, colleagues, clients, members of the media and many who had appeared before him in court offered tributes to the man who in 2015 was honored by the Women’s Political Collaborative of Tennessee with their Good Guys Award for his work on domestic violence issues and cases. Former Judge Marietta Shipley noted that his early experience working with clients in chaotic situations informed his compassionate view from the bench. Tennessee Family Law attorney Anne Hamer wrote of Smith: “He consistently treated everyone in his courtroom with respect, and his keen intellect and strong sense of fairness virtually guaranteed that if your client was trying to do his or her best, Judge Smith would recognize it. Nashville families have lost an invaluable asset.” —Kay West

JOE CASEY

Police chief, community servant Joe Casey, a retired Metro Nashville police chief, passed away this summer at the age of 96, leaving behind a record of commitment to his community. After a few seasons playing professional baseball, the Cheatham County native joined the Metro Nashville Police Department in 1951 and rose through the ranks before being named its chief in 1973. Until his retirement in 1989, Casey was actively involved in countless community engagements. The annual Christmas Basket Delivery Program, which he began as a sergeant in 1961 with only two disadvantaged families, has grown to serve 400 families and seniors. He was a charter member of the 100 Club and helped start

BusinessKENNETH L. ROBERTS

The last Wataugan

Excerpted from a post on Keel Hunt’s Field Notes blog.

Ken Roberts seemed always to own whatever room he was in. His long tour as executive officer of The Frist Foundation, beginning in 1990, followed a long career at the helm of First American Corp., then Tennessee’s largest bank holding company, and opened a productive new period of civic action. I remember the afternoon when Ken came to my office and our conversation stretched into an idea for a citywide visioning project. Ken embraced my idea, and in short order The Frist Foundation became the lead funder of Nashville’s Agenda.

In 1994, Ken organized and chaired a 22-member Action Team on the Arts that would lead to the opening in 2001 of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts (now called the Frist Art Museum). Other initiatives of the broader project included creation of the Nashville Housing Fund and a race relations initiative called The Davidson Group.

Nashville’s Agenda had many champions, and some important antecedents. Nashvillians of a certain age may remember a quiet leadership group who called themselves Watauga, though never publicly. Its members were chairmen and CEOs of Nashville’s major employers. Nothing was ever written about Watauga in its day. One of its ironclad ground rules was that it would live strictly in the background, and members were required to check any personal ego or business agenda at the door. Ken was in this influential group.

In 2002, my friend Bruce Dobie, then editor of the Scene, wrote the most thorough piece of journalism I have seen about Watauga and how it worked, and by that time, Watauga was gone.

On one of my last visits with Ken, he acknowledged that Watauga would not meet our present-day tests of transparency and diversity. It was all-male and all-white, but in Ken’s memory Watauga was a selfless, noble effort among certain senior leaders of the town, positive in its civic motives and commendable in its results, even now. True, Watauga had operated in secrecy, but considering the members’ accomplishments, it must be acknowledged now that at least they had meritorious secrets worth keeping — and which did not stay secret for long.

On our last visit, Ken told me he had

realized he was now “probably the last living member of Watauga.” This was true. And thus when Ken died on Dec. 2 at age 89, that era came fully to a close.

Today, we say Watauga’s way is not how Nashville anymore works — not how important things get decided in our much more diverse, inclusive city. Ken’s death thus marked not only the passing of a formidable man — and a valuable friend of mine — but also the end of another era that was useful in his day. —Keel Hunt

1967. The company hit the ground running, counting the newly established Hospital Corporation of America as an early client.

Gresham attended Auburn University and worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before establishing the firm.

“While most architects were solo practitioners in the mid-1960s, we chose an alternate path,” Smith says. “We were soon bringing people into our organization who had skill sets and talents that we didn’t have, so we could serve a wider range of clients. Batey excelled in this search.”

Gresham was 88. —William Williams

PATRICK G. EMERY

Developer, leader Pat Emery announced his arrival in Nashville in 1984 with the development of the boldly contemporary dark-glass doubletowered One American Center atop West End Park. The Oklahoma City native was just getting started.

undisclosed causes at age 91, the city lost a giant in two fields.

Swensson was known for the architectural and interior design firm that bears his name, ESa (Earl Swensson Associates). Having evolved since 1961, the company has designed the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center; the BellSouth Tennessee Headquarters (now the AT&T Building); Centennial Medical Center; The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; and the Noah Liff Opera Center.

entrepreneurial spirit, paying it forward and nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit in others.”

Freeman was 57. —William Williams

JANICE WALKER WENDELL Trailblazer, businesswoman

MARK HUMPHREYS

Businessman, benefactor, adventurer Mark Humphreys’ life was cut short at the age of 67, but no one could accuse him of not living every day to the fullest.

The Texas-based businessman, who founded one of the nation’s largest architectural firms, split his time between Dallas and Nashville after meeting and marrying his wife Emily. A regular fixture on Nashville’s social scene, Humphreys brought not only his joie de vivre to Music City, but also his spirit of generosity. As a passionate enthusiast of the arts, he was a benevolent benefactor to some of the city’s most notable arts organizations, including Nashville Ballet, the Nashville Symphony, and Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, and he could regularly be found in black-tie, surrounded by friends, celebrating these causes and many others. He was rarely seen without a smile on his face and a fascinating story on his lips, regaling friends and strangers alike with tales of some recent adventure, often spent in the cockpit of a plane — he was an avid aviator.

Humphreys left a remarkable legacy in business — the firm he founded in 1991, Humphreys & Partners Architects, grew to be the largest multifamily design firm in the U.S. — but he left an even larger mark on the people and causes that mattered to him. He may be gone, but his joyful exuberance for life and exceptional generosity live on in all who were lucky enough to know him.

BATEY GRESHAM JR.

Over the course of nearly four decades, Emery — a big man with giant plans, gentleman’s honor code and perennial twinkle in his eye — transformed former farmland just south of the Davidson County line into Cool Springs, the region’s leading corporate headquarters hub, perfectly timed to Williamson County’s explosive residential growth. His vision went beyond Class A office space — estimated at more than 1.5 million square feet — to surround it with opportunities for restaurant and retail development, creating lifestyle centers.

In 2017, Emery partnered with Oklahomabased Hall Capital Commercial Real Estate to create Hall Emery. The firm ventured into Music Row with the development of a 10-story boutique office building, 18th & Chet, seeing it as the launch pad for a district of business and entertainment. They then turned their sights to downtown Nashville, building Fifth + Broadway — a vibrant mixed-use experience for visitors and residents of office space, food hall, unique retail shops and the long-anticipated National Museum of African American Music.

Emery was married for 18 years to businesswoman and civic leader Kitty Moon. Individually they each served on more than two dozen boards, and together they were a powerful partnership and dynamic presence at countless fundraisers, events and soirees. Moon Emery passed away in 2017 and Emery worked with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to create the Pat and Kitty Emery Fund for Nashville.

Ever looking forward, at the time of his death Emery was engaged to marry Michele Crace, and affiliated with a team planning Nashville’s first theme park since Opryland closed in 1997. —Kay West

EARL SWENSSON

Architect, writer, artist Earl Swensson was one of Nashville’s legendary architects, a major supporter of the city’s arts community and a true Renaissance man. So when he died of

A planner, industrial engineer, real estate developer, teacher and college lecturer, writer, artist, speaker and holder of several patented designs, Swensson was one of the founders of American Retirement Corp., which was later acquired by Brookdale Senior Living Inc. Swensson served on the founding board of directors of the Nashville Business Committee for the Arts. He was honored with the Francis Robinson Award from the Nashville Opera Guild in 2011 and an Applause Award from Belmont University. In 2010, he received the first Martha Rivers Ingram Arts Visionary Award from the Nashville Arts & Business Council. In 2008, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Nashville Alliance for Public Education.

Swensson was known by colleagues for his “Earl-isms,” including the oneliner: “Architecture is not about the art of enclosing man — but of freeing him.” —William Williams

Janice Wendell was a go-getter from the get-go. In an era when student offices like class president and accolades like “Most Likely to Succeed” were rare for young women, Wendell was voted both at Donelson High. After attending Nashville Business College, she was off like a rocket.

With few females in the field to follow, Wendell forged her own way in syndicated television and advertising, co-founding The Creative House in 1969, which later rebranded as Eric Ericson & Associates — her husband was Eric Ericson; she was the main associate. Clients were charter members of the hall of fame of Nashville business, including the National Life & Accident Insurance Co., Third National Bank, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Opryland USA, Martha White Foods and Ohio Manufacturing.

She met Bud Wendell through her work with Opryland; they married in 1984 and assumed the role of generous, gracious, gregarious, humble and beloved power couple in a Nashville that was ascending from big small town to small big city. Janice’s integrity and acumen made her a highly sought catch for the boards of multiple and diverse organizations like the CMA, the Nashville Symphony, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, United Way, Cheekwood, Boy Scouts of America, First Presbyterian Church and Alive Hospice.

The nearly 40-year union of Janice and Bud Wendell was more than an enduring personal love story — their devotion to the community is an illustrative ideal in the story of Nashville. —Kay West

RALPH W. MOSLEY

Corporate and community leader, volunteer, purveyor of Italian sausage and ice cream

If you shop at Cool Springs, or if you ever attended the former Italian Street Fair or the Miss Martha’s Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Crankin’ fundraiser for the Martha O’Bryan Center, Ralph Mosley had an impact on your life.

DARRELL FREEMAN

Entrepreneur,

Chamber of Commerce leader

Nashville businessman Darrell Freeman founded technology staffing firm Zycron before selling it for $20 million in 2017. He served as chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce board and as a member of the Middle Tennessee State University board. Recently, Fisk University announced it was partnering with Freeman on a new business incubator and innovation hub, and he was a past inductee in the Nashville Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame.

“We are saddened by this loss for Darrell’s family and the community,” Chamber CEO Ralph Schultz says. “He was a lion of a leader, and his impact will be felt for generations. Darrell was a mentor to many and was passionate about education and the doors it opened for him and could open for others. He embodied Nashville’s

nashvillescene.com

Born Nov. 25, 1940, in North Carolina, Mosley died on Jan. 5, 2022. One day, while enrolled as a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Mosley was hitchhiking from Raleigh to Chapel Hill when the person who gave him a ride told him about Southwestern Co., an enterprise founded in Nashville in 1855 initially to publish and sell Bibles. The driver told him that a person, if he worked hard, could earn $1,000 in a summer. Mosley immediately asked how to get the job. Two weeks later, Dortch Oldham, then a sales manager, signed Mosley to sell books. After four summers of sales, he graduated with a business degree, having paid for his schooling and built up a savings account.

Following graduation from the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School, Mosley made four trips to Vietnam delivering troops and equipment. After three years of Naval service, Mosley returned to Southwestern in 1966, the same year he married Juli Anne Huskey Mosley, who

—Nancy Floyd

Gresham Smith founder Batey Gresham Jr. cofounded the Nashvillebased architectural firm Gresham Smith with Flem Smith Jr. in

survives him along with three sons. He held various financial and administrative positions before becoming chairman/ CEO in 1982. Between then and Mosley’s retirement in 2005, Southwestern grew its revenues from $25 million to $225 million. In 1986, Mosley led Southwestern in the sale of its nearly 100-acre headquarters property at Interstate 65 and Moores Lane for the development of what would become CoolSprings Galleria.

Mosley volunteered as a fundraiser and board member for St. Thomas Hospital, the United Way and the YMCA. He chaired Tennessee Repertory Theatre’s board for seven years. As Nashville Symphony Association president, he played major roles in the annual Italian Street Fair, a widely attended fundraising event. Over more than 40 years as a volunteer for the Martha O’Bryan Center, which serves Nashville’s James A. Cayce Homes, he read to 3-yearolds, delivered meals and chaired the annual Miss Martha’s Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Crankin’ fundraiser.

A longtime member and leader of Second Presbyterian Church, Mosley led several capital campaigns, including those to rebuild the church after it was destroyed by fire in 2003. —E. Thomas Wood and Nicki Pendleton Wood

T.B. BOYD III

Publisher, leader, philanthropist

As the fourthgeneration leader of the R.H. Boyd Publishing Corp., T.B. Boyd III made lasting contributions to the history of a family and business that have played critical roles in Black Nashville’s economic development and cultural history. His great-grandfather founded the company in 1896 and with others launched Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Co., two of the country’s oldest minority-owned businesses of their kind.

After becoming president and CEO in 1979, Boyd grew the family of companies at a phenomenal rate, and offerings expanded to products such as fiction and nonfiction books — both secular and religious, and vacation Bible school programming and products. He left his mark in the community serving as chairman emeritus of Citizens Bank, vicechairman of the board of trustees of Meharry Medical College and board member of the National Museum of African American Music, of which he was a founding visionary.

Philanthropy, a longtime family tradition, will continue thanks to Boyd’s foresight and guidance. The R.H. Boyd Family Endowment Fund, which he founded, supports nonprofit organizations, churches and eligible students to reach their goals for programming, higher education and better communities through a variety of grants. —Holly Hoffman

Media & Entertainment

LEE WEIDHAAS

Art director, artist, manager of madness

Lee Tyler Weidhaas arrived at the first offices of the Nashville Scene, in Maryland Farms of all places, and asked for the editor — and at the time, that was me. In her hands were a stack of newspapers: copies of Richmond Style, a beautiful tabloid weekly. Weidhaas had been its art director, and had made it beautiful.

“I see you’ve put out a couple of issues,” she told me. “Take a look at what I’ve done at Style. You guys could use some help, I think.”

She was low-balling it by a country mile.

Over the next decade, Weidhaas set her imprint on the Scene in ways known and unknown, but in ways that focused her graphical high-beam on how the weekly paper looked. She was a magician of the typographic arts, knowing how a brittle serif headline spoke in utterly different tones than a bold Helvetica. She was a bracingly clean designer; give her a doubletruck spread as the opener for a cover story, and she’d pull a reader right into her zone.

But it wasn’t just the artistry. Weidhaas, from day one, was the manager of the madness. As Tuesdays — deadline days — wore to their ragged and exhausted end, she was the glue that bound up the paper in one glorious, imperfect mass, and managed the send-off to the printer. She did not make friends with staff, but she earned their respect.

On top of it all, Weidhaas had an editorial awareness that to this day goes unrecognized. She came up with the idea for the Scene’s annual “You Are So Nashville If …” contest, which has now run for 34 years straight. She came up with “Nashvillian of the Year.” She came up with countless other story ideas and packages that remain to this day.

It was shocking to learn that Weidhaas had died so young, because she was so strong in the early days, so capable of pushing our heaving paper out the door every week. All I can say to Lee now is thanks for what you gave us. —Bruce Dobie

MARK HOWARD

Sports anchor, broadcast journalist

Mark Howard joined NewsChannel 5 in 1986 and spent 20 years as the station’s weekend sports anchor. After leaving NewsChannel 5, Howard joined 104.5FM The Zone as a co-host of the popular morning-drive sports talk show The Wake Up Zone along with former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck and Vanderbilt director of digital operations and broadcaster Kevin Ingram. The show quickly became the No. 1-rated sports talk show in the city, and Howard was a Zone employee for 21 years.

Howard also had stints hosting the Nashville Predators pregame and postgame shows on then-Fox Sports South, the Titans post-game show, and as an occasional fill-in host for 102.5-FM The Game this year. Howard was referred to by many as a walking sports encyclopedia, and there wasn’t a sport or local team he didn’t know or wouldn’t talk about. Howard will be fondly remembered for his wisdom and ability to connect and interact with fans.

“Mark was a respected colleague, a kind heart and a good friend,” Nashville Predators play-by-play broadcaster and former colleague Willy Daunic says. “He was always prepared and extremely knowledgeable. Most important … nobody was more encouraging to his peers.”

Howard was 65. —Michael Gallagher

BETH FOLEY

Artist, master of the macabre

Beth Foley was a master at painting the dark and macabre, but always with a lightness that transcended her subject matter, which included everything from the Holocaust to grim fairy tales.

The Philadelphia native moved to Nashville in 1998, and she lived here until her death in March at age 71. She exhibited locally at David Lusk Gallery, in addition to galleries and museums across the country. Her final show, 2020’s Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, was hosted at Gallery Victor Armendariz in Chicago. The exhibition used Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” as its inspiration — Foley updated the iconic American couple with new iterations, such as “Muslim American Gothic,” “Gay American Gothic” and “Hillbilly American Gothic,” to better reflect the diversity of American life.

She is survived by her husband Robert Doerschuk, and her children Jessica Foley and Ivan Doerschuk. —Laura Hutson Hunter

MARGARET KEANE

Artist, inspiration

Margaret Keane, the artist who became famous for her paintings of big-eyed children, was born Margaret Doris Hawkins in Nashville in 1927.

The doe-eyed waifs in her paintings were admired by everyone from Andy Warhol to Tim Burton, whose 2014 film Big Eyes cast Amy Adams as Keane. Keane’s formal training began when she was 10 years old, when she took art classes at the Watkins Institute — now known as the Watkins College of Art at Belmont University. At the height of her popularity, her paintings were ubiquitous — like the fine-art version of a Peanuts cartoon. However, her success as an artist came at a price — her second husband, Walter Keane, passed off the

paintings as his own. Margaret received authorship of her works after a long legal battle that culminated in a kind of courtroom painting competition in 1986 — Margaret completed a painting in less than an hour, while Walter complained that his arm was too sore to lift a brush.

She resided in Hawaii for 25 years, then moved to California and settled in Napa Valley, where she lived with her daughter, Jane Swigert. —Laura Hutson Hunter

GARDNER ORR SMITH

Volunteer, socialite, Betty Banner

You are so Old Nashville if you were born here and went to Parmer School, Ward Belmont, Harpeth Hall, then Randolph Macon College for Women. Gardner Orr Smith’s path through life follows a prescribed timeline for women of her status in that era. She was a June bride to her high school sweetheart, joined the Junior League, had three children, volunteered for their schools, worked on the Swan Ball, played bridge and mahjong, and had a cottage in Beersheba Springs. She was a member of the blue-blooded, fastidiously guarded Centennia l Club, and treasured her inclusion in The Study Club, which it is noted was founded in 1914. (The closest thing a web search finds more than a century later is The Study, an upscale cocktail bar in The Register, a private social club with “onsite experience specialists.” So very New Nashville.)

Smith, as her obituary revealed, also belonged to a small, select and not-verysecret club of women who for decades covered society for the Nashville Banner, writing under the pseudonym Betty Banner. She wasn’t the first Betty, or the last Betty, but Gardner Orr Smith was the quintessential Betty. —Kay West

JOE BIDDLE

Sports reporter, veteran

When Gannett bought and closed the Nashville Banner in 1998, there were many things that lived on beyond the scrappy afternoon daily’s last edition, but none more visible than the bumper stickers.

“I BEAT BIDDLE” was what readers who outpicked sports editor Joe Biddle in a weekly pick ’em contest would win. For years, the stickers were found on cars throughout Middle Tennessee, proud displays of pigskin prognostication for the owners and a genius bit of guerrilla marketing for the Banner to promote both the paper and its star columnist.

Born in East Tennessee, Biddle was a high school classmate and friend of Steve Spurrier. He came to the Banner in 1979 after a decade in Daytona Beach writing sports and a tour in Vietnam. Biddle was a gifted features writer, and his true calling was revealed when he was promoted to sports editor in 1981 and he assumed a thrice-weekly sports column anchored down the left side of the sports page. He could be glib or serious, but Biddle found a huge following with well-reported opinion pieces that forced sports readers to think. One of the first print columnists in Nashville to embrace sports-talk radio, he had a partnership with George Plaster that was, for a time, appointment listening.

Biddle loved a scoop and he loved a good laugh, as evidenced by the time someone took a knife to the famed bumper stickers

and removed the “AT” from the second word. Joe proudly displayed the new one on his bumper: “I BE BIDDLE.” —Steve Cavendish

RALPH EMERY

Country music broadcast legend

On Jan. 15, beloved country music personality Ralph Emery died at age 88 following a short illness. A New York Times obituary referred to Emery by his longlived nickname, “the Dick Clark of Country Music.” It was a fitting moniker, as Emery employed his many talents across radio, television and live events for more than six decades.

Emery launched his broadcasting career at Paris, Tenn.’s WTPR and took on radio jobs at a variety of other stations, including Nashville’s WSIX; this brought him on-camera work for the ABC affiliate’s television arm, something that grew to be a staple of his career. His lengthy tenure as an overnight DJ on WSM brought him greater fame. He was beloved by fans and musicians alike, including early interview subjects like Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson — his minor kerfuffle with The Byrds notwithstanding. Emery appeared as an announcer on Opry Almanac, which was broadcast on WSMV and eventually evolved into his best-loved TV work: The Ralph Emery Show, a morning variety program that aired from 1972 to 1991 and became a showcase for up-andcoming talent.

Emery continued his broadcast career right into the 2010s, with programs like TNN’s Nashville Now in the 1980s and early ’90s and the weekly show Ralph Emery Live on the RFD network in the Aughts and 2010s. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the National Radio Hall of Fame, Emery left behind his wife of 54 years, Joy Kott Emery, as well as three sons and many grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. —Brittney McKenna

the Army. That led to four years in Washington working with the Jimmy Carter administration, where he began to develop the marketing expertise that he brought into play at WRLT. Conlon joined the station shortly after it moved to Second Avenue in the early ’90s.

As creative director of WRLT, Conlon played a key role in the revitalization of the downtown area. He embraced the concept of “The District” and promoted it on air. He also was instrumental in the successful launch of Dancin’ in the District, serving as entertainment producer for the longrunning free weekly live music series.

“Much to our surprise, at one point we were doing as many as 15,000 people on the river downtown, where nobody ever came,” he recalled in a 2019 interview with WXNA radio host Peter Rodman. —Daryl Sanders

BILL VERDIER

Community radio champion, flame-keeper for Irish music in Nashville

Growing up in New England, Bill Verdier developed a love for music early on, beginning his studies on the violin as a preteen and continuing through the university level. Experiences like watching eminent Irish fiddler Kevin Burke perform and hosting a show on Bridgeport, Conn.’s community radio station WPKN — which boasted a vast collection of music from different folk traditions — sparked a lifelong passion in Verdier for Celtic music in general and Irish music in particular. In 1994, he moved to Nashville, where he recorded and performed with a variety of Irish and Celtic groups like The Rogues and Isla, and hosted jam sessions that have cultivated the tradition in our area for future generations.

When a crew of enthusiastic volunteers set about organizing community radio station WXNA ahead of its launch in 2016, Verdier was right at the vanguard. Down the Back Lane, a two-hour celebration of Celtic music and a hub for news on the local scene, has aired from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sundays since the station went on the air. While he was home in Bridgeport for a visit with family, Verdier died on Feb. 25. He was 64 years old. Among those who survive him are his partner Anne Hoos, many family members, friends and bandmates, and his Down the Back Lane co-host Kevin Donovan, who continues the show. —Stephen Trageser

ELIUD TREVIÑO

Pioneer, pillar, patron

Born in Texas to Mexican parents on Jan. 10, 1945 — the same day as Rod Stewart — Eliud Treviño was his own kind of local rock star.

and shared through the airwaves. I was there to co-host the talk show El Café de Las Siete, a volunteer project he enthusiastically supported in order to bring essential information to his growing audience of recent immigrants trying to make Nashville home. That resolve to serve our community led him later to found a newspaper, El Crucero de Tennessee, and an online streaming show.

Always wearing a suit and tie, Eliud used his microphone and pen as forces for good for almost 30 years. He became a pillar of Nashville’s Latine community. However, it was the individual acts of kindness that he offered — like his friendly smile — to every person he met that made him a true patron of our comunidad. In January of last year, news spread that COVID-19 had taken the life of our beloved friend Eliud, and an avalanche of social media posts told the story of a genuinely kind man with a generous heart who opened doors, mentored, gave financial support, kept in touch, cared, and shared his warm humanity.

As he was for so many people, Eliud was a witness and a friend during a very important stage in my life, my first years in Nashville and my first professional steps. The story of how Conexión Américas was born is not only mine, but in the little bit of my story, of the route that made me take that path, there is undoubtedly that weekly drive to WNQM and Eliud’s long-lasting legacy. —Renata Soto

JAMES C. GENTRY

War hero, Holocaust witness, teacher, coach and farmer Generations of students and athletes knew Jimmy Gentry as a nurturing force in their lives without knowing of the horrors he had witnessed as a young man.

Gentry grew up amid Depression-era poverty in Williamson County, helping feed his large family by hunting and fishing. By his later years, he and loved ones lived in an 1869 house on Highway 96, surrounded by 375 acres of farmland that produces fall harvest crops. In the years between, he was an acclaimed teacher and coach. Before all that, he spent time helping to save the world.

Born in 1925, Gentry died on April 21, 2022, at the age of 96. In April 1944, his brother David Gentry was killed in action. Jimmy, 18, tried to enlist in the Army’s air arm but was rejected for being color-blind. He signed up in August 1944 to be an Army foot-soldier and, after only 12 weeks of a planned 16-week basic-training course, found himself in the winter snows of France. He saw his first combat in the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945. As his 42nd Infantry Division moved into Germany, he took part in urban combat during the Battle of Würzburg, as well as other battles.

Days before the war in Europe ended, Staff Sgt. Gentry helped liberate some 32,000 prisoners at the Nazi death camp Dachau, near Munich. Gentry recalled breaking into the office of the commandant and seizing his pistol.

John

of

County,

create the lovable good ol’ boy Ernest P. Worrell character alongside then-rising stand-up comic Jim Varney, who starred in the role that would wind up defining both of their careers. The character was created for his ad agency Carden and Cherry to help advertise a then-rundown Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky.

In a 1990 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cherry described the appeal that Ernest had during the advertising days. “Every time we do a study on who Ernest appeals to, it’s the under-13 and over-35 age groups,” Cherry said at the time. “If you’re under 13, it’s OK, and when you’re over 35, you know it doesn’t count anymore — you don’t have to be cool.”

Back home, while Gentry was earning a degree at Peabody College thanks to the GI Bill, his alma mater Franklin High offered him a job as an assistant football coach.

In the decades to come, as head coach, he would go on to win football championships while teaching biology and history at Franklin High, Battle Ground Academy and Brentwood Academy.

For most of that time, though, Gentry clammed up about his Dachau experience.

JOHN CONLON

Visionary with the booming baritone John Conlon, who is probably best known for his role in the rise of independent radio station Lightning 100 in the early to mid1990s, died on March 28 after a lengthy struggle with a number of health issues.

A native of New York City, Conlon was a Vietnam veteran who took a job with a political consulting firm after leaving

A pioneer of Spanish-language media in Tennessee, Eliud began by renting a gospel station, WNQM-AM 1300, for a few hours at night. That was the launch of Radio Melodias and of his vast legacy that positively touched the lives of thousands of people in the local Latine community, including mine. For almost five years starting in 1997, I would drive up Ashland City Highway every Tuesday night to get to WNQM. Eliud would open the door while offering his signature big smile, beaming upbeat vibes thanks to the music he loved

The Ernest character first was used in regional advertisements (including an eightyear run with Nashville’s Purity Dairies) and in short comedy skits before he hosted a direct-to-video special, Knowhutimean? Hey Vern, It’s My Family Album, in 1983. He made his theatrical debut in 1985’s subversive cult film Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, which saw Varney play seven roles, including Ernest, the titular Dr. Otto and his recurring character Auntie Nelda. That film started Cherry’s longtime practice of mainly shooting the Ernest films in and around Nashville.

After long contending with Parkinson’s disease, the filmmaker died in May at age 73. Cherry is survived by his children Josh, Emilie and Chapman. —Cory Woodroof

“It was so horrible that I didn’t want to talk about it anymore,” he remembered in an interview for a Tennessee Holocaust Commission project conducted in the early 2000s. “So I put it away. I felt that if I didn’t talk about it, it would go away. Of course, it didn’t.” Eventually, he spoke out. In 1984, Gentry combined his expertise as an educator with his experience as a liberator when he became a founding member of the state’s Holocaust Commission, which is devoted to supporting education about the Holocaust in Tennessee schools. (Full disclosure: The author is a current member.)

Gentry and his family received numerous community honors in the final decades of his life, recognizing not only his military and educational service but also the family’s historic-preservation stewardship. —E. Thomas Wood

PAUL HOOLAHAN

Athletic director, Commodore

To describe Paul Hoolahan’s legacy as Vanderbilt’s athletic director as “complicated” would be underselling things. Consider this: In a 1995

JOHN CHERRY

Filmmaker, local innovator

Cherry, a longtime resident

Williamson

helped

Scene column after Hoolahan announced his departure from West End after six years helming the athletic department, Randy Horick alluded to a nickname ’Dores fans had for the man. The word wasn’t printed (which, given that it’s the Scene, must have been really awful), but in the decades since, even its first letter and whatever word Horick used as its rhyme have been eradicated from the archives. There is a rhyming nickname that is printable, however, and it tells the story: The Hatchet Man.

Hoolahan fired radio play-by-play man George Plaster and football coach Watson Brown early in his tenure. Neither of those are particularly shocking. Brown, as nice a guy as there’s ever been in college football with a mind to match, also has the notable distinction of being the losingest coach in major college football history.

What really gets the black-and-gold faithful going is what Hoolahan didn’t do. After Eddie Fogler won the NIT in his first season and then went on to hardwood success unseen at Memorial Gym since the 1970s — including an SEC regular-season crown and a National Coach of the Year Award in 1993 — he left, rather abruptly, for South Carolina. Turns out, he’d wanted a raise, and Hoolahan wouldn’t even take his calls. Hoolahan came under increasing fire a few years later after publicly berating basketball star Billy McCaffrey after a lackluster performance.

But Hoolahan did lead badly needed modernization efforts and fundraising, marketing and ticketing pushes that proved helpful as Vandy found itself suddenly competing with big-league sports in the ’90s. Brown’s replacement, Gerry DiNardo, got the footballing ’Dores oh-so-close to a bowl game (before himself departing for LSU). And after all the acrimony, Hoolahan’s leadership at the Sugar Bowl is all but universally lauded.

Paul Hoolahan died in November. He was 72. —J.R. Lind

PAUL BASS

Teacher, wrestler, veteran

Longtime Nashville-area teacher Paul Bass died on Feb. 13 at age 66. A graduate of Pearl-Cohn High School, Bass attended Tennessee State University where he joined the Air Force ROTC “Tiger Jets” drill team before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force.

After leaving the Air Force, Bass earned his bachelor’s degree from TSU and spent the next 40 years teaching. He spent 25 years at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, teaching science and coaching wrestling and soccer. Bass was honored by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and was named Teacher of the Year multiple times at MLK.

—Michael Gallagher

LUKE KNOX

College football player, student, son

Former Brentwood Academy football standout Luke Knox died suddenly in August at age 22.

Knox graduated from BA in 2018 and was a junior linebacker playing for Florida International University at the time of his death. He transferred to the Florida school this past season after spending a few years

with Ole Miss, where he appeared in 23 games.

His older brother Dawson Knox was a star tight end at Ole Miss and now plays in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills.

—Cory Woodruff

BILLY JOE ADCOCK

Commodore, sports star

“The modern era of Vanderbilt basketball had to begin somewhere.” That’s how local sports historian Bill Traughber began the chapter on Billy Joe Adcock in his book Vanderbilt Basketball: Tales of Commodore Hardwood History. Before Clyde Lee, Billy McCaffrey, Matt Freije, Shan Foster, John Jenkins and Scotty Pippen Jr., there was Billy Joe Adcock. He paved the way for all future Commodore stars.

Adcock represented a lot of firsts for the Vanderbilt program. He was the first Commodore to earn a basketball scholarship, be selected as an All-American, score more than 1,000 points and get drafted into the NBA. He concluded his playing days as the program’s all-time leading scorer and a two-time First-Team All-SEC honoree.

Adcock, a three-sport star at Nashville’s West End High School, was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2022. He died July 29 at age 94. —Logan Butts

MEL BROWN

Principal, coach, educator

Longtime Mt. Juliet High School principal Mel Brown died Feb. 7 following an extended battle with cancer. He was 78. Brown was a graduate of Lipscomb University, where he was a standout baseball player. He remains a member of multiple athletic halls of fame, including those of the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association, Lipscomb University, the TSSAA and Clay County High School.

He served as the head baseball coach at Two Rivers High School, McGavock High School and Lipscomb University. He won 582 games at McGavock, as well as three state championships (in 1975, 1984 and 1986), three state runner-up finishes and 17 district championships.

Brown had a lengthy career in academics that spanned more than 25 years and included stints as an assistant principal at both Hillsboro High School and Lebanon High School before taking the principal job at MJHS in 2004. He was named Principal of the Year in 2017 by the Tennessee Association of Secondary Principals. The baseball field at McGavock High and the athletics complex at Mt. Juliet High are both named in his honor. He retired in 2018.

—Michael Gallagher

he had to step down from his roles with the volleyball and track-and-field programs to focus on hoops full time. He compiled a 75-56 record during four seasons atop the program, earning four postseason appearances. He was named the District 9-AAA Coach of the Year for the 2019-20 season after leading the Green Wave to a 21-10 record and to the Region 5-AAA quarterfinals.

Gallatin principal Dr. Ron Becker told Main Street Preps that Landers had three main priorities in life: God, family and the Gallatin High School community. Landers died Jan. 9 from complications related to COVID-19. He was 60. —Logan Butts

SANTONIO BEARD Football star

Former University of Alabama and PearlCohn High School football standout Santonio Beard passed away Feb. 5 after sustaining a gunshot wound. He was 41.

Beard starred on the football field for the Firebirds from 1996 to 1998, rushing for 5,600 yards and 104 touchdowns and winning two Mr. Football awards under then-head coach Maurice Fitzgerald. He helped Pearl-Cohn win two state championships. At Alabama, Beard rushed for 1,444 yards and six touchdowns over 21 games during his sophomore and junior seasons. He holds the Alabama school record for most touchdowns in a single game (five), tied with former running back Shaun Alexander and current Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith.

Beard forwent his senior season to enter the 2003 NFL Draft but was not selected. He joined the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 2003 and had brief stints in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos. —Michael Gallagher

TOMMY FRENSLEY

Basketball player, coach and hall-of-famer Tommy Frensley was Nashville basketball through and through. Following a playing career at the old Howard High School and at Belmont, Frensley became one of the longest-tenured head high school basketball coaches in the Midstate.

Frensley spent 29 years as the head coach for the Hillsboro boys basketball team and seven at the helm of the Donelson Christian Academy program. In total, he finished 632304 in 36 seasons as a head coach.

served four years in the United States Navy, where he was a member of the All-Navy golf team. Following an honorable discharge, Quick founded the Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego in 1957. The venue twice hosted the U.S. Open — in 2008 and 2021 — and it regularly hosts the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open.

Quick was a member of the PGA for 60 years, playing on the PGA Tour from 1974 to 1975. After his retirement from professional golf, Quick transitioned to teaching golf. He created the Art Quick Golf Academy in Antioch in the late 1980s, coaching and teaching there for 30 years. —Michael Gallagher

Food

JERRY LANDERS

Coach, mentor, teacher

Jerry Landers spent much of his life mentoring young athletes. After spending years as a volleyball and basketball coach at various stops, in 2013 he landed at Gallatin High School, where he joined the coaching staffs for the Green Wave volleyball, girls basketball, and track-and-field programs. He was also a special education teacher.

In 2017, Landers was promoted to head coach of the girls basketball team, meaning

He won 494 games, nine district titles and two region championships and made three state tournament appearances at Hillsboro, and the Burros basketball court was named after Frensley in 2007. He was voted The Tennessean’s Nashville Interscholastic League Coach of the Year in 1972 and was part of the inaugural Hillsboro Sports Hall of Fame class in 2013.

At DCA, Frensley revived a struggling program, leading the Wildcats to a record of 139-72. He also helped DCA reach the state tournament in 1998, the program’s first appearance.

Frensley was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and died on March 30 at age 83. —Logan Butts

ART QUICK Golfer, teacher, veteran

Former PGA Tour member Art Quick passed away on May 16 at the age of 92. He

nashvillescene.com

TALLU SCHUYLER QUINN

Founder, The Nashville Food Project

In 2011, buoyed by her work with foodsecurity projects in Nicaragua, Tallu Schuyler Quinn founded The Nashville Food Project, an organization that would not just provide emergency relief to hungry people, but also connect people to food systems and the land in order to remove barriers that keep them undernourished and underfed. Today The Food Project provides 5,000 nutritious meals every week for Nashvillians in need, diverts thousands of pounds of waste from landfills, and connects people to the land through gardening.

Tallu was a fierce advocate for food justice, an inspirational minister and a force who brought people together in a common belief: There is plenty to go around, and when we work together, we find that there are many more seats at the table. But if you knew Tallu — as many did, even if only in passing — you also know that she was incredibly, exceptionally kind. She remembered the smallest details you’d shared about your life, even if you did so years before. She was open about her own struggles and vocal about her challenges as a leader of The Food Project, about her position as a white woman of privilege leading a charge that, in the main, helped the most marginalized among us. She lived her faith — she didn’t wield it over anyone else. She loved her life, her children, her

family and her community with ferocity, and showed that love in every interaction. Her friend and colleague Grace Biggs told the Scene in 2021, “Tallu exemplifies a lot of this willingness to be vulnerable and admit mistakes. To look deeply at how we can be better, because we do a lot imperfectly.”

At age 40, Quinn was diagnosed with grade four glioblastoma, an aggressive, terminal form of brain cancer. During much of her illness — and with the assistance of her husband Robbie and other friends and family — she wrote journal entries published on the site Caring Bridge, and these became a book. Her memoir, What We Wish Were True: Reflections on Nurturing Life and Facing Death, was published posthumously in April.

I interviewed Tallu for the Scene in 2021. I believe it was the last interview she did with the press — not because she didn’t want to do more, but because long conversations became difficult, and surely she wanted to save her energy for the people who mattered most in her life. I asked what she thought her legacy would be. She balked a bit — Tallu was nothing if not humble — and then said, “I feel, even though I’m facing something so devastating, I feel so deeply, genuinely grateful for the life I’ve lived and the opportunities I’ve been given. I don’t know what my legacy is. But I just feel like I’ve been part of something so meaningful.”

Tallu left behind her parents, Thom and Sarah, her adoring husband Robbie and their children Lulah and Thomas, as well as many other relatives, friends and a city that loved her. —Erica

Ciccarone

encouragement for one another. Ask around and you’ll find countless Nashvillians who have personal stories about the impact that the Einsteins have made on them.

After months of operating Sweet 16th after Dan’s death, Ellen ultimately decided to close the Lockeland Springs bakery in October. For many days leading up to Sweet 16th’s closure, a long line of customers stretched down 16th Street. Sure, folks were there because they knew it would likely be their last opportunity to buy “one to go.” But even more, they were there to pay tribute to a special man — a hard worker, a bright light and a good neighbor to all. —D. Patrick Rodgers

DOUG CROW

Bar owner, father, boss and friend

Doug Crow — a prolific creator of local pubs and a key figure in the city’s food and beverage scene

since the 2000s — died unexpectedly in April at age 51. The affable founder of Joe’s Place and Crow’s Nest, both located on Bandywood Drive in Green Hills, Crow also owned and operated pubs in Destin, Fla. Locally, he had ownership and/or involvement in Corner Pub in the Woods, The Alley and Dalton’s in Bellevue; Austin’s in Fieldstone Farms; The Corner Pub in Midtown; and DJ’s Pub and Grub in West Nashville. He also was involved in the establishment of Noble’s Kitchen and Beer Hall in the Five Points area of East Nashville.

“Doug did so much for me and my family,” Crow’s longtime employee Todd Verhoven wrote on Facebook shortly after Crow’s death. “He was a great man, father, boss and friend. My heart breaks for his family and sons. I am grateful for the time we got to work together and even more for the friendship.”

The Scene’s Chris Chamberlain wrote in 2010 that Crow was known for bars that were consistent in presentation and desirable to patrons based on menu offerings and locations/spaces. “Doug practices what I like to refer to as the ‘hermit crab expansion strategy’ whereupon he moves into recently vacated dining sites and fills them with good, dependable food in a comfortable environment,” Chamberlain reported at the time. —William Williams

on a track that has helped generations of musicians and fans define “a country song.” And often as not, it was a song she wrote herself. Born in Eastern Kentucky near the mining town of Van Lear, Lynn grew up in poverty, a coal miner’s daughter as in her hit song and autobiography of that name. She died Oct. 4 at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., at age 90, a towering figure in country history.

Lynn didn’t think of herself as a feminist, and examining her work without considering stereotypes and their roles in country music ignores important perspectives about how the industry needs to change. But the way she took command of her career and image — speaking the truth as she saw it during times when many mainstream entertainers shied away from singing about sexual freedom and equality — was fundamentally inspirational and didn’t diminish her fan base. She remains one of the best selling and most influential artists in the history of the genre. Despite suffering a stroke in 2017, after which she seldom appeared in public, Lynn continued recording. Right through her most recent album, 2021’s John Carter Cash-produced Still Woman Enough, she was singing powerfully and writing with her characteristic sly wit, hard-won wisdom and remarkable economy of language.

—Stephen Trageser

forgotten: the jingle business she ran with her late husband, fellow music educator and superb musician Billy Adair — she was a pivotal figure in the development of the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Beegie Adair was also a vital bandleader. Her trio with bassist Roger Spencer and drummer Chris Brown was Music City’s first jazz group to appear at the storied Carnegie Hall, and she headlined at Birdland with vocalist Monica Ramey.

Adair was deeply respected throughout the industry. It’s hard to think of something in the business that she didn’t do, or a person she didn’t know. I remember once being on a panel with her discussing the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day, when she casually commented on how many people in the film she either knew personally or had played with — or in many instances, both. More importantly, though, it’s impossible to recall her bragging about her greatness, or to think of someone she didn’t make time for. —Ron Wynn

DAN EINSTEIN

Baker, friend, beloved community member

The East Nashville community suffered a heartbreaking loss in January 2022 when, after a long struggle with illness, Sweet 16th Bakery co-owner Dan Einstein died in hospice care at age 61. Just as much as Dan and his wife Ellen’s bakery was known for its delicious quiches, muffins, cookies and legendary breakfast sandwiches, it was known for its reputation as a place of community and acceptance.

Many East Siders will recall the morning after the devastating March 2020 tornado, when the Einsteins — with their establishment’s electricity out — gave away every item in the store for free. Not long after, the couple put up a “Wall of Love” where neighbors could leave messages of

Music

LORETTA LYNN

A head on the Mount Rushmore of country music Lay out a collection of Loretta Lynn’s records — grab 1960s classics like Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind), at least one of her iconic LPs of duets with Conway Twitty, even Van Lear Rose, the Grammy-winning album she made in 2004 with Jack White — close your eyes and point. You’re almost certain to land

BEEGIE ADAIR

Pianist extraordinaire, leading light of Nashville jazz Beegie Adair was a keyboard wizard who could take the melody of any familiar standard and turn it inside-out on the piano in so many ways that it sounded like a new song. Meanwhile, she was such a gifted and versatile stylist that her extraordinary 60-year-plus career included appearances on more than 100 LPs (including her own extensive catalog) and performances with a host of greats across the musical spectrum, from Cannonball Adderley and Duke Ellington to Johnny Cash, Vince Gill and Dolly Parton.

Adair, who passed on Jan. 23 at age 84, was a prolific artist who at various points was a member of the house bands for The Johnny Cash Show and The Ralph Emery Show, among others. She also had a monumental impact on the Music City jazz scene as an instructor and mentor. Among myriad other accomplishments — not to be

PETER COOPER

Historian,

Peter Cooper — a native of Spartanburg, S.C., who was an outstanding musician and educator, a top-notch country music journalist and most recently a senior staffer at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum — made his way to Nashville in 2000. He took on the job of writing about country music for The Tennessean with enthusiasm, a depth of knowledge of and reverence for the craft, and an elegant command of language that would make any scribe jealous. (Among those who became a regular reader: Johnny Cash.) He didn’t limit his scope to considering music from afar: A standout singer-songwriter, Cooper honed his chops with encouragement from friend and songsmith Todd Snider and collaborated closely with pedal-steel legend Lloyd Green. Cooper found a longtime musical partner in Eric Brace. Among other projects, the pair released three records as a duo (plus two more as a trio with Thomm Jutz), ran an indie label called Red Beet Records and took the lead on a project to re-record revered songwriter Tom T. Hall’s classic record for children, Songs of Fox Hollow

Following music-journo adventures that included sparring with Toby Keith and writing the epitaph on George Jones’

songsmith, guiding light in country music journalism

tombstone, Cooper left his post at The Tennessean in 2014. He joined the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum as a writer and editor, a role that later expanded to include directing and producing content like the Voices in the Hall podcast and the Live at the Hall video interview and performance series. Friends, family and colleagues were shocked to hear that Cooper, age 52, was in the hospital with lifethreatening injuries following a fall. Family confirmed that he died in his sleep on Dec. 6. Cooper’s former Tennessean colleague Dave Paulson included in his obituary a line from Cooper’s 2017 book Johnny’s Cash and Charley’s Pride that continues to resonate in the wake of his passing: “Now, for sure, you need a good bullshit detector, and you shouldn’t rant, and you shouldn’t cheerlead. But objectivity is dispassionate. And we’re in the passion business. We’re trying to make people feel something different than what they felt before they read our words.”

—Stephen Trageser

activities. Among many other projects, they appeared in Jonathan Demme’s 2006 Neil Young concert documentary Heart of Gold, and they cut the magnificent Shannon Sanders-produced LP Celebrating Fisk! The 150th Anniversary Album featuring collaborations with Keb’ Mo’, Ruby Amanfu (who is Dr. Kwami’s niece) and many more. The group had been nominated for Grammys multiple times, and a compilation album they contributed to had won in its category — but in 2021, Celebrating Fisk earned the Fisk Jubilee Singers their first Grammy for their work on their own.

—Ron Wynn

JOE CHAMBERS

Founder and CEO, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum Joe Chambers knew musicians as well as anyone in Music City — he was at various points a guitar-slinging rocker, a charttopping songwriter for artists including Ricky Van Shelton, Randy Travis, Tammy Wynette and Emmylou Harris, a record producer, and the owner of instrument stores.

It’s significant, then, that his deepest admiration was for the session musicians who don’t draw the huge spotlight of superstar onstage talents, but rather turn melodic ideas and notes on a page into the songs adored by millions. Chambers founded Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2006 as a place to honor session musicians, engineers and producers. The museum, now located at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, holds everything from one of Motown legend James Jamerson’s bass guitars to instruments owned by The Wrecking Crew players, and recording hardware used at Alabama’s famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

honky-tonk piano parts to George Jones’ hit “White Lightning.” In a career spanning more than six decades, Robbins played on countless country hits including “Crazy” by Patsy Cline, “Behind Closed Doors” by Charlie Rich and “Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn. Robbins also appeared on a wide variety of pop, rock, R&B and jazz recordings, and may be best known for his outstanding performances on Bob Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. His work on that historic record led to sessions with folk and rock artists running the gamut from Joan Baez and Loudon Wainwright III to Mark Knopfler and Ween. —Daryl Sanders

NAOMI JUDD Country music icon

This year should have marked the beginning of a deserved and long-overdue career renaissance for Naomi Judd, who made country music history as one-half of the award-winning and immensely influential duo The Judds. Alongside her daughter Wynonna, the Kentucky native became one of the genre’s biggest stars seemingly overnight. In 1984, the sentimental single “Mama He’s Crazy” became the first of eight consecutive No. 1 hits for The Judds, leading to sold-out shows, multiple Grammy wins and other industry accolades.

That success was born from Naomi’s boundless determination to be heard and seen. A nurse and single mother of two daughters, Judd showed her music to anyone in Nashville who would listen, unmoved by the sexism and rejection she faced along the way.

special gatherings of the Baháʼí Faith, of which they both were devout members.

DR. PAUL T. KWAMI

Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, shepherd of legacy Dr. Paul Kwami accomplished one of the toughest tasks imaginable in music: He helped update and popularize a historic entity without significantly altering or destroying what made it great. As the music director for the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1994 until his death Sept. 10 at age 70, Kwami brilliantly handled the task of making them relevant and important to 21st-century audiences while retaining the qualities that made them such legendary figures since their debut in 1871.

Beyond being a demanding but fair taskmaster, he made certain the 16 vocalists (equally divided between men and women) understood the cultural and historical significance of the ensemble’s material. As part of that mission, he took the singers to Ghana in 2007 for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of that nation’s independence and the fact that the prominent racial and social justice advocate Dr. W.E.B. Dubois (also a Fisk graduate) was buried there.

During Kwami’s tenure, the group was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, received the National Medal of Arts and was recognized with the Americana Music Association’s Legacy of Americana award. Kwami also involved the singers with artists from outside the gospel sphere as he stepped up the group’s recording

Chambers’ idea was a hit, especially among industry veterans. After his visit, Neil Young was quoted as saying: “You can see the hood ornament on the car if you go to The Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. But, if you want to look at the engine and see what’s making it go, then you go to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.” —Cole Villena

HARGUS “PIG” ROBBINS

Friend and brother, exceptional pianist, country music legend Hargus “Pig” Robbins’ place in Nashville music history is undeniable. The masterful pianist, who died Jan. 30 at age 84, was the Country Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 1976 and 2000. He was also inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame (along with the Nashville A-Team of session players) and the Country Music Hall of Fame. His 1977 album — titled Country Instrumentalist of the Year — won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. But his peers considered him a friend and a brother, who happened to be one of the greatest musicians the city has ever known.

Born in Spring City, Tenn., and blinded in an accident at age 3, Robbins entered the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville at age 7, where he studied classical piano. He began playing sessions in 1957, and his career as a studio player really took off in 1959 after he contributed the lively

In an industry where discussing mental health is still mostly taboo, Naomi was open about the challenges she faced throughout her life. Each day, she battled with the lingering effects of childhood trauma, treatment-resistant anxiety and depression. But she drew joy from her music and the support of her family and fans. Judd’s sweet yet powerful voice, fiery red hair and flamboyant fashion sense captured the attention of any room.

Just one day before she was to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Naomi Judd died by suicide on April 30. She was 76 years old. Fans, family and friends have honored her legacy throughout the year; an expansive tour, arranged well in advance of Naomi’s death, was carried out with Wynonna sharing the stage with tons of guests. —Lorie Liebig

JIM SEALS

Humble hitmaker

Texas native Jim Seals, lead vocalist in the hit ’70s soft rock duo Seals & Crofts, passed away on June 6 at age 79. He succumbed to an ongoing illness at his home in Hendersonville surrounded by his family and closest friends.

In the 1970s, Seals and his musical partner Dash Crofts scored multiple platinum and gold albums and were a constant presence on pop radio airwaves. The duo had eight singles that went to No. 21 or better on the Billboard Hot 100, most notably “Diamond Girl” and “Summer Breeze.” But the musical winds were blowing in a different commercial direction by the end of the ’70s, so the duo decided to call it quits in 1980. They did from time to time, however, reunite to perform for

Seals and his family moved to Costa Rica in 1980 and lived there until they relocated to the Nashville area in 2005, settling in Hendersonville, which was home to his brother Dan Seals, a successful recording artist. Between 2005 and 2008, the brothers performed together as Seals & Seals, doing more than 100 dates with a band that included Jim Seals’ sons Joshua and Sutherland. They also recorded a number of tracks during that time, which have never been released. After his brother died in 2009, Seals continued to write and record for his publishing company until he suffered a stroke in 2017.

“Jimmy was passionate about three things — faith, family and fun,” his wife Ruby says. “And for him, the fun was music.” —Daryl Sanders

EDWARD “MOE” DENHAM MOERSCHEL

Session player, DJ, Hammond B3 lover Known around Nashville and nationally for his contributions to the jazz scene, Edward “Moe” Denham Moerschel worked with the likes of Count Basie, Neil Young, B.B. King and more in his time as a session musician. He devoted his whole life to music, starting with piano at age 6 and taking up the Hammond B3 organ at age 11 — the instrument on which he would ultimately make a name for himself.

“My mom, when she bought the Hammond organ, I was only 11 years old, but I was fascinated by all the draw bars and the sounds, and it’s been that way ever since,” he told NPR in a 2006 interview. He also mentioned at the time that he had collected eight B3 organs, and had a vanity plate reading “B3 PLYR.”

The Seattle-born organist was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, after which he became a state trooper in Maine. He eventually moved on to radio, becoming a disk jockey for multiple stations, eventually settling in as the news director at WGNS in Murfreesboro. Moe Denham, as he was known, is survived by his wife Susan and two daughters, Beth and Kate Moerschel. He died on Dec. 23, 2021, at age 77. —Connor Daryani

CARSON Country singer turned Franklin police officer

After cutting his teeth as a performer at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel, Jeff Carson made his introduction to the larger music world as a solo recording artist in 1995. Jeff Carson, his 11-track debut, spawned a No. 1 Billboard country hit (“Not on Your Love”) and an Academy of Country Music Award for Video of the Year for “The Car,” a sweetly sentimental celebration of family and fatherhood.

Carson had 14 charting singles throughout his career, including “Holdin’ Onto Something,” “Real Life (I Never Was the Same Again)” and covers of songs like “I Can Only Imagine.” In 2008, Carson traded in his guitar for a Franklin Police Department badge, becoming a fixture in that community over the next decade. He called his graduation from the police academy his “proudest moment,” saying, “Being in law enforcement was something that I’ve always wanted to do.” He won six commendations and a Chief’s Award for Excellence during his tenure.

But Carson’s music career wasn’t entirely over. In 2020, he rereleased “God Save the World,” a track he’d recorded nearly two decades earlier. Weeks after Carson’s death, country music performers including Michael Ray, Lee Greenwood and Rhett Akins gathered to perform a memorial concert honoring his life. —Cole Villena

DEBORAH McCRARY

The singing nurse

Deborah Person McCrary, beloved member of The McCrary Sisters gospel vocal quartet, passed away June 1 at age 67. McCrary was the second-oldest daughter of the Rev. Samuel H. McCrary, a founding member of the legendary gospel group The Fairfield Four. Along with her sisters Ann, Regina and Alfreda, she performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in popular music, including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Gregg Allman, The Black Keys, Hank Williams Jr. and Carrie Underwood. She also appeared on the five albums the group has released under its own name.

McCrary was a professional nurse, so although she sang with her sisters at Nashville performances and on recordings after the group was formed in 2010, she didn’t start traveling full time with them until 2012. Her sisters called her “the singing nurse.”

“What everybody really needs to know about Deborah was her passion to sing music that would make people smile and change people’s heart from bitterness and darkness to light and love,” her sister Regina says. A contralto, McCrary had a wide vocal range and could sing any of the harmony parts. But following a stroke in 2013, she was limited to the lower part of her range, so she anchored the bottom end of the group’s dynamic sound.

“The awesome bottom, baby,” says Regina. “Ever since Deborah has been gone, we’ve missed that bottom.” —Daryl Sanders

BEN KERBY FARRELL

Promoter, storyteller, legend

“Legend” is a term typically used for entertainers like Elvis Presley, Elton John, George Strait, Barbara Mandrell, Randy Travis and Neil Diamond. Concert promoter Ben Farrell worked with all of those acts and legions more and was as legendary in the music business as any of them.

Farrell attended Lipscomb University on a baseball scholarship, played minor league ball and spent two years in Vietnam before taking his first — and last — job, with Varnell Enterprises in Nashville in 1970. He assisted with marketing, promotion and on-site show supervision, then built the company’s roster of clients by signing future and established superstars, rising to be president.

Farrell was legendary for attention to detail, strategizing and a ’round-the-clock work ethic. He was legendary for his total recall of names, dates, venue seating capacities and the exact number of tickets sold at any given facility by any given artist on any given date. He was legendary for his loyalty, and the loyalty he inspired — he was Garth Brooks’ promoter for more than 30 years. He was legendary for his Forrest Gumpian knack of being everywhere. He was legendary for his love for his wife, daughter and UT football, his thirst for knowledge and his remarkable skills as a storyteller who could capture entire rooms.

Most of all, Ben Farrell was legendary for all the secrets he knew — and never, ever told.—Kay West

to tap into myself, my own self-confidence, my own voice,” Dukureh told Cardona. “Because she was very adamant that she only had her voice: No one could sing like her and she sang like no one. So I had to also embrace that approach to music. I didn’t try to sing it like her, but I knew I needed to definitely sing it in a way that she would give me a hand clap, in a sense.”

A remix of Dukureh’s rendition of “Hound Dog” featured rapper Doja Cat, who invited Dukureh to join her onstage at Coachella in the spring. She had also begun work on an album of blues music inspired by Billie Holiday. Then, on July 21, the devastating word went out that Dukureh had died at age 44, of what was later revealed to be natural causes.

—Stephen Trageser

The All of Everything when he passed away. Hinson is remembered as a mentor to aspiring young songwriters, one of whom shared advice he gave her for writing, and for life. “You gotta leave a little glow wherever you go.”—Kay West

SCOTTY WRAY

Guitarist, road warrior

In an industry full of sugar-coated glitz, Scotty Wray stood out like a sore thumb — an epiphany of rock ’n’ roll. He chain-smoked cigarettes, ate nothing that resembled a vegetable and could pick an acoustic guitar so that if you closed your eyes, you’d think it was Doc Watson in the room with you. His relationship with Miranda Lambert was beautiful: One moment, both of them would be putting a foot down to argue their point, and the next, they’d be holding each other up with love and care to get through the next day. A real deep bond they had. He had a laugh that could shake a wall down, and we can still hear it today. Keep it country, bud. We all miss you dearly. —Spencer Cullum

CHARLIE MONK

The

Mayor of Music Row

SHONKA DUKUREH

Revered singer, teacher and actor

Raised in Nashville, Shonka Dukureh held a degree in theater from Fisk University and another in education from Trevecca Nazarene University, and was a muchloved teacher and mother of two. A lifelong singer in church, she was also regarded as one of the finest gospel vocalists in town. As WPLN’s Nina Cardona reported, it was no big surprise when Dukureh was called to record as part of a choir for Baz Luhrmann’s fantastically surreal biopic Elvis. However, it was a bit of a shock — and a thrill — to learn she’d been cast in the film as phenomenal R&B singer Big Mama Thornton, whose original recording of “Hound Dog” inspired Elvis Presley’s own hit version early in his career.

“I knew to really pay tribute to her, I had

JIMBEAU HINSON

Songwriter, performer, mentor, advocate

The story goes that Loretta Lynn “discovered” Jimbeau Hinson when he was just 14 years old. But truth is the irrepressible Mississippi-born son of a mechanic and a truck-stop waitress discovered himself years before that.

By the time he talked his way backstage to meet Lynn, the self-taught pianist was a stage performer and had his own radio show. But he set his sights on Nashville at 16 and never looked back, joining The Wilburn Brothers road show and signing to their publishing company. He had his first ASCAP award at 18 and was a prolific writer throughout his career, with songs recorded by country artists like The Oak Ridge Boys, Patty Loveless, Reba McEntire and Kathy Mattea. His collaborations with Steve Earle on “Hillbilly Highway” broadened his reach, and Hinson succeeded in multiple genres of music. Despite his superb voice and showmanship, Hinson did not succeed as a recording artist, likely due to his openness about his bisexuality, a major-label dealbreaker then.

In 1985, Hinson discovered he had HIV/AIDS. Determined not to reveal the diagnosis, he retreated to the rural property he and his beloved wife Brenda Fielder had and spent the next decade battling the disease. Thanks to advances in treatment, he recovered from a neardeath experience, regained his life and his career and dedicated himself to advocating fearlessly and fiercely for AIDS/HIV awareness. He was working on his memoir

In the multitude of photographs of Charlie Monk from his six decades in radio and the music business — in which he stands beside the biggest celebrities in the business or with his arm draped around the shoulders of a newcomer — he is not smiling. The man who became known as The Mayor of Music Row is clearly laughing. Maybe he just told one of his corny jokes or one of his countless stories. Maybe someone poked fun at him. Whatever it was, Charlie Monk’s joie de vivre was genuine, authentic and contagious, and he parlayed personality, professionalism and undaunted optimism to build a life the kid who grew up dirt poor dreamed of.

Monk’s entry to the entertainment business was humble, sweeping floors in his South Alabama hometown radio station until he nabbed the weekend DJ gig. After serving in the Army, Monk did the typical radio journey — small market to bigger market, on-air personality to program director. In Tennessee, he landed at Murfreesboro’s WMTS before moving in on Music Row. He left the broadcast booth to work for ASCAP, co-founded the Country Radio Seminar, produced and hosted the New Faces show for 40 years, and became a song publisher. In 2004 he returned to radio to help launch SiriusXM in Nashville, hosting two popular shows.

He was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. Until recently, Monk could be found every weekday morning at the Green Hills YMCA; his workout consisted primarily of strolling around the massive cardio room, checking in with friends and strangers alike. If there were a Hall of Fame of Schmoozers, the Mayor of Music Row would be the first one in the door, laughing all the way. —Kay West

RONALD LEE HUNTSMAN

Pioneer of Nashville FM radio and concert promotion

Ron Huntsman had much to do with the creation of our city’s FM radio scene, and if you went to any of the early Charlie Daniels

JEFF

Volunteer Jam shows, you were enjoying his handiwork.

Ron passed away on July 2 at 78. As program director for WKDA-FM (now WKDF, once the city’s dominant “albumoriented rock” station) starting in 1971, he preceded DJs warmly remembered by many local boomers, including Hunter Harvey, David Hall and Dave Walton. —E. Thomas Wood

DREW ALEXANDER

Music publisher

In the final days of 2021, veteran Nashville music publisher Drew Alexander died at age 52 following complications from a short illness. Alexander was the son of former Tennessee Gov. and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and Leslee “Honey” Alexander, who died about one year later.

Drew Alexander spent much of his life steeped in music, growing up in Nashville and studying music at Ohio’s Kenyon College. After graduation, he began his music industry career as a receptionist at Curb Records; in 2017, he left the firm as vice president of publishing. He then founded Blair Branch Music, acting as a consultant for entities in government, entertainment and nonprofit work. In addition to his “day job,” Alexander served on a number of local boards, including Belmont School of Music, the Community Resource Center, Leadership Music and the Recording Academy. He was also known for hosting writers’ retreats at locales such as his family’s Blackberry Farm home, with participating artists including Kelsea Ballerini and Bill Anderson. Alexander had two children, Lauren Blair Alexander and Helen Victoria Alexander. —Brittney McKenna

ANN TILEY

While Nashville lay wrapped in a blanket of snow on Jan. 7, a piece of the city’s soul slipped away. Ann Tiley, a fixture of the most democratic music scenes in Music City for more than four decades, died. Her longtime partner Tim Jones shared the sad news that she had suffered a brain aneurysm.

Around 1979, Tiley’s love of Bill Monroe and Townes Van Zandt inspired her to move to Nashville from her home in West Virginia. Among the friends she made here was John Allingham, who co-founded the Music City folk institution The Cherry Blossoms and the equally venerable artists’ hangout and jam session Working Stiff Jamboree. As Tiley explained to late, great Scene editor Jim Ridley in 1997, Allingham encouraged her as she began writing her own songs. She developed a distinctive, intimate, diaristic approach, singing and accompanying herself on acoustic instruments like guitar or mandolin; friends and associates joined in on fiddle and harmonica, among others.

Tiley also painted extensively. Her friend Peggy Snow, also of The Cherry Blossoms, is a visual artist too, known for preserving buildings that are slated for demolition in her work. Tiley’s paintings, on the other hand, are a lot like her songs. They contain impressions of people she knew, places she performed — Springwater, Bobby’s Idle Hour, Brown’s Diner — and other scenes of life around the town she called home. In both, she created a unique historical

record that traces the character of a city in motion. With the breakneck pace of change in Nashville, the immense value of work like Tiley’s is too seldom appreciated. —Stephen Trageser

JAMES ACE “JIMI” REILLY, AKA TN JIM

Skateboarder, rapper, graffiti artist

On May 14, Jimi Reilly passed away in New Jersey. In our youth, he was mostly here in Nashville with his sister Colleen and his mom Lindy, but would sometimes stay with his dad in Kearny, N.J. I believe I met him skateboarding in front of Hillsboro High School, though we weren’t old enough to attend school there yet. We became part of a crew of skaters, initially called Linus and later renamed Elmo. In addition to myself and Jimi, it was Matt Chenoweth, Baker Hoffman, Jay Huff — and Matt Arnn, who headed up the filming operation and edited several skate videos we made in the ’90s. Beyond the influence of the skate videos (both locally and elsewhere), Jimi had more direct connections to the world of hip-hop in New Jersey and New York City, and he started both painting graffiti and freestyling as a teenager. In that way, his influence on the rest of us in Nashville was enormous. The first time I ever attempted to freestyle was at the age of 16 with Jimi.

By the end of the ’90s, Jimi, his mom and his sister all moved to New Jersey, and to my knowledge, they didn’t have much contact with Nashville until Jimi returned in the mid-2000s. Since I had started producing beats and gotten more serious about writing rhymes, the two of us started recording songs. The result was a project called Charcoal Filtered, which was officially released with a party at The Juice Bar on Gallatin Avenue in 2008. We got a lot of love from the hip-hop community in Nashville and performed regularly at an event called Sound Therapy. Some of my best memories include skating around Nashville and hanging out with Jimi and the rest of our friends as teenagers, and making music and doing shows with him later on. It was always a party with TN Jim. Though I had not been in touch with him much since about 2010 or so, in recent years, he had been more serious about his visual artwork and moved around between Asheville, N.C.; Chattanooga; Nashville and New Jersey. He was a certified climber/rescuer for Emergent Wireless Solutions and Telco Mills Inc. He is survived by his mother Lindy Reilly, his sister Colleen Reilly and his niece Alana Ward, all of whom are currently in New Jersey. —Alex Davis-Smith, aka AL-D

RAY EDENTON

Studio guitar maestro, country rhythm innovator Guitarist Ray Edenton, an important part of the Nashville Sound for almost 40 years, passed away in Goodlettsville on Sept. 21 at age 95. Born in and raised in Virginia, Edenton moved to Nashville in 1952 and started playing on the Grand Ole Opry that year, specializing in acoustic rhythm guitar. He made his career breakthrough in the studio with The Everly Brothers, playing a second part in tandem with Don Everly’s aggressive guitar on their early hits.

At first Edenton was valued on sessions for his ability to provide rhythmic drive on country recordings, which at the time typically didn’t use drums. As

11, 2023 | nashvillescene.com

instrumentation expanded, he brought country rhythm guitar into a new era by creating new “high-strung” tunings that complemented a conventionally tuned acoustic, creating a bigger and fuller sound. This doubling of guitars was often used to provide a lush bed of acoustic guitars, as can be heard on thousands of country records even up to the present day — a sound that can be directly tied to Edenton’s innovations and a defining part of the original Nashville Sound.

There is hardly an important Nashville recording artist of the era that Edenton did not work with during his long career. His consummate skill, creativity and many innovations led to him playing on more than 10,000 sessions before his retirement in 1991. In 2007 he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame, and he was also honored as a Nashville Cat by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. —Pete Finney

GLENN MEADOWS

Stellar mastering engineer

Audio mastering is thought of as the “final creative step” in producing a recording, the processing of audio so that it sounds its best on the medium from which you’re listening to it. In recent decades, mastering for maximum loudness has been an industry standard (many would argue to the detriment of the sound quality), but for a long time before that, it was a subtle art.

One of the finest practitioners in this field over the past five decades was Glenn Meadows. A native of Long Island who gravitated toward audio technology as a teen, Meadows attended Georgia Tech and became involved in the studio scene in Atlanta before making his way to Nashville in 1975. He intended for a job at legendary mastering facility Masterfonics to be a stepping stone, but he stayed with the firm for more than 30 years, overseeing its extensive growth once he took over leadership in 1989. Meadows moved over to Mayfield Mastering in 2011. You’d need very long arms indeed to get them around his list of credits, which includes Jimmy Buffett, Tanya Tucker, Billy Joe Shaver, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift and dozens and dozens more.

A two-time Grammy winner who was also known for volunteer projects like running sound at the Nashville Rescue Mission’s Friday night coffeehouse, Meadows was recognized by the Audio Engineering Society with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Following a brief illness, he died July 7 at age 73.

—Stephen Trageser

ANITA KERR

Singer, arranger, composer, an architect of the Nashville Sound

Memphis native Anita Kerr, the awardwinning singer, composer and arranger who first made her mark on music history in Nashville, passed away Oct. 10 at age 94.

As leader, arranger and soprano for the Anita Kerr Singers, which included Gil Wright, Louis Nunley and Dottie Dillard, Kerr was one of the architects of the Nashville Sound. The group appeared on thousands of recordings in the city during the ’50s and early to mid-’60s, including major pop hits such as Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” Roy Orbison’s “Only the

Lonely” and Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry.”

“I heard all of the stories about her genius, and I saw it myself,” recalls legendary guitarist and producer Jerry Kennedy. “She was a fantastic mind in the studio.”

“She was arranging for the Anita Kerr Singers on the spot in the studio,” session ace Charlie McCoy says. “And the stuff they did, especially with Brenda Lee — it was so great.”

In addition to backing other artists, Kerr’s group made four albums of its own for RCA between 1962 and 1965, winning a Grammy for Best Performance by a Vocal Group for the 1965 LP We Dig Mancini. Wanting to work on more pop sessions, as well as jazz and orchestral recordings, Kerr relocated to Los Angeles in 1965, re-forming the Anita Kerr Singers with L.A.-based vocalists. There she made a series of albums for Warner Bros. and Dot. In 1970, she moved with her second husband to Switzerland and re-formed her group once again with U.Kbased singers.

Between 1975 and 1977, Kerr recorded five gospel albums for Nashville-based Word Records. Her final album of new material was 1988’s In the Soul, on which she set the poetry of Walt Whitman to music.

Daryl Sanders

LINDSEY SMITH-TROSTLE, AKA LST, AKA LULU LOVE

Cellist, teacher, beatmaker, string arranger, composer, session player

Lindsey Smith-Trostle was deeply engaged in Nashville music. She was a founding member of Athena Strings and Athena Piano Trio, as well as Swap Meet Symphony, a hip-hop band we created together. A proud native of Nashville, LST said she wanted to “revolutionize and modernize what classical music is,” and that’s exactly what she did.

She attended Hume-Fogg High School, Loyola University and Belmont University. As a professional cellist, she played with the Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra, the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera and others. As a freelance session cellist, composer and beatmaker, she worked with Jack White, Yelawolf, Tanya Tucker, Kirk Franklin, Quiet Entertainer Orchestra and many more.

Lindsey passed away on Aug. 29, and is

Songsmith, painter, candid chronicler of Nashville in motion

survived by her mother Wendy Smith and her father Greg Trostle. It had been a long time since we’d gotten to work together, but one of her closest friends, Lindy Donia Bennett, shared this on social media: “Lindsey loved others openly, honestly, and always put others before herself. She is one of the most loyal, compassionate, and gifted cellists, artists and songwriters among us and will be missed deeply. This hurts so badly, we love you. Beautiful Lindsey urged and encouraged others to be happy and live meaningful lives even when she went through struggles. In addition to her music career, she often dreamed of being a therapist and studying equine veterinary medicine.Thank you for calling me your sister for 18 years of friendship and loving and caring for so many others.” —Alex DavisSmith, aka AL-D

JERRY CRUTCHFIELD

Songwriter, producer, executive It’s not uncommon in Music City for people to successfully wear many hats over the course of a career. But few had careers as long, diverse and successful as that of Jerry Crutchfield, who died Jan. 11 at age 87. The Paducah, Ky., native’s first work on Music Row was as a backup singer on sessions for Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. He turned down an offer to join The Jordanaires because he wanted to concentrate on his college studies. As a songwriter, he had songs recorded by country artists like Faron Young, Bobby Bare and Charley Pride, pop singers Brenda Lee, Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley, and R&B performers Slim Harpo and Irma Thomas.

In the early 1960s, Crutchfield helped establish the Nashville publishing office of MCA, which he ran for 25 years while mentoring writers like Don Schlitz, Gary Burr and Russell Smith. Crutchfield also spent four years at the helm of the Nashville office of Capitol-Liberty Records. But it was as a record producer that Crutchfield might have made his biggest mark, winning multiple CMA awards for his work. Among the artists whose records he produced are Tammy Wynette, Glen Campbell, Dottie West, Lee Greenwood, Anne Murray and an amazing string of 20 top-10 hits for Tanya Tucker. One of the songwriters Crutchfield mentored along the way was Dave Loggins, whose 1974 pop smash “Please Come to Boston” Crutchfield also produced, a perfect example of the diverse experiences and skills he brought to everything he did.

—Pete Finney

DALLAS FRAZIER

Country songwriter, rock ’n’ roll master

I interviewed Dallas Frazier in 2008 after Buddy Miller, whom I talked to for a piece I was writing, mentioned him during the course of our conversation. It turned out I wasn’t familiar with Frazier’s story. Born in 1939 in Spiro, Okla., he moved as a child to California, where his family lived in boxcars and tents in labor camps in the 1940s. He started performing early, and he fashioned a couple of great rock ’n’ roll singles: “Alley Oop,” from 1957, and Charlie Rich’s epochal 1965 ode to Southern-fried hipsters, “Mohair

Sam.” But I did know Frazier’s work — I had tuned into the message of Frazier and Earl Montgomery’s socialist-country masterpiece “California Cotton Fields” via a live version by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.

I interviewed Frazier at a Cracker Barrel restaurant near his home in Gallatin, Tenn., and he came across as an old-school hip person who name-checked jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden and ordered the vegetable plate. Alone or with longtime writing partner A.L. “Doodle” Owens, Frazier penned hits like “Elvira,” “There Goes My Everything” and “Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul.” For all his country success, which may have brought the kind of rewards that caused him to leave music for the church in 1976 — he told me in 2008 that he had “an over-scrupulous conscience” — I like to remember Frazier as a great rocker, which I think he aspired to be under what he termed the oppressive regime of Nashville country. Listen to his 1967 reading of rockabilly singer Ronnie Self’s “Home in My Hand.” Frazier’s version has the swagger — and the hard-won wisdom — of the best rock. He died in Gallatin on Jan. 14. He was 82. —Edd Hurt

LOIS CURTIS SHEPHERD

Singer, songwriter, Lower Broadway mainstay

An obituary shared by Robert’s Western World for Lois Curtis Shepherd — who died Oct. 18 at 98 years old — relays a story the honky-tonk fixture known to many as Miss Lois loved to tell. She spent her childhood years meandering to and from the Lower Broadway produce shop owned by the grandfather who raised her. One store on the block had black-and-white tiles in its window sill, and, the story goes, little Lois would pretend to play them like a piano.

She left Nashville for Florida, but returned in the early 1970s with John Shepherd, the aspiring singer-songwriter she would later marry. The couple spent the next 50 years as partners in love and music, with Lois writing many of the songs they played over the decades. In the 1980s, they played a key role in the revitalization of Lower Broadway, and as recently as 2020 they could be seen performing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings at Robert’s. Fittingly, that was the site of her memorial service. The regulars gathered for songs and stories, to celebrate a life bookended by the sounds of country music on Lower Broad. —Steven Hale

WALTER RILEY KING

Saxophonist, arranger, mentor

When you think of late, great blues legend B.B. King, what probably comes to mind first is his superb playing on his electric guitar Lucille, followed shortly by his powerful, soulful voice. But King also relied on a dynamite band to deliver a lush, full-bodied sonic experience to his fans. For more than three decades, he called on his nephew Walter Riley King for his prowess on the saxophone as well as his expertise as an arranger. Among other pieces, he was responsible for arranging the indelible “Stormy Monday” for the live show.

Walter Riley King was born in Lexington, Miss., and grew up in Bartlett, Tenn., near Memphis. He studied at Tennessee State University, where he performed with the mighty Aristocrat of Bands. He

later worked with the marching bands at Goodlettsville High School and Pearl High School; his enduring passion for working with youth also took the spotlight when he moved with his family to Omaha, Neb., where he served as a guest conductor for the Omaha Youth Orchestras’ Youth Symphony. His extensive career included performing or recording with The Temptations, Gladys Knight, Dr. John, U2, Roy Clark, Joe Tex, Denise LaSalle and many more. At age 71, King died on July 19; services were held July 30 in Nashville. —Stephen Trageser

LAURIE GEORGE

Punk rock fashion plate, tastemaker Laurie George, whose work at Praxis International in the 1980s helped launch the careers of Jason and the Scorchers and The Georgia Satellites, passed away May 23 at age 59 after long living with COPD. A native of Waynesville, Mo., George was a prominent figure on the Nashville punk scene while still attending high school.

“Laurie was really into punk rock, and she had her finger on the pulse of the fashion side of all that,” says former Scorchers guitarist Warner Hodges. “But she also knew a lot about music, and that’s how she ended up at Praxis.” She joined the label as office manager shortly after graduating from Hillsboro High.

“She had more Nashville indie-rock cred than any of us,” says Kay Clary, one of the owners of Praxis along with Andy McLenon and the late Jack Emerson. “She looked like a jet-setting Parisian model but spoke with a honey-sweet Southern accent. She was intense and gave zero fucks but also had the most kind, empathetic heart you could imagine. Everyone loved Laurie George.” George left Praxis in the late ’80s after she began dating Satellites frontman Dan Baird. They married in 1995. —Daryl Sanders

ABRAHAM PERRY MESARIS

Punk rocker, veteran, friend As frontman for the punk band El Escapado, Abraham Perry Mesaris was deeply rooted in the local punk rock community — a community that, upon Mesaris’ death, took to social media to share how he had affected their lives in a positive way.

Mesaris founded El Escapado with his friend K.D. Bell in 2015, and was frequently on the road, touring both in the U.S. and Europe. Just before Mesaris’ death, El Escapado had wrapped a 67-date crosscountry tour. In a tribute following his death, Mesaris was remembered by not only his friends and loved ones, but a number of fans.

Mesari, also a U.S. Army veteran, is survived by his daughter Abella CharlesMesaris and her mother Traci, as well as his mother and father, Patricia Steeley and Perry Todd Mesaris. Mesaris died July 22 at age 44. —Connor Daryani

ROLAND WHITE

Bluegrass hero, supreme mandolin picker Famed mandolin player and bluegrass singer Roland White died April 1 at age 83 following complications from a heart attack. A collaborator with legends like Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, White first began playing music as a child alongside his siblings — famed guitarist Clarence White, banjo and

double bassist Eric White Jr. and bassist Joanne White — while growing up in Maine and, later in his adolescence, in California. Originally called The Country Boys, their band eventually became The Kentucky Colonels; an outfit that inspired early practitioners of country-rock, the Colonels would release more than a dozen live and studio albums before disbanding for good in 1973 following Clarence’s death in an accident with a drunk driver.

As a picker for hire, White played as part of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys as well as Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass. Later projects included the bluegrass band Country Gazette, The Nashville Bluegrass Band and The Roland White Band, which routinely appeared at the Station Inn in recent years. White’s long and storied career also included a string of solo albums, and he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2018, the year he released A Tribute to The Kentucky Colonels, which features a murderers’ row of revered players across several generations. —Brittney McKenna

Working in live sound can be very tough. Your hours tend to be odd; if you’re part of a touring crew, the gig involves being away from your family for long stretches; not to mention the pressure of solving technical problems in real time, in front of an audience. For some individuals, however, this is the best life — David Hagar was one of them. For 23 years, the Nashville native worked for venerable firm Spectrum Sound, where producers of faith-based events, star clients like ELO and Styx and many more relied on him as a system tech, a monitor engineer (managing what the musicians hear onstage) and a front-of-house engineer (creating the mix for the audience).

On June 17, he died at age 44 of cancer, leaving behind his wife Danielle as well as an array of friends, family and colleagues whom he made to feel like friends and family. “Not only was Dave a superb audio engineer, but he was always eagerly helping out his co-workers or friends in any way he could,” reads a post on Spectrum’s Instagram. “Dave had a true servant heart and his cheerful attitude and friendly disposition made the world around him a little bit brighter.” —Stephen Trageser

DAVID LEE HAGAR

Beloved live sound engineer

living well

fresh perspectives to live your best life in

Nashville Crystal Store and Crystal Farmacy

Though crystal healing is trending, renowned healer, author and visionary Ataana Badilli has supported Nashville with this ancient form of energy work in Nashville since 2005.

Crystals are stones with unique physical characteristics and energies — each one affects the human body’s vibrations in different ways.

“Crystals help us remember our full potential and self-healing abilities,” says Badilli, who opened Nashville Crystal Store’s Berry Hill location in 2017, East Nashville in 2018 and The Chattanooga Crystal Store in 2021.

Nashville Crystal Store carries consciously sourced, healing crystals and beautiful gemstones from around the globe, ranging from pocket size to 8 feet tall. Their goal is to connect each client with their healing crystal — and vice versa.

“Upon entry, our knowledgeable and intuitive staff is there to support you on your healing journey with crystal information and pairings, Badilli says. “Each crystal is labeled with its individual healing properties, like a crystal pharmacy. After a brief consultation, our staff pairs crystals that are unique to the individual and their energy.”

Crystal pairings are a two-way street. Badilli and his staff also work to ensure that each stone will be happy in its new home.

“The energy of our crystals is extremely important to us, ensuring that when they are rehomed they hold a beautiful, healing energy,” Badilli says. “We work directly with the miners and their families to ensure a fair and healthy process for everyone involved, including the stones.”

Badilli, who encourages families and children to experience the “wholesome healing energy” of stones, also works with international artists on one-of-a-kind gemstone jewelry, sculptures and crystal furniture.

His books, Sacred Inner Dialogue: Calling My Power Back and Mantras & Music: Prosperity Healing Mantras, are available in-store and online.

To learn more about guided crystal meditations, complimentary crystal readings, energy healing work and more, visit nashvillecrystalstore.com, follow on Instagram @NashvilleCrystalStore and sign up for text updates and a live nightly Zoom meditation of Prosperity Healing Mantras at ataanamethod.com.

The energy of our crystals is extremely important to us, ensuring that when they are rehomed they hold a beautiful, healing energy,

Braces by Dr. Ruth

After Dr. Ruth Ross Edmonds completed her graduate training in orthodontics at the University of Tennessee in Memphis, she moved back to Nashville to put her knowledge and experience to work.

“No one was hiring, so I decided to open my own practice,” Edmonds says. “As a result, I am the first African-American female to own and open an orthodontic office in Nashville.”

Edmonds opened Braces by Dr. Ruth 22 years ago with a staff of one. Today she has 12 highly trained team members in a brightly colored Midtown space that’s also “a bit of a mural gallery,” she says.

At Braces by Dr. Ruth, customized orthodontic treatment plan options include metal and ceramic (clear) braces, aligners and their newest product, Brava by Brius.

“These are independent tooth movers that are placed behind teeth. They are the truly invisible treatment option,” she says. “Our patients are loving having a tray-less option, as many people do not have the discipline to wear the trays. You are able to brush and floss as you would without independent tooth movers.”

A family-friendly, inclusive environment is important to Edmonds: Braces by Dr. Ruth also offers bilingual services for children and adults and several rewards programs. The token program lets patients earn tokens for punctuality and clean teeth. Tokens can be saved and applied to everything from a travel toothbrush to ear buds, wireless speakers, movie tickets or two tickets to Nashville Zoo. Patients can also create an entry for the Braces by Dr. Ruth t-shirt design contest and attend a patient appreciation party during summer break.

Braces are a science — but also an art. Outside the office, Edmonds funnels her creativity into stained and fused glass art.

In addition to being the owner, operator, orthodontist and self-described “Queen of Everything,” Edmonds is also a member of the American Dental Association, American Association of Orthodontics, Southern Association of Orthodontics, Nashville Dental Society and the Pan-Tennessee Dental Society, and has received awards from the National Dental Association and the Capital City Dental Society.

“We are not the biggest, or the busiest,” Edmonds says of her practice. “But one difference between Braces by Dr. Ruth and your local chain — or office that has several locations — is that you will always get Dr. Ruth.”

Third Coast Salt and Day Spa

It’s no coincidence that Third Coast Salt Day Spa has been open for 6.5 years and voted Best Spa for six. Based on the healing power of salt, this 5300-square-foot space caters to those who seek solitude or social interaction.

“Want to know why you are so relaxed at the beach? It’s the salt!” says self-proclaimed “grateful owner” Shari Arnold. “Escape to Third Coast Salt and Day Spa for the most uniquely designed menu of services. Your massage can be transformed into the best treatment of your life.”

The 28-member team of professionals offer massage, reiki, salt, sweat and spa therapy, facials, chemical peels, waxing and threading, tinting, microblading, lash extensions, wellness workshops, private events and more.

Now in their forever home minutes east of the airport in Mt. Juliet, Third Coast Salt will debut two of the best lasers in the industry, the Ultra and Clarity Two, with full certification and advanced training on February 1.

The Ultra resurfaces the face, helps with acne scaring, hyperpigmentation, melasma and an overall glow as well as hair rejuvenation. The Clarity Two does laser hair reduction. Look for Third Coast Salt’s “Love Lasers” and unique couples date escape Valentine’s Day promotions.

“Let 2023 be the year of self care and self love,” Arnold says. “Trust Third Coast Salt with your skin, body, mind and health.”

Photo by Southern Social

BIL VORNDICK

Master of acoustic recording and production

Some key aspects of Nashville’s culture are only possible because people know how to make stellar recordings of acoustic instruments and how to bring out the best in people in a recording studio. Bil VornDick embodied all of that with an unfussy blend of refined skill, self-deprecating humor and deep kindness.

Born and raised in Virginia, he immersed himself in his local music scene as a young adult, playing guitar, writing songs and running sound at live events. None other than Chet

Atkins convinced VornDick to move to Nashville with his wife Patricia and study in Belmont University’s nascent music industry program. Not long after he graduated in 1979, VornDick caught the attention of Marty Robbins, who hired him as the chief engineer at his studio. Over the four decades that followed, his work in what was dubbed “new acoustic music” — working with Béla Fleck, Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas and others who were highly skilled in traditional techniques but hardly bound by them — set a high bar for engineering and production. He was sought after by bluegrass masters, traditional and mainstream country artists and Americana leading lights; he was nominated for more than 40 Grammys and notched up nine wins.

Despite the massive workload, VornDick put seemingly boundless energy into building up the music community through his involvement in educational programs, the Nashville chapter of the Audio Engineering Society and an array of charitable organizations. Any time you’d run into him, he had a kind word and a smile on his face. He died July 5, just five days after receiving a cancer diagnosis. He was 72.

—Stephen Trageser

Around the City

Anne Caldwell Parsons was frequently referred to as the matriarch of the H.G Hill family — furthermore, she was the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of two long-standing Nashville family patriarchs, H.G. Hill and James E. Caldwell, respectively.

If the term “matriarch” conjures an image of a stuffy, buttoned-up, humorless elderly woman, refer to the photo the family chose to run alongside her obituary, in which Parsons beams with a delighted smile and martini glass in hand. Or the image shared by one of the multitudes of extended family members, showing her laughing as a giraffe bends its head toward hers. The thousands of visitors who have enjoyed the Nashville Zoo can thank Anne Caldwell Parsons, instrumental in the donation of family land that became the Nashville Wildlife Park at Grassmere, then the zoo. More than lending her illustrious name to her interests, she generously shared her considerable talents and tireless efforts to community institutions of learning, beauty and service.

At the gathering celebrating her life, on a table with a gorgeous bouquet of fresh flowers, a single martini with two speared olives was set on a silver tray beside a framed photo of a joyous Anne Caldwell Parsons, that seemed to declare, “Cheers to a life well lived!” —Kay West

CLARE CORSON ARMISTEAD

Philanthropist, mother, style icon

So fully did Clare Armistead embody Lord Byron’s poem She Walks in Beauty that one might believe the lines were whispered in her baby ear until the two became one and the same.

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes…

Born and raised in Belle Meade, Clare Corson attended the Barmore School in New York City, married the good-naturedly boisterous businessman Hunter Armistead in Nashville, raised two sons whom she encouraged in every endeavor, and

immersed herself in a lifetime of service and philanthropy. Organizations and events from the Swan Ball to Once in a Blue Moon Festival, Nashville Public Television to Larkspur Conservation, the Tennessee State Museum to the Nashville Ballet benefited from Clare at the helm or spinning her magic behind the scenes.

With her light hair pulled back from her porcelain face into a tidy knot at the back of her neck, the precise posture of a dancer, her serene poise and her timeless, elegant, impeccable style, Armistead was the only possible choice to receive the first Style Icon Award by Nashville Fashion Week in 2015. In 2019, she was presented the Swan Award from the Swan Ball and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award.

In her last days, Clare Armistead continued to receive friends in her home, surrounded by all she cherished and all who cherished her.

… And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! —Kay West

KOLLEEN “KOKO” BREAK HUDGINS ATWELL

Organizer, public servant, matriarch

Born May 18, 1929, Kolleen Break Hudgens Atwell, nicknamed “Koko” by her twin grandsons, was a lifelong Tennessean. She is remembered for her high energy and constant positivity. Atwell enjoyed traveling, painting, public service and event planning. For 32 years, she and her first husband Harold Hudgins hosted a Chili and Cheer Christmas Eve Party that was attended by dozens of Nashvillians with nowhere else to go for the holidays.

In 1975, Atwell began her work in public service with a six-month litter-cleanup program. This led to decades devoted to the revitalization of Nashville, with one of her biggest accomplishments being helping prep the grand opening of Riverfront Park, and subsequently the city’s Fourth of July celebration, which still draws hundreds of thousands of people each year. She served as the special projects coordinator for three mayoral administrations.

Atwood was a lifelong Methodist, and

was anointed by her pastor from Dalewood United Methodist Church just a few days before her passing. She is survived by her husband James Atwell, her twin daughters Kay Hudgins and Kim Hudgins Brewer, her twin grandsons Christian and Brittain Brewer, and her great-grandchildren. Atwell died Jan. 13 at age 92. —Connor Daryani

Tama Powers McCoy was born in Abilene, Texas, in 1954, and she died far too young in San Jose, Calif. She was many things to many people. For more than 400 young writers in Tennessee, she was their greatest cheerleader.

In 2011, Tama and her daughter Kristen House founded A Novel Idea, a summer writing camp for kids ages 5 and up. Over the course of a month, kids from around the county hunkered down with instructors to produce a novel that was published in paperback, complete with a professionally designed cover and an ISBN number. And that was no small task. Children learned how to identify and battle their “inner editors” — mischievous liars and crooks, hell-bent on destroying their confidence, all vanquished by the pen. Then the kids learned how to develop heroic protagonists and cunning antagonists, chart their driving and sometimes chaotic plots, and reveal something of the marrow of life in 100, 200, 800 pages. Tama celebrated however far their pencils would carry them.

She’d bake sky-high pies for school principals across the district, sashay up to strangers at coffee shops to preach the gospel of the program, and treat the instructors in the organization like family — I was lucky to work for her from 2015 to 2018. Tama didn’t care that I had failed at teaching high school. She did care that I played toy soldiers with her grandson Shep after my interview. What mattered to Tama was personal integrity, loyalty, creativity and kindness. She hired me on the spot and quickly became my Southern Mama. Generous, wise and sassy, she was this Yankee’s very own Dolly Parton.

As I listened to Tama’s family eulogize her at a lively memorial at the Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, and as I talked to the people who loved her afterward, I learned that I was not unique. Tama took in people who felt lost and alone, and she treated us

ANNE CALDWELL PARSONS Matriarch

TAMA POWERS McCOY

Chief of Wordy Operations, A Novel Idea

like family. She leaves behind her adoring husband Daniel McCoy, her brilliant children Kristen and Ned, and a gaggle of gorgeous grandbabies. Tama loved alliteration, too. —Erica Ciccarone, former Wordy Bird at A Novel Idea

WOSENE YEFRU

Scholar, activist, mentor, author

“He was compassionate with students in response to their predicaments,” says Sekhmet Maat of fellow Tennessee State University professor Wosene Yefru. “Attempting to be accommodating, when necessary, he balanced this accommodation with high expectations, training students to submit materials on time and challenging them to read; he believed reading was a lost art that students needed to be encouraged to perform.”

Yefru held many roles in his two-plus decades at TSU, including head of the Department of Africana Studies and director of Field Studies. In 1994, he was the first instructor to be hired from outside the university to teach Africana studies. Professor Maat tells the Scene Yefru was “a bright light and a scholar-activist.”

The courses he taught focused on the philosophical, social and economic liberation of Africana people. Yefru was passionate about students receiving firsthand knowledge of ancient African civilization, and in 2009, he took students on a three-week trip to Egypt. He was known for emphasizing that philosophy is a universal concept.

Among Yefru’s accomplishments was writing The Nile Valley Civilization: A Historical Commentary on Ancient Africa, which has become a core textbook for the Introduction to Africana Studies course at TSU.

“He was unquestionably dedicated to the transformation of the consciousness of his students,” Maat says. —KateLynn

White

RON CAMACHO

Storyteller, manager, father, husband, servant

Ron Camacho led a storied life. “Big Ron,” as he was sometimes known, was a native of upstate New York and a natural athlete who excelled at basketball, lacrosse and football — he even had a dalliance with pro wrestling later in life.

Camacho, who ultimately settled in Nashville, worked as a road manager for Chaka Khan and Blood, Sweat & Tears, and as a bodyguard for David Lee Roth, Vince Neil and George Michael, among many others. He had an outsized, magnetic personality and penned books about country music and NASCAR racing — and that’s not to mention his epic fantasy, The Last Dragon: Tear Falle. He wrote poetry, and had a passion for reading comic books.

out of Riverbend prison and into the arms of his daughter Deana.

Over the next five months, Claude lived life to the fullest. He swam in the ocean on Father’s Day. He wrestled and took selfies with his 5-year-old grandson. Then, after a Halloween party where he dressed as a cop (he had a great sense of humor), Claude died in his sleep on Oct. 30.

The unfairness remains palpable. Yet Claude’s life was a testament to how we survive unfathomable loss. He wouldn’t want people to spend too much time mourning, Deana said at his funeral. “He would want us to do whatever we could to ensure that no other family was robbed of so much.” —Liliana Segura

CATHERINE HAYES CARR

Matriarch, community pillar, wisdom-keeper

They say Nashville is changing because the city is losing its institutions. The people and places that contain far more than meets the eye, full of memories that bridge generations and worlds.

Nashville lost Catherine Hayes Carr at age 93 in January. Born in Russell County, Ala., Carr settled in Nashville in the 1960s, where she became a luminary in her neighborhood — Lawrence, then Paris Avenue near today’s 12South — and church, Kayne Avenue Missionary Baptist. She navigated the segregation and misogyny of Jim Crow as a child and young woman, and was recognized as one of Nashville’s Queen Mothers in the 1990s, a nod to her role as one of the city’s prominent Black matriarchs. She was a mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother.

office, he gave out a lot of nicknames — nicknames like “Twerp,” “Buddy,” “Tweety Bird,” “Knucklehead.”

Meadors was a foodie, and gave every dive and diner as well as higher-end restaurants the same chance. He also embraced TennCare in its early days when many doctors shunned it. Maternal mortality is something that weighed on him, and made his hours longer.

“I think that’s also why they worked so tirelessly to make their dent in it,” his son shares. “His calling to be an obstetrician had no boundaries.” —Hannah Herner

DRANDON “CHIEF” BROWN

Encampment leader, dog father

We first met Drandon “Chief” Brown about 10 years ago when he was living in an RV in the driveway of Brookmeade Park. We knew he was there, but had not run into him during times when we were there providing street outreach. Then one day, a tall, bearded man flagged us down outside Lowe’s. He introduced himself and asked if we were with Colby’s Army, “the organization that’s helping ‘my people.’ ” He wanted to meet us, and after talking for a time, gave us his stamp of approval. After that, residents of the encampment opened up to us more, and learned to trust our outreach team. We’ve made a lot of headway since then, but the real start for us came with Chief.

In the encampment, Chief took care of everyone. He helped new people get clothes and tents, tarps and food. And if you were his friend, he’d go out of his way to help however he could.

PAUL ARNDT

Contributor vendor, problem-solver

When Paul Arndt was in high school, he got in big trouble for selling shots of alcohol out of his locker. One dollar per shot. He counted this as his first business — a sign of the resourcefulness that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

Paul came to Nashville a few years ago to escape the cold of his home state of Michigan, and camped under Jefferson Street Bridge for much of his time here before moving into affordable senior housing. If he really had a choice of how to spend his time, he’d be out fishing, but he seemed to think sitting in front of Puckett’s downtown selling The Contributor was a fine second choice.

If Paul had a catchphrase, it would probably be, “What’s going on?” He had a voracious appetite for news, gossip, cigarettes and black coffee. Through his many submissions to the paper, he wanted to share good news, ways things were getting better for him. But he was also very stubborn and very honest about issues he saw. He felt deeply that if he could just get the word out about what people experiencing homelessness needed, it could get better. Paul was up at all hours of the night just thinking about how to solve the world’s problems. I’ll miss hearing about his solutions. —Hannah Herner

But more than all that, Camacho was committed to his faith, his family and serving others. With his wife Ellen, in 2016 Big Ron founded Care Kitchen Outreach, a nonprofit dedicated to helping food-insecure folks in Nashville. According to CKO, the organization has rescued dozens of tons of food since its founding — turning food that was headed for the landfill into hundreds of thousands of meals for families in need.

Ron’s friends and family, including Ron and Ellen’s daughter Angelique, will continue his legacy of service in his memory. —D. Patrick Rodgers

CLAUDE GARRETT

Father, grandfather, exoneree

At 65, Claude Garrett had plans. When I last saw him on a glorious morning downtown, he was upbeat, inspired by a Nashville he still didn’t recognize.

“Everybody’s out, moving around, enjoying life,” he said — and so was he. He’d just gotten a job, his license and a used Toyota Camry, which he drove the speed limit.

After decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Claude proceeded with caution.

Claude was much more than his wrongful conviction. Yet the fight to clear his name consumed almost half his life. Twice convicted on junk arson science for killing his girlfriend in 1992, he fought with patience and discipline, alone at first, then alongside fire investigator Stuart Bayne, and ultimately with the help of the Tennessee Innocence Project and the Davidson County District Attorney’s Conviction Review Unit. On May 10, after nearly 30 years behind bars, Claude walked

Her son jeff obafemi carr remembered her on her 94th birthday in September with these words: “Her hypnotizing look was one of understanding, from lived experience. It’s why she never left a child behind who needed a ride home (even as she told us she wasn’t ‘taking care of anybody else’s children’); it’s why she always poured into people the notion that they could do anything but fail. It’s why she loved all her children — biological and adoptive — through their difficult days.” —Eli

Motycka

MICHAEL HUDSON MEADORS SR. OB/GYN, medical family patriarch

In his 40-plus-year tenure as an OB/GYN, Dr. Michael Hudson Meadors Sr. delivered more than 15,000 babies. It was common for people to come up to him and ask if he remembered their baby, and common for him to have to leave in the middle of a tennis match or recital to deliver another.

“It’s something he embraced — he remembered all the names and lineage of different children,” his son Michael Hudson Meadors Jr. tells the Scene

The Meadors are a Nashville medical family. They owned Peoples’ Pharmacy on Jefferson Street, and Michael Sr. worked there before it was sold and before he attended medical school at Meharry Medical College. All four of Michael Sr.’s children went into the medical field. But it wasn’t something he pushed them to do. Perhaps they were turned on to the idea by their father’s dedication and positive attitude about the job, which he truly enjoyed. His lighthearted and joyous attitude kept patients coming back for each of their pregnancies. (Just check the Google reviews that still live online.) Around the

nashvillescene.com

Over the time we knew him, Chief had several dogs, one at a time, all named Daisy. He loved all the Daisies, and took care of them like family, just like he took care of his friends.

But Chief had mental illness. We first saw this as moodiness or weeklong disappearances from his camp, which had by now moved to a tent on the hill behind Lowe’s. After a time, his tent morphed into a wooden structure, and he always kept his home and grounds tidy, and very clean. His mental illness waxed and waned, as mental illness often does, and over the years Chief had good months and rough months. More recently, he had an increase in the length and frequency of angry outbursts. Sometimes it seemed he just wanted someone to listen to him. So we did, and eventually he’d calm down.

Chief died tragically and needlessly. Our entire team mourns his loss, and we will always, always remember him. —Lisa Wysocky, executive director of Colby’s Army

YUSEF HARRIS

lkebu-Lan Images founder, community leader, teacher Yusef Harris was a teacher, mentor and climber of Mount Kilimanjaro, and his bookstore Alkebu-Lan Images has been a cornerstone of the North Nashville community for more than 35 years.

Harris opened Alkebu-Lan in 1986 while pursuing his doctorate in psychology at Vanderbilt University and teaching part time at Tennessee State University. The Jefferson Street property went up for sale, and he made a down payment with a loan from the Metro Development and Housing Agency. Since then, the shop has become a cultural mecca, selling books, art, apparel

and other goods that reflect and celebrate African culture.

He mentored and advised hundreds of Black business owners, according to his son and business partner Jordan Harris. His story times for children are legendary. Countless poets and spoken-word artists found their voices at his open-mic nights, and the shop was a place where emerging Black authors were sure to find support. If you bought a dashiki at Alkebu-Lan Images, Harris could tell you exactly where in Africa the fabric was woven.

In a 2015 interview with the Scene, Harris said his goal was to “instill and improve a person’s self-concept.” —Erica Ciccarone

transition of the institution from the David Lipscomb College to Lipscomb University (which gave Lipscomb the ability to provide master’s degrees), the launch of the university’s first semester-abroad program, expanded academic offerings and more.

“He led with quiet confidence and a strong vision for an academically advancing university,” says Lipscomb’s current President Candice McQueen. “In my first year serving as Lipscomb president, he has been a friend, a supporter and encourager. His wise words — whether speaking as a leader, a Bible teacher, a minister or a mentor — will forever be with me.” Hazelip is survived by his wife Helen, along with his children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. —Kelsey Beyeler

DR. IVAN DAVIS SR.

Mentor, leader, TSU fan

Dr. Ivan Davis’ life centered on Tennessee State University’s campus.

He was the son of the institution’s second president, who led the university from 1943 to 1968. Growing up in the Goodwill Manor, his family hosted famous Black performers visiting Nashville when they were shunned by hotels. Born in 1943, he had a front-row seat to Wilma Rudolph’s rise; Ed Temple and the Tigerbelles; and civil rights activities at First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, where he would later become a deacon.

Davis is an alumnus of St. Vincent DePaul School, Father Ryan High School, Tennessee State University, Howard School of Dentistry and Meharry Medical College’s School of Medicine.

After spending a few years in private surgery practice, he began serving as the medical director for Tennessee State University’s student health system in 1985, a role he would stay in for nearly 40 years, right until his death. It was a part-time position, and Davis also served at various area hospitals on a freelance basis. His son Ivan Jr. (he also has a daughter, Ivanetta) describes him as someone who loved the people part of medicine. When he closed his private practice, he didn’t sell it but instead referred all his patients to his mentees.

Davis died one day before his and his wife Elizabeth’s 58th wedding anniversary. They met on TSU’s campus, too. —Hannah Herner

history, emeritus, at Vanderbilt University, accomplished a lot in his 92 years. Many know him from his work as a historian — he wrote more than 20 books and had a long, successful academic career.

Conkin earned a B.A. in 1951 at Johnson City’s Milligan College before earning an M.A. at Vanderbilt in 1953. He was drafted for service in the U.S. Army, later returning to Vanderbilt to earn his Ph.D. in 1957. After that, he spent more than 20 years teaching at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin. Conkin joined Vanderbilt’s history department in 1979, going on to chair the department for three years in the ’80s.

“Paul was a legendary figure within our department, one of the most accomplished and prolific American intellectual historians of his generation,” said Thomas Schwartz, distinguished professor of history and professor of political science. “His early work on the origins of the New Deal set the standard for the historiography of this fundamental time in American history.”

Another legendary accomplishment from Conkin’s career: circumventing Vanderbilt’s wishes when finalizing Gone With the Ivy: A Biography of Vanderbilt University While university administrators wanted to control certain aspects of the book’s edits and promotion, Conkin was ready to publish it and start writing his next book, so he took it over to the University of Tennessee Press to be published. He won a Tennessee History Book Award for it. Conkin was also honored with numerous fellowships and awards throughout his career, and he mentored many students along the way. He was predeceased by his first wife Dorothy Tharp Conkin, and is survived by his second wife, Diane Baldwin Conkin, along with his sister, his children and his grandchildren.

—Kelsey Beyeler

ANGELO VOLPE

Chemist, Tennessee Tech president

From 1987 until 2000, Angelo Volpe served as Tennessee Tech’s seventh president. He died in May at 83.

she married Joe Majors in 2004 — never met a room she couldn’t own or a party she couldn’t plan.

She was raised in Blytheville, Ark., but had no intention of staying. At 19, she put on her stilettos and strutted off to big city Dallas to successfully pursue her dream of modeling. She married, had four children and immersed herself in the charity-ball world there, a passion she brought to Nashville. Her timing was impeccable, arriving at a time when the social scene was covered on a regular basis by both daily papers plus the Green Hills News, and Nfocus just as it was launching — and her face was ubiquitous on those pages. She was just as likely to be found in committee meetings of fundraisers, planning extravagant fashion shows for corporate clients and running her Haute Hostess Aprons business.

Scokin’s obituary notes that she fought a short battle with breast cancer with “great ferocity and vivaciousness until the very end.” Unsurprisingly, the beauty who mastered the art of making an entrance conquered her exit as well. —Kay West

HAROLD HAZELIP

Former Lipscomb president, preacher Preacher and Christian educator Harold Hazelip was 92 when he passed in September. Many will remember him as the former president of Lipscomb University, a role he held from 1986 to 1997, and again briefly in 2005. He also served as a chancellor and president emeritus for the university, though his service to Lipscomb wasn’t his only accomplishment.

Before Lipscomb, Hazelip was the dean of the Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis for 14 years. He also authored several books, preached for Churches of Christ and was a speaker on the Herald of Truth evangelical television series. As Lipscomb’s president, Hazelip oversaw significant development, including the

The New York native and nationally recognized chemist had a knack for fundraising, leading and, according to his colleagues at Tech, remembering names. Volpe helped the university’s endowment and reputation grow substantially during his tenure — he also fought to keep the Appalachian Center for Craft open, oversaw the construction of several campus buildings and established the university’s Women’s Center and Leona Lusk Officer Black Cultural Center. A staunch sports fan and supporter, Volpe saw Tennessee Tech’s athletic programs grow and thrive while he was president. He was inducted into the TTU Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2001. —Kelsey Beyeler

ELIZABETH BRENT CRIGGER SCOKIN MAJORS

Model, socialite, fundraiser

She tore into town like a Texas tornado, with that dazzling megawatt Julia Roberts smile, a lithe supermodel frame made for haute couture, and all the sparkling glamour of a 1940s Hollywood movie star. Elizabeth Scokin — as she was known even after she and Daniel Scokin divorced, and

LINDA CORAL CAWTHON

Fashion director

Linda Cawthon turned the expression “clothes make the man” upside-down and regendered it to boot; the elegant beauty could put on the cheapest polyester pantsuit and make it look like a million bucks. Back when homegrown department stores Cain-Sloan and Castner-Knott were locked in a Macy’sGimbels-style battle for shopper loyalty, Castner-Knott got two legs up by hiring Cawthon as its fashion director. She knew how to dress a mannequin to sell a dress, and how to mold even the most awkward young women she plucked from the Caster-Knott Teen Board into graceful, self-confident models for the fashion shows she produced.

Local photographers, advertising agencies and “women’s section” editors at the daily papers knew to call on her for help in finding talent who would show up on time and prepared to work.

She spent her final day with CastnerKnott on Sept. 30, 1998, cleaning out the fashion office of the Cool Springs store. In an image by Tennessean photographer Nina Long, Cawthon is sitting cross-legged on the floor, going through hundreds of photos and stacks of boxes. Wearing a white T-shirt,

PAUL CONKIN Historian, professor

Paul Conkin, distinguished professor of

BOBBY LOVETT

Teacher, historian, thought leader

Dr. Bobby Lovett taught history at Tennessee State University for nearly 40 years and served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for more than a decade. He taught and mentored countless students. He also served on a number of historical societies and advocated for the preservation of Nashville history. He was a prolific writer, and his book — The African American History of Nashville, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas, which came out in 1999 — is still the only comprehensive book on African American Nashville history.

The irony is that his biggest legacy is practically invisible, since it so thoroughly changed the city. Lovett was a founding member of the committee that organized the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture, which solidified a people-first approach to Nashville history that has become the way people expect our

history to be told. Lovett and his colleagues moved our historical lens off the exploits of powerful enslavers or flowing-haired Confederate generals and put our focus squarely on the people who risked (and lost) their lives for freedom. Lovett and his compatriots also insisted that history and historical knowledge should be available to everyone, and not just sequestered on a university campus. This approach is just how city history is done now. It feels natural, but it came from Dr. Lovett and his peers.

—Betsy

Phillips

MATTHEW DAVID RAMSEY

Historian, professor, intellect

Historian and Vanderbilt University professor emeritus Matthew David Ramsey passed away in September, leaving behind a profound legacy. Some may recognize Ramsey as the author of Professional and Popular Medicine in France 1770-1830: The Social World of Medical Practice, a popular reference point in Ramsey’s field — the history of modern France, medicine and public health.

Others may recognize him as the founding director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Medicine, Health and Society. Throughout his career, Ramsey also worked as an international speaker and consultant, taught at Harvard and Princeton, served on the editorial board of Medical History and received multiple grants and fellowships. Outside of academia, Ramsey remained an ever-curious person whose wide array of interests ranged from birdwatching to playing squash. He is survived by his wife Linda, sister Judith, son David, daughter-inlaw Grace and grandchildren Marigold and Cosmo. —Kelsey Beyeler

H. JACKSON BROWN

Author, bestseller, father

H. Jackson Brown’s first book, A Father’s Book of Wisdom, and his second, P.S. I Love You — collections of sayings and advice from his own father and mother, respectively — did respectably well. But

Life’s Little Instruction Book (1991) was the third-time rocket-fueled charm that catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and, as the paper’s obit reported, ruled their “advice, how to and miscellaneous” bestsellers until the summer of 1994.

The blockbuster book had a humble origin story: tips jotted down for his son Adam for his freshman year at the University of Tennessee, compiled in a plastic binder. There were 511 in all, ranging from “Take someone bowling” to “Strive for excellence, not perfection.” Though critics competed for snarkiest reviews, one Kentucky bank president bought 2,000 copies for clients rather than the country ham he traditionally gave.

An industry of Instruction Book swag followed, as did multiple sequels and variations on the theme. The former advertising executive would no doubt appreciate the sales copy for the posthumous Life’s Little Instruction 2023 Day-to-Day Calendar: “This thirtieth edition of the calendar includes classic — yet relevant — instructions for getting along with others and living a rewarding life with integrity.” —Kay West

SISTER SANDRA SMITHSON

Faith leader, teacher, visionary

Sister Sandra Smithson, a pioneering Black Catholic sister, is remembered as a tireless advocate for improved education opportunities for children from low-income families and as the founder of Nashville’s first charter school. She founded Project Reflect, the nonprofit dedicated to education and policy reform, and served as its executive director from 1992 through 2014. In her later years, she used her considerable influence in the passage of charter school legislation for the state.

After being rejected by women’s religious communities because of her race, Sandra was accepted into the School Sisters of St. Francis and served as a teacher for more than three decades before returning to

Nashville to begin making an impact at home. Project Reflect began as a summer tutoring program and grew to a yearround effort focusing on reading literacy. Following passage of the charter school act, Smithson-Craighead Academy opened, primarily serving Black and and Hispanic children.

In recent years, Sister Sandra continued working to improve educational opportunities for poor and at-risk children by republishing her books and donating all royalties to support scholarships for academically promising students. When she passed at age 96, she had served more than 67 years as a teacher, author, religious leader and visionary. —Holly Hoffman

IRENE JACKSON WILLS

Children’s advocate, devoted preservationist Irene Jackson Wills was born and raised in Nashville but went north to Connecticut College for Women, spending a study year abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris. The worldly young woman considered job opportunities in Manhattan but went back to Nashville first.

She fully intended to return to New York

MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL HOMELESS COMMUNITY

Nashville lost more than 178 people who had experienced homelessness in 2022, according to a count collected by homeless advocacy group Open Table Nashville. The count is informal and therefore incomplete each year, though it falls in line with the shortened life expectancy and common causes of death found in the homeless community around the country. While not all ages were available, the median age at the time of death was 54. There are other blanks yet to be filled — of more names and dates of death, but also when it comes to the city putting forward enough resources for housing for all.

Minard Abernathy; Johnathan “Gato” Alston; Andrew Scott Alsup; Timothy Eugene Anderson; Todd Daniel Andrews; Paul Arndt; Wayne Arnett; Larry Arnold; Gene Atherton; Travis Melton Barrett; Daniel James Baynes; LaKeisha Bean; Courtney Beasley; James Blansett; Danielle Bowan-Colgan; William Bowen Jr.; Thomas Boykin; William Branch; Chris Brimm; Drandon “Chief” Brown; Clarence Brown Jr.; Lesley Brummond; David Allen Burke; Cory Bush; James Campbell; Christopher Carr; Rebecca Castle-Brown; Perry Champion; Jared Charles; James Church; Paul Ciappetta; Bobby Clark; Robert Cloyd; Cherieda Cooke; Brenda Gail Coons; Jon Copen; Robert Cotter; Joshua Coulter; Joseph Cox; Ricky Cramblit; Teri “Blu” Cross; Melinda Crumpler; Mukesh Dadwal; Anthony Darden; Philip Davenport; Jeff Dean; Samuel Dillard; Jane Doe; Melvin Dunlap; Martin Clayton Edwards; Robert Eickhoff; John Fitzgerald Ewin; Charlie Farmer; Jeremy Fenton; Michael Figard; Jaciento “Jake” Fleming; Deborah Fleming; Roger Freels; James Fulmer; Salomon Garcia-Perez; Juan Garza Jr.; Thomas Gaston; William Todd George; Joseph Gilkey; Steven James Godwin; Larry Goff; Christopher Goodale; Deon Goodson; Fred Gordon; Mark “Marty” Shannon; Graham; Bradley Allen Granke; Keith Hagan; Robert Haney; Jerry Harding; Joshua Hawkins; Daisy Georgia Hendershot; Roy “Devin” Hensley; Roy Hetzel; Jonathan Martin Hickman; Alton Ray Hinsley; Ingrid Hofmann; Mark “Marty” Shannon; Holloway; Ronnie Charles Hopson; Casey Ladd “Gage”; Hubbard; Kevin Ray Huddleston; Shannon Hull; Brandon Hutchison; Salvatore Ippolito; Corey Jackson; Michael Jones; Jeffery Jones; Curtis Wayne Jones Jr.; Joseph Jurek; Yvette Kahle; Roderick Keeton; Charles King; Darrell King; Charles Kinzer; Loretta Kuhn; Christopher Liebhart; Sean Linklater; Alonza Love; Ricky Lyons; Sherill Manning; Traci Marcum; Jonathan R. Martin; Kelly Martin; Dennis Dwain Matthews; Larry McConnell III; James McKissack; Lisa Carroll Miller; Jerry Muller; William Danny Nalley; Lesmy Napoles; David Mark Nelson; Ryan Christopher Nelson; Paul Nevels; Robert Frank O’Donald Jr.; Ashley Owen Bennet; David Lynn Painter; Gary Maurice Palmer Sr.; Casey Lee Storm Parks; Justin Scott Parks; Joseph Blake Parrott; Mitchell Pate; David Patterson; William Patton; Richard Allen Paul; Lucienda Peden; William Peete III; Lorenzo Petway; Kenny; Shan Pobst; Stephen Presley; Marty Radney; John Redmond; Bonnie Reffegee; Harold Ray Rickman; Kathyrn Roberts Moore; Ariel Rose; Rodney Fitzgerald; “Cleveland” Sanders; Colton “Colt” Sanders; Thomas Shepherd; John Sinks; David Sitterly; Patrick Smith; Stephoin Smith; Geraline Smith; Hoyt “Chicago” Smothers; Amber Sylvester; Emmanuel “Manny” Tarr; Jakeisha Pinkerton; Sean Tatum; Mary Taylor; Ronnie Teasley; Michael Thompson; Nova Thompson; Rogelio Tonshend; Joel Torres; Allen Tribett; Kayla Turner; Elijah Vanderpool; Gerald Vaughn; Timothy Vernon; Kenneth Waddy; Gregory Scott Walden; Robert Warren; Kimberly Lynn Watts; Sandra Whitehead; Ricky Wilson; Woodrow Wilson III; Robert Winters; Kimberlee Wright; Charles Edward Yazell.

until she met and fell in love with Ridley Wills II; after they married, they made Nashville home. That decision reverberated through the years and community in profound and enduring fashion. The tragic death of the couple’s second son Jesse to a heart defect in 1968 drove Wills to push for better pediatric care at Vanderbilt Hospital. She served on the founding committee to establish a children’s hospital there and helped propel efforts to move the Junior League Home for Crippled Children to Vanderbilt.

In the early 1980s, dismayed by years of disrepair and inattention at the Belle Meade Farm, Wills joined the board, and with her husband led the restoration of the carriage house and mansion and helped lay the groundwork to Belle Meade’s contemporary use as a historic site and event space. Irene Wills was a painter, gardener, devoted preservationist, and a proud 50-year server at the annual Downtown Presbyterian Church Waffle Shop the first Thursday in November. —Kay West

HENRY W. FOSTER JR., M.D.

Physician, advocate, nominee for U.S. surgeon general, casualty of 1990s culture wars

Dr. Hank Foster devoted his career to serving the obstetrical needs of vulnerable communities, while also helping steer the combination that made Meharry’s Hubbard Hospital into Metro Nashville’s main public hospital. For his efforts, he received a presidential nomination and rejection by a Republican minority in the Senate.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton chose Foster — who passed away on Sept. 25, 2022, at the age of 89 — to serve as the country’s surgeon general. Some Republicans announced their opposition within hours of the nomination. Foster later told The New York Times that official Washington knew little about him “except that I was an obstetrician-gynecologist, and as part of my practice, I recognized the right of American women to choose.”

In June 1995, 57 senators voted to approve him for the position. Because the tally fell shy of the 60 votes needed to defeat a GOP filibuster, the nomination failed. Clinton issued this statement: “Henry Foster is qualified to be our Surgeon General. He spent 38 years in medicine. He spent a lot of his time working to improve the health of women and children in poor and rural areas. He’s delivered thousands of babies and trained hundreds of young doctors. His efforts to curb teen pregnancy have earned him high praise among Republicans and Democrats. He shares my view that abortion should be rare and safe and legal.”

Foster graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in 1958 as the only Black student in a class of 96. He became dean of Meharry Medical College’s School of Medicine in 1990. In the mid1990s, as interim president of Meharry, he played a critical role in the Hubbard Hospital-Nashville General Hospital merger. —E. Thomas Wood

VERONICA STROBELSEIGENTHALER

Educator, community servant, matriarch

Veronica Strobel was born on New Year’s Day 1939. And on New Year’s Day 2022, her 83rd birthday, Veronica StrobelSeigenthaler unexpectedly passed away,

leaving three bereft younger siblings, four grieving daughters, 10 grandchildren and multitudes of in-laws, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death in 2004 by her beloved husband, Tom Seigenthaler, who was born two days before her and always joked she first caught his eye in the St. Thomas nursery. Like everyone who met the petite bundle of energy nicknamed “Boo Boo” in childhood, he was equally enchanted and inspired by her.

Raised devoutly Catholic in a wellknown and highly regarded Nashville family devoted to community, service and giving, she married into another, and the couple formed a remarkable partnership. Unlike most brides of her day, StrobelSeigenthaler attached her maiden name to her married one, and was committed to equality for women, showing her daughters there were no limitations on what they could accomplish. With a degree from Peabody College, she began a lifelong career as an educator by first establishing a kindergarten in her own home and then teaching piano for more than 30 years at St. Cecilia Academy.

Her marriage was nurtured and enriched by the couple’s mutual love of music, art, travel, adventure, and welcoming family and friends through the revolving door of their home for food, drink, singing, games and lively political discourse. Her brother Charlie Strobel, founder of Nashville nonprofit Room In The Inn, frequently sought their counsel, and the art program at RITI was founded by Tom. After she was widowed, Strobel-Seigenthaler pursued her interests in genealogy, wildflowers, gardening, historic preservation, remembering every family birthday and celebrating the feast days of every Catholic saint. —Kay West

EMILY SOTELO

Daughter, student, volunteer

It’s hard to imagine what Emily Sotelo didn’t do, reading the memorials from her family after the Vanderbilt student’s tragic death in November. She was a musician with a penchant for mathematics and an aspiring doctor, already trained as an EMT, determined to hike every peak in New Hampshire higher than 4,000 feet (there are 48) before her 20th birthday. In school, Sotelo excelled academically and spread herself across the Vanderbilt community in mentorship roles and community service.

Sotelo, home in Massachusetts during a school break, set out in New Hampshire’s White Mountains well before sunrise on Nov. 20 — she had hiked 40 of the state’s 4,000-foot peaks in the previous two years and aimed for more that weekend. Conditions at elevation were significantly colder, windier and snowier than at the trailhead, where Sotelo’s mom dropped her off and planned to pick her up later that day. Emergency personnel eventually found Sotelo’s body five days later, the search prolonged by subfreezing and snowy conditions.

Sotelo’s family requests donations in Emily’s memory to the area’s search-andrescue teams. Vanderbilt offers resources for student grief and mental health services.

—Eli Motycka

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

CRITICS’ PICKS

THURSDAY / 1.5

TYLER BAND W/JO SCHORNIKOW

Nashville’s favorite indie scion always makes it something special when he has a hometown gig with a full band. William Tyler’s spacious, psychedelic music might be rooted in a tradition of folk and country, but being tethered to that world has never been a restriction. Tyler instead creates a new, vivid sound that both challenges and respects the musicians who came before him. And while his solo sets have always been fantastic, Tyler has always glowed more when he has a group of talented friends surrounding him. Similarly, opener Jo Schornikow calls back to AM radio greats while creating an expansive, original brand of music. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. P.J. KINZER

MAEWYN W/RACECARS

Sturdy, sonically rich, dual-six-string action is the order of the day for Murray, Ky., four-piece Maewyn. Coming from the type of dudes sure to consider “emo” more a compliment than an insult, the evocatively titled “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” is a standout of the band’s Bandcamp offerings. Also on the bill for this Drkmttr show: Racecars, a fuzzy, melodic Murfreesboro concern sure to motivate Relapse and Topshelf Records to get boots on the ground here if they aren’t already. 7:30 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

CHEMTRAIL, GLOOM GIRL MFG & HONEY DAGGER

Self-proclaimed “post-pandemic punks” Gloomgirl MFG mine similar sonic territory as Peachy, Reality Something and other ’90s-indebted, Music City-residing colleagues from recent years — and what’s so bad about that? I got a kick out of their single and video “Part-Time Ghost,” a Joan Jett-gone-post-punk banger of a tune with a hilarious, adult-softball-themed clip. Think Sleater-Kinney’s ultra-heavy The Woods, and you’re getting close. Fellow locals Chemtrail and Honey Dagger round out the bill. 8 p.m. at The End, 2219 Elliston Place CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

FILM [LES LÉGIONNAIRES]

THE SIGHT AND SOUND TOP 10: BEAU TRAVAIL

Quietly making the film-festival rounds in 1999 before being officially released a year later, Claire Denis’ contemporary retelling of Billy Budd isn’t usually associated with that watershed year, which has been referred to as “the year that changed movies.” And yet it’s now considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Hey, it’s No. 7 on Sight and Sound’s great-movies list (the second entry

directed by a woman in the top 10). This rather Malickian tale of a French Foreign Legion sergeant-major (Leos Carax regular Denis Lavant), who leads a regimented life with his usually shirtless men in the Gulf of Djibouti — while hating on a new recruit who gets the attention of his beloved commandant — is a more fascinating study of toxic machismo and homoerotic repression than that recently released military melodrama The Inspection. With the way actions speak more loudly than words in this film, it’s definitely the most don’t-ask-don’t-tell movie ever made. Jan. 5 & 10 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

FRIDAY / 1.6

MUSIC

[MY FAVORITE THINGS]

THE MUSIC OF JOHN COLTRANE & FRIENDS

I’ve always been somewhat of a skeptic, if not a full-blown hater, when it comes to cover sets. But if you’re fearlessly masochistic enough to try a full tribute night to avant-garde saxophonist John Coltrane, who am I to question it? Few artists have called into question the traditional ideas of music more than Coltrane. He broke chord changes and eschewed the notion of soloists playing over them, creating a realm where ensembles would improvise simultaneously. This upcoming late-night gig is billed as an

CHEMTRAIL, GLOOM GIRL MFG & HONEY DAGGER

“exploration of the music of John Coltrane,” hinging on bandleader John Hanrahan, a drummer who paid tribute to the jazz great’s A Love Supreme for the album’s 50th anniversary at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2014. 11 p.m. at Rudy’s Jazz Room, 809 Gleaves St. P.J. KINZER

MUSIC

[I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT] EMO NIGHT

As someone who was born just too late to earnestly participate in the recent wave of ’90s nostalgia, I am delighted by the current Y2K craze. And as someone with long black hair who learned guitar by playing songs by Fall Out Boy and Paramore, I am specifically thrilled by the resurgent popularity of Aughties pop-punk and emo music. It’s fun and therapeutic to throw it back to a time when the biggest stressor in your life was the girl in your Algebra II class who didn’t ask you to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and events like October’s When We Were Young Festival — featuring seemingly every big Aughts pop-punk band that wasn’t Green Day, Fall Out Boy or Weezer, since those acts already had their own “Hella Mega Tour” — prove there’s a massive market for cashing in on this nostalgia. The pop-punk boom has also allowed new acts, especially women, people of color and queer artists, to take center stage and bring catchy guitar hooks back to the airwaves, something that Franklin’s own Hayley Williams celebrated through a

heartfelt speech from the When We Were Young Festival stage. (Check out artists like THICK, Pinkshift, Bartees Strange and Palomino Blond, all of whom have been featured in our Critics’ Picks section in recent issues.) Friday’s Emo Night dance party, though, will likely be a celebration of the songs that have been ringing in your ears for the past 20 years, from “Ocean Avenue” to “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” Mayday Parade’s Derek Sanders, who ground his way into the pop-punk mainstream by handing out CD demos of the band’s early tracks in parking lots outside Warped Tour venues, will spin records on the Brooklyn Bowl stage as a featured DJ. 9 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. COLE VILLENA

CLASSICAL

[A FRESH INTERPRETATION OF A TRUE CLASSIC] JAN LISIECKI PERFORMS CHOPIN AND RACHMANINOFF

At just 27 years old, Jan Lisiecki has already established himself as one of the world’s most in-demand young pianists, particularly known for his thoughtful interpretations of Frédéric Chopin. In fact, Lisiecki’s 2021 album Chopin: Complete Nocturnes — which was recorded in October 2020 at the historic Meistersaal concert hall in Berlin — earned the Canadian pianist his sixth Juno Award nomination. This weekend, Lisiecki will join the Nashville Symphony to present Chopin’s stunning Piano Concerto No. 1.

MUSIC [MARCH OF WILLY T] WILLIAM

MUSIC [FOR THE ’WYN]

MUSIC [YOUNG WOMAN GLOOM]

GLOOM GIRL MFG

This concert marks the artist’s single stop in the U.S. before embarking on an ambitious tour that will include major performances throughout Europe, Japan and Canada. Music director Giancarlo Guerrero leads the full orchestra, and the evening also includes Rachmaninoff’s beautiful and evocative final masterpiece, “Symphonic Dances.” Jan. 6-8 at the Schermerhorn, 1 Symphony Place AMY STUMPFL

COMEDY

HANNAH BERNER

Hannah Berner’s crowd work and onthe-street interviews make me stop dead in my tracks on TikTok. The reality-TV favorite (Summer House), podcaster (Giggly Squad, Berning in Hell) and host (Bravo’s Chat Room) will easily hold my attention for much more than three minutes during her upcoming sets at Zanies. She has a

much more than the punk-influenced music she makes with Queens of Noise. Avocado Head is a pop-rock masterpiece, her diary as rock opera. But make no mistake about it — RobinAugust is still a punk at heart, and that informs both the album and her performances. Saturday at The Basement, the once and future queen and her fivepiece band will play the songs from Avocado Head, as well as some “Led Zeppelin covers.” Indie-folk-rock quartet McKay opens. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. DARYL SANDERS

MUSIC

[NASHVILLE FILTER] CHARLIE TREAT

Charlie Treat got into post-modern rock-folk-country on his 2021 fulllength The Comet, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a funny record. Treat grew up on a Connecticut tree farm and spent time on the Boston folk scene before moving to Nashville in 2014. The somewhat baroque approach Treat took on The Comet works perfectly — he folds in horns, electric guitars and keyboards on “Biggest Fool on Earth” and proves himself a slippery master of non-genre throughout. His genre experiments continue on Into the Wild Mystic Mountain, which he released in November. His postbluegrass originals make Mystic Mountain not exactly a bluegrass album, by which I mean that Treat has come up with a version of circa-1966 folk that includes the superb track “Creekwater Blues,” during which Treat’s girlfriend serenades the creek so enticingly that all of nature comes alive.

Treat gets into trouble with the law on “Hole I’m In,” and his band keeps the tasty licks coming without getting too fancy about it.

way of absolutely roasting people while still allowing them to laugh at themselves, like a bestie holding up the mirror to the insufferable person you already kind of know yourself to be. Berner makes quick observations and is often uncannily correct. What a skill, what a talent — and I don’t just like her because her name is almost the same as mine. Berner will perform five sets between Friday and Saturday. Jan. 6-7 at Zanies, 2025 Eighth Ave. S. HANNAH HERNER

SATURDAY / 1.7

MUSIC

ROBINAUGUST

If you attended the record release show back in the summer for Queens of Noise founder/co-leader RobinAugust’s solo debut Avocado Head, you might have wondered whether you were seeing the future queen of rock ’n’ roll. She was that good. It was clear from the way she commanded the stage that evening that the 19-year-old East Nashville rocker has it — not just impressive vocal chops and great songs, but genuine star power. The album she debuted that night would be an accomplishment of note for an artist of any age, but the fact that she made it when she was 18 is simply astonishing. Inspired by a breakup, the record reveals RobinAugust to be capable of

If The Comet was Treat’s Billy Swan album — rock filtered through Nashville — Mystic Mountain puts him into, say, the territory of famed Nashville iconoclast Cowboy Jack Clement. Saturday’s record-release show will feature the studio band from Mystic Mountain 8 p.m. at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E. Palestine Ave. EDD HURT

[PAPA’S GOT A BRAND NEW BRUNCH]

MUSIC

CHARLES ‘WIGG’ WALKER’S SOUL BRUNCH

One of Nashville’s longest-running R&B mainstays, Charles “Wigg” Walker has shared stages with the likes of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Jackie Wilson. Wigg, who did recordings for both Decca and Chess Records back in his early days, came back to the spotlight in the 21st century when he emerged with his band The Dynamites. Now in his eighth decade as a performer, Walker is one of the few connections we still have from the early days of soul music. Hosting the free event, Walker promises the brunch to be a funky good time. 11:30 a.m. at Acme Feed and Seed, 101 Broadway P.J. KINZER

[FAB FOUR]

MUSIC

HELLO FROM THE HILLS

Sometimes a marquee hits so right that you, a normal enjoyer of music, realize that your favorite artists know each other, enjoy playing music together and probably hang out without you. Sierra Ferrell, Tyler Childers, Amythyst Kiah and Jason Isbell — an Appalachian-rooted super lineup that’s been involved in some of the best music of

this young decade — will be hanging out publicly at City Winery on Jan. 7. Organized in collaboration with John Prine’s Hello in There Foundation, the show will benefit a handful of local charitable causes. Prine connections run deep among the night’s performers, which include Tommy Prine, one of John’s three sons. Like John Prine, all four headlining singer-songwriters tackle social, racial, economic and political headwinds, squaring their lives with a complicated world they see around them. When they decide to come down from their hills — Johnson City for Kiah, somewhere in Eastern Kentucky for Childers — it’s always a good idea to listen. 7 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. ELI MOTYCKA

SPORTS [BIG TRUCKS]

MONSTER JAM

As part of its astounding 87-date national tour (plus eight dates abroad), the Monster Jam monster truck rally is making a stop at Bridgestone Arena. This is the kind of content I know my younger brother would have lost his mind over (and required earplugs for) when we were kids — and I would’ve complained about watching. But I’m different now, and this looks like pure excitement. With trucks like the legendary Grave Digger, El Toro and the Megalodon performing insane stunts

for a hyped-up crowd, the event will no doubt have a contagious energy. I want to root for someone. I want to scream. I want to be a part of something. I think Monster Jam could allow a person to do all of those things. Jan. 7-8 at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway HANNAH HERNER

[HOT TICKET]

ART & MUSIC

WARM BLUE FLAME

In the first few weeks of the new year, the holiday-season festivities are done, we’re all getting back into our routines, and it’s generally cold, wet and dark, even though the days are slowly getting longer. To flip the script on all of that, visual artist Olivia Blanchard is bringing the heat. Though lots of factors affect the color of a fire, in most cases blue flames are the hottest, and Blanchard chose the title Warm Blue Flame for the art installation and music event she’s curated at The Blue Room on Saturday and Sunday. Both nights, you’ll be able to see work from local standouts including David Onri, Yanira Vissepo, Maddy Underwood, Ellie Caudill, Grace Hall and Blanchard herself, in addition to pieces from Scott Reeder and Tyson Reeder, who split their time between Detroit and Chicago. Saturday’s music selection features an immersive sound bath from masterful electronic artists and

[HANNAH-APPROVED]

[ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN]

WARM BLUE FLAME

“AMBER IN BLOOM,” MADDY UNDERWOOD

HANNAH BERNER

longtime musical partners Eve Maret and Dream Chambers, while Sunday’s sounds come courtesy of a jazz group called The Synchronicity Ensemble organized by ace guitarists Josh Halper and Andie Billheimer. 7 p.m.-midnight Jan. 7-8 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

SUNDAY / 1.8

MUSIC

[ON THE EDGE]

PALOMINO BLOND

Palomino Blond formed in 2017 in Kendall, Fla., a town that sits on the edge of the Florida Everglades about 10 miles from Miami. Led by singers and songwriters Carli Acosta and Kyle Fink, the band lives on the outskirts of emo, which means their sound incorporates bits of prog, ’80s rock and chord changes they picked up from classic rock. Their 2021 album ontheinside peaks with a track titled “Ultraviolet,” a piece of Bowie-esque rock that shows off their gift for melody. Like a lot of emo, ontheinside has a slightly programmatic vibe — the sprung rhythms mesh with guitar moves that center the music. Acosta and Fink sing in a shoegazy style, and you have to be impressed by the care the group puts into its intricate arrangements. Of course, the intricacy is a big part of emo’s appeal — nothing like the perfect guitar riff to keep the bad thoughts away. Smelter and Jersey Bird open. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111

Dickerson Pike EDD HURT

is ringing in the new year with one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals — Les Misérables. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Victor Hugo’s epic tale of heartbreak, mercy and redemption is one of the most celebrated musicals in theater history, having been seen by more than 130 million people in 53 countries and 22 languages, according to its producers. Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and ClaudeMichel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning hit (first conceived in 2009 to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary) features some particularly dynamic design elements inspired by the paintings of Hugo himself. Of course, the score includes familiar songs such as “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Stars,” “Bring Him Home” and “One Day More.” Fans will be happy to see Broadway’s Nick Cartell returning to the coveted role of Jean Valjean, and local audiences may even spot a familiar face in the ensemble — Belmont University alum Jenna Burns. Jan. 10-15 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

WEDNESDAY / 1.11

[TRUE ROMANCE]

MUSIC

FREEDY JOHNSTON

What’s striking about former Nashvillian Freedy Johnston’s new album Back on the Road to You is how artfully the singer and songwriter deploys a romanticism that’s all the more effective for being so low-key. Johnston released one of the finest singersongwriter albums of any era, 1992’s Can You Fly, a pitch-perfect record about the tension between freedom and responsibility. On his Nashville-recorded 2010 album Rain on the City, Johnston evoked pop figures like Jimmy Webb and Marshall Crenshaw,

and 2015’s Neon Repairman continued in that vein. Back on the Road to You is touched with regret, but the elusive subject of “Trick of the Light” — a former lover — inspired Johnston to record one of his finest tracks. “Trick of the Light” is a slightly soul-inflected meditation on transience, and it’s also a superb tune about the loneliness — and the romanticism — of New York. His latest music rolls easy even as it evokes power pop, and the songs stick with you. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

FILM [IT’S TERRIFIC!] THE SIGHT AND SOUND TOP 10: CITIZEN KANE

At this point, what hasn’t been said about Citizen Kane? Orson Welles’ noteven-remotely-veiled 1941 takedown of tyrannical newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (starring Welles as Hearst stand-in Charles Foster Kane) has been hailed as The Greatest Freakin’ Movie of All Time for so long, it’s kinda shocking when another film gets the honor — like when Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles recently got the No. 1 spot on Sight and Sound’s greatmovies list and Kane was No. 3. While I prefer Welles’ later, noirish work (Touch of Evil and The Lady From Shanghai are favorites of mine), Kane is undoubtedly a revolutionary film — a riveting, groundbreaking study of how power can get you everything except the innocence you lost so long ago. As critic Godfrey

Cheshire once said, “Everyone knows that, although it’s actually not Orson Welles’s best film, Citizen Kane is the greatest film ever made. So be it.” 8 p.m. at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

Since its founding in 2005, Street Theatre Company has been a home base for Nashville artists and audiences interested in innovative and offbeat works. The ambitious company has finally found a home of its own — thanks to a new partnership with Verge Theater Company, as well as a long-term residency at The Barbershop Theater as part of its theater collective.

“Like so many arts organizations, COVID shut down our flow of income and forced us to make some tough choices — including giving up our former space on Elm Hill Pike,” says Randy Craft, Street Theatre’s artistic director. “With real estate costs continuing to climb, it’s been all but impossible to find a new home. So we’re really thrilled to be working with Verge and The Barbershop. But it’s not just a great location and space. It’s also a great opportunity to team up with organizations that share similar missions and ideas.”

Indeed, Street Theatre has earned a solid reputation for producing smart, edgy works that you won’t likely see anywhere else in town — among them Lizzie: The Musical, Be More Chill, The Toxic Avenger and Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Craft says he first approached the idea of a potential partnership with Alicia Haymer, who serves as co-artistic director of Verge with Nettie Kraft. Of course, Verge also has been a driving force in the theater community for years, known for staging thought-provoking works like The Whale, Skinless, Kimberly Akimbo and Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play. The company has made

“Verge has always done such great work,” Craft says. “But Alicia and I actually first met when she directed for Street, and I immediately recognized her work ethic and drive — she’s just an amazing force. But like me, she’s a part-time artistic director. So we started thinking that if we could join forces, it might lighten the load for everyone. It also felt like an opportunity to really zero in on our respective identities, doing more offthe-beaten-path, fringy works — with Verge being the playhouse, and Street being the musical house.”

Haymer says she’s also excited about the move, noting: “I believe in collaborative work, and that no one does anything alone. This partnership will only move each company further in reaching their individual and collective goals for the future.”

To celebrate the new partnership, Street will host an open house at The Barbershop Theater this Sunday, Jan. 8, from 2 until 5 p.m. Guests can look forward to plenty of food, drink and live entertainment, while learning more about both resident companies. Street also will be announcing the first two shows of its upcoming season — Ordinary Days and Falsettos

“We’re already working on plans to add a steel-structured garage at The Barbershop, which will give us a separate backstage space for a band,” Craft says. “But for now, we’re focusing on a couple of small — but really great — shows. Plus, we’re bringing back our popular cabaret series. It’s really an exciting time, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the future brings.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

its home at The Barbershop since 2018, when Kraft and Graham Mote first opened the cozy 900-square-foot black-box space on Indiana Avenue.

BY JOE NOLAN

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON

Fall is my favorite season — for both weather and art. Wandering between galleries while wearing layers is one of modernity’s great pleasures, but in the winter, when the temperatures drop, we often see a lull in art programming before the market springs back to life with warmer weather. With all this in mind, I did a double take just before Christmas when David Lusk Gallery sent me a press release for its new exhibition of photos by William Christenberry and William Eggleston Southern Image Takers offers a great primer on the work of these pioneering Southern photographers, but also explores their creative relationship. Both artists contributed to establishing color photography as a legitimate fine-art medium, and their images of quotidian subjects — Southern people and places — reveal the overlooked weirdness and wonder of our unique region.

Southern Image Takers includes 10 works by each photographer, and I’m already penciling it in as my first favorite show of 2023. David Lusk Gallery is hosting an open house for the show on Saturday from noon until 3 p.m.

Julia Martin Gallery celebrated its ninth an-

niversary in December, and the party continues into the month of January. It seems like more and more galleries have started holding shows for around two months at a time, and I’m here for it. A good exhibit is like a good movie — you want to see it again. It’s also a much more sustainable prospect for a gallery to schedule, install, promote and uninstall six shows a year instead of a dozen. Martin has kept her space in the middle of Nashville’s contemporary art scene for nearly a decade. Her gallery shows some of the city’s most buzzworthy artists, and its music-fueled receptions make it a First Saturday hotspot. The gallery’s anniversary exhibition reminds viewers about Martin’s own evolving painting practice. Bring the Light is an eclectic mix of Julia Martin’s own works on paper and paintings on panel and canvas that find the artist using experimental materials like neon paint and gold leaf. The works incorporate some of the drawings Martin made during periods of social distancing in the depths of the pandemic, and collaged materials and vintage picture frames bring a sense of nostalgia to this display of weird and beautiful portraits. Julia

Martin Gallery hosts a closing reception on Saturday from 6 until 9 p.m.

Chattanooga-based painter Olivia Tawzer debuts Fun and Games at Open Gallery on Saturday night. Tawzer paints Southern narratives capturing those moments when friendly competition can become bitter rivalry or roughhouse play turns into playground bullying. Open Gallery’s reception is Saturday from 6 until 9 p.m.

I also want to report that Richard Modica has closed the Modfellows outpost in The Packing Plant, but will still be programming his main Modfellows gallery space in the Grassmere neighborhood. Modfellows’ Wedgewood-Houston run in 2022 added street art and a pop sensibility to the neighborhood’s gallery lineup, and it will be missed. I’ll have an update on the space’s new curator in next month’s Crawl Space column.

Gardening, Not Architecture — Nashvillebased artist Sarah Saturday’s ongoing multimedia project — is Coop’s artist-in-residence for the month of January. Gardening, Not Architecture’s latest multimedia project, Voyage, is a mix of live performance, short film and original songs. Gardening, Not Architecture’s YouTube channel currently features a new video for Voyage’s first single, “Come Out.” The song marries propulsive synth beats to Saturday’s daydream vocals, and the video features Saturday literally dancing with her selfie in a smartphone exploration of identity swapping. “Come Out” is just a teaser for what will ultimately be a full-scale theatrical performance built around nine experimental short films, which will all be directed by Saturday’s longtime collaborator, the Nashville filmmaker Dycee Wildman. G,NA’s Coop residency will offer multiple opportunities for gallerygoers to get inside the process behind Voyage, including dates for visitors to attend private rehearsals for the upcoming show. Saturday will also be creating a gallery installation including artwork, costumes, props and videos from the Voyage production, which will premiere in early 2023. Visit gardeningnotarchitecture.com to schedule a rehearsal visit and get updates on Voyage Say hey to G,NA and see her installation at Coop’s opening reception Saturday from 6 until 9 p.m.

EAST NASHVILLE

Annie Brito Hodgin is a self-taught painter

whose figurative works offer surreal stories that spring from the artist’s subconscious rife with myth and wrapped in symbolism. Hodgin’s paintings are populated with nude women doing things: climbing fences, running in the woods, falling down stairs, lighting their curtains on fire. It’s all super dreamy, and you could imagine the artist’s images illustrating a New Age manual on astral travel. Hodgin’s heroines get rained on and stalked by crocodiles, flowers sprout from their mouths and skeletal horses gallop through their nightmares. The artist’s works on paper explore similar subjects, but I prefer the precision and texture of her colored-pencil sketching to her paintings. Figures, narratives and loads of content are all contemporary art trends that are starting to fade, but work like Hodgin’s is so personal and idiosyncratic that she seems to be making a space of her own outside of shifting cultural tastes. I’ll be interested to gauge the attention for her new exhibition, Southern Labyrinth, when it opens at Red Arrow Gallery Saturday night. It’s Hodgin’s first solo gallery display since she started showing her work in 2019, and it might prove to be one of the year’s breakout showcases. See for yourself at Red Arrow’s opening reception for Southern Labyrinth Saturday from 6 until 9 p.m.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ANNIE BRITO HODGIN

“DOG LICKING PUDDLE,” WILLIAM EGGLESTON

JULIA MARTIN

SOUTHERN LABYRINTH AT RED ARROW GALLERY

SOUTHERN IMAGE TAKERS AT DAVID LUSK GALLERY

So why does my year-end top 10 list have 16 films on it?

Because 10 is a ranking, not a sum. Also, no one has yet adorned their film list with this particular set of laurels, so I feel totally fine pulling a Duran Duran and doing it my own way. All of these films are exceptional, and worthy of your time. An asterisk denotes a film that has never played theatrically in the Nashville area.

1.

AFTERSUN (available on most video-ondemand services)

A haunting gift that articulates the humanshaped spaces left in the soul by absence and the passage of time.

6. CRIMES

Visions of better worlds, meshes of past, present, and future. Crimes is defiantly optimistic and politically and sexually fraught. Flux Gourmet is a delirious joy for anyone who’s been on either end of the art game. And Please Baby Please is like a collaboration between Kate Bush and Kenneth Anger. Together they are a trio of reinventions for the chaotic precipice that is The Now, and I exult in their worlds.

9.

BROS (on Peacock and Blu-ray)

Funny, sweet, snarky and in retrospect doomed at the box office because it makes a point of addressing queer rage and frustration in a way that can’t be sidestepped. (Also it wins for most essential deleted scenes on the Blu-ray for both “WWI Cardio” and “Pride Fight.”)

10.

TÁR (on Peacock and 4K/Blu-ray)

Several months of discourse has made me realize that this film is like Black Swan, and what makes it great is that it works on several different levels all at the same time. Searing contemporary drama, arch campfest, surreal traumnovelle, master class in actressing, academic satire — it’s all of these things and more.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Adult Swim Yule Log; All That Breathes; Barbarian; Benediction; Bones and All; Confess, Fletch; Deadstream; Descendant; The Eternal Daughter; Fire Island; Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery; Inu-oh; Jaws 3D; Leonor Will Never Die; Moonage Daydream; No Bears; Orphan: First Kill; Out There Halloween Megatape; Pearl; Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams; StopZemlia; Strawberry Mansion; X

PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR:

Anna Cobb (We’re All Going to The World’s Fair); Stefan Crepon (Peter Von Kant), Mia Goth (Pearl), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), Terry Notary (Nope), Margaret Qualley (Stars at Noon), Revika Reustle (Pleasure), Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom), Rakshit Shetty (777 Charlie), Brittany Snow (X), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once)

COMING IN 2023 AND WORTH YOUR ATTENTION:

2.

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED; HOLY SPIDER (not yet available for home viewing)

The ways that women prepare for battle. Unjust systems disrupted by empathy and decency.

3.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (on Showtime, DirecTV and 4K/Blu-ray); THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER (not yet available for home viewing)

Infinite possibilities. Unexpected iterations. The opposite of exorcism is reconciliation. Also, despite loving these films, I am not cool with having two different spider films in my year-end list.

4. HELLHOLE* (on

Netflix)

The gutsiest screenplay of 2022. Just watch it with your phone in the other room, and use the bathroom beforehand. It’s 90 minutes — go with it. And stick with the original Polish-language track.

5.

RRR (streaming in its proper Telugu language on Zee5, in a Hindi dub on Netflix)

The best solution upon being confronted with a racist dinner party: 1. a dance-off, and 2. throwing a tiger at it.

7.

GREAT FREEDOM (on Mubi); SOMETHING IN THE DIRT* (available on most video-ondemand services)

Here we are, folks — the dream we all dream of. Loneliness versus determination, in the World Series of Human Experience.

8.

MEDUSA (available on most video-ondemand services); WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR (on HBO Max and Blu-ray)

Perceptive and unsettling peeks into how the youth are having to metabolize our generations of bullshit.

Alienoid Part 2; America You Kill Me; Brahmāstra Part Two; Disfluency; Enys Men; Gateway; Landlocked; Master Gardener; The Outwaters; Pacifiction; Putrefixión; Return to Seoul; R.M.N.; Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day?; Showing Up; Skinamarink; The Smoke Master; Swallowed; Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter; The Timekeepers of Eternity; Trenque Lauquen; Unrest; The Weird Kidz

OUTSTANDING RESTORATIONS:

Dawn of the Dead 3D; Inland Empire; Jaws

OF THE FUTURE (on Hulu and 4K/ Blu-ray); FLUX GOURMET (on Shudder, DirecTV and Blu-ray); PLEASE BABY PLEASE* (available on most video-on-demand services)

LEGAL

nessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon SHARRE NICOLE FOUTH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after JANUARY 12, 2023, 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 February 13, 2023.

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.

Joseph P. Day, Clerk

L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: December 15 2022

Roland T. Hairston, II Attorney for Plaintiff

NSC 12/ 22 12/ 2922, 1/5 1 12/23

Nashville doctoral candidate seeks lifelong partner with love of “underrated" indie rock, British comedy, walks at Radnor lake, and Sunday morning breakfasts at Dozen. Must be faithful reader of the Scene and enjoy the wondrous simplicity of sheet -pan dinners. Caroline, send your answer to this proposal to Steven.

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In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a nonresident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon SHARRE NICOLE FOUTH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after JANUARY 12, 2023 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 February 13, 2023.

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.

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NICOLE FOUTH

Joseph P. Day, Clerk L. Chappell Deputy Clerk Date: December 15, 2022

Roland T. Hairston, II Attorney for Plaintiff