Nashville Scene 2-17-22

CITY LIMITS: FRUSTRATIONS EMERGE OVER METRO'S HOMELESS CAMP PLAN

FEBRUARY 17–23, 2022 I VOLUME 41 I NUMBER 3 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

PAGE 8

ART: NEW MEMBERS IN A NEW SPACE AT COOP GALLERY’S LATEST EXHIBITION PAGE 29

Black Civil War reenactors fight to keep the memory of the United States Colored Troops alive

BY J.R. LIND

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

7

27

All’s Fair ......................................................7

Get in Loser — We’re Going to Ghana

CITY LIMITS

The Fair Board sees shakeups amid ongoing talks with Bristol over speedway deal

BY NICOLE WILLIAMS

Frustrations Emerge Over Metro’s Camp Plan .............................................................8 Service providers say plan to house Jefferson Street Bridge camp residents lacks transparency and community input

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Pith in the Wind .........................................8 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

THEATER

Director Alicia Haymer comes into her own with the Rep’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play

29 ART

Trading Spaces A new gallery and new members bring familiar faces to Coop’s latest exhibition

10

For Valor

MUSIC

30

Black Civil War reenactors fight to keep the memory of the United States Colored Troops alive

BY J.R. LIND

Bully to Say Goodbye to Mercy Lounge

BY ERICA CICCARONE

BY JOE NOLAN

COVER STORY

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

Master of Rhythm and Blues ................. 30 Screamin’, Shoutin’, Beggin’, Pleadin’ brings Charlie McCoy’s early rock and soul recordings to light

15

BY DARYL SANDERS

‘A Child Shall Lead Them’ & By Design, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Upon These Shoulders: Step by Step, Fenne Lily & Illuminati Hotties w/Katy Kirby, The Defiant Ones, Element Feat. Daisha McBride, Black Craftspeople of Tennessee Tour, Dre Day Nashville and more

BY LORIE LIEBIG

The Anti-Books Crowd Values Wholesomeness Over Knowledge Sean Brock Announces Name and Details of New Restaurant Above Audrey Advice King: How Do I Stop Worrying About the Future and Obsessing About the Past?

ON THE COVER:

Bill Radcliffe (left) and Gary Burke at Fort Negley Photo by Eric England

The Spin ................................................... 31 The Scene’s live-review column checks out Kacey Musgraves at Bridgestone Arena

CRITICS’ PICKS

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32 FILM

The Worst Is Yet to Come Oscar nominee The Worst Person in the World is a profoundly gentle character study

BY SADAF AHSAN

Something Sacred

FOOD AND DRINK

Lingui blossoms with hope and inspiration

Fry Day ..................................................... 24

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

Following the success of Bag Lady’s Chip & Fry Co. food truck, the Littleton brothers prepare to set up shop on Buchanan Street

33

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

Happiest Hours ....................................... 25 A roundup of some swell local early-evening deals

BY KELSEY BEYELER

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

34

MARKETPLACE

26

BOOKS

Obsessed With Understanding Poet Jenny Qi on what shapes her work

BY MARIA BROWNING AND CHAPTER 16

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nashvillescene.com nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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PET OF THE WEEK!

FROM BILL FREEMAN

HI FUTURE FAMILY! My name

is Marlowe and those that know me best would describe me as loving and affectionate, an ideal snuggle-partner and one who has perfected the art of “sit.” What else, what else... I love going for walks and enjoy playing with dogs my size! I’m ok with the presence of cats, too. What can I say... I love all! I also love to give hugs, am crate-trained, house trained, and wowza... do I LOVE a squeaky tennis ball! What do you say? Let’s meet and let’s fall in love!

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RALPH SCHULZ

THE NCVC MAKES NASHVILLE SHINE, THE CHAMBER IS STUCK IN ITS SHADOW

Nashville has a great deal to offer as a city. In addition to our status as Music City, we’re also becoming known as a sports city, a fine-dining city, a high-tech hub and more.

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than the “Nashville” part. Among those five, Amazon’s expansion in Nashville is providing only 70 jobs, whereas the Amazon expansion in Clarksville is creating 500 new jobs. Further, only two are newly added: Capgemini, a global IT consulting firm that will offer 500 jobs; and Smart Pension, a London-based company that will offer 128 jobs. Three of the five are expansions, and of those, one is simply maintaining its presence here. That’s 754 jobs being created in 2021-2022.

On the chamber’s listings for the 20202021 year, there were 57 companies listed, but only 16 were actually located in or maintained their business in Nashville.

The chamber, under Schulz’s leadership, shows little to no growth when it comes to membership. Their website shows a membership of 2,000, but just a few years back I remember it being around 3,000. I suppose there’s little wonder why Mayor John Cooper cut the chamber’s budget by 50 percent in 2020.

BUTCH SPYRIDON

Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp The NCVC is led by Butch Spyridon, CEO, who seems to have a magic touch in bringing significant events to Nashville.

The 2019 NFL Draft reportedly attracted more than 600,000 people to the downtown area, and according to the Titans, it resulted in $133 million in direct spending and a TV audience of 47.5 million. Visitors were treated to Nashville’s great nightclubs and honky-tonks, Bridgestone Arena, the Music City Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame and other amenities that have flourished in our city over the past 20-plus years.

According to the NCVC, in 2019 (let’s use a pre-pandemic measure), 16.1 million visitors came to Nashville.

No doubt many left thinking about the possibilities of moving their companies or their families here.

Spyridon is vying to host the NFL Draft again sometime between 2024 and 2026.

The NCVC is also working toward hosting the FIFA World Cup. If that happens, it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact for Nashville, not to mention thousands of jobs. Spyridon has also been involved in working to bring NASCAR back to the Fairgrounds Nashville.

There was also Nashville’s Fourth of July celebration last year, which brought thousands of attendees for the Let Freedom Sing event headlined by Brad Paisley, as well as the city’s New Year’s Eve show. Spyridon helped line up multiple television broadcasts from Music City this year, saying, “It came from hard work, collaboration and cooperation.”

When companies make the decision to move here, they of course want their employees to believe they would love living in Nashville. They can say Nashville is a huge sports town, with an NFL team, an NHL team and now soccer. We host a variety of musicians from an array of different genres. We have a district downtown that nearly never sleeps. The list goes on when it comes to what the NCVC has had a hand in bringing to our city. Well done, Butch.

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

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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WHAT YOU LEARN FROM THE PAST OPENS POSSIBILITIES FOR THE FUTURE. Nashville-based artist LeXander Bryant addresses themes of perseverance amid adversity, family structures and bonds, economic inequality, and community activism in his debut museum exhibition. From culturally vibrant images documenting figures and stories that collectively refuse to be forgotten, to a centerpiece installment honoring survival and growth despite seemingly impossible circumstances. See works of art that ask to consider one’s present position by thinking critically about the past and envisioning one’s legacy.

T H R O U G H M AY 1 Downtown Nashville, 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 FristArtMuseum.org @FristArtMuseum #TheFrist #FristLeXander

Organized by the Frist Art Museum Suppor ted in par t by

The Frist Ar t Museum is suppor ted in par t by

LeXander Bryant. Wash Away My Fears 001, 2020. Archival pigment print, 27 x 40 1/2 in. Courtesynashvillescene.com of the artist. © LeXander Bryant

| FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

The Fair Board sees shakeups amid ongoing talks with Bristol over speedway deal

BY NICOLE WILLIAMS

W

hen Fair Board Commissioner Jason Bergeron called the board’s January meeting to order, he didn’t expect it would be his last as chair. By the end of the meeting, Commissioner Sheri Weiner had replaced him, effectively pushing Bergeron out of ongoing negotiations with Bristol Motor Speedway over a plan to demolish the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and put a NASCAR-ready track in its place.

The Fair Board, a five-member body that oversees The Fairgrounds Nashville, has been at the center of controversy for more than a decade, as multiple mayoral administrations have struggled to define the future of the fairgrounds while maintaining existing uses of the site. At its core, the board is responsible for putting on a fair. A Metro Charter amendment in 2011 required continued operation of expo center events, flea markets and auto racing in perpetuity.

Since then, the board has been legally bound to maintain auto racing at an aging speedway that has seen little investment in recent years. Bristol Motor Speedway parent company Speedway Motorsports — owner of the Nashville Superspeedway in nearby Wilson County — came to Nashville looking to change that.

After a year of closed-door talks and with no notice to Fair Board commissioners, Mayor John Cooper announced in March 2021 that he had signed a letter of intent with BMS outlining the broad strokes of a potential deal. The letter of intent had a tight timeline — one that sources familiar with the negotiations say was driven in part by Cooper’s desire to move on to the next big deal: renegotiating the Titans’ lease.

That timeline — which aimed to finalize a deal by July 31, 2021 — proved unfeasible.

Nearly a year after the letter of intent was signed, the administration has yet to present a fully formed proposal to the Fair Board for approval. And the Fair Board review is the first in a series of hurdles the administration will have to clear to solidify the deal.

After the Fair Board reviews it, the deal will go before the Sports Authority, which is responsible for issuing the bonds that would fund the project. Even if both bodies approve the terms, the project can’t move forward without final approval by the Metro Council.

In November, Cooper announced an agreement in principle with a BMS proposal that the mayor said would fund the project at no cost to taxpayers. Two draft terms sheets obtained by the Scene — one from March 2021 and another from October 2021 — tell a different story. As drafted, should BMS decide to leave the fairgrounds or otherwise default on the agreement, they would be responsible only for yearly lease payments.

This could leave taxpayers on the hook for

tens of millions of dollars. Joe Hall, a public relations consultant for BMS, declined to comment on how the financial terms of the deal Cooper announced in November might differ from the draft terms sheets.

Since the November announcement, the deal’s momentum has again stalled. Ben Eagles, Cooper’s senior adviser, appeared at the Fair Board’s January meeting promising a formal proposal by the week of Jan. 31. As of press time, no such proposal has materialized. Asked about an updated timeline, Cooper spokesperson Andrea Fanta says a proposal will be available when all documents are finalized. Hall has said he expects that BMS will present the proposal to the Fair Board in March, but cautioned that the mayor’s office controls the timeline.

Commissioner Bergeron and Councilmember Colby Sledge — who represents District 17, where the fairgrounds are located — claim the city could invest its own money into renovating

— led Weiner to seek to replace him as chair. Discussing her decision, Weiner cites her ability to negotiate with a level head and resolve conflict without acrimony. She says her knack for divorcing an issue from “hyperbole and emotion” factored into Cooper’s decision to appoint her to the board.

In Weiner, the Cooper administration will have a more amicable negotiating partner.

Having served on the Metro Council, Weiner knows the council will likely relitigate terms agreed to by the Fair Board. Unless the proposal is “egregious,” Weiner says, the Fair Board should simply take a vote and let the council work out the details.

For his part, Bergeron — who was chair for a few months before being ousted — thought he was making progress. He left a lengthy meeting with BMS’ general counsel in November feeling hopeful about the future of the negotiations. “I didn’t plan to do anything abrupt or inappropriate,” Bergeron says. “They haven’t really been very collaborative, and so that’s what I was planning to do — to be collaborative.”

With the recent resignation of Commissioner Caleb Hemmer, Bergeron is the only remaining commissioner not appointed by Cooper. Bergeron’s current term ends in April, and the mayor has not decided whether he will be reappointed.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

ALL’S FAIR

the speedway, expanding the possibilities for non-racing revenue-producing events.

They say prolonged negotiations with BMS have put potential investments on hold and have contributed to continued deterioration and use limitations. Fanta didn’t exactly deny this assertion. “Our approach,” Fanta writes in a statement, “has been to work with the best operator in the industry on a long-term solution to restore the speedway to its national prominence.”

Commissioners at the table during both the 2018 Nashville Soccer Club negotiations and the current negotiations with BMS describe drastically different experiences.

Previous mayoral administrations and NSC representatives invited collaboration and were responsive to concerns, commissioners say, even making lastminute concessions in the hours preceding the Fair Board’s vote on the NSC lease.

The Cooper administration and BMS, however, have been slow to reveal details of their plans and quick to dismiss questions from Fair Board members with vague or nonresponsive answers.

Bergeron, a Megan Barry appointee, has been particularly vocal in his frustration with BMS and the mayor’s office. That frustration — and the way it bubbled out in public meetings through pointed questions and tense exchanges with BMS representatives

FAIR BOARD COMMISSIONER JASON BERGERON AT THE FAIRGROUNDS NASHVILLE

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CITY LIMITS

FRUSTRATIONS EMERGE OVER METRO’S CAMP PLAN Service providers say plan to house Jefferson Street Bridge camp residents lacks transparency and community input

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

A

PHOTO: ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

plan to house people living in a camp underneath the Jefferson Street Bridge has sparked frustration from homelessness service providers, who think the effort lacked transparency and community input.

Interim director of the Homeless Impact Division Jay Servais has been facing scrutiny since unveiling the plan, most recently in an appearance before the Metro Council’s Human Services Committee on Monday.

The chair of the committee, Ginny Welsch, grilled Servais about whether the program properly followed the city’s coordinated entry process — which matches people experiencing homelessness with appropriate services — and echoed concerns that the plan hadn’t been properly introduced to stakeholders on the Continuum of Care Homelessness Planning Council.

Servais — who said the hearing felt like “a trial” — maintained that everyone under the bridge had been properly entered into the system. A fence around the campsite was erected on the morning of Feb. 12, along with signs saying the site would be closed after Feb. 14. Servais said anyone still at the camp is known to case managers and has been offered a motel room.

The tense hearing comes days after a contentious Homelessness Planning Council meeting held on Feb. 9. There’s been talk of dysfunction at the body ever since Judith Tackett resigned as director of the Metro Homeless Impact Division in October.

Tackett was a longtime leader of Nashville’s efforts to get people into housing, and local service providers made it clear she’d be hard to replace. Mayor John Cooper tapped Servais, then at the Office of Emergency Man-

agement, to step in as the interim director.

At the monthly HPC meeting, held at Vine Hill Towers in Wedgewood-Houston, the body struggled to close the meeting on time — one member waved an Elmo doll to signal to another that they had gone over their speaking time. A seasoned member made clear her disappointment with the seeming impotence of the council ahead of one particular vote, which was to approve a resolution to make a recommendation. A few times, Councilmember Freddie O’Connell said the meeting needs better structure and more focused agendas.

The biggest conflict of the morning, however, stemmed from a pilot program to house Nashvillians living in a camp under the Jefferson Street Bridge. Servais told the HPC that the pilot program, whose goal is to help get camp residents into housing, was already being implemented with help from The Salvation Army.

Paula Foster, executive director of Open Table Nashville, said Servais was carrying out a plan that hadn’t been vetted by the council. Servais said he had already presented the plan at the meeting in January.

“We asked for comments on that and we received zero,” said Servais.

“You were supposed to come back and present it to us, and explain what’s in the plan to us,” Foster replied. “You handed it out last month, and we asked you to come back this month and give us more details.”

Servais said he expected to house the residents of the camp by the end of the following week. He also noted The Salvation Army has been involved in previous efforts at the camp. The city called for the Jefferson Street camp to close last summer, and while many people left — some into housing, others to dif-

JEFFERSON STREET BRIDGE CAMP FENCED OFF

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ferent campsites — a few remained.

Karri Gornick of the Oasis Center, which focuses on youth homelessness, said she was concerned the pilot circumvents the coordinated entry system. That system helps match up individuals with the programs and resources they need to get into housing or programs, and puts them on a list organized by their needs — making them priority candidates for that help. Servais said most if not all residents of the camp were already in the coordinated system.

Speaking to the Scene after the meeting, Gornick said, “If you’re at the top of the list and we have a rapid rehousing resource available, that includes rental assistance, wraparound case management [and] housing navigation to help you obtain and maintain housing.

“If you’re not at the top of the list … you don’t necessarily need that level of resources. And the person who does didn’t get it, because you just circumvented the prioritization process.”

Foster and Gornick’s exchange with Servais signals tension between the city and service providers.

“There has been a breakdown in trust between the Planning Council, service providers and the Metropolitan Homeless Impact Division since the departure of the previous executive director [Tackett],” Foster tells the Scene. She says she thinks Servais is a “great guy,” but “he’s not the right person for this job.”

In an email to Scene, the Homeless Impact Division’s public information officer Wallace says that, “with regard to process, there is no existing governance that requires the pilot [to] receive approval or feedback from the HPC. However, with respect to the HPC, Dir. Servais shared the plan so the HPC would continue to be in the loop of progress at Jefferson Street and weigh in with any suggestions as the plan moves forward. That opportunity remains available. We value each and every one of our community partners which includes those on our Homelessness Planning Council.”

The day after the HPC meeting, Open Table Nashville released a lengthy statement blasting the plan, saying it lacked vetting by the council and “set a dangerous precedent.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

Employees at local whiskey maker Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery voted against forming a union with the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1995.

The final count was nine in favor of unionization and 21 against. According to one employee, one of the founders held a captive audience meeting before the election in an effort to urge workers to vote no. Organizers say the vote would have made Nelson’s Green Brier the first distillery in the state with union representation. …

The state will soon sell Citizens Plaza to Metro Nashville and is also looking to lease its James K. Polk Building — the latter home to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. A state General Service department spokesperson said the plan is for the state to long-term ground lease the Polk Building property to a developer, “who can then redevelop the property as they see fit.” … Maria De Varenne, executive editor of The Tennessean, announced plans to step down from the paper in April. Tennessean vice president Michael Anastasi said he expects to announce leadership changes within a few weeks. … Contributor Betsy Phillips writes that the removal of Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus from the curriculum in McMinn County isn’t so much about the work itself, but rather it’s about the school board taking sides in a battle between wholesomeness and knowledge. She writes that buying copies of the book for McMinn County students or arguing with Moms for Liberty isn’t enough of a solution: “We have to recognize that they are actually fundamentally opposed to kids learning things and opposed to all of us valuing knowledge.”

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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BILL RADCLIFFE (LEFT) AND GARY BURKE AT FORT NEGLEY

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FOR VALOR Black Civil War reenactors fight to keep the memory of the United States Colored Troops alive

BY J.R. LIND

PHOTOS BY ERIC ENGLAND

Edward Ratcliff. Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company C, 38th U.S. Colored Troops. Place and date: At Chapins Farm, Va., 29 September 1864. Entered service at: ------. Birth: James County, Va. Date of issue: 6 April 1865. Citation. Commanded and gallantly led his company after the commanding officer had been killed; was the first enlisted man to enter the enemy’s works.

THE BATTLE OF NEW MARKET HEIGHTS and Chaffin’s Farm, as it is now known, was a critical victory for the Union during the Siege of Petersburg. It doesn’t have the broad cachet of the better-known Civil War battles at Gettysburg or Antietam or Fredericksburg, but the victory forced Robert E. Lee to redeploy his troops, sending the siege into the grind of trench warfare for the remainder of the rebellion.

That’s what a military historian would tell you about New Market Heights. But Bill Radcliffe will tell you differently.

“It’s hallowed ground,” he says, tears welling up in his strong eyes as he looks around Fort Negley on a crisp and bright February morning.

“Just like here.”

Radcliffe is a United States Colored Troops reenactor with the Nashville-based 13th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops Living History Association. He’s wearing the uniform of the USCT: dark-blue wool, the rank insignia in lighter blue on the sleeves and a matching cap. nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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There’s one award on his uniform, indicating he’s a direct descendant of a Medal of Honor winner.

Edward Ratcliff quite literally fought for his freedom, spilling his blood for a country who said he was three-fifths of a person. Bill Radcliffe, his veins coursing with Ratcliff’s blood, is making sure no one ever forgets.

THE STORY OF the USCT was a footnote for too long in American history, the contributions of its soldiers — sometimes just weeks removed from enslavement — consigned to passing mentions in textbooks. Twentythousand Tennesseans joined the USCT, the second-most of any state after Virginia.

Fifteen USCT soldiers, including Ratcliff, won the Medal of Honor — 14 of them at Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights.

(Another three Black soldiers also won the award while attached to other units; eight Black Civil War sailors won it as well.)

Records show that white officers recommended commissions for many of the Black soldiers after their valorous bravery at the battle. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ignored them all.

Though President Abraham Lincoln had been authorized to enlist formerly enslaved people since 1862, it wasn’t until General Order 143 was issued by the War Department in May 1863 that the USCT came into being.

Lincoln was concerned about the Union’s tenuous hold on four border states and the political fallout and effect on public opinion that arming Black men would have.

“The Great Emancipator?” Radcliffe says, raising a suspicious eyebrow. “The Great Politician, that’s what he was.”

Lincoln’s generals, however, were facing a manpower problem. The Civil War was bloody and brutal, and as the Union began to take control of more territory, the lines were getting thinner. At first, the USCT regiments were used for tasks like guarding arms depots and rail lines, at the rear of the fighting. Eventually, Radcliffe notes, “All the white boys were dying.” And so the USCT went to the front.

They were often given the most dangerous combat assignments — more than half of the Black soldiers fighting at New Market Heights were killed in action, for example.

“All through history, we’ll wear the uniform and they’ll spill our blood, but we’re still second-class citizens,” Radcliffe says.

Official integration of the military wouldn’t come until President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order in 1948.

(Functional integration, especially in the Navy, had existed since the Revolutionary War.) By that time, generations of Radcliffe’s family had worn the uniform. He himself served in the Navy during Vietnam (“the Southeast Asian Conference,” he jokes), extending a family tradition that spanned two world wars and stretched back to a man once held in bondage who charged into a fort held by an army intent on keeping him there. In fact, following the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederate government issued an order that any Black soldiers captured would be enslaved and their white officers would be executed.

Many Americans first learned of the USCT via the 1989 film Glory, based on the true story of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (which, it should be noted, was not a USCT unit). Gary Burke, another USCT reenactor, had his interest

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piqued by the film. After all, nothing in his textbooks had taught him about these men who took up arms for their own freedom.

Insofar as history teaches students about Black Americans during the Civil War era, it’s often focused on rhetorical heroes, like Frederick Douglass or Sojourner Truth, or the Underground Railroad, even glossing over the fact that the Railroad’s most famous conductor, Harriet Tubman, served as an armed scout for the Union Army.

Nor do the texts mention that Douglass was an ardent supporter of Black men joining the military.

“An eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and his bullets in his pockets,” Douglass once said, “there is no power on earth … which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.”

It’s one of Burke’s favorite quotes, and one he can recite the same way schoolchildren can recite the Pledge of Allegiance or a catechumen can recite the Apostles’ Creed.

Douglass was a great believer that true citizens could not be denied “the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box,” and that fighting shoulder to shoulder — at least metaphorically — with their white fellows would serve as proof that Black Americans were Americans in the full sense. “Is he not a man?” Douglass wrote in his newspaper Douglass’ Monthly. “Can he not wield a sword, fire a gun, march and countermarch, and obey others like any other?”

But, of course, it wasn’t that simple.

“The advance of Black people,” Burke says, “threatened white society.”

Burke’s great-great-grandfather Peter Bailey joined the USCT’s 17th Regiment when he was 18 years old, traveling from Lebanon to Murfreesboro to do so. He was 5-foot-4 — one of those tiny facts from history that hits home. Barely an adult in age, he must have looked like a child in his uniform.

But he was garrisoned at Fort Negley and fought in the Battle of Nashville on Peach Orchard Hill and at Granbury’s Lunette. The latter, on Polk Avenue near Murfreesboro Road, is now honored with a historical marker — as it should have been for decades — because that’s the first place where the USCT actually fought Confederate soldiers.

Attached to Gen. James Steedman’s division, eight USCT regiments were tasked with taking the lunette. It was costly. They suffered heavy losses and failed to take the small fortification.

Ultimately, of course, the Union won the Battle of Nashville, virtually securing the Western Theater for the U.S. But the combination of that action and what was accomplished by the construction of Fort Negley makes Nashville hallowed ground.

Fort Negley was the largest inland fort built during the Civil War and was constructed in large part by former slaves who fled to the Union lines, and freed Blacks conscripted out of Nashville’s churches. After the war, white Nashville mostly ignored it. It was, after all, a Union fort. And Nashville was, after all, a catastrophic and embarrassing defeat for the Confederacy. And after all, it was a place of pride for Black Nashvillians, many of whom settled nearby after the war.

But Black Nashville never forgot — even as it was overgrown, eventually ruined and abandoned — until its restoration during the New Deal. And Bill Radcliffe never forgot.

BATTLE OF NASHVILLE HISTORICAL MARKER In 1989, dressed in his period uniform, he took “a milk crate and a blanket” and sat on the balustrade on the anniversary of the Battle of Nashville in December.

“I did it out of respect,” he says. “I didn’t want it to be forgotten. I was reenacting with other men. I traveled and connected with my brothers on the East Coast, and I knew what happened here. It was my way of honoring the soldiers and civilians that built this place.”

So Radcliffe sat. He’d answer questions and tell the story of how Fort Negley came to represent the promise of freedom, the promise of full citizenship. But it was more personal. He said coming to the fort, he had a “spiritual moment.”

“I said my prayers for them. I reflected on what it was all about.”

“Most [Black] people in Nashville are descendants,” says Radcliffe. “People I go to church with are direct descendants. But people in this town tried to just sweep it under the rug.”

Or under concrete and pavement. The future of Fort Negley was threatened in 2018 as part of a high-profile redevelopment project proposed after the Nashville Sounds left neighboring Greer Stadium for what is now First Horizon Park. The project

kept creeping forward over the objections of historians and a diverse group of activists, including the NAACP and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Eventually, after archaeologists found evidence of burials, the project was shelved.

Black Nashvillians insisted throughout the process that they knew there were burials there — of soldiers who were garrisoned there, of civilians who helped build it.

They’d heard the stories from their grandparents. It was a known fact in the Black community for more than a century, if only white Nashville would listen.

RADCLIFFE DOESN’T LIKE to talk too much about what he’s accomplished.

He was an extra in Glory, for example, but asking him about it just gets a nod. He was the model for the statue honoring the USCT soldiers buried at the Nashville National Cemetery on Gallatin Pike (it’s the only statue there), but he makes Burke tell that story.

“I guess I got my 15 minutes or so,” Radcliffe says.

“I wonder sometimes if we’re doing any good,” he muses aloud.

He says so often people want to “deny or denigrate” the service of Black Civil War soldiers.

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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an independent bookstore

BILL RADCLIFFE

GARY BURKE

“This nation always has to fight itself on what’s right and wrong.”

—Bill Radcliffe

Reenactment is more than running around on battlefields, camping out like they did 150 years ago. Reenactors do educational events and commemorations. At one such event, Radcliffe heard a boy — maybe 8 years old — tell his sisters who were approaching his table say, “Oh that’s stupid stuff — it’s not important.” Radcliffe says it made his blood boil. Someone, after all, had to teach the child that the contributions of the USCT were somehow less-than.

But that also means someone can teach the child — and others — that they weren’t.

Yes, the heroism of the USCT — and the Black service members who came after them — went unrecognized. Men who fought for their country went home after Appomattox to find their lot in life little better than it was when they were enslaved. Full access to the ballot box and the jury box was a century away.

“History tells on itself,” Radcliffe says, recounting the generations of fighting men who spilled blood and won medals doing so, “fighting for democracy,” returning home only to be forced to the back of the bus, to be beaten blind by racist police for daring to assert their humanity.

“This nation always has to fight itself on what’s right and wrong,” he says.

And yet, again and again, all the way back to the USCT, Black Americans joined the fight.

“Because we always have to prove ourselves,” Radcliffe says. “It’s sad to think my grandchildren will have to be strong and face it too.”

“But it’s going to be OK,” he says after he reflects for a moment. “What we [as reenactors] do may seem like a drop in the bucket, but somebody will come along. … And they’re asking questions, so we’re still trying. Sometimes we paddle upstream.”

Burke and Radcliffe agree that the younger generations are better informed about Black history in general and about Black military history specifically, because more has been written, and information is just easier to get.

“We do worry about the next generation, but seeing it up close, it has them wondering and reading,” Radcliffe says. “Kids now are a lot more informed.”

CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT in general is on the decline from its peak in the 1990s and early 2000s. It’s an expensive avocation, for one thing. There’s lots of travel, and period reproductions don’t come cheaply. It’s been harmed by the general trend against

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“joining” that’s concomitant with the rise of social media — the same phenomenon that’s lowered participation in all number of veterans’ groups, bowling leagues and civic organizations.

And there were never a lot of Black reenactors to begin with. There are two groups in Tennessee — the 13th in Nashville and another near Chattanooga. Burke notes that USCT reenactors are a lot more common in the North.

But that’s not discouraging to Burke and Radcliffe. It’s a calling. They are maintaining the memory and the honor of the men who wore the uniform. The soldiers of the USCT were not metaphorical freedom fighters. They were literal freedom fighters — literally carrying a rifle and putting themselves in the line of fire for the promise America doesn’t always live up to. They shouldn’t be forgotten or footnoted, and as long as Burke, Radcliffe and others like them are around, they won’t be again.

Here on this crisp and bright February morning, Radcliffe looks up at Fort Negley.

The tears are welling up again as he motions toward the slopes.

“This is for those people who were up there.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

ASHLEY HERRING BLAKE

with MERYL WILSNER on FB LIVE & YOUTUBE Delilah Green Doesn’t Care 6:30PM

TUESDAY, MARCH 1

DAVID GEORGE HASKELL at PARNASSUS Sounds Wild and Broken 6:30PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 3

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nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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coming soon JOYCE YANG PLAYS GRIEG

February 24 to 26

orchestral greatest hits

Live Recording

giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

AN EVENING OF FIRSTS Feat. World Premiere of Winger’s Symphony No. 1 March 17 to 19

From Looney Tunes cartoons to the silver screen, blockbuster melodies you know and love SERIES PARTNER

March 3 to 6

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS March 22*

STEWART COPELAND: POLICE DERANGED March 24 to 26

GREGORY PORTER

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

Family Concert

WHEN INSTRUMENTS ROAMED THE EARTH March 26 at 11 am

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

February 27

JUDY COLLINS

February 28

March 29

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS IN CONCERT

THE

DOO WOP PROJECT

April 1 to 3

with the Nashville Symphony

MENDELSSOHN'S VIOLIN CONCERTO & DEBUSSY’S LA MER

EnRiCO LOPEz-YañEz, COnDuCTOR

April 8 to 10

GUERRERO CONDUCTS MESSIAH April 14 to 16

Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

March 11

March 13

*Presented without the Nashville Symphony.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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PETER PAN: WENDY’S ADVENTURE TO NEVERLAND FEB. 17-MARCH 27

Nashville Children’s Theatre

PETER PAN: WENDY’S ADVENTURE TO NEVERLAND

Everybody knows the story of Peter Pan, the mischievous boy who refuses to grow up. But with its world premiere of Peter Pan: Wendy’s Adventure to Neverland, Nashville Children’s Theatre promises a fresh take on the familiar character. Based on the beloved novel by J.M. Barrie and featuring a book by NCT’s executive artistic director Ernie Nolan with music and lyrics by David Weinstein, this new musical explores the wonders of Neverland from Wendy’s perspective, taking on themes of imagination, courage and empowerment along the way. Nolan has assembled an outstanding cast, including Amanda Rodriguez as Wendy and Megan Murphy Chambers as Captain Hook, along with Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Gerold Oliver, Sarah Zanotti, Piper Jones, Jonah Jackson and Alex Pineiro. Plus, audiences can look forward to some unique design elements — including puppet design by

[BACK TO SCHOOL]

‘A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM’ & BY DESIGN

Two screenings at the Nashville Public Library’s Bordeaux Branch are digging into a topic some white parents are trying to wipe from curricula: racism and schooling.

In one screening at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 17, the library will show “A Child Shall Lead Them: The Desegregation of Nashville Public Schools.” The 30-minute documentary tells the story of the first-grade students in Nashville who bravely became some of the first children in the South to attend desegregated schools. On Feb. 19 at 10:30 a.m, the Bordeaux Branch will screen By Design: The Shaping of Nashville’s Public Schools — which goes even further back and looks at the city’s schools from the 1800s on, but also includes firsthand accounts from the first-graders who integrated schools.

The film focuses on how policies and priorities were shaped and how they affect current schooling in the city. Discussions

Davis, Walter Mosley and Fran Lebowitz occasionally throw in their two cents.

Hopefully this doc will get you in the mood to check out some Morrison AMANDA HAGGARD titles. (My suggestion: Pick DUE TO INCREASED up Jazz.) Claudine Taaffe, [QUIET AS IT’S KEPT] CONCERNS ABOUT senior lecturer in African INDEPENDENT LENS: COVID-19 TRANSMISSION, PLEASE CHECK WITH American and Diaspora TONI MORRISON: THE VENUES ABOUT POTENTIAL Studies at Vanderbilt, will PIECES I AM CANCELLATIONS BEFORE present the film. As always, This screening of filmmakerMAKING PLANS. International Lens screenings photographer Timothy are free and open to the public.

Greenfield-Sanders’ 2019 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Vanderbilt’s documentary on iconic AfricanSarratt Cinema, 2301 Vanderbilt Place American novelist Toni Morrison couldn’t have come at a better time. Not CRAIG D. LINDSEY only because it’s Black History Month, but because of the recent news of American schools removing and in some cases banning books from libraries — even a revered, Pulitzer- and Nobel-winning writer [BODY LANGUAGE] like Morrison has had her works foolishly MY POLITIC & ADEEM THE ARTIST taken off library shelves. Her 1970 debut Under the moniker My Politic, Missouri The Bluest Eye has been among the most natives Kaston Guffey and Nick Pankey banned books in the country for decades. supply engaging, heartfelt and powerful Be that as it may, Toni Morrison: The Pieces lyrical narratives that tap into the classic I Am features Morrison herself talking storytelling style of ’70s folk and modern about her life and times, while such friends Americana. Their 2021 record Short-Sighted and admirers as Oprah Winfrey, Angela People in Power magnifies the uncertainty,

FRIDAY / 2.18

MUSIC

[SECOND STAR]

will follow both films. Feb. 17 & 19 at the Bordeaux Branch of the Nashville Public Library, 4000 Clarksville Pike

FILM

MoonBull Studio. Feb. 17-March 27 at Nashville Children’s Theatre, 25 Middleton St. AMY STUMPFL FILM

THEATER

THURSDAY / 2.17

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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CRITICS’ PICKS Rip Patton told the Scene in 2020. “One of the things about music is that we all can’t talk at the same time, but we can all sing at the same time. And so we used music to comfort us, to give us strength. To know that we were all under the same banner.

That we were all together.” Upon These Shoulders surely will continue to carry forth Patton’s legacy. The performance is free, but advance registration is required; seating will be limited to 50 guests. Can’t make it?

The program will also be livestreamed on NMAAM’s Facebook page. 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of African American Music, 510 Broadway ERICA CICCARONE

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fear and anger that engulfed the social and political landscape of the U.S. in 2020 and beyond. Guffey and Pankey give voice to the emotions many Americans have felt during these tumultuous years. Whether taking on the social landscape or reflecting on moments of personal triumph and loss, My Politic has a style of intimate songwriting that’s often reminiscent of the late, great John Prine. Friday at The Basement, the Nashville-based duo will share the bill with burgeoning, outspoken talent Adeem the Artist, an East Tennessee singer-songwriter who earned praise from many journalists surveyed in our inaugural Country Music Almanac 2022 issue. Adeem’s 2021 album Cast-Iron Pansexual explores the complicated journey of navigating religion, gender identity and expression against the backdrop of the rural South. If you’re looking for some of the most timely, clever and refreshingly honest storytelling around right now, Friday’s co-headlining show at The Basement is a must-see. 8 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. LORIE LIEBIG MUSIC

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MY POLITIC

GUITAR LESSONS

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor

[STEPPING UP]

UPON THESE SHOULDERS: STEP BY STEP

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THE BETHS

rights museum appeared in our recent What Nashville Needs issue. Of course, this in no way dismisses the excellent programs that abound among our small but mighty institutions. One of these is the annual performance series Upon These Shoulders, a convergence of groups commemorating our heroes in song. The Scene named the 2020 program From the Back of the Bus the Best Way to Celebrate Freedom in that year’s Best of Nashville issue, and there’s even more in store this time around. This year’s program is titled Step by Step, and it promises to “honor and artistically explore historic impressions in the African American journal of racial equity and cultural inclusiveness through footprints of yesterday and today.” It features Choral Arts Link, the nonprofit that provides choral training and leadership opportunities for Nashville youth; contemporary music ensemble Intersection; Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando students; and spoken-word pieces created and presented by students who participated in the National Museum of African American Music’s From Nothing to Something: Lyrics Workshop.

The program will include musical works by acclaimed composers Jessie Montgomery and George Walker, as well as narration by director, actor and educator Jon Royal.

“There’s an old saying that music can soothe the savage beast,” the late Freedom Rider

[YOU BETH YOUR LIFE]

THE BETHS

Hailing from one of the lone corners of the world where COVID didn’t entirely wreck the past two years, New Zealand’s The Beths return to Nashville three years removed from selling out The Basement behind the ingenious 2018 debut Future Me Hates Me. It was love at first listen for me and Future Me — I heard it playing as I browsed an out-of-town record shop, and immediately needed to know who the band was. I bought the CD on the spot. Led by singer-songwriter-namesake Elizabeth Stokes and her partner, lead guitarist Jonathan Pierce, The Beths have a cuteness that might be nauseating if the music didn’t rock so convincingly. Because the touring cycle behind their second LP Jump Rope Gazers got preempted, this’ll mark the first time we get to thrash to uptempo gems like “I’m Not Getting Excited,” “Dying to Believe” and “Mars, the God of War” IRL — and swoon ourselves into a puddle to Gazers’ dreamy title track, just as we did with Future Me’s epic “Little Death” back in pre-pandemic halcyon days. Atlanta’s Lunar Vacation opens. 8 p.m. at Mercy Lounge, 1 Cannery Row CHARLIE ZAILLIAN MUSIC

2038 Greenwood Ave.

MUSIC

SATURDAY / 2.19

[EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATI]

FENNE LILY & ILLUMINATI HOTTIES W/KATY KIRBY

From Shellac and Big Black to Bleachers and fun., the music made by producers on their own time is an oft-enlightening window into their minds. Sarah Tudzin might not have the household-name status of a Steve Albini or a Jack Antonoff — yet. But the L.A.-raised, Berklee-schooled Illuminati Hotties bandleader and engineer has operated at an outrageous clip on both sides of the board since Hotties’ scrappy spring 2018 debut Kiss Your Frenemies. Besides her assistant-engineer credit on Coldplay’s latest, Music of the Spheres, Tudzin also worked on fellow Angeleno Weyes Blood’s acclaimed 2019 Sub Pop LP Titanic Rising, as well as producing NYC combo Pom Pom Squad’s excellent ’21 LP Death of a Cheerleader. More recently, legendarily curmudgeonly rock critic Robert Christgau drew a direct line from last year’s mainstream-pop rookie-of-the-year winner, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, to the Hotties’ third LP Let Me Do One More. But don’t take a couple older white guys’ word for it. See Tudzin & Co. at this Blue Room gig — it’s unlikely the foursome will be playing rooms

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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2/14/22 4:09 PM

LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY | RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS Nashville Improv Company Presents

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2.18 David Bromberg Quintet

2.18

Nashville Improv Comedy Presents

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with Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley

in the Lounge

2.20

2.21

Jill Sobule & Will Kimbrough

Kasim Sulton

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DOWNTOWN

Saturday, February 19

Sunday, March 20

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jenn Schott NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

LIVE IN CONCERT

Graham Nash 7:30 pm

Saturday, February 26

Saturday, March 26

SONGWRITER SESSION

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jimmy Fortune NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Waylon Payne NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Stephanie Quayle and Anna Vaus · FORD THEATER

Teddy Robb

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Mary Gauthier NOON – 12:45 pm

SONGWRITER SESSION

LIVE IN CONCERT

NOON – 12:45 pm

· FORD THEATER

SLIM GAMBILL FT. LATAVIUS MULZAC, JEREMY ROBERSON, AND DENNIS EDWARDS IN THE LOUNGE

2.27

BRENT COBB

3.1

KCL (WAYNE KRANTZ, KEITH CARLOCK, TIM LEFEBVRE) 3.6

3.1

JOHN SPLITHOFF IN THE LOUNGE LOW TICKET ALERT

3.4

AL STEWART WITH HIS BAND THE EMPTY POCKETS

3.5

AURAL FIXATION LIVE MUSIC AND POETRY PRESENTS: MATTERS OF THE HEART DONNA THE BUFFALO SKYLINE SESSIONS IN THE LOUNGE FEATURING SWEET JOSEPHINE AND ZOE CUMMINS

3.8

3.2

KATIE BOECK SINGS BLUE CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGENDARY ALBUM 3.9

BY JONI MITCHELL IN THE LOUNGE

3.3

EDWIN MCCAIN

· FORD THEATER

Friday, May 27

Raul Malo

2.25

Saturday, April 9

Saturday, March 19

Ryan Larkins

Steve Poltz

· FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

2.26

“Stardust and Satellites” Album Release Show with Special Guest Crystal Bowersox

Saturday, April 2

NOON – 12:45 pm

Saturday, March 12

NOON – 12:45 pm

Acoustic Guitar Project NOON – 12:45 pm

Saturday, March 5

2.22

· CMA THEATER

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO

3.10

THE YOUNG FABLES “PAGES” ALBUM RELEASE SHOW

Janis Ian 8:00 pm

· CMA THEATER

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

CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Calendar

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

feb 23

Bartending 101:

Espresso Martini Class

609 LAFAYETTE ST. NASHVILLE, TN 37203, NASHVILLE, TN 37203 @CITYWINERYNSH . CITYWINERY.COM . 615.324.1033

JOIN TODAY: CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

4:09 PM

17

GREAT MUSIC • GREAT FOOD • GOOD FRIENDS • SINCE 1991

THIS WEEK THU

2/17 FRI

2/18

HOGSLOP STRING BAND

8:00

12 AGAINST NATURE “A STEELY DAN TRIBUTE” + MAKE ME SMILE

8:00

“THE MUSIC OF CHICAGO”

SAT

2/19

8:00

6:30

7:00

BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE FEAT.

DYLAN ALTMAN, MATT ROGERS, RAY STEPHENSON & WILL JONES

12:30

THE MIDNIGHT RIDERS “ALLMAN BROTHERS REVUE” W/

7:30

THE CHUCK FOSTER BAND AND LEE ROY PARNELL SUN

2/20

GOODBYE JUNE

8:00

8:00

WITH JACOB THOMAS JR.

THE TIME JUMPERS

MON

MCKENZIES MILL ALBUM RELEASE SHOW

TUE

LYRICS FOR LAUNDRY PROJECT FEAT.

WED

CASSADEE POPE, WILL GARRETT, ADAM SANDERS W/ ALLIE COLLEEN, ERIC DODD, CARTER FAITH, BRADY RILEY, BRENNA BONE, SUANNA LYNN & GOOSE GOSSETT

CLINT PARK

2/21 2/22

2/23

THU

2/24

FEATURED

3/1

3/13

CJ SOLAR & FRIENDS FEAT. JEFFREY STEEL & MORE!

4/10

3/20 ASHLEY RAY WITH STEPHEN SANCHEZ

5/21

HANNAH WICKLUND

5/29 AVI KAPLAN

GABE DIXON WITH SHANNON LABRIE

THEM DIRTY ROSES + TANNER USREY

COMING SOON 2-25 THE SMOKING SECTION 2-26 BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE! HIT SONGWRITER SHOW 2-26 THE PIANO MEN: THE MUSIC OF ELTON JOHN & BILLY JOEL WITH NICK HOWARD 2-28 THE TIME JUMPERS 3-2 KEITH ANDERSON & FRIENDS FEAT. WADE HAYES W/ MALLORY JOHNSON 3-3 TINSLEY ELLIS

3-4 JIMMY HALL & THE PRISONERS OF LOVE 3-5 THE CLEVERLYS 3-8 WALKING MAN: THE MUSIC OF JAMES TAYLOR 3-9 COLE RITTER & THE NIGHT OWLS 3-10 ANTHONY SMITH WITH TIM & TAYLOR 3-11 TRIGGER HIPPY WITH JON LATHAM 3-12 GUILTY PLEASURES 3-15 COUNTRY OUTDOORS FEAT. HANNAH

3-17 3-18 3-22 3-25 4-2

[BIG COUNTRY]

AMERICA

America — the band, not the country — began in 1970 when three American military kids got together in London, where they contrived to evoke the big-country mythology of the western United States in a post-Beatles world. Like, say, their English counterparts Unicorn — themselves a pretty accomplished bunch of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young imitators who also sounded a bit like The Beatles — America holds a place in rock history because of their uncanny ability to evoke a countercultural era that had already passed by 1972. That’s when America released their epochal single “A Horse With No Name,” a natural hit of unparalleled pseudo-significance and existential dread. Of course I like it, and I also dig “Daisy Jane,” one of their later hits — it was produced by Sir George Martin, who took the American-isms of their sound and ran them through a Paul McCartney filter. I believe these guys also helped invent yacht rock, because their sound is pure hedonism. “Sister Golden Hair” and the aforementioned “Daisy Jane” describe no-consequences good times as experienced by ’70s rock stars. Today’s show features original members Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley — the other founding member, Dan Peek, left the band in 1977, citing too much hedonism, and died in 2011.

There’s a whiff of melancholia attached to “A Horse With No Name” — that lone counterculture warrior is probably still lost in the desert, looking for a connection that isn’t there anymore. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 Rep. John Lewis Way N. EDD HURT

DASHER, JORDAN FLETCHER, BRANDON LAY & KYLE DANIEL WILLIAM LEE GOLDEN & THE GOLDENS THE PETTY JUNKIES W/ THE ALTERNATORS JON MULLINS WITH AVA PAIGE, KRISTEN MERLIN & KELLI JOHNSON THE EAGLEMANIACS PAT MCLAUGHLIN BAND

[JUST THE MEANNESS]

WEEKEND CLASSICS: THE DEFIANT ONES

Every time I think of The Defiant Ones — producer-director Stanley Kramer’s 1958 Oscar winner in which Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis play runaway criminals, constantly at odds with each other yet working together to get out of sticky situations — I think of the 1996 summer flick Fled. That film also stars a mixedrace duo (Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin) chained together and on the run from the law. All through the movie, Baldwin’s character references all the other movies that certain moments remind him of. And yet! He never once brings up that movie, the one Fled rips off — and not very well, I might add. (It did have a bomb-ass soundtrack, though.) Anyway, if you want to see the genuine article and watch Poitier and Curtis knock it out the park with their performances, it will be playing at the Belcourt this weekend — in 35 mm. Feb. 19-20 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC

3RDANDLINDSLEY.COM

this small much longer. Ethereal English folk-rocker Fenne Lily, on tour with I.H., co-headlines. Just 23, Lily packs a lifetime’s worth of sorrow into her 2018 debut On Hold and its quietly powerful 2020 follow-up Breach. Fans of vintage Cat Power, Sharon Van Etten and the similarly wise-beyondher-years Lucy Dacus should be all over it.

Show up early for Katy Kirby, whose first album, 2021’s Cool Dry Place, showcased the Lone Star State native and Belmont grad’s off-the-charts pop-songwriting promise.

8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave S. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN MUSIC

818 3RD AVE SOUTH • SOBRO DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE SHOWS NIGHTLY • FULL RESTAURANT FREE PARKING • SMOKE FREE VENUE AND SHOW INFORMATION

FILM

CRITICS’ PICKS

[SUGAR RUSH]

BAD SUNS

On the new full-length Apocalypse Whenever, California pop band Bad Suns seem determined to deny the existence of anything that might cause an actual apocalypse. That’s fine with me — this is a band that has built its sound on the usages of 1980s sorta-New Wave pop, with a special emphasis on catchy little keyboard riffs that usually power the songs. In some ways, Bad Suns sound a bit like The 1975, and maybe you could put Paramore in there too.

Still, the combination of mildly funky bass patterns and slightly soul-influenced vocals adds up to a pure pop style that might seem excessively formalist to some ears. These guys don’t write deep songs — most of the lyrics on Apocalypse Whenever are about being in love again, or falling in love despite your own bad habits, and you get the idea they wish for an endless summer that you could reasonably equate with a certain kind of apocalypse. Apocalypse is unfailingly optimistic, and a couple of tunes — notably “Silently Screaming” and “Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me” — take their formula and rev it up to full speed.

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PRIVATE EVENTS

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18

THE DEFIANT ONES

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-17-22.indd 18

2/14/22 4:09 PM

APRIL 10

TANYA TUCKER ON SALE FRIDAY AT NOON APRIL 24

NIKKI GLASER

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 1

KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS WITH CHASTITY BELT ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 13

ORVILLE PECK

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM MAY 18

RAY LAMONTAGNE WITH SIERRA FERRELL ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM JULY 2

CHAGALL GUEVARA WITH OVER THE RHINE ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM JULY 16

9:30 PM SHOW ADDED

ILIZA

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

4:09 PM

19

thebasementeast basementeast thebasementeast

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 thebasementnashville.com

CRITICS’ PICKS

NEAL FRANCIS // FEB 25

SAMIA // FEB 24

W/ EMILY WOLFE

W/ANNIE DIRUSSO & BRENNAN WEDL

BAD SUNS

DRAMA // MAR 1

ICEAGE // MAR 2

W/ THE KERNAL

W/SLOPPY JANE

Upcoming shows feb 17 feb 18 feb 19 feb 20 feb 21 feb 22 feb 23

john moreland w/will johnson love you later w/abby holliday & girlhouse emily king obscura w/vale of pnath & interloper gracie abrams w/alix page sold out! valley w/catie turner sold out! paramore vs. avril lavigne tribute ft. kalie

feb 24 Feb 25 feb 26 feb 27 mar 1 Mar 2 mar 3 mar 4 Mar 5 mar 6 mar 7 mar 8 mar 9 mar 10

samia w/annie dirusso & brennan wedl neal francis w/emily wolfe brett dennen w/the heavy hours zachary williams w/ the kernal drama Iceage w/sloppy jane chapo trap house podcast sold out! half•alive w/daisy the great sold out!

Inhaler w/junior mesa sold out! soulfly w/200 stab wounds & rules of engagement gary numan w/i speak machine mipso w/bella white goth babe w/rebounder sold out! kat von d w/prayers

emo night tour my so-called band: 90s jams! kody west & austin meade a schmidt show BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&mercury soldout!

BristonMaroneyw/jackiehayes&futurecrib soldout! maxo kream w/peso peso & lul bob 10 years w/black map & vrsty elderbrook w/ayokay liz cooper the birthday massacre w/julien-k&vanillasugar wednesday 13 The Airborne Toxic Event w/mondo cozmo ian noe sierra ferrell sold out! sierra ferrell dorothy w/joyous wolf & classless act cannons w/madi sipes & painted blue the districts w/francis of delirium & vanillaroma latto w/saucy santana, and kali & asianae tate mcrae w/mimi webb sold out! tate mcrae w/mimi webb sold out!

LAUREN EYLISE // FEB 25

W/THE BOHANNONS

feb 17 feb 17 feb 18 feb 18 feb 20 feb 21 feb 21 feb 23 feb 24 feb 25 feb 25

W/JULIE WILLIAMS

UPCOMING SHOWS

dawson hollow & nite tides (7pm) kelly soule eberie, meg elsier, & olivia barton (9pm) my politic & adeem the artist justin wells w/jeff shepherd poutyface w/maggie miles aaron raitiere & friends (7pm) kinn & suitcase souls (9pm) lonesome heroes, johno leeroy band, & dylan earl the pinx w/the bohannons lauren Eylise w/julie williams (7pm) dogs in a pile (9pm)

feb 26 feb 26 feb 27

feb 28 mar 1 mar 2 mar 2 mar 3 mar 4 mar 5

skout & marielle kraft (7pm) long tall shorty w/low water bridge band

& tony hannah (9pm)

jesse & friends w/audra mae, ben burgess,

dave pittenger, & fraser churchill

the f-use, say kids, & violet moons jess nolan jamie mclean band (7pm) the 502s (9pm) sold out! thee sacred souls the dirty delusions, crocodyle, & ergo bria willi carlisle w/ coleman williams (7pm)

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 thebasementnash 20

thebasementnash

thebasementnash

ELEMENT FEAT. DAISHA McBRIDE

[BLACK HISTORY MATTERS]

BLACK CRAFTSPEOPLE OF TENNESSEE TOUR

Throughout February, the Tennessee State Museum is hosting Black history tours as well as tours focused specifically on Black craftspeople in the state. In a 45-minute tour on Tennessee’s Black craftspeople, a guide will highlight folk artists like William Edmonson, a Black sculptor who was the son of enslaved people, and Lewis C. Buckner, a carpenter and furniture maker who was enslaved from his birth into childhood. The Black history tour will give visitors a broader scope of Black history in Tennessee — from the Civil War to the civil rights movement and more. Feb. 19-27 at the Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. AMANDA HAGGARD MUSIC

THE PINX // FEB 24

[WITH YOUR WHOLE CHEST]

East Tennessee-born and Middle Tennessee-residing rapper-singer Daisha McBride finished 2021 strong with the release of her second album Let Me Get This Off My Chest. While heartbreak is the central theme of the LP, it’s far stronger than a garden-variety collection of breakup songs. Across a collection of athletic bars — and over slick and timeless beats made by some of her longtime collaborators — McBride takes a close look at the dynamics of intimate relationships, how letting go can sometimes be the most painful part of the breakup, and how what doesn’t kill you can make you stronger, if you’re lucky.

McBride’s 2022 is getting off to a strong start too. Saturday night, she’ll headline a show at Acme Feed and Seed that will also feature a DJ set from GAS!, an after-party DJ set by the great A.B. Eastwood, some high-tech visuals and some special cocktails (through a partnership with Jack Daniel’s and Red Bull). See Eventbrite for ticketing details. 7 p.m. at Acme Feed and Seed, 101 Broadway STEPHEN TRAGESER ART

shorr, sam varga, taylor acorn, thrill FR, & not a real band

mar 11 mar 12 mar 13 mar 16 Mar 19 Mar 20 Mar 22 Mar 23 mar 25 mar 26 mar 27 mar 29 Mar 30 mar 31 apr 1 apr 2 apr 3 apr 4 apr 5 apr 6 apr 7 apr 8

Their latest music lacks the relative edge of 2016’s Disappear Here, which featured more guitar licks. It’s good stuff you might want to take a little bit at a time — sugar rushes always have a steep underside. Also appearing will be Kid Bloom and Little Image. 7 p.m. at Brooklyn Bowl, 925 Third Ave. N. EDD HURT

[TILL THE NEXT EPISODE]

DRE DAY NASHVILLE

Gangsta rap is an art form that comes

with a lot of caveats — mixed in with creative storytelling about life for poor Black people in America, there is sometimes intense misogyny and homophobia. And that extends to the story of Dr. Dre, the extraordinarily inventive entertainment mogul who helped make “gangsta rap” a household phrase, first as a member of N.W.A. and later as a producer for artists like Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Following the release of the 2015 N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, which was criticized for mostly glossing over Dre’s violent behavior toward women, the superstar publicly apologized for his past actions. Questions of what else might be considered appropriate reconciliation and what other important conversations we ought to have about gangsta rap are up for debate. If anyone had doubts that Dre has had a huge impact on West Coast hip-hop specifically and popular culture in general, the Super Bowl LVI halftime show featuring Dre, Snoop, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and others should have obliterated them. The celebration continues this weekend as Dre Day parties take place around the country — paying tribute to the G-funk sound, an infectious reimagining of electronic funk pioneered by groups like Parliament Funkadelic, which Dre spread worldwide with mega-hit albums like his own LP The Chronic and Snoop’s Doggystyle. Nashville takes part in the festivities with a throwdown at Eastside Bowl on Saturday (just one day after Dre’s actual birthday, which is Feb. 18). DJ Case Bloom from The Boom Bap mans the decks while soul and funk crew G.E.D. Soul AllStars take the stage in support of top-notch Music City rappers Big Fella and Keith “Remsteele” Proffitt. 8 p.m. at Eastside Bowl, 1508 Gallatin Pike S., Madison STEPHEN TRAGESER

SUNDAY / 2.20 MUSIC

ZACHARY WILLIAMS // FEB 27

W/ THE HEAVY HOURS

MUSIC

BRETT DENNEN // FEB 26

[YES SIREE BOB]

BOB MOULD

Between the demise of Sugar and the reemergence of Bob Mould as a solo artist, the Hüsker Dü co-frontman spent a decade-plus in the sonic wilderness, reaching a nadir with Modulate, his ill-advised 2002 foray into electronica.

Reflecting on his life and career for the 2011 autobiography See a Little Light, however, ushered in a surprising return to form for the then-50-year-old. From 2012’s Silver Age onward, bassist Jason Narducy

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-17-22.indd 20

2/14/22 4:09 PM

Combining New England and Southern flavors ...for a unique, yet familiar seafood experience.  Fish & Chips 4 ways: Pub Style, New England, BC Signature, or British style

To Benefit : The DISTRICT Nashville

 Spaghetti & Meatballs  Maine Lobster Roll

Now open for dinner Wed-Sun at 4:30.

Reservations recommended for dining. Our bar is always open.

In Five Points at 1008 Woodland St, East Nashville | 615.226.9283

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

4:09 PM

21

CRITICS’ PICKS

THU 2.24  MAGGIE MILES, ABIGAIL OSBORN, & GIRL TONES THE HIGH WATT

AND THE HOWLING WEATHER W/ WORRIERS & HURRY.

CANNERY BALLROOM

FRI 2.18  SQUIRREL FLOWER W/ LIGHTNING BUG (SOLO)

THE HIGH WATT

SAT 2.19  THE BETHS W/ LUNAR VACATION

MERCY LOUNGE

S UN 2.20  RED: THE ACOUSTIC TOUR W/ KEITH WALLEN OF BREAKING BENJAMIN

MERCY LOUNGE

TUE 2.22  CHARLIE BERRY

W/ MATT JORDAN & ASHTYN TALLEY

THE HIGH WATT

WED 2.23  STOP LIGHT OBSERVATIONS W/ GATLIN & PALMERTREES

THE HIGH WATT

THU 2.24  PETTY, FU STAN, & NAMIR BLADE

FRI 2.25  GLAMPER - RELEASE PARTY W/ AMANDA STONE & REAL HUMANS

MERCY LOUNGE

SAT 2.26  THEE ROCK N’ ROLL RESIDENCY GREATEST HITS! LIVE

MERCY LOUNGE

CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

SAT 2.26  FANGIRL FANTASY: 1D VS 5S0S THE HIGH WATT

TUESDAY / 2.22

TUE 3.01  GUARDIN W/ SEWERPERSON

MERCY LOUNGE

THEATER

FRI 2.18  BRIAN FALLON

WED 3.02  THIS WILD LIFE WE

W/ BROADSIDE & THE HOME TEAM

WED 3.02  NATE JORDAN, DANTE WILLIAMSON, & JORDAN THE HIGH WATT

THU 3.03  POTTERLESS PODCAST LIVE THE HIGH WATT

W/ SEDDYMAC, VIBEOUT, & CAMFERG

THE HIGH WATT

brian fallon & the howling weather cannery ballroom · w/ worriers & hurry.

FRI. 2/18

squirrel flower

w/ lightning bug (solo) · the high watt

SUN. 2/20

SAT. 2/23 WED. 2/23

mercy lounge · w/ keith wallen of breaking benjamin

kendrick vs drake stop light observations

presented by&joco shows · ·mercy lounge w/ gatlin palmertrees the high watt

FRI. 3/04

SAT. 2/26

parquet courts

thee rock n’ roll residency

cannery ballroom

greatest hits! live · mercy lounge

3.24  DAVID RAMIREZ W/ CAROLINE SPENCE

MERCY LOUNGE

5.01  PONCÉ, BASEBALL GAME, AND

VERA BLOOM

4.29  DAN ANDRIANO & THE BYGONES THE HIGH WATT

5.01  KEVIN DEVINE

W/ KISSISSIPPI & KAYLEIGH GOLDSWORTHY

MERCY LOUNGE

THE HIGH WATT

5.09  THE HU

4.02  BULLY 4.

CANNERY BALLROOM

MERCY LOUNGE

4.08  JACKSON BRUCK & THE DUKES OF HUME

PHOTO: DEEN VAN MEER

red: the acoustic tour

THE PROM

It may only be February, but Prom season has officially arrived in Nashville. The Tony-nominated musical The Prom hits the stage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, balancing a playful story line (and some truly goofy characters) with a heartfelt message of love and inclusivity. The action follows four rather self-involved Broadway actors who decide to take matters into their own hands when they hear that a conservative town in Indiana has banned a student named Emma from bringing her girlfriend to the high school prom. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw (Mean Girls; Aladdin; The Book of Mormon),

MERCY LOUNGE

FRI. 2/18

[LET’S DANCE]

THE PROM The Prom features an impressive creative team — with music by Matthew Sklar (Elf the Musical), lyrics by Chad Beguelin (Aladdin; Elf the Musical) and book by Beguelin and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone). Feb. 22-27 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL

THE HIGH WATT

W/ AUDREY MIKA

CANNERY BALLROOM

FRI 3.04  PARQUET COURTS CANNERY BALLROOM

MON 3.07  DEL WATER GAP W/ TAYLOR JANZEN

MERCY LOUNGE

TUE 3.08  THE WAY DOWN WANDERERS THE HIGH WATT

F RI 3.04  ZØIE, CA$HK, SAVANNA LEIGH, & CAS CLEO

WED 3.09  TY SEGALL (SOLO BAND) W/ CHARLES MOOTHART

THE HIGH WATT

MERCY LOUNGE

SAT 3.05  MARC E. BASSY W/ JOHN K & RAE KHALIL

CANNERY BALLROOM

WED 3.09  SILVER SYNTHETIC THE HIGH WATT

ONE CANNERY ROW NASHVILLE, TN 37203 · 615-251-3020 BOOK YOUR EVENT OR PARTY AT ANY OF OUR VENUES EMAIL SPECIALEVENTS@MERCYLOUNGE.COM FOR DETAILS MERCYLOUNGE

22

WEDNESDAY / 2.23

MERCYLOUNGE.COM

INFO@MERCYLOUNGE.COM

MUSIC

THU 3.03  ERIC NAM - SOLD OUT

FILM

W/ MOTHERLY JET & JULIA GOMEZ

THE HIGH WATT

book It Won’t Always Be Like This, due in September. Also on the docket is Leigh Anne Couch. The former managing editor of The Sewanee Review, Couch creates poetry that explores our connection to the natural world and the mysteries contained within.

Musical guests are New Orleans-based folk artist Sabine McCalla, North Dakotaborn local country artist Leo Rondeau and local songsmith Ruby Rae. While the event is free to attend, The Porch encourages a $10 donation, and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required for entry. Follow Mirror House on Instagram (@mirrorhousenashville) so you don’t miss future shows. 7 p.m. at Tempo, 2179 Nolensville Pike ERICA CICCARONE

[I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR]

MIRROR HOUSE FEAT. MALAKA GHARIB, LEE RONDEAU & MORE

Now heading into its third year, The Porch Writers’ Collective’s Mirror House is stronger than ever. The bimonthly events pair under-the-radar musicians with writers for enchanting evenings. This month will include two writers worth your time. Malaka Gharib is a local journalist, poet and cartoonist whose graphic memoir I Was Their American Dream turned heads. Keep your eye out for her second

[DREAM WEAVER]

STRAWBERRY MANSION

Longtime Memphis resident Kentucker Audley has been one of the most prolific faces of American independent film over the past decade — if you don’t recognize his face or voice from appearances in films by the likes of Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz and Alex Ross Perry, you just might recognize the infamous baseball caps of his absurdly droll “Movies” lifestyle brand. Audley’s latest directorial effort is a collaboration with filmmaker Alex Birney, their second after 2017’s Sylvio, a surreal and poignant portrait of a gorilla in a human world.

Strawberry Mansion is also in a much more fantastical register than the conversational and mumblecore-tinted nature of Audley’s earlier work, set in a world in which dreams are audited and displayed on VHS tapes. It’s a warmly bizarre trip down a rabbit hole of Technicolor visions, freakish imaginations and unexpected sentimentality — and it’s all accompanied by an appropriately trippy, noodling soundtrack from electronic musician Dan Deacon. Feb. 23-24 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. NADINE SMITH COMMUNITY

THU 2.17  TEDDY AT NIGHT

and drummer Jon Wurster not only helped Mould get his groove back, but kept it going. His four full-lengths since — 2014’s Beauty & Ruin, 2016’s Patch the Sky, 2019’s Sunshine Rock and 2020’s Blue Hearts — are uniformly catchy, crunchy and concise.

The fact that Sunday’s City Winery gig is a solo affair means showgoers can probably count on some old-school Hüsker and Sugar tunes in the set list, with relevant stories to boot. 7 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St.

[THE ART OF CONVERSATION]

CONVERSATIONS AT OZ

Much has been written about Nashville’s changing skyline and booming population. But if you’re really interested in getting to know some of the “community leaders and personalities” who call Music City home, you’ll want to check out OZ Arts’ annual fundraiser Conversations at OZ. Building on the success of last year’s virtual event, OZ Arts is once again taking the dialogue online, inviting participants to explore topics such as local business and government, arts and culture, and various social issues — all from the comfort of home. The evening opens with a welcome from OZ Arts before guests join their small groups and chosen conversation hosts. This year’s hosts include Mayor John Cooper; authors, activists and speakers Marcia and Michael Eric Dyson; Oscar-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri; Giving Kitchen co-founder Jen HidingerKendrick; Perfectly Cordial founder and owner Rhonda Cammon; actor, activist and author Tyler Merritt — and even the Scene’s own editor-in-chief D. Patrick Rodgers. You can choose from a range of benefit ticket pricing. And best of all, the proceeds go to support OZ Arts’ artistic and educational programming. 7 p.m. at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle AMY STUMPFL

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_2-17-22.indd 22

2/14/22 4:09 PM

Vincent font

The battle is back!

April 28, 2022 / 6-9:30pm First Horizon Park

IRONFORKNASHVILLE.COM Benefitting

#IronFork22

v i s i t m u s i c c i t y. c o m /d i n e n a s h v i l l e Chef Collaborations

Restaurant Week

Deals and Discounts nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

FOOD AND DRINK

BRANDON (LEFT) AND JAMES LITTLETON

FRY DAY

Following the success of Bag Lady’s Chip & Fry Co. food truck, the Littleton brothers prepare to set up shop on Buchanan Street

BY MARGARET LITTMAN

W

hen Bag Lady’s Chip & Fry Co. opens its first brick-and-mortar location on Buchanan Street this spring, the Littleton brothers hope you’ll show up for the fries. But as far as their empire is concerned, Buchanan Street is just the brothers’ first stop.

Like their entrepreneurial neighbors Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria — which started on Buchanan Street and now has locations across the city as well as in Atlanta, BAG LADY’S CHIP & FRY CO. Sacramento and OPENING THIS SPRING AT Memphis — the Lit1402 BUCHANAN ST. tleton brothers plan BAGLADYS.COM on being a national brand. They hope to have 10 locations in the next two years.

It’s been a fast ride for the Nashville natives, who opened their fry-centric food truck less than a year ago. They named it in honor of their late grandmother, who had a knack for making french fries that were crispy on the outside and textured on the inside. She kept bags of chopped potatoes stored in her freezer, so naming the food truck Bag Lady’s just made sense.

The Bag Lady’s menu includes pizza fries,

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hot chicken fries, Philly cheesesteak fries and gyro fries, plus add-ons of five different sauces, including Fye Fye (a spicy ranch).

Burgers, cauliflower wings and other eats serve as supporting dishes to the fries, not the other way around. Their motto? “We don’t want to be your side dish.”

Bag Lady’s will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, with 40 to 50 seats inside, a patio with seating for 20, and a fullservice bar. And yes, they’re keeping the food truck. Just as Roy Acuff advised musicians to play the song that got them to the Grand Ole Opry when they finally made it to the hallowed stage, the brothers aren’t going to forget what made them popular. “The food truck got us here,” brother Brandon Littleton says. “We would not abandon that.”

The brothers have owned other businesses together, including a dry cleaner.

Even as kids, they say, they sold candy and secondhand toys. During the pandemic, they brainstormed business ideas

that would thrive during social distancing.

Brandon worked in finance for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. James Littleton worked as a truck driver, Uber driver and entrepreneur. (Both brothers now work on Bag Lady’s full time.) A food truck leveraged their individual strengths.

They searched for a truck that would fit their business model, but trucks were in short supply and pricey. So they bought a $4,000 trailer frame, drove it to Georgia and spent $25,000 for a fully functional, customdesigned truck. That food truck spent most of 2021 on Gallatin Avenue, and originally the brothers were eyeing one of the spots in the forthcoming restaurant hub The Wash for their first location. But there was a wait-list, and the Littletons were ready to move forward. When they learned about the Buchanan Street space they realized it was a better fit.

“We’re not just trying to just be a french fry restaurant,” says James. “We want to be the change in that North Nashville neighbor-

THE BLOCK IS HOT

hood.” He attended nearby Fisk University, and as kids both brothers went to day care at Tennessee State University — they feel connected to the neighborhood. They hope to be another Black business that creates jobs (yes, they are hiring) with 401(k)s. Brandon’s analytical leanings led him to look at 401(k) participation in that ZIP code (lower than average) and unemployment (higher than average), and they want to change that. (For more on the importance of new Black entrepreneurship on Buchanan Street, visit nashvillescene.com to watch a Best of Nashville Day video from 2021 with the Littleton brothers and the team from Slim & Husky’s.)

Brandon concedes there’s always an additional layer when running a business with family members. “We battle because we’re brothers,” he says. “But if I am going to fight with someone, it is going to be my brother.”

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BEEF IN THE STREETS

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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FOOD AND DRINK TWO TEN JACK

A roundup of some swell local early-evening deals

BY KELSEY BEYELER

T

he bittersweet truth about happy hours is that they are not a fixed concept. Every restaurant has its own rules and versions of the happy hour — where one has great deals on limited-time specialty cocktails, another might simply have a window for discounted drinks or food options. I went in search of some of Nashville’s best happy hours featuring both food and drinks.

THE GOAT is a solid option for a casual post-work hang. Locations in Germantown (1220 Second Ave. N.) and downtown (211 Elm St.) both have happy hours on weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. — but their websites offer different happy hour menus, so keep that in mind. I tried the elderberry cocktail ($5) at the Germantown spot, made with St-Germain, vodka, strawberry preserves, lime and a mint sprig. The sweet, fruity drink didn’t taste very alcoholic, which means it was either made with a light pour or dangerously deceptive. When I went on a Monday, the food special was 10 wings and a local craft beer for $10, but other weekdays showcase other food specials at the Germantown location.

Whether you’re on the East Side (1012 Woodland St.) or West Side (4100 Charlotte Ave.), FIVE POINTS PIZZA has a deal that lasts from 2 to 6 p.m on weekdays. A cheese or pepperoni slice with a Pabst Blue Ribbon or Miller High Life will cost you $5, or you can upgrade to any slice with any draft beer for $8. It’s simple, effective and a damn good price for some of the best pizza in town.

In the Gulch, MOCKINGBIRD (121 12th Ave. N.) offers a lovely selection of drinks and small plates for its happy hour — but get there quickly, because it only lasts from opening time at 4 until 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. I got a $6 marg and another “dealer’s choice” drink for the same price.

That night the option was a mezcal old fashioned, which was fruity and smoky. The selection of small plates is awesome. I ordered the Rice, Rice Baby, which features four pimento cheese arancini (fried rice balls), as well as the Cabbage Patch Kids, a lovely cel-

ebration of Brussels sprouts and perfectly roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary and garlic. Each plate was $6, well-prepared and filling.

Last but not least is the happy hour at East Side favorite TWO TEN JACK (1900 Eastland Ave., Suite 105), from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The food menu has only two options, but neither disappoints — one is edamame ($3), and the other is tuna served on top of “crispy rice tots” with spicy mayonnaise and sweet soy sauce ($5). I’ve never had anything quite like it. It was a bit sweet, a bit spicy and a bit crunchy, and it’s hard to go wrong with that combination. To wash it down, I got the shōchū Yokaichi Mugi ($5) — a neutral Japanese spirit distilled from barley. It was served on the rocks but was quite nice on its own. If you end up hanging out past happy hour, there are plenty of other drink options to choose from at Two Ten Jack, along with an excellent menu of yakitori, ramen, noodles and more.

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MEZCAL OLD FASHIONED AT MOCKINGBIRD

PHOTOS: DANIEL MEIGS

HAPPIEST HOURS

FIVE POINTS PIZZA

nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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A

n accomplished poet and essayist, Jenny Qi brings a complex perspective to her writing. She’s the child of immigrant parents from China, both highly educated, who struggled to make their way in FOCAL POINT

BY JENNY QI the United States. Qi STEEL TOE BOOKS entered Vanderbilt 98 PAGES, $16 University when she was just 16, and while she thrived there academically, she also had to deal with her mother’s terminal illness, somehow juggling school with trips home to Las Vegas to help provide care — an experience she wrote about for The Atlantic.

Though Qi was active as a writer during her undergraduate years, studying with Mark Jarman and serving as poetry editor for The Vanderbilt Review, her chief focus was on science. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in biomedical science from the University of California, San Francisco, and during graduate school she began to write intensely, pouring her grief and memories into poetry. Those poems, along with more recent work exploring an array of concerns, are gathered in her award-winning debut collection, Focal Point.

Qi answered questions via email.

The poems about your parents, and especially about your mother’s death, are deeply personal and revealing. Do you worry about telling more of your parents’ story than they might want? Jeffrey Kingman wrote a really kind early review of Focal Point in Compulsive Reader, in which he made a point of distinguishing between the speaker and the author, and I really appreciated that and now try to remind people to keep that in mind. Poetry isn’t exactly nonfiction, after all, and while there are often autobiographical elements, not everything is always 100 percent true.

But to answer your question, yes, I do worry about it, particularly because Chinese culture is one that shies away from ever talking about anything negative or personal.

But that’s exactly why I wrote, and I wrote a lot of these poems not with the initial intention of publishing them but rather for myself. I wrote for the younger me who felt so deeply alone in some difficult experiences, and I have to believe that has some kind of value. The other thing I remind myself is that in spite of this aspect of the culture, my mom also wrote deeply personal work, so I hope she would have understood.

In poems like “The plural of us” and “Two Cures,” you use wordplay as a way into much deeper themes. Is language often the spark for a poem for you? Yes, I suppose it is, more than anything else. I love thinking about language, about the various definitions of words across disciplines, the translations of words, homophones and cognates across languages, how adding or removing a single letter can transform a word completely. Often, a

poem comes out of ruminating on a word or phrase, and sometimes if I’m obsessing over a word, I look it up in the dictionary, and I start a poem exploring the various official definitions of that word.

Poems such as “Commonalities,” inspired by the Pulse nightclub shooting, or “About Face,” which deals with anti-Asian racism, are more overtly topical than some of your other work. What pulls you toward those issues? Do you feel a responsibility to take them on? When I first started writing poems as a child, it was often in response to events and injustices in the world, and writing a poem or a story was a way to process my emotions around those events. One of my earliest poems, from when I was 12 or so, came from reading an article in National Geographic about sex trafficking and human slavery around the world. I was always kind of obsessed with understanding how we can treat other humans, or any other living things, so terribly and be so shortsighted and how we might evolve beyond that, and I believed that stories could help people recognize our shared humanity.

Does your training as a scientist shape your work at all? If you’d asked me this a few years ago, I would have probably said no. But now I realize of course it does. It’s evident in the metaphors and vocabulary I use, the subjects of some of my poems, maybe even the systematic way in which I tend to analyze things. I think a lot about systems, how we as individuals are all part of a system, what roles we play in that system, how much we can or cannot control in that system, how we are all ourselves systems of cells. My scientific background probably has helped me zoom out and recognize connections and patterns, see the forest rather than the trees, if you will, though maybe that has also come with age and being less harshly governed by strong emotions.

To read an extended version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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THEATER

GET IN LOSER — WE’RE GOING TO GHANA Director Alicia Haymer comes into her own with the Rep’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play

BY ERICA CICCARONE

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enned by Ghanaian American Jocelyn Bioh, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play is a celebration of girlhood.

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production shows that director Alicia Haymer SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE — whose previous AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY directing credits CONTINUES FEB. 17-20 AT TPAC’S ANDREW JOHNSON include work with THEATER. TICKETS AT Actors Bridge Studio, NASHVILLEREP.ORG. Nashville Story Garden, Street Theatre Company and Kindling Arts Festival — has come into her own.

Set in 1986 in the exclusive Abduri Boarding School in central Ghana, School Girls has a premise that is indeed similar to that of Tina Fey’s popular Mean Girls film (as well as the Broadway adaptation that just closed upstairs in TPAC’s Jackson Hall). Like Mean Girls, School Girls centers around a clique of teen girls led by a beautiful but ruthless leader. And as in Mean Girls, this clique is upended by the arrival of a new girl. But the similarities pretty much stop there — School Girls has the depth and conscience that Mean Girls has always lacked.

Headmistress Francis (the indomitable Cynthia Harris) has been preparing the girls for a beauty pageant for weeks. The winner will be crowned Miss Ghana and eligible to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

Tamiko Robinson Steele plays pageant recruiter (and Miss Ghana 1966) Eloise, whose fluorescent-pink pantsuit stands out from the earth-toned set. Eloise is in it to win — not for the girls or Abduri or even Ghana, but for her own financial gain. Golden girl Paulina (Joy Pointe) is predestined to win.

But along comes the new girl Ericka (played by the wonderful Tosha Marie), straight from exotic Ohio, USA. She is lightskinned with bouncy, defined curls and a wardrobe that the others could not even dream of owning. And a big, fat wrench is thrown into Paulina’s plans. Haymer’s casting is spot-on. By pairing local theater veterans Harris, Steele and Marie alongside emerging talent, she cultivates a set where you can tell the actors are looking out for one another.

Pointe is pitch perfect as the confident leader who presides over her girl group, keeping them in check through put-downs and intimidation. Her behavior toward shy Nana (Kortney Ballenger) is especially degrading — she shames Nana for her weight and threatens to expose her for eating snacks on the sly. What Paulina lacks in decency, Nana makes up for in spades. They are accompanied by Ama (Valicia Browne), who is tired of Paulina’s dictatorship, and lovable goofballs Gifty (Ashley D. Brooks) and Mercy (Carli Hardon), whose comical naivete breaks up emotionally weighty scenes. All actors flawlessly deliver.

It has become common for a company to cast all Black actors, and our region has no shortage of talented performers. Haymer set out to direct the production with not only a cast, but a crew composed entirely of people of color. Everyone from the costume and lighting directors (Skyler Glaser and Rachael N. Blackwell) to the stage manager (Nikita Staggs) and wig stylist (Denise René Evans) are people of color. By doing so, Haymer is raising the bar for what can be accomplished in Nashville, and the results of their labor are professional, finished and contemporary.

Haymer is the second Black woman to direct a play in the Rep’s history — and the first to marshal a crew entirely made up of people of color. In her director’s note, Haymer writes that “the pressure to be perfect is a weight that many Black artists carry,” especially when they are among the first to be given an opportunity. “Once we step into those positions,” writes Haymer, “we are scrutinized harshly to be the absolute best at the thing we are attempting to accomplish.

The fastest, the smartest — often with no room for error lest another Black person never get this opportunity again.”

The characters face the same kind of test.

In any culture, when teen girls pin their hopes on superficial accolades, they are bound to meet disappointment. But in School Girls, there is so much more on the line. To be crowned Miss Ghana would validate them among their peers. But to be crowned Miss Universe would legitimize the potential of their entire nation in the eyes of the world.

That’s a huge burden for any secondaryschool student to carry. Paulina and her crew are proud African girls who are nonetheless seduced by everything American. As they face the hurdle of their internalized colorism, they must reassess the nature of beauty — and the value in themselves and each other.

It’s a very special play. And Haymer’s is a very special production. Her confident hand translates beautifully via her cast and crew, and everyone shows up with authenticity and care.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

ART

TRADING SPACES

A new gallery and new members bring familiar faces to Coop’s latest exhibition

BY JOE NOLAN

C

oop’s annual new-members exhibitions have become a rite of Nashville’s winter art season, and this year’s display — in the gallery’s brand-new digs in The Packing Plant — feels extra extra.

Coop just moved from The Packing Plant’s small northwest gallery to the larger central gallery space that was formerly home to Channel to Channel. The Coop folks are only about 15 feet down a hallway from their old space — which is now occupied by Modfellows — but the extra space makes a big difference that’s especially evidenced LOCATIONAL SHIFT: in this inaugural COOP’S NEW MEMBERS THROUGH FEB. 28 AT COOP display, which feaGALLERY, 507 HAGAN ST. tures a pair of large installation works. The footprint of Coop’s new digs restores the gallery’s display space to something more like they enjoyed during their run in the downtown Arcade. It was a very savvy move for Coop to jump to Wedgewood-Houston once the focus of the local art zeitgeist shifted from downtown to Wedgewood-Houston — but the move meant a significant downsizing for the collective.

Coop’s new space keeps them in the center of Nashville’s best contemporary art scene, but will also open up their programming for all sorts of projects that simply require more wall and floor space.

The aptly named Locational Shift exhibition is focused on the latest creations by Coop’s newest members, but the show features lots of familiar faces. Lisa Bachman Jones is a new name on Coop’s membership roster, but she’s a local art scene veteran whose work was regularly featured in the programming at the recently closed Rymer Gallery. The most fascinating part of Jones’ work isn’t in the details revealed in individual pieces — it’s the artist’s overall approach, which finds Jones deploying a magpie multimedia practice that utilizes painting, sculpture, video and more to investigate liminal spaces. The artist’s inquiries examine boundaries like those between natural and artificial materials and structures, and she’s particularly attentive to the effects of entropy on everything from man-made structures to the collective consciousness of a culture. Jones’ display at Coop reads like its own mini exhibition against the gallery’s back wall, and she includes a photograph (“Threshold”), wall sculpture (“Folded Floor”), a standing sculpture (“Supported Form”) and work on paper (“Cut Ties”). The photo gives us an artificial, reproduced image of a natural subject, and “Folded Floor” is an artist’s canvas made to resemble a section of garage floor. All the works evoke multiple themes, and Jones’ conversation-circle arrangement of these pieces brings out more complexity from the sum of its parts.

Beth Reitmeyer’s colorful, whimsical, immersive installations are Nashville art staples, and her “Share the Love” display embodies the positive, optimistic themes that are the artist’s signature. “Share the Love” is literally a pink tent-like form decorated with glittering hearts, floating above the gallery floor, suspended from the ceiling. After nearly two years of pandemic anxiety and various levels of social distancing, the piece’s cozy confines read like a valentine to the healthier, more intimate tomorrows we’re hoping for sooner than later.

Yanira Vissepo’s prints and textile works are also familiar to gallerygoers who recall her artist residency at Coop back in 2020 — when the gallery briefly hosted working artists instead of exhibitions during the darkest days of the first year of the pandemic. Vissepo studied traditional woodblock printing techniques

in Japan, and her works are predictably poetic and elegant. In Locational Shift, Vissepo offers a trio of oil-relief-on-paper prints titled “Monochrome Experiments.”

The series includes one work each in tones of yellow, blue and red. They feature geometric shapes and natural forms in quiet compositions that draw attention to the varieties of shades and tones on display. Like the best chromatic minimalism, Vissepo’s works help viewers uncover new insights from even the most common colors.

Quintin Watkins is an artist and graphic designer who is most at home working out his creative ideas on a keyboard at a screen. For Locational Shift, Watkins brings his digital creations to Coop’s gallery walls with a three-piece series of works that blur the line between traditional and digital art. Watkins is preoccupied with the altered realities

and artificial worlds we find in video games or at the VR NFT art galleries popping up in a metaverse near you. This “Don’t Be Afraid” series speaks to how personal perspectives result in personal narratives, but it’s also about the creative courage it takes to question fundamental art cornerstones like color theory. All of these works include symbols of access and escape — doors (“Doorway”), windows (“Opportunity”) and staircases (“Spiral”). They also combine natural imagery like clouds against abstract digital designs, creating a very surreal sensibility of overlapping worlds or dreams within dreams. These works are tantalizingly raw and simple, and much more punk than most fine-art offerings from pro designers. These works also play well with Vissepo’s prints, nicely rounding out a strong show that bodes well for Coop at the beginning of this new chapter.

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nashvillescene.com | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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MUSIC

MASTER OF RHYTHM AND BLUES

Screamin’, Shoutin’, Beggin’, Pleadin’ brings Charlie McCoy’s early rock and soul recordings to light

BY DARYL SANDERS

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE MAC GAYDEN COLLECTION

efore he was a Nashville music legend, before he was a Grammy-winning and hitmaking country instrumental recording artist, before he was a first-call session musician who backed an SCREAMIN’, SHOUTIN’, BEGGIN’, PLEADIN’ array of rock, pop, OUT NOW VIA BEAR country and R&B FAMILY RECORDS stars, harmonica virtuoso and multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy was a young rock singer backed by Nashville’s hottest rock band, the Escorts.

During the 1960s, Charlie McCoy & the Escorts released eight 7-inch singles of blues- and soul-influenced rock ’n’ roll — one for Cadence Records and seven for Monument. But that part of McCoy’s career has been mostly obscured, because all but two of those cuts have long been out of print and never available on CD — until now.

Earlier this month, highly regarded archival label Bear Family Records released Screamin’, Shoutin’, Beggin’, Pleadin’ — The Rock ‘n’ Soul Recordings from 196169, a 29-track retrospective of McCoy’s recordings with the Escorts.

In addition to all the aforementioned singles, the collection includes McCoy’s first rock release for Cadence — “Cherry Berry Wine” backed with the blues shuffle “My Little Woman” — which was recorded before the Escorts were formed, with accompaniment from a number of Nashville’s top session musicians.

Screamin’, Shoutin’, Beggin’, Pleadin’ also includes nine tracks that originally

appeared on McCoy’s first album for Monument, 1968’s The World of Charlie McCoy, which featured backing from his bandmates and others. Two instrumental tracks round out the set, credited to The Gas Lantern featuring Charlie McCoy — which McCoy says was “basically the Escorts.”

The sides were released by the Rising Sons label as a one-off single in 1969, and the B-side (“Mach I”) was one of the first tracks recorded in Nashville to feature a Moog synthesizer.

As did most bands in the ’60s, McCoy and the Escorts included a number of covers in their live performances and on their recordings, and covers make up more than half the collection. The band’s 1962 cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” for Cadence foreshadowed blues covers by British bands like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds that would be released a few years later.

What is probably most revealing about the retrospective is that in addition to being a world-class musician, McCoy also is a strong, soulful vocalist. “Charlie is a master of rhythm and blues,” Escorts guitarist Wayne Moss tells the Scene.

The collection also showcases guitarist Mac Gayden’s emergence as a songwriter of note. (He’s best known for co-writing the evergreen hit “Everlasting Love” with Buzz Cason.) Of the 11 original songs included, Gayden was the writer or co-writer on seven of them, including the titular tune, which opens the album. The idea for a collection of McCoy’s rock and soul recordings came from Russ Wapensky, one of the reissue

FROM LEFT: WAYNE BUTLER, JERRY TUTTLE, KENNETH BUTTREY, MAC GAYDEN AND CHARLIE McCOY

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producers on the project. He first met McCoy while working on a Fats Domino box set for Bear Family.

“I knew Charlie was on Monument, so I went to Bear Family and said, ‘I don’t think anyone has touched this stuff from that time and this would be a great subject,’ ” Wapensky recalls. “They worked up a budget for it and said, ‘Go ahead and do it.’ So I contacted Charlie, and he was kind of surprised. He said that was the one part of his career that no one really looks at. Hopefully that will change with this CD.” “It’s amazing,” says McCoy of the Bear Family collection. “This is the music I did for eight years while [Monument owner] Fred Foster patiently waited for me to do

something commercial. I love this stuff because the Escorts were a great band. To have this preserved is really cool.”

To say the Escorts were great is somewhat of an understatement — the group’s level of musicianship was unmatched and remained so through a few lineup changes. In addition to McCoy, it featured a number of other players whose names are etched in the history of popular music, including guitarists Moss and Gayden, drummer Kenneth Buttrey, saxophonist Quitman Dennis and keyboardist Bill Akins. While McCoy and the Escorts didn’t score hits of their own, they provided accompaniment individually and collectively to scores of hit recordings by other artists.

Bob Dylan had a copy of the Escorts’ 1965 single “Harpoon Man,” an original backed with a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready.”

It played a significant role in his decision to record Blonde on Blonde in Nashville. On that single, Dylan could hear that McCoy and his band were better than the musicians he was working with in New York. He could also hear they were making the kind of music he wanted to make. As Moss explains, “Blonde on Blonde was basically Bob Dylan backed by Charlie McCoy and the Escorts.”

After the success of Blonde on Blonde, a lot of recording artists followed Dylan to Nashville to record with McCoy and his band. As their session work increased, the Escorts were able to play in person less and less often, and by the end of 1968, the group’s run as Nashville’s hottest live band had come to an end.

The material on Screamin’ puts a spotlight on an important piece of Music City history that’s been overlooked far too long. While these recordings may not be the best-known work by the members of the Escorts, they helped lay the foundation for Nashville’s rise as a multifaceted recording mecca.

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NASHVILLE SCENE | FEBRUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 23, 2022 | nashvillescene.com

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2/14/22 5:00 PM

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

MUSIC

THE SPIN RAINBOW IN THE DARK

BY LORIE LIEBIG

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n October 2019, Kacey Musgraves headlined Bridgestone Arena for the first time as she wrapped up a long run of tour dates behind her critically acclaimed, platinum-selling, Grammy- and CMA award-winning 2018 album Golden Hour. When she returned to the ’Stone on Friday for a stop on her Star-Crossed: Unveiled tour, the trippy Technicolor spectacle that previously served as the backdrop for her performance was gone.

In place of the sparkles and rainbows was a comparatively subdued set design that mimicked the stage of an old theater, with a massive red curtain draped between white columns. It’s fitting decor to present 2021’s Star-Crossed, an album that Musgraves has described as a modern version of a Greek tragedy. It’s based on her marriage to fellow singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly, a story of new love that was at the heart of Golden Hour but ended in divorce — it’s been called “amicable,” though that’s not to say it was enjoyable — in 2020.

TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER: KACEY MUSGRAVES So how do you bring an audience into your “golden hour faded black” without falling too deep into the abyss? Following opening sets from MUNA and King Princess, Musgraves and her band took the stage, and the weight of the material at hand was clearly on her mind.

“We’re gonna have fun, even though this album is so fucking depressing it should’ve come with a trigger warning,” Musgraves told the crowd. “I appreciate you going there with me and celebrating the sadness together.”

From time to time, the shift toward a somber tone affected the energy level in the room. Vocally, though, Musgraves never faltered. There were beautiful renditions of songs from Golden Hour, especially those with an overt sadness like “Lonely Weekend” and “Space Cowboy.”

Another of that album’s standouts, “Butterflies,” didn’t feel out of place in the set, even though it’s an ode to the excitement of a relationship that’s beginning to blossom.

Now, it comes across bittersweet, in context with devastating Star-Crossed songs like “Camera Roll.”

Star-Crossed is ultimately about confronting heartbreak and becoming stronger by processing it. But Musgraves made sure to keep the balance with danceable bangers and a playful attitude, to the delight of a

packed house of fans ready to cut loose in rhinestones, neon faux fur and cowboy hats.

She pulled out a money gun and poured fake bills over screaming concertgoers during the caustic “Breadwinner,” and showed off some disco-schooled dance moves for her infectious kiss-off “High Horse.” When a production snafu caused confetti to stream onto her heart-shaped stage rather than on the crowd in front of her, Musgraves grabbed a leaf blower and got to work.

“This really isn’t in my job description,” she said as she wafted the clouds of pink and red confetti back into the audience. “But it’s kind of fun!”

During a midset segment appropriately called “Kaceyoke,” Musgraves picked a fan from the crowd to choose one of four possible cover songs for her and the band to perform. This time around, Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” won out, serving up a lighthearted reminder of Musgraves’ deep country roots.

The show focused heavily on her two most recent albums. The set list skipped right over her second album Pageant Material and included just one song from her lauded debut Same Trailer Different Park, the melancholy story song “Merry Go ’Round.”

It’s been only five months since Musgraves released Star-Crossed, but in some ways it already seems like a closed chapter for her. When she gave shout-outs to some

special guests in attendance — including her therapist, her pottery teacher and her current boyfriend — it felt like she’s found the light at the end of the tunnel that she sings about in the Star-Crossed song “There Is a Light.”

When she finished her rendition of “Gracias a la Vida,” the cover that closes the new album, Musgraves walked back to the red curtains from which she’d emerged and crossed her arms over her chest. Closing her eyes, she fell backwards, making a dramatic disappearance into the darkness below. After a few moments of roaring encouragement from fans, Musgraves appeared from behind the curtain and returned to center stage to sing “Slow Burn,” the dreamy opener from Golden Hour. With the past few years for context, the lines “I know a few things / But I’ve still got a lot to learn” landed heavier than they used to.

“Rainbow,” a Golden Hour anthem for holding on through the darkest of days, was the statement Musgraves chose to end with.

As multicolored lasers skimmed across the audience’s tear-filled eyes, it felt like we were on the same wavelength with her. It’s tough to keep believing that things really will get better — but knowing that you’re not alone in that feeling makes it just a little bit easier.

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FILM

THE WORST IS YET TO COME

Oscar nominee The Worst Person in the World is a profoundly gentle character study

BY SADAF AHSAN

W

hen I turned 30, I fell in love for the first time, and with it came instant panic. Is this all there is to it? Is this how simply it happens? Am I “done” now? Is everything THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD laid out from here?

R, 127 MINUTES; IN Having grown up NORWEGIAN WITH with parents who ENGLISH SUBTITLES OPENING FRIDAY, FEB. 18, hit all the “right” AT THE BELCOURT milestones at all the “right” times but still could not avoid emotional complications, I have always fought against a life of predictability. So too, it seems, has The Worst Person in the World’s Julie, played with wit by the infinitely endearing Renate Reinsve. Soon after she turns 30 and falls suddenly in love, she is gripped with fear.

Like so many millennials, Julie is struck by how a relationship — with writer and illustrator Aksel, played by a devastating Anders Danielsen Lie, who was also impressive in last year’s Bergman Island — seems to prescribe a particular future. A future with children, a home, domestic squabbles, even more intimacy. He’s not perfect, but he’s older, he’s wise, he’s kind, and he adores her. They communicate easily, and they can’t keep their hands off each other — every bit of their coupling is simple. The love between them is itself unquestionable, but

SOMETHING SACRED

Lingui blossoms with hope and inspiration

BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY

T

wenty-eight years ago, Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun directed his second short film “Maral Tanié.” It’s about a 17-yearold girl who refuses her family’s decision to be married off to a guy LINGUI, THE SACRED BONDS in his 50s. It was the NR, 87 MINUTES; IN FRENCH first of many pieces of WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES FEB. 20-22 AT THE BELCOURT cinema Haroun has done about Chadian people — both male and female — who rebel against or escape from their homeland’s systemic cultural oppression.

That’s something to keep in mind while watching Haroun’s latest film, Lingui, the Sacred Bonds, the Chadian entry for this year’s Best International Feature Film Oscar category. Some might find it a bit surprising that this uplifting story of African female solidarity was written and directed by a man. But don’t forget that Africa is a continent that gave us

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the circumstances invite new questions: Is this really the life Julie wants?

That is the key query director and cowriter Joachim Trier’s profoundly gentle character study explores. Split into 12 little chapters, Worst Person — which is nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay Oscars — tracks Julie’s love life from her 20s, when she hops between beds and careers, to her 30s, when she meets and eventually leaves Aksel for Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), a charming man she bumps into when she crashes a wedding.

It’s moments like these that spin the film into a refreshing take on the classic romantic comedy. Because Julie and Eivind are spoken for but cannot resist their instant mutual attraction, they hover on the edge of infidelity, testing the boundary by smelling each other, by urinating side by side, by shotgunning a joint. The supreme sexual tension builds masterfully. They are bound

to succumb to their attraction, though it’s unclear if it ever elevates to something more.

Later, Julie flips a switch, the world freezes, and she and Eivind spend the day together, filling her with an incandescent joy. Watching a wide-eyed Reinsve sprint through an on-pause city with a massive grin inspired by new love feels so remarkably authentic and relatable that you almost want to turn away.

That is the easy beauty of The Worst Person in the World. There is no denying that Julie is messy and chaotic, but she’s in the figuring-yourself-out stage. She doesn’t know who she wants to spend the rest of her life with, if anyone at all. She doesn’t know if she wants a better relationship with her father, or if she wants to be a doctor or a photographer or a writer. But the film passes zero judgment, and by extension neither does the viewer. Life is a series of choices, and the best we can do is make the right

ones for us at the time.

Naturally then, as life goes, the film gradually descends from energetic rom-com to something much more serious as tragedy strikes, leaving Julie to question the steps she’s taken. Did she make the right calls?

There are regrets and there is guilt, but those feelings don’t vanquish the thrills and highs in between, however momentary they may be. It all makes for a vulnerable portrait, one that fits well into director Joachim Trier’s so-called Oslo Trilogy, a loose collection of mood pieces that also includes 2006’s Reprise and 2011’s Oslo, August 31st.

The ultimate takeaway, it seems, is that it’s OK to say no and to choose a different path, whether or not it leads anywhere at all.

Particular people and places are not necessarily meant to be a part of our lives forever, though we may take pieces of them with us.

The journey — and all the meet-cutes along the way — is the point.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

sympathetic filmmakers like Ousmane Sembène and Haile Gerima, men who weren’t afraid to show how much sistas are struggling out there, whether in Africa or elsewhere.

The sistas who are struggling in Lingui are Amina (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane) and her 15-yearold daughter Maria (Rihane Khalil Alio). Living on the outskirts of N’Djamena, Amina tries to make a living stripping the metal wire out of tires and making and selling kanoun stoves, which she often carries on her head. Amina hustles even more when she learns that her daughter is pregnant and wants an abortion — which is considered an abominable thing among her people. Unlike Amina, it won’t take long for viewers to realize that her daughter is a victim of rape. After Maria attempts suicide, Amina tries to rustle up enough money (a million Central African francs) to pay for an on-the-low abortion. At one cringey, clumsy point, she even tries to sell her body to a guy whose marriage proposal she turned down.

As sad and bleak as this story starts off, Lingui (which is Chadian for “bond” or “connection”) is a film that, as it goes along, blossoms with hope and inspiration. As Maria demands control of her body, this inspires Amina — long seen as a pariah in her community for being a single mom — to break out of her own cultural shackles. Her journey has her meeting other sistas in the struggle, women who perform secret abortions. She even reconnects with her es-

tranged sister, who comes to her with a serious issue involving Amina’s niece.

This may sound strange, but Lingui almost feels like a heist film. Haroun has a bunch of female Chadian characters working together on the DL to keep men away from their bodies — and it’s glorious watching them succeed. A quick scene with Amina and her sister giggling in a car, after pulling a fast one on her sister’s husband, might make you wanna giggle as well.

While Haroun isn’t out to condemn all Chadian men, he does efficiently show how the patriarchy

threatens the women in his country. The most telling scene is when a group of young gents carry Maria out of the water after her attempted suicide. When she comes to, all she sees from her perspective are sweaty, panting men.

Like many contemporary African filmmakers, Haroun tells Lingui in a naturalistic, neorealistic fashion. And yet, even though it’s set in one of the poorest countries on the planet, Lingui, the Sacred Bonds is ultimately optimistic, basically championing the strength women can achieve together.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

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JERRY WAYNE CROSSLIN vs.

LEE ANN SMITH In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon LEE ANN SMITH. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

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Non-Resident Notice Third Circuit Docket No. 21D35 GARY DEWAYNE HARRIS vs.

DEBRA ANN HARRIS In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, therefore the ordinary process of law cannot be served upon DEBRA ANN HARRIS. It is ordered that said Defendant enter HER appearance herein with thirty (30) days after February 17, 2022 same being the date of the last publication of this notice to be held at the Metropolitan Circuit Court located at 1 Public Square, Room 302, Nashville, Tennessee, and defend or default will be taken on March 21, 2022. It is therefore ordered that a copy of this Order be published for four (4) weeks succession in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Nashville.

Richard R. Rooker, Clerk L. Chappell, Deputy Clerk Date: January 20, 2022 Mark Sharber Attorneys for Plaintiff

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