HUMP! Film Fest , Drkmttr Fest, Post Malone, Cameron Esposito, It Follows, Our Town Festival of Ghouls, Sturgill Simpson, TN Hot Sauce Expo and more
One for the Books
The 2024 Southern Festival of Books celebrates literary excellence close to home BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
The State of the Workers
Alice Driver investigates negligence and exploitation at Tyson Foods BY JIM PATTERSON; CHAPTER16.ORG
Small Victories
In Jayne Anne Phillips’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Night Watch, women find refuge after the Civil War BY SEAN KINCH; CHAPTER16.ORG
Duality Is Fine
John Vercher’s latest novel reckons with Black identity in the past and present BY KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM; CHAPTER16.ORG
Among the Lost
Women struggle against constraints in Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods BY SARA BETH WEST; CHAPTER16.ORG
A Tale of Two Families
Rachel Khong’s Real Americans explores identity and ambition BY SARAH NORRIS; CHAPTER16.ORG
Honoring Grief, History and Family
Crystal Wilkinson on her new culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts BY SUSANNAH FELTS; CHAPTER16.ORG
A Man of the Book
Novelist Jamie Quatro plumbs the desires of body and soul in Two-Step Devil BY HAMILTON CAIN; CHAPTER16.ORG
Tender and Tragic
Andre Dubus III’s essays are probing and deeply personal in the collection Ghost Dogs BY DAVID WESLEY WILLIAMS; CHAPTER16.ORG
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:
Alexandria Hall is a professional illustrator and muralist from Nashville. She enjoys working on pieces that utilize her love of fun color and also showcase people, plants and animals. When Alexandria isn’t working on illustration projects, you can often find her painting outside Grimey’s New & Preloved Music or painting other murals here and there throughout the city.
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Loving & Selling Nashville for 35+ Years
In my 35+ years living and working in Nashville, i’ve navigated the twists, turns and now expansive growth of this wonderful place. Let me help you make the best choices in your biggest investment — real estate. I’m so grateful for my clients’ great reviews, repeat business and continued referrals. I’d love the opportunity to help make your Real Estate Goals a reality!
WHO WE ARE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers
MANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez
SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin
ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter
MUSIC AND LISTINGS EDITOR Stephen Trageser
DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Jack Silverman
STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Logan Butts, John Glennon, Hannah Herner, Hamilton Matthew Masters, Eli Motycka, Nicolle Praino, William Williams
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sadaf Ahsan, Ken Arnold, Ben Arthur, Radley Balko, Bailey Brantingham, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Rachel Cholst, Lance Conzett, Hannah Cron, Connor Daryani, Tina Dominguez, Stephen Elliott, Steve Erickson, Jayme Foltz, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Amanda Haggard, Steven Hale, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, P.J. Kinzer, Janet Kurtz, J.R. Lind, Craig D. Lindsey, Margaret Littman, Sean L. Maloney, Brittney McKenna, Addie Moore, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Katherine Oung, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon Shamban, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Nicole Williams, Ron Wynn, Kelsey Young, Charlie Zaillian
EDITORIAL INTERN Katie Beth Cannon
ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones
PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Tracey Starck, Mary Louise Meadors
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PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello
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FW PUBLISHING LLC
Owner Bill Freeman
For nearly four decades, we sleuths at the Nashville Scene have turned our eye toward what makes Music City special. And for our biggest issue of the year, every year, we ask our readers to join us in our search.
Ahead of the Scene’s 36th annual Best of Nashville issue, tens of thousands of Nashvillians cast hundreds of thousands of votes for the best performers, businesses, restaurants, artists, services, advocates, athletes and institutions in the city. We at the Scene also convened our dozens of staff and contributing writers to select hundreds of our favorites from those categories and many more.
So what did our readers select as Nashville’s Best Place to Hear Live Music? Best Sushi? Best Podcast? Best Bartender? Best Personal Trainer? What did our writers select as 2024’s Best New Restaurant? Best Country Album? Best Sandwich Shop? In this week’s issue, you’ll find all that and much, much more.
Read on to discover who won it — and celebrate this year’s Best of Nashville.
Illustration by Alexandria Hall
BEST BAGEL
1. Proper Bagel
2. Crieve Hall Bagel Co.
3. Benji’s Bagel & Coffee House
BEST BAKERY
1. Dozen
2. Baked on 8th
3. Brightside Bakeshop
BEST BAR
1. Honeytree Meadery
2. Chief’s on Broadway
3. Never Never (tie)
3. Tiger Bar (tie)
BEST BARBECUE
1. Edley’s Bar-B-Que
2. Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint
3. HoneyFire Barbeque Co.
BEST BARTENDER
1. J.A. Harrison, Honeytree Meadery
2. Brandy “Legs” Brassfield, Duke’s
3. Glen Pangle, Sid Gold’s Request Room
BEST BEER SELECTION
1. Vinyl Tap
2. TailGate Brewery
3. M.L.Rose
BEST BREAKFAST
1. The Loveless Cafe
2. Hearts
3. The Butter Milk Ranch
BEST BREWERY (LOCAL)
1. Yazoo Brewing Company
2. TailGate Brewery
3. Bearded Iris Brewing
BEST BRUNCH
1. Common Ground
2. Hearts
3. The Butter Milk Ranch
BEST BAR, READERS’ POLL: HONEYTREE MEADERY
BEST BAKERY, READERS’ POLL: DOZEN
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS
BEST CANDY STORE, READERS’ POLL: GOO
BEST BUBBLE TEA
1.Eat Bubbles
2. Love4Boba Cafe
3. Gotcha Poke Bowl & Bubble Tea
BEST BURGER
1.Bad Luck Burger Club
2. The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden
3. Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer
BEST BURRITO
1.Redheaded Stranger
2. Cheap Charlie’s Taco Shop
3. Baja Burrito
BEST BUTCHER
1.Porter Road Butcher
2. Bare Bones Butcher
3. Roy Meat Service
BEST CAJUN
1.Spicy Boy’s
2. Lagniappe Bayou Kitchen
3. The Gumbo Bros
BEST CAKE BAKER (LOCAL)
1.Baked on 8th
2. Dessert Designs by Leland
3. The Cupcake Collection
BEST CANDY STORE
1.Goo Goo Chocolate Co.
2. Savannah’s Candy Kitchen
3. Olive and Sinclair
BEST CATERER
1.Chef’s Market
2. Maiz de la Vida
3. TomKats Catering
BEST CAKE BAKER (LOCAL), READERS’ POLL: BAKED ON 8TH
BEST CATFISH
1. Lagniappe Bayou Kitchen
2. Uncle Bud’s Catfish, Chicken & Such
3. Edley’s Bar-B-Que
BEST CHEAP EATS
1. Cheap Charlie’s Taco Shop
2. Mas Tacos Por Favor
3. Daddy’s Dogs
BEST CHEF
1. Edgar Victoria, Alebrije
2. Sean Brock
3. Jake Howell at Peninsula
BEST CHINESE
1. Dumpling House
2. Sichuan Hot Pot & Asian Cuisine
3. Xiao Bao
BEST COCKTAILS
1. Tiger Bar
2. Otto’s Bar
3. Honeytree Meadery
BEST COFFEEHOUSE
1. Frothy Monkey
2. Crema
3. Flour Your Dreams Bakery & Café
BEST CRAFT BEER RETAILER
1. Sinkers Beverages
2. The Filling Station
3. Midtown Corkdorks
BEST CREATIVE MENU
1. Peninsula
2. Bastion
3. Bad Idea
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
BEST CHEAP EATS, READERS’ POLL: CHEAP CHARLIE’S TACO SHOP
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
COFFEEHOUSE, READERS’ POLL: FROTHY MONKEY
We keep the HoneyFire ingredients simple: sweet, heat, smoke all served up with a big dose of Southern Hospitality.
We appreciate your amazing support! SWEET HEAT SMOKE
Yes, we cater!
Sarabhas
1. Caffé Nonna
PennePazze
THAN JUST A JUICE BAR
We’re grateful for the privilege of serving our Nashville community Since 2012. TRY ONE OF OUR HOUSE-MADE
FatBelly Pretzel Bakery & Deli BEST SEAFOOD 1. The Optimist
Henrietta Red
Caliber Coffee Co.
Nectar Urban Cantina
Beyond the Edge
Neighbors
Double Dogs
BEST RIBS,
BEST TACO
1. Mas Tacos Por Favor
2. Redheaded Stranger
3. Maiz de la Vida
BEST TAKEOUT
1. Degthai
2. Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen
3. TKO
BEST TENNESSEE WHISKEY OR BOURBON
Uncle Nearest
Jack Daniel’s
Nelson’s Green Brier
BEST THAI
Degthai
Bite a Bit Thai & Sushi
The Smiling Elephant
BEST VEGAN
Graze
Avo
Sunflower Cafe
BEST VEGETARIAN
Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine
Graze
Sunflower Cafe
BEST VIETNAMESE
Vui’s Kitchen
VN Pho
East Side Banh Mi
BEST WINE STORE
1. Woodland Wine Merchant
2. Midtown Corkdorks
3. Sinkers Beverages
BEST WINERY/VINEYARD
1. Arrington Vineyards
2. Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery
3. City Winery
BEST WINGS
1. Edley’s Bar-B-Que
2. Waldo’s Chicken & Beer
3. Acme Feed & Seed
BEST RESTAURANT HUSK
First off, any restaurant (especially an independent one) managing to navigate the turbulent waters of inflation, competition, staffing issues, etc., is already doing its “best,” so kudos to all of them! One of the ways to measure “best” is a commitment to a mission over an extended period of time while maintaining a standard of excellence in hospitality and quality. By this yardstick, Husk stands out as the best restaurant of 2024. Dedicated to exalting the produce and proteins of the region, including some herbs and vegetables grown and meticulously cared
for in their own kitchen garden, the staff at Husk maintains an almost religious ardor when it comes to the original credo of the kitchen: “If it doesn’t come from the South, it’s not coming through the door.” Rather than leaning on the crutch of geographically limiting itself as an excuse to cook the same things over and over, the kitchen continuously strives to express the essence of each season and venerate the ingredients Husk sources from local farms and ranches with new and exciting dishes on a menu that changes nightly. The beverage program is also remarkable under the leadership of Adam Morgan as he pushes mixology forward in the
city. Admirably, Husk has maintained this level of innovation and excellence through several generations of kitchen leadership as the role of top toque passed from Sean Brock and Morgan McGlone to Tim Moody, Brian Baxter, Nate Leonard and Katie Coss. The kitchen is now under the capable hand of Ben Norton, whose focused leadership keeps the USS Husk on course and continues to make Rutledge Hill a dining destination. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST CHEF RYAN POLI, IGGY’S
With his stellar résumé and extensive international experience, Ryan Poli could have written his own ticket to captain any kitchen in the world. Instead, the Chicago native chose Nashville — where he gained local attention and acclaim during his three years at the helm of The Catbird Seat — to open Iggy’s with his brother Matthew Poli, who oversees beverages and front-of-house. The two took a vacant space on the street level of a former industrial building in Wedgewood-Houston and turned it into a swanky yet approachable trattoria with multiple seating options, including a bar overlooking the busy kitchen. That’s where diners will find Chef Ryan, who merges a hands-on approach with a K.I.S.S. culinary ethos that results in a succinct menu regularly refreshed by seasonality, availability and imagination. Meals start with an introduction by four or five starters — led by the famous Iggy’s garlic bread — and the entrees are built upon fresh pasta made daily in its own glass-enclosed room. From that base, Poli creates elevated executions of Italian home-kitchen standbys like spaghetti pomodoro and rigatoni Bolognese and masterful interpretations of classics like cacio e pepe, fettuccine Alfredo and gnocchi. His stuffed pastas — tortellini and agnolotti — are otherworldly. Poli regularly posts short cooking demos on the restaurant’s lively Instagram account. A recent one captured over a pot of boiling pasta offers this sage advice: “Here’s the point where everybody asks me how long to cook it. ’Til it’s done.” Ryan Poli, Nashville’s best — and least assuming — chef. KAY WEST
BEST NEW RESTAURANT BAD IDEA
Naming your restaurant project “Bad Idea” feels risky, but that’s exactly what Alex Burch chose for his restaurant and wine bar in the former sanctuary of a remodeled church building on Russell Street. The wine bar part made sense, because Burch is an advanced sommelier with experience running some of the city’s best beverage programs. Burch’s experience and wry sense of humor shine through on the voluminous wine list, which features plenty of unusual options alongside stories and advice from the somm. Choosing food to accompany all those different bottles could have been a bad idea, but it turned out to be a brilliant one — as was the decision to hire first-generation Laotian American Colby Rasavong to run the kitchen. Steeped in French techniques and a veteran of the kitchens at Husk, Tailor and Audrey, Rasavong created an ever-evolving menu of small plates and shareable main dishes unlike anything this town has seen before, exotic and homey at the same time. The warm wood, soft fabrics and fun splashes of color make the dining room feel comfortable like … well, a sanctuary. Open until 1 a.m. seven nights a week and offering special late-night menus and pop-ups, Bad Idea feels like a special gift to neighborhood night owls and industry workers seeking to extend an evening. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST BARBECUE SHOTGUN WILLIE’S
This award is a betrayal of sorts. As a proud Tennessean, I know that our tradition is pig, and in Nashville, we have some great purveyors of the whole-hog arts. But in a town full of very fine swine, the barbecue joint performing at the highest level is Bill Laviolette’s house of brisket in Madison, better known as Shotgun Willie’s. After setting up camp on Gallatin Pike in Inglewood four years ago, Bill moved up the street to a new, bigger spot across the parking lot from Eastside Bowl, graduating from the roadside picnic tables to a proper restaurant space. Shotgun Willie’s brisket is an American wagyu, and
BEST RESTAURANT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: HUSK
BEST NEW RESTAURANT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BAD IDEA BEST
the investment is worth the result. Just take a bite, close your eyes and experience what salt, pepper and 12 hours of smoke will do to a great piece of beef. STEVE CAVENDISH
BEST BURRITO MISSION BURRITO AT SWEEZA
When my beloved Tacos Aurora closed its counter in Hunters Station, I lost my preferred hangover cure — the Mission burrito. The size of your forearm and packed densely with rice, beans, guac, cheese and the protein of your choice, the Mission burrito is hearty enough to defeat even the worst mistakes you made the night before. Sweeza, the Cali-Mex spot in The Wash, may be known for its quesadillas, but the Super Burrito special is a thing of ooey, gooey beauty. Get it with slow-roasted pork, the closest to Aurora’s al pastor that you’ll find on the East Side. LANCE CONZETT
BEST CHICKEN S.S. GAI
All kinds of folks make chicken in all kinds of great ways in Nashville. And with all due respect to the many purveyors of wonderful hot chicken across the city, the best chicken bite in town right now is at S.S. Gai. Based out of East Nashville’s The Wash, S.S. Gai offers Thai chicken in two styles: gai tod (crispy and fried) and gai yang (smoky and grilled). Both are served with sticky rice, fried garlic and shallots, tamarind chili fish sauce, aromatic chili vinegar and local veggies and herbs. Take your pick (I like gai tod, but yang is just as flavorful and delicious),
load up a cabbage leaf with chicken, herbs and sauce, and enjoy the best bite you’ll have all month D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST DECADENT BITE PIZZA BURGER AT EDESSA BURGER & PIZZA
If you had asked me last year to guess where I’d find the most decadent bite in 2024, I would have imagined some high-end foie gras and caviar concoction. The winner, however, is a combination of many people’s two favorite foods. The new Edessa Burger & Pizza (from the owners of Edessa Restaurant, a Kurdish and Turkish standout) offers a Pizza Burger, which is a seasoned hamburger wrapped in a pizza-dough-like bun. It’s one weekend’s worth of meals all at once. The cheesy, spicy and savory pick is filling and fun. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST FRIED THING BAVARIAN PRETZELS AND BEER CHEESE AT FAT BOTTOM BREWING
The food at Fat Bottom Brewing is standard, solid bar fare with one outstanding exception: the fried pretzels. The sticks are satisfying and deeply addictive because they are flash-fried, which makes them crispy yet just greasy enough to feel more like garlic bread than your basic mall pretzel. Top them off with big flakes of salt and dunk them in the side sauces — housemade spicy beer mustard and Knockout-IPAbased beer cheese — for the perfect piquant, comfort-food fix. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST HOT SAUCE LECHE DE TIGRE
Of the many wonderful food items at The Wash, don’t miss out on Leche de Tigre’s hot sauce. What they serve in a small, unassuming container actually packs a big punch in both flavor and spiciness. While I would willingly drench my food in it, a little goes a long way. It hits all the notes of a great hot sauce with both brightness and acidity — but not too much of either
— and it’s rooted in a really full and unique savoriness that complements anything it touches. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST TREND PERUVIAN CUISINE BOOM
As Scene contributor Radley Balko wrote for us back in June, Nashville is experiencing a small but mighty boom of Peruvian cuisine. On the East Side, Limo is doing delicious tapas and a
BEST BARBECUE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SHOTGUN WILLIE’S
BEST CHICKEN, WRITERS’ CHOICE: S.S. GAI
BEST FRIED THING, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BAVARIAN PRETZELS AND BEER CHEESE AT FAT BOTTOM BREWING
great lineup of ceviches, while Leche de Tigre in The Wash (formerly Two Peruvian Chefs) is making pork-belly sandwiches, chicken tacos and its own great lineup of fish and seafood ceviches. Meanwhile on Nolensville Pike, Panca serves a fabulous pollo a la brasa, a flavorful charcoal-fired rotisserie chicken. Whatever inspired this rising trend of new Peruvian spots — from fine-dining to the more approachable — we hope it continues on into 2025.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST LOADED FRIES
BAG LADY’S FRY JOINT
Bag Lady’s Fry Joint will help you realize that fries can be a blank canvas rather than a side dish. While the North Nashville spot has many decadent offerings on its menu, including burgers and wraps, the loaded fries are the stars. Feeling spicy? Try The Block Is Hot Nashville Hot Fries with Nashville-hot-seasoned chicken tenders, cheese, pickles and other toppings. Don’t eat meat? With meatless crumbles and cheese, the No Capp Vegan Fries include all the decadent delight of loaded fries without any of the animal-derived ingredients. There are plenty more options available, and all are worth the trip to try them out. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST NEW BAGELS ALL OF THEM
It used to be like wandering in the desert — there wasn’t a decent bagel to be found anywhere in town. (While we might debate what makes for a good bagel, at its basic level, a bagel
BEST SANDWICH SHOP BILL’S SANDWICH PALACE
Last year, we awarded Bill’s Sandwich Palace the Best of Nashville title “Best Silver Lining.” That’s because, despite the sad news that beloved East Nashville bakery Sweet 16th had closed its doors, the folks behind pop-up shop Bill’s (Christen Clemins and Aaron Clemins) announced they’d be moving into the bakery’s former space in
should be boiled and then baked at a high temperature. You want to see tiny blisters on that shiny exterior. It should be dense, not cakey. If you want to toast it, go ahead. But it shouldn’t need to be toasted to taste good.) Thanks to the pandemic, which gave people lots of time to practice the art of bagel-making, we have to wander no more! Mr. Aaron’s Goods, Bagelshop, All or Nothing, H&S Bagels, Crieve Hall Bagel Co., Jersey Oven, Benji’s Bagel & Coffee House and Big Ben’s Bagels are just some of the spots that have opened in recent years, joining Proper Bagel in filling what was once a hole in the Nashville culinary scene. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST BASE FOR TUNA TARTARE VILLAGE BAKERY’S SEAWEED SOURDOUGH AT PRESENT TENSE
Fans of Sam Tucker’s breads can pick up a loaf of his rustic sourdough, potato rosemary or my favorite, spent grains, at his own Village Bakery and Provisions on Thompson Lane. (Order online first.) If you’re lucky, you’ll be at The Produce Place or Little Hats Market when it’s delivered still warm from the oven. But there’s only one place to get his grilled seaweed sourdough — under a pile of glistening pink tuna cubes at Present Tense. Chef-owner Ryan Costanza says he and Tucker spent three months working with different seaweeds and formulas to get it right. When you’re as blown away by the toast as the tuna, I’d say they got it right. KAY WEST
Lockeland Springs. More great news: Bill’s has been absolutely crushing it ever since, offering a rotating lineup of big, delicious, often sloppy sandwiches. No matter what’s on the menu when you pop in, there’s always a little something for everyone — from a monstrous, sauce-coated slab of meatloaf on a roll to roasted pork shoulder on focaccia to melted mozzarella on a baguette and a whole bunch more. Also:
BEST NEW BAGELS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ALL OF THEM (PICTURED: ALL OR NOTHING)
BEST BASE FOR TUNA TARTARE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: VILLAGE BAKERY’S SEAWEED SOURDOUGH AT PRESENT TENSE
BEST SANDWICH SHOP, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BILL’S SANDWICH PALACE
Try my favorite side, the irresistible fried duros, which Bill’s has branded as Cheddy Ranch Puffs. D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST NEW SANDWICH FENNEL SAUSAGE SANDWICH AT FRANKIES 925 SPUNTINO
The opening of Frankies 925 Spuntino and the accompanying Frankies Pizzeria has been a boon for East Nashville. Owners Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli — the team behind Brooklyn’s Frankies 457 Spuntino and a whole lot more — know Italian food, and they’re putting out some great pies, pastas and more. But don’t sleep on the sandwich menu. Available from noon to 4 each day, the list features a lineup of hearty, savory options on house-made pizza bianca bread. My favorite is the fennel sausage with broccoli rabe and pecorino. Fans of long-shuttered Savarino’s Cucina on Belcourt Avenue take note: This might be the closest we’ll ever get to a return of that restaurant’s legendary (and legendarily named) Frank DiLeo. And that’s high praise. D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST VEGETARIAN SANDWICH THE G.O.A.T. AT COCORICO FRENCH BAKERY AND CAFÉ
Elodie Habert emigrated from France, so Cocorico French Bakery and Café isn’t just a cute name. It’s an actual French bakery. But despite the croissants (almond and chocolate) and the madeleines, the reason I go back again and again is the G.O.A.T. Sandwich. This dish earns
its name as the best vegetarian sandwich in the city, if not of all time. The goat-cheese spread, cucumber, red onion and arugula are nestled on a fresh baguette. None of the flavors overpower each other, and it’s big enough to be filling but not too much to be too much. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST SLIDER
RABBIT ROLLS AT BLACK RABBIT
If my toddler finds out her parents eat bunnies, she’s never going to forgive us ... yet I can’t quit these Black Rabbit’s Rabbit Rolls. The sweet, buttery rolls, the zippy mustard, the gooey Swiss cheese, the zingy onions — every element works perfectly to balance out the rich sliced rabbit terrine that’s griddled crisp and tucked in the middle. I wrote about these when Black Rabbit opened, and I’m thrilled to report they are still as salty, gooey and delicious as they are bad for you. (And you know I must love them, because now I can’t ever teach my daughter to read.)
ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST BUTCHER AND PROVISIONS SMOKIN’ OAKS
Having a year-round market that prioritizes organic, ethically raised meat and locally grown produce is very special and always worth celebrating. At Smokin’ Oaks on Eighth Avenue South, owner Justin Head sells the pasture-raised beef, pork and chicken he raises just about 30 miles north in Robertson County. The shop also sells sandwiches, deli items, precooked meals, take-and-bake options and more alongside a
carefully selected array of produce and pantry staples. Between the quality of the food and the knowledge that you’re directly supporting local farmers, shopping at Smokin’ Oaks just feels good. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST CONTEMPORARY INDIAN RESTAURANT CURRY & TIKKA
If the lengthy menus of conventional Indian restaurants freeze you into choice paralysis, take a deep breath and check out Curry & Tikka, whose menu clocks in at 43 items and eight house-made breads. Chef-owner Dinesh Jagga takes it to the street with youthful exuberance
and a bit of irreverence in his sleek, fresh space. Classic dishes are pared down, flavors are as bright as the colors, and there’s a sense of fun to the menu’s “India With a Twist” section, in particular the Tikka Mac & Cheese. Don’t scoff. It’s truly the best of two worlds. KAY WEST
BEST NEW BRUNCH SWEETMILK
Mark it down, because you’re not going to hear this sort of thing from a longtime East Sider all that often: SweetMilk is worth the trip to Donelson. Opened in the fall of last year by Pat Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint and Hugh
BEST NEW SANDWICH, WRITERS’ CHOICE: FENNEL SAUSAGE SANDWICH AT FRANKIES 925 SPUNTINO
BEST SLIDER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: RABBIT ROLLS AT BLACK RABBIT
BEST NEW BRUNCH, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SWEETMILK
Baby’s) and Bill Darsinos (Greko Greek Street Food), the spacious and laid-back SweetMilk offers an outsized menu of breakfast favorites: country breakfast, steak and eggs, shrimp and grits, omelets, buttermilk pancakes, French toast, breakfast casserole and biscuits made the same way Martin’s grandmother Nonie Sue used to make them. SweetMilk has a sizable lunch menu too, but I haven’t gotten around to trying it just yet — I’d rather make my way through the breakfast menu over brunch with friends first D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST DESSERT FOR A CAUSE SWEET DAISY PETIT FOUR SHOPPE
I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about eating nearly one dozen petit fours (not all at once) as part of the sweetest treat I gave myself this year. Sweet Daisy, which is a project of the Nashville Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition, employs survivors of human trafficking to bake and decorate these tiny pieces of pastry confection. Some petit fours taste like square cupcakes, but those pale in comparison to the classic dense, almond variety that Sweet Daisy and I prefer. Theirs are made with almond cake and almond glaze — plus gold dust, if that’s your thing. Order in advance, picking your preferred-color daisy on top, and know that profits fund the NAHT Coalitions’s social enterprise work. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST DESSERT SPECIAL GANNON’S BREAD PUDDING
One of the best-kept dessert secrets in Nashville comes from Gannon’s — the new-ish restaurant in the Courtyard Marriott at Fourth and Church. Gannon’s, named for chef Gannon Leary, offers a bread pudding that is a must-have after a dinner of prime rib or house specialty Timpano di Manzo. What elevates this sweet dish is the addition of white chocolate ganache, which gives the dessert a well-rounded flavor reminiscent of New Orleans beignets. The heavenly creation is not listed on the menu, so only those in the know — who ask — will enjoy the tasty treat. JANET KURTZ
BEST NEW SUPERETTE BRASSFIELD’S PROVISIONS
In just 700 square feet in East Nashville, Megan Bannon and David Brassfield have packed more than 700 different local and sustainable goods into their mini market. In just six months, they’ve become a go-to for folks in the neighborhood, both residents and visitors staying in short-term rentals. They named the spot as an homage to David’s family grocery and even modeled the shelving he built (with wood from Good Wood Nashville) after that store. Don’t sleep on the clever promotions. For example, all ice cream is 10 percent off the last hour of every night. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST CARRYOUT SUPPER FOR WEEKNIGHTS PICK-UP AT ANSWER.
Supper at answer. is straightforward — you get an email with the menu a few days before and respond “full” or “half,” depending on how many servings you want. Then you pull into the parking lot on Wednesday or Sunday afternoon and grab your ready-to-heat food from the comfort of your car. But the price point, quantity and quality are unbeatable — $90 for a “full” family of four with plenty of leftovers — and the meals are well-seasoned and comforting. Think taco night with homemade margarita mix; a Greek shrimp feast with baklava for dessert; or a chicken Parm that somehow perfectly reheats, even days later. Simple. Economical. Satisfying. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST DEVELOPMENT FOR LAST-MINUTE DINERS LOCUST’S WALK-IN-ONLY EVENING SERVICE
When Trevor Moran opened Locust in 2020, patrons could just walk into the 12South restaurant for some dumplings, a bowl of noodles or a sweet treat of Japanese shaved-ice kakigōri any time they had a hankering. Then Food & Wine named it the 2022 Restaurant of the Year, and suddenly the reservation book got tighter than a tick, necessitating setting an alarm for the first day of the month to jump online for reservations. Earlier this year, Moran adjusted his service model to allow walk-ins only after 6 p.m. on Friday through Sunday for a limited menu featuring Locust’s acclaimed dumplings and another rotating special. (Last we knew, it was hot swordfish.) But take note: Starting Nov. 1, the walk-in service will be available Sundays only. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST OPTION FOR DINERS WITH DIETARY NEEDS UPBEET
If you have complex dietary needs, it can be hard to find a restaurant where you can eat an entire regular meal, much less have multiple options to order from. At Upbeet in the Gulch, everything on the menu is natural, organic and gluten-free, and the only dairy is in the optional cheese toppings. From grain bowls to smoothies, there’s something for every appetite. You can choose from a variety of menu suggestions or build your own dish at the Subway-style counter, ensuring your meal has everything you love and nothing that your body doesn’t. Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or something else, the easy-to-read menu with allergen warnings makes a positive dining experience accessible for any type of eater. HANNAH CRON
BEST NON-BOOZY DRINK SELECTION K&S WORLD MARKET
If you want to blow a kid’s mind, throw them in front of the drink section at K&S and tell them to pick one. There are so many wild, wonderful drinks from the other side of the world, mostly in fun containers. Try a mini mango milkshake, Latte Pop soda or Calpico (Asian melon, yogurt and slightly fermented milk). Get an extra-pulpy Sac Sac grape juice, Tomomasu watermelon soda or a simple matcha green tea. Or go wild and pick out something with a label you can’t begin to read and enjoy the surprise of strawberry gelatin pieces popping in your mouth.
ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST WEEKEND MEAL TO EMULATE A TEXAS ROADHOUSE STEAK NIGHT EXPERIENCE STAR ROVER SOUND
Come early for the prototypical steakhouse salad, yeast rolls, onion rings and slices of beef cooked on a flat-top grill slathered with butter and veal jus, and then stick around for soft serve and live music in the cozy club. No, there aren’t peanut shells on the floor, but the rest of the vibe at Star Rover Sound is straight Texas Roadhouse. It’s a perfect date night out away from the craziness of the neon canyon that is Lower Broad.
CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST PLACE TO EAT WITHOUT THE KIDS SABELL’S
Sometimes you want something uncomplicated. No reservations, no fussy deconstructed
food and … well, no kids. You can get all that with a side of za’atar fries at Sabell’s in Riverside Village. The brightly colored bungalow is home to a bar and restaurant, with a dog-friendly patio and plenty of spots to have a salad, a cocktail and some adult conversation. It’s the kind of place you can hear yourself think, and hear your companion too. If your kids are really craving one of Sabell’s chicken sandwiches (can’t blame them), you can bring them in before 6 p.m. — which is when happy hour ends — or place a takeout order. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST RESTAURANT BAR EXPERIENCE NOKO
Many concepts converge to create a successful restaurant. Noko effortlessly checks so many boxes, but it also delivers something not all eat-
going on a weeknight, splitting a bottle of sake with a companion and taking it all in. M.L. MEADORS
BEST SPOT TO EMULATE THE BEAR SEASON 1 NICOLETTO’S ITALIAN BEEF
No offense intended, but if you’re looking for a legit Italian beef sandwich, well, first of all don’t get one where they say “Italian beef sandwich.” It’s an Italian sandwich, or just an Italian beef. And don’t buy it from someone named Todd. (Sorry Todd.) You should definitely buy it from two brothers named Nicoletto and enjoy their delicious house-roasted and thinly sliced roast beef, served with sharp provolone, spicy giardiniera and Parm on a legit Turano roll. Todd probably won’t know what you’re talking about if you order “a beef, wet, hot, mozz,” but the Nicolettos will. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST SPOT TO PREGAME BEFORE A NASHVILLE SC MATCH BASTION
eries are able to: a fantastic dining experience at the bar. Bar seating is often viewed as a last resort, but at Noko it feels like a VIP option. The bar staff is engaging and attentive and offers thoughtful suggestions on food and drink. You’re caught up in the action but never made to feel like an inconvenience. I recommend
When it comes to pre-match activities, don’t overthink it. Pay a few bucks to park in a lot, walk to Bastion and enjoy surprisingly affordable draft beers, cocktails and the punch of the day, along with an order of transcendent nachos prepared á la minute. The bar crowd is friendly, the soundtrack is always bumpin’, and the bartenders work with alacrity. And don’t worry, you’ll walk off those nachos and beers during the 15-minute uphill hike to Geodis Park. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST PLACE TO EAT WITHOUT THE KIDS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SABELL’S
BEST SPOT TO PREGAME BEFORE A NASHVILLE SC MATCH, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BASTION
BEST SPOT TO EMULATE THE BEAR SEASON 1, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NICOLETTO’S ITALIAN BEEF
BEST STRIP MALL FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE NEAR NOLENSVILLE PIKE AND HARDING PLACE
If you’re hungry but not sure what kind of food you want, just make your way over to the strip mall near the intersection of Harding Place and Nolensville Road. Between the delicious Yemeni offerings of Middle Eatz, the ever-reliable dishes at Taj Indian Restaurant, the Chinese comfort food from Steam Boys and the street-style Indian food of Eggholic, you’re sure to find something great to eat. Whether you’re looking for a quick lunch or you’re ready to splurge on an extravagant dinner — or maybe try a dish you’ve never had before — you’ll find it in that sweet, sweet strip mall. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST WORTH-THE-DRIVE TREAT AFTERNOON TEA AT THE YORKSHIRE DELI
Kingston Springs is a 30-minute drive from downtown, but it feels worlds away when you pull up to The Yorkshire Deli. The self-described vibe is “farm-to-table meets British tea room.” You’ll be surrounded by seasonal blooms in a forest-fairy environment as you sit down to tea. Email in advance to reserve one of four different tea experiences, with fresh scones, clotted cream, finger sandwiches, desserts and other options, plus bonuses such as a bouquet of fresh flowers. The kids’ Mad Hatter Tea Party includes dress-up props. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST NEW BAR SCHULMAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
Given Schulman’s Neighborhood Bar’s classic diner booths, vintage Schlitz and Michelob bar signs and classic-rock-spinning DJs — not
to mention the portrait of late, great Nashville icon and Skull’s Rainbow Room founder David “Skull” Schulman that hangs at the end of the bar — you might be shocked to discover that the East Nashville haunt is just 1 year old. From its front bar to its back bar to its open-air patio, Schulman’s feels lived-in. And from its classic martinis to its weekly specials (check out Whiskey Wednesdays) to the pastrami dip sandwich I simply cannot stop ordering, it’s one of the best things to happen to the East Side in the past year D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST THEME BAR TIGER BAR
A theme bar is a delicate balancing act. Commit too hard and you’ll feel tacky, like a grown-up Rainforest Cafe. But people notice if you don’t go far enough, slinging out “drink specials” that are just normal drinks with cutesy names. Tiger Bar executes its 1930s carnival sideshow theme perfectly. The interior is tremendously photogenic, and the menu offers old-timey American spirits along with circus-themed drinks that bring just the right amount of kitsch. Take a risk of your own and spin the mystery cocktail wheel to decide your beverage — you might find The Greatest Drink on Earth. COLE VILLENA
BEST NEW COCKTAIL BAR CORAL CLUB
Opened in the spring by four longtime local hospitality specialists, East Side cocktail bar Coral Club quickly became a popular destination just a stone’s throw from Five Points. That’s thanks just as much to the immaculate vibes of the bar’s rooftop patio as to Coral Club’s carefully curated cocktail lineup. Light offerings like the
Seasonal Fix (gin, lemon and seasonal fruit) are at home next to classic drinks like a rocksolid Old Fashioned and the zero-proof Chaise Lounge. The bar’s mellow lighting and chic, lowkey decor also make the spot feel less Gallatin Pike and more beachfront. If you haven’t been yet, go check out what you’ve been missing.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST REINVENTED BAR MARTHA MY DEAR
The bar business isn’t for the faint of heart. WWII-themed Euro bar Overlord went on the market a mere eight months after opening. And with respect to the folks who ran the place, its closure was met with a shrug — a high-concept casualty of rapid expansion. When Alex Howard and Paul Pearse took over the space in 2023, they stripped it down, keeping much of the Old World flair but replacing its menu and vibe with something more understated and classic. Martha’s is the platonic ideal of a neighborhood cocktail bar, cool and casual with knockout drinks like the Martyr Complex that reflect Howard’s history at revered cocktail bar Attaboy. LANCE CONZETT
BEST NEW COCKTAIL BAR, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CORAL CLUB
BEST (MOSTLY) UNCHANGED BAR VILLAGE PUB AND BEER GARDEN
I’m trying to be less of a curmudgeon about the accelerating change of Nashville, but it’s a relief to still have a spot that feels familiar. Village Pub is one of those places for my husband and me. It’s not that they haven’t changed at all. The pub team expanded the outdoor seating, for one — a big plus. But the menu, the vibes, the dark wood interior and warm lighting are still the same as they were a decade ago when I used to come here with my slew of college roommates for Mule Mondays and pretzel burgers — and I’m grateful for it. RYNE WALKER
BEST FROZEN DRINKS REDHEADED STRANGER
Sometimes I go to Redheaded Stranger just for the frozen drinks, with the food as a bonus. That’s saying a lot considering the quality and creativity of the restaurant’s Tex-Mex offerings. While the selection of frozen drink flavors may vary a bit, you can usually count on the Aperol-featuring Chill Bill and some kind of frozen margarita like strawberry or hibiscus. No matter which you choose, it will be strong. For those who want something frozen sans-alcohol, there’s always a flavored lemonade or limeade option. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST ARCADE BAR UP-DOWN
I have to begin this with a confession — I’m not an arcade-game connoisseur. When I say I
believe Up-Down is the best arcade bar in town, I’m thinking less about the art and competition of the arcade game (though I do think they more than hold their own in that regard) and more of its ambience, its theme nights, the retro movies playing on the walls and the incredible rooftop, with its own bar and downtown views. The games are awesome and very well-maintained, but Up-Down’s heart is its communal charm, much like the arcades where we gathered as kids. RYNE WALKER
BEST HAPPY HOUR JAMÓN HAPPY HOUR AT THE IBERIAN PIG
From 4 to 6 p.m. every day, The Iberian Pig gives you a gift: an excuse to eat ham and drink wine. The chef’s selection of cheese and jamón — dry-cured Spanish ham — is the obvious move for $24. In addition to fascinating cheeses like Idiazábal (a firm, raw sheep’s milk cheese) and jamón ibérico (cured leg of Black Iberian pigs), you get funky mustards, sweet spreads or honeys and house-made pickles to finish out your board. Top it off with olives, almonds or a $5 not-too-sweet sangria at their intimate bar, and you’ll feel Spanish in no time. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST SHOT EXPRESSO MARTINI SHOT AT LAKESIDE LOUNGE
When I first saw this shot’s name, I figured it was called the Expresso Martini Shot as a dig at all the idiots who claim espresso martinis are their
favorite drink and yet don’t know that the word is, in fact, “espresso” — no “x”. But the brilliant bartenders at Lakeside Lounge actually named it that because there’s no espresso in it (and there doesn’t need to be). They top a shaken mix of coconut rum and Mr Black coffee liqueur with heavy cream, creating a rich, frothy, dreamy, delicious dessert and shot in one. (If only one were enough.) ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST IRISH LATTE ALL PEOPLE COFFEE
Nashville’s caffeine scene is strong, and picking a best anything is sure to spark a fight. But one of the tastiest and most consistent options in town is the Irish latte at All People Coffee in Cleveland Park. The flavorful mix of pistachio and Irish cream delivers sweet and nutty notes, and a cinnamon dusting adds a gentle note of spice and warmth. There’s a reason this drink went from
BEST FROZEN DRINKS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: REDHEADED STRANGER
BEST SHOT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: EXPRESSO MARTINI SHOT AT LAKESIDE LOUNGE
BEST (MOSTLY) UNCHANGED BAR, WRITERS’ CHOICE: VILLAGE PUB AND BEER GARDEN
Photograph by: Christen Clemins
being a seasonal item to securing a spot on the menu year-round, so you can enjoy it hot or iced anytime. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
BEST COFFEE-ON-THE-GO ELEGY
Elegy Coffee is your go-to spot for a quick and quality caffeine fix thanks to a convenient walk-up window at their downtown, Germantown and East Nashville locations. They’re known for their creative seasonal drinks, like the Sugar Plum Cappuccino or Gingerbread Latte, and they offer a full range of milk options, including plant-based. Whether you’re in a hurry or want to savor a vegan breakfast burrito, Elegy has you covered. Plus, they even offer “pup cups” for your four-legged friend — because everyone deserves a treat. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST COLD BREW
TWILIGHT TAVERN
Nashville has long been a hipster haven where you can find a cold brew on every corner. That may be one reason it’s deeply delightful to find the best one at Twilight Tavern, the bar next to Bobbie’s Dairy Dip on Charlotte Pike. Their cold brew is rich, creamy, subtly sweet and a little bit frothy, which gives it the same kind of smooth, satisfying pour you’d get from a Guinness. And
because it’s on draft, you get a fresh, complex taste that’s completely surprising coming from behind a bar. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST SEASONAL
COFFEE
CONCOCTIONS UGLY MUGS COFFEE & TEA
East Nashville’s Ugly Mugs is the ultimate spot for seasonal sips that keep you coming back. As it starts to get colder, warm up with winter favorites like The Grinch, or beat the heat with summer hits like Curious George. One of the summer matcha lattes, She-Hulk, was such a hit that it’s now a permanent fixture on the menu. Ugly Mugs’ in-house roasted beans make every
cup extra special, and you can even snag your favorites online. Contrary to what the name suggests, it’s a cute coffee shop that delivers hipster vibes and delightfully creative drinks all year round. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST CHEF GETTING BIGGER BY STAYING
SMALL EDGAR VICTORIA, ALEBRIJE
Edgar Victoria has had plenty of offers to open his popular Alebrije Mexico City-style street food restaurant in a dedicated space, but he has chosen to go wide instead of deep. After a successful two-year stint working a concession
COLD BREW, WRITERS’ CHOICE: TWILIGHT TAVERN
stand at Geodis Park for Nashville SC games, he has expanded operations using food trucks and already-existing kitchens with semi-permanent residencies in spots like the pool deck at the new Drift Hotel in East Nashville, the quirky but essential downtown haunt Bar Sovereign, and Never Never in Wedgewood-Houston. That’s pretty good geographic coverage for a guy without a dedicated kitchen. Even so, earlier this month, Victoria teased the possibility of a forthcoming East Side brick-and-mortar. We can’t wait to see what’s next! CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST CHEF SERIES CAMP BAGEL AT ALL OR NOTHING BAGELS
As far as she’s aware, bagel mother Kathleen Sharpe operates the only sourdough wood-fired bagel shop in the Southeast — if not the entire country. All or Nothing on Riverside Drive has spent the past year pushing the boundaries of what a bagel can be, slinging everything from sweet banana streusel bagels to savory crab rangoon-style sandos. This summer, Sharpe invited some friends to get in on the fun with Camp
from folks like The BE-Hive, Secret Bodega and Bad Luck Burger Club, who pulled up their truck to make big sloppy bagel burgers. It was a series that definitively showed bagels are more than just lox and capers — they can be big, loud, deranged sandwiches that keep you coming back for more. LANCE CONZETT
BEST NEW ADDITIONS TO THE CHEF COMMUNITY
ANDY DOUBRAVA AND TIFFANI ORTIZ, THE CATBIRD SEAT
Chef-driven tasting menus can get a bad rap as overly precious tweezer food where the plating is more important than the food itself. The Catbird Seat has shattered that stigma in the past by hiring a string of chefs who care about the entire dining experience, but never anyone like Andy Doubrava and Tiffani Ortiz. The couple is known for their nomadic pop-ups where they actually lived in their vehicle on farms and cooked amazing meals as a way to pay for their passage. By emphasizing local farmers, fishermen and foragers and eschewing food waste at all costs,
Bagel, a weekly series featuring bagel collabs
PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS
they are leading by example, despite being new to Nashville. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST COMEBACK CAL’S COUNTRY KITCHEN
BEST DEVELOPMENT FOR DOWNTOWN TOURISTS ADOPTION OF THE SAFEBAR TRAINING PROGRAM
When Cal’s Country Kitchen closed in 2021, it was the end of an era. Owner Carolyn Buggs wanted to retire, and while no one begrudged her the respite, the meat-and-three was resoundingly missed. Her son, Marcus Buggs, decided to close his Coneheads restaurant (rumor is you’ll still be able to get chicken in a waffle cone in a food truck) and reopen Cal’s Country Kitchen in its stead. He moved the old sign to the new spot, and many of his mom’s classic menu items are on a handwritten sign that changes daily. Just like the old days, expect a line. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE GROWING TOGETHER VIA THE NASHVILLE FOOD PROJECT
Weekly CSAs are a wonderful way to support local farms and eat fresher, healthier food. But too many eventually become just a big box of kale with a few extras. Not Growing Together. This year’s farm for the season is led by husband-andwife team Nar and Tek Guragai, who hail from Bhutan and have been with the program since 2016. They deliver flavorful tomatoes, summer squash, garlic and potatoes but also interesting crops like water spinach and papalo (a pungent Mexican herb). They even pack and explain their boxes — including recipes! — on TikTok, expertly mixing traditional farming and modern means. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
If you own a high-performance automobile, there’s a responsibility to service the engine to keep it running smoothly. Lower Broad is the economic engine of the city, and the tourists partying in the bars and honky-tonks run near the red line most nights. So it’s important to try to keep them safe and take care of them. More downtown establishments continue to participate in the SafeBar Training Program, educating employees to recognize danger signs of potential sexual assault and taking efforts to protect patrons. Staff members also keep Narcan behind the bar to treat opiate overdoses. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST NEW DINING DEVELOPMENT MORE OMAKASE
Chef’s-choice sushi (or omakase) is always the best way to go, and new spots like Present Tense, Sushi Bar and Ichigo Ichie join stalwarts such as O-Ku, Virago and others to take the pressure off of what to order and just leave yourselves in the hands of the masters. Plus you have to imagine that chefs give you their best effort and freshest fish when they have to look you in the eye while serving. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST NEW EFFORT TO ADDRESS FOOD SECURITY LOCALLY FEEDBACK NASHVILLE
Nashville has all sorts of organizations that strive to improve the city’s food system, addressing
BEST COMEBACK, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CAL’S COUNTRY KITCHEN
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
EAST NASHVILLE’S NEIGHBORHOOD VEGAN SPOT
issues like food deserts, urban farming, minimizing food waste and institutional inequities that bake injustice into food distribution. FeedBack Nashville is a nonprofit group that has spent the year bringing multiple constituencies to the table to address these issues. After diagnosing and defining Nashville’s food system through surveys and community events, the group is now working to plot a path forward toward food security for all Nashvillians CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST REVIVAL OF A LOCAL STAPLE CHAGO’S BELMONT CANTINA
In a world where local legends are often squeezed out by large chain restaurants, it was a grim day when Chago’s Cantina announced it would be closing. Belmont Boulevard residents and students were unsure what would come next. But then in a twist of fate, three local managers — Steven and Christopher Smithing and Brandon Styll — brought back the Chago’s magic under new management. While the menu isn’t the same, the spirit that has kept so many locals returning for the past 14 years is, and I’ll admit that the new chips and queso may just be a little bit better than before. BRADEN SIMMONS
BEST SITE FOR LOCAL DINERS FOODIES OF NASHVILLE FACEBOOK GROUP
Let’s admit it: Sometimes online food reviewing sites (with the exception of the Scene’s food blog Bites, of course) can be a bit of a sewer, with “Yelp Elite” reviewers striving to build themselves up by slamming restaurants for inadver-
tently forgetting to include ketchup packets in their carryout order. But somehow a group of more than 64,000 food fans finds a way to carry on a (mostly) polite discourse about Nashville’s dining scene, thanks to upbeat and positive moderators who encourage members not to “yuck anyone’s yum.” For honest advice that includes hidden gems that don’t necessarily have the public relations resources to make “best of” lists, consult the counsel of the vox populi on FoN. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR BUSINESS MAGNATE WESLEY KEEGAN OF TAILGATE BREWERY
With one owner, no investors and a tremendously loyal team of hardworking employees, Wes Keegan has quietly opened nine outposts of his popular TailGate Brewery, including six taprooms in the past two years. At his West Nashville HQ, he operates one of the largest brewing systems in the entire state, but you might not know that if the only reasons you go are for the beers and cider, great pizza, painting classes, family- and dog-friendly atmosphere and plenty of outdoor space to enjoy al fresco drinking. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR BUSINESS MAGNATE,
PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS
BEST HOTEL
1.Conrad Nashville
2. The Hermitage Hotel
3. JW Marriott Nashville
1.Urban Cowboy
2. Germantown Inn
3. 12 South Carriage House
1.Genesis Diamonds
2. Consider the Wldflwrs
3. Judith Bright (tie) 3. King Jewelers (tie)
STORE, READERS’ POLL: LEVY’S
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
BEST PLACE TO BUY NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
1. Carter Vintage Guitars
Guitar Center
Fanny’s House of Music BEST PLACE TO BUY USED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
1. Carter Vintage Guitars
Fanny’s House of Music
Nashville Used & New Music
BEST SHOPPING MALL
NashTrash Tours
SMOKE/VAPE SHOP
ExpertFabric Care
BEST PLACE TO BUY VINYL 1. Grimey’s New & Preloved Music
Vinyl Tap
The Groove BEST PLACE TO BUY/SELL MUSIC 1. Grimey’s New & Preloved Music
McKay’s
The Great Escape BEST PLACE TO WORK
Loden Vision Centers
Wesley Financial Group
Rocky McElhaney Law Firm
PRINTING COMPANY
BEST RETAIL COMMUNITY THE PLUS CLOSET
When Julie Hollis and Shannon Clemons opened The Plus Closet in Donelson in November, they didn’t just open the area’s first plus-size secondhand store. They also created a place for people (mostly women) who wear plus-size clothes to have fun and feel happy while shopping. Many brands that are size-inclusive don’t stock plus sizes in-person, so people who wear above an XL do a lot of ordering online and returning. It’s depressing and bad for the environment, and return shipping can be costly. But shopping at The Plus Closet is a dopamine delight. Hollis and Clemons price items affordably (most items are in the $20 to $40 range), and they encourage customers to try on styles and brands they haven’t before. Plus, the dressing rooms are roomy and the vibe is collegial. Much of the inventory comes from locals selling their stuff (often never worn because folks missed the return window on those online purchases), so you can earn credits toward buying other new-to-you pieces.
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST GIFT-FOR-ANYONE SHOP THE GOLDEN SLIPPER
We all have that friend who finds the perfect gift for every occasion — and if that friend lives in Nashville, chances are she’s shopping at The Golden Slipper. The Germantown shop is a gift giver’s dream, with a curated selection of stylish, fun and memorable goodies for men, women, children and pets. As if that’s not enough, 2024
saw the addition of The Alice, a speakeasy-style candle-and-perfumery bar that offers an unforgettable experience and truly one-of-a-kind gifts. It’s impossible to leave empty-handed, whether you’re shopping for a friend or yourself.
NANCY FLOYD
BEST NEW LUXURY BOUTIQUE KIRNA ZABÊTE
On a visit to Nashville, Kirna Zabête founder Beth Buccini was thrilled with what she saw. At every event she attended, all of the ladies were dressed to the nines in top designer pieces. Soon after her visit, she began the process of opening one of her upscale boutiques in Nashville. The modern boutique — located in Green Hills — offers pieces from such designers as Adam Lippes, Carolina Herrera, Proenza Schouler, The Row, Alémais and Ashish, to name just a few. The spacious boutique helps shoppers create a wardrobe for everything from a trip to Whole Foods to a white-tie gala.
JANET KURTZ
BEST PLACE TO BUY GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING THE SHOP AT THISTLE FARMS
“Products with purpose” is how Thistle Farms describes the home, bath and body products that began 25 years ago with candles handpoured into glass jars in the tiny kitchen of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel. Though manufacturing is now based in a 22,000-square-foot facility, the candles are still made by the hands of women survivors of trafficking, prostitution
Striving to be the best for 17 years established 2007
and addiction. The product line has grown enormously and internationally through fair-trade partnerships, but the mission remains the same — to provide revenue for the programs as well as meaningful employment for women on their healing journeys. The Shop at Thistle Farms is a lavender-scented sanctuary to purchase lotions, essential oils, clothing, jewelry, baby toys, home goods and, always, the candles that light the way home.
KAY WEST
BEST INDIE BOOKSTORE THE BOOKSHOP
We are fortunate in Nashville to have several thriving independent bookstores, each with its own unique charm and all with owners who are passionate about the written word. Joelle Herr’s The Bookshop is one such place, a small-butmighty neighborhood bookseller in East Nashville. What The Bookshop lacks in size it more than makes up for in beauty and quality, with a thoughtfully curated selection of books for every type of reader. Here the latest and greatest bestsellers and books of the moment share shelf space with selections from local authors, stunning copies of classics, a generous assortment of specialty titles for nearly every interest, and
soon-to-be beloved books for babies, kids and young adults. The staff is always eager to share a recommendation (or five) if you’re in search of your next favorite read.
NANCY FLOYD
BEST SHOE REPAIR UNSUNG HOUSE
To me, the worn spots and scuffs on a favorite pair of boots perfectly encapsulate the idea that to be loved is to be changed. Unsung House seems similarly familiar with this sentiment. Since opening their Germantown shop in May 2022, brothers Isaac and Grant Gustafson have distinguished themselves as caring craftsmen who relish their trade. Every inch of the workshop gives a lived-in, cozy feeling — from the vintage equipment to the deep leather-polish smell. It’s a place you feel safe entrusting with your treasures, knowing they’ll return to you lovingly repaired and with a touch more shine.
MARY LOUISE MEADORS
BEST CAMERA SHOP (ANALOG) ARTIFCT
In an era when youths are rediscovering their parents’ crappy CoolPix digital cameras and snapping photos on aging handheld video
BEST INDIE BOOKSTORE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE BOOKSHOP
BEST PLACE TO BUY GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE SHOP AT THISTLE FARMS
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
Serendipity
game consoles, one might wonder if there’s still a place for vintage camera stores. Artifct makes a compelling case for its own existence. More than an antiques shop, Artifct is a torchbearer for the eternal cool of film photography. Where else could you pick up a Japanese 3D camera and a fistful of new and expired 35 mm film after gazing lovingly at a Leica that’s way out of your price range? But they aren’t just an existential threat to local photographers’ bank accounts — Artifct is creating a community for analog artists, professionals and hobbyists alike.
LANCE CONZETT
BEST CAMERA SHOP (DIGITAL) PIXEL CONNECTION
When Dury’s closed in 2020 after a 138-year run,
photographers across Middle Tennessee were suddenly left with few local options for camera gear and film processing. Enter Pixel Connection, an outpost of a Cleveland-based shop that has gone all-in on replacing Dury’s since opening in 2023. They aren’t just your destination for a last minute CF card and a smoke bomb — they’ve picked up where their predecessors left off, regularly hosting workshops, photowalks, demos and more for photographers of all stripes.
LANCE CONZETT
BEST OUTDOOR STORE CUMBERLAND TRANSIT
When adventure is calling, Cumberland Transit is ready with answers. Since 1971, the outdoor sporting goods shop has been equipping and
outfitting Nashvillians for whatever is on the horizon. Not only does the store boast an impressive inventory of the best outdoor brands on the market, but the staff is as knowledgeable and helpful as they come. With its creaky wood floors and cozy interiors, Cumberland Transit is everything an outdoor outfitter should be.
NANCY FLOYD
BEST SHOPPING STAYCATION MAISON MODISTE
Jami-lyn Fehr’s Second Avenue boutique Modiste carries designs that aren’t available elsewhere in town (think Blumarine, Anna October, Missoni). When you book a night at her neighboring short-term rental Maison Modiste, Fehr will stock the closet with threads hand-picked for your style, in your size. Try them on, pick what you want and wear it out on the town that night. Fehr will put the cost of the item on your tab, and everything else goes back to the shop. It’s like having a fairy godmother dress you for a night out, and you don’t even have to drive home afterward. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST PLACE TO BUY A KOOKY BONG BURNING LOVE
Every month, Burning Love — an ultra-femme headshop inside East Nashville’s A Shop of Things — hosts a livestream to launch new bongs, bubblers and accessories. It never disappoints. Themes range from Sea Weed to Girl Dinner to BUGS! to Bar Cart — you’re guaranteed to find the perfect conversation-starter for your collection. Just take a look at the Bonsai Cloche or the Shark Attack Bong and tell me they aren’t almost too pretty to use. But don’t worry — they also post handy videos walking you through properly cleaning different pieces, so you’re all set for your next sesh. RYNE WALKER
BEST USE OF AN OLD RITE AID OLD HICKORY SOCIAL
Rachel and Bruce Thomas had plans to lease the old Rite Aid store they bought on Robinson Road in Old Hickory. When those plans fell through, they decided to do something different — really different. In April, they opened Old Hickory Social, a 70-vendor maker-centric marketplace. It’s like an antique mall with different vendors manning different booths under one roof, except the vendors are folks who are making and selling cool, artsy things. For example, local favorite Hey Mavens moved its size-inclusive, gender-neutral lingerie shop from East Nashville, while Fernando & James sells old-fashioned wooden toys. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST PROMOTION AND RECOVERY MCKAY’S
With “The Ultimate McKay’s Road Trip,” the beloved book and music warehouse challenged shoppers to visit all five locations across Tennessee and North Carolina in one day for up to $800 in store credit. The response was clearly bigger than the company expected: Thousands turned up at each store, and emergency workers were enlisted to manage endless snaking lines. But rather than scrapping the challenge, the company loosened requirements so essentially everyone who made an honest attempt to complete it got their reward. We appreciate a company trying to do right by its most loyal customers — even when that means taking a loss to give out more free store credit. COLE VILLENA
Experience the Beau
The Cordelle is located in Downtown Nashville, less than one mile from Broadway and Music City Center. This award-winning venue is recognized by it’s iconic architecture and expansive private garden. Dramatic vaulted ceilings and a well-appointed furnished loft & bridal suite provide a show stopping backdrop for portraits, ceremony & reception
45 Lindsley Avenue thecordelle.com | @thecordelle
ree versatile event spaces
Experience
the
Elegance
Located in Wedgewood Houston, two miles from Broadway, Saint Elle boasts 8,000 sq. ft. of open venue space. The historic bow truss architecture is complimented by floor to ceiling windows and modern amenities that make this LARGE venue the ideal location to host ceremony & reception. Well-appointed private suites, elevated beverage service, and on-site parking give your guests an unforgettable experience “From First Drink to Last Dance"
1420 3rd Ave South thesaintelle.com | @thesaintelle
Experience the Hospitali
Estelle is an event space focused on hospitality and located one mile from Downtown in East Nashville. This architectural gem combines victorian elegance with the charm of a historic cabin. The versatile property is perfect for cocktail, ceremony & reception offering indoor/outdoor space, custom furnishings, catering and beverage service in-house. Estelle is the ideal venue for intimate events.
814 Woodland Street estellenashville.com | @estellenashville
Crista Ekstrand
Crista Ekstrand
Glenai Gilbert
Glenai Gilbert
Glenai Gilbert
Jordyn Smalling
Serving generations of families and friends as your Neighborhood cars guys for 30 years! Thank you, Nashville, for making these past few the best in our history!
At Global Motorsports Belle Meade we have an extensive network of retail and wholesale buyers. We are also a Kelly Blue Book Buying Center. Nashville has a thriving car market and national supply is very low so it is a great time to sell. We will buy any car regardless of condition!
WE DO THINGS WITH INTEGRITY AND HONESTY. WE AIM TO CONTINUE SERVING OUR COMMUNITY FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!
We are a small locally owned Auto Boutique. Part of our uniqueness is our unmatched personalized buying experience! We are all auto enthusiasts who buy, sell, source, trade, transport, and appraise cars. For the last 30 years, our aim has been, and is, to break the mold of the car buying experience, and treat our customers with respect and loyalty.
The plan Nashville has been waiting FOR
Nashville’s Transportation Improvement Program: Spend less time in traffic and more time where you want to be!
With input gathered from a wide range of community voices, Mayor Freddie O’Connell has put forth an EQUITABLE and EFFECTIVE transportation plan. It's funded by a proposed 1/2 penny sales tax increase - 60% of which will be paid by tourists and out-of-towners – and it will allow us to tap into $1.4 billion of federal funding, easing the burden on taxpayers.
HERE’S HOW THE PLAN BENEFITS EVERYONE IN OUR COMMUNITY:
Reducing Traffic
By installing nearly 600 “smart traffic lights” that will reduce the time drivers spend in traffic, especially at rush hour.
Expanding Bus Service Improving Roads & Sidewalks
With more rapid bus lines, less downtown transfers, and free bus service for qualifying seniors, low-income and disabled residents, and students.
With upgrades to Nashville’s most heavily traveled roads, safety improvements at hazardous intersections, and 86 miles of new sidewalks.
Vote the Transportation Improvement Program on or before Nov. 5th / Early voting Oct. 16-31st FOR
BEST INVESTIGATION PAIGE PFLEGER ON GUN OWNERSHIP AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
While national politics and celebrity drama command the lion’s share of media clicks, Paige Pfleger spent much of the past 12 months producing deeply researched clips on the deadly relationship between illegal gun ownership and high-risk domestic violence situations in Tennessee. Pfleger, a WPLN journalist and ProPublica Local Reporting Network fellow, ascended to Nashville’s all-star media tier explaining the real crises shared by too many people in Tennessee — as well as possible solutions. Domestic violence, specifically, cuts across race, class and geography, fueled by the state’s deficient stances toward gender-based threats and gun dispossession. Pfleger’s reporting reminds us that it’s something many Tennesseans may not think about until, suddenly, it really, really matters. ELI MOTYCKA
BEST SCOOP
VIVIAN JONES ON BILL LEE’S EXPENSIVE EUROPEAN TOUR
Put a Tennessee conservative behind a podium and odds are good that, at some point, he or she will throw a dig at the incurable liberal urge to misuse tax dollars. That hypocrisy was laid bare when Tennessean reporter Vivian Jones landed the scoop of the year with a series of stories on Gov. Bill Lee’s 2023 luxury trip to France and Italy — the governor’s political branding as a
catalyst for progress that has changed the calculus for a rising generation of Black musicians in Music City. Jointly produced by Nashville Public Radio’s WPLN and WNXP and hosted by senior music writer Jewly Hight, Making Noise brings in heaps of voices to tell Lovenoise’s story and shine a light on the ongoing impact of systemic racism all across the city. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST MEDIA LEGEND PIVOT DEMETRIA KALODIMOS, BANNER & COMPANY
With a “letter left on a desk, no conversation, no face-to-face meeting, no thanks,” WSMV fired its star TV anchor Demetria Kalodimos on Jan. 1, 2018. After 16 Emmys and more than three decades covering Nashville on primetime nightly news broadcasts, she had become among the city’s most recognizable media figures. Her pivot to the Nashville Banner instantly brought a dedicated audience and a career’s worth of credibility to the new online outlet (inspired by the longtime Nashville daily of the same name). She now balances the podcast interview series Banner & Company with investigative hits and occasional beat reporting. Her
decision also reflects a trend of nimble new outlets regularly outmaneuvering TV stations and legacy titles across platforms. With Kalodimos still leading the way, it’s great journalism that tends to rise to the top. ELI
MOTYCKA
BEST NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE HESTER
When something significant happens in Nashville, The Tennessean’s Nicole Hester will probably be there taking photos of it. From capturing the joy of music festivals to documenting intense protests at the state Capitol, Hester is seemingly everywhere, always hustling to capture important moments that shouldn’t be forgotten. Among her most recognizable photos is one taken the day of the Covenant School shooting in 2023: a young girl weeping inside a school bus leaving the site of the tragedy. The image, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Breaking News Photography this year, provides a raw and haunting look at the impact of gun violence on children. This photo and the rest of Hester’s astounding portfolio remind us of the power that images can hold and the importance of photojournalism.
KELSEY BEYELER
prudent businessman only added to the embarrassment. While Lee’s office defended the trip as a “strategic international trade mission,” taxpayers footed the $117,000 bill while state officials and their spouses enjoyed Michelin-reviewed restaurants and luxury hotels. ELI MOTYCKA
BEST AUDIO STORYTELLER MERIBAH KNIGHT
Since her podcast series The Promise in 2018, Peabody Award winner and Pulitzer finalist Meribah Knight has continued to gain national acclaim for two more podcasts produced through Nashville Public Radio and national partners. She most recently released the four-episode podcast Supermajority as part of NPR’s documentary series Embedded, in which she followed Covenant School moms during the 2024 Tennessee General Assembly — just a year after a deadly shooting at their children’s school. Knight also received the George Polk Award and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for her work on The Kids of Rutherford County, which was also named The New Yorker’s third-best podcast of 2023. NICOLLE S. PRAINO
BEST MUSIC HISTORY PODCAST MAKING NOISE: HOW A SUNDAY NIGHT PARTY CHANGED NASHVILLE
If Nashville wants a truly thriving ecosystem for Black art, there’s still major work to be done. But since 2003, Lovenoise — which started as a showcase series and evolved into one of the city’s top indie concert promoters — has been a
BEST NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NICOLE HESTER
BEST MEDIA LEGEND PIVOT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: DEMETRIA KALODIMOS, BANNER & COMPANY
BEST FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER VICTORIA QUIRK
Great food photography is transportive. It activates all of your senses, drawing you face-first into the kitchen where its subjects were created. I’ve yet to see a photograph made by Victoria Quirk that didn’t make me immediately want to transport myself off my couch and into the bar or restaurant she captured. It isn’t just her impeccable taste in clients, which include Frankies, Coral Club and the dearly departed Lou; it’s her innate understanding of light — natural and created, harsh and soft — that brings some of Nashville’s best food and drink to beautiful, sumptuous life. LANCE CONZETT
BEST POLITICAL NEWCOMER SHAUNDELLE BROOKS
Any politician faces an essential bind: convince voters of your selflessness while seeking out power. Shaundelle Brooks — formerly employed in the Tennessee juvenile justice system, then an adult parole officer — identifies first as a mom. She came to politics in grief, having lost her son Akilah DaSilva in a 2018 shooting at an Antioch Waffle House, and earns credibility with voters every time she displays the vulnerability of a first-time candidate navigating a political process while still dead set on making a difference. Her top issue, gun violence, happens to be a key weakness for Republicans, who have stubbornly avoided softening their absolute stance against gun control. Brooks won the Democratic primary for state House District 60 in August, and she faces Republican Chad Bobo, a former Cameron Sexton aide, in the general election Nov. 5. ELI MOTYCKA
BEST THING ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY THE ELVIS ACT
The Tennessee legislature is often criticized in Nashville and beyond for passing legislation that hinders rather than helps Tennesseans. But at least one bill became law during the 2024 Tennessee General Assembly that was unanimously agreed upon by bipartisan law-
makers and constituents: the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act. Gov. Bill Lee swiftly signed the bill into law after it was passed, making Tennessee the first state in the nation to protect individuals’ rights from misuse of artificial intelligence. The passage of a safeguard for musicians drew praise from several music industry groups, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the Nashville Musicians Association. NICOLLE S. PRAINO
BEST METRO COUNCIL ROOKIE COUNCILMEMBER JEFF PREPTIT
Most first-termers learn quickly that a district councilmember’s job mostly happens outside the blinding glamour of Tuesday night meetings broadcast on YouTube. More specifically, it happens in buried inboxes, at community meetings and on phone calls, where members problem-solve everything from trash pickup to rezoning. It’s a testament to Green Hills’ Jeff Preptit that, among a remarkably earnest and hardworking rookie class, he stands out for both a sharp command of the chamber’s complicated operating process and boundless energy to crystallize the stakes of each week’s hot-button issue. The District 25 rep’s willingness to get behind much-needed zoning reform, while claiming some of its most vocal opponents as constituents, and his legal-minded intervention to prevent police officers’ associations with hate groups, signal a rising star on the city’s bench of legislators. ELI MOTYCKA
BEST POLITICAL WIN VARSITY SPENDING PLAN BY SOUTHERN MOVEMENT COMMITTEE
In June, the nonprofit Southern Movement Committee scored big with its Varsity Spending Plan, securing a $1 million city investment in Nashville’s youth and neighborhoods. This allocation isn’t just a budget line item, but a powerful investment in creating safer neighborhoods. With $250,000 going to expand community center programs and $750,000 earmarked for establishing a new Office of Youth Safety, this plan shifts focus from punishment to prevention, funding
programming focused on reducing gun violence. It’s a win that puts Nashville’s future first, showing what real community reinvestment looks like. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN REVIVAL COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT ADVOCATES
There is little to celebrate for many Nashvillians in the wake of state and local officials’ assault on the Community Oversight Board — now the Community Review Board — which passed by direct referendum in 2018 after an extended campaign by the Community Oversight Now coalition. The board was gutted by state law last year. This spring, an explosive complaint, filed by a former MNPD lieutenant, alleged rampant misconduct within the city’s police department, including a pattern of obstruction toward the board. With a heavy heart, Nashville saw many of the same faces from 2018 — including CRB board executive Jill Fitcheard, MTSU professor Sekou Franklin, and Sheila Clemmons Lee, whose son Jocques was killed by an officer — back in Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church over the summer, demanding a just response from city leaders. “Best” fails to capture the grief, betrayal and frustration that comes when government power shatters good-faith reform from its citizens, and our city only stands stronger because of these advocates’ choice to continue demands for police accountability. ELI MOTYCKA
BEST HISTORY INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @NASHVILLEQUEERHISTORY
History accounts can deepen your love for your
city, and @nashvillequeerhistory is a clear winner this year. Launched in 2021 by Sarah Calise, Nashville Queer History is a community project dedicated to archiving and elevating Southern queer history, and NQH’s Instagram account is actively making our city better by promoting historically focused events and sharing photographs and stories of queer folks in our history. And this goodwill is tangible: Thanks to NQH’s fundraising efforts, late Black trans soul singer Jackie Shane was honored with a historical marker on Jefferson Street this fall. CAT ACREE
BEST INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT STARLAND VINTAGE & UNUSUAL
Everyone knows it’s hard to go viral. But have you ever thought about how hard it is to convince a touring comedian from Saturday Night Live to visit your store? That’s what the folks at Starland Vintage did. Twice. When SNL cast member Sarah Sherman (aka Sarah Squirm) brought her show to Nashville in July, Heather Hayden from Starland Vintage posted a video on Instagram describing what to wear to Squirm’s show. The result was not just a comment from Squirm, but an Instagram story from the body-horror comedian about shopping at Starland Vintage. A few weeks later when Nashville’s own SNL cast member James Austin Johnson was playing at Zanies, Heather posted a video featuring JAJ. Saturday Night Live comedians aside, Starland Vintage’s Instagram is a reminder of how great and weird Nashville can still be, if we let it. KIM BALDWIN
PHOTO:
RESTAURANT
BEST KIDS’ DENTIST DR. MIRNA CALDWELL
When you turn off of bustling 21st Avenue South into Hillsboro Pediatric Dentistry, you find an enchanted cottage painted sunflower-yellow with cheerful blue shutters and decorative teeth etched into the front. Instead of stacks of old Highlights magazines in the waiting room, there’s an array of tooth-related toys to pique kids’ curiosity. There’s also a plush dolphin sporting an oversized mouth with surprisingly human-like chompers and an accompanying toothbrush for patients to practice brushing. There’s no wait time in this magical doctor’s office: Children will promptly be asked to enter the dentistry through a small kid-size door where they meet Dr. Mirna Caldwell. At 4-foot-10 with a long, flowy white coat, a warm smile and a singsong voice, Dr. Caldwell is like the Tooth Fairy — so even if she discovers a dreaded cavity in your child’s precious little mouth, you can trust that it will be filled with the utmost care. And the dentist doesn’t limit her magic to 21st Avenue: You can also find her at Caldwell Pediatric Dentistry on Edmondson Pike. The only downside to this entire fairy tale is that Dr. Caldwell doesn’t accept grown-up patients. TOBY ROSE
BEST HALLOWEEN PARTY FOR LITTLE ONES BOO AT THE ZOO
Watching your toddler rock out on a light-up dance floor is equally joyous and terrifying, zooming you forward to future college days you’d rather pretend aren’t coming. But Boo at the Zoo — which runs nightly from mid-October until Halloween — is a great way to bank spooky
and adorable memories before they’re big enough to stop you. Enjoy free carousel rides, special animal shows, 10 candy stops, costumed characters, storytime and tons of photo ops for $23 or less per ticket. Tip: Make it worth your older kids’ while by purchasing a ride on the Ferris wheel or zipline. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST NYE CELEBRATION FOR KIDS FAT BOTTOM BREWING’S ‘SLIGHTLY EARLY’ NEW YEAR’S EVE
Until your kids are old enough to sleep in, you have to put New Year’s Eve on hold — or you did before Fat Bottom revamped it. From 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Nations taproom and beer garden offer a s’mores station, party favors, prizes and photo ops. Adults can enjoy football on the big screen and two-for-one drafts. And the event crescendos with their “ball drop,” which is actually a balloon drop, at the eminently reasonable hour of 4 p.m. No lines, no babysitter, no staying up till midnight? No-brainer. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST NEW PLAY FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE’S STRONG INSIDE
We don’t often see hometown heroes portrayed on local stages, so it was exciting to see Nashville Children’s Theatre open its 2023-24 season with the world premiere of Strong Inside. Based
on the bestselling book by Andrew Maraniss and adapted by Tyrone L. Robinson, Strong Inside presents the true story of Nashville’s own Perry Wallace — who made history as the first African American to play college basketball in the deeply segregated Southeastern Conference. Approaching tough issues in an honest yet sensitive way and incorporating archival photos and news clips into its design, this powerful new work ensures that Wallace’s legacy will live on with young audiences. AMY STUMPFL
BEST NEW MUSICAL FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE’S THE GINGERBREAD KID
The weather might have been dark and gloomy back in January, but Nashville Children’s Theatre managed to cook up a most heartwarming treat with its world premiere of The Gingerbread Kid. Based on the familiar fairy-tale character and written and directed by frequent NCT collaborator Abe Reybold, this delightful new work touches on important themes of problem-solving and unconditional love while delivering some really fun, poppy tunes from award-winning songwriter Jodi Marr. With magical design elements and a host of hilarious performances, The Gingerbread Kid gave little ones a sweet new musical that kept them dancing in their seats. AMY STUMPFL
BEST KIDS’ DENTIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: DR. MIRNA CALDWELL BEST HALLOWEEN PARTY FOR LITTLE ONES, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BOO AT THE ZOO
BEST INTRODUCTION TO THEATER NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE’S SNUGGERY
If you’re eager to expose your little one to theater but not confident in their ability to sit still for longer than a few minutes, Nashville Children’s Theatre’s Snuggery shows are perfect. The shows take place in a large room instead of on a traditional stage, and guests are invited to sit on the floor or benches. Then the children participate in the story by joining in on the action with the actors. There are cues! There are props! It’s silly and fun and such a lovely way to introduce your little ones to the fascinating land of theater.
ELIZABETH JONES
BEST YOUTH WRITING PROGRAM THE THEATER BUG’S THE PLAYGROUND
There’s no shortage of fun arts programming for youngsters in Nashville. But thanks to The Theater Bug’s innovative program The Playground, young writers have the opportunity to tell their own stories onstage. Directed by the award-winning playwright Nate Eppler, The Playground provides year-round opportunities for learning and professional mentorship, along with an annual short-play festival. Each year, one writer is selected to develop their idea into
nonstop activities keep kids engaged, activating their imaginations by asking them to make up stories, act out different emotions and play out different scenarios on the fly. But don’t worry if your child is on the shy side; there is no shaming here, and children constantly pop in and out of the activities. Parents are encouraged to participate too!
ELIZABETH JONES
BEST FAMILY TAPROOM EAST NASHVILLE BEER WORKS
BEST DOG TRAINING DOGS AND KAT
a fully staged production. This year’s installment — Megg the Egg by Huck Paisley — featured one of the program’s most ambitious scripts to date while embracing the whimsical spirit that is The Theater Bug. AMY STUMPFL
BEST KIDS’ IMPROV CLASS THIRD COAST KIDS PLAYSHOP
Discover your child’s inner superstar in Third Coast’s low-pressure improv class. Playshop’s
Watching a kid on a playground gets boring fast. East Nashville Beer Works solves that problem by putting a playground inside a fence for safety, and then topping it off with a taproom. For parents, that’s more than enough. But then the pizza is better than it has to be, the place is dog-friendly, and they offer big screens and darts. They also make good beer without silly flavors like Froot Loops as hooks and offer a small, solid cocktail list. If you’re a parent and it’s not your favorite taproom, that’s only because you haven’t been yet. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Dogs and Kat can perform wonders for dogs, from improving behavior to teaching impressive tricks. But their sessions for reactive dogs are especially helpful, showcasing techniques to redirect your dog’s attention. The Dogs and Kat philosophy is based on positive reinforcement, so no scolding or smack-talking allowed. They can host you at their facility near the intersection of Thompson Lane and Nolensville Pike, plus they offer in-home training as well as group classes. (That includes agility classes — get it, Fido!) You’ll leave your sessions with homework meant to continue your pet’s training.
ELIZABETH JONES
BEST LOCAL PET PRODUCTS FUREVER FRIENDS
Since 2014, Abby Walters of FurEver Friends has made environmentally friendly leashes and toys by hand using donated T-shirts. Her price point is low — $10 for a double-sided bandanna —
BEST LOCAL
PRODUCTS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: FUREVER FRIENDS
BEST FAMILY TAPROOM, WRITERS’ CHOICE: EAST NASHVILLE BEER WORKS
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
and she doesn’t even keep it all: FurEver Friends has donated more than $10,000 to animal nonprofits over the past decade. What’s more, their gear is cute and durable, and they hold events like sewing workshops, where you make one item for your pet and one to donate to a shelter. Plus, Walters is a founding partner of the most hotly anticipated wall art of the year — Dino’s Dog Calendar — which has raised another $13,000 for rescues. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
BEST ADOPTION CAMPAIGN ADRIAN BUDNICK FOR MACC
Photographer Adrian Budnick’s viral videos for Metro Animal Care and Control bring humor to the adoption process, and even include a catchphrase good enough for n.b. goods to display on a hat and tote bag (unfortunately long sold out). Playing off the idea that shelters don’t have any “good” dogs or fancy breeds, Budnick (@puptographybyadrianbudnick) highlights the adorable adoptable dogs at MACC with humor and love. Oh, you’re looking for a “Vader Tater” or a “Certified Cushion Smusher”? How about a “Glacier Bay Fire Fox” or a “Flopped Eared Flapjack”? As Budnick confirms with the aforementioned catchphrase, “Yep, we’ve got them too. MmmHmm.”
ELIZABETH
JONES
BEST FELINE SPINOFF THE SENIOR CATIO
Like many cities, Nashville has a big stray cat program. It’s not so hard for kittens to find a home, but what about aging seniors? Older animals are far less likely to be adopted, but all pets deserve to live out their last years in care and comfort. This year, the folks at The Catio, Nashville’s local cat cafe, opened a sanctuary for their
slower senior adoptable cats, fittingly called The Senior Catio. Housed within the same building, the senior section offers guests a chance to interact with older cats who prefer a calmer environment. It’s the sweetest spinoff of an already amazing mission. HANNAH CRON
BEST WILDLIFE REHAB NONPROFIT HARMONY WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTER
Back in the spring, my significant other and I were minding our business with a trip to TailGate Brewery’s West Nashville headquarters when we stumbled across a silent auction for Harmony Wildlife — a West Meade-based
wildlife-rehab nonprofit. We ultimately walked away with a fancy new hummingbird feeder for our backyard and a subscription to “The Harmony Hoot,” the group’s almost unbearably adorable newsletter. Founded by Carol Burgess in the early ’90s, Harmony states its goals plainly on its website: “a resource for local residents who have questions about wild animals they encounter and a temporary place for injured or orphaned animals to recover and mature with the goal of release into their natural habitats.” Between their good work and the many photos of rescued skunks, racoons, possums, hawks and more that now grace my inbox each month, I can’t say enough good things about Harmony.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST ZOO BABIES SUMATRAN TIGER CUBS
If there is a person in this world whose day is not made brighter by the sight of a baby tiger, I should never want to meet them. Last October, Sumatran tiger mom Anne welcomed three fluffy cubs to her critically endangered species. The triplets’ naming contest raised almost $8,000 for the Nashville Zoo’s Tiger Conservation Campaign and gave the litter the perfect names: Kirana, Zara and Bulan. Whether in person at the Nashville Zoo or on social media, admirers from far and wide have seen the sweet and sometimes spicy cubs wrestling, hissing at the vet and taking naps on their mom’s head. They’re nearly full-grown now, but we’ll always enjoy seeing their photos on “Tongue Out Tuesdays.” HANNAH CRON
BEST ZOO BABIES, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SUMATRAN TIGER CUBS
Experience Nashville's classic holiday tradition as you embark on a magical one-mile walk through Cheekwood's gardens illuminated by more than a million lights. A delightful experience for all ages awaits, complete with s'mores, seasonal libations, and a Holiday Marketplace. Tour the Historic Mansion, specially decorated this year by former White House florist Laura Dowling.
Reserve tickets at cheekwood.org . 10th Annual Holiday LIGHTS | Nov 22 – Jan 5
Presented by
Sponsored by Cheekwood is funded in part by
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Find an agent & request a quote at societyinsurance.com/tennessee
SPECIAL ACTIVITY AREAS
AUTUMN ALLEY
Autumn Alley is back with a full block of fall fun on Main Street! Between the square and 4th Avenue, enjoy an interactive area including The Great Pumpkin, Pumpkin Tree, Extreme Pumpkin Carving, Free Games, and an Acoustic Stage.
MOORE-MORRIS HISTORY AND CULTURE CENTER
Located just a couple blocks from the Square, come see history quite literally come to life at the Moore-Morris History and Culture Center! A multi-sensory tavern experience, living portraits, and a FREE root beer float for solving Williamson County’s oldest crimes, make plans to visit the Center during PumpkinFest!
COSTUME CONTESTS
Don’t forget to come to PumpkinFest dressed to impress! Enter our Costume Contest to show everyone your creative flair or outfit your four legged friends and enter them in our Pet Costume Contest!
FAMILY FALL PHOTOS at the COURTHOUSE
Stop by the courthouse on the public square and have your family photo taken with a festive, autumnal scene.
MAIN STAGE Presented by NISSAN USA
You can’t have PumpkinFest without MAIN STAGE! Rock on over to the Square to see a variety of bands, acts, and performances take center stage.
ACOUSTIC STAGE
There’s plenty of great music awaiting you at PumpkinFests’s Acoustic Stage!! You’re not going to want to miss out on this year’s incredibly talented lineup of performers on the corner of 4th and Main!
JAIL & BAIL
Your favorite local celebrities have been locked up! Swing by the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County tent through out the day to see who’s been thrown behind bars and make a donation to set them free!
KIDONE Presented by HOPE UC
Looking for endless fun at PumpkinFest? Look no further than KidZone! With exciting games, creative crafts, and engaging activities, KidZone is the ultimate destination for your little adventurers. *Located in the Simmons Bank Lot
SCARECROW CRAWL
Enjoy Discounts & Win a Movie Ticket to The Franklin Theatre! Grab a passport and follow the Scarecrow Crawl to find the unique Scarecrow at each destination and write its code on your passport to claim your prize!
Passports available at the DFA tent on the square or at each shuttle stop entrance.
FOOD VENDORS
40 Below Company
Ace's Kettle Corn
April's Kitchen
Bee Happy Creamery
Buffalo Texas Sausage
Cajun Hub Kitchen
Colton's Steak House & Grill
Ellie's Old Fashioned Doughnuts
Fabulous Food Services
Faith's Old Fashioned Ice Cream
Flour and Forge
French Dips and Subs
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fruitfully Dipped LLC
Haole Boys Teriyaki
Mama Yang & Daughter
Smokey Dawggs Gourmet Hot Dog Co
The Monkey's Treehouse Eatery The Steel Pony
The Street Food Connection
This Turkey Here
PUBLIC WIFI ACCESS
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5TH
BOOTH & PARTNER DIRECTORY
STAGE SCHEDULE
1.Christ the King
Long Hollow Church
Josi
2. Filip Forsberg
Juuse Saros
1.Soccer Moses, Nashville SC 2. Father Dexter Brewer, Christ the King Church 3. Pastor Darren Mayberry Wright, Connection UMC BEST SPORTS MASCOT
Nashville has a rule that certain things (streets and parks) cannot be named after people until they’re dead. This is understandable — you don’t want to permanently name something for someone before their legacy is clear. Unfortunately, though, this means that Nashville normally honors its civil rights heroes only after they’re not around to appreciate it. But not when it comes to Diane Nash. OK, so we can’t yet name a street for her, and we can’t yet name a park for her, but the city figured out that it can name a concrete plaza for her and still be following its own rules. The dedication in April was a festival of joy. We got to show our appreciation to civil rights icon Diane Nash. She got to draw our attention to the people still living among us who fought the good fight with her. And she urged us to continue to push for nonviolent change. Having this opportunity to celebrate and reaffirm the legacy of Nash and her fellow activists was soul-nourishing for a city that desperately needed it.
BETSY PHILLIPS
BEST HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN PROGRESS ROSENWALD SCHOOL
Built between 1912 and 1937, Rosenwald Schools
were a network of nearly 5,000 schoolhouses created to get Black children in the segregated South access to an education. Many have been demolished, but thanks to the Heritage Foundation, the last standing Rosenwald School in Williamson County, called the Lee-Buckner School, was moved in February from rural Spring Hill to downtown Franklin. The move will allow the classroom to be historically preserved and made available to the public as a monument to Black education. MARGARET
LITTMAN
BEST LONGTIME ADVOCATE KARL MEYER
Longtime activist Karl Meyer, at 87 years old, spent a rainy evening on the Tennessee State Capitol lawn in protest of the state’s ban against camping on public property, a law that targets unhoused Tennesseans. He was arrested for his Aug. 1 protest but returned to the lawn for another campout, and spent another evening beneath an underpass. Meyer sought an audience with Gov. Bill Lee to discuss the law (which passed without the governor’s signature), though that never materialized. Still, people take notice when someone of Meyer’s advanced age puts his body on the line. There’s no shortage of dedicated advocates in Nashville, but
BEST PERSON TO GET OUT THE VOTE PAUL COLLINS
Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve seen his work. In 2020, Austin Peay State University art professor Paul Collins was discouraged about low voter turnout. He created artworks of wooden animals with the word “VOTE” emblazoned on them for 100 straight days. They proved so popular — and hopeful in a time when lots of things seemed hopeless — that he set about making more of them this election season, selling some old ones to buy more plywood. Expect to see more colorful creatures in front yards and busy intersections (and then follow Collins’ hand-painted directive).
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST MENTOR SHERRY DEUTSCHMANN
Sherry Deutschmann has lived a lot of lives. She’s been a musician, an author and a serial entrepreneur. So she’s well-positioned to empathize with what a lot of people (particularly women) are going through at work — and she uses that position to help others. She founded BrainTrust, a Nashville business that helps women entrepreneurs build their companies.
She is an executive producer of Show Her the Money, a nationally distributed documentary about the obstacles women face in attracting business financing that also helps train audience members in angel investing. Female entrepreneurs in town couldn’t do it without her.
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST NEW MUSEUM MOORE-MORRIS HISTORY AND CULTURE CENTER
In February, Williamson County opened Moore-Morris History and Culture Center, a 6,000-square-foot interactive facility that explores history in a more comprehensive way than downtown Franklin has offered in the past. Housed in a 1905 building, the cultural center explores what life was like inside a tavern on the nearby Natchez Trace Parkway, post-war industrial development and Indigenous populations of the area, and even tells the stories of those incarcerated in the old county jail. If you’re the kind of person who likes to push every audio button and read every map, a tour through the three-story building could take several hours.
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST PLACE TO SPEND ETERNITY LARKSPUR CONSERVATION
A groundbreaker — literally — in reviving the
Meyer shows that a rebellious do-gooder spirit can stay kindled for decades. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
BEST DEDICATION, WRITERS’ CHOICE: DEDICATION OF DIANE NASH PLAZA BEST
BEST PERSON TO GET OUT THE VOTE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: PAUL COLLINS
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
ancient practice of natural burial, Larkspur Conservation was created with the purchase of 112 acres of protected land at Taylor Hollow in 2017 and opened to the public for natural burial in 2018. Graves on the now-161-acre property in Sumner County are dug for the burials (embalming is forbidden), with vaults replaced by simple shrouds or other biodegradable caskets. Families and friends participate however they wish, with sites marked by native stones flat to the earth. The lush meadows, dense woodlands and ever-growing landscapes of Larkspur invite contemplative walking, reflective pause, celebration of life, peaceful transitions and recognition of heaven on earth. KAY WEST
BEST MEANINGFUL MEMORIAL CELEBRATION THE GATHERING: A COMMUNITY CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF CHARLES FREDERICK STROBEL
Had priesthood and a lifetime dedicated to serving the homeless not drafted him, Charlie Strobel — the founder and shepherd of Room In The Inn — might have made a deal with the devil to play professional baseball. He reveled in the promise of a field of dreams, green grass stretching back to an outfield wall, a ball soaring away into the blue sky, the endless possibilities of a game not played to a clock. On a late-summer day in 2023 after his death, thousands came to First Horizon Park, home of the Nashville Sounds. They took their seats in the stands, and as Strobel’s face beamed from the scoreboard, they celebrated his life in music, prayer, words and a joyful sing-along of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” KAY WEST
BEST PLACE TO CATCH UP ON EMAIL AND TEXTS WEGO BUSES
You shouldn’t text and drive under any circumstances — but those things are pretty much mandatory while riding the bus. Sure, it might take a few minutes longer to get from Green Hills or East Nashville to downtown on a WeGo bus than in your car. But subtract the time, hassle and expense of finding a place to park and recognize that you can actually accomplish a few things along the way instead of rage-honking at scooters in the road, and you’ll discover it’s a totally viable option.
CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
BEST NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT THE LIGHT AT ASHLAND CITY HIGHWAY AND CLARKSVILLE PIKE
This Y-shaped intersection at the top of a hill up in Bordeaux was dangerous before construction on Clarksville Pike started. Anyone making a left turn from any direction was turning with no clear view of oncoming traffic. You just went on faith, and your faith was not always rewarded. Once construction started, things only got worse and more dangerous. Then the city put in a traffic light, and lo and behold, people could safely turn left. And traffic began to move — and let me reiterate — through the construction zone, more smoothly than it ever had previously.
Now that construction is finished and the intersection has this light and clearly marked crosswalks, it’s so functional that it’s hard to even remember just what a dangerous, traffic-clogging mess it was before. This light is a miracle.
PHILLIPS
BETSY
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD GLOW-UP LEBANON PIKE IN DONELSON
With the doors open at the first new Nashville Public Library in a decade, the area around Old Lebanon Pike and Benson Road is officially the makeover of the year. There have long been standouts in the area — Phat Bites, Homegrown Taproom & Kitchen and the Hip Donelson Farmers Market, to name three. But now, in addition to the stunning, light, airy library, there’s a second location of Fryce Cream and the cool Bagelshop parklet, plus HiFi Cookies, Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen and Edley’s Bar-B-Que. Cookies, bagels, soft serve, sidewalks and free books to read. Really, what else does a neighborhood need? MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST PLACE TO LINE-DANCE NASHVILLE PALACE
Nashville has a lot less line-dancing than I imagined it would before I moved here, and the list of options got shorter this year with the loss of Wildhorse Saloon. A longtime anchor in the line-dance community, Nashville Palace is a place we can depend on. With its weekly lessons, regular competitions and Nashville Palace Angels party-starters, it’s a great place to learn the latest routines and simply enjoy the bliss that is moving in unison with others. It’s a place to put the boots to good use. HANNAH HERNER
BEST HEAD-TURNING TRANSFORMATION THE DRIFT HOTEL
What was once The Stadium Inn, a transient hotel in the space between downtown and East Nashville — one generally regarded as unsafe for its residents and its staff — was completely gutted, reimagined and renovated to become a midcentury-modern hotel with a vibey pool scene and bar scene with tasty tacos. Unlike some other gentrification projects that wipe the slate clean, the Drift Hotel is honoring some of what took place at The Stadium Inn (good, bad and ugly) while trying to build a place where locals and visitors feel comfortable hanging together. MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST FRIDAY MORNING CREATIVE MORNINGS
Nashville is a city full of people who work in the arts and music, or at least sometimes get paid to do so. The local chapter of Creative Mornings argues that everyone is a creative in their own right. The monthly series offers inspiring TED Talk-like chats to keep the creative juices flowing. Think of it as professional development time, except it’s actually fun, and there’s free breakfast. People are friendly — not pretentious — and there are usually free stickers! If you’re looking for community in Nashville,
BEST SUNDAY NIGHT OPERA ON TAP
As a lifelong sufferer of the Sunday Scaries, I always look for ways to end the weekend with a bang. As a former longtime rural dweller, I also look for experiences that I couldn’t have had in my small town. Enter Opera on Tap. The Nashville chapter of the national organization hosts a free monthly event in an effort to make the art form more approachable. They set up audiences for success with a description of the song’s premise and a low-key setting, like a bar or restaurant. The lineup is always changing, and the themes vary, but It’s always a Sunday well spent. HANNAH HERNER
BEST PARK FOR A LONG WALK RADNOR LAKE STATE PARK
Feeling disillusioned with humanity? Need to reconnect with nature? The oasis of Radnor Lake State Park awaits you. In just three miles, you can circle the lake, say howdy to your fellow walkers, pass by several grazing deer and interact with enthusiastic bird watchers and photographers who will gladly whisper to you what animal they’re stalking with their lens. Feeling more athletic? There are several more strenuous trails up the mountainside. Radnor
recently widened parts of its main trail to allow more accessibility, including providing access to all-terrain wheelchairs. It’s a magical world, and we are oh-so-lucky it’s in Nashville. Never change, Radnor.
BEST PARK FOR A LONG RUN SHELBY BOTTOMS GREENWAY AND NATURE CENTER
From the demanding hills of Percy Warner to river views of the Cumberland River Greenway, there’s no shortage of paths, parks and trails for Nashvillian runners to traverse. For long runs, though, one destination stands out: Shelby Bottoms Greenway and Nature Center in East Nashville. Runners delight in the park’s merciful shade, diverse scenery, paved paths and generous parking. It’s a favorite of walkers, cyclists and families. But go early, especially on weekends and holidays. The park is free and open between dawn and 11 p.m. — though the greenway closes at dusk. Most parking is adjacent to the Nature Center and Forrest Green Drive. LIZ DOUPNIK
BEST PARK FOR A WILDLIFE WALK PERCY WARNER PARK
If you’re lucky, you live long enough to slow down. Let the youth have their CrossFit boxes and Barry’s Bootcamps. You and I? We’re going to the woods. Get in, loser: We’re going to look
Creative Mornings seems a good place to start.
HANNAH HERNER
ELIZABETH JONES
BEST PARK FOR A LONG WALK , WRITERS’ CHOICE: RADNOR LAKE STATE PARK
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
for owls. I used to go to Percy Warner Park to run the 5.8-mile loop or cycle the 11.2 — or sometimes, if I was training for a hike, the staircase. These days, I’m going for the wildlife. It’s not unusual to see the following on one short hike: turkey, deer, hawk, barred owl. (I’d list all the birds, but I have a word count to hit.) If you’re looking for a free wildlife walk with the potential to see owls and hawks and deer (and if you can parallel park), Percy Warner is the place. KIM BALDWIN
BEST PLACE FOR ROLLERBLADING AND ROLLER-SKATING CORNELIA FORT AIRPARK
Pick a park, any park. Joggers and walkers are sure to be found, cyclists likely abound, and dogs (plus their walkers) will also be there for fresh air. But there’s really only one park in town where you can find all that activity plus the grooviest Nashvillians on eight wheels. Cornelia Fort Airpark is the best spot to turn on your skating-rink mix and glide. The flat, absolutely massive former airplane runway is perfect for rollerblading and roller-skating — and don’t forget to bring a tripod to film your best tricks.
ASHLEY SPURGEON SHAMBAN
BEST GRAMMAR CARTOONIST KRISTIN WHITTLESEY
Even the best of us get certain words confused.
the 4x100-meter medley relay. Post-Paris, Walsh is returning for her fourth collegiate season with the University of Virginia, and we can’t wait to see how she’ll make us proud next. HANNAH CRON
BEST HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE CLAIRE STEGALL
For me, it’s exasperate and exacerbate. Whichever of those words I’m supposed to use, I’m using the other one. Maybe for you it’s bear vs. bare, or canvas vs. canvass. It’s rough out in these grammar streets. Luckily, Nashville has someone with the smarts and the sense of humor to help. Kristin Whittlesey has 30 years of experience in Nashville media. She was a founding editor at The Rage and assistant features editor for The Tennessean, and now she’s with PR firm Hall Strategies. These days, she starts each day by drawing a whiteboard cartoon about the difference between words like feign, feint and faint, and we are all the smarter for it. Find her on X at @KAWhittlesey. KIM BALDWIN
BEST ATHLETE GRETCHEN WALSH
We all connect with sports differently. Some are die-hard baseball fans; others are all-in on basketball. Some love them all, and some don’t understand any of it. That’s the beautiful thing about the Olympics — they bring every type of person together to root for their country at the biggest sporting event in the world. This year, Nashville had the opportunity to rally around their own Olympic star, swimmer Gretchen Walsh. The 21-year-old Nashville native brought home four medals — two gold and two silver — and set a world record with her butterfly during
When it comes to local high school athletes during the 2023-24 school year, you’d be hardpressed to find a better résumé than that of Nolensville High School’s Claire Stegall. Currently a senior, Stegall entered her junior campaign with high expectations, already considered one of the top runners in the state. Stegall proceeded to level up, winning three state titles (two in track and field and one in cross country), qualifying for nationals in the latter and earning the Gatorade Tennessee High School Player of the Year award in the former. And she still has another year to go! LOGAN BUTTS
BEST UNDERRATED COLLEGIATE ATHLETE TERRELL ALLEN
No one wrecked opposing backfields last season like Tennessee State University’s Terrell Allen. In 11 games, Allen racked up 14.5 sacks and a whop-
ping 28 tackles for loss — both stats led the nation at the Football Championship Subdivision level. Allen’s performance earned him the Big South-OVC Defensive Player of the Year award and the Buck Buchanan Award. Although Allen has moved on to Tulane after two all-conference seasons in Nashville, his place in Tiger history is cemented. LOGAN BUTTS
BEST TEAM VANDERBILT WOMEN’S ROWING
Pop quiz: Can you name the only team in the city to win a Division I collegiate national championship during the 2023-24 season? Here’s a hint: They aren’t NCAA-affiliated. After finishing as the national runner-up in 2023, Vanderbilt University’s women’s rowing team won gold in the varsity eight-plus grand final at the 2024 American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championships, which took place in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in May. The ’Dores out-raced Purdue by less than three one-hundredths of a second to earn first place. Sounds like this needs to become an officially sanctioned sport at Vanderbilt. LOGAN BUTTS
BEST ATHLETE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: GRETCHEN WALSH
BEST TEAM, WRITERS’ CHOICE: VANDERBILT WOMEN’S ROWING
PHOTO: MIKE LEWIS
BEST NBA ROOKIE BRANDON MILLER
Some Charlotte Hornets fans actually booed when the team selected Antioch’s Brandon Miller with the second pick of the NBA Draft last year, convinced he wasn’t the best player available. But Hornets fans spent much of the season cheering Miller, who wound up finishing third in the league’s Rookie of the Year voting and earning a spot on the all-rookie team. A 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward who played at Cane Ridge High and Alabama, Miller averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for Charlotte. He was named the Eastern Conference’s Rookie of the Month three times. JOHN GLENNON
BEST DRAFT PICK TYRESE SPICER
Despite Lipscomb University being a private school with an enrollment of fewer than 5,000, the school’s men’s soccer program has established itself as nationally prominent over the past decade. Since 2017, the program has qualified for five NCAA tournaments and won five conference titles. If any American soccer fans somehow hadn’t yet become familiar with Lipscomb, that changed in December when two Bisons were selected within the top eight picks of the MLS SuperDraft, including the No. 1 overall selection, Tyrese Spicer. During his time in Nashville, the fleet-footed forward scored nearly 30 goals and was named an All-American. And as of this writing, he’s already scored twice as a rookie for Toronto FC. LOGAN BUTTS
BEST MLB DRAFT DAY CHASE BURNS
Pitcher Chase Burns might not have won an NCAA championship, but he still cashed in on a great career. Burns, a Beech High School graduate who grew up in Sumner County, played his first two seasons at the University of Tennessee before transferring to Wake Forest. Though he missed out on the Vols’ title run, Burns produced an 8-1 record for the Demon Deacons in 2024, leading the nation with 191 strikeouts. In July, the Cincinnati Reds made Burns the second
overall pick of the Major League Baseball Draft. Burns earned a reported $9.25 million signing bonus, the highest in MLB history. JOHN GLENNON
BEST INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE (NON-OLYMPICS)
JACOB SHAFFELBURG
Before the Olympics took over, sports fans enjoyed a Summer of Soccer in June and early July as UEFA Euro 2024 and the 2024 Copa America took place simultaneously. At the Copas, North and South America’s biggest futbol stars were on display on the international stage: Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, Jacob Shaffelburg. Yes, Nashville SC’s human golden retriever held his own on Team Canada among the greats of the sport, notching an assist on Canada’s first-ever Copa America goal, slotting home a match-tying goal in the quarterfinals and earning the nickname “Maritime Messi” as Canada advanced to the semifinals. LOGAN BUTTS
BEST OLYMPIAN TO
CALL OUT GENDER INEQUALITY VERONICA FRALEY
Vanderbilt University grad student and 2024
NCAA Outdoor Track and Field women’s discus titleholder Veronica Fraley made headlines in the summer when she posted on X (formerly Twitter). She noted that she was competing in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris while simultaneously being worried about paying her rent at home. Flavor Flav and Alexis Ohanian publicly sent her cash to cover the bill. Fraley pointed out that male football players typically get bigger endorsement deals than women who play less popular sports. Maybe if the NCAA backed women’s track and field the way they back football, those sports would be available to more spectators — and therefore more “popular.”
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST BACK-TO-BACK PERFORMANCE JOSEF NEWGARDEN
When Hendersonville’s Josef Newgarden captured his second straight Indianapolis 500 in May, he became the first back-to-back champion of the race since Brazil’s Helio Castroneves won two straight in 2001 and 2002. Only six drivers have ever captured two consecutive Indy 500 wins, and Newgarden became the first American to do so since Al Unser Sr. in 1970 and 1971. Newgarden displayed a familiar flair for the dramatic, winning the race on a last-lap pass for the second consecutive year. He finished 0.3417
BEST OFFSEASON ADDITION STEVE STAMKOS
The Titans and Predators both spent millions of dollars during their offseasons, adding multiple high-priced free agents. But it would be hard to find a new addition with a better pedigree than forward Steven Stamkos, who signed a four-year, $32 million contract with the Preds on July 1. The 34-year-old Stamkos spent the first 16 years of his career with Tampa Bay, where he guided the Lightning to Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, scored at least 40 goals in seven seasons and served as the team’s captain for a decade. JOHN GLENNON
BEST COACHING PERFORMANCE ANDREW BRUNETTE
It didn’t take long for Andrew Brunette to make an impression with the Nashville Predators. In his first season as Nashville’s head coach, Brunette guided the Preds to five more victories and seven more points than the team posted during the 2022-23 season under John Hynes. Those totals were enough to steer the Predators back into the playoffs after a one-year absence. During one stretch of the season, Nashville set a franchise record by earning at least a point in 18 straight games. Brunette finished second in the NHL’s Coach of the Year voting. JOHN GLENNON
BEST SWAN SONG DERRICK HENRY
In his final game for the Titans, running back Derrick Henry produced a vintage performance in front of home supporters, running 19 times for 153 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee’s 2820, season-ending win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Henry’s big afternoon included a 69-yard run, his longest of the season. He guided the Titans to a victory that knocked Jacksonville, Henry’s hometown team, out of the playoff picture. On multiple occasions, Nissan Stadium rocked to the chants of “Hen-ry, Hen-ry, Hen-ry.” After the game, Henry grabbed a microphone and thanked fans “for the greatest eight years of my life” before heading off to Baltimore. JOHN GLENNON
seconds ahead of second-place driver Pato O’Ward. JOHN GLENNON
BEST DRAFT PICK, WRITERS’ CHOICE: TYRESE SPICER
Coming in 2026: 159 flats in three industrial-inspired buildings, Elle is the next level of community for East Nashville. Authentic, artistic and inspired. Elle’s holistic approach to design considers body, mind and soul.
IN THE
Tucked away from coveted West End Avenue and adjacent to Nashville’s esteemed Centennial Park, Athena offers 51 luxury condominiums equipped to deliver its residents an effortless, indulgent lifestyle. With resort-style amenities and polished interiors, Athena caters to the most discerning tastes.
LUXURY CONDOMINIUMS FROM $1.42M WEST
LEARN MORE ABOUT ATHENA
BEST AESTHETICIAN
1.Kay Mason, Nourish Skin Nashville
2. Kenzie Cammuse, Nashville Skin Studio
3. Stephanie Smith Skin Care
BEST CHIROPRACTOR
1.Sweeney Chiropractic
2. Bradshaw Chiropractic
3. Crossroads Chiropractic
Shoutout for Your Votes!
BEST DENTIST
1.Nashville Dentistry Co.
2. Goodlettsville Smiles
3. Dillard Dental Services
BEST GOLF COURSE
1.Hermitage Golf Course (tie)
1.McCabe Golf Course (tie)
2. Hillwood Country Club
3. Vanderbilt Legends Club
BEST GYM/FITNESS CLUB
1.QNTM Fit Life
2. Fit Factory Nashville
3. YMCA
BEST HAIR REMOVAL
1.Wax Nashville
2. The Wax Suite
3. Brazilian Wax Studio
BEST HAIR SALON
1.Green Pea Salon
2. True Blue Salon
3. Local Honey
BEST HAIR STYLIST
1.Craig Wickman, Green Pea Salon
2. Hailey Shelton, Pink Mullet Salon
3. Kelly Mason, Green Pea Salon (tie)
3. Kim Hunter, True Blue Salon (tie)
BEST HOLISTIC WELLNESS
1.MaxWell Clinic
2. The Estuary
3. Bethany Ellars Restorative Therapies
BEST HOSPITAL
1.Vanderbilt University Medical Center
2. Ascension Saint Thomas
3. TriStar Centennial Medical Center
BEST HAIR STYLIST, READERS’ POLL: CRAIG WICKMAN, GREEN PEA SALON
2. Dr. Mary Gingrass, The Plastic Surgery Center of Nashville 3. Dr. John R. Moore, Cool Springs Plastic Surgery
BEST PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN
1. Dr. Jeffrey S. Jordan
Braces by Dr. Ruth
Hall Orthodontics
Dr. Brice Gilliam, Elevation Orthodontics
ORTHOPEDIC GROUP
& Joint Institute of Tennessee
PERSONAL TRAINER 1. Chris Marquardt Jr., Iron Tribe
Jefferey Shelton, Get Fit X Fitness
Anita Slaughter, A|Train Fitness Coaching
2. Dr. Julia Gomez
3. Dr. Sean Kelly
BEST REFLEXOLOGY
1. Bucca Reflexology 2. Luxe & Luna Boutique Spa 3. Salt and Soles BEST SKIN CARE CENTER
Canvas Skin 2. Nashville
nashvillescene.com
BEST HOLISTIC AESTHETICIAN MELANIE WILEY AT BEAUTY HAUS COLLECTIVE
For some people, monthly appointments at the aesthetician are a chore, another task on the to-do list. If you’re lucky, your aesthetician is Melanie Wiley at Beauty Haus Collective, and your appointment is restorative — something you look forward to each month. Wiley greets you by way of question: “What do you need today?” As you lie down on her heated table, she spritzes the air, leads you through a breathing exercise and then presses your shoulders down before she begins the waxing part of the appointment. I leave feeling calm, serene and inspired because Wiley pulls an affirmation card for you at the end of every appointment. It’s the most relaxing 15 minutes of my month. KIM BALDWIN
BEST BANG CUTS LOCAL HONEY
It’s really an accomplishment of personal brand to be able to create a hairstyle that’s easy to identify. Local Honey has managed just that with bangs. Whether wispy, wingy, curtain, curly, blunt, bottleneck or micro, each piece of fringe that exits its doors is perfectly blended and styled, if only to look decidedly unstyled. These aren’t the side bangs of your youth, and their quality cannot be replicated with your
BEST RELAXATION ON THE EAST SIDE O.LIV BODY BAR
There are phenomenal places for pampering in every corner of Nashville, but if you’re looking for a day of pure relaxation on the East Side, look
home scissors. Bang cutting is an art, not a science, and Local Honey stylists are the artists here. HANNAH HERNER
BEST BANG CUTS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: LOCAL HONEY
BEST RELAXATION ON THE EAST SIDE, WRITERS’ CHOICE:
no further than O.liv Body Bar. Since relocating to The Cleo on West Eastland Avenue, the day spa has expanded its space and its services. Choose from experiences like Tennessee’s “one and only mud lounge,” which includes space to slather, steam and shower, or the spa’s detoxifying infrared sauna. But the true centerpiece of an experience at O.liv, whether it’s a massage, facial, wrap or scrub, is a visit to the Body Bar, where you can choose your own customized blend of essential oils to add to your service to treat whatever ails you. Pull up a stool — a visit to the bar never felt more rewarding. NANCY FLOYD
BEST RELAXATION ON THE WEST SIDE PURE SWEAT + FLOAT STUDIO
With the amount of overstimulation in society today, it is no wonder symptoms like difficulty sleeping, inflammation and loss of creativity are high. In 2017, Pure Sweat Studios founder Candice Bruder brought Pure Sweat + Float Studio to Belle Meade as a first-of-its-kind holistic approach to remedy burnout, stress, sleep deprivation and effective healing. The restorative power of a visit to the infrared sauna, combined with a float in high-density epsom salt and magne-
sium, helps alleviate aches and pains and open up the creative flow.
BEST PERIMENOPAUSAL SKIN TREATMENT SKINVIVE AT KAREE HAYS ESTHETICS
Perimenopause and menopause for many women are just hell — both internally and externally. The shifting of hormones causes cascading changes in hair, nails and skin — and not the good kind. Wondering why your skin looks dull? Changing hormones. As we age, our skin starts to lose the vital hyaluronic acid that attracts and retains moisture. Karee Hays Esthetics comes to the rescue with SKINVIVE by JUVÉDERM. The treatment aids in putting hyaluronic acid back in the skin through microdroplet injectables, which help improve cheek skin smoothness and give back that natural glow. JANET KURTZ
BEST
NICHE FRAGRANCE SPOT REFINERY FRAGRANCES
Nashville has long felt a little like a fragrance desert. Sure, Nordstrom carries lots of luxe fragrances with a few niche lines like Byredo and Maison Francis Kurkdjian, and
JANET KURTZ
East Nashville spot Green Ray has Régime des Fleurs and DedCool. But what I’ve been longing for — and I know I’m not alone here — is a dedicated spot where I can spend hours browsing truly unusual and hard-to-find scents. Thank God for Refinery Fragrances, which opened in East Nashville in May, right next door to Novelette on Chapel Avenue. It’s exactly what the local scene needs, and it’s staffed by knowledgeable, passionate fragrance-heads who can direct
you to several scents based on the notes you’re looking for. The shop’s fairly plentiful collection includes niche favorites like Vilhelm Parfumerie, Imaginary Authors, Etat Libre d’Orange, INITIO Parfums Privés and more, and word on the street is that they’ll soon be expanding. Make haste. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
I’ve been living, loving and selling Nashville since the mid 1980s and have navigated the expansive growth of this ever-changing
Real Estate is your largest investment and deserves expert guidance, market knowledge and negotiation skills. I’m so grateful for my clients’ great reviews, repeat business and continued referrals, and would love to help make your Real Estate Goals a reality!
MAGGIE BOND
My life has been immersed in real estate for decades as the daughter of a land developer and custom home builder. What my father taught me plus my background as a local TV news anchor helps me bring unique skills to every transaction. I’ve been so fortunate to help so many incredible families find great homes in the Nashville area for more than five years. I hope I can someday help you and your loved ones too!
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BEST MORTGAGE LENDER
1.Wesley Mortgage
2. Lane Gerhardt
3. Locklear Lending Team
BEST MOVING COMPANY
1.True Friends Moving Company
2. 6th Man Movers
3. Armstrong Relocation
BEST NEIGHBORHOOD
1.East Nashville
2. The Gulch
3. Sylvan Park
BEST
1.Bates Nursery & Garden Center
2. Gardens of Babylon
3. JVI Secret Gardens
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LEASING, COZY VIBES
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2. Berkshire Hathaway
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2. Brookdale (tie)
2. Harmony at Brentwood (tie)
3. Richland Place BEST
1.Morton Plumbing, Heating & Cooling
2. Hiller
3. Lee Company
1.Sprintz Furniture
2. B.F. Myers Furniture
3. Paloma Vintage Goods
BEST PLACE FOR PLANT GIFTS FLORA PLANT SHOP
I don’t know about you, but I decided I was an adult once I was finally able to keep a potted plant alive for an extended period. But there’s always room to learn more as you grow your collection. Flora Plant Shop is a great resource for that. The ladies of Flora will help guide you on picking the perfect plant for your space, and while they’re at it they’ll throw in complemen-
tary potting in one of the many cute pots available in the shop. Plus, they won’t let you leave without giving you all the plant care instructions you need to keep your new green roommate alive for years to come. A perfect spot for new and experienced plant owners!
BEST ANTIQUE CURATION EBB & IV
Nashville’s Ebb & Iv lives in that sweet spot
AMANDA MATSUI
BEST PLACE FOR PLANT GIFTS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: FLORA PLANT SHOP
BEST ANTIQUE CURATION, WRITERS’ CHOICE: EBB & IV
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between Design Within Reach and Goodwill — it features a well-curated collection of vintage furniture and art that skews way more chic than your run-of-the-mill antique shop. You’ll find leather Mario Bellini chairs and marble Leon Rosen tables, but also mirrors made from root burls and tramp-art picture frames. The showroom is open by appointment only, but the shop website (ebbandiv.com/shop) stays fairly up-to-date. Also noteworthy is the selection of vintage paintings — especially if you’re into modernist nudes. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST HERBALIST CEDAR HILL HOMESTEAD
There’s something quintessentially Southern about having a deep connection with the land. Victoria Fillmore, a native Tennessean and owner of Cedar Hill Homestead, has generational knowledge that she pours into each bottle of everyday remedies cultivated on her homestead located just outside Nashville. Having trouble sleeping? She’s got something for that. Heachache or body aches? She’s got something for that too. In addition to having a large inventory, Fillmore also teaches classes on plant identification and homesteading — because she believes, in her own words, that “knowing what’s beneath your feet, what to nibble on and how to use it is … a superpower.”
AMANDA MATSUI
BEST MOBILE FLOWER SHOP
AMELIA’S FLOWER TRUCK
What sets a better tone than showing up with flowers? How about buying them on the spot, on the street, right after a really good date? Amelia’s Flower Truck makes it possible. The flower shop has a handful of brick-and-mortar locations, including a spot at the Shops at Porter East, but its cute 1960s-era Volkswagons set Amelia’s over the edge into true greatness. Nab a single sunflower
for a friend on the way to brunch, or get yourself a pick-me-up bouquet of lilies and enjoy walking around with it afterward. Follow them on Instagram (@ameliasflowertruck) to find out where they’ll be next.
LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST PLACE TO PERUSE EAST NASHVILLE ANTIQUES
One of my favorite activities is looking, and East Nashville Antiques is truly a feast for the eyes. It excels in variety. Each booth offers its own treasures — framed prints, laser-cut earrings, antique glassware, books, furniture and clothing. It has reasonable prices, which makes it easy to find items that add character to your home or personal style. Antique shopping can be a sweaty and overwhelming experience, so it’s genius of East Nashville Antiques to offer bubbly beverages at the front for just a dollar. I suggest leaving yourself some time to sip and wander.
HANNAH HERNER
BEST LANDSCAPING CONSULTANT GARDEN BUDDY
Have you ever sat in your backyard at dusk, watching how lively the birds and insects are, and then focused your vision on the landscape — just to realize it’s mostly weeds and a tree that might be close to death? You need Garden Buddy, a service by landscape expert Rudy Dillon, who offers garden planning services with a specialty in local flora. Whether you need a complete landscaping overhaul or just a knowledgeable helping hand, Rudy has your back. And your native birds and bugs will thank you.
AMANDA MATSUI
BEST MOBILE FLOWER SHOP, WRITERS’ CHOICE: AMELIA’S FLOWER TRUCK
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BEST PLACE TO GET SEEDS NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY’S SEED EXCHANGE
I could fill an entire issue of the Scene with reasons to love the library, but since I only have this short blurb, I’ll focus on one specific reason — the Nashville Public Library’s Seed Exchange. The simple exchange program allows library card holders to borrow seeds from participating locations, grow them at home or out in the community, and then (following a seed protocol) bring the new seeds back for others to do the same. Through the program, the library also offers workshops and gardening advice, which you can keep up with through its Seed Exchange email list or the Nashville Public Library Seed Exchange Facebook page. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST DIY DRIED BOUQUETS NEIGHBORLILY
Neighborlily — a Germantown shop of flowers, tea and coffee — is picturesque enough to be the meet-cute setting in a romantic comedy. It
has a full cafe, and flower-themed goods line their tables — we’re talking flower mugs, actual gardening items, seed kits and more. It also has a cooler of fresh flowers. But the standout is the back wall of dried flowers, where customers are free to make their own dried-flower bouquets. Fun fact: Dried flowers last a hell of a lot longer than live flowers, and they can be just as vibrant and beautiful. Don’t know where to start?
Neighborlily hosts dried- and live-flower arrangement classes, and they also provide some premade bouquets.
ELIZABETH JONES
BEST DIY DRIED BOUQUETS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NEIGHBORLILY
“They create a wildly unique experience and one that is not to be missed”
— Rockrevolt
“A
— Dance Australia Magazine
“The theatrical avant garde is still f*cking sh*t up as gleefully as ever.”
— Vulture
BEST ARTIST MARÍA MAGDALENA CAMPOS-PONS
Since moving here in 2017, María Magdalena Campos-Pons has been continuously working to bring international conversations to Nashville — and bring local art into international conversations. She founded the Engine for Art, Democracy and Justice with the aim of connecting artists with activists across the globe; she took a crew of Nashville-based artists to Cuba for the 2019 Havana Biennial; she oversees a strong exhibition schedule at Begonia Labs on West End; and she’s been teaching at Vanderbilt University throughout. In late 2023, right on the eve of her career retrospective Behold at the Brooklyn Museum, Campos-Pons won a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship. Before it heads to the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in L.A. next year, Behold opened in September at the Frist here in Nashville, giving the influential, mega-talented artist a kind of homecoming in her adopted hometown. But all of those accolades and accomplishments pale in comparison to the deeply personal but universally relevant work Campos-Pons creates. She is truly a master, and Nashville is lucky to have her. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST CURATOR BONNIE SEYMOUR AT THE PARTHENON
In a sense, Bonnie Seymour earned her status as Best Curator after her first day on the job. That was when she walked through The Parthenon’s
BEST SOLO EXHIBITION EMILY WEINER’S NEVER ODD OR EVEN AT RED ARROW
archive of pre-Columbian Indigenous artifacts and thought, “These don’t belong here.” The subsequent repatriation of the works to Mexico has put Nashville at the forefront of an international conversation. Now that the dust has settled and the relics are in their new home at the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico City, Seymour can look toward the future and see what kinds of exhibitions Nashvillians should have next. She’s set a high bar for herself, and we can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST NEW GALLERY NEUE WELT
Local photographer and curator Mauro Antonio Barreto’s Neue Welt gallery opened in the former Unrequited Leisure space at The Packing Plant back in February. The gallery has already established itself as a don’t-miss First Saturday destination with a contemporary art program that’s brimming with smart and thoughtfully crafted formalist installations. Consider Neue Welt’s Best New Gallery status like a Fabergé egg — it comes with a few surprises inside. It includes a Best Reuse Sculpture Exhibition award for Neue Welt’s inaugural exhibition, Brian Jobe’s Pax. Neue Welt hosted Austin Reavis’ Red State in June, and this is also his award for Best Tennessee Exhibition. Congratulations to the Neue Welt-ers on a well-earned hat-trick. JOE NOLAN
The paintings Emily Weiner made for Never Odd or Even at Red Arrow in February worked Jungian analysis into something completely fresh. Theater curtains, spirals, facial profiles and planets all take on new dimensions when viewed through Weiner’s fastidious, beauty-forward lens. Not to mention the custom frames she often makes from sculptural bits of terracotta or stoneware, which act like grounding signifiers and underscore the way frames often stand in for artworks themselves. If you need further examples of how Weiner is able to turn details into poetry, consider that the exhibition title itself is a palindrome. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION CAROLINE ALLISON’S WAITING BETWEEN THE TREES AT ZEITGEIST GALLERY
Caroline Allison’s photography has evolved from
BEST PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CAROLINE ALLISON’S WAITING BETWEEN THE TREES AT
detailed studies of quirky interiors to formal explorations of landscape image-making that challenge notions about what light-based art can be. It’s been a giant leap based on steady, deft steps to a place like Waiting Between the Trees, which debuted at Zeitgeist in February. Allison brought photography, sculpture and painting together in images displayed on surprising surfaces and in unexpected forms. Brava! JOE NOLAN
BEST HISTORICAL EXHIBITION SOUTHERN/MODERN AT THE FRIST ART MUSEUM
Organized by North Carolina’s Mint Museum in collaboration with the Georgia Museum of Art, Southern/Modern was the first comprehensive survey of artworks created in the American South from 1913 to 1955. As successful as the early-2024 show was for its presentation of Southern art, it was particularly excellent in its presentation of Black and female artists. I also admired how the show encouraged viewers to think critically, with singular conviction and
BEST ARTIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: MARÍA MAGDALENA CAMPOS-PONS
BEST CURATOR, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BONNIE SEYMOUR AT THE PARTHENON
ZEITGEIST GALLERY
clear context for grappling with slavery, Jim Crow and segregation. This was a master class in balancing celebration with reckoning. CAT ACREE
BEST NARRATIVE EXHIBITION CHRISTINE ROGERS’ THE DREAM POOL AT BELMONT’S LEU ART GALLERY
A narrative arc is a fragile thing. It’s hard to do it right, no matter the medium, so I tend to be wary of narrative exhibitions. Christine Rogers’ spring show The Dream Pool was a selection of photographs presented with notably long wall text composed of personal narrative and historical documents. I spent so much time reading it that I was at Leu Art Gallery for well over an hour, but once I’d finished, I stood back with such awe at what she had done. As a photo show, it was stunning. As a work of literature, it was a revelation. CAT ACREE
BEST INDEPENDENT CURATOR EVAN ROOSEVELT BROWN
Evan Roosevelt Brown was the newest of newbies in the art gallery game when he started curating the Nka Gallery for Slim & Husky’s back in 2021. But Brown was a natural, and Nka brought visitors from around the city to the North Nashville gallery, where the curator’s programming made Nka a foundational venue in the establishment of the Buchanan Arts District. When Brown lost the Nka space — it’s now home to No Free Coffee — he didn’t miss a beat: The curator started organizing art tours of First Saturday events; he programmed temporary takeovers of blue-chip local galleries like Zeitgeist; and he turned a retail storefront into an experimental movie theater in one of the standout pop-up displays at The Arcade this past summer. Nashville’s real estate prices mean we’re only going to see more nomadic curators roaming the rugged hinterlands of the city’s contemporary art scene, and Brown is already mapping the territories and living off the land. JOE NOLAN
BEST MUSEUM DEBUT DUNCAN MCDANIEL’S FOUNTAIN AT THE PARTHENON
The postmodern contemporary art world has brought us collapsing categories, flattened hierarchies and the defenestration of age-old standards. But it’s still a big deal when an artist lands their first show at a museum. Fountain was Nashville artist Duncan McDaniel’s solo museum debut, and it’s one of the best shows the city’s seen since it opened in September of last year. The exhibition included McDaniel’s paintings of repeating lines in wide-ranging palettes, colorful 3D arrangements of abstract paintings on clear acrylic sheets, and illuminated works complete with built-in backlighting. Fountain created a conversation with The Parthenon’s collection of 14 casts of the original Parthenon Marbles. The show also recast Southern pop-culture icons as figures in Greek mythology. After last year’s Best of Nashville awards, Fountain was the first show I added to my possible nominations
BEST PORTRAITIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: ELLIE CAUDILL
list for this year. With Fountain, McDaniel brought bold technique and imaginative materials to rich narratives, reimagining age-old legends for a New South. And the show announced the arrival of the former balloon sculptor as one of Nashville’s ascendant contemporary artists. JOE NOLAN
BEST OLD NASHVILLE GALLERY REVIVAL THE ARCADE
The highest compliment you could give to the newly refurbished downtown Arcade is this: I can’t really tell that much of a difference. After being bought for $28 million in 2021, the onetime crown jewel of Nashville’s independent art scene was in danger of being glossed over in favor of another New Nashville tourist-bait horror show. Luckily, the new Arcade is renovated but not revamped — the whole space has subtly cleaner lines, fresher windows and more secure handrails. But the indie spirit that made it the place circa 2010 continues on, albeit with a slightly better paint job. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST ARTIST-VENUE PAIRING
GERMÁN ROJAS’ A DIMLY LIT PATH AT ROCK WALL GALLERY
Germán Rojas brought a suite of large oil-oncanvas paintings to Ryan Rado’s Rock Wall Gallery back in November, after last year’s Best of Nashville issue had already hit the streets. A Dimly Lit Path highlighted the painter’s signature combinations of antique subjects and contemporary palettes in figurative scenes that evoke historical and mythological narratives. Rock Wall is named for the raw, exposed rock surfaces of the walls along the corridor, and Rojas’ works made a perfect match with the gallery’s medieval-dun-
geon vibes. It was the kind of combination of art and space that simply can’t happen in a standard white cube, and it was a great demonstration of the unique strengths that Nashville’s alternative art spaces can conjure from their often peculiar interiors. JOE NOLAN
BEST PORTRAITIST ELLIE CAUDILL
Ellie Caudill (aka Pink Pizza) has long been a local tastemaker, appreciated for her personal style and her vision as a gallerist. Now she’s become the city’s most beloved portraitist. Working by commissions and also at pop-up appointments at some of the city’s favorite spots (including The Green Ray, Matryoshka Coffee, The Blue Room and Kinda Collected), she makes colorful custom portraits that are light and full of joy and capture the essence of her subjects.
MARGARET LITTMAN
BEST ARTIST TO WATCH SAI CLAYTON
In 2023, Sai Clayton’s solo show Hāfu got a Best of Nashville Writer’s Choice nod for Best Solo Debut, and this year it seemed like her name was everywhere, with multiple group exhibitions and two solo shows at Electric Shed and STATE Gallery at the Forge. Clayton’s vulnerable and formidable self-portraits explore her Japanese heritage and Southern upbringing through printings and paintings of her own face in bold color. Her latest work expands her study into the full body, with silhouettes of American football players wearing Noh masks. She’s also on the COOP Gallery board, and is executive director of Number:Inc magazine, solidifying her position
as a force within
CAT ACREE
BEST DRESS ALEXANDER MCQUEEN’S REDAND-BLACK DRESS AT THE FRIST
It was hard to choose just one piece from this year’s magnificent Lee Alexander McQueen & Ann Ray: Rendez-Vous exhibition at the Frist Art Museum, but the red-and-black petal-sleeved gown from McQueen’s 2009 Horn of Plenty collection was over-the-top amazing. The material is made from woven feathers, but on first glance the mirror-symmetrical dress looks like it’s made from butterfly wings that have been plucked off and rearranged — it’s both romantic and sinister. The dress was installed next to Ann Ray’s blackand-white photos from the runway show, so the models’ Leigh Bowery-esque exaggerated lipstick gave just the right context. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
BEST WAY TO BRING ART TO THE PEOPLE JULIA MARTIN GALLERY’S 444 POPUP
Gallerist and artist Julia Martin has always been about getting art to the people; there’s no gatekeeping at her Wedgewood-Houston space. This summer, she took it a step further with the 444 Popup. The 7-by-20-foot glass-front display of her gallery is visible to the public 24/7. She opened the pop-up space for proposals, asking people to submit their ideas for what they want to create there. Calling it a “literal glass-encased oyster,” Martin encourages Nashville to do what Nashville does best: come up with weird ideas and share them with friends and neighbors.
MARGARET LITTMAN
Nashville’s art scene.
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
BEST ART YOU WON’T SEE ANYWHERE ELSE IN TOWN OZ ARTS
Over the past decade, OZ Arts has introduced local audiences to a fairly stunning slate of globally recognized artists. This past season was particularly notable, with the contemporary arts center welcoming Northern Irish choreographer Oona Doherty, Iranian-American multimedia artist Hamid Rahmanian, French dance company Mazelfreten and New York-based theatrical wizard Geoff Sobelle. Meanwhile, OZ continued to champion the efforts of local creatives through a range of performances, exhibitions and community events. Such experiences are not always easy to define or categorize. But one thing’s for sure — you’ll find exciting, thought-provoking work that you won’t see anywhere else in town. AMY STUMPFL
BEST EMERGING THEATER ARTIST WILL HENKE
If you follow the local theater scene even a little, you’ve probably seen Will Henke. The recent Vanderbilt grad has been making the rounds, turning in solid performances with Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Kindling Arts Festival and more. Whether he’s playing a mischievous kitten, a mouthy houseplant or even a Shakespearean villain,
Henke brings an unmistakable energy to the stage. It was his turn as an angsty Ukrainian bad boy in Street Theatre’s offbeat Ride the Cyclone that really resonated with crowds in the fall of last year — and proved that this promising young artist is one to watch. AMY STUMPFL
BEST GO-TO THEATER ARTIST GEROLD OLIVER
Over the past several years, Gerold Oliver has carved out a unique position within the local theater community. The past season alone found the Nashville native starring as basketball legend Perry Wallace in Nashville Children’s Theatre’s excellent Strong Inside before strutting his stuff as Foxy Loxy in The Gingerbread Kid. He charmed audiences as Harpo in The Color Purple, earned big laughs in It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play and stole our hearts as Orlando in this summer’s As You Like It. Endlessly versatile and engaging, Oliver has truly established himself as one of Nashville’s most reliable talents. AMY STUMPFL
BEST CONTEMPORARY DRAMA
NASHVILLE REP’S INDECENT
It’s no wonder Paula Vogel’s Indecent — which takes on timely themes of censorship, antisemitism and homophobia — has become something of an instant classic among regional theaters. But Nashville Rep really pulled out all
the stops with its gorgeous Nashville premiere production, offering thoughtful direction and choreography from artistic director Micah-Shane Brewer, powerhouse performances from an A-list cast (including a trio of klezmer musicians) and nicely detailed design elements. Balancing magical bits of storytelling and stagecraft — complete with an impossibly romantic rain scene — Indecent reminded us all why we fell in love with the theater. AMY STUMPFL
BEST ENSEMBLE NASHVILLE REP’S POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE
In a season marked by great variety and polish, Nashville Rep treated audiences to a fabulous display of girl power with Selina Fillinger’s “fiercely feminist farce” — POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Director Lauren Shouse managed to strike just the right tone, taking audiences on a hilarious yet totally satisfying ride. The hardworking cast — Lauren Berst, Tamara Todres, Tamiko Robinson Steele, Kris Sidberry, Rachel Agee, Darci Nalepa Elam and Quincey Lou Huerter — delivered this very funny play about the absolute nonsense women must endure in order to get ahead. AMY STUMPFL
BEST MUSICAL THEATER PROGRAMMING FOR PRIDE MONTH STREET THEATRE COMPANY’S FUN HOME
Street Theatre Company has been widely recognized for staging smart, edgy and often lesser-known works. But in the past couple of seasons, this ambitious company has done a particularly good job of elevating LGBTQ voices and stories — especially during Pride Month. In June, Street presented a stellar, sold-out run of Fun Home, the Tony Award-winning musical based on Alison Bechdel’s hit graphic memoir. Directed by the always nimble Leslie Marberry, local favorites Delaney Amatrudo, Ryan Greenawalt, Katie Bruno and more provided some of the season’s finest performances while honoring the LGBTQ experience with great truth and sensitivity. AMY STUMPFL
BEST CELEBRATION OF LOCAL ART AND ARTISTS KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL
Kindling Arts Festival has always pushed boundaries, challenging the limitations of conventional art while bringing varying perspectives into focus and supporting multidisciplinary collaboration. This year offered the festival’s biggest lineup yet, with 22 daring works that included everything from immersive dance-the-
BEST GO-TO THEATER ARTIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: GEROLD OLIVER
BEST CELEBRATION OF LOCAL ART AND ARTISTS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: KINDLING ARTS FESTIVAL
The Portal’s Keeper—Origins features multimedia projections, sculptural installations, and holographic self-portraits by New York–based artist LaJuné McMillian. Integrating extended-reality software, 3D-modeling technology, and motion-captured performances, McMillian creates immersive environments that explore and celebrate Black bodily movements as expressions of cultural legacy and liberation.
Onassis ONX Studio. Photo: Zachary Schulman
The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by
ater experiences and high-flying aerial acts to experimental performance art and a showcase of Asian and Pacific Islander filmmakers. But much of the festival’s draw stems from its joyful, inclusive and always celebratory vibe. Empowering both artists and audiences, Kindling Arts provides a much-needed home for some of Nashville’s most surprising, unconventional and uniquely rewarding art. AMY STUMPFL
BEST DANCE PERFORMANCE MURDER OF CROWS BY ASIA PYRON/PYDANCE
Stepping into the recording-studio-cum-performance-venue Welcome to 1979 during the Kindling Arts Festival, audience members immediately became part of the abstract, comedic and mildly destabilizing world of Murder of Crows, Asia Pyron’s brilliantly entertaining dance performance piece featuring a superb cast of dancers/character actors. The narrative was ostensibly a murder-mystery, but the greatest conundrum lay in deciding which compelling performer to follow throughout the space (once the dancers split off into different parts of the “house”). Highlights included a coerced conga line and the most entertaining use of a folding chair. Pyron is elevating the percolating contemporary dance scene in Nashville and is undoubtedly a figure to watch. IVY ELROD
BEST DANCE SEASON NASHVILLE BALLET
For nearly 40 years, Nashville Ballet has set the standard for dance in Music City, presenting a varied repertoire of classical ballet and contemporary works while always keeping the door open to new ideas and perspectives. In his first season as artistic director and CEO, Nick Mullikin continued that tradition, programming a vibrant mix of boundary-breaking new works and familiar classics that highlighted the company’s strength and versatility. From Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit and the world premiere of Weep by Yusha-Marie Sorzano to artistic director emeritus Paul Vasterling’s beloved Romeo and Juliet, it was certainly a season to remember AMY STUMPFL
BEST SUMMER TRADITION NASHVILLE SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
Each year as the summer winds down, dedicated theater lovers gather to celebrate one of the city’s most cherished traditions — an evening under the stars with Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Perfect as a date night or a hangout with family and friends, the festival has food trucks, snacks and pre-show entertainment. The festival marked its 36th anniversary season with a charming production of the Bard’s As You Like It. And though it’s hard to imagine Summer Shakespeare without longtime artistic director Denice Hicks (who stepped down in September), I’ve no doubt the festival will continue to bring art lovers together for years to come. AMY STUMPFL
BEST FAREWELL MOMENT DENICE HICKS
Nashville’s theater community has been forever changed by Denice Hicks. Since she began at Nashville Shakespeare Festival in 1990, Hicks has had a hand in more than 50 productions. She’s served as the company’s artistic director for nearly two decades and has been lauded for her acting, directing and creative vision. In this spring’s production of Hamlet, Hicks stole the show. While digging the infamous grave, she took a quiet moment to sing a few lines of Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.” Giggles erupted from the crowd in the perfect celebration of Hicks’ quiet genius. Brava! HANNAH CRON
BEST NEW THEATER SPACE STUDIO TENN’S TURNER THEATER
As the curtain went up on Studio Tenn’s 2023-24 season, the company celebrated an important milestone — the grand opening of its permanent home, the newly renovated Turner Theater at The Factory at Franklin. Named for longtime supporter Cal Turner, the flexible space seats 319 guests and features state-of-the-art sound and lighting, an orchestra room wired for sound and more. The sleek marquee and box office lead to a spacious lobby with herringbone wood floors and Art Deco accents. It’s a lovely space. But
more importantly, Turner Theater gives Studio Tenn an elegant atmosphere that matches the quality of its shows. AMY STUMPFL
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT PAUL VASTERLING FOR STUDIO TENN’S CABARET
Paul Vasterling has long been admired as a master of movement and visual storytelling. After all, he led Nashville Ballet as artistic director for 25 years. So it should come as no surprise that his foray into directing and choreographing for musical theater would be such a smashing success. Vasterling demonstrated a clear vision with Studio Tenn’s Cabaret, presenting a host of striking stage moments that made the Kander and Ebb classic feel remarkably fresh. It doesn’t hurt when you cast mega talents like Megan Murphy Chambers and Brian Charles Rooney. But Vasterling hit all the right notes, wrapping up Studio Tenn’s season in grand fashion. AMY STUMPFL
BEST COMEDIAN FIONA CAULEY
Fiona Cauley is hilarious. The rising young comic has proved that time and again with frequent appearances at Zanies and other local
spots, regular touring gigs throughout the region and consistently entertaining social media posts. (She’s got roughly 300,000 Instagram followers, by the way.) Cauley is wry, dark and not afraid to make fun of herself, as she showed this year with her debut appearance on extremely popular live comedy podcast Kill Tony. (She killed.) There and elsewhere, she’s been known to poke fun at her Friedreich’s ataxia diagnosis — it’s a condition that limits Cauley’s mobility. But as she says on her website, “If you’ve ever wanted to laugh at a person in a wheelchair, here’s your chance.”
D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST FILM FESTIVAL
THE NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
Late summer and early fall are always exciting times for film in Nashville. In addition to August’s experimental Defy Film Festival at Studio 615 (last year’s winner in this writers’ choice category), Music City plays host to the International Black Film Festival in October and the Nashville Jewish Film Festival in October and November. But right in the middle of it all is our flagship fest, the Nashville Film Festival, which this year took place in late September at the Belcourt, The Franklin Theatre, Regal Green Hills and
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
BEST FAREWELL MOMENT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: DENICE HICKS
BEST DANCE SEASON, WRITERS’ CHOICE: NASHVILLE BALLET
beyond. Featuring dozens of feature films, documentaries, shorts and music videos — not to mention panels and Q&As with artists including Saturday Night director Jason Reitman and Haim bassist Este Haim, among many others — the 55th installment of the fest was a momentous undertaking. And thanks to a special emphasis on music documentaries like The Day the Music Stopped, Devo, A Man Called Hurt, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story and This Is a Film About the Black Keys, NaFF gave visitors a look at how to do film festivals the Music City way. D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST REPERTORY FILM SERIES THE BELCOURT’S 1999 RETROSPECTIVE
“Respect the caucus!” Mayor Freddie O’Connell shouted into a headset mic on opening night of the Belcourt’s 1999 Retrospective. The mayor — nay, the Movies Mayor — was there to kick off the Belcourt’s 25-film series that started with Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 film Magnolia, hence the Tom Cruise impression. That night, and the whole series, made my summer — I even took two days off work to go see movies that were playing in the middle of the day. I sat in theaters filled with Zoomers who raised their hands when asked who hadn’t seen Magnolia, fellow Gen X-ers who also apparently took a Monday off to see Rushmore, and people of all ages on date nights for both The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project. I’ve never had so much fun going to the movies.
KIM BALDWIN
BEST HOMECOMING
JOHN EARLY AND STRESS POSITIONS
Those who follow contemporary comedy know John Early for his appearances in TV series including High Maintenance, Love, Search Party and The Afterparty and for his HBO special Now More Than Ever. But what some might not know is that Early is a native Nashvillian who attended University School of Nashville. In May, in support of his new film Stress Positions — an anxious, timely and entertaining COVID-era comedy-drama directed by Early’s friend and collaborator Theda Hammel — Early flew back home for a handful of Q&As at beloved local arthouse the Belcourt. (Disclosure: I was fortunate enough to moderate one of Early’s weekend sessions about the film; but despite the comic telling the crowd my appearance fee was $8,000, I
have not received a dime!) In all seriousness, it was a fun, funny, enlightening chance for the rising star to show he still has a lot of love for his hometown. D. PATRICK RODGERS
BEST BOOK LAUNCH SLOW NOODLES BY CHANTHA NGUON AT JULIA MARTIN GALLERY
The launch of Chantha Nguon’s Slow Noodles, a memoir about her life as a Cambodian refugee in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s 1970s genocide (co-written with Kim Green), was a movable literary feast, with international events as well as several key local affairs. The literary event of the season — and the year — was the book launch and group exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery. To honor Nguon and her book, Martin and 20 other women explored female resilience and perseverance. Some artists made work with Mekong Blue silk, and others with ceramic vessels to hold noodles. I’ve never seen such a loving literary event in all my days. CAT ACREE
BEST DEBUT NOVEL LO FI BY LIZ RIGGS
Everybody misses Old Nashville, even if you didn’t live here during its heyday — which, depending on who you ask, occurred between five and 30 years ago. For those wistful for the Aughts, Liz Riggs’ debut novel Lo Fi will more than satisfy. This coming-of-age novel follows an aspiring songwriter who earns her keep working the door at an unnamed (but deeply familiar) venue. There are playlists, plenty of partying and prose so lyrical you’ll find yourself humming. LIZ DOUPNIK
BEST BIOGRAPHY TRAVELING: ON THE PATH OF JONI MITCHELL BY ANN POWERS
Ann Powers’ latest book, Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, isn’t just another biography of one of the most prolific songwriters of the 20th century. More than an examination of what albums
like Blue and Hejira mean to their creator, the book is a study in what the life and works of Joni Mitchell mean to us. Powers combines personal observations and her years of critical expertise to build an essential volume on what it means to be a woman, an artist and a human. My Joni will always be Miles of Aisles — what’s yours? HANNAH CRON
BEST AUTHOR CONVERSATION ROSS GAY AND TIANA CLARK
Earlier this year, The Porch celebrated its 10th anniversary with an event called DELIGHT. These annual fundraisers tend to have wellknown authors speak — like Ada Limón, Kiese Laymon and Danté Stewart. This year’s event was my favorite one yet, featuring a conversation between poet and essayist Ross Gay and poet Tiana Clark at Green Door Gourmet. Gay’s books on delight changed the way I look at everyday life, nature and my community. I never imagined I’d get to hear him speak in such an intimate setting. Hearing two artists of this caliber talk about their work and their creativity was, in fact, a delight. KIM BALDWIN
BEST NONFICTION BOOK DEATH ROW WELCOMES YOU BY STEVEN HALE
Journalist and former Nashville Scene reporter Steven Hale’s harrowing book is a culmination of his many years covering the death penalty in Tennessee. Death Row Welcomes You is a work of excellent reportage — for which Hale witnessed three executions while reporting for the Scene — but it is also committed to recognizing the humanity of the people on the state’s death row. From 1961 to 2017, Tennessee executed six people; from 2018 to 2020, it executed seven. If this spree in state-sanctioned killings isn’t concerning enough, the difficulty in acquiring materials for lethal injection leads to even more issues. Hale’s investigation is respectful, haunting and candid — the best kind of crime book. CAT ACREE
BEST POETRY COLLECTION DUST STORMS MAY EXIST BY BEN GRONER III
I drove from Nashville to Santa Fe, N.M., last summer, going through Texas on the way there and Colorado and Kansas on the way back. I was reminded of this trip while reading Ben Groner’s debut poetry collection Dust Storms May Exist Groner wrote about his 10,000-mile road trip throughout America and what he saw, and learned, along the way. I saw many of the things Groner writes about in these poems. Debut poetry collections don’t always get the same fanfare as debut novels, so it’s been special to see the poetry community rally behind Groner and this book, with blurbs from poets like Destiny O. Birdsong and Tiana Clark, and a book launch at Parnassus Books attended by even more local poets. KIM BALDWIN
BEST CRIMINAL JUSTICE BOOK DYNAMITE NASHVILLE BY BETSY PHILLIPS
Let me tell you about Betsy Phillips. In the early Aughts, Phillips blogged about the wild dogs of Whites Creek, and in a way she still does — just replace “wild dogs” with “bad men” and “Whites Creek” with “the state legislature.” Phillips writes a weekly column for the Scene, and in 2017 decided to dig into the 1957 bombing of Hattie Cotton Elementary School. That story sent her down the rabbit hole that became Dynamite Nashville, a book about three integration-era bombings in Nashville. Knowing what it took to finish this book, to get the FBI files and the emotional toll involved, it has been astounding to see the resulting events unfold. Mayor Freddie O’Connell recently appointed a cold-case homicide detective to reexamine the bombings. Phillips just wanted to tell the truth about Nashville’s racist past, and now, thanks to this book, the investigation is reopened. KIM BALDWIN
BEST DIY PUBLISHING EVENT ZINE CITY FEST AT FREE NASHVILLE POETRY LIBRARY
BEST PLACE TO TAKE A WRITING CLASS THE PORCH
The original Zine City Fest debuted at the first Artville event in Wedgewood-Houston last fall. It found Matt Johnstone’s Free Nashville Poetry Library rejiggering the model of its regular First Saturday event, Show & Sell: A Maker’s Bazaar, into a maker market focused on handcrafted publications of every stripe. Since then, Zine City has popped-up outside The Packing Plant a few more times. I love Show & Sell, but this year’s random Zine City events have brought a welcome shakeup to FNPL’s regular al fresco happenings. And the enthusiastic response from indie zinesters and their collectors means we may be seeing even more Zine City events in 2025. JOE NOLAN
BEST BOOK CLUB BETWEEN THE COVERS ROMANCE BOOK CLUB AT PARNASSUS
The book that pulled me into Between the Covers is That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon I arrived at Parnassus Books for the book club discussion and found a craft table, refreshments and two people I knew, plus a room full of folks who, it seemed to me, had crossed over from book club participants to actual friends. The person responsible for creating this book club is bookseller Katie Garaby. Between the Covers is so large now that each month members have to meet on two different nights. Garaby pours her heart into this club, and it shows by the friendships and community that have sprung up from this event. KIM BALDWIN
If you’re looking to begin writing, or you’re an established writer looking to polish up or learn new skills, The Porch is Nashville’s greatest resource. They offer year-round classes and affinity groups for writers of all experience levels. What is especially great about The Porch is the variety of classes they offer. In this fall semester alone they’re offering classes on writing as an antidote to existential dread, the dramatic structure of Halloween and writing about one’s body amid late capitalism. KIM BALDWIN
BEST LITERARY HAPPY HOUR BANNED BOOK HAPPY HOUR AT THE BLUE ROOM
Schools and libraries across the country are banning and challenging books. As Scene reporter Kelsey Beyeler reported in April, Tennessee is at the national forefront of book challenges. Two Nashvillians decided there was something they could do — something that involved community and libations. Poet Ciona Rouse and musician Aria Cavaliere created Banned: A Book Happy Hour. Once a month, Rouse and Cavaliere, along with Third Man Books, co-host a meet-up on the patio at The Blue Room and discuss the banned or challenged book they read that month. At a time when it’s easy to get bogged down trying to find places to plug in and make change or offer assistance, it’s helpful to see two people come together and create community around a topic that matters so much to so many of us. KIM BALDWIN
BEST PLACE TO TAKE A WRITING CLASS, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE PORCH
PHOTO:
3 Building Campus | 20+ Industries
BEST SOLO ARTIST BRITTANY HOWARD
Is there anything Brittany Howard can’t do? With her second solo album What Now, Howard has firmly cemented herself as one of the most impressive solo artists working today — in Nashville or anywhere else. What Now and its predecessor Jaime push beyond the soulful Southern rock of Howard’s work with Alabama Shakes and her ever-underrated folk jaunt with Bermuda Triangle, weaving in hard funk and psychedelic dance music cooly, confidently and expertly. She uses her vocal power to demand a brighter future: “We were born in a time to change the paradigm / Peace is the prize of our timeline.”
HANNAH CRON
BEST COLLABORATIVE PROJECT REGENERATION
The intriguing, exciting father-son project Regeneration stirs memories of such past blends of poetry and music as Jayne Cortez and Ornette Coleman, Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, or what The Last Poets dubbed “Jazzoetry.” This duo is composed of longtime Nashville trumpet master Rod McGaha and his rapper and community activist son Mike Floss. McGaha’s dynamic, expressive trumpet solos have previously been featured in a host of settings, from powerhouse bop and mainstream jazz to gospel and R&B,
and he’s comfortable operating behind Floss’ commentary. Floss has verbal flair and a natural entertainer’s presence, while McGaha instinctively knows when and where to add punch to the flow via mutes or wah pedal. Their February show at The Blue Room at Third Man Records unveiled what McGaha labeled “a work in progress,” a peek into a collaboration that feels like it has all the ingredients to be exciting and creatively rewarding for the long term. RON WYNN
BEST JAM-SOUL BAND LADYCOUCH
If you’ve ever caught LadyCouch onstage, you’ve seen how seamlessly the band mixes Southern-rock guitars, soul horns and hints of The Band and the Grateful Dead into a style that honors great songwriting and jam-band principles. Released in July, LadyCouch’s second album A Matter of Time features the vocals of Keshia Bailey and Allen Thompson on a set of soul-inflected tunes. Bailey’s lead powers “Limbo,” which rhymes “up-tempo” with “in limbo” and swings like pop gospel. A Matter of Time also rocks out with guitar work from Thompson, Grayson Downs and Clint Maine. If you’re a fan of swanky instrumentals, listen to the seven-minute track “Alpaca Suitcase,” which shows off the band’s range. EDD HURT
BEST RAPPER CHUCK INDIGO
Chuck Indigo has the chops to go toe to toe with any rapper. His flow blends soulful smoothness with no-nonsense bars sharp enough to cut through any B.S. From his November EP If You Know, You Know… to his May collab album with $hrames WINNERS HABIT and beyond, he eloquently and elegantly explores systemic racism, personal growth and the hustle it takes to get through life. But building community is at the forefront of what he’s about: Away from the mic, he’s a dedicated advocate who works with organizations like the Black Nashville Assembly and its Southern Movement Committee. More than looking to make waves, he’s joining in the effort to turn the tide. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST SINGER-SONGWRITER NOEL McKAY
In a city that boasts a huge number of talented singer-songwriters, Noel McKay stands tall among artists who are taking the music of fore-
bears like Guy Clark into the future. McKay’s 2024 album You Only Live Always is indeed futuristic, and he writes about the loneliness of working in outer space on what might be the record’s most arresting track, “Interstellar Rescue Service.” If you’ve been wishing for a synthesis of Guy Clark and Jim Webb — Texas-to-Tennessee songcraft imbued with pop sensibility — “Interstellar Rescue Service” might be what you’re looking for. The rest of the album — check out the ruefully funny “An Old Cowboy in Spain” — is progressive traditionalism at its most literary and compelling. EDD HURT
BEST R&B BAND THE HI-JIVERS
Playing R&B with the proper edge can mean playing it with a sense of abandon. That’s the case with The Hi-Jivers, who perform classic blues material by the likes of Slim Harpo and Otis Rush. They also write their own songs, which bear comparison to the material they resurrect from the legendary past. Vocalist Dawna
BEST SOLO ARTIST, WRITERS’ CHOICE: BRITTANY HOWARD
BEST RAPPER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: CHUCK INDIGO
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
Zahn sounds like one of the great blues shouters from the 1950s, and she’s also a compelling frontperson. Guitarist Austin John — he and Zahn are married — goes to the edge of what an R&B guitarist can do in the context of a song, and usually ends up somewhere you never anticipated. EDD HURT
BEST BREAKOUT GRACE BOWERS
It’s really special to follow an artist from the beginning of their career, and we all have an exciting opportunity to do that with guitarist and bandleader Grace Bowers. Bowers and her ensemble The Hodge Podge just released their first album Wine on Venus in August, and it takes listeners on a soulful, funk-filled journey through time and space. While the group’s name reflects the ever-rotating cast of musicians Bowers performs with, you can always count on her groovy riffs and singer Esther Okai-Tetteh’s stunning vocals. With a start as strong as this, I can’t wait to see how far Bowers & Co. will go. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST NEW BAND PRESSURE HEAVEN
In late 2023, Pressure Heaven burst onto the scene sounding like a group that’s been together for years. Their intoxicating blend of dreamy shoegaze and industrial heft felt fully formed from the jump, and it’s only gotten better. Each year in Nashville, there are a handful of new bands that pop up on lineups over and over again, and Pressure Heaven has been one of the busiest in 2024. Heaps of gigs, including memorable opening slots for Pale Lungs and Twen, let them hone their chops to a fine edge for their debut EP Head Start. That’s excellent for a year’s work that also included standout visual art exhibitions from vocalist Grace Hall. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST NEW FOLK-ROCKERS EVE’S CURSE
Eve’s Curse is made up of RobinAugust, Nora Masters and Nadia Reist, and their self-titled debut is extraordinary. It’s the rare kind of music that sounds very familiar while also unbound by time, the way it feels to read a great fantasy
novel. The plangent arrangements of gorgeous stringed instruments, drums and astoundingly rich harmonies are hypnotizing. It’s a totally different and exceptionally effective way to share songs about living in a frequently harsh and inscrutable world — and this is just their first album. HANNAH CRON
BEST NEW NOISE ROCKERS YAMMER JAW
In Nashville, it’s not uncommon for something you love to fall away in the name of progress. This applies to businesses like restaurants, as well as to favorite bands that split when their members are ready for new projects. Sometimes, though, you get a Yammer Jaw — a heavy and technical five-piece whose members come from now-dormant bands like Sheep Shifter, Watcher and Ryoki Center and describe themselves as “Drive Like Jehu’s drunk uncle.” They’ve yet to release a recording, and have so far only served as support on bigger bills, but they’re a blast to watch, and I can only imagine what mayhem they’ll unleash as headliners. ML MEADORS
BEST SIDE PLAYER FATS KAPLIN
Phenomenal musician Fats Kaplin has mastered so many different instruments he stopped being able to keep track a while ago. In the past decade, he’s performed extensively with Jack White and the late, great John Prine, and this year he’s spent much of his time on the road
playing steel and strings with Mitski. Whenever he’s free, you can find him with The Fats Kaplin Gang at The 5 Spot or joining in Paul Burch’s band of ringers The WPA Ballclub at Brown’s Diner. He’s carrying on one of Nashville’s finest deep-rooted musical traditions: deploying his high degree of instrumental prowess elegantly and organically. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST ALTER EGO
STURGILL SIMPSON, AKA JOHNNY BLUE SKIES
Sturgill Simpson didn’t mount a comeback this year: He staged a reinvention. In 2021, Simpson bid farewell to a solo career that stretched from bluegrass picking to rock concept albums and, of course, country music upheaval. He briefly retreated from music to focus on acting, only to re-emerge this summer as Johnny Blue Skies. Under the new moniker, Simpson released Passage Du Desir, an eight-song collection that pulls together the best of his songwriting. There’s the laid-back Simpson on the beachy hang “Scooter Blues.” There’s the pensive Simpson on the heartbreaking tale “Jupiter’s Faerie.” And there’s the ambitious Simpson on eight-and-a-half-minute, album-closing epic “One for the Road.” If a new name is what it takes to get an album this good, let him change up whenever he wants to.
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
PHOTO: SAVANNAH TAPPAN
BEST BREAKOUT, WRITERS’ CHOICE: GRACE BOWERS
BEST NEW BAND, WRITERS’ CHOICE: PRESSURE HEAVEN
WITNESS HISTORY
This First Act Custom Delgada LS electric guitar with Bigsby tailpiece was played by Jason Isbell in the Drive-By Truckers and with his group the 400 Unit.
From the exhibit Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present
artifact: Courtesy of Jason Isbell artifactphoto: Bob Delevante
BEST ALBUM
KATIE PRUITT, MANTRAS
Singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt can look the phrase “sophomore slump” in the eye and laugh out loud. Their second record Mantras came out this spring, pushing the boundaries of Americana and folk with a rock-tinged edge. It’s a no-skip album, but highlights include “White Lies, White Jesus and You,” a brutally honest deconstruction of faith gone toxic, and “Self Sabotage,” a convincing case for positive self-talk. Pruitt’s cutting vocals tie every song together to create a cohesive record that would be impressive for an artist with decades of experience. The record is ultimately about committing to having faith in yourself, and it proves itself right.
HANNAH CRON
BEST HIP-HOP ALBUM
R.A.P.
FERREIRA AND FUMITAKE TAMURA, THE FIRST FIST TO MAKE CONTACT WHEN WE DAP
This 12-track collab LP takes hip-hop back to its roots, blending minimalist jazz- and funk-inspired beats with spoken-word artistry. It’s as much a philosophical exploration as it is a musical experience, making you pause, reflect and hit repeat. Ferreira’s lyrics move between the weary and the defiant, effortlessly weaving together his vast array of interests, finding the common ground between global politics, Lil Wayne and sci-fi deep cuts. With Tamura’s beats providing the backdrop, Ferreira’s lyrics flow like poetry in motion, offering a profound vibecheck for the soul. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM KAITLIN BUTTS, ROADRUNNER!
Imagine if Oklahoma! got a glow-up with a dash of country grit — that’s Roadrunner!
Rising star Kaitlin Butts’ 17-track gem is a modern take on the Broadway hit, blending A-grade original songwriting with covers that pack a punch. “Other Girls (Ain’t Having Any Fun)” is a sassy standout, while “Wild Juanita’s Cactus Juice” is practically begging to be a line-dance anthem. Plus, her duet with Vince Gill on “Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)” is as satisfying as it is soothing. It’s country music with a twist and a whole lotta heart. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST PUNK ALBUM THE SLEEVEENS, THE SLEEVEENS
Music City punk acts don’t always have the easiest time getting the ear of the outside world, but The Sleeveens’ debut LP, released by revered label Dirtnap, has earned applause from pogoers far and wide. Dublin romantic Stef Murphy penned an 11-track triumph that grabs listeners by the collar and dares them to resist the urge to dance. His band consists of a regiment of uncouth Nashville musicians, veterans of bands like Cheap Time, Sweet Knives and the criminally underappreciated Outlaw Lovers. The album earned The Sleeveens high praise from underground music rags, leading to live appearances alongside Northern Ireland legends Protex and Equals frontman Derv Gordon, a prime Saturday night slot at Memphis’ Gonerfest and much more. P.J. KINZER
BEST PUNK DEBUT BUDGE, HRTSTRNGS
It’s been a great couple of years for Nashville
indie rock, as bands like Gloom Girl MFG and Total Wife have emerged onto the scene with a ferocious dedication to distortion. On their To-Go Records debut Hrtstrngs, Budge showcases a clarity of purpose that feels fully formed. Songs like “Breathe” would fit comfortably sandwiched between tracks by Smashing Pumpkins and Momma, with a rumbling propulsion that cuts against singer Jessie Hopson’s pleading vocals. Hrtstrngs captures the eternally relatable angst of heartbreak and finding solace in your own skin, managing to feel both fresh and comfortable at the same time. LANCE CONZETT
BEST INDIE-ROCK DEBUT MEG ELSIER, SPITTAKE
This one’s for the indie girls! If your teenage bedroom included a poster of Alex Turner or you found yourself crying in your car to Phoebe Bridgers during the pandemic, you’re the target audience for Meg Elsier’s music. Her debut record Spittake is meditative and melancholy with an undeniable indie-sleaze vibe. It’s essential listening for fans of Mitski and Soccer Mommy, but has an identity entirely of its own — see the visuals accompanying the LP if you need proof. Whenever life feels like a coming-of-age movie, Elsier has made you the perfect soundtrack.
HANNAH CRON
BEST ROCK ALBUM HANS CONDOR, BIG BREAKFAST
The career trajectory of Hans Condor has been nonlinear, to say the least. Since 2007, Chazz Kaster’s outlandish riff machine has released only two LPs — its first in 2021 — but recorded output was less a driving force than the power trio’s feral live sets, which frequently involve
bodies and beers in flight and band members leaving the stage drenched in sweat. Big Breakfast is a 36-minute collection of hard rock from well-worn road dogs, and it pushes their sound a bit without breaking anything that works. That’s to say it’s all stuff Lemmy would probably love, from the ragged doo-wop sing-along “Diggin’ Ditches” to the punchy blues of “Nose Bleed” to the Thin Lizzy homage “Big Thing.” P.J. KINZER
BEST ROCK EVOLUTION AARON LEE TASJAN, STELLAR EVOLUTION
The components that make up “Aaron Lee Tasjan music” have always been diverse and eclectic. But the singer-songwriter, producer and guitar wizard has never sounded more like himself than he does on his fifth solo LP, which draws as much from, say, Fischerspooner as it does from Harry Nilsson, Tom Petty or John Prine. He’s heartfelt and thoughtful but conversational, with a well-developed knack for discussing human nature and needs in an honest and frequently funny way that also gives grace to folks — including himself when he needs it. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST FOLK ALBUM JAMES TALLEY, BANDITS, BALLADS AND BLUES
Bandits, Ballads and Blues is almost certainly the final album by James Talley, the Nashville singer-songwriter who cemented his place in history as one of the great musical storytellers with a quartet of albums in the 1970s, and it ranks among his best. It’s his 15th album, his first since 2008, and the title is more or less an overview of the kinds of material that made the cut for the
record — some songs about outlaws, some ballads and some blues. Producer Dave Pomeroy assembled a superb group of players and backing vocalists (including The McCrary Sisters), and the result is an album full of excellent stories and inspired musicianship. DARYL SANDERS
BEST FOLK-ROCK ALBUM BATS, GOOD GAME BABY
Let’s call Bats “folk-rock” as shorthand, even though any one descriptor isn’t going to capture the depth of the work. Jess Awh’s languid voice belies the true nature of her songs. When you hear Good Game Baby in passing — at a friend’s house, in the car — it sounds anodyne. But just beneath the tranquil waters of folksy strumming and pedal steel lurk the violent howls of a strangled fuzz guitar, the cascading blips of chiptune synths and a subtle tension pulling every lyric completely taut. The sounds of the city, of voices overlapping, people colliding, perspectives wrestling, all by Awh’s design — that’s here too. It’s meat-and-three musique concrète, bootgaze for the ages, and even “folk-rock.” CLAIRE STEELE
BEST METAL ALBUM KNOLL, AS SPOKEN
Like the two albums that came before it from audio terrorists Knoll, their third LP As Spoken is winding and bleak. Their ultra-raw recordings and furious drum blasts keep earning them the “deathgrind” tag. But reducing Knoll to a genre is a disservice to the incredible record they’ve made, in which they masterfully weave existential gloom into the music. Using their unbelievable velocity and heaviness as tools to make creatively intense music — rather than
relying on those techniques to set the mood and call it a day — Knoll’s dissonant chaos shares common ground with the high art of Sun Ra or Sonic Youth. P.J. KINZER
BEST MULTIDISCIPLINARY ALBUM JACK SILVERMAN QUARTET, PRINCE OF SHADOWS
I haven’t seen Mind Traveler, filmmaker Greg Mallozzi’s upcoming documentary about parapsychology researcher Andrija Puharich. But if the music on Prince of Shadows — the instrumental record that grew out of recording sessions for soundtracking the doc — is any indication, it’s deeply intriguing and gracefully psychedelic. Helmed by Jack Silverman, a former Scene staffer and current contributing editor, the ensemble rides its interlocking grooves and modal melodies in a way that feels both relaxed and responsive, effusing effortless cool. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST HISTORICAL ALBUM KYSHONA, LEGACY
Family history is a source of inspiration for lots of singer-songwriters, even though it’s not always an easy or pleasant topic to explore. Kyshona had to dig a lot deeper than many as she worked on what became her latest LP, Legacy: Her ancestors were enslaved people, and a lot of information about them was lost or not even collected. She turned what she learned — with help from genealogists at the National Museum of African American History & Culture — into a beautifully soulful and rocking expression of love and resilience. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST POSTHUMOUS RELEASE MAMA ZU, QUILT FLOOR
In 2017, musician, advocate, visual artist and all-around Renaissance woman Jessi Zazu died from cervical cancer at just 28 years old. The death of the onetime Those Darlins frontwoman was a huge loss for Nashville — but it wasn’t the last we’d hear from her. In February, Zazu’s longtime musical partner Linwood Regensburg and a team of collaborators finally released Mama Zu’s Quilt Floor, a posthumous album full of songs co-written and performed by the singer during the last months of her life. While we sadly can’t see Zazu herself perform the songs, the LP is full of just the sort of shape-shifting rock ’n’ roll, pop and country music — not to mention punchy, determined attitude — that the local luminary was known for during her short time on earth. Many kudos to Regensburg and team for adding a beautiful and triumphant chapter to Zazu’s legacy. D.
PATRICK RODGERS
BEST COMEBACK ALBUM WHITE ANIMALS, STAR TIME
No one expected the White Animals to ever make another record — including the White Animals. After all, the pioneering ’80s indie rockers — vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kevin Gray, vocalist and bassist Steve Boyd, lead guitarist Rich Parks and drummer Ray Crabtree — hadn’t released an album of new material in more than two decades. But the group had another album in them that just had to come out, and this year’s Star Time is arguably the best of their career. It’s certainly the best-sounding record they’ve ever released, and builds on their signature sonic recipe: part first-wave British Invasion power pop, part rockabilly, part Everly Brothers harmonies and part dub reggae, awash in reverb to give it a psychedelic patina.
DARYL SANDERS
BEST SURPRISE ALBUM DROP JACK WHITE, NO NAME
On a sticky-hot Friday in July, Jack White did something supremely cool. He dropped one of his best albums in years without a word of hype. Unsuspecting shoppers who visited White’s Third Man Records storefronts in Nashville, Detroit and London left the shop that day with an unassuming LP tucked in their bag. Once the needle dropped on the album — in a plain sleeve and with a label bearing only the stamped phrase “No Name” — said shoppers discovered a riffy, rambunctious new collection of songs from modern rock music’s foremost mage. Songs like the eerily prophetic jam “Archbishop Harold Holmes” and punk burner “Bombing Out” made clear from first listen that White had made an album that — like all his best work — should be played at a wall-shaking volume. Weeks later, White widely released No Name, but not without playing a few pop-up shows that left followers largely praising his no-rules approach to the new LP — and wondering what else he’s got up his sleeve. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
BEST SINGLE SOCCER MOMMY, ‘LOST’
Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, has spent the better part of the year preparing to share her forthcoming album Evergreen. The indie-rock singer-songwriter previewed some of her unreleased music on her The Lost Shows tour — including the wistful “Lost,” a hauntingly beautiful song that feels like a soundtrack. In the lyrics, she explores the complexities of her relationship with someone whose loss she’s grieving. While it reflects on the struggle to reckon with a loved one who’s always with you but also not there, the song is as much about healing as it is about hurt. The stripped-down acoustic guitar, paired with strings and the sounds of Mother Nature, gives the recording an intimate, almost eerie feeling, like we’re eavesdropping. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST FUTURE-FUNK SINGLE ERIC SLICK, ‘NEW AGE RAGE’
There’s so much to be anxious about at any time that it can overwhelm our abilities to connect with each other and be creative — a central theme in New Age Rage, primo multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Eric Slick’s latest album. The title track confronts concerns about artificial intelligence and the damage humans have done to our relationship with nature. The more conversations about serious issues we can have amid dense, funky, danceable arrangements like this one — which draws from pop, funk and R&B geniuses of the ’70s and ’80s — the better. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST COLLAB TRACK CASSADEE POPE AND DAISHA McBRIDE, ‘I DIED’
This genre-blending track from Hereditary, Cassadee Pope’s return to pop punk after a decade in the country world, mixes her raucous energy with McBride’s bold bars. The song is a deep dive into the raw emotions of heartbreak and the strength it takes to rise from it. Dark, vulnerable and undeniably addictive, “I Died” showcases both Nashville’s rock and hip-hop scenes in fine fashion. If you hear the phrase “rap rock” and shudder when your brain conjures up, say, Kid Rock, give this a listen. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST HISTORICAL SONG
STEVE POULTON, ‘THE FASTEST MAN’
This year, while Major League Baseball added Negro Leagues stats to their own record book, Altered Statesman frontman Steve Poulton shined a light on Cool Papa Bell, a Negro Leagues star he has long admired, on this recording from his solo EP Exit 204. Bell, a center fielder, could allegedly run the bases in 12 seconds flat. He was so fast that Olympic gold medal sprinter Jesse Owens refused to race him. But being a Negro Leagues hero did not mean fame and riches, and Poulton’s haunting track with lyrics by Kevin Gordon captures that reality. In the chorus, Bell answers any questions about his speed: “I was the fastest man / How fast you ask? / Faster than that.”
DARYL SANDERS
BEST LIVE ALBUM SERIES TODD SNIDER, ALL MY SONGS
During the 2020-2021 run of his Best of Nashville-winning Sunday morning series First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder, streamed live from The Purple Building in East Nashville, Todd Snider recorded solo acoustic versions of his studio albums — all of them. In February, Aimless Records began to release these Purple Versions to streaming services and as free downloads under the banner All My Songs, one per month in the order of their original release. What makes these recordings so fascinating and historically important are the introductions: Snider talks about the genesis of the songs on each album in a way he almost never does in concert, discussing not only their inspiration, but which ones he thinks have stood the test of time and which ones have not.
DARYL SANDERS
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM AND COMPANION BOOK
ALICE RANDALL, MY BLACK COUNTRY
Alice Randall’s My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present and Future, a blend of memoir and music history, arrived right on time for our Cowboy Carter summer, providing us with a sweeping genealogy of Black country and its impact on contemporary Black musicians. Randall, the first Black woman to write a No. 1 country song, dedicates space in the book to documenting the recording of her album My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randall. The LP is a remarkable corrective in which Randall’s songs have been reclaimed by a “posse of Black Country genius,” including Randall’s daughter, Caroline Randall Williams, who performs a spoken-word version of the author’s hit “XXX’s and OOO’s.” CAT ACREE
BEST ROCK ALBUM AND COMPANION BOOK ROBYN HITCHCOCK, 1967
For a widely traveled musician who’s known equally well for intricate acoustic fingerpicking and for shouting “I wanna destroy you!” over screaming electric guitars — even one who’s adept at gathering insight on what squirms in-
side each of us — a memoir is an ambitious task. Robyn Hitchcock doubled down, emphasizing the profound role of music in his life with his book 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left and its companion album 1967: Vacations in the Past. The LP, which consists of 11 covers and one new original, is an ardent ode to the world of psychedelic sounds that shaped him as a teenager in the U.K., originally recorded by artists like The Small Faces, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks and (of course) The Beatles. The book is a work of beautifully organic prose explaining his life during the titular year, as the shyly precocious artist learned to grow into who he was to become. Beyond a cover album and an autobiography, it’s two different ways for Hitchcock to examine himself as well as an influential period for musical culture. P.J. KINZER
BEST COMMUNITY CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE NASHVILLE IN HARMONY AND NASHVILLE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, BEETHOVEN’S SYMPHONY NO. 9
It’s not unusual to see local arts organizations partnering on various projects and performances. But it was particularly exciting to see Nashville in Harmony and the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra team up for a pair of sold-out concerts in May, celebrating both groups’ 20th anniversary seasons. Audiences enjoyed a great mix of new and familiar works — including fresh arrangements of “Tennessee Waltz” and “What a Wonderful World,” plus the world premiere of “Voyages” by composer Brian Raphael Nabors. Then for the grand finale, they took the stage together to perform Beethoven’s orchestral masterpiece, complete with a glorious “Ode to Joy.” AMY STUMPFL
BEST BIG BAND BLAIR BIG BAND
Anyone worried about the future of jazz and improvisational music — especially if you’re under the impression that big-band music is the sole domain of ghost bands fronted by relatives of deceased giants — need look no further than the Blair Big Band at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. A critically acclaimed unit consisting entirely of undergraduate musicians, the Blair Big Band can match solo and collective prowess with any similar entity either nationwide or around the globe. Band director Ryan Middagh is highly respected and well-known in both the academic and performance communities within the jazz world, and he places equal emphasis on mastering classic compositions while maintaining a fresh, modern sound. The Blair Big Band’s list of honors and achievements range from winning multiple DownBeat Student Music Awards to being tapped for appearances at jazz education conferences and state department tours — their next one is scheduled for Colombia in 2026. RON WYNN
BEST OPERA PRODUCTION NASHVILLE OPERA, THE MAGIC FLUTE
Mozart’s The Magic Flute is notoriously difficult to stage, thanks to its formidable vocal requirements and often-surprising shifts in tone. Under the watchful eye of CEO and artistic director John Hoomes, however, Nashville Opera delivered a stunning season-closer brimming with passion and plenty of vocal fireworks. Soprano Rainelle Krause was especially impressive in her signature role of The Queen of the Night, and when she let loose with the famed “Hell’s Vengeance” aria, audience members rewarded her with an extended ovation. Fortunately, fans can look forward to seeing Krause again in April, as she returns to Nashville to take on the title role in Lucia: The Bride of Lammermoor AMY STUMPFL
BEST BLUEGRASS RESIDENCY
BRONWYN KEITH-HYNES AT DEE’S
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge has become a center for bluegrass in Madison, and fiddler and singer Bronwyn Keith-Hynes has been showing off her chops during her band’s Monday residency there over the past year. Dee’s helped launch another great Nashville bluegrass band, East Nash Grass, which held down the Monday night spot for years before moving on to bigger venues. Keith-Hynes is a master fiddle player who grew up in Vermont and Virginia before moving to Nashville. Her 2024 album I Built a World features turns from bluegrass masters like Molly Tuttle (in whose Grammy-winning band Keith-Hynes plays) and country star Dierks Bentley. In her residency, Keith-Hynes leads her impeccable band through a wide range of material, and she sings as forcefully as she plays.
EDD HURT
BEST FESTIVAL SET
MOLLY GRACE AT BONNAROO
To really get a feel for Molly Grace’s impressive range and soulful vibrato, you’ve got to be sharing the same air when she performs. The up-and-coming Nashville pop star’s set at Bonnaroo was the perfect taste of her talents,
with backup singers who coordinated with her via matching outfits and choreography. Likely thanks to the heat and an unfortunate set time on a small stage right before megastar Chappell Roan, Grace’s ’Roo set was criminally underattended. But those who came were treated to one of the most fun moments of the whole weekend.
HANNAH CRON
BEST RYMAN HEADLINER SIERRA FERRELL
Early in her career, multiple Americana award winner Sierra Ferrell was a busker. While she works with a fantastic band and frequently performs with great guests, it’s easy to get the idea she could hold a crowd of any size in the palm of her hand using just one of the several instruments she plays and her finely tuned voice. Over and over again during her two-night headline debut at the Ryman in March — which served as a release party for her album Trail of Flowers — she worked the magic that she knows so well, making the hushed audience see past her and through the eyes of the characters she sang about.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST VENUE EVOLUTION DRKMTTR
Since 2015, all-ages venue Drkmttr has shown up for Nashville’s music communities in a ton of ways, from serving as a vital component in the city’s creative ecosystem to pivoting to host the Nashville Free Store to help out its neighbors when COVID came crashing down in 2020. In 2024, venue organizers took the well-deserved step of becoming a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This change helps the venue access more funding, including opening up myriad avenues for grants. Not only will this make Drkmttr stronger than ever in a climate where the challenges for small venues have only increased, but it will also support an expanded range of community programming that will help the venue fulfill its mission as a community pillar.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST RYMAN HEADLINER, WRITERS’ CHOICE: SIERRA FERRELL
BEST SMALL VENUE THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
While there’s certainly an appeal to being part of a huge crowd, there’s something unique about the type of intimacy available only in a smaller setting. The degree of communication between performer and audience achievable in tighter confines is a very special thing. This year, The Blue Room has hosted touring greats like André 3000 and Sam Evian and locals like Regeneration and Snooper, among many more. During several recent visits to the venue, I experienced that in a way I haven’t anywhere else in quite a while, with excellent acoustics and good sight lines in the bargain. It’s a different vibe from a jazz club, but it shares with those places an atmosphere of togetherness that’s hard to keep as the size of a room increases. RON WYNN
BEST OUTDOOR STAGE
HUBBA HUBBA TIKI TONK AND NO QUARTER
Rumor has it that when notorious Austin, Texas, thrashers Tear Dungeon set their sights on a Nashville tour stop earlier this year, the venue they were meant to play caught wind of the biblical amounts of fake blood involved in their set and backed out of the date. Fortunately, there’s a stage in town that doesn’t mind a little mayhem. Not only did East Nashville bars Hubba Hubba and No Quarter invite Tear Dungeon to spew blood on their stage — they handed out ponchos. That’s the kind of chaos that’s been missing from the local scene, not seen since the heyday of the Springwater Auction. LANCE CONZETT
BEST UNDERGROUND VENUE THE MOUTHHOLE
In a city like Nashville, where DIY music venues are increasingly harder to run, places like The Mouthhole feel more and more sacred. The venue recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in the basement of three roommates’ house, and it’s one of Nashville’s best open secrets. (If you want to find it, ask a punk, or DM the residents.)
It’s a space where an eclectic array of musicians, comedians and artists of all kinds can gather to perform in a relaxed atmosphere that emphasizes connection and creativity, and the city is better because of it. KELSEY BEYELER
BEST NEW DANCE CLUB NIGHT WE MET
Momentum is building in Nashville for a revitalized club-culture scene, the likes of which
haven’t been seen since the heady days of Graham Central Station and LGBTQ community staple The Connection. Night We Met, which opened in the onetime 12th & Porter building in March, has seemingly come ahead of the curve, building on owner Austin Knight’s experience as an electronic music promoter and right-hand man Brendan Hayes’ eye for detail. The entrance leads directly to a bar, where you can get carefully curated cocktails, and a line of glistening booths for lounging. In rapid staccato bursts, lights illuminate the adjoining room packed with partygoers dancing to whichever niche DJ is on that night; dancers have their own tuckedaway mini bar prepped with mid-dance refreshment. It’s an experience Gen Z seems hungry for.
AIDEN O’NEILL
BEST RECURRING SHOWCASE SUNDAY NIGHT SOUL
For more than a decade, gifted vocalist and songwriter Jason Eskridge has made East Nashville’s The 5 Spot a prime place for great classic and contemporary soul music with his Sunday Night Soul showcase, which these days takes place the fourth Sunday of each month. Eskridge, whose arm’s-length résumé includes work with artists from Gladys Knight to Lyle Lovett and beyond, would not accept the notion that there was neither an audience for soul nor plenty of noteworthy artists. The result of his dedication is that Sunday Night Soul has become a cultural staple, providing a platform and a community for artists across the South and elsewhere. RON WYNN
BEST NEW MUSIC EVENT SIX ONE TRÏBE’S 615 DAY
Over the years, many celebrations have marked the coincidence of June 15th with the 615 area code, shorthand for “Nashville” for decades. This year, Gee Slab and the Six One Trïbe crew organized a 615 Day party that had The Basement East bumping with fantastic local hip-hop talent, and brought out an array of vendors and food trucks, representing small businesses from around the city. The success of this inaugural event makes it fundamental work for building the infrastructure to help Black creative entrepreneurship thrive again in Nashville. Slab aims to broaden Trïbe’s 615 Day over time, bringing in a wealth of music from outside the confines of the mainstream country machine — the sky’s the limit.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST LIVE DISCO DANCE PARTY NORDISTA FREEZE’S SPACE PROM
Hosted annually by Nashville pop and rock hero Nordista Freeze, Space Prom is the high-energy intergalactic disco dance party of your wildest dreams. Channeling the over-the-top energy he’s renowned for, Freeze transported Brooklyn Bowl to the stars in January with a killer set of tunes you might hear if your prom was held in the 1980s — and in space, and organized in a more inclusive way than many proms. As ever, he had help on this sixth installment of the show from an ace band and guest vocalists including Jarren Blair, Venus & the Flytraps, Hotel Fiction, Sunshine Scott, Sarah Potenza, Dave Welsch of The Thing With Feathers, Danny Wagner from Greta Van Fleet and many more. JAYME FOLTZ
BEST CYPHER EASTSIDE JAM
Way back in 2017, a ragtag group of MCs would gather in the taproom at Bearded Iris to pass the mic and hone their skills. The hip-hop scene has grown by leaps and bounds since then, but without that event (or AL-D and E.T.’s Meant for the Milk Crate series), it’s been tough to find a regular cypher. So when Eastside Jam, a weekly funk-and-soul jam hosted at Inglewood Lounge, announced a cypher night, it immediately got our attention. Some of the best rappers in the city
BEST SMALL VENUE, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
— Chuck Indigo, Namir Blade and Brian Brown among them — pulled up to rhyme against a perpetual groove. They switched it up as members of the band rotated in and out and took the beats into continuously evolving directions under the eye of Clarksville rapper (and the night’s emcee) Seddymac. It was a one-off gig, but I can speak for hip-hop fans across Nashville — I’d pay to see that again and again and again. LANCE CONZETT
BEST IN-STORE SHOWS GRIMEY’S NEW AND PRELOVED MUSIC
Something that seemed unlikely 25 years ago has come to pass: If you want to go somewhere today and pick out an LP or even a CD from a rack, you can choose between a big-box store like Walmart or Target — or else an independent record shop that wasn’t supposed to survive in the Information Age. Mom-and-pop record shops are exceedingly important for music communities, and Nashville is lucky to have several. Not only does Grimey’s continue to offer fans an astonishing array of contemporary releases and vintage vinyl covering every conceivable popular music category — not to mention the bookstore downstairs — it provides customers something else you won’t find in a corporate place. Grimey’s routinely hosts live shows by outstanding performers anxious to make sure their new work gets the attention it deserves (see: Swamp Dogg’s visit in July, along with visits from Iron and Wine, Eric Slick and many others), as well as listening parties to highlight vital upcoming albums that might otherwise get lost or glossed over in a sea of data. It’s an exercise in community-building for true music lovers, the value of which can’t be overstated. RON WYNN
BEST NASHVILLE MUSIC HISTORY CELEBRATION
COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME, NIGHT TRAIN TO NASHVILLE REVISITED
If any local museum exhibit deserves an encore, it’s Night Train to Nashville, an in-depth celebration of the city’s often-underappreciated R&B roots. Museum curators originally debuted Night Train two decades ago with wide acclaim, including a Grammy Award for an accompanying album. The revised exhibit takes museum visitors through 25 years of R&B history in Music City, including the impact of Night Train, a groundbreaking program shot at WLAC-TV that debuted in 1964 with an all-Black cast. See the exhibit before it takes a final bow in September 2025. MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
BEST HISTORICAL MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION THE SIT-IN MIXTAPE
Nashville’s pride in our music is justified, but there is so much more that we should be celebrating as a city with just as much fanfare. Standout MCs and organizers JusBam and AL-D brought together an extensive crew from across the wide realm of Nashville hip-hop to tell the story of the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins — an
integral part of our rich civil rights history. The Sit-In Mixtape, which incorporates a slew of original raps in a film made at NECAT’s PEG Studios, stars JusBam as Diane Nash, Remsteele as the Rev. James Lawson along with many others in a head-nodding, hip-dipping effort to keep this history at the center of the stories we tell ourselves about Music City. STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST CONCERT FILM MAC GAYDEN: FRIENDS OVER
Produced by Diane Gayden and Steve Boyle (who also directed and edited the film), Mac Gayden: Friends Over is a superb concert film celebrating a legend in Nashville music and well beyond. That’s Mac Gayden, a hit songwriter and pioneering guitarist who was a member of session supergroup Area Code 615 and founder of the seminal Southern rock outfit Barefoot Jerry, among other accomplishments. The film was shot during a pair of shows at 3rd and Lindsley in 2022 and 2023 called Friends Over, and features inspired performances not only by Gayden, but also an all-star lineup of musical friends including Jimmy Hall, Tracy Nelson, Charlie McCoy and the late Buzz Cason (who co-wrote Gayden’s biggest hit, the pop and R&B standard “Everlasting Love”). The film premiered at the Belcourt in January; no word has yet come about a wider release. DARYL SANDERS
BEST TV APPEARANCE KACEY MUSGRAVES ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
Playing your music on TV ostensibly has a commercial purpose, so the standard move is to wow the audience with the catchiest, most upbeat song you’ve got. Kacey Musgraves’ stunning new LP Deeper Well is about slowing yourself down to listen to the still, small voices inside and learning to trust their guidance.
When she played SNL a couple weeks before the record came out in March, she picked “Deeper Well” and “Too Good to Be True,” two of the album’s quieter songs, performed with an enormous band whose members all played very gently. The quality of the songs and the subtlety and richness of the music left an impact that’ll be remembered for a long time to come.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
BEST LABEL EAR UP RECORDS
The notion that artistry and integrity should be the most important attributes of a record label rather than profits, chart positions and streaming numbers probably seems — at best — overly idealistic in today’s arts universe. But that’s precisely the mantra that has governed every album issued on saxophonist, bandleader and composer Jeff Coffin’s Ear Up Records. While it’s no surprise that someone whose personal taste and influences span the gamut from avant-garde jazz to cutting-edge rock and rhythmically intense funk would operate a label where these values reigned supreme, the word eclectic doesn’t come close to describing the idiomatic range or talent level of Ear Up’s roster. Whether the artists on the roster are familiar or not (and they do include Coffin’s own work, like his recent release Only the Horizon), fans of fresh and innovative music have come to trust Coffin’s curation the way they once might have with Atlantic, Blue Note, Prestige or Chess. RON WYNN
BEST ANNIVERSARY SHOW THE PROTOMEN 20TH ANNIVERSARY AT EASTSIDE BOWL
It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since The Protomen first slathered on silver face paint to rage against a dystopian cybernetic future at The Boro. Since that fateful night in
2004, the combination rock band and rebel robot soldier army has steadily built a devoted cult of fans, opened for icons like Tenacious D and toured the world. But in their hearts, they’re the same arena-rock-worshipping goofballs who (so the legends tell) commandeered every mic cable at MTSU to record a wall-of-amps guitar solo in the rotunda of the mass comm building. That much was clear at their Eastside Bowl anniversary show. Not only was the night a chronicle of the band’s history — including guest appearances from old-school members like Heath Who Hath No Name, Demon Barber and Scartoe Gleason — it was a celebration of the scene they sprouted from, dragging metal aces Destroy Destroy Destroy and DJ crew Left Can Dance out of retirement for one final boss battle. LANCE CONZETT
BEST REUNION SILVER JEWS
Five years ago, Silver Jews frontman and indie-rock icon David Berman released Purple Mountains into the world and took his leave of it, taking a little part of all of us with him. In August, when gallerist Julia Martin posted a picture of a purple heart that read “Silver Jews @ 8:30 p.m.” on Instagram, a shiver of excitement ran through the indie scene. During a celebration of Purple Reign, a monochromatic exhibition presented by Julia Martin Gallery and inspired by Berman, his widow and bandmate Cassie Berman was joined on the gallery’s porch by a slew of old friends. William Tyler, Peyton Pinkerton, Tony Crow, Matt Swanson and Brian Kotzur joined in for a full Silver Jews set, including an electric rendition of “The Wild Kindness” with Will “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” Oldham as a guest vocalist. It was a special night, something the crowd sprawled across the one patch of grass left in Wedgewood-Houston will never forget. LANCE CONZETT ▼
BEST ANNIVERSARY SHOW, WRITERS’ CHOICE: THE PROTOMEN 20TH ANNIVERSARY AT EASTSIDE BOWL PHOTO:
OCT 24 TO 26 | 7:30 PM
Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor China Forbes, vocalist Thomas Lauderdale, piano
Michael Francis, conductor Natasha Paremski, piano PINK
NOV 2 | 7:30 PM NOV 3 | 2 PM Jacob Joyce, conductor
NOV 8 & 9 | 7:30 PM
Natasha Paremski
OCT. 17 - 19
DANCE
[SAID THE WAY YOU MOVE] FAR FROM THE NORM: BLKDOG
Led by acclaimed British choreographer Botis Seva, the London-based hip-hop dance theater company Far From the Norm has been dazzling audiences since 2009. This weekend, Seva brings his Olivier Award-winning work BLKDOG to OZ Arts — direct from its U.S. debut at the storied Joyce Theater in New York City. Balancing stunning imagery and innovative movement that blends everything from popping and breaking to krump and house dance styles, BLKDOG takes on tough elements of childhood trauma and grief, providing “haunting commentary on how the youth of today navigate a world that was not built for them.” It’s a staggering piece that is sure to spark plenty of conversation. In fact, Seva himself will be on hand for an engaging talkback following the performances on both Thursday and Friday nights. Local dancers will have the opportunity to join members of Seva’s company for a free master class on Oct. 19 at Nashville School of the Arts. AMY STUMPFL
OCT. 17-19 AT OZ ARTS
6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE
TOM BRITT ART OPENING PAGE 234 CAMERON ESPOSITO PAGE 236
THURSDAY / 10.17
PODCAST
[NEED WE SAY MOORE?] A SLICE OF THE COMMUNITY FEAT. MAYOR FREDDIE O’CONNELL
Folks who tune into the Nashville Scene Podcast (thanks for listening and watching!) will of course recognize my co-host Jerome Moore. But the man wears many hats — he’s also an author, speaker, organizer and host of Nashville Public Television’s A Slice of the Community Featuring one-on-one conversations between Moore and folks including community organizer Tequila Johnson, The Nashville Food Project CEO C.J. Sentell and Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee president Jessica Dauphin, Slice is a great local avenue for thoughtful, informed discussions about issues deeply impacting everyday Nashvillians. For the Season 3 premiere, Moore and his team are queuing up a conversation with someone who happens to also be a recent Scene Podcast guest — Mayor Freddie O’Connell. With the mayor’s “Choose How You Move” transit referendum set for the Nov. 5 ballot, he and Jerome will have a lot to talk
about during their live taping on Oct. 17 — to be specific, “O’Connell’s progress and challenges since taking office as well as his strategic vision for Nashville’s development and growth.” The taping is free, with free pizza provided by Slim & Husky’s. RSVP via wnpt.org. D. PATRICK RODGERS DOORS AT 7:15 P.M., TAPING AT 8 AT NASHVILLE PBS’ STUDIO A 161 RAINS AVE.
FILM [XXX] HUMP! FILM FEST
The latest Hump Fest has everything: Saran Wrap, jack-o’-lanterns, doughnuts, thermal imaging cameras — even a pizza delivery guy. Organized by “Savage Love” mastermind and alt-weekly hero Dan Savage, HUMP! Film Fest has consistently delivered both shocking and profound erotic short films. This isn’t your standard PornHub fodder — these are everyday people making sexy short films that will change the way you think about sexuality. As Savage told me in a 2019 interview, “These are films that people make with their friends and lovers, and it comes from a place of joy.” There are 25 brand-new short films on view
here, and two opportunities to view them. Visit humpfilmfest.com for more information.
LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
6:30 & 9 P.M. AT THE MARK
346 HERRON DRIVE
FILM
[WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING STRANGE?]
THE FRANKLIN THEATRE’S FEAR FEST
Throughout October, the Franklin Theatre has been showcasing a wide range of classic chillers and modern scares to celebrate the Halloween season. In the lead-up to the big night, you can catch John Carpenter’s paranoid gross-out The Thing (Oct. 20), Brian De Palma’s terrifying high school freakout Carrie (Oct. 20), meta-horror masterpiece Scream (Oct. 26) and cult favorite The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oct. 30). There are even options for the kids, with 2012’s underrated ParaNorman (Oct. 27) and ABC Family staple The Nightmare Before Christmas (Oct. 27). Horror fans of all ages and scare-level preferences can find something in this spooky lineup. LOGAN BUTTS THROUGHOUT OCTOBER AT THE FRANKLIN THEATRE 419 MAIN ST., FRANKLIN
[EARLY EDITION]
MUSIC
CRAVE ON ALBUM RELEASE
Are we used to the present being unsettled yet? Will whatever’s new ever really feel “normal” — and is it really a bad thing if not? The music on Crave On’s sixth LP Fantasy Hall doesn’t necessarily
address those questions directly, but it’s a good companion for when you’re asking yourself about all this. Since I’m a newspaper staffer, the Fantasy Hall song “Have You Heard the News” resonates particularly, as Patrick Orr sings about the double-edged sword that it can be to be informed sometimes: “These disagreements and devastations / Got you wondering what you can do / Have you heard the news? / It’s sharpening its claws / Come to give you pause.” One way forward: making art to try to figure it out. The group celebrates this path at Thursday’s release party with help from The Altered Statesman and Heinous Orca, fellow local champions of great and interesting songs. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT SPRINGWATER
115 27TH AVE. N.
FRIDAY / 10.18
FILM
[TO NEW HEIGHTS] REEL ROCK 18
Rock-climbing nerds, I know you’re out there, and I know you’ve been thinking about the new Reel Rock and where you’re going to watch it. (It’s just not the same watching it alone.) Grab your belay buddy and head to Hillsboro Village: Climb Nashville is back with its annual Reel Rock screening at the Belcourt. Reel Rock 18, this year’s installment of climbingrelated films, features climbing stories ranging
from a deep-water solo in Mallorca, Spain, to a first ascent on Mount Mizugaki in Japan. In a moving finale, the latest Reel Rock follows journalist Matt Groom as he covers the climbing community in Ukraine. The event promises everything fans love about Reel Rock — the thrill of the adventure, the envy that you’re not out there with them and the joy of doing it all with friends. And if you want to get really into it, pregame the event with a climbing session at one of Climb Nashville’s locations. KATIE BETH CANNON
7 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
TRIVIA [CLOSED BOOK QUIZ]
BOOK CLUB TRIVIA: FROM BLOOD AND ASH
If you’re a Jennifer L. Armentrout fan and love all things From Blood and Ash, this trivia night is just for you. Tucked away inside Dirty Little Secret in Printers Alley, Book Club Trivia invites guests to grab a cocktail and test their knowledge on their favorite romantasy series. Teams can range from two to 20 people, but if you want to ride solo, don’t worry! A table has been reserved for solo members, with registration available on Book Club Trivia’s Instagram account (@triviabookclub). Book Club Trivia at the Dream Hotel has been hosting bookish themed trivia since the summer, with past nights focusing on the Thrones of Glass and Fourth Wing series. This month features two series, with a special Halloween-themed edition covering Haunting Adeline set for Oct. 30. Make sure to follow at @triviabookclub to get early access to tickets and view upcoming trivia themes.
TINA DOMINGUEZ
5 P.M. AT DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
210 PRINTERS ALLEY
SATURDAY / 10.19
[UNIVERSAL BLUES]
MUSIC
KEVIN GORDON ALBUM RELEASE
Kevin Gordon might be the quintessential
Nashville musician whose work should be better known outside of Davidson County. Gordon is sometimes called a songwriter’s songwriter, and this is an injustice — his music sounds pretty universal to me. Gordon’s March 2022 City Winery show here with New Orleans group The Iguanas afforded him the opportunity to play alongside a band with a fresh take on the Louisiana-born singer’s compositions. His blues-meets-New Wave guitar gave a fine edge to his songs, which fuse rock ’n’ roll with the sounds of X and The Blasters. He continues to write in that hybrid style on his new album The In Between — his first release since 2018’s Tilt and Shine. Gordon completed The In Between following a successful battle with cancer. He sounds energized on brisk songs like “Catch a Ride” and “Coming Up,” and inveighs against racial injustice on “Keeping My Brother Down.” Gordon’s guitar playing is as incisive as ever, and he’s a superb songwriter — he elucidates timeless themes by exploring the mental landscape of the South. With help from greats like bassist Dave Jacques and producer-guitarist Joe V. McMahan, The In Between embodies the best aspects of Nashville music. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT EASTSIDE BOWL
1508 GALLATIN PIKE S.
MUSIC
[SLAY QUEEN] MONSTER THRASH FEAT. OMENBRINGER W/THE MAXINES & DJ FLAMM!BAE
It’s going to be a graveyard smash at the Monster Thrash, hosted by local Halloween heavies OmenBringer. The quintet eschews the typical “group of dudes in band shirts” stage presence for tongue-in-cheek pageantry that sets their stunning live show apart from other Music City metal acts. Fronted by the captivating “Queen of the Coven” Molly Kent, the group’s occultist imagery mirrors their music. “Evil and tragic / Taken by magic / I am the sorceress,” sings Kent over Ozzy-esque riffs on “The Sorceress.” Monster Thrash will be the group’s final hurrah of the year before they lock
CRAVE ON
KEVIN GORDON
HUMP! FILM FEST
themselves away to conjure up a sophomore effort to follow their bone-shaking debut fulllength Thicc Darkness, released in June Grungegoths The Maxines make their way up from Savannah, Ga., to kick off the festivities, with DJ FLAMM!BAE rounding out the bill. Tricks, treats and special announcements are promised, as well as prizes to be given away for the scariest monster-themed costumes. Don’t be afraid, young ones — the show is open to anyone 18 or older.
JASON VERSTEGEN
8 P.M. AT THE EAST ROOM
2412 GALLATIN AVE.
[WASTE NOT, WANT NOT] RECYCLE AND RECHARGE: A ZERO WASTE AFTERNOON
If you’re like me, you have a drawer containing two decades of dead phones, chargers for dead phones, hard drives that haven’t worked since Obama’s first term and other assorted electronic junk. (OK, if you’re really like me, it’s actually three drawers and several tubs of varying sizes, but I digress.) Slowly, I realized that my grand plans to use this stuff for some kind of project were merely pipe dreams. But I also knew that it’s pretty terrible for the planet we live on — to the point that it’s illegal in some places — to just send it to a landfill via the ol’ garbage bin. Enter City eWaste, which bills itself as “America’s first mid-market eWaste franchise,” organizer of Saturday’s Recycle and Recharge event at the Patagonia store in the Gulch. You can drop off your electronic detritus at no cost, enjoy a complimentary coffee from the zero-waste experts (and award-winning coffee roasters) at Crema and check out informational sessions on waste reduction in our area from Compost Nashville and Turnip Green Creative Reuse. There’s also a giveaway featuring several prize bundles — see City eWaste’s Instagram post (find them at @cityewaste) for details on how to enter. STEPHEN TRAGESER
11 A.M.-4 P.M. AT PATAGONIA
601 OVERTON ST.
[HYPE]
MUSIC
LIPS SPEAK
LOUDER
The Nashville-based rock duo Lips Speak Louder is returning home to play at The Lipstick Lounge this Saturday. As music industry professionals with more than a decade of experience between the two of them, Rachel Brandsness and Angela Lese joined forces on a musical journey in late 2023 to ask a key question: How big of a sonic profile could they create with just two people? Deriving inspiration from The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age, Garbage and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the formidable duo is putting the raw essence of rock into music that feels real and personal. This year has seen the release of multiple singles from the band, with an album anticipated next year. Joining them at the Lip will be Midwestern alt-rock artist Jessie Phelps. Both artists are ready to rock one of East Nashville’s favorite bars with face-shredding licks and earcatching melodies. To finish your rock ’n’ rollstudded night, be sure to stay at the lounge for
karaoke after the show. KELSEY YOUNG
7 P.M. AT THE LIPSTICK LOUNGE
1400 WOODLAND ST.
MUSIC
[IT’S POSTY, BRO]: POST MALONE
Post Malone’s joyride down Music Row rolls on with a one-night show at Nissan Stadium. For those who missed it, Malone — the affable megastar known for earwormy pop songs like “Circles” and “Sunflower” — took a dive into country music this year with F-1 Trillion, an album jam-packed with throwback Nashville influence and modern starpower. Malone enlisted a who’s-who of Music Row co-writers for the 18-song album, including Luke Combs, Brad Paisley, Ernest, Lainey Wilson, Hardy … and the list goes on. The album plays like a creative time stamp for the year’s sought-after Music City entertainers, with guest appearances ranging from Billy Strings to Jelly Roll, Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton and Combs, who joins Malone on the undeniably catchy single “Guy for That.” The headlining Nashville show comes nearly two months after Post Malone’s Grand Ole Opry debut and marks a fitting final tour stop on his run supporting F-1 Trillion. Now, one question remains: Who’s going to crash the party and join Malone onstage? MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
8 P.M. AT NISSAN STADIUM
1 TITANS WAY
SUNDAY / 10.20
DRAG [THE ERRORIST] VARLA JEAN MERMAN
When a legend lets loose, you can’t help but pay attention — and when Varla Jean
POST MALONE
LIPS SPEAK LOUDER
My So-Called Band: 90s Halloween! (9pm) julie w/ frost children & her new knife mark ambor w/ kenzie
Kendell Marvel's Honky Tonk Experience
The Lemon Twigs w/ slippers qdp
ole 60 w/ cody powers
richy mitch & the coal miners w/ atta boy
Caitlyn Smith w/ caylee hammack, lucie silvas, ben chapman, meg mcree, madeline edwards, ashley monroe, & laci kaye booth
steve wynn
richard lloyd (of television) (7PM) the wans & the super american eagle (9PM)
john smith (7PM)
dizgo w/ omcat (9PM)
pure intention w/ outside dog & reddix-young
dan harrison, chris housman, blake rackley, & kalina tyne (6PM)
psyko otis & his road killers w/ sasquatch & the sick-a-billys, sebastian bordeaux ft. chris casello (9Pm)
melanie maclaren w/ caylan hays (7PM)
Virginia man w/ midtones (9PM)
Annual LIGHT THE LATE NIGHT with CHARLES ESTEN WMOT Roots Radio Presents Finally Friday featuring MAC LEAPHART, AVOCADO SUNDAE & THE DELTAZ
EAGLEMANIACS: The Music of Don Henley and The Eagleswith TERESA
Music on The Move featuring GINA VENIER BAND, SAM FERRARA, BAMBLUME & CHLOE DUVALL Hosted by ERIN MCLENDON & THE HELLCATS
STRINGS AND STORIES: A Songwriters Night Benefiting
Tom Petty Birthday Concert featuring THE BROKEN HEARTS
malia sweeney w/ kate kelly Hippies and cowboys
alec shaw w/ fretland (7PM)
caleb lee hutchinson (9PM)
Elvie shane w/ jaid (7PM)
Social animals (9PM)
Maddie ettrich w/ essy (7PM)
mulu w/
Merman performs, even shut-ins sit up. Singing live, slinging vibes, slaying spray cheese and cutting a figure like no one else in the game, VJM presides over the tradition of Louisiana drag like her spiritual sister Christeene Vale. Back in the day, the word was that Varla Jean was the offspring of the four months that Ethel Merman spent married to Ernest Borgnine. This was before Drag Race, before the Broadway and touring triumph with Chicago, before even Wigstock was a phenomenon that reached beyond New York City. This was a time when drag reigns were measured in years, not seasons, and Varla Jean Merman has been one of the best in the business for decades. She’s like a Jackie Beat, a Lypsinka or a Coco Peru and most certainly not a Linda Simpson — one of the legends who’ve been working their heels off and building brands that still stand to this day. If you’ve never seen 2003’s Girls Will Be Girls (currently streaming on Netflix, Tubi and Kanopy), it’ll be very easy for you to catch up to one of the icons of the art form before VJM brings her Errors Tour to The Lab. JASON SHAWHAN
6:30 P.M. AT THE LAB AT ZANIES
2019 EIGHTH AVE. S.
MUSIC
[FEAR OF THE DRK] DRKMTTR FEST
One of the most crucial pieces in any local scene is a space for all-ages DIY shows, the sort of place musicians on the fringe can play to crowds where age and financial restrictions don’t interfere with art. In the Middle Tennessee lineage of such beloved institutions as Lucy’s Record Shop, the Red Rose and Guido’s Pizza, our community is blessed to have Drkmttr Collective. The long-running art space has served as ground zero for local underground music and community activism for years. Drkmttr’s two-day fest will be headlined by Athens, Ga.’s Pylon Reenactment Society and Lawrence, Kan., duo Sweeping Promises. Often compared to Raincoats or Dolly Mixture, Sweeping Promises’ sweet jangle and thump
have produced two of the best albums of the past five years. Pylon Reenactment Society features Vanessa Briscoe Hay reviving her songs from ’80s indie royalty Pylon, featuring an extended family of Bulldog rockers to fill out the lineup. Guitar whiz William Tyler will also appear, as will his former Silver Jews partner Cassie Berman. It’s a rare chance to catch criminally underrated feminist thrashers Husband Stitch, as well as dozens of other Nashville acts. P.J. KINZER
OCTOBER 19-20 AT DRKMTTR 1111 DICKERSON PIKE
FILM [HE SPARKLES] SHOCKTOBER: TWILIGHT
The last time I watched Twilight (2008), I was 14 and wearing a heart pajama set from Delia’s. My friends clad in their Team Edward gear insisted that I could not go another day without watching it. I remember it being bluetinged and the dialogue especially breathy. The baseball scene was bonkers in the best way, and the slow-dance scene was incredibly romantic. I would never have guessed that, a decade-and-a-half after Twilight’s premiere, people would still be talking about it. They take pilgrimages to the filming locations and use it as their North Star when finding friends. They buy the soundtracks to all of the Twilight Saga films (which are very strong) on vinyl. I’m sad I missed out on the Twilight mania of youth — I rejected it because of its lusty-ness and because it was not my favorite genre, “realistic fiction.” But now I know it is real, living on as a beloved piece of media for a whole generation. (I’ve even gotten involved in a local fan club with friends who are die-hard fans.) I can’t wait to attend a Belcourt screening of the series’ first film as a chance to relive it with the people who loved it best. Showing as part of the theater’s ongoing Shocktober series. HANNAH HERNER
OCT. 20 & 24 AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
VARLA JEAN MERMAN
ART SHOW & SALE
TUESDAY / 10.22
MUSIC
[STRANGE DAYS, INDEED] THE CHAMELEONS
Shelby Bottoms Nature Center 1900 Davidson Street | 37206
For details visit: friendsofshelby.org/artshow or scan code
This show will continue online at chestnutgroupshow.com
In the isolating months of the 2020 COVID lockdown, I found solace in my room listening to records. One album that stayed on the turntable constantly was The Chameleons’ 1983 debut LP Script of the Bridge. A weird comfort came from hearing the pairing of sparse drum beats with bleak, staccato guitars that occasionally explode into lush choruses to compete with the anxious croon of bassist/singer Mark Burgess. Emerging from Middleton, a township only a few miles outside of Manchester, England, The Chameleons never achieved the name recognition overseas that The Smiths or Joy Division received. But the reptilians really existed as a callback to the previous decade’s art rock, much more so than many of their postpunk contemporaries — openly citing a love for Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, Joni Mitchell, Mike Oldfield and even The Beatles. The band will be playing their lone major label album, Strange Times, the 1986 LP that served as the steel girders that so many shoegaze acts and Britpoppers built their structures upon. The gig is presented by long-running goth contingent Fascination Street. Get there early for Knoxville squarewave pushers Attic Eyes and pedal-hopping North Carolinians Veldt. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M. AT EASTSIDE BOWL
1508A GALLATIN PIKE S.
WEDNESDAY / 10.23
FILM [PASS IT ON]
SHOCKTOBER: IT FOLLOWS
Leave to the Belcourt to compose an October lineup worthy of horror die-hards of all stripes. The beloved indie theater’s Shocktober series features everything from widely acclaimed masterworks like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to horror comedies like Scary Movie and modern cult classics like Jennifer’s Body. But if I have to pick one movie in the Shocktober lineup to
shout out, I’m choosing It Follows. David Robert Mitchell’s breakout film starring 21st-century scream queen Maika Monroe is an exercise in how to create atmosphere. From the killer Disasterpeace score to the always-watching cinematography and the “what decade is this exactly?” production design, It Follows is always surrounding the viewer with dread. Combine that with the genius premise, which literalizes the “sex equals death” trope of the slasher films of yore, and you get a terrifying collision of old horror style and new horror ideas. It’s one of my favorite movies of this century. LOGAN BUTTS OCT. 23 & 27 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MUSIC
[PRODUCED
AND DIRECTED]
GINGER ROOT W/AMAIWANA
Based on his creative output, there is a wild party going on inside the brain of Cameron Lew, the Southern California pop songsmith who records and performs as Ginger Root. Released in September, his third album Shinbangumi shares a good bit of sonic and thematic territory with his previous work: Against a backdrop of lush, funky, city-pop-leaning music that he describes as “aggressive elevator soul,” Lew addresses the complexities of relationships with himself and others in a world that’s felt for a long time like it’s been moving entirely too fast to keep up with. He and his crew have also continued an extensive video series that expands on his ideas about creativity in an often hostile world. It stars Lew as a music supervisor who gets fired from his job at a massive television conglomerate; when his homebrewed program takes off, the real trouble begins. Self-styled “Japanese dream punk” Amaiwana, fresh from the release of her New Wave EP, is opening this tour, and she’s a perfect foil. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT MAINSTAGE AT CANNERY HALL
1 CANNERY ROW
GINGER ROOT
Live Music at ON BROADWAY
THURSDAY / 10.24
[BOOT PARTY]
MUSIC
JEFFREY NOVAKALBUM RELEASE
Jeffrey Novak has been a Tennessee tent peg since he was a teenager, putting out tapes as Jeffrey Novak One Man Band and playing drums on a pair of noisy budget rock 7-inch EPs by Rat Traps, released on Jay Reatard’s imprint Shattered Records. Since then he’s traveled the world with his revolving trio Cheap Time, making fans of folks like comic Patton Oswalt, Redd Kross’ Steven McDonald and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm. Though Novak has spent the past decade on his funkier projects Savoy Motel and Cookie Jar, Blood Celebration is a departure from everything else that came before it. Full of hand drums and acoustic 12-string guitars, J-No’s solo sound has a looseness to the textures like Skip Spence’s Oar, the playful side of Synanthesia or the more organic Stone Roses material on Second Coming. The resulting album, quite possibly the creator’s best work, comprises an impishly imaginative 10 tracks that feel both fresh and familiar. Openers Ornament and Future Crib round out the night. P.J. KINZER
7 P.M. AT TWO BOOTS PIZZA
1925 BROADWAY
OCTOBER LINE UP
10.3 The Malpass Brothers 10.5 Karen Waldrup
10.6 Pick Pick Pass w/ Kevin Mac, Chris Canterbury, Faren Rachels
10.8 Billy Montana, CJ Solar, Heath Warren, Ethan Anderson
10.9 Eric Paslay’s Song In a Hat w/ Kristian Bush, Emily Landis
10.10 Natalie Hemby - The Truth About A Song
10.12 Ty Herndon & Jamie O’Neal - Songs and Stories
10.13 Living The Write Life Presents - The Heart Behind The Hits Writers Round
10.14 Songwriting with: Soldiers Presents Nashville Hit Writers Round w/ Mary Gauthier, James House, Danny Myrick, Trent Willmon
10.24 Josh Weathers w/ Special Guest Jordan Rainer
10.25 McBride & The Ride
10.28 Buddy’s Place Writer’s Round w/ Trannie Anderson,Jacob Rice, Paul Sikes
FRIDAY / 10.25
[A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC]
THEATER
OUR TOWN
I first read Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prizewinning play Our Town as a high school student. Though I was far too young to fully appreciate its universal themes and rich nuances, I certainly recognized Wilder’s gift for lyrical language and homespun wisdom. More than 86 years after the play’s Broadway debut in 1938, it’s no wonder that Our Town continues to resonate with audiences. One of the most frequently produced plays around, it’s been translated into dozens of languages and has inspired adaptations in everything from television and film to opera and ballet. In fact, the latest Broadway revival — directed by Kenny Leon and featuring Jim Parsons, Ephraim Sykes, Katie Holmes and Richard Thomas, among others — just opened in October at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Fortunately, local theater lovers don’t have to travel all the way to New York to enjoy this classic American drama. Nashville Repertory Theatre continues its season with Our Town, beginning Oct. 25. Rep artistic director Micah-Shane Brewer has gathered a terrific ensemble of new and familiar faces, including Wesley Paine, Candace-Omnira LaFayette, Bryce Dunn, Bakari King, Katie Bruno, Galen Fott, Erica Elam and more. AMY STUMPFL
THROUGH NOV. 3 AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER
don’t have to be intimately familiar with the culture it’s based in. Art provides an opportunity to find interrelatedness among different people and experiences while still learning about new cultures. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London is a place where this idea is wholly exemplified, with 145 galleries showcasing art and history from 5,000 years of culture. This month, a piece of that museum’s impressive collection makes its way to Nashville for a new exhibition at the Frist. In Journey Through Japan: Myths to Manga, Japanese history and culture are explored through the nation’s artwork as well as the evolution of its technology. The exhibition provides something for all ages, using everything from manga to clothing to toys to iconic images like Katsushika Hokusai’s “Under the Wave off Kanagawa” to explore the role geography, landscapes and folk tales have played in Japanese culture. Curator Mary Redfern of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Asia Department will be on hand Oct. 24 to discuss the exhibition, which runs through February. KATIE BETH CANNON THROUGH FEB. 16 AT THE FRIST ART MUSEUM 919 BROADWAY
[MISSING
MUSIC
BRAT SUMMER?]
CLUB XCX
505 DEADERICK ST.
ART [INTERNATIONAL LEGACY GOES LOCAL] JOURNEY THROUGH JAPAN: MYTHS TO MANGA
To understand and appreciate a piece of art, you
Brat Autumn is here, with Club XCX playing the best of your favorite artists like Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Chappell Roan, Shygirl and more. (Read about recent performances by several of these artists in The Spin, the Scene’s live music review column.) To fill the hole in your heart left behind by the end of Brat Summer, The Skydeck will host DJ sets by DJ Dame Luz, Manrelic and Ari the Calf and go-go dancers from Onyxx Performance Group. While I’ve personally never been a big club person, what really brought this event to my attention was the fact that a portion of each ticket sale will go to Nashville Launch Pad, an organization that creates a network of safe and street-free living spaces for LGBTQ teens and young adults. From emergency shelters to independent living spaces, Launch Pad is here to continue to affirm the rights and dignity of LGBTQ young adults in Middle Tennessee.
Salute the Songbird with Maggie Rose
Craig Campbell Class of ‘89
Cigarettes & Pizza w/ Aaron Raitiere, Wynn Varble
So join Club XCX for a fun night of music and dancing while supporting a great cause.
KELSEY YOUNG
9 P.M. AT SKYDECK
5055 BROADWAY
MUSIC [JOHNNY BLUE SKIES] STURGILL SIMPSON
Early reports confirm: Sturgill Simpson is not messin’ around on his new tour. Simpson hits the road this fall for an arena show in support of his new album Passage du Desir, which the Kentucky native released earlier this year under his moniker Johnny Blue Skies. Simpson retired from issuing music under his name after 2021’s conceptual release The Ballad of Dood and Juanita; he reemerged in July with Desir, an eight-song album as down-to-earth (like on the laid-back beach tune “Scooter Blues”) as it is gut-wrenching (such as the blindsiding story on “Jupiter’s Faerie”). Now Simpson has embarked on what Uproxx described as the “year’s most exciting tour” — often playing three-hour sets that rotate a collection of career-spanning songs and pop-up covers from artists who reflect Simpson’s mixtape of musical inspirations. It’s been years since Simpson toured North America, so buckle up and enjoy the ride as he and the band make up for lost time with what should be a night unlike any other in Nashville this season.
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
8 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA
501 BROADWAY
whose paintings are being exhibited at Revelry Fine Arts gallery in Berry Hill, works with acrylic paint in a minimalist style featuring bold use of primary colors. He says music and visual arts use “the same part of the brain,” and just like with his songwriting, he tries to “create a story” with his artwork. Britt describes his style as “cave art,” and notes: “Picasso thought the cave artists were the best artists ever.” Revelry is hosting an official opening for his work Oct. 25, and the public is invited.
DARYL SANDERS
EXHIBIT OPENING 5-8 P.M. AT REVELRY FINE ARTS
644 WEST IRIS DRIVE
SATURDAY / 10.26
MUSIC
[THIS ONE TIME AT HALLOWEEN CAMP!] FESTIVAL OF GHOULS
ART [21ST-CENTURY CAVE ART] TOM BRITT ART OPENING
Tom Britt is best-known as a guitarist and songwriter. He has worked with the likes of Leon Russell and Patty Loveless, co-leads the longrunning Nashville soul band The TajMahalics with Jonell Mosser and plays with The HercuLeons. But Britt is also a painter — a damn good one — and when COVID-19 shut down the live music industry, he put down his guitar and picked up his paintbrush. “When the pandemic hit, I said, ‘I’m going to give it a shot, because I’m not going to be playing guitar for a while,’” he recalls. “And it ended up working out.” Britt,
There’s plenty of frightful fun to be had around Nashville over the next couple of weeks, but let’s face it — there’s only one Festival of Ghouls. On Oct. 26, you can check out the city’s favorite theatrical noir rockers Fable Cry as they celebrate Festival of Ghouls X: Halloween Camp at OZ Arts. As always, guests can expect an immersive, spine-tingling spectacle that draws from the worlds of burlesque, cabaret and the aerial arts. But this year’s edition offers the added fun of a retro Halloween camp theme, complete with cheeky horror movie tropes, classic ghost stories and even a spooky retro campground setting. The lineup includes Suspended Gravity Circus, Back to Black Burlesque, RobinAugust, DJ Treux and more. So grab your friends, don your favorite camp-inspired costume (prop weapons are not allowed!) and get ready to toast a full decade of Ghouls. Just be careful — you never know what horrors might be lurking in the woods. AMY STUMPFL 8 P.M. AT OZ ARTS
6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE
SPORTS
[SUPER GRAPHIC ULTRA MODERN GNASH] NASHVILLE PREDATORS PRIDE
MUSIC NIGHT
On Saturday, the Nashville Predators face off against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and if you’re
TOM BRITT
asking me, this game should be a sweep for the hometown team. But even if hockey really isn’t your thing, tickets aren’t required to attend the pregame plaza party outside Bridgestone. The Preds host their 10th annual Preds Pride Night that day with a funky, groovy twist. This year’s edition focuses on music by LGBTQ individuals, primarily ’70s disco, complete with special disco-ball hockey jerseys to match. The first 10,000 fans inside Bridgestone Arena will receive a mini vinyl record coaster with the design of the night’s custom jersey. Before puck drop, fans can visit a pregame party outside the arena with aerialist performers, a lip-sync contest, music from singer-songwriter Shelby Raye and a glitter and hair tinsel bar. The Predators are taking a musical approach to many of their theme nights this season, so check out nhl.com/predators for tickets and more information. EMMA BURDEN
5:30 P.M. PREGAME PARTY, 7 P.M. PUCK DROP AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA
501 BROADWAY
model of Edmondson’s workshop into the space where it once stood.” That’s worth celebrating.
LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
10 A.M.-4 P.M. AT WILLIAM EDMONDSON HOMESITE PARK 1450 14TH AVE. S.
SUNDAY / 10.27
SPORTS [I BELIEVE]
USA VS. ICELAND WOMEN’S SOCCER
THU 10.17 9pm CRAVE ON, ALTERED STATESMEN, HEINOUS ORCA $5 FRI 10.18 5pm JIM SKINNER 9pm ALLIES, ADJUSTABLE MUSTARD, LINEN RAY, RITUALS $5 SAT 10.19 4pm BROWNS GIFT SHOP REVIVAL .VS. THE LIMITATIONS
FOOD & DRINK
[LOST IN THE SAUCE] TN HOT SAUCE EXPO
The five letters “USWNT” have long been synonymous with success in the world of women’s soccer, and former stars like Mia Hamm, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan are still some of the biggest names in American sports. After an uncharacteristic run of good-but-not-great results that had pundits wondering if the team’s past success had made them arrogant, the team looks resurgent under new manager Emma Hayes. Her side takes the field at Geodis Park following a gold medal in the Paris Olympics this summer, giving Nashville footy fans a chance to see the new-look team for the first time. It’s a friendly match, so stars like the terrifying “Triple Espresso” attacking trio of Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson might not play much (or at all), but expect to see a new generation of talent line up against an Iceland side that’s earned its highest FIFA ranking in history at No. 13. It’ll be a marquee event for Geodis, which was recently announced as a host for the upcoming Club World Cup. COLE VILLENA
6:30 P.M. AT GEODIS PARK
501 BENTON AVE.
[FREEZE WARNING]
MUSIC
NORDISTA FREEZE
5PM WRITERS @ THE WATER OPEN MIC
9pm JOE’S RESIDUNCEDY #2: YOU & I, REBERHEAD, DFITZ, NO TROPIC $5
SUN 10.20 4pm SPRINGWATER SIT-IN JAM 9pm FIGHT BACK MOUNTAIN, OWL KEY, GRAVEYARD KIDS $5
The TN Hot Sauce Expo is to me what AmericanaFest is to singer-songwriters, or what Comicon is for nerds. (To be clear, I am pro-nerd.) Not only do I love hot sauce because it adds heat and flavor to just about everything I eat, but the culture around it is super fun. Think goofy label graphics, absurd hot sauce names, spicy eating contests and lots of flavor. Take one look at the TN Hot Sauce Expo website and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. While you’re there, check out the schedule for the Stage of Doom to see what kind of fun events you can expect throughout the two-day expo, like the Slaytanic Burrito Challenge, the Doughnuts of Death Challenge or the Hot Diggity Dog Ziggity Boom Challenge. There will also be wrestling at various times throughout each day, and the expo will culminate in a Carolina Reaper eating challenge hosted by PuckerButt Pepper Company. The winner gets $1,000 — think about how much hot sauce you could buy with that! KELSEY BEYELER
10 A.M.-6 P.M. AT EAST PARK
WED 10.23 5pm WRITERS AT THE WATER FREE! 9pm RITZY’S RANCH #4 (TBA) $5
THU 10.24 4pm CHRIS GANTRY & FRIENDS
9pm RUBY THE RABBITFOOT’S FAVORITE DAY OF HER FAVORITE WEEK (3) (TBA) - $5
FRI 10.25 4pm IBC FINALIST - DOC DOWNS & THE NEXT ROUND
9pm FLIPSVILLE- 50’S, 60’S DJ DANCE PARTY! THE LOCAL SHAMS- DIRTY GARAGE ROCK! SUN 10.27 4pm SPRINGWATER SIT-IN JAM 9pm ZIONA RILIONA (TBA)
700 WOODLAND ST
[SITE SPECIFIC]
FESTIVAL
WE FEST
Now in its third year, the William Edmondson Arts & Culture Festival is rebranding as WE Fest, but it still seeks to elevate the legacy of its namesake, who is, arguably, historically Nashville’s most famous artist. Edmondson, who died in 1951, was the first Black American to get a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, and the site where he made most of his limestone sculptures is now a park and garden. The festival intentionally focuses on Black and brown artists, as well as others whose work is often underrepresented in mainstream craft fairs. In addition to the vendors, there will be live music and performances, food trucks and lots of activities for the kids. Of particular note is an augmented reality experience, which replicates “a 3D
If you live in Nashville and have never heard of Nordista Freeze, it’s safe to say you’re missing out. The “Wysteria” singer is a staple in the local indie scene known for everything from his wild crowd-surfing, rafter-swinging live shows to his annual Space Prom. You can’t help but have an unforgettable experience when you are at a Nordista Freeze show. It starts popping from the beginning and doesn’t let up until you are sweaty, smiling and completely worn out. While he usually performs his indie-pop-rock tunes backed by a full band, Freeze is set to DJ solo over the next few months. Catch him at The End with FloPetite and Grace Christian X for a highenergy night of fun. JAYME FOLTZ
8 P.M. AT THE END
2219 ELLISTON PLACE
[QUEERY LANGUAGE]
COMEDY
CAMERON ESPOSITO
A lot has changed since Cameron Espositio was at Zanies in 2022. Luckily, their haircut is the same, but their comedy now includes material about navigating a bipolar disorder diagnosis and a recent health issue that involved a lengthy hospital stay. As someone lucky enough to have seen Esposito live before, I can’t wait to hear how they work this into their comedy. I’ve seen a taste on social media, and I’m hungry for a full bite. I found Esposito through the
YANIV MON DAY, O CTOB ER 21 BE LC OU R T TH EATR E AT 7 PM
NASHVILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
KIDNAPPED:THE ABDUC N
THURSDAY M ATIN EE
THURSDAY,OCTOBE R31 G ORDON J CCAT 12 PM
SHOSHANA
TUES-THUR, O CTO BE R 2 2– 24 VI RTUAL
AR B NN LIF STOLEN MON TINE
MON DAY,OCT R28 ON UN ORDON JCCAT12PM
RUNNING ON SAND , N LLEVUEAM DRIN ATTHE WELL O R
CLOSING NIGHT LLS
THURSDAY,NOVE MBE T TH EATR E
CLUB YANIV | FREE
SATURDAY, OCT 19 | AT GORDON JCC
Come for the �lm and stay to learn to play the card game Yaniv
MONDAY MATINEE LUNCH
Lunch Catered by Take Away Catering
PIZZA PARTY | $15
SATURDAY, NOV 2 | 5:30 PM AT THE WELL
MONDAY, OCT 28 | 11:30 AM AT GORDON JCC
Join us at The Well, One Bellevue Place, for DeSano pizza, salad, wine, beer, and �avored water prior to the �lm
MARY AND THE MATRIX SUNSHINE SCOTT • DEMILLION SAT 10.19 OMENBRINGER PRESENTS: MONSTER THRASH
SUN 10.20 “THE TENNESSEE COMEDY MASSACRE” FEAT: BO COWAN • PAULA
KOSIENSKI • JOHN DATOY KYLER FINNEY • THE GRAY GRAYS
MON 10.21 FAME & FICTION • TORNSEY DAPHNE MAE
TUE 10.22 ULTIMATE COMEDY FREE LOCAL STAND UP!
WED 10.23 SAM VARGA • CAROLINE ROMANO CARTER RUBIN
THU 10.24 SAYRYN • ROBIN AUGUST•DUDLEY 2412 GALLATIN AVE @THEEASTROOM
now-defunct stand-up comedy podcast they hosted with River Butcher called Put Your Hands Together. You may also know Esposito from their work in the show A Million Little Things, the podcast Queery or their memoir Save Yourself. In my humble opinion, Esposito is one of the best stand-up comics we have, and this is an incredible opportunity to see them live.
KIM BALDWIN
Saturday, October 19
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, October 19
SONGWRITER SESSION
Lauren Hungate
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 26
SONGWRITER ROUND
Tribute to Wayland Holyfield
11:30 am · FORD THEATER
Saturday, October 26
POETS AND PROPHETS
Hillary Lindsey
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER SOLD OUT
Sunday, October 27
CONCERT AND CONVERSATION
Rosie Flores
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
WITNESS HISTORY
Museum Membership
Receive free admission, access
and more.
Saturday, November 2
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
Saturday, November 2
SONGWRITER SESSION
Twinnie
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, November 2
CONVERSATION AND DEMONSTRATION
Martin Guitars in Country Music
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, November 3
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Kristen Rogers NOON · FORD THEATER
6 P.M. AT ZANIES 2025 EIGHTH AVE. S.
FILM
[TWISTY TREAT] SHOCKTOBER: TRICK ’R TREAT
When I first heard that the Belcourt was going to include Trick ’r Treat in its Shocktober film series, I initially thought the theater would be screening Trick or Treat, the forgotten 1986 hellraiser with Marc Price (aka Skippy from Family Ties) as a teen metalhead who somehow brings his favorite rock star back from the dead, with the star then going on an avenging rampage. (There are also appearances from Ozzy Osbourne and Kiss’ Gene Simmons.) So I was a bit disappointed when I discovered it’s actually the 2007 horror-comedy that was kinda forgotten by Warner Bros. Even though it played several horror film fests in the late Aughts, this twisted — and twisty — anthology (produced by a pre-canceled Bryan Singer and written and directed by Godzilla: King of the Monsters helmer Michael Dougherty) went straight to DVD in 2009. Considering how this flick is basically a dead-kid jamboree, you can hardly blame Warner for wanting to bury it. While it’s not the Trick or Treat I was expecting, it’s still a crazy, creepy, cleverly crafted trip. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
9:10 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MONDAY / 10.28
MUSIC
[THE MUSIC OF ’80S KING CRIMSON] BEAT FEAT. ADRIAN BELEW, TONY LEVIN, STEVE VAI & DANNY CAREY
Between 1981 and 1984, a re-formed King Crimson, featuring founding guitarist Robert
Fripp, guitarist Adrian Belew, bassist/Chapman Stick player Tony Levin and drummer Bill Bruford, released a trio of groundbreaking albums — Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair — that pushed the boundaries of progressive rock into new musical territories including funk, polyrhythms and Indonesian gamelan. Longtime Nashville resident Belew, who was the group’s lead vocalist and primary lyricist, had the idea of putting together a tour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of those three iconic albums. Fripp had other commitments but gave the idea his blessing, and Bruford was no longer touring, so Belew and Levin enlisted the help of guitarist Steve Vai and Tool drummer Danny Carey for their creative reinterpretation of the material. After christening the tour BEAT at Fripp’s suggestion, the quartet hit the road in September for a run of dates currently scheduled to end on the West Coast in midDecember. The tour, which makes a stop at the Ryman on Monday, Oct. 28, is getting rave reviews. “It just has worked out to be a beautiful set list,” Belew tells the Scene. “It starts in a way you wouldn’t expect, and it ends with so many of the things that you know really well, and I won’t spoil it any further than that.”
DARYL SANDERS
7:30 P.M. AT THE RYMAN
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
[DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK]
FILM
SHOCKTOBER/MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: BONES
It appears there are people trying to make the 2001 horror flop Bones a cult classic — and it looks like the folks at the Belcourt, which will make the film this week’s Music City Mondays presentation, are in this fan club as well. (It’s also part of the theater’s Shocktober series.) It was released a month-and-a-half after 9/11, when neither critics nor moviegoers were in the mood for Juice director Ernest Dickerson’s gory, ghoulish throwback to Blaxploitation-era horror, only grossing half its $16 million budget during its theatrical run. (I remember catching it at the multiplex — and I wasn’t impressed.) A game Snoop Dogg stars as the title character, a slain numbers runner/neighborhood protector (with Pam Grier as his girlfriend!) who rises from the dead and goes on an avenging spree. So this is basically The Crow with pimp perms. Well, if you wanna see a gangsta-rap icon get all sinister and supernatural, the Belcourt will be showing this in glorious 35 mm! CRAIG D. LINDSEY
8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
TUESDAY / 10.29
MUSIC
[BEAUTIFUL SOUL] JESSE MCCARTNEY
My most pertinent memory of Jesse McCartney is the fangirl behavior that ensued when he was on an episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody in 2005. His song “Beautiful Soul” (released 20 years ago!) had such an effect on my teen self that just hearing that song live is worth the price of admission to his upcoming
CAMERON ESPOSITO
CLASSES: LEARN A NEW SKILL!
10/17 Beginner’s Intro to Felting
10/17 Laser 101
10/19 Intro to MIG Welding
10/20 Portrait Painting 101
10/20 Beginner’s Intro to Sewing
10/23 Marquetry - Paint by Numbers with Wood Veneer, Part 2
10/24 Intro to TIG Welding
10/30 Marquetry - Paint by Numbers with Wood Veneer, Part 3
11/2 Intro to Wood Turning - Honey Dipper
11/2 Intro to WoodTurning: French Rolling Pin
FOOD & DRINK
[TO EVERYTHING, THERE IS A SEASON]
HALLOWEEN HARVEST AT 12 SOUTH FARMERS MARKET
Our city’s abundance of farmers markets is one of my favorite parts about living in Nashville, and the 12 South Farmers Market vies for the top spot in my book. It’s the perfect midweek shopping spot. I’m a non-nativeNashvillian, and the community aspect makes the city feel like home. I adore getting to watch people from all over the 12South neighborhood and beyond, from all ages and backgrounds, come to enjoy the live music, fresh food and local artistry. There is, however, one downside to farmers markets: They’re seasonal. The beloved 12 South Farmers Market will host its last community market of the year on Oct. 29, but it’s committed to going out with a bang. The last market will be “Halloween Harvest”-themed, tying together the end of the fall market season with a spooky celebration for monsters big and small. KATIE BETH CANNON
4 P.M. AT SEVIER PARK
3000 GRANNY WHITE PIKE
WEDNESDAY / 10.30
THEATER
[SPOOKY GOOD FUN] SPOOKY: A HALLOWEEN EVE CABARET FUNDRAISER
Looking for a unique way to get into the Halloween spirit while supporting the local arts
community? Street Theatre Company has you covered with Spooky: A Halloween Eve Cabaret Fundraiser. Presented as part of the company’s popular cabaret series, Spooky promises a great evening of macabre fun that highlights the talents of some scary-good musical theater allstars — including Piper Jones, Ryan Greenawalt, Delaney Amatrudo and Geoff Davin. Audiences can look forward to a wide range of musical styles, with songs from past Street Theatre The Toxic Avenger, and more. Artistic director Randy Craft leads a terrific band, featuring Jes Cleland, Cameron Cleland and Brad Williamson. Costumes are encouraged, plus there will be plenty of seasonal snacks and drinks to enjoy — and maybe a few surprises. Best of all, proceeds will go to support artistic programming for Street Theatre’s 2024-25 season. AMY STUMPFL
7 P.M. AT THE BARBERSHOP THEATER 4003 INDIANA AVE.
MUSIC [ROCK REVISIONS] THE LEMON TWIGS
Chances are you won’t be able to identify all the specific influences The Lemon Twigs bring to bear on A Dream Is All We Know, released in May by the New York pop band. The group is the project of brothers Michael and Brian D’Addario, who grew up in suburban Long Island with a father who turned them on to the sounds of the British Invasion. They released their breakthrough album Do Hollywood in 2016, when they were still teenagers. They’ve cited The Beach Boys and the great English pop eccentric Roy Wood as inspirations for A Dream, and they’ve repurposed the sound of The Beach Boys circa 1970’s Sunflower on several tracks. My ears tell me A Dream includes references to Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren and — for all I know — The Wackers, themselves a rather obscure Canadian power-pop band that flourished briefly in the ’70s. The D’Addario brothers sound like they wish it were 1973 again on elegantly turned tunes like “Rock On (Over and Over).” A half-century after that revisionist moment in rock history, the band makes revisionism sound fun — almost modern. Los Angeles power-pop band Slippers open. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST.
116 REP. JOHN LEWIS WAY N.
THE LEMON TWIGS
PHOTO: STEPHANIE PIA
ONE FOR THE BOOKS
The 2024 Southern Festival of Books celebrates literary excellence close to home
THE SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS, now in its 36th year, is one of the best free events in Nashville, with often ideal weather, musical performances, food trucks, kid-friendly activities, hundreds of authors and thousands of visitors.
Among the books this year’s festival will celebrate are two food-related titles: Alice Driver’s Life and Death of the American Worker, an investigation into Tyson Foods and its negligence and employee mistreatment, and Crystal Wilkinson’s culinary memoir Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, which examines five generations of Black Appalachian women. Nonfiction heavy hitter Erik Larson will speak about The Demon of Unrest, his book examining the origins of the Civil War. In fiction, Jayne Anne Phillips’ Night Watch, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is at the top of our list.
Particularly notable is this year’s lineup of talented Nashville-based writers — including several current and former Scene writers. If you read our monthly Crawl Space column about the city’s First Saturday visual-art events, you’ll be happy to see that longtime contributor Joe Nolan is on the docket. His history of Nashville’s underground art scene, Nowville, arrives via
Vanderbilt Press in November. Margaret Renkl and Steven Hale, both former Scene staffers, will host book events on Sunday — Renkl will speak about her Leaf, Cloud, Crow with her brother, Nashville-based artist Billy Renkl, and Hale will discuss his book Death Row Welcomes You with author Joe Ingle, whose book Too Close to the Flame details his own experiences with death row inmates. And Betsy Phillips — whose weekly Scene opinion column is a cornerstone of the Scene’s regular political coverage — will speak about her book Dynamite Nashville: Unmasking the FBI, the KKK, and the Bombers Beyond Their Control with historian Aran Shetterly on Saturday morning.
As always, you can visit sofestofbooks.org for a full schedule of events, but this year you can also download the SFOB app. It’s free and easy to navigate, and it gives you access to daily schedules, a map of the event spaces, and links to find out more about each of the authors.
In the coming pages, you can read our selection of Q&As and book reviews focused on authors appearing at this year’s festival. Special thanks to Maria Browning and the folks at Chapter 16, an initiative of Humanities Tennessee that provides the Scene with books coverage. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER
Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word Oct. 26-27 at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Tennessee State Museum and the Tennessee State Library and Archive sofestofbooks.org
THE STATE OF THE WORKERS
Alice Driver investigates negligence and exploitation at Tyson Foods
BY JIM PATTERSON
SORRY, BUT THERE IS no way to tell you about Alice Driver’s Life and Death of the American Worker without disgusting you.
Here’s what Victor, a machine operator at Tyson Foods’ Chick-N-Quick plant in Rogers, Ark., has to say about the ingredients in chicken nuggets, according to the book: “Many times, the chicken is rotten,” Victor says. “It smells. It arrives like a rock. When we open it, it is already a different color, not pink. It is green or purple.”
Driver, a native of Arkansas, is a journalist and translator who writes about migration, human rights and gender equality. Her book tells more disturbing stories about the immigrants Tyson puts to work making their products, how Arkansas politicians including the Clintons have carried Tyson’s water, and the health hazards in their meatpacking plants.
We spoke with Alice Driver ahead of her appearance at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books. The discussion has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why were you attracted to Tyson and the meatpacking industry as a story? I’m from the Ozark Mountains, and there is a Tyson plant about 45 minutes from where I grew up. I grew up in a town of 200, and a lot of people in that town worked at Tyson, so I grew up with chicken houses around and following Tyson trucks full of chickens. … Some of the first immigrants I met were Tyson workers.
A lot of the stories in the book are depressing. Was it difficult to report and write the book? It was very difficult. It’s heartbreaking. I followed a group of workers for four years. Some of them died. Many of them got COVID. … In one case, nobody claimed the body of a worker who died because everybody was sick with COVID. It’s the most challenging project I’ve ever done.
It must be rewarding to give these workers a voice since it’s become commonplace to demonize immigrants. These are the people who are upholding the food system in the United States. Many of them are undocumented. Many of them are immigrants or refugees, and they are doing absolutely backbreaking work. The reality is that all of these major companies — my focus is Tyson — absolutely rely on these workers, and we rely on them for the food that arrives to our table. I wanted to look at the strength and the moral beauty of these workers because that’s the conversation we should be having.
Does it matter to meatpacking workers who wins the U.S. presidential election? The meatpacking lobby, they give money indiscriminately. They supported Clinton, they supported Bush, so they’re going to support whoever wins. But does it matter if Trump wins? Absolutely, because as I recount in my book, at the height of the pandemic when people were getting COVID and dying and it was spreading throughout meatpacking companies like wildfire, there was an opportunity to say we should shut down plants. We should do contact tracing. We should take care of these workers. We should ensure
there’s social distancing if we are going to keep [the plants] open. What happened instead was that the major meatpacking companies, Tyson included, met with the Department of Agriculture. They had discussions with Vice President Pence, and right after they did that, Trump declared that all [meatpacking] facilities had to stay open because it was necessary to provide food for the United States. In reality, meatpacking companies were exporting a lot of their meat anyway, so it wasn’t really an issue of domestic production. It was an issue of profit.
You also show that racism is rampant in this system in the relationship of Tyson to prison labor. Would you explain? I found out that Tyson buys corn from an Arkansas prison, which is at the site of a [former] plantation. Black people only make up a small percent of the Arkansas population. They’re a large percent of the prison population, and they are growing the corn for zero dollars that Tyson buys from the prison system. So all these ways that they’re saving money are really rooted in racism.
Is the solution unionization? We need more oversight. We need unions. We need support for workers who don’t speak English and often have no translator at work.
You don’t spend much time in the book on the Tyson family. Why? I include some descriptions of the members of the family, like Don Tyson. [The Tyson family has] houses all over. They go to Cabo. They have a huge art collection. I want to contrast that with the state of the workers.
To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
LIFE AND DEATH OF THE AMERICAN WORKER: THE IMMIGRANTS TAKING ON AMERICA’S LARGEST MEATPACKING COMPANY
BY ALICE DRIVER ATRIA/ONE SIGNAL
272 PAGES, $28.99
ALICE DRIVER
PHOTO: LUIS GARVAN
SMALL VICTORIES
In Jayne Anne Phillips’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Night Watch, women find refuge after the Civil War
BY SEAN KINCH
THE OPENING SEQUENCE of Jayne Anne Phillips’ Night Watch, the 2024 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, raises more questions than it answers. In 1874, a character known only as Papa takes a woman, apparently his wife, to a mental asylum in West Virginia. He tells her that she is now called “Miss Janet,” and her 13-yearold companion (daughter?) should transform her name ConaLee into “Connolly.” Before they reach the institution’s gates, he orders them to get out and walk the rest of the way. “I am not yer Papa,” he tells ConaLee, “and you don’t know my name.” His identity is a mystery, but already we know we don’t like him.
The hospital where Miss Janet and ConaLee are admitted, a “castle” emerging from the dark woods, is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Two-hundred feet high and a quarter-mile across, it seems too good to be true — but the asylum was a real place, providing Phillips the ideal setting for her tale of finding humanity in the aftermath of war. Built in the 1850s under the auspices of Thomas Story Kirkbride, the historical institution treated patients from all walks of life with a broad range of psychiatric maladies. Kirkbride’s guiding philosophy — “moral treatment” — finds its fictional avatar in Dr. Thomas Story, the asylum’s medical superintendent (and Kirkbride’s cousin), who takes special interest in the case of the troubled, and largely mute, Miss Janet.
Told in four parts, Night Watch moves back and forth from 1874 to 1864, when the story chronologically begins on a remote “ridge” in West Virginia, where three generations of women have been left to fend for themselves. Though far from the battlefront, they find themselves at the mercy of stray soldiers, from both sides of the war, who wander near their compound. “We were hiding from the War and the men leaving the War,” ConaLee says. A “granny neighbor” named Dearbhla (Durv-la), whom locals fear for her Irish hexes, provides another layer of protection, though they discover to their horror that it’s insufficient.
Phillips’ novel offers a fresh vantage on America’s bloodiest war. From the West Virginia hills, the conflict feels abstract, almost foreign, yet its young men feel compelled to join the fight — for the Union or the Confederacy, depending on familial allegiances — leaving the region as a vulnerable matriarchy. The novel pays special attention to Irish immigrants, many of them indentured servants who fought for the Union to secure their freedom. Despised as a class and abused by their masters, Irish men dream that a Union victory will enable them to become fully American.
The asylum scenes in 1874 offer a respite from
the gruesome violence of war. Phillips describes one battle in particular with up-close detail that captures its confusion and terror. “Gunpowder had so thickened the air that brush and trees ignited,” Phillips writes. A character known as “the sharpshooter” finds himself in the middle of the melee, shooting blindly at invisible enemies until one fells him with a stone. When violence is visited upon the women, Phillips depicts the assault with pointillist plausibility, each moment of the torture drawn out to disturbing effect.
Night Watch is animated throughout by Phillips’ careful attention to period detail. She re-creates the clamor of a war hospital in Alexandria and the dusty shelves of a small-town dry goods
store. The author takes special care to capture the social mores of her two worlds: the desperate survivalism of the war years, contrasted with the humane discourse at the asylum. The dialogue sounds authentic without descending into burlesque. ConaLee, who narrates much of the novel, has clearly benefited from her homeschooling in the works of Dickens, Shakespeare and the Romantics. The pages are littered with 19th-century argot: Prospective readers should look up buckboard and bushwhacker before beginning the novel.
Despite the bloodshed, this novel insists on the reemergence of our nature’s better angels. A soldier who loses one eye and most of his mem-
ory in battle finds a new home with his attending physician. The asylum’s head chef, whose institutional power appears absolute, provides a home for local orphans. “Our lives are small, our victories smaller,” as one doctor puts it. These characters learn to extend kindness where they can and celebrate minor joys when occasions warrant it. And if a chance for sustained happiness presents itself, strap it to your buckboard and head for the hills.
Those rare moments of light remain shadowed by the cataclysm of war. When the titular Night Watch tells Dr. Story that he has no family, the doctor responds sympathetically. “It’s common in these times,” Story says. “So many of our patients, all classes of society, find themselves sole survivors, nine years on, of our — national catastrophe.” To which the Night Watch remarks, somberly, “It is still — unspooling … like a malignant thread.”
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
John Vercher’s latest novel reckons with Black identity in the past and present
BY KASHIF ANDREW GRAHAM
DEVIL IS FINE is John Vercher’s third novel on biraciality. In this book, a biracial father grieves his deceased son and dying career, realizing he only understands both through a post-mortem examination. To further complicate matters, he finds himself the sudden owner of a former plantation, whose haunting blurs the line between reality and imagination.
We spoke to John Vercher ahead of his appearance at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Like your novels After the Lights Go Out and Three-Fifths, Devil Is Fine deals with themes of biraciality. Why was it important for you to continue exploring biracial identity? The best answer I have is that I am still exploring it in my own life. While fiction and writing should never be therapy, it can often be therapeutic. Readers are getting a front-row seat to me working out my things, which is exploring these ideas of what it means to be mixed and to be Black in this country, and to reckon with the history of white supremacy and
AMONG THE LOST
Women struggle against constraints in Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods
BY SARA BETH WEST
The first words of any book can establish its tone, and in Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods the tone is unmistakable: “The bed is empty.” Before readers know who should be in that bed, before the police investigation, the history or the sprawling range of characters is introduced, those four words produce a pit in the stomach. A few sentences later, Moore repeats those words. “The bed is empty,” and we know something very bad has happened, but what?
It’s August 1975, and the unoccupied bed is discovered by Louise, head counselor at Camp Emerson, a storied summer camp in the Adirondacks on the grounds of the Van Laar Preserve, a half-mile from the Van Laar residence, owned by generations of the Van Laar family. A child missing from Camp Emerson is a problem. It’s an even bigger problem when that child is Barbara Van Laar, 13-year-old daughter of Peter and Alice Van Laar. Most of what we know about Barbara comes through Tracy, Barbara’s bunkmate. Like Barbara, 12-year-old Tracy is experiencing her first summer at Emerson. All the other kids seem to have years, even generations, of history at the camp. Tracy is awkward and resigns herself to a summer in the shadows: “She’d keep to
colonialism as relates to my physical presence on the earth.
Do you think that it is only certain writers, like biracial writers, who have the obligation to write biracial protagonists? I have a hard time giving solid answers about that, not in the sense that I want to be political, but in the sense that it’s hard for me to say anybody can’t write anything. But at the same time, if you’re not coming from a place of authenticity or lived experience, I don’t see how you can speak to it in a way that’s going to resonate with the audience you might be seeking.
Audience is particularly important in this novel since it is addressed to the protagonist’s deceased son. Thinking of it in the style of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, would you talk about the power of addressing Black boys in literature? I have to be honest, it was much more personal for me. It was … about me exploring what it’s like to be a child-father. I feel like I’m still my father’s son, but I am also now a father to two boys I’m trying to responsibly raise and hope to avoid things that were challenging for me and my father.
What do you mean by that phrase “a child-father”?
Because I feel like I’m still a kid, I still feel like I am the son trying to figure out how to be a dad, as opposed to having this thing figured out and I’m in this place of authority and know how I’m going to be able to hand-deliver every situation that arises from my own children.
Does continuing to identify as a child keep you connected to source and trying to figure out who you are? Oh without a doubt, because so much of my childhood was spent in that identity limbo. When I was growing up, my hair was not like my dad’s. My dad sported a huge proud Afro, and my hair was long and wavy. I was inundated with the “What are you anyway?” questions. You get that question asked of you often enough and you start to ask yourself that question. My dad was taking me on car trips at age 7 and telling me what it was going to be like to be biracial
and Black in this country, so I knew I was Black. But when people started questioning me, I was like, “Am I? Am I Black enough for this? Do I look …?” Those things kind of stick, and they follow you all the way until you’re 48 years old.
The novel can be described as Kafkaesque in the ways that you set magical realism in conversation with cultural criticism. Why did you choose the jellyfish as a vehicle to this end? It started off with a piece of autofiction that I wanted to include. The bit of story where our narrator as a child goes out in the water and is surrounded by jellyfish is a fairly true-to-life story. I ended up falling down this rabbit hole of researching jellyfish, and what became very apparent to me … is the duality of jellyfish. They’re beautiful to look at, but they’re deadly in some cases. … There were parallels to the idea that, yes, you can have a white parent and a Black parent and still be Black. You can be a product of a biracial marriage and still interrogate some of the problematic nature linked to colonialism and white supremacy and still love that, but still question it. All of those things felt like they really lined up with this creature that has so much inherent duality.
To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
DEVIL IS FINE BY JOHN VERCHER CELADON BOOKS 272 PAGES, $28.99
herself. She’d speak to no one. She’d go unnoticed, hiding behind books whenever possible. Staying out of it. Blending in.” But Barbara fascinates Tracy from the start, and not just because of the older girl’s unconventional appearance: “Most surprising were the silver spikes — more than one — that adorned each earlobe, along with what appeared to be a dog collar encircling her neck, and two black leather cuffs on her wrists.” Barbara sees something in Tracy as well, and the two become unlikely friends. It’s through Tracy that we hear another camper whisper about how awful it must be “to be a — replacement for your older brother.” And it’s through Tracy that we learn of the dysfunction in Barbara’s family. In looking for Barbara in 1975, investigators must also consider the disappearance of her older brother Bear 14 years before. With these two unsolved cases in hand, Liz Moore has built a diamond of a mystery novel, bright and hard and multifaceted. The story pivots between characters, each revealing new information at exactly the right moment. While complex, the narrative doesn’t feel rushed or breathless, but will keep readers hooked until the last pieces of the puzzle are placed. Moore employs a dark atmosphere and tone to maintain an unsettling feeling despite the summer camp setting. For instance, as Alice Van Laar learns of her daughter’s disappearance, she looks out the window: “It’s sunny outside, she thinks. It’s sunny outside, and there’s light on the water, and a worker, in the garden, is pulling weeds.”
Despite those warm details, the feeling is one of cool detachment, undoubtedly colored by Alice’s survival method of choice: alcohol and heavy sedatives.
Moore skillfully manages a shifting timeline, sliding between 1975, 1961 and even to the 1950s, when Alice first meets Peter. These moments are not mere backstory; they are the story. Every detail illuminates the dynamics of the Van Laar family and their relationships, internally and within their community. The God of the Woods is a thrilling page-turner, but it also probes issues of dominance and power, wealth and class status, and — most tellingly — gender and agency.
Though every character plays a role, it is the women and their struggles against countless constraints that make this novel so compelling. Louise and her co-counselor Annabel, police investigator Judyta, camp director TJ, and, of course, Tracy, Barbara and Alice — each of these women must face the restrictive demands and expectations of a society that sees them as objects, victims and transgressors at once. Judyta feels it every time she has to insist on her role as a woman in a man’s job. TJ sees it even as she rejects it. A much younger Alice realizes it at dinner with her future in-laws, suddenly understanding “that she was a consumable good being evaluated for purchase by the two men at the table, with [her sister] Delphine as auctioneer.”
By the book’s end, after each unresolved question has slotted into its assigned place, readers are left to wonder just how many victims there may have been in this story, how many different ways there are for a person to be lost.
To read an uncut version of this review — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
THE GOD OF THE WOODS
BY LIZ MOORE RIVERHEAD BOOKS 496 PAGES, $30
A TALE OF TWO FAMILIES
Rachel Khong’s Real Americans explores identity and ambition
BY SARAH NORRIS
RACHEL KHONG’S MASTERFUL second novel, Real Americans, delves into the lives of two families of vastly different socioeconomic status, taking readers on a poignant and thought-provoking journey through dissimilar, often conflicting, perspectives. Divided into three sections — each narrated by a different character — this riveting multigenerational tale explores the heart of what it means to be American.
The first section, which opens in 1999, is narrated by Lily Chen, the daughter of Chinese immigrants May and Charles, who are both geneticists. A college senior, Lily flounders in New York City as an intern drowning in debt. When Matthew, a 27-year-old venture capitalist, asks her to dinner, she resolves to “enjoy this improbable free meal and not expect or hope for anything more.” Halfway through the date, Matthew suggests they fly to Paris that night, which they do.
Over the following months, the two fall in love. Without offering a reason, Lily breaks up with Matthew, insecure about their economic disparity. When they reconcile, Lily thinks, “I was wrong for him — we were wrong for each other. But there were also the inarticulate things, which came to mind in scents, in colors, impressions I didn’t have the language for — the rightness I felt with him.” In short order, Lily
moves into Matthew’s apartment and is laid off from work, and he begins to wire money into her account each week.
“In our reflection,” Lily observes, “I saw an all-American man with a foreign woman, even though I was also all-American.” She learns, over time, that Matthew is heir to the country’s largest pharmaceutical company, named for his family, the Maiers. After Lily and Matthew marry, she has multiple miscarriages. Through IVF, Lily eventually gives birth to a blondhaired, blue-eyed boy they name Nico Chen, agreeing that “it was better not to be a Maier.”
About her husband, Lily realizes too late, “He had never completely removed himself from the comfort and entitlements of being a Maier. For as similar as I’d often felt we were, we saw the world differently.”
Part two of the novel belongs to Nico, now Nick. At 16, he lives in rural Washington with his mother and has never been told anything about his father. “We were an American family, my mother and I,” he thinks, “and yet it wasn’t American … for her to love me as much as she did. Was it Chinese? It was some synthesis of the two — elements brought together, combined to form a new compound.” Restless, he and his best friend Timothy agree that “college was our ticket out.” Nick feels trapped. “It was hard,” he
thinks, “to love a place you didn’t choose.” At Timothy’s urging, he takes a DNA test, which would link him to estranged relatives.
Nick is shocked to connect with his father online. Matthew shows up in person, days later, and the two forge a relationship kept secret from Lily. It’s Matthew who suggests that Nick use the surname Maier on college applications and who offers to pay the tuition. Visiting universities, Nick clocks a library at Columbia and a lecture hall at Yale both named Maier. Despite his underwhelming grades, SAT scores and lack of extracurriculars, Nick is accepted everywhere, and he opts for Yale, over Lily’s pleas for him to go to a state school near home. On the East Coast, he reckons with and struggles to reconcile his chosen surname and his relationship with his father, as well as his grandfather and half-brother.
The third section, set in 2030, is told from the perspective of May, Lily’s mother, as she reflects on her life. While the circumstances differ from the previous narratives (May grew up in communist China, under Mao), some of the experiences and motivations align: “I thought of myself as a lotus plant — growing from the dirtiest mud but, in the sun, untouched by the mud it originated from. I wasn’t ashamed of my upbringing, but I wanted to move forward — away from the
past.” Upon falling in love for the first time, she feels profound comfort. The relationship ultimately devastates, but it’s May, like Lily decades later, who does the abandoning.
The characters share the occasional sensation of time freezing. This underscores deeper themes related to fate versus will — and the paths of aspiration, success and disappointment that come to define a life. In the respective sections they narrate, the protagonists are suspended between delusions of grandeur and the dread of diminishing options. The three arcs consider the possibilities of freedom and failure that arise from the people, times and places that inspired and pressured them, even if their characters are bound for the same destination: a mix of risk and familiarity, ambition tempered by fear of abandoning one’s roots, and assimilation separate from belonging.
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
REAL AMERICANS BY RACHEL KHONG KNOPF 416 PAGES, $29
PHOTO: ANDRIA LO
RACHEL KHONG
STORYTELLING IS YOUR SUPERPOWER
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Chatman Associates presents
HONORING GRIEF, HISTORY AND FAMILY
Crystal Wilkinson on her new culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts
BY SUSANNAH FELTS
HAILING FROM INDIAN CREEK, KY., Crystal Wilkinson is the author of three works of fiction, a collection of poetry and now, a culinary memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. A banquet of voices, memories, imagination and archival photographs, the new book features dimensions of all Wilkinson’s prior works, each of them rich in sense of place. A former poet laureate of Kentucky, Wilkinson answered questions by email.
Tell us the origin story of this project. Had it been percolating for a long time as you worked on other books? The concept of the kitchen ghosts has been with me for a long time and has appeared in both my fiction and poetry before appearing directly in my nonfiction. But this specific book began with an essay that had been commissioned by Seana Quinn, editor of Emergence Magazine. The response to the essay was remarkable, with emails pouring in thanking me for the essay and it being shared many times online. A great writer friend and food writer extraordinaire, Ronni Lundy, asked if I was interested in turning it into a book-length project. I initially said no, but the rest is history at this point. I’ve always been interested in the story of my people
and their foodways, but I just didn’t expect to write that story myself.
One feature of Praisesong that sets it apart from other culinary memoirs is your creation of the character of Grandma Aggy, whose voice joins a chorus of women’s voices. How did you begin to “hear” her voice, and what would you say her sections bring to this book? Grandma Aggy represents resilience through slavery and brings the horrible legacy of slavery up close for me and for the reader. I found her in a genealogical search a few years ago while I was in Florida. I couldn’t find much information on her, and I was bereft because I knew why. Because she was enslaved. Because she was a woman. There were few court records, and while her daughter became a famous figure in our hometown, Grandma Aggy was often written into the history books of our town as the slave mother of Patsy Riffe. She haunted me, and it really bothered me that I couldn’t put my finger on her existence beyond her connection with her white common-law husband, beyond her biracial businesswoman daughter. She didn’t exist no matter how hard I searched. But I went to sleep thinking of her and woke up with her voice in my head. Was it spirit? Was it imagination? I’m not sure. Perhaps a combination of
both, but she’s been with me since. She is our Grandma Aggy, but she also is an amalgam of women of her time who have never had a voice. It was very important to me to allow her to speak and then in turn to give other women of her time a voice through her.
How did writing this book change you and your relationship to place and family? I am forever changed by writing this book. I feel as if it’s been a healing exercise in moving through grief and history and family through food. I have always been someone who honors family, but this has taken my homage deeper. Writing this book has been a personal journey, but the most satisfying part about writing it is that so many people outside of Appalachia have been able to relate to it. I’ve enjoyed so much getting people to write about their own kitchen ghosts and how the act of that and embracing heritage and culture shakes something free in all of us.
What other Affrilachian works — or creators, or sites — might you say this book is in close conversation with? This is a difficult question. I’m not sure it’s in direct conversation with other Affrilachian works. But there is an entire body of work that focuses on African American foodways and Ap-
palachian foodways. Praisesong is hybrid in its approach to craft, so I think it’s in conversation with other culinary memoirs but also with cookbooks and poetic memoirs. I think of writers like Michael Twitty, Jessica B. Harris, Toni Tipton-Martin, Ronni Lundy and of course the great Edna Lewis. But I am also thinking of memoirs and novels that chronicle family life like Lucille Clifton’s Generations, or Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family or even Kiese Laymon’s Heavy These are not books about food, but they all take risks in literary form and use lyricism to tell a story about family.
To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS: STORIES AND RECIPES FROM FIVE GENERATIONS OF BLACK COUNTRY COOKS BY CRYSTAL WILKINSON
CLARKSON POTTER
256 PAGES, $30
CRYSTAL WILKINSON PHOTO: CARSEN BRYANT
A MAN OF THE BOOK
Novelist Jamie Quatro plumbs the desires of body and soul in Two-Step Devil
BY HAMILTON CAIN
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN DOMINATES The landscape of TAG — the intersection of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia — coursing through all three states before tapering to its prominent point, like the bow of an ocean liner, above my hometown of Chattanooga.
As a teenager I drove my Mustang up and down Ochs Highway, visiting friends in the affluent neighborhoods near the tip, once trekking with friends miles down the mountain’s backside, where we used fake Vanderbilt IDs to rent a bungalow for a Michelob-drenched bash. In just a few miles, the city’s lights had snuffed out, the brick manors with their manicured lawns had dropped away. No more signs about eccentric tourist destinations such as Rock City and Ruby Falls. The ribbon of highway was pitch-dark and wooded on both sides.
I’ve long thought Lookout Mountain would be an ideal setting for a sharp-edged, tangy novel, layered with the region’s mysteries, and Jamie Quatro’s Two-Step Devil delivers the goods. Amid the forests of Lookout’s Alabama spur, a widower called the Prophet hunkers down in a remote, filthy cabin crammed with found metal scraps. Outside there’s a privy and a creek where he bathes. He loves to paint. He gets by on a
TENDER AND TRAGIC
Andre Dubus III’s essays are probing and deeply personal in the collection Ghost Dogs
BY DAVID WESLEY WILLIAMS
YOU MIGHT TAKE up Andre Dubus III’s Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin with a box of tissues and a bottle of bourbon close by.
The tissues are for the times you may tear up a little, amid moments of heartbreak and the author’s painful honesty. The bourbon will pair well with the grittier passages — the gunplay and such, the men-being-men moments of which there are many.
That’s quite a range for a single book, even a collection of essays written over some 25 years and originally published in places as varied as Vice and Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting But this is Dubus. He’s a complex fellow, contains multitudes. He’s a sensitive soul, clearly devoted to his wife and children and drawn to the power of words on a page, “the honest labor of writing itself.” He’s also deeply scarred by the poverty of his youth and the feelings of inferiority it caused; when it comes to wrestling demons, he’s usually willing to pick a fight. All of which makes for a compelling collection. It helps, of course, that Dubus, author of such acclaimed works as the novel House of Sand and Fog and the
meager income from his vegetable stand. He also struggles with lung cancer, likely triggered by exposure to asbestos. His grown son Zeke has triumphed as a singer in Nashville and is now married with a daughter who attends private school. Zeke has rejected the Prophet’s poverty and hallucinatory, supernatural visions. Quatro presents the Prophet less as schizophrenic and more as savant, a self-taught folk artist in the vein of Howard Finster.
The Prophet’s not alone, however. The demon Two-Step lurks near the stove, jeering at the Prophet’s religious leanings and asocial tendencies. The author metes out her tale in vignettes, cutting back and forth through time, from a present set in 2014 to the Aughts to the Prophet’s youth, when he labored for a steel foundry in downtown Chattanooga. He came to the Lord via an unusual path:
The only trinity he knew of was the one the men at the foundry talked about: Government plus Big Business plus Church. Three joined together as one to keep the working class down. He pulled out the Bible and tried to read some pages in the front, but for the most part he couldn’t understand a word. The red words in the back were easier. The things Jesus said. … Red-words Jesus had a whip and a temper. He told people off and didn’t give a damn.
Two-Step Devil springs into action when the Prophet, scavenging a junkyard, notices a trio who show up each Tuesday: an older man and two young women, including a tall teenage girl who changes from street clothes into a se-
memoir Townie is a deft writer of deep conviction. His aim, always, is the deeper truth. His style — readable but writerly — helps too.
The opening essay, “Fences and Fields,” reads like a short story, sings like one, could be one — if not for the unabashedly hopeful note on which it ends.
In a late scene, Dubus is sitting by a river with his brother and their father. They’re celebrating, with beer and cigar, the birth of his daughter. He’s filled with gratitude, even as he knows he should be worried about his lack of steady work, about how he’ll support this burgeoning family. In that moment he somehow knows it will all work out: “Because how can there be green fields inside us and no food on our tables?”
The second essay, “The Golden Zone,” concerns his youthful turn as a bounty hunter’s assistant. It’s set in Mexico, on the trail of “a man who got paid to kill people.” It’s as terrifying as the first essay was sweet.
As “The Land of No” opens, Dubus is living in New York City with his 23-year-old girlfriend, who is “blond and beautiful, with the erect posture of the ballet dancer she’d once been.” Oh, and she has a $2 million trust fund. But a dream life in a Manhattan apartment is no match for the haunted houses of Dubus’ hardscrabble youth — a recurring theme of the book:
We moved often, one year three times, always for a cheaper rent. We kids spent too much time watching television, roaming the streets, getting high on stoops waiting for the school bus. Children got
quined dress. Somehow the Prophet believes she wants him to rescue her. For weeks he observes and eventually abducts her. She’s an underage prostitute, doing the bidding of her pimp. Back at the Prophet’s cabin, she’s able to detox from drugs and reclaim a sense of health and selfhood. Her name is Michael — a man’s name, except that one of King David’s wives was named Michael, as the Prophet points out to her. The pair evolve a tender relationship that may — or may not — sustain them.
The Prophet is a man of the Book, and Quatro distills a lush range of allusions, famous and obscure, from both Christian testaments. After a startling vision of a Big Fish swimming in an ocean wave, the Prophet rushes to capture the image in his art, convinced it’s a manifestation of the Almighty. The Big Fish trope connotes not only Jonah, but also the apostles Simon Peter and Andrew, fishers of men, and fish iconography from early Christianity. These allusions enrich the narrative rather than slow it down.
Later in the novel, Quatro splices in Michael’s backstory, suggesting a personal reckoning awaits her characters. The Prophet intends to “save” Michael; does she need his brand of redemption? “He’d imagined cooking for the girl
pregnant at fourteen, boys went off to reform school and later prison, my best friend to an early grave, his own knife stuck into his liver by the girlfriend he’d tormented far too long.
Pointed and poignant — the stuff of which stories are made.
The centerpiece of the collection, “If I Owned a Gun,” is about Dubus’ long relationship (starting from age 6) with firearms, about their troubling allure, about how “guns, especially loaded ones, call us to use them.” He writes about the time he nearly shot his brother, the time his father nearly shot him — frightening accidents that could have been fatal.
He also tells of the time when, unable to otherwise expel a bird that’s entered his tiny New York apartment, he shot the thing with his rifle. A rifle. Inside an apartment. In a city where people live on top of each other.
“On the floor the dead bird looked smaller than it had earlier. On the second highest shelf of my bookcase, bits of the bird’s feathers were stuck to spots of bright blood on my hardcover Faulkner, Tolstoy, and Chekhov.”
Dubus doesn’t play this scene for laughs, mind you. Dubus doesn’t play.
Everyone should read “If I Owned a Gun,” if only for the conversations it might spark. But in a country with more guns than people, how could an essay accomplish what school shootings don’t? But at least we have Dubus — open to change, able to evolve and, in the end, to wrestle the gun from his demons and kick it to the corner.
— feeding her, an angel of God, the holiness of it — so he was surprised by the messy way she ate. She chewed with her mouth open so he could see the liquid eggs moving around between her teeth.” And always Two-Step hovers on the margins, mocking them, tempting them to cross over to his own cynical worldview.
In her previous work, Quatro has dramatized the skirmishing desires of body and soul, and she continues to plumb those themes here. There are faint echoes of Cormac McCarthy and Dennis Covington’s Salvation on Sand Mountain. But like the Prophet’s singular visions, her literary meditations are hers and hers alone: Two-Step Devil quickens suspense right through to the last page, her sentences taut yet beautifully made, her political content subtle, her compassion resonant.
To read an uncut version of this review — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
TWO-STEP DEVIL BY JAMIE QUATRO GROVE ATLANTIC
288 PAGES, $27
From his love-hate relationship to guns (and dogs; see the heartrending title essay) to that time he learned to knit so he could make his aunt a scarf for Christmas, we get Dubus in all his complications. We get a serious writer in search of hard truths. We get this fine collection of essays, far-flung and unflinching, tender and tragic.
To read an uncut version of this review — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
GHOST DOGS: ON KILLERS AND KIN BY ANDRE DUBUS III
W.W. NORTON & COMPANY
278 PAGES, $28.99
Saturday, 3:00 pm
From Rights to Lives
The Evolution of the Black Freedom Struggle
Charles W. McKinney Jr., co-editor panel with Michael Bertrand, Amanda Edgar, and Andre Johnson
Sunday, 12:00 pm
Nowville
The Untold History of Nashville’s Contemporary Art Scene
Joe Nolan, author
Sunday, 2:00 pm
The Realms of Oblivion
An Excavation of the Davies Manor Historic Site’s Omitted Stories
Andrew C. Ross, author panel with Neesha Powell-Ingabire
Track that fans
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FORECLOSURE
WHEREAS, Doug Brown and Christy Brown, married, executed a Deed of Trust dated April 17, 2018, of record at Instrument No. 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee (the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to R. Rick Hart, Trustee, the h ereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Renasant Bank (the “Lender”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument No. 20240625 -0047386, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust. NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at 1:45 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, ho mestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as the subsequent modifications listed above.
Situated in the County of Davidson, State of Tennessee.
Land in the 10th Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 13 on the Plan of Fox Chase Meadows, of record in Book 5200, Page 194, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which reference is hereby made for a more complete description thereof.
from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, ho mestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument 20180425 -0038710, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, as well as the subsequent modifications listed above.
Situated in the County of Davidson, State of Tennessee.
Land in the 10th Civil District of Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 13 on the Plan of Fox Chase Meadows, of record in Book 5200, Page 194, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which reference is hereby made for a more complete description thereof.
Being the same property conveyed to Doug Brown and Christy Brown by Deed recorded in Book 5666, Page 92, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Map/Parcel No: 007 -00 -0-137.00
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 1860 Fox Chase Drive, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description herein shall control.
Other interested parties: Internal Revenue Service; Sunbelt RentalsRegion 4 (an Ohio Corporation; Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee.
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION , QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, con tinuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of
SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION , QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell n such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property; (v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
Several Notice of Federal Tax Liens have been filed by the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, including: (1) that instrument dated March 9, 2021, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20210316 -0034301, Register’s Office or Davidson County; (2) that instrument dated December 8, 2022, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20221219 -0130966, said Register’s Office; (3) that instrument dated June 19, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 2 0230626 -0048177, said Register’s Office; (4) that instrument dated September 15, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20230925 -0074958, said Register’s Office; (5) that instrument dated September 27, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20231006-0078769, said Register’s Office; (6) that instrument dated October 6, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202310160080936, said Register’s Office; (7) that instrument dated February 9, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202402230012374, said Register’s Office; and (8) that instrument dated April 1, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20240415 -0026327, said Register’s Office.
Being the same property conveyed to Doug Brown and Christy Brown by Deed recorded in Book 5666, Page 92, Register's Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Map/Parcel No: 007 -00 -0 -137.00
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 1860 Fox Chase Drive, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 37072, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description here in shall control.
Other interested parties: Internal Revenue Service; Sunbelt RentalsRegion 4 (an Ohio Corporation; Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee.
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WAR-
RANTIES OF MERCHANTABIL-
County; (2) that instrument dated December 8, 2022, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20221219 -0130966, said Register’s Office; (3) that instrument dated June 19, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 2 0230626 -0048177, said Register’s Office; (4) that instrument dated September 15, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20230925 -0074958, said Register’s Office; (5) that instrument dated September 27, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown and Christy C. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20231006-0078769, said Register’s Office; (6) that instrument dated October 6, 2023, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202310160080936, said Register’s Office; (7) that instrument dated February 9, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 202402230012374, said Register’s Office; and (8) that instrument dated April 1, 2024, against Douglas W. Brown, of record at Instrument No. 20240415 -0026327, said Register’s Office.
Timely notice has been given by the Trustee to the Internal Revenue Service by certified mail, as required by 26 U.S.C. §7425(b). The sale of this property will be subject to the right of the United States to redeem said property pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7 425(d). Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only.
cluding rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an in spection and accurate survey of the property might disclose.
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LOCAL ATTRACTIONS
This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines tha t may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an in spection and accurate survey of the property might disclose.
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David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee
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COMMUNITY AMENITIES
Timely notice has been given by the Trustee to the Internal Revenue Service by certified mail, as required by 26 U.S.C. §7425(b). The sale of this property will be subject to the right of the United States to redeem said property pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §7 425(d). Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only. This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines tha t may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an in spection and accurate survey of the property might disclose. THIS 1st day of October, 2024. David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee
