Nashville Scene 4-6-23

CITY LIMITS: THE EVENTS, FALLOUT AND VICTIMS OF THE COVENANT SCHOOL SHOOTING

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CITY LIMITS: THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE NOT ENOUGH

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FOOD & DRINK FOOD & DRINK

CULTURE: SURVEYING

NASHVILLE’S DUNGEONS & DRAGONS SCENE

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Interviewing Nashville’s top chefs, surveying the local beer scene and sharing some of our favorite bites

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CITY LIMITS

‘We Are Heartbroken’

The events, the fallout and the victims of March 27’s deadly Covenant School shooting

BY KELSEY BEYELER, LOGAN BUTTS, STEPHEN ELLIOTT, HANNAH HERNER, MATT MASTERS AND D. PATRICK RODGERS

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Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Enough ..... 12 How many dead people will finally outweigh our love of guns?

BY BETSY PHILLIPS

CULTURE

Monsters, Magic and Music City

Nashvillians aren’t just playing Dungeons & Dragons — they’re creating shows and streams to celebrate the game

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

MUSIC

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB: Canceled Show Delays Exit/In Return

Judge Temporarily Blocks ‘Overly Broad’ Tennessee Drag Bill

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Talking to Kids in the Wake of Yet Another School Shooting

Says Alive Nashville’s Alissa Drescher, if kids are old enough to ask a difficult question, they deserve an age-appropriate answer

BY KELSEY BEYELER

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COVER STORY

Food & Drink 2023

The Chefs’ Guide to Dining in Nashville

Now .......................................................... 15

We asked 10 Nashville chefs about everything from favorite haunts to food trends that must die. Here are their answers.

BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY

Our Favorite Bites

From pizza, crispy rice and fajitas to po’boys and old-school meatloaf, here are 16 of our favorite current local eats

BY SCENE STAFF

New Brew Review

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Stronger Where It’s Broken

On The Weakness, Ruston Kelly returns to his songwriting roots

BY

Gov. Lee’s Transportation Modernization Act Passes

State Senate Moves Forward

With Bills Aimed at Nashville Governance

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From Smith & Lentz and Southern Grist to New Heights, TailGate and beyond, Nashville’s craft beer scene continues to boom

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

CRITICS’ PICKS

The HIRS Collective, Joan Baez, High Vis, Rakim, David Sedaris and more 52

THEATER

Collaborative Acts

Fisk and Vanderbilt theater students team up to present Lynn Nottage’s Sweat BY AMY

Photo by Eric England

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‘WE ARE HEARTBROKEN’

The events, the fallout and the victims of March 27’s deadly Covenant School shooting

BY KELSEY

THE EVENT

Seven people were killed on Monday, March 27, in a shooting at the Covenant School, a private Christian school serving preschool through sixth-grade students in Green Hills through Covenant Presbyterian Church.

As the long, dreadful and chaotic hours ticked by in the wake of that Monday morning event, more details began to come into focus.

Police identified the shooter as 28-yearold Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former student of the school who was shot and killed at 10:25 a.m. — roughly 15 minutes after entering the building. MNPD identified Hale as a “white female” before clarifying that Hale identified as a transgender male. The six victims who were killed in those 15 minutes included three children and three school staff members — Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney (all age 9), substitute teacher Cynthia Peak (age 61), custodian Mike Hill (age 61) and head of the Covenant School Katherine Koonce (age 60).

Not long after the attack, MNPD released security camera footage from the school, as well as body-cam footage worn by Officers Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo. Footage shows Hale driving up to the campus in a gray Honda Fit before shooting out the building’s glass doors and entering with three guns. Five officers initially responded to the scene following a 10:13 a.m. 911 call and were met with gunfire from a secondfloor window. Police entered the building and engaged Hale in a gunfight, with two of the officers — four-year MNPD veteran Engelbert and nine-year MNPD veteran Collazo — fatally shooting Hale.

The Scene reviewed all of the footage released by police. Robert Carlson, a Memphis firearms instructor and expert, told The Washington Post that MNPD’s actions were the “exact opposite” of how police handled last year’s shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. “It’s nice to finally see a proper, fast, efficient response,” fellow firearms expert Marko Galbreath told the Post.

“I was hoping this day would never, ever come in this city, but we would never wait to go in and make entry and to stop a threat, especially when it deals with our children,” MNPD Chief John Drake said during a news conference not long after the attack.

Police said Hale, who had no criminal record, left behind a written “manifesto,” which Drake said “indicates that there was going to be shootings at multiple locations; the school was one of them.” The materials, Drake told CBS News, included drawings of what Hale would wear and what types of guns would be used in the shooting.

Police also recovered “maps drawn of the school in detail — surveillance, entry

points, etc.,” as well as a “sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun and other evidence” from a Brightwood Avenue home where Hale lived with his father — just three miles from the scene of the “calculated and planned” attack.

“We strongly believe there was going to be some other targets including maybe family members and one of the malls here in Nashville,” Drake told CBS News.

Police interviewed Hale’s parents and said Hale legally purchased seven guns from five different area gun stores, three of which — two assault-style semi-automatic rifles and a 9 mm handgun — were used in the shooting.

“I am overwhelmed at the thought of the loss of these families, of the future lost by these children and their families,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a news conference the day of the shooting. “The leading cause of death of kids is guns and gunfire, and that is unacceptable.”

The following day, Gov. Bill Lee released a video statement in which he said that one of the victims, Peak, was a close family friend. President Joe Biden renewed his call for an assault weapons ban following the killings.

THE FALLOUT

Thousands of Nashvillians gathered downtown in the days following the Covenant School shooting to honor the victims and demand action from lawmakers. A vigil at Public Square Park on March 29 featured speakers and performers including Sheryl Crow and Margo Price. Mayor Cooper, Chief

Drake and first lady Jill Biden were among the city, state and federal representatives at the event. Gov. Bill Lee did not attend.

While that vigil was a space for the community to grieve and mourn together, a rally the following morning was a demonstration of righteous anger and calls for action. Seniors, school-age children and even moms holding babies crowded Legislative Plaza shortly after 8 a.m. on Thursday. They held signs, chanted, sang and yelled as Republican state lawmakers entered the House and Senate chambers within the Tennessee Capitol. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, joined the protests and urged people on.

“I think people are way past tired,” said Rep. Torrey Harris (D-Memphis) in the lobby of the Capitol. “You won’t see one Republican stand with these people, with these families today, who are hurting. And it’s heartbreaking, because there’s so much that we could do right now.”

Outside, speakers discussed gun violence, criticized the lawmakers who are unwilling to restrict gun access and urged people to vote in upcoming elections. They also re-

peated the names of the victims of the Covenant School shooting.

“I’ve worked in trauma centers and treated countless victims of gunshot wounds,” said Dr. Katrina Greene, an emergency physician. “Some who were young children and teens. … One thing my training did not prepare me for was the soul-crushing, heartbreaking sound of the wails of mothers when you tell them that their child has died.”

One speaker, Shaundelle Brooks, lost one of her sons in the 2018 Waffle House shooting. “I’m grieving with Nashville and everyone impacted by yet another senseless act of gun violence in our schools,” said Brooks. “Another tragic example of how urgent this public health crisis is in our country. How many more of our children have to die in our schools before lawmakers act? We deserve to learn and live without fear. We deserve to go out to eat without fear.”

Inside the Capitol, throngs of protesters filled hallways and balconies above the House and Senate floors. After being warned about disrupting legislative business by Republican leaders, protesters were removed from the chambers.

Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) also sought to interrupt floor proceedings and call for gun control. Their chants and use of a bullhorn were later seemingly admonished by fellow Democrats, including Minority Leader Karen Camper, according to video posted by Main Street Nashville reporter Vivian Jones.

Though Republican leadership in Tennessee has typically been loath to consider restrictions on gun ownership in recent years, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, the Republican leader of the Senate, said Thursday that he is open to a red-flag law and opposed expanding open carry to long guns. Per NewsChannel 5’s Chris Davis, McNally added that he is not sure whether other Republican leaders will agree with him.

Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) said the Senate Judiciary Committee that he chairs will not consider any gun-related legislation for the rest of the year. Earlier, Republican leaders opted to push consideration of gun bills to the following week.

“This committee is not gonna be turned

BEYELER, LOGAN BUTTS, STEPHEN ELLIOTT, HANNAH HERNER, MATT MASTERS AND D. PATRICK RODGERS

MEMORIAL FOR VICTIMS AT THE COVENANT SCHOOL

RALLY FOR GUN REFORM, MARCH 30

PHOTOS: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

CITY LIMITS

into a circus by people with other agendas,” he said, according to the Tennessee Lookout.

According to a recent Vanderbilt University Medical Center poll, a significant majority of Tennessee parents believe that schools would be safer if background checks were required for all gun sales and if the state had a red-flag law allowing families or law enforcement to restrict someone’s access to guns temporarily. Neither option has gained much traction in Tennessee, with Republican leaders instead opting to focus on school security.

At the federal level, Tennessee Republican Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, who attended the Nashville vigil on March 29, last year voted against a bipartisan gun control bill that included incentives for states to pass red-flag laws and the closing of the “boyfriend loophole” that allows some domestic abusers to buy guns.

THE VICTIMS

The families of the six victims of the Covenant School shooting have fielded a huge amount of requests for statements about their loved ones as the horrific event made national and international news. The Scene has collected the public statements made by the victims’ families.

Katherine Koonce was the head of the school and is believed to have directly confronted the shooter. She dedicated her career to teaching at area private Christian schools.

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE NOT ENOUGH

How many dead people will finally outweigh our love of guns?

BY BETSY PHILLIPS

Thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers. Thoughts and prayers.

You all remember the old joke about the guy in a flood who’s praying for God to save him? A boat comes by, but he declines getting in it because God is going to save him. Then a helicopter. And I forget what else, but basically, when he drowns, he gets to heaven and is pissed that God didn’t save him — and God says, “I sent a boat and a helicopter.”

We are living in a fun-house-mirror version of that joke. Kids are dying, and we can save them. We have the metaphorical boats and helicopters and horses and cars and whatever else we need. But we can’t get the people who have the power to operate these vehicles to get in them and save our kids.

“Thoughts and prayers” when you have the tools to prevent these kinds of killings is obscene. Literally kissing Satan’s butt has to be less sacrilegious than offering thoughts and prayers while declining to help.

About a month ago, someone hung up a sign on Chestnut Street near Fort Negley full of hate speech and swastikas, thanking Gov. Bill Lee for the state’s recently passed anti-LGBTQ legislation. Now that the governor has the apparent admiration of Nazis, maybe he should ask one of them to teach him about

“Katherine was devoted to her family, her friends, and especially the children she cared for,” writes Koonce’s family in a statement. “She gave her life to protect the students she loved. We are devastated by our loss but depending on our God for comfort and healing. It is our privilege to honor Katherine’s legacy and to celebrate her remarkable spirit. We are grateful for the prayers of many on our behalf, and we pray for the families of the six others who died.”

Hallie Scruggs was the daughter of the lead pastor of the Covenant Presbyterian Church and one of four children, the only girl.

“We are heartbroken,” Chad Scruggs tells ABC News in a statement. “Through tears we trust that she is in the arms of Jesus who will raise her to life once again.”

Evelyn Dieckhaus was a classmate of Hallie’s, loved to play with dolls and hoped to be an occupational therapist like her mother when she grew up.

“Our hearts are completely broken,” the Dieckhaus family tells ABC News. “We cannot believe this has happened. Evelyn was a shining light in this world. We appreciate all the love and support but ask for space as we grieve.”

William Kinney was celebrated by his baseball teammates at Crieve Hall Baseball Park.

Mike Hill was a custodian at the school for more than a decade. His family released

a statement saying he loved to cook and spend time with family. He had seven children and 14 grandchildren.

“We pray for the Covenant School and are so grateful that Michael was beloved by the faculty and students who filled him with joy for 14 years,” the statement reads.

Cynthia Peak was a substitute teacher at the school. According to Gov. Bill Lee, the Louisiana native and mother of three was

also a close friend of Tennessee first lady Maria Lee.

“Cindy was a pillar of the community, and a teacher beloved by all her students,” her family tells ABC News. “Her favorite roles in life were being a mom to her three children, a wife to her husband, and an educator to students.”

Find more coverage at nashvillescene.com EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

regulated militia out of those gun owners. We do next to no regulation. If Republicans continue to have their way, we will eventually do no regulation. And we will be in violation of the Second Amendment as it is written. Somehow that never occurs to politicians. But we certainly could regulate gun ownership. We could require people to get a permit before owning a gun. We could require them to pay liability insurance. We could require safety training. We could pass laws that make gun owners criminally responsible for actions others take with their guns unless the gun owners have reported the guns stolen.

And gun owners could take some responsibility here. Is your gun secured in a gun safe when not in use, or is it sliding around the floor of your car? Do you keep trigger locks on your gun when not in use?

Are you supporting manufacturers who are coming up with safety features like guns that can only be used by the owner? Are you reporting the plans of the extremists in your midst, or are you letting it slide because, well, you know that’s just how so-and-so is? At the least, people, cancel your NRA memberships.

the importance of deeds and how cattle die and kinsmen die and you yourself will die, but the fame of your deeds is eternal. God, at the least we need some vikings to come name this fool. Along with Thorgeir the Clumsy and Ethelred the Unready, we could have Bill the Feckless — that way everyone would have fair and constant warning of the danger we’re in.

A 9-year-old child is a colt of a kid — wide-eyed, curious, needing space to explore, but also needing to know someone is watching out for them. When you’re 9, you still think new sneakers make you faster, and you might be willing to show it. You might even still believe in the Easter Bunny. You are so very precious when you’re 9 years old. You are so very precious when you’re 60 years old as well.

Something is very, very wrong with us that we accept mass shootings as just what it means to be an

American. We are horrified by stories of child sacrifice and child soldiers and children ripped from their parents in war-torn countries. But look at us, sacrificing our children to some slow civil war we won’t admit we’re fighting.

Can you imagine how scared every child in Covenant School must have been on March 27? Can you imagine the terror of parents calling their children’s names and not getting a reply? Can you imagine the families of the adults who were killed? We cannot continue to let terrorists use the bodies of innocent people as the medium upon which they write their societal manifestos. We could take away the tool they use to write with.

We simply could. Whatever argument you’ve heard about why the Second Amendment won’t let us do it is a lie. The Second Amendment requires a well-

This is going to keep happening, because Republicans and gun owners are fine with it happening. I wish with my whole heart that knowing there will be six more empty chairs at Easter dinner this year would shock their consciences into action, but it won’t. Everything that could be said has already been said. If some combination of words would unlock the power to fix this without needing politicians, those words would already have been spoken long ago.

Now all we have is the silence of the yawning grave, which we continue to shovel our most precious things into. Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, Cynthia Peak, Katherine Koonce and Mike Hill.

Are guns really more important than them? Do we have to accept the loss of them as just the price of being American? How many dead people will finally outweigh our love of guns?

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

MEMORIAL FOR VICTIMS AT THE COVENANT SCHOOL

PHOTOS: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

TALKING TO KIDS IN THE WAKE OF YET ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING

Says Alive Nashville’s Alissa Drescher, if kids are old enough to ask a difficult question, they deserve an age-appropriate answer

BY KELSEY BEYELER

Nashville — including the city’s youth — is hurting in the wake of last week’s Covenant School shooting. Thousands of students skipped class on Monday to join a March for Our Lives rally at the Tennessee Capitol.

Eleven-year-old Eli and 12-year-old Miller attended the event with their mothers.

“It’s just a fact that kids go through a lot of things that most adults don’t go through,” Eli told the Scene Monday. “And they have to understand that, if you go to school, there’s a [possibility] that you’re gonna get shot. … It makes me upset.”

“When I go to school it’s kind of scary because I’ll hear, in my building, there’s loud bangs a lot because there’s construction going on and I’ll think it’s a gun,” said Miller.

“I didn’t know how to have the conversation with him,” said Miller’s mom Andrea Champion. “He started tearing up, and he said, ‘Mama, how do you know that I’m safe at school? … I go to a private school that’s a Christian school — just like the one that got shot. And how do you know I’m safe?’ And I don’t know.”

There are many free resources available as Nashvillians continue to process the shooting and grieve for its victims. The American School Counselor Association has an entire tool kit related to school shootings.

Book publisher A Kids Co. provides free ebooks on the matter. Metro Nashville Public Schools have counselors and social workers on staff, and the district’s “You Matter” webpage lists additional resources for students. The Scene compiled a list of resources shortly after the shooting — places to find mental health support, as well as places to make financial donations, for those who can.

Alive Nashville is a hospice care and end-of-life service provider that also has a dedicated grief center, which provides programming like one-on-one counseling and grief camps for children. On April 6, Alive will host two free webinars addressing the Covenant School shooting, called “Support Your Grieving Child,” at noon and 6:30 p.m. (Register via alivenashville.com.) The webinars will provide information that can help adults navigate these difficult conversations with children.

“Our philosophy … is that if they’re old enough, developmentally, to ask a question, they deserve [an age-appropriate] answer,” says Alissa Drescher, Alive’s senior director of mission-based services. “And we can trust our kids to lead in that process.”

These conversations will look different depending on the age of the young person. Drescher advises folks to compare it to serving a pizza. “If that’s a 5-year-old that you’re serving pizza to, you’re going to cut it up into small bits and give them a piece at

a time,” says Drescher. “If it’s a 17-year-old, you might put the whole pizza in front of them, and then watch them devour however much of it they can. … It’s important for us to start in a bite-sized piece, and then trust that child to come back to us and let us know when they’re ready for more.”

Additionally, the age of the child or teen will inform the capacity they have to talk about these kinds of topics. Young kids, for example, might engage with this topic for only a few minutes before they’re ready to go out and play — but just because they’re not talking about it doesn’t mean they aren’t processing and coping in other ways.

“Children learn and process their emo tions through play,” says Drescher. “And so it’s good for them to get out there and do those things and relax.”

“We don’t want to force young people to have to talk about it,” she says. “One workaround in that regard is to ask them what they’re hearing from other people and what their friends are saying about it. … It’s a way to kind of open the door to having that hard conversation without having to directly ask that child.”

Drescher says it might take days, weeks or months before a child is ready to talk again. Behavioral changes such as acting out or difficulties paying attention might indicate when it’s time to check in with them again.

“The best thing that you can do for your child under any circumstances is to be healthy and whole for yourself,” says Dre scher. “We have to make sure that we’re willing to address our own concerns and needs. And even if we can’t sort that out, that’s OK. This is kind of unsolvable. … Walking around with that and having to carry something that you can’t box up and put a pretty bow around gets tough for everyone, regardless of their age. So I think just creating space for it and attending to it over time as it comes up is the best thing that we can do.”

FOOD & DRINK FOOD & DRINK

On March 29, the prestigious James Beard Foundation came to Nashville to announce the finalists for this year’s Restaurant and Chef Awards. With five Music City denizens among the semifinalist lineup — and an array of celebrated restaurants now on offer in our city — Nashville made perfect sense as a setting for the event, which precedes June 5’s gala awards ceremony in Chicago.

Even just a decade ago, that would’ve been damn near close to unthinkable. Nashville? A national dining hub? With five local restaurants or chefs on the Beard Awards long list? Ultimately, just one local candidate was selected to move on to the finals: Bastion’s Josh Habiger, who’s been up for consideration a handful of times and whose creativity is well deserving of national recognition. But nevertheless, Nashville has a food scene worth celebrating, and that’s what we’re doing this week, both with our annual Iron Fork event on Thursday, April 6, and with our annual Food & Drink Issue.

In these pages, you’ll find our survey of some of Nashville’s best and brightest chefs and restaurateurs (including several of this year’s Iron Fork competitors). We also dive into the city’s booming brewery scene and update you on 16 of our favorite bites in town. Pull up a chair and dig in.

—D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

THE CHEFS’ GUIDE TO DINING IN NASHVILLE NOW

We asked 10 Nashville chefs about everything from favorite haunts to food trends that must die. Here are their answers.

BY ASHLEY BRANTLEY

How much do you love your favorite restaurant? If you like it, you might have their T-shirt. If you love it, you might know the chef. But until you’ve built your work schedule around being able to go there, you are not a true regular.

“Bastion has been my favorite restaurant in town for years, and it’s always where I celebrate my birthday,” says Tailor chef and owner Vivek Surti. “In fact, when we were choosing what days we wanted to be open at Tailor, we chose Thursday through Sunday. One of the reasons was so I could go to Bastion on Wednesdays.”

That, folks, is dedication. In Nashville, we’re lucky that (most of) the people who make our food and drinks truly love food and drinks. They love them so much, in fact, that they’ll use their (very) limited days off

to drive to Donelson for vegan barbecue, or drop everything to go eat at Arnold’s one last time when news of its impending closure breaks. So there is no deeper well of local food knowledge than that of (certain) Nashville chefs.

That’s the well we’re drawing from for our fourth (almost) annual Chef’s Survey. We asked 10 chefs — OK, 11, but the Galzins are a package deal — 10 questions about everything from food trends to Nashville staples. Here’s what they had to say.

1 2

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION?

Arnold: Tailor or City House.

Beringson: City House.

Galzins: Yolan.

Hanna: Locust.

Hernandez: Folk.

Hunter: City House.

Myint: The Optimist or Hathorne.

Singto: Kayne Prime.

Surti: Bastion.

Wallace: Locust.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT EVERY DAY?

Arnold: Red Perch.

Beringson: Martin’s Bar-B-Que.

Galzins: Red Perch.

Hanna: Spicy Boy’s.

Hernandez: Green Chili Goodlettsville.

Hunter: Redheaded Stranger or Lockeland Table.

Myint: Love Peace & Phở.

Singto: Cheddar’s.

Surti: Degthai and Fatbelly Deli. Not a week goes by without Jay and Amy’s Kra Prao Moo Kai Dao — stir-fried pork over

rice with a crispy egg — or tom yum noodle soup with shrimp (Tiew Tom Yum Goong) at Degthai. When Levon and Kim Wallace started selling muffulettas at the Richland Market, I was buying one a week. I could eat Fatbelly sandwiches every damn day. The Spicy Bomba and the Hamma Mia are my favorites, but there is no miss here. Sleeper hit: PretzelCrunch cookies.

3

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT THAT’S NEW?

Arnold: Love Language. [Located where The Bound’ry used to be.]

Beringson: Audrey.

Galzins: East Side Pho. Hanna: Fatbelly Deli.

CHEFS SURVEYED

Kahlil Arnold, Arnold’s Country Kitchen (new venture coming soon)

Kristin Beringson, Henley

Tony and Caroline Galzin, Nicky’s Coal Fired

Michael Hanna, St. Vito

Charles Hunter III, The Salted Table

Julio Hernandez, Maiz de la Vida

Arnold Myint, International Market

Nina Singto, Thai Esane, Bar East

Vivek Surti, Tailor

Levon Wallace, Fatbelly Pretzel Bakery & Deli

SPICY BOMBA AND THE HAMMA MIA AT FATBELLY DELI

BASTION

Interviewing Nashville’s top chefs, surveying the local beer scene and sharing some of our favorite bites

IRON FORK • THURSDAY, APRIL 6, AT THE MUSICIANS HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM FWPUBLISHINGEVENTS.COM/IRONFORK2023

Hernandez: Fatbelly Deli with my ex-kitchen-roomie Levon Wallace. Unfortunately, I can’t bother him as much as I used to because he’s always busy.

Hunter: Fatbelly Deli.

Myint: Osh Uzbek Restaurant & Grill.

Singto: Xiao Bao.

Surti: Spread Market in Germantown is the kind of spot that every neighborhood needs. Chad and Alex Kelly have an impeccable selection — charcuterie, beer, meats, wine — as well as Chad’s incredible fresh bread, all in one shop. I love their daily

sandwiches, Chad’s homemade frozen pizzas (!!!), the cinnamon rolls and the selection of Rancho Gordo beans [an heirloom bean indigenous to the Americas], which almost always end up as a family meal at Tailor.

Wallace: I am counting the minutes until St. Vito opens.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT THAT’S A STAPLE? (FIFTEENPLUS YEARS IN NASHVILLE.)

Arnold: McCabe Pub or Wendell Smith’s. Beringson: Sperry’s Restaurant.

Galzins: Martin’s Bar-B-Que.

Hanna: Wendell Smith’s.

Hernandez: Not sure on the 15 years, but I find myself at Gabby’s quite often.The amount of locals you find in there makes it feel like 15-plus. [Author’s note: Gabby’s Burgers turns 15 next year, so we’re going to let you have it, Julio.]

Hunter: Bobbie’s Dairy Dip. Fries and softserve!

Myint: Samurai Sushi on Elliston or Brown’s Diner.

Singto: Pancake Pantry.

Surti: Baja Burrito was a staple for me growing up here. My sister and I would get it and watch The Amazing Race on TV, back when people watched live TV. Fried fish burrito with almost every topping — be liberal with the El Yucateco hot sauce — and a cup of my favorite fruit tea in town.

Wallace: Manny’s House of Pizza!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HEALTHY DISH?

Beringson: Sunflower Bakehouse’s Southwest Sweet Potato Salad: spiced

SOFT-SERVE AND FRIES AT BOBBIE’S DAIRY DIP

FRIED FISH BURRITO AT BAJA BURRITO

BACON, APPLE, HERB CHEESE SANDWICH AT SPREAD MARKET

BIANG BIANG HANDPULLED NOODLES AT XIAO BAO

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

sweet potatoes, seasoned black beans, roasted corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, fresh jalapeños, creamy Southwest dressing.

Galzins: Spicy Ahi Poke at Red Perch: sashimi-grade tuna mixed with ponzu, white rice, edamame, seaweed, pickled cucumber.

Hanna: Caesar Salad Pizza at Folk.

Hernandez: I order the poke bowl at Red Perch when I feel like I need a healthy lunch (but I often find myself with their fish filet sandwich as well).

Hunter: A salad from Radish Kitchen with the panko-crusted chicken on it.

Myint: Famous [vegan] BBQ Bowl at Sunflower Cafe: “savory BBQ,” barbecue sauce, Asian slaw, smoky Southern collard greens.

Wallace: The Yardbird Platter — halfchicken with two sides — from Peg Leg Porker with double green beans.

NASHVILLE DINING TODO LIST

These 10 places and events were all named at least twice in our survey. Get to checkin’.

❑ Fatbellly Deli

❑ Red Perch

❑ City House

❑ Locust

❑ Martin’s Bar-B-Que

❑ Wendell Smith’s

❑ Sunflower Bakehouse & Cafe

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE DRINK?

Arnold: Dry Nightmare at Mother’s Ruin: tequila, lime, orange, strawberry, habanero.

Beringson: Salad Fingers from Pearl Diver: mezcal, celery, Thai basil, Pearl Diver’s tropical agave, fresh lime.

Galzins: The spicy boilermaker at Bastion: a “dressed up” Tecate plus a shot of Green Chartreuse.

Hanna: Piña colada or the Dauer Ellis Special at Attaboy. [Author’s note: Dauer Ellis is a Nashville chef who’s worked at places like The Catbird Seat, Rolf and Daughters, and BokBox (RIP). His wife Riley runs Attaboy. A Dauer Ellis Special is a Coors Light with ice, so we will be having the piña colada.]

Hernandez: Technically, Maiz de la Vida is not Chopper, but they have spoiled me. Their drinks pack flavor and a punch. Space Pilot — falernum, lime, cinnamon, grapefruit,

raspberry and “loads of rum” — gets the job done any day of the week. [Author’s note: Hernandez’s taco truck, Maiz de la Vida, serves Mexican food outside Chopper Tiki in East Nashville. He specializes in nixtamal, a pre-Hispanic tradition that produces organic, non-GMO, gluten-free masa for fresh tortillas.]

Hunter: I’m not much of an imbiber, but I do occasionally enjoy the nonalcoholic selections that are becoming more popular on the market and bar menus.

Myint: Rosemary Old Fashioned from Otto’s: WhistlePig PiggyBack Rye, rosemary, bitters.

Singto: O-Ku’s Let’s Celebrate! Jell-O shot made with Ozeki sake, peach and Aperol. Surti: A SeaQuench over pellet ice at Lucky’s 3 Star. And a shot of tequila. IYKYK.

Wallace: Nonalcoholic amaro sodas from Woodland Wine Merchant.

7

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ANNUAL FOOD OR DRINK EVENT?

Arnold: I love the chef collaboration during Dine Nashville. [Author’s note: Since 2022, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp has organized a series of events to celebrate the restaurant industry while raising money for its charitable arm, Music City Inc., and The Giving Kitchen.]

Beringson: Heritage Fire. [Author’s note: This national culinary-competition tour asks local chefs to apply whole-animal cooking to heritage breeds, and the crowd votes on the winner. The competition began with hogs but now includes everything from goat, rabbit and fish to artisan cheese and heirloom vegetables.]

Galzins: We haven’t attended any in a while, but the Heritage Fire fest looks fun.

Hanna: The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in Memphis.

DRY NIGHTMARE AT MOTHER’S RUIN

PANKO-CRUSTED CHICKEN SALAD AT RADISH KITCHEN

SPICY BOILERMAKER AT BASTION

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: DANIELLE ATKINS

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

[Author’s note: While this is clearly not a Nashville event, we will allow it because: 1. I forgot to specify that these needed to be Nashville events, and 2. I’m a Memphian and have thus been going to BBQ Fest since I was in diapers. If you haven’t been to Memphis in May lately, this is a good year to go — the festival is returning to its riverfront home after Tom Lee Park’s $60 million makeover.]

Hunter: I’m gonna cheat and say Tomato Art Fest because I love it, and food and drink are readily available.

Myint: Tomato Art Fest.

Singto: Iron Fork and Second Harvest Food Bank’s Generous Helpings tasting event.

Surti: None. All events need to be paying restaurants to participate. Reimbursing cost and “promotion” just don’t cut it anymore.

Wallace: Billy Link’s crawfish boil at Bringle’s Smoking Oasis!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO EAT AT YOUR OWN PLACE/THAT YOU MAKE?

Arnold: 7 Up pancakes with hot-chicken tenders.

Beringson: Panko-fried pork chops or the smoked fishes dip at Henley. [Author’s note: The former is on the menu as Crispy Bone-in Pork Chops and comes with honey mustard, quick-braised kale and Parmesan gremolata. The fish dip is served with lemon, crème fraiche, pickled red onion, lavash and dill.]

Galzins: Mama G’s Meatballs. I (Tony) eat one pretty much every day.

Hanna: Chicken cacciatore alla Romana, served with a salty fried potato and bittergreen-and-hazelnut salad. [Author’s note:

Cacciatore means “hunter,” and the dish originates from braising whatever meat you hunt, kill and bring home that day. Roman chicken cacciatore is different from the redsauce original because the chicken thighs are braised with white wine, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, etc. — but no tomatoes.]

Hernandez: I eat tortillas every day, but that’s not a valid answer. The quesabirria on the menu is still my favorite, even after three years of cooking it for all of Nashville.

[Author’s note: Hernandez makes his quesabirria by stuffing American Wagyu beef into crispy tortillas. He serves them with raw onion, cilantro, salsa taquera (a Mexico City-style hot sauce of tomatoes and chiles), lime and a side of consomme (made with bone marrow) for dipping.]

Hunter: Pie — chocolate-cream, buttermilk-chess or apple — and buttermilk biscuits.

Myint: Hatyai Crispy Thai Fried Chicken & Eggplant Plate from International Market.

[Author’s note: Hat Yai is a city in the south of Thailand near the Malaysian border. Myint’s version of this dish uses Miller’s Amish poultry, Thai garlic marinade, cilantro, fried shallot, sticky rice, cucumber salad, chili sauce, nam jim jaew (Thai dipping sauce).]

Singto: Spicy drunken noodles with fettuccine. [Author’s note: Thai Esane’s menu offers this dish with a choice of egg noodles or thick, flat rice noodles sautéed with onion, bell pepper, basil and broccoli.]

Surti: A cup of homemade chai. It’s my dad’s recipe that he worked on for 10 years. Most people say they come to Tailor just for the chai at the end, and I can’t blame them.

(But if you want booze, try the Bourbon Fruit Tea Punch, inspired by a young Vivek sneaking bourbon into the Baja Burrito fruit tea.)

Wallace: Sesame Chicken Salad or a hot muffuletta and a chocolate-chunk cream scone. [Author’s note: This salad, listed on

the Fatbelly menu as the Santa Barbara, is made with iceberg, arugula, sprouts, wheat berries, sweet onion, cucumber, carrots, dried cranberries, sesame seeds and tahiniginger dressing. The muffuletta is made with Tennessee smoked bologna, capicola, Genoa salami, swiss, provolone and

giardiniera on a jumbo sesame pretzel

IF YOU COULD MAGICALLY BAN ONE RESTAURANT CONCEPT/ DINING TREND IN NASHVILLE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Arnold: Not being able to get a reservation at Locust.

Beringson: Overly simplistic menu descriptions. Like, great ... it’s a turnip. What did you do to it?!

Galzins: Fake grass walls with a neon sign that says something stupid. (Caroline) I agree. That lets you know your meal is about to suck. (Tony)

Hanna: Chicken and waffles.

Hernandez: I respect anyone working hard, but Nashville’s price points for food have started to look a lot like the ones in big food cities — Las Vegas, New York, L.A. The big difference here is that not everyone charging this way delivers the quality back to the guest. However, I do believe this can change as long as all of us keep pushing hard to build a higher “trend” standard.

Myint: Nashville is good on hot chicken.

Surti: Satellite locations of restaurants in other cities. I have no problem with people making money ... but whenever a concept leaves its home base, it usually becomes a (much) lesser version. What makes those concepts special is that they are places you go when you travel somewhere. If those items are everywhere, are they really special anymore?

Wallace: Instagram-centric, hollow-shell concepts with zero soul and no passion for hospitality or food.

WHAT FOOD (TREND) DOES NASHVILLE NEED THAT WE DON’T HAVE?

Arnold: More dog-friendly places and patios. [Author’s note: Kahlil has a mutt named Hank who is a very good boy.]

Beringson: I was born in Greece, and we are really lacking on the Greek food front. King Solomon’s closed and it broke my heart!

Galzins: High-end sushi exists and more is coming, but I would love a serviceable, daily sushi option. We don’t love any of the current places.

Hanna: People need to focus more on simplicity. Less trends; more casual, simple, good food.

Hernandez: Selfishly I wish Nashville had more kebab options. Edessa is doing a great job, but wouldn’t it be cool to see more of it?

Hunter: It feels weird to endorse a trend, but if I had to get on board with one, I’d say tinned fish on bar menus. I grew up eating tinned fish as an afterschool snack with saltines or Ritz crackers and hot sauce.

Myint: A good, classic French bistro/ pâtisserie. Somewhere with baked goods, seafood towers and steak frites.

Singto: Dim sum! We need more authentic Chinese food.

Surti: I hate this question because I don’t care about trends. I want places with soul that make people feel happier when they leave than when they came in. While it’s nice to get recognition from outside cities and now big-name restaurants want to come here, the pulse of this city comes from the talented people who live here.

Wallace: More independent concepts and brands from our creative, passionate hospitality community. ■

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: STAR CHEFS

QUESABIRRIA AT MAIZ DE LA VIDA

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS BY THE SALTED TABLE

CHAI AT TAILOR

TUTTI DA GIO: GNOCCHI AL PESTO

OUR FAVORITE BITES

OUR FAVORITE BITES

BY SCENE STAFF

We’ve already sung the praises of authentic Sicilian bistro Tutti da Gio a couple of times since it opened in Hermitage about 11 months back. From the brick-oven-baked pizzas to the stellar lineup of house-made pastas and the arancini (fried rice and ragu balls), Tutti shines. But possibly the best bite on the menu is the gnocchi al pesto — fluffy little Italian potato dumplings, steaming-hot and coated in basil pesto and a creamy cheese sauce, topped with pistachio shavings. Incredible stuff. Bravissimo! D.

PATRICK RODGERS

MAEMAX MARKET: LONGSILOG

My favorite days visiting my lola and lolo all started with longsilog, a Filipino breakfast of sweet longaniza pork sausage, rice and a fried egg. It was an extra special dish because, even though my hometown of Raleigh, N.C., had a few Filipino restaurants and potlucks, none of these places served breakfast. Not a problem here in Middle Tennessee: La Vergne’s Maemax Market makes delightfully sweet and stubby longaniza sausage you can enjoy all day long. COLE VILLENA

EDESSA KURDISH AND TURKISH FOOD:

From the presentation — an array of meat, vegetables and rice that resembles a personal buffet — to the execution, Edessa nails the Kabob Festival, a leveled-up sampler meant to be enjoyed with a full table. Stop weighing options and get every essential dip (hummus, baba ghanoush, ezme, haydari), chicken and lamb and, of course, baklava sticky with honey. It is a festival. As the guest of honor, take a moment to ask: All this for me? ELI MOTYCKA

KABOB FESTIVAL

EDESSA KURDISH AND TURKISH FOOD: KABOB FESTIVAL

TUTTI DA GIO: GNOCCHI AL PESTO

MAEMAX MARKET: LONGSILOG

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

From pizza, crispy rice and fajitas to po’boys and old-school meatloaf, here are 16 of our favorite current local eats

615 CHUTNEY: FRANKIES 615

I assume by this point you have all made the trek to 615 Chutney to dine with the beloved (by me) Bellevue Restaurant Robot, the smiling little automaton that delivers your order to your table. But have you explored the whole menu? Specifically the starters? Let me give you a tip. Order Frankies 615. These hand-rolled Indian tacos are warm,

spicy (but mildly so!), creamy and, to quote my husband, “tangy!” Give the robot my regards!

KIM BALDWIN

BUTCHER & BEE: AVOCADO CRISPY RICE

The whipped feta and fermented honey appetizer at Butcher & Bee gets most of the attention, and deservedly so. But chef Bryan Lee Weaver’s avocado crispy rice

is a brilliant combination of the chef’s love of Southwestern cuisine and the Bee’s DNA, which stretches from the original Charleston, S.C., location to the Middle East. Heirloom Carolina gold crispy rice and peanuts provide the crunch that complements the creamy avocado and greens and the bite of serrano chiles. Add a protein like shawarma chicken or sliced Bear Creek Denver steak and make a meal of it!

CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

GOJO ETHIOPIAN CAFE AND RESTAURANT: MISER WET

Good food always appears on your table at Gojo, the cozy blue Ethiopian spot on Thompson Lane. Oftentimes it’s a color-

wheel of dolloped vegetables or stewed meat, bright and fragrant, on injira, the stretchy Ethiopian sourdough staple. If you’re going with company, know how to identify Miser Wet (red lentils cooked with butter and spices), and get your fill before it disappears. ELI MOTYCKA

EAST PARK DONUTS & COFFEE: SALTED BROWN BUTTER

You can’t go wrong with any of East Park Donuts’ offerings, but the Salted Brown Butter deserves a spot or two in any dozensized box. The sweet, creamy frosting is punctuated by crisp salt flakes that elevate the East Side staple’s already exceptional brioche dough.

ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

BUTCHER & BEE: AVOCADO CRISPY RICE

EAST PARK DONUTS & COFFEE: SALTED BROWN BUTTER

GOJO ETHIOPIAN CAFE AND RESTAURANT: MISER WET

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

There is something special about enjoying a cheesecake for two. Maybe it’s as simple as the intention behind it — that you are sharing something with someone special.

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THE FLAT TIRE DINER: CRUNCHY FRENCH TOAST

It may seem like Nashville is oversaturated with new and interesting places to eat, but Old Hickory still struggles in that regard. Thankfully, Flat Tire Diner can hold its own against any of Nashville’s best diners. My family’s current favorite (we go there a lot) is the cornflake-crusted Crunchy French Toast, which comes with fresh fruit and warm maple syrup on the side.

Ordering for two gets you enough perfectly cooked and seasoned fajita mix for three to four servings.

STEPHEN TRAGESER

MOMENTO SPECIALTY COFFEE: THE FRENCH CONNECTION

PINKY RING PIZZA: PEPPERONI PIZZA

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

TEMPO: TEXAS SCRAMBLE

While longtime favorites shutter, new contenders open. After you eat Tempo regularly enough to establish a craving, it’s time to move to the Texas Scramble. Order up the full plate of fixings and assemble your own tacos with all the leisure and care of a weekend morning. The toughest part is rationing Tempo’s perfectly fried potatoes.

ELI MOTYCKA

LA TERRAZA MEXICAN RESTAURANT: FAJITAS FOR TWO

You have lots of great options for Mexican and Tex-Mex in Nashville. But not all of them have a separate little kitchen — in the front window no less — where they make their own fresh, rich, tender tortillas. Consider ordering some additional tortillas to take home with the inevitable leftovers.

Old Hickory’s Momento Specialty Coffee is an unassuming roadside coffee shop with the elegance of a European bistro and a selection of sandwiches that reminds me of the early days of East Side fixture Mitchell Deli. Everything I’ve tried has been great, but I keep going back for the French Connection — a prosciutto and brie sandwich on a fresh baguette with a tart pickle-and-mustard finish. It’s truly my favorite sandwich in Nashville.

LAURA HUTSON HUNTER

JOYLAND: FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH

I never understood when people described food as “so good they could cry” — at least until a recent trip to Joyland. I’ve been living with dietary restrictions since I was 16, so I hadn’t had a chicken sandwich in years. But chef Sean Brock’s reimagining of the Southern classic comes with a glutenfree option — what a dream! — and with a pickle slaw so delicious I stopped midmeal to jot down the ingredients for future inspiration. In short, it’s allergy-friendly magic.

HANNAH CRON

I haven’t had the chance to try everything on offer at Madison’s brand-new Pinky Ring Pizza — the whole lineup looks enticing, from the pistachio-and-lamb Esmerelda to the vodka-sauce Rosa. But truly, you can’t go wrong with Pinky Ring’s standard Pepperoni. Big, savory, foldable slices that can give just about any other pizza joint in town a run for its money. Grab some garlic bread, antipasto, spring greens or garlic focaccia on the side, and wash it down with one of PRP’s many beer or nonalcoholic options.

D. PATRICK RODGERS

WENDELL SMITH’S RESTAURANT: MEATLOAF

I’m not gonna lie to y’all — ever since Arnold’s Country Kitchen closed, there’s been a hole in my heart approximately the size and shape of a slab of the meatloaf Arnold’s served on Tuesdays and Fridays. Seriously, there was a standing Tuesday appointment on my Google calendar. Fortunately, meat-and-three stalwart Wendell Smith’s Restaurant has been there to provide the salve for my soul on Tuesdays with its savory loaf topped with a crimson glaze that’s not quite ketchup and not quite red sauce. What it is is quite comforting.

CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

WOODLANDS INDIAN VEGETARIAN CUISINE: SPECIAL RAVA MASALA

For this list, I was planning to write about

the Woodlands Special Thali, a dine-in-only menu that features a variety of Indian dishes. It’s the perfect place to start if you’re new to the restaurant or unsure what to order. But when I ordered the Woodlands Special Rava Masala, a chef’s special, I knew I had to pivot. A semolina-and-rice batter creates a kind of crepe that is crispy on the bottom, like the crispy rice left in the bottom of a pot, and soft on top. It’s savory, well-seasoned and sprinkled with grated paneer, chiles and onions. Served with a delicious portion of potato masala, the dish provides a range of flavors and textures. This quickly became a new favorite, and I intend to order it every time I revisit Woodlands. KELSEY

BEYELER

SPICY BOY’S: SHRIMP PO’BOY

New East Nashville Cajun outpost Spicy Boy’s has built dual reputations for a great hang and loyal Louisiana cooking. The renovated house forms a powerful trifecta with neighbors The Pharmacy and Mas Tacos por Favor (both beloved longtime staples). But with Bro’s gone and Papa Boudreaux’s too far away, it fills the city’s much-needed quick-casual bayou niche. Start with the fully dressed shrimp po’boy and make your way around the whole menu. Leave Cajun food to locals, and enjoy it as much as you can. ELI MOTYCKA ■

JOYLAND: FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH

THE FLAT TIRE DINER: CRUNCHY FRENCH TOAST

PINKY RING PIZZA: PEPPERONI PIZZA

SPICY BOY’S: SHRIMP PO’BOY

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

NEW BREW REVIEW

From Smith & Lentz and Southern Grist to New Heights, TailGate and beyond, Nashville’s craft beer scene continues to boom

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that it’s been almost a decade since former Scene editor and current contributor Steve Cavendish wrote a cover story about “how a new wave of craft breweries is fueling Nashville’s craft beer craze.” What’s less difficult to believe is that every single one of the breweries Cavendish featured in 2014 is still thriving, even as a dozen new craft breweries have been added to the city’s roster since then.

There’s been a little turnover in the industry, as R.S. Lipman Brewing Co. bought up Turtle Anarchy and Little Harpeth in 2021, and a few breweries have changed or added locations since 2014, but the tale of the Nashville craft beer boom is primarily a success story that is still being written. We figured it was time for an update in case readers haven’t been able to keep up with all the delicious new developments in town, so read on for a primer about what’s on tap.

THE BEASTS OF THE EAST

When Fat Bottom Brewing opened in the former Fluffo Mattress building in 2012, it was the first brewery to start up in East Nashville before making the jump to bigger digs in The Nations four years later. Their void was filled by the arrival of several new breweries to service the East Side.

Among the largest is East Nashville Beer Works, founded by Anthony Davis. A former Metro councilmember, Davis was keenly aware of the importance of plugging into the neighborhood, and he created a familyfriendly taproom and beer garden with a playground, as well as a food and beer menu that continues to be quite approachable.

ENBW’s Miro Miel honey blonde ale is a crushable sipper with an alcohol level that allows patrons to still keep an eye on the kids after enjoying a few pints.

Smith & Lentz probably gets more publicity for its excellent pizza offerings, but that shouldn’t overshadow the talent Adler Lentz and Kurt Smith show off as brewers. Inspired by Lentz’s high school trip to Europe, the range of beers at Smith & Lentz leans toward German pilsners and a wildly popular Vienna lager, but they also pour some spectacular IPAs.

Southern Grist started with a tiny production system, basically a glorified home-brew setup, but their experimentative recipes packed the tiny original taproom on Porter Road. Within a couple of years, the three founders moved their production facility to The Nations and swapped their first home with a much larger modern taproom on Douglas Avenue. While many of their beers do repeat on their rota of recipes, they don’t really have a flagship brew. They attract crowds by consistently offering new and exciting beers along with an extensive food program at both locations.

DOWNTOWN DELIGHTS

While Blackstone and Czann’s have both moved out of the urban core and Big River/ Rock Bottom Brewing closed up shop a couple of years ago, downtown is still a hotbed of craft brewing.

New Heights takes its name from the San Diego neighborhood where head brewer Jeff Fountain lived before moving to Nashville in 2014. Fountain’s experience allows for a capacity to brew a vast variety of beer styles, from cream ales and sours to IPAs and powerful stouts that will leave you weak in the knees. He also loves playing with barrel-aging, to great effect.

Although Yee-Haw Brewing Co. was born in Johnson City, it feels like it was born for Music City. The taproom/adult playground in SoBro that it shares with corporate cousin Ole Smoky Moonshine draws throngs of tourists to enjoy tastings, live music and sports on huge screens both inside and outdoors. TailGate has seen greater expansion over the past year than any other brewery in town, adding Music Row, Germantown, East Nashville, Hendersonville and Chattanooga outposts to its massive headquarters and production facility in Bellevue. While many of their beers do adhere to classic styles, the most popular offerings tend to feature more whimsical flavors like Peanut Butter Milk Stout and their heavily fruited Shnack Series that ranges from pastry stouts to fruited sours and milkshake IPAs.

ADMIT IT, YOU LOVE HOMESTYLE IPA

Before abandoning Nashville for the bright lights of Los Angeles, erstwhile Scene generalist J.R. Lind called for a redesign of Nashville’s enigmatic flag. If that were to happen, the golden iris on a black field that bedecks a can of Homestyle IPA from Bearded Iris would be a good place to start, because the hoppy juggernaut is pretty much ubiquitous on local beer menus. The closest thing that the city has come to developing a real regional beer, Homestyle is available in a dozen states as well as in BIBCO’s Germantown and Sylvan Supply taprooms.

TINY BUT MIGHTY

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to breweries, and most of your current favorites probably started out as pretty tiny operations. The trend continues with a bevy of nanobreweries in Nashville that we’re looking forward to watching grow.

Crazy Gnome Brewery took a direct slam from the 2020 tornado, which — along with COVID restrictions — significantly delayed their opening. But they have definitely hit the ground running. Their cozy East Nashville taproom has evolved into a popular clubhouse for beer lovers to enjoy founder Grayson Miller’s eclectic range of sours, IPAs, stouts and farmhouse ales along with trivia nights and gaming.

Barrique Brewing & Blending moved into Little Harpeth’s former home in 2021, offering owner Joel Stickrod the space he needed to store hundreds of oak barrels that he uses to ferment and store batches of wild-fermented brews that he blends using ancient Belgian techniques. Some of his beers can take up to 18 months to mature, but they are definitely worth the wait!

Fait La Force is a two-man operation in Wedgewood-Houston that has quickly become a neighborhood hang thanks to the

playful atmosphere of the eclectically designed taproom and beers that don’t obsess over stylistic restrictions. Their most popular beer is named Top of the Walk-In, which they classify as a “Euro Pale,” which isn’t really a thing. But it is delicious.

Living Waters Brewing takes the concept of brewing to an extra level, offering both small-batch beers and thoughtfully brewed coffees at its East Trinity Lane location. Their beers are classified as “Waterfalls,” which are meant to be consumed immediately, and “Rivers,” more complex brews that are eligible for cellaring so they can continue to mature as they wend their way

through time. Or drink them now, because they’re already pretty tasty.

Harding House Brewing Co. is a tiny brewery and taproom in The Nations that maintains a laser focus on being a hyperlocal business — Harding sources local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible. The beer menu intentionally changes with the seasons, to offer the lighter beers that patrons ask for in the summer and the more full-bodied styles of winter, and also to showcase the terroir of the region and the seasonality of the harvest from the suppliers they seek out.

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

BARRIQUE BREWING & BLENDING

CRAZY GNOME BREWERY

LIVING WATERS BREWING

RUNCH - OYSTER HAPPY HOUR

the battle is back!

Our Ultimate Chef Throw-down Returns

Thursday, April 6 / Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum

The 14th annual edition of the Scene’s beloved Iron Fork, a chef competition and gourmet tasting event, returns on April 6. Not only will the competition highlight four of the city’s most talented chefs, we’ll also get to enjoy bites and sips from a slew of the city’s best casual eateries, cocktail lounges and ne dining establishments. Need more convincing? A ticket purchase also helps support our mission to raise funds for The Nashville Food Project. Even if you can’t join us at Iron Fork (check our website to see if we still have tickets available at the door) we hope you’ll pay a visit to our participating restaurants as they re ect the dynamic food scene that is Nashville, and the collaborative nature of the restaurant community in our growing city. Stay hungry, Nashville!

51 NORTH TAPROOM

Just west of the city in the heart of The Nations, 51 North Taproom is a staple for the neighborhood just like their sister restaurant, 12 South Taproom, is the hot spot just south of the city. It’s best known as a craft beer bar, but don’t overlook this spot to grab a delicious meal with a little something for everyone available. From mussels to nachos, salads to smothered and covered burgers, they’ve got options for the whole family – plus bonus points for a great patio!

704 51st Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn 37209 51northtaproom.com

@51northtaproom

ABOVE & BEYOND CAKES

Above & Beyond Cakes is all about creating the perfect balance between beauty and avor. Each of their creations is not only stunning to look at but packs a punch in the taste department. Owners Megan and Daniel Jimenez relocated to Nashville after more than 10 years of operating an award-winning Northern California bakery. In November 2022, the family permanently closed their California location and moved to Westmoreland, Tenn., where they now serve the central Tennessee region, including Nashville and lower Kentucky, with their delicious and downright remarkable dessert designs.

1104 New Highway 52, Suite D, Westmoreland, Tenn. 37186 aboveandbeyondcakes.com

BANH MI AND ROLL+

Experience the dynamic avors of Saigonese cuisine when you visit Banh Mi and Roll+! It was founded by Huy and Han, whose passion for Vietnamese street food and culture is evident in their dishes, ranging from banh mi and fresh rolls to their newest addition of quality 100% powder-free milk teas. Located in Hillsboro Village, Banh Mi and Roll+ promises to serve the best Vietnamese street fare with Southern hospitality. Pro-tip: Be on the lookout for their food truck at events around town!

1808 20th Ave. S., Suite 101, Nashville, Tenn., 37212 banhmiandrollplus.com

@banhmiandrollplus

BLACK DYNASTY SECRET RAMEN HOUSE

BLACK RABBIT

Tucked away in the sixth suite of East Nashville’s The Wash, Bay 6 bills itself as an izakaya-ish cocktail bar. Led by head bartender Beau Gaultier, the bar boasts a menu of inventive draft and hand-built cocktails including favorites such as the Loose Seal, B-Sides Only and Baby Jessica. The unique menu is sure to impress even the most discerning cocktail connoisseur. Gaultier will even compete in this year’s VIP Mixology Competition to vie for the title of Best Mixologist in town.

1101 McKennie Ave., Suite 6, Nashville, Tenn., 37206

bay6nashville.com

@bay6nashville

Black Dynasty Secret Ramen House is such a secret that its owner goes only by “Rooney” to maintain a sense of mystery around the restaurant and cast the spotlight on the entire team that creates the menu at Black Dynasty. After falling in love with ramen, he dedicated his time to studying Japanese cuisine and adding Southern sensibilities to it. Originally operating as a pop-up in other kitchens around town, Black Dynasty has since found a home at Sylvan Supply off Charlotte Pike and is serving up made-in-house noodles, small plates and sweets — and has brought home some prestigious awards and culinary recognitions along the way.

4101 Charlotte Ave., Suite E40, Nashville, Tenn., 37209

blackdynastyramen.com

@blackdynastyramen

It’s always a good time to visit Black Rabbit, chef Trey Cioccia’s speakeasy-inspired restaurant and bar in Banker’s Alley downtown. But 4 to 6 p.m. every Monday through Saturday is an especially opportune time to drop in. Deals include $5 cocktails, 2-for-1 cans of beer plus bar snacks cooked over an open re in the building where the feds bugged Jimmy Hoffa’s lawyer (as seen in The Irishman). It’s no wonder they won Best Happy Hour in our esteemed Writer’s Choice awards for Best of Nashville. Catch them slinging cocktails in the Iron Fork mixology competition this year.

218 Third Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn., 37201 blackrabbittn.com

@blackrabbittn

BUTCHER & BEE

Butcher & Bee continues to stand out in East Nashville, more than seven years in, and the Mediterraneanfocused dining destination is doing things right. Bryan Weaver and his partner opened the East Nashville outpost of Charleston-based restaurant Butcher & Bee in late 2015. Weaver brought in Chris DeJesus (who repped the restaurant as a competitor in our Iron Fork event in 2022) as the executive chef a few years later, and the restaurant has thrived as maybe the best vegetable-

CITY WINERY

premiere performance venue offering not just stellar shows but excellent dining and drinking opportunities. With its own working winery, City Winery creates the perfect ambience, especially for those who rent out the barrel room for private parties. If you time your visit right, you might even catch the winemakers practicing their craft through the windows into the production area. With a newly revamped brunch and dinner menu, they’re taking the art of food and wine pairings very seriously.

609 Lafayette St., Nashville, Tenn., 37203 citywinery.com/nashville @citywinerynsh

Coco’s Italian Market

For over 50 years, Coco’s Italian Market and Restaurant has been serving Middle Tennessee with delicious and authentic Italian dishes. So delicious they’ve won the Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll award for Best Italian since 2018! With a menu boasting a variety of straight-from-Italy dishes including panini, subs, insalata and pastas, owner Chuck Cinelli has been keeping family traditions alive since 1964. Connected to the restaurant, you’ll nd their Italian-style market full of imported pastas, sauces and other pantry items as well as a bakery with all your favorite Italian baked goods and gelato — making it truly one of the best shops to stop in town.

411 51st Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn., 37209

Website: cocositalianmarket.com

@cocositalianmarket

Daddy’s Dogs

opened his rst hot dog cart in 2015 after years on the road with acts such as Cage the Elephant, Mat Kearney, Elle King and more. His dedication to quality, personality and one-of-a-kind dogs has allowed Daddy’s Dogs to expand from a eet of hot dog carts to a agship location in The Nations and several satellite locations across Nashville, including Geodis Park and Nissan Stadium. It’s no surprise they’ve been awarded Best Hot Dog and Best Late Night Eats in the Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll ever since, but would you have pegged them as an obvious spot for Best Romantic Dinner in the city? Us either, but our Best of Nashville Readers’ poll voters say otherwise!

5205 Centennial Blvd., Nashville, Tenn. 37209

205 Printers Alley, Nashville, Tenn., 37201 daddysdogsnash.com

@daddysdogsnash

Half Batch Brewing

Located in Hendersonville, Half Batch Brewing is the northern suburb’s rst and only of cial craft brewery. What you may not know is that it all started in the kitchen of founder Nathan Newton’s college apartment in Baton Rouge, La., in the mid-1990s. Years later, he opened Half Batch’s public room in 2017, creating a cozy, relaxed atmosphere that is the perfect place to gather with friends and enjoy great brews. Their brews are full of avor and, as they say, “never half-assed.” That’s clear from the bold taste of their year-round, seasonal and specialty brews available.

393 E. Main St., Suite 6A, Hendersonville, Tenn., 37075 halfbatchbrewing.com

@halfbatchbrewing

What happens when you set a local chef hero loose in a casual sports bar environment? You get Jasper’s, a comfortable hang with inspired versions of sports-bar staples like pork fries, recracker wings and chef Deb Paquette’s famous roasted cauli ower app converted to tempura “caulipoppers.” Genius! Operating smack in the middle of Midtown, Paquette and her skilled kitchen staff have even opened Jasper’s Market, a grab-and-go market offering sandwiches, wraps and salads from the kitchen, packaged for a quick getaway.

1918 West End Ave., Nashville, Tenn 37203

jaspers.restaurant

@jaspersnashville

Jasper’s

Las Palmas

Las Palmas has been a staple in the Music City food scene since 1990, thanks to their authentic Mexican cuisine and family-friendly atmosphere. Now with nine Nashville-area locations, the neighborhood favorite has been named Best Mexican in our Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll year after year. With signature dishes such as Quesadilla Rellena and Plato Norteno, they continue to serve the community of Greater Nashville that they love with happy-hour deals, family meal packs, rewards programs and more.

Nine Nashville-area locations laspalmasnashville.com

@laspalmasnash

Leiper’s Fork Distillery

After the distilling prohibition laws were overturned in 2009, Lee Kennedy, owner of Leiper’s Fork Distillery, knew it was time to turn his passion for distilling into a business. Fast-forward seven years, and Leiper’s Fork Distillery opened its doors in the summer of 2016 on 30 acres of family land, and has since become one of the most revered Tennessee whiskeys in the market today. By combining local ingredients with time-honored techniques and pure limestone- ltered water, they’re able to create high-end premium whiskeys that will blow you away. Today they are one of 39 destinations along the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, nestled in the heart of Leiper’s Fork — it’s worth the visit down for Nashvillians!

3381 Southall Road, Franklin, Tenn., 37064 leipersforkdistillery.com @lfdistillery

The Liege Waffle Co.

Located in Fifth + Broadway’s Assembly Food Hall, Liege Waf e Co. offers an array of freshly baked, authentic Liege-style waf es, bringing regionally inspired Belgian street food to Nashville. Their waf es are made with a brioche-style dough and imported Belgian pearl sugar, giving you a chewy-textured delight. Whether you keep it plain or top it with sweet or savory ingredients, you’re sure to nd a combination you’ll love.

5055 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn., 37203 theliegewaffleco.com @theliegewaffleco

Little Hats Market

can’t nd in traditional grocery stores. Located in the heart of Germantown, the store features shelves stocked with unique direct-imported Italian items including fresh pastas, olives and pickles, tomatoes, cheeses, cured meats and pizza dough. But Little Hats isn’t just a market – it’s a restaurant too! They use top-notch quality ingredients to create mouth-watering sandwiches, pastas, salads and, of course, desserts. Their hats may be little, but their avor is BIG.

1120 Fourth Ave. N., Suite 101, Nashville, Tenn., 37208 littlehatsmarket.com

littlehatsmarket

Lyra

Led by executive chef and 2022 Iron Fork champion Hrant Arakelian, Lyra uses the freshest ingredients to create bold and avorful dishes. Located inside a former grocery store along West Eastland Avenue in East Nashville, the kitchen’s centerpiece is an emeraldtiled wood- red oven, cranking out fresh bread, as the classic combo of pita and hummus holds a central place on the menu (which changes based on seasonal ingredients but is anchored by some basics). Lyra also offers phenomenal happy hour-specials and boasts an ever-changing menu of inventive, avorful Middle Eastern dishes — all the more reason to book a reservation immediately.

935 W. Eastland Ave., Nashville, Tenn., 37206 lyranashville.com

@lyra_nashville

Located beneath Noelle Hotel and with its back to Printers Alley, Makeready Libations and Liberation pays homage to the printmakers, rule-breakers and publishers who used to call the area home, taking its name from an old printmaking tool, the “makeready.” Inspired by his own Italian upbringing, executive chef Chris Neff brings a menu of items like Spaghetti Pomodoro, Corvina Sea Bass, Chicken Parmigiana and lasagna that are sure to have your mouth watering. You’ll get to experience his work rsthand as he competes in this year’s Iron Fork chef competition.

200 Fourth Ave. N., Nashville, Tenn., 37219 makereadynash.com

@ makeready_nashville

Marsh House

Located inside the Gulch’s Thompson Hotel, Marsh House is led by chef de cuisine Erika Tucker. Together with her team, she creates seafood-centric Southern fare with responsibly sourced and sustainable ingredients. The restaurant also features an extensive seasonal craft cocktail and wine list, making it the perfect place to visit any time of the year for a different menu and experience to enjoy. Iron Fork VIP ticket holders will get a closer look at Chef Erika’s skills as she leads a special VIP-only demonstration and tasting at this year’s event!

401 11th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37203 marshhouserestaurant.com

No Fuss Taco

bowls of slow-cooked beef or chicken, handmade corn tortillas and a avorful red consommé seasoned with hints of cumin, cinnamon and dried chiles. But the mobile food truck has mastered more than just the birria taco. The menu includes Mexican classics such as fajitas and quesadillas, as well as some more unique items like the loaded furious fries and a Hot Philly with birria beef, chopped peppers and onions, cheese and signature Boss Sauce.

Food Truck, check website for locations nofusstaco.com

Pink Door Cookies

Founded by Door Cookies offers tastebud-tickling, whimsical cookie avors that you won’t nd anywhere else. Their nostalgic cookie avors include Trix + Rhubarb, PB&J, Cotton Candy, Rainbow Brownie and more, all guaranteed to bring you right back to your childhood. Every cookie is handmade with premium, high-quality ingredients in the Nashville bakery studio located on Hart Street in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

321 Hart St., Suite 309, Nashville, Tenn., 37210 pinkdoorcookies.com

@pinkdoor

PROOF, W Nashville

Located on the rooftop of the Gulch’s W Hotel, PROOF features bold avors and craft cocktails with a 270-degree view of Nashville’s skyline. Diana Small, beverage manager at PROOF, will take part in this year’s VIP Mixology Competition to PROOVE that they’re one of the best cocktail bars in the city — as well as having one of the best views. This elevated bar also features a weekly songwriter Spotlight Series so you can enjoy being serenaded while sipping top-notch drinks on top of the world.

300 12th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37203 proofnashville.com

@proofnashville

Smokin’ Oaks

Taste the difference that organic can make! Smokin’ Oaks Organic Farms is a full-service butcher shop and deli, with all of the available meats coming straight from their family-operated farm in Middle Tennessee. They are committed to offering pasture-raised beef and pork from grain-fed animals that are never treated with antibiotics, growth hormones or steroids. Stop in the deli for graband-go sandwiches, prepared meals, soups and salads – plus a great selection of local cheeses, snacks, pantry staples and more. Pro tip: Call ahead and they’ll have a hot sandwich, made with their fresh-baked sourdough baguette, waiting for you!

2116 Eighth Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37204 smokinoaksorganicfarms.com

@smokinoaksorganicfarms

Social Beverages

When owner Edward Williams started Social Beverages, he had the goal of creating nonalcoholic drinks that re ected the unique avors and culture of the Nashville community. Each of their bottled sodas is made with locally sourced fruits whenever possible, USDA organic cane sugar, and lightly carbonated water to ensure a refreshing and satisfying experience with every sip. The locally founded soda and sparkling water company has a permanent outpost in the Nashville Farmers’ Market, and you can nd them popping up around town at events, serving the perfect thirst-quencher for any occasion.

Located inside the Nashville Farmer’s Market drinksocialbeverages.com

@socialbeverages

The Southernaire Market

& Oyster, the Southernaire Market is a retail food market and sandwich shop that prides itself on being “downtown’s only butcher.” The market combines the style and hospitality of a New Orleans-style neighborhood grocery with the convenience of the New York City corner bodega in the heart of downtown Nashville. The shelves are stocked with products, mostly artisan in origin and generally local or regional, while the sandwich and butcher shop display cases are full of fresh meat and seafoods. On the go? Look for their outpost at the Nashville International Airport for grab-and-go items as well.

150 Third Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37201 southernairemarket.com

Stompin’ Grounds

Located inside the JW Mariott Nashville in SoBro, Stompin’ Grounds is the perfect place to refuel while exploring all that downtown Nashville has to offer. Their menu of hearty but healthy American cuisine is steeped in Southern tradition and made from the freshest locally sourced ingredients. Their menu includes such classics as biscuits-and-gravy and Nashville Hot Chicken Wings, but they really turn things up a notch with more elevated dishes including Ale-Braised Short Ribs and Sugo Rosa Pasta. If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to sit down to enjoy a full meal, check out the marketplace with graband-go items, cold brew coffee, pastries and more. Protip: Don’t forget to give their house-made gelato a try!

201 Eighth Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37203 jwmarriottnashvilledining.com/ stompin-grounds-restaurant @jwmarriottnash

Thai Esane

A consistent winner in our Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll for Best Thai Food, Thai Esane has grown from a single agship location on Demonbreun Hill to an outpost in Brentwood, at Fifth + Broadway, and now in East Nashville. Open since 2014, Esane serves cuisine from Thailand, Laos, China, Japan and Malaysia, using complex and laborintensive recipes executed adroitly and with con dence. Thai Esane is led by Nina Singto, one of Nashville’s most beloved and ebullient restaurateurs and a previous Iron Fork competitor — and everything that comes out of the kitchen proudly wears its own distinct personality.

1520 Division St., Nashville, Tenn., 37203

203 Franklin Road, Suite 100, Brentwood, Tenn., 37027

970 Woodland St., Nashville, Tenn., 37206

thaiesane.com

@thaiesane

Do you have a hankering for some delicious, zesty Latin cuisine? Look no further than Wilco Fusion Grill. It opened in the summer of 2021 in Cool Springs, as owner Claudia Casilla rebranded Dushi Wrap Grille with a renewed focus on offering Latin, Mexican and American dishes. With a variety of menu offerings from empanadas to arepas to kebabs to loaded fries — it’s no wonder they placed in the Best of Nashville Readers’ Poll for Most Creative Menu and most recently won “Most Unique Dish” in our annual Hot Chicken Week.

9040 Carothers Parkway, Suite B105, Franklin, Tenn., 37067 wilcofusiongrillfranklin.com

@wilco_fusion_grill

Wilco Fusion Grill

1918 WEST END AVE. NASHVILLE, TN 37203 | FREE PARKING!

CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

THURSDAY / 4.6

MUSIC

BARGAINING AGREEMENT] THE HIRS COLLECTIVE

[COLLECTIVE

The HIRS Collective, according to their edict, exists to “fight for, defend and celebrate the survival of trans, queer, POC, Black, women and any and all other folks who have to constantly face violence, marginalization and oppression.” The Philadelphia thrash unit has drawn a lot of attention for both their death-grind onslaught and having more artists featured than a Meek Mill mixtape. HIRS boasts appearances from members of Against Me!, Soul Glo, The Bags, Thursday and Los Crudos — as well as outlier celebrities like Shirley Manson of Garbage. But at the core of what they do is the carefully aimed fury of an intolerant left, defending and celebrating the fringe folks who are othered by the larger society. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike

P.J. KINZER

[A SECOND CHANCE AT LOVE]

FILM

INTERNATIONAL LENS: … UND DEINE LIEBE AUCH ( … AND YOUR LOVE TOO)

Someone at Vanderbilt must really want people to discover this 1962 black-andwhite foreign film, so rare and obscure that Kanopy is the only place you can stream it online. Directed by equally forgotten German filmmaker Frank Vogel, … und deine Liebe auch is about two childhood friends (Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thein) and the woman (Kati Székely) they’re both infatuated with. Unfortunately, this love triangle unfolds just as the Berlin Wall goes up, which has both pals choosing sides, and the lady, of course, stuck in the middle. You’d think this stylish, seductive three-way romance, set during a tumultuous time in world history, would be more remembered and revered by cinephiles all over. (It did come out in the same year as Francois Truffaut’s classic three’s-a-crowd love story

Jules and Jim.) This long-lost flick may not have a place in the annals of world cinema, but it does have a place in Independent Lens’ spring schedule. Professors of history Celia Applegate and David Blackbourn will present the film. 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema, 2301 Vanderbilt Place CRAIG D. LINDSEY

MUSIC

[SENSES WORKING OVERTIME] YK RECORDS SHOWCASE

Thursday at The 5 Spot, Nashville record label YK Records showcases a brace of local bands that reference New Wave, power pop and other fragments of the rock ’n’ roll past. The label started up in 2009, and it’s released work by popsters The Features, electronica band Coupler and post-jam band guitarist Jack Silverman (who’s also a Scene contributing editor). Tower Defense released a nice 2020 concept album about the mythology of Nashville, In the City, and their new single “Sea Ranch” finds the quartet playing ’80s-style New Wave. Meanwhile, The Medium released one of the more eccentric — and well-done — albums of 2022, For Horses. The record sounds something like what The Byrds might have done under the influence of post-punk in, say, 1981. Their latest single, “She’s Got It,” proves they’ve internalized John Lennon’s chord changes, and the accompanying song (I guess you can’t call it a flip side) “Moon Rocks” goes even deeper into the postBeatles territory familiar to all power-pop fans. The catchy, goofy songs I’ve heard from New Man’s forthcoming EP The New New Man don’t exactly put me in mind of XTC or The Beach Boys, despite what the group itself says on their Bandcamp page. That’s the thing about homage — giving props to your influences helps contextualize your music for listeners, but the challenge is to avoid the chilly hand of Nashville retro. Rounding out the bill are Sugar Sk*-*lls and General Trust. 6 p.m. at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. EDD HURT

[FOLLOW THE LEADER]

MUSIC

RAKIM

It’s Hip-Hop History 101 but bears repeating anyway: Rakim changed rap. While rhyme schemes had been evolving, The God MC’s technical prowess on his and Eric B.’s 1987 debut Paid in Full ushered in a new era of rappers pushing the limits on complicated lyrics and unorthodox flows. Rap isn’t always kind to its elders, but Rakim is still touring and making music — he even dropped a book in 2020 fittingly titled Sweat the Technique. The legend returns to Music City to move the crowd at City Winery with his deep catalog of classics. 8 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

FRIDAY / 4.7

ART

[BITTERSWEET ANNIVERSARY] FIFTEEN

In 2008, Omari Booker was arrested for a nonviolent drug offense and sentenced to 15 years. He served three-and-a-half

years and was released on parole. In a June 2017 interview for Nashville Arts Magazine, Booker told me that when he was incarcerated, art became a way to feel free. “When I was drawing and sketching and listening to my headphones, I didn’t feel like I was in prison anymore,” he said. “People are like, ‘You’ve created so much work so quickly.’ That’s my connection to freedom, so I’m going to do it as often as I possibly can.” Since our 2017 conversation, his work has evolved and matured with a sense of urgency. At first, he seemed to churn out paintings as if by compulsion — like doing so was saving his life. His work has matured since then, often distilling a sense of place, a moment in history or the way a portrait’s subject feels in one moment in time. In April, his parole is finally up, and a new solo exhibition at Elephant Gallery will mark the occasion. Fifteen is about the past decadeand-a-half that Booker has been entangled with the criminal justice system and “what it meant to be a human walking through and coming out of such a circumstance.”

Booker has strong ties to North Nashville — he’s a Tennessee State University

APRIL 7 - MAY 20 Elephant Gallery

FIFTEEN THE MEDIUM

“CORRECTED,” OMARI BOOKER

A Family A air Since 1964

CRITICS’ PICKS

alum and worked for years at Woodcuts Gallery and Framing. The Buchanan Street gallery is a great fit. Opening reception 6 p.m. at Elephant Gallery, 1411 Buchanan St.; exhibition on view through May 20

ERICA CICCARONE

FILM [SWALLOW THIS!] BRUCE-O-RAMA STARRING BRUCE CAMPBELL

Bruce Campbell needs little introduction. Despite his relatively conventional good looks (and top-notch leading-man hair), the native Michigander has carved out a sizable and reliable niche largely outside the mainstream as a cultfilm icon. In addition to his extensive character work and multi-episode arcs on various esteemed television programs, Campbell most notably portrayed Deaditeslaying protagonist Ash Williams in his lifelong pal Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead horror-comedy franchise. (While Raimi didn’t direct and Campbell isn’t starring in this month’s forthcoming Evil Dead Rise, they’re both on board as executive producers — and it stands to reason that the King of Cameos might pop up in the film in some capacity.) Nevertheless, Middle Tennesseans can feast their eyes upon the Bubba Ho-Tep star this week at The Caverns in Pelham, where Campbell is bringing his Bruce-O-Rama Tour. Attendees can expect a “two-part evening of fun” — part one will be the Campbell-hosted geek-trivia competition Last Fan Standing, and part two will be a Campbell-introduced screening of Evil Dead 2. Oil up that chainsaw and head south to join your fellow geeks in the gorgeous and spooky environs of The Caverns! (Note: Please do not actually bring a functioning chainsaw.) 8 p.m. at The Caverns, 555 Charlie Roberts Road, Pelham

D. PATRICK RODGERS

[SHELBY

FESTIVAL

IS THE TOPS]

FRIDAYS BY THE RIVER

There’s a lot to love about Shelby Park, which was one of the first places I discovered after I moved to Nashville and remains the site of some of my favorite memories here. You can golf! You can play baseball! You can bring a friend who’s good at disc golf and watch them patiently explain how to avoid throwing your disc into the Cumberland River! You can wander the pedestrian paths that connect to parks in other parts of town! You can try to break the land-speed record at the Cornelia Fort Airpark, and then you can get blasted in the face by gusty headwinds! If you haven’t visited Shelby Park recently, the warmer spring months offer a great chance to pop by the park for Fridays by the River, a weekly pop-up beer garden by Friends of Shelby and East Nashville Beer Works. The events feature yard games, food trucks and live music, and they’re a great way to kick off the weekend outdoors. 3-8 p.m. Fridays through May 12 at Shelby Park COLE VILLENA

SATURDAY / 4.8

FESTIVAL

Horror Festival will bring a lot of stars to Nashville this weekend. Many of them will be making a stop at Full Moon Cineplex, as the theater will screen their most notable work. On Friday night, Kane Hodder (aka Jason No. 8) and scream queen Lar Park Lincoln will introduce Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, followed by a screening of Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell, with cast members Bill Moseley, Richard Brake, Dee Wallace and Jeff Daniel Phillips doing the intro. The next day, it’s a triple feature, starting with The Shining, featuring a post-screening Q&A with Danny Torrance himself, Danny Lloyd. After that, Dick “The Copy-Cat Jason” Wieand will introduce Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning Finally, Nick Castle — the Halloween series’ ominous Shape — and makeup artist Christopher Nelson will introduce the 2018 Halloween reboot. More information about the festival, which will also host events at the Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel, is available at fullmooninc.net. April 7-9 at Full Moon Cineplex, 3455 Lebanon Pike, and Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel, 600 Marriott Drive CRAIG D. LINDSEY

[ICONIC

MAKERS OF MISCHIEF]

BOOKS

[MONSTROUS MEETUP] FULL MOON TATTOO AND HORROR FESTIVAL

The 20th Annual Full Moon Tattoo and

JOAN

BAEZ IN CONVERSATION WITH EMMYLOU HARRIS

In collaboration with Parnassus Books, OZ Arts will host a conversation between Emmylou Harris and Joan Baez about the latter’s new book, Am I Pretty When I Fly? Like a long, funny letter from an old friend, the book gives you a chance to discover an album of drawings by the legendary singer and activist. Baez’s commitment to music and social justice has earned global recognition, and this collection shows another side of the dynamic force of nature: loose and charming sketches. Baez has focused her formidable talents on painting and drawing since her retirement from actively performing. She regards her sketches as exercises in freedom; beginning upside-down (and often using her non-dominant hand), Baez draws with

family would be thrilled to know that their effort and recipes are popular and appreciated in Nashville. Thank you for voting us Best Italian Restaurant in Nashville year after year - we are honored to continue to keep the tradition that they started alive.

no preconceived notions of where the lines might lead. Organized thematically on topics like politics, relationships, women, animals and family, each section includes an introductory piece by the beloved icon.

8 p.m. at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle

KARIN MATHIS

BOOKS

[WICKED WIT AND WISDOM]

DAVID SEDARIS

David Sedaris is one of those rare writers who can legitimately find the humor in just about any situation. Don’t believe me? Check out his latest collection of essays, Happy-Go-Lucky. Nothing is off limits here as he offers his thoughts on everything from the pandemic to the loss of his own father (with whom he had an especially difficult relationship). It may not seem like great fodder for amusement, but Sedaris always manages to bring his signature wit and wisdom to even the darkest of topics. Of course, as much as I enjoy reading his work, there’s nothing quite like sitting in a darkened theater, hearing from the writer live and in person. This

[CULTIVATING COMMUNITY]

VEGGIE GARDENING WORKSHOP

Saturday, you can do just that as Sedaris returns to Nashville for a reading at TPAC’s Polk Theater. It’s a great opportunity to catch this bestselling author and humorist in a more intimate setting, and you can also look forward to a Q&A session, along with a book signing. 7 p.m. at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater, 505 Deaderick St. AMY STUMPFL OUTDOORS

In such a turbulent and tragic time for the Nashville area, it can be hard to find any moment of respite. Gardening has always brought me peace during stressful times, but it can be difficult to know how to start. The plant experts at Gardens of Babylon are offering a Vegetable Gardening Workshop as a part of their Spring Plant Workshops series. The veggie-centric event on Saturday is perfect for beginners or experienced gardeners looking to share in a time of community. The workshop starts at 11 a.m. and will offer gardening instruction for growing delicious organic vegetables in any space you have to plant in,

raised

DAVID SEDARIS

WITNESS HISTORY

These

artifact: Courtesy of Michael Nesmith artifact photo: Bob Delevante

boots—decorated with rhinestones and embroidered stars and stripes— were designed for the Monkees’ Michael Nesmith by Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors in 1967.

From the exhibit Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock

Saturday, April 8

SONGWRITER SESSION

Ben Johnson

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 8

CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

Country Proud

With Emily and Jamie Dryburgh, Shelly Fairchild, Angie K, Sonia Leigh, and Adam Mac 2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

Sunday, April 9

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

John Hartford

Fiddle Tune

Project

Featuring Tyler Andal, Megan Lynch Chowning, and Tristan Scroggins

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 15

SONGWRITER SESSION

Acoustic Guitar Project

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, April 22

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

10:00 am, 1:00 pm, and 3:30 pm

HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Saturday, April 22

SONGWRITER SESSION

Gretchen Peters

NOON · FORD THEATER

Sunday, April 23

INTERVIEW AND PERFORMANCE

Dave Alvin

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

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

CRITICS’ PICKS

beds to porch planters. Tickets for this event and information about the ongoing gardening workshop series are available via Eventbrite. 11 a.m. at Gardens of Babylon Landscapes, 900 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.

HANNAH CRON

MUSIC [EVERYBODY DO THE SNAKE]

DAIKAIJU W/JANE ROSE AND THE DEADENDS

All hail the mighty-morphing rock gods of progressive surf punk, Daikaiju. The band of kabuki-masked marauders will invade The Cobra with their signature live show in the wake of their third full-length album, Phase 3, released in February. The visceral record helps them earn their place among contemporary shred heavyweights. Standout track “Spiral Serpent Strike” spins surf music on its head. Featuring blistering guitar riffs and pummeling drumbeats, the epic ode blurs the genre lines of modern rock ’n’ roll. May all fervent followers offer eager ears and open eyes in witness

off steam and share in community while supporting a cause that is actually making a difference. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. HANNAH HERNER

SUNDAY / 4.9

MUSIC

[STRONG WITH THIS ONE]

CENTRIPETAL SUNDAYS FEAT. ZIONA RILEY, ABSTRACT BLACK & KEVIN COLEMAN

In last year’s Best of Nashville issue, the Scene recognized Centripetal Force Records as Best Indie Label for the work that founder Mike Mannix does on behalf of Nashville musicians as well as the way the label brings musicians into contact with our scene. Centripetal Force hasn’t slowed down one bit; recent projects range from My Body, ’Tis of Thee II, the second installment in a series of benefit compilations focused

Museum Membership

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of Daikaiju’s fiery instrumental assault, pyrotechnics guaranteed. Alas, will their tour van survive the heat? The local rock ’n’ roll rave-up of Jane Rose and the Deadends, hot off a win as Ameripolitan Music Awards’ Female Rockabilly Artist of the Year, will kick off the show. 8 p.m. at The Cobra 2511 Gallatin Ave. JASON VERSTEGEN

[SHOW YOU CARE]

MUSIC

ABORTION FOREVER: ABORTION CARE

TENNESSEE SPRING BENEFIT

Keeping the vibes up at an event centered on abortion is a tall order, but I think Abortion Care Tennessee is up to the task. Drag performers, comedians and local musicians including Sarah Fye, Cortney Warner and Allie Thomas are set to perform at the organization’s third variety show since Roe v. Wade was overturned. In the wake of the nearly total ban on abortion that went into effect last year, donations piled in, but organizations like Abortion Care Tennessee need sustained support to continue the important work of helping pregnant people have agency, even in a state that tries to limit it. Knowing how little some of the powers that be care about the health of women is a constant source of anger. An event like this is an opportunity to blow

on abortion rights, to a vinyl edition of New York rock and funk ensemble Rhyton’s 2020 album Krater’s Call, to Nashville Ambient Ensemble’s forthcoming second full-length Light and Space. Somehow, Mannix has also found time to organize a weekly show series at Vinyl Tap — running throughout April, Centripetal Sundays brings together an array of fascinating musicians, connected loosely by a weekly theme. April 9, you’ve got “An Evening of Creative Quirk and Exploratory Improvisation.” The lineup includes Ziona Riley, a fantastic singersongwriter whose songs never sound forced even when they’re about dramatic happenings and rarely bring you what you expected to hear in the next verse even when the story is very familiar. Also performing is master of wind instruments JayVe Montgomery, whom you’ll know from groups like In Place Quartet as well as his post-jazz improvisational solo work as Abstract Black. Rounding out the roster is innovative fingerstyle guitarist Kevin Coleman, whom Mannix notes has been hard at work on some new recordings. It’s an early show and there’s no cover, so get over early and bring cash to tip generously.

5:30 p.m. at Vinyl Tap, 2038 Greenwood Ave.

STEPHEN

TRAGESER

DAIKAIJU

COMEDY – FREE! WED 4.12 TIFFANY JOHNSON • HANA EID RACHEL MORRIS • LEIGHTON WEBER THU 4.13 MOLLY GRACE • ALEX J. PRICE

DOWNTOWN

one-of-a-kind beer festival inside adventure science center

friday, april 21, 2023

6:30 pm - 10:00 pm

■ unlimited beer samples

■ brew science talks

■ special planetarium shows

■ kid-free, after-hours access adventuresci.org/scienceofbeer

CRITICS’ PICKS MONDAY / 4.10

MUSIC

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

6-9 PM ONEC1TY FRIDAY, MAY 19

TEQUILA MADE YOU DO IT!

This year we celebrate our 10th annual toast to tequila! Your ticket gets you entry to the event and 15 margarita samples from the city’s best marg makers.Sip and shake the night away while DJs rock the park and you enjoy food trucks, salsa dancing, photo booth fun and more! After you’ve sipped your way through all the delicious drinks, vote for your favorite marg of the night to help crown the Best Margarita in Town! Tickets typically sell out every year — so get yours while you still can!

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[MONDAYS ARE

FOR THE MACABRE] HOUSE OF LUX PRESENTS THE SHADOW ROOM

On the first Monday of every month, The Blue Room at Third Man Records turns into a hideaway for the macabre at the Shadow Room goth dance party. The event kicked off in September and is especially aimed at service industry workers who, as organizer and burlesque performer Lux-O-Matic tells the Scene, “work every other night of the week in this crazy town!!!!” Expect silent films on repeat, drink specials and a bestdressed goth contest. Three Nashville locals will be on hand to spin records: Amy Darling is a Nashville rocker ’n’ roller whose latest release is a tribute to Music City, “Nashville Nights.” Maggie Wells is a well-traveled DJ who will look familiar from sets at the Dive Motel, the Virgin Hotel or other dance parties held by the Carousel DJ collective. Ben Swank, Third Man Records co-founder, rounds out the lineup. This month, a portion of ticket sales will go to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s relief efforts for families affected by the shooting at Covenant School. 7 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. COLE

VILLENA

TUESDAY / 4.11

[RUNAWAY SUCCESS]

MUSIC

CHARLES FRAZIER

In case you’ve forgotten what a big deal the Civil War novel Cold Mountain was when it came out in 1997, let me tell you: It was huge. The book was a word-of-mouth phenomenon eagerly discussed by every book club in the nation, most especially here in Nashville, so close to the book’s North Carolina setting. Dearly departed Davis-Kidd Booksellers probably had it

on constant backorder. Then, of course, there was the movie. Anyway, back to the present day: Cold Mountain author Charles Frazier will appear in conversation Tuesday with fellow North Carolina novelist Tony Earley. Frazier is launching his newest book, The Trackers, in which he tackles another piece of American history: the Great Depression. And you can bet it’ll be huge. 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike TOBY LOWENFELS

[WHERE WERE YOU WHILE WE WERE GETTING HIGH?]

MUSIC

HIGH VIS

I was at The End in 2001 to catch The White Stripes, and at Guido’s Pizza for a madhouse Mastodon show the following year. The High Vis gig at Drkmttr has that energy — seeing an artist in a small room, knowing they could soon be big-venue headliners and headline-makers. High Vis — born of the same London scene that gave us The Chisel and Chubby and the Gang —

JUNE 3 & 4

TANYA TUCKER ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

JUNE 11 & 12

INDIGO GIRLS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

AUGUST 14

LYLE LOVETT AND HIS LARGE BAND ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

SEPTEMBER 9

CHRIS D’ELIA ON SALE THURSDAY AT NOON

SEPTEMBER 14

ANTHONY JESELNIK ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

OCTOBER 9

PAT METHENY ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

DECEMBER 13-23

AMY GRANT & VINCE GILL

CHRISTMAS AT THE RYMAN

CRITICS’ PICKS

stands to be the Fugazi of the New Wave of British Hardcore. Their post-punk sound, anchored by jangly hooks, bleak lyrics and imaginative chords, recalls post-Thatcher nobility like The Stone Roses, Sisters of Mercy, Crisis and even Oasis. But they achieve this without ever sacrificing the crucial raw energy of the DIY community that sired them. 7 p.m. at Drkmttr, 1111 Dickerson Pike P.J.

KINZER

WEDNESDAY / 4.12

BOOKS

[KEEP MOVING]

MAGGIE SMITH

Our crazy, cruel world needs more poets. Thankfully, poet Maggie Smith has always been one to step up to the plate. Widely published, with several notable awards, Smith is known for elegantly distilling life’s deepest challenges. Her poem “Good Bones” went viral a few years

back, which is worth celebrating not only for the poem’s beauty but also because, gosh, how often do poems go mainstream? Smith will be joined by local author Mary Laura Philpott to discuss her new memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful. In it, the lifelong Ohioan explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. We don’t have many superstar poets these days, so when one does come along, we need to hold on tight. As Smith writes: “This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.” 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike TOBY LOWENFELS

MUSIC [THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC] AN OPENING GOODBYE

We often hear about the healing power of music and the way it can help us get in touch with internal emotions that might otherwise remain buried. But what about external forces and crises? Nashville’s own chamber ensemble chatterbird has teamed up with the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University to explore such questions with An Opening Goodbye, presented at Saint Elle. Vanderbilt faculty composers Molly Herron, Stan Link, Michael Alec Rose and Michael Slayton have composed four new works that take on “themes of crisis and conflict surrounding subjects ranging from climate change and fascism to the concept of art’s role in the modern world.” It’s just the sort of thoughtprovoking work you’d expect from these two organizations. Between each piece, a group of Vanderbilt scholars and other community leaders will be on hand to look at ways people can build community and care for one another while navigating these challenging times. 7:30 p.m. at Saint Elle, 1420 Third Ave. S. AMY STUMPFL

THEATER

COLLABORATIVE ACTS

Fisk and Vanderbilt theater students team up to present Lynn Nottage’s Sweat

BY AMY STUMPFL

It’s not uncommon to see creative partnerships among local theater companies flourish here in Nashville. Still, there’s something especially gratifying about seeing young artists working together on a joint production. That’s exactly what’s happening with a group of students at Fisk and Vanderbilt universities, who are teaming up to present Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat

It all started in the summer of 2021, when the acclaimed Chicago-based director Chuck Smith was in town to direct Jitney for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Kennie Playhouse Theatre. Smith was already wellacquainted with Vanderbilt’s outgoing theater department chair Leah Lowe — the two had worked together in Minneapolis back in the 1990s. Lowe had expressed an interest in having Smith direct a play for Vanderbilt, but as conversations continued, Smith proposed something different — a joint production between Vanderbilt and Fisk.

“We’d never really done anything like this before, but when I reached out to professor Persephone Felder-Fentress at Fisk, she was immediately interested,” says Phillip Franck, current chair of Vanderbilt’s theater department and a well-known scenic, lighting and audio designer. “We asked Chuck to suggest some plays, and quickly settled on Sweat. Lynn Nottage is such an important playwright, and this is really a great play with a good mix of roles.”

Sweat, which examines the “collision of race, class and friendship set in America’s Rust Belt,” first premiered on Broadway in 2017, and would go on to earn the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It’s a gritty piece, providing plenty of opportunity for discussion among both students and the community at large. In fact, Franck and Felder-Fentress co-hosted a panel discussion in November, in which participants discussed the play’s significance and historical setting.

The universities have also worked closely to coordinate performances on both campuses — Sweat opens on April 7 at Fisk’s Little Theatre (as part of the university’s 94th annual Spring Arts Festival), and moves to Vanderbilt’s Neely Auditorium on April 13.

“It’s been an interesting challenge logistically,” Franck says. “We had to look at everything from how to get students back and forth between campuses, to navigating the universities’ different cultures and administrative practices. But it’s been really wonderful to see students working so well together. Persephone and I keep saying, ‘Why didn’t we think to do this sooner?’ I guess we just needed Chuck to be the catalyst to make it all happen. Coming from Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, he certainly brings a lot of gravitas to the project. And it’s such an amazing opportunity for the students to work with this incredible director.”

There are several other professional art-

ists involved with the production. David Wilkerson, an accomplished Nashville theater artist, is staging the play’s fight scenes; Grammy nominee Joseph Wooten is composing incidental music for the production; and Franck is designing the production’s set and lighting — no small feat when you consider the two venues’ differing features.

As an associate professor of humanities and director of the Fisk University Stagecrafters, Felder-Fentress says the project offers an important reminder that “learning is not just about what happens within the four walls of the classroom.”

“These students have absolutely flourished,” Felder-Fentress says. “It’s been so exciting to see them coming back and forth between the campuses, working on sets, costumes and props. The students in my theater appreciation class have been working with our dramaturg Dr. Khalid Long from the University of Georgia, digging into the meat of what this play is really about, and learning so much. It’s been a beautiful journey — both academically and artistically. I’m just thrilled with the growth that I’m seeing.

“And the students are getting together outside of rehearsal as well,” she continues. “These young people come from all different walks of life, but you’d think they’ve known each other all their lives. It’s been wonderful to watch. But that’s what the arts do, don’t they? They bring people together.”

At a time when Americans are polarized, Smith is hoping that the project will resonate with audiences as well.

“In my many years of theater, I’ve discovered that every production creates a new family,” he says. “Everyone involved shares both good and embarrassing memories of precious time spent with others in the creation of art. The Vanderbilt-Fisk Sweat family is, to me, something special. Watching the respective students travel to and from each university, sharing their talents with each other, is a beautiful sight and experience to behold. Our currently divided country should take note of this particular American family — we could use a lot more of this.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

SWEAT APRIL 7-9 AT FISK’S LITTLE THEATRE AND APRIL 13-15 AT VANDERBILT’S NEELY AUDITORIUM

MONSTERS, MAGIC AND MUSIC CITY

Nashvillians aren’t just playing Dungeons & Dragons — they’re creating shows and streams to celebrate the game

BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

Dungeons & Dragons has never been more popular. An official movie starring Chris Pine, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, is now out in theaters — getting better reviews than the derided 2000 adaptation. Millions of viewers log onto Twitch each week to watch professional voice actors play the game on Critical Role. The stream’s animated adaptation, The Legend of Vox Machina, raised $11 million on Kickstarter and wrapped its second season in Amazon Prime.

Nashville itself has plenty of D&D fans — a Facebook group for Middle Tennessee players sees frequent calls for groups, and hobby shops like The Game Keep are buzzing with tables and dice. And among the crowd are content creators publishing gameplay materials, launching shows and even leading geeky yoga routines.

Local streamer Dominique Howse says D&D is more accessible these days: The current fifth edition simplified the math, and websites like D&D Beyond make it easier to track character features. Virtual tabletops like Roll20 also allow for online D&D play, which was helpful during COVID-19 lockdowns — on those sites, complicated dice rolls just need one click. Howse says accessibility is “what makes this game fun.”

Howse, aka Neosoulgod, runs and streams a game called Hillard University, which takes place at a magical historically Black college, and was inspired by their own experiences as a third-generation Tennessee State University graduate. All the players are Black, and Howse is out to show that all people belong in tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) spaces — which often center white players and Europe-derived settings. Howse has also published free supplements for D&D, their most popular being the playable character race Nightskins, whose lore is partly inspired by West African mythology.

Local comedy club Zanies is also home to the chaotic actual play Catacombs and Comedians. Dan Taylor runs the game and says he approached the club with the show idea after he and his wife moved from Los Angeles to Nashville. He asked the talent booker to find comics who knew how to play the game.

“And it turns out we found comics that don’t know how to play D&D,” says Taylor, who started playing the game in 1979. “But that’s been part of the fun.”

Catacombs & Comedians’ audience has increased over the past year, and the show has been performed in Alabama venues as well. Taylor also runs a spinoff game for noncomedians at The Game Keep in Hermitage on Fridays called Deep Delve Pizza Co., where you deliver pizzas to the most dangerous dungeons.

Lebanon, Tenn., native Erica Lowe, who has played D&D for 10 years, incorporated her own love of Critical Role into a yoga class she’d teach at gaming conventions, reading

quotes from the show or renaming poses after characters. She still mixes yoga and D&D on her YouTube channel, even recounting game sessions during a stretching routine. Lowe also published her first adventure for the throwback Dungeon Crawl Classics system, which she playtested at The Game Keep in Hermitage.

Nashville is also where a D&D reality show called Die Inspired was filmed. Created by Michael Rusco and Michael Valentine, the show morphs D&D into a multi-season survival game in which the last players standing win a cash prize. It was filmed at The Game Keep and features a cast of 80 players (most D&D tables cap at six players).

The premise: Four ships, each holding 20 characters, are about to sink, and the lifeboats hold only eight people. Betrayal and half-truths are part of the game, which is more cutthroat than traditional, cooperative D&D sessions. But Rusco and Valentine say players are hesitant to descend into violence too early, and there are even surprising displays of heroism and self-sacrifice. That unpredictability is part of the fun: For all the preparation and worldbuilding the cocreators put into the show, Valentine says the duo “couldn’t have written it better.”

In addition to footage of gameplay and player interviews, the show also features re-creations of dramatic moments brought to life by an army of miniature figures and a massive 3-D-printed model ship. (Those segments are produced at Gamma Blast Studios.)

Rusco and Valentine aren’t the only ones pushing the limits on player counts. Ben Ramos created the TTRPG-meets-bar-game Land of Far, which simplifies gameplay to accommodate up to 26 players for a two- to three-hour session. Ramos says the goal is to have players hop in, quickly grasp the rules, and dive back in next week. Characters take minutes to make, battle is quick and loose, and you can get bonuses by ordering food and drinks from the bar. Sessions are hosted weekly at Acme Feed and Seed and The Pharmacy. Land of Far launched one year ago, and Ramos says players have already created more than 1,000 characters.

Many of these creators say they were concerned when news leaked in January that the company behind D&D, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC), wanted to change the licensing policy that allowed third-party creators to publish D&D material freely, introducing new language about royalties among other tweaks. Fans and content creators were furious, and WOTC and parent company Hasbro scrapped the plans. But for some, that trust is lost.

Howse believes the changes would have shut out creators of color, adding that despite efforts to improve, WOTC frequently flubs representation. Last year the company apologized for its introduction of the Hadozee species — formerly enslaved apelike beings whose depiction recalled stereotypes of

Black people.

Lowe, who has long been playing other TTRPG systems, doesn’t expect to continue with the next edition of D&D as a player or content creator.

But while one company can tarnish a brand, frustrating even decades-long fans like Taylor, it can’t sink the whole hobby.

“I’ve played more D&D in Nashville in the last four years than I did in 20 years in L.A.,” says Taylor, who based a Catacombs and Comedians villain on WOTC. “D&D is here to stay.”

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

HILLARD UNIVERSITY

STREAMING 7 P.M. TUESDAYS AT TWITCH.TV/NEOSOULGOD

DIE INSPIRED EPISODES RELEASED MONTHLY AT YOUTUBE.COM/@DIEINSPIRED

LAND OF FAR SESSIONS

TUESDAYS 7 P.M. AT ACME FEED AND SEED, AND WEDNESDAYS 7 P.M. AT THE PHARMACY ERICA LOWE/EMBRACE YOGA YOUTUBE.COM/@NERDYYOGACHANNEL

DIE INSPIRED CREATORS MICHAEL VALENTINE (LEFT) AND MICHAEL RUSCO

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

STRONGER WHERE IT’S BROKEN

On The Weakness , Ruston Kelly returns to his songwriting roots

BY BRITTNEY M c KENNA

The title track of Ruston Kelly’s new album The Weakness, out Friday, centers on a refrain that began as self-directed advice: “We don’t give in to the weakness.” Kelly was playing around with a melody and a few lyrics when the line popped into his head and set up permanent residence. While he knew he needed to hear that advice, he also felt the words had a healing power that could extend beyond himself.

“At the end of the day, you could be beaten down to nothing,” Kelly tells the Scene. “But if you never submit to it, then you can’t be defeated. And then you have another chance to be able to get back up again.”

For Kelly, getting back up again began after his highly publicized 2020 divorce from Kacey Musgraves was final and he found himself cleaning up his side of the street in the fallout. When COVID-19 brought touring to a halt, Kelly faced something of an identity crisis.

“If I’ve rooted my identity in being a touring artist and being a husband and being someone that’s always there up in the mix, and those things were taken away,” he says, “you’re faced with some of the most important questions you could ever ask yourself. Which is: ‘Who am I really? Who was I? Who do I want to be?’”

As with many musicians, the pandemic took away Kelly’s livelihood but also af-

WHAT YOU CAN CARRY

Devon Gilfillian brings introspection and pointed philosophy to Love You Anyway

BY STEPHEN TRAGESER

Afeeling that lingers as the lockdown phase of COVID-19 fades into the rearview mirror is the eerie sensation of time not working the way you expect. In March 2020, the world suddenly stopped functioning the way that we’d been used to; for more than a year, it felt like everything and nothing was happening all at once. On his second LP of originals Love You Anyway, out Friday via Fantasy Records, masterful R&B singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian attempts to crystallize some of the important things he discovered during that time.

“There was so much happening during the pandemic in my life, between my eyes opening to

forded him a rare opportunity to step away from the world, get in touch with himself and ponder those questions. He moved into an old Victorian home in Portland, Tenn., taking advantage of its fixer-upper status to focus on something outside of himself. Though the “huge prophetic epiphany” he hoped for didn’t come — at least not as he envisioned it — some subconscious connections began to form, and Kelly found himself writing again.

“When someone goes through this massive internal upheaval, this really rich turmoil, there’s this expectation that there’s also an equally large answer on the other side of all these questions that you have,” he says. “And I think that there is, but only once you start doing the work. You’re in a mindset of answering the question without realizing that you’re doing it. And then you turn around one day, like, ‘Oh yeah, I feel more solid as a person. I feel more under-

the world — what was happening around me, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the social justice movements that I needed to recognize more — and also at that same time, I was falling out of love and back into love,” Gilfillian says, talking with the Scene by phone. “That is part of my life — reflecting what’s happening in the times, and trying to build a bridge to bring people together. But I also want to highlight the beauty and the joy happening in my life, and I’m also trying to highlight [how] I get depressed and want to just lay in that numbness at certain points, and get through it in my own ways.”

The 11 tracks on Love You Anyway blend old and new R&B style cues for a timeless flavor, and they are divided roughly into thirds by theme. The LP is front-loaded with catchy, charming love songs like “Brown Sugar Queen” and “Right Kind of Crazy,” which touch on both the excitement and the challenges of building a life with a new partner. Later Gilfillian shifts to sharing his reactions to the chaos of our world, including the hymn-like “Let the Water Flow,” inspired by the fight against voter suppression in Georgia, and “Better Broken,” which pushes against the stigma surrounding anxiety and depression. The album wraps with the one-two

stood.’ When I look in the mirror, I feel more capable, on a variety of different fronts. And that went hand in hand with doing the work.”

The writing Kelly found himself doing was not, as he puts it, “for material.” Rather, it was the kind of writing he did before breaking out with 2018’s Dying Star — the kind in which he sought to make sense of his life, to reshape his pain into something greater and to find peace amid the upheaval. This turned out to be creatively fruitful for Kelly, and eventually, he realized that — regardless of his initial goal — he had an album on his hands.

“I was writing out of necessity again,” he says. “I hadn’t done that in a really long time, like writing out of a sense of survival and a sense of, ‘OK, if there’s a way to turn inward and go as far as possible and come out on the other side even fuller, it’s going to be revisiting the way that I’ve always written,’ which was to write with purpose.”

That’s not to say Kelly’s earlier work wasn’t purposeful. Dying Star grappled with substance abuse and sobriety, and 2020’s Shape and Destroy, as Kelly sees it, answered the question, “What is life like when you’re clean?” The Weakness, though, is Kelly’s strongest project yet: It applies the sum total of those earlier lessons, plainly and vulnerably, to what he calls the most difficult season of his life.

Kelly recorded The Weakness with Los Angeles experimental musician Nate Mercereau at the latter’s Studio Tujunga in Los Angeles — another departure that allowed him to distill these major life changes into song. The resulting album is expansive and his most intricate, with arrangements veering more closely to indie and arena rock than his earlier Americana-adjacent work. Kelly has described his work as “dirt emo,” nodding to his blend of country and emotional indie-rock influences, and he leans further into emo here with an emphasis on double-tracked vocals and bittersweet hooks filtered through gritty guitars.

Standout tracks like “Michael Keaton” — whose chorus about musing on existential questions posed by the 1996 film Multiplicity crackles with the contrast of humor and loss — sound larger than life, offering spacious vessels for Kelly’s big questions. Quieter moments, like the heart-wrenching “Mending Song,” are rendered all the more powerful within that context.

Kelly didn’t set out to make a record when that melody popped into his head a couple years earlier. But he found a way to heal himself while sharing some of his hard-earned lessons with listeners who more than likely have fielded recent losses of their own.

“Creativity can be a route for you to be a better person, to express yourself honestly, and authentically. You can understand who you are and what your place is in the world, and get to know the inner workings of yourself. And when you know those things, you’re way better for it.”

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THE WEAKNESS OUT FRIDAY, APRIL 7, VIA ROUNDER; PLAYING JUNE 2 AT ASCEND AMPHITHEATER

FRIDAY, APRIL 7, VIA FANTASY RECORDS; PLAYING APRIL 11 AT GRIMEY’S

PHOTO: EMMANUEL AFOLABI

MUSIC

combo of “Righteous,” in which he’s trying to convince someone to give up ground on a position they’ve resolved to hold at any cost, and “Love You Anyway,” in which he envisions what it’s like to be someone who is trying to soften their own hard-line stance.

Writing music has always been part of Gilfillian’s process for coping with what’s painful, something he describes as being like therapy. He also points out that making music for this purpose is a time-honored tradition in the blues and R&B that he listened to growing up in a suburb of Philadelphia, where he played music in school. He went to church with his family, but the experience was more a spiritual and community-focused one than a solemn duty, the way it was for many musicians he met after moving to Nashville in 2013. Through reading about other faiths and studying the work of thinkers like Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, Gilfillian has developed a pluralistic, humanistic philosophy toward faith and contempt for the way leaders misuse it.

“[‘Righteous’] is a stab at any institution — whether it be religious institutions or government, whatever — that builds hierarchies of supremacy,” he says. “Whether that’s white supremacy, or whether that’s just supremacy in general — the Catholic church saying, ‘You are a sinner and you are bad and unworthy’ — I don’t subscribe to it. … That, to me, is important, just making [faith] not about supremacy. Everyone God loves equally, no matter what. That’s the real Christian way of looking at the world.”

Before he worked at channeling these ideas into Love You Anyway, Gilfillian recorded a track-for-track cover of Marvin Gaye’s 1971 masterpiece What’s Going On, one of the finest pieces of art that is also political and social commentary. Gilfillian went to a protest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, and realized he didn’t have any songs in his catalog that made sense to play at a rally or a march, so he started learning the songs on What’s Going On

“And I was like, ‘Fuck,’ breaking down crying,” Gilfillian says. “Marvin said this shit already. He already said this shit, 50 years ago. It was so fun learning that music, but just learning it like that was horrifying, in a way. ... The wound just busting back open, that was heartbreaking.”

After a decade in Nashville, Gilfillian is pleased to see the gradual expansion of the ways we as a city celebrate different kinds of music, noting jazz jams and R&B jams popping up. However, he’s also been present for rapid growth and change in other ways in Music City, and the long-term effects of rising real estate prices remain a major concern.

“When I moved here 10 years ago, I found this spot in Woodbine for 330 bucks a month — you can’t find that anywhere nowadays. We’ve got to preserve spots for artists to live and for [communities to thrive] for a long, long time in Nashville. I hope that we fight for that and hold onto it. … I’m just trying to be more intentional on how I hold onto my musical friendships. I love Nashville because it’s easy to collaborate with people — you can just drive 10 minutes, 15 minutes down the road and get to somebody you want to write with. That’s the beauty of it, and I hope it doesn’t change.”

EMAIL

MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

MARTSCH MADNESS

Built to Spill returns with a new lineup and a new spin on its trademark sound

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

On a cursory listen, When the Wind Forgets Your Name delivers precisely what fans have come to love from Built to Spill — grooves, tones and riffs for days, in support of songs characterized by emotional vulnerability and caustic wit. A supremely melodic, energetic affair released in September, Wind is the ninth studio LP of originals from the beloved Boise, Idaho, indie-rock outfit since 1992. It represents the gradual evolution of the ensemble around its only constant member, singer-songwriter-guitarist Doug Martsch.

That said, if you haven’t caught up with Built to Spill in a while, the current configuration might throw you. In the Aughts and early 2010s, the group favored a format including guitarists Jim Roth and Brett Netson playing in tandem with Martsch, turning originals like “Randy Described Eternity” and covers like The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now” into full-fledged guitar symphonies. Starting in 2015, Martsch scaled back to a lean power-trio lineup, the membership of which has changed multiple times.

Bassist João Casaes and drummer Lê Almeida, both of earthy Brazilian psychedelic

pop-rock band Oruã, toured with Martsch in 2018 and ’19, and they backed him on the recordings that became Wind. Oruã is opening for Built to Spill on the tour that brings them back to Nashville on Wednesday — a relatively rare local appearance for the band — as will BTS’ longtime Swiss comrades Disco Doom.

Currently performing alongside Martsch are bassist Melanie Radford, who also plays in Boise rockers Blood Lemon, and drummer Teresa Esguerra, on loan from Albuquerque, N.M., punks Prism Bitch. Reached by phone, Martsch tells the Scene he first caught Esguerra’s band a few years ago at Boise music fest Treefort and loved it. That led to Prism Bitch touring with both Built to Spill and Martsch’s turn-of-the-’90s band Treepeople when they reunited to celebrate Guilt Regret Embarrassment, their 1991 post-punk classic for K Records.

“We went on to play together in Albuquerque, and loved them even more,” Martsch says of Prism Bitch. “Just a great group of people to have around — to see each other every day, and watch each night.”

Despite the changes in Built to Spill’s lineup, its catalog is remarkably consistent. How then does Martsch keep things from getting stale? His recent routine hasn’t been overly complicated, but it has been intentional.

“I bought a house,” he says. “Got a cat named Rita. Found a bunch of music through Spotify — current pop stuff. I like Doja Cat a lot. Also listened to a lot of weird music from around the globe, old and new.”

While the new tunes don’t hold back on distortion or delay effects, material like “Understood” hangs out in a melancholic comfort zone Martsch & Co. thrive in. Meanwhile the stately, drawn-out “Elements” and

“Spiderweb” resist the easy payoff, building tension but holding back from exploding. “Never Alright” is my personal fave — a punchy psych-pop jam that you might want to skip ahead to if you’re an evangelist for the band’s 1999 fan-favorite Keep It Like a Secret

Having to scale back instrumentally, the 53-year-old musician adds, brought him back to an album generally regarded as a footnote in his catalog. In 2002, he released what is so far his only solo album, the country-and-bluegrass-oriented, fingerstyleguitar-focused Now You Know.

“I’d gotten burnt out on indie rock,” Martsch remembers. “I wanted to learn slide guitar — to embrace the unconventional country blues I’d wondered about. I made up my own little licks as exercises, and after a while, came up with enough to pull some songs from.”

Martsch’s laid-back relationship with his songs is another throughline from Now You Know to When the Wind Forgets Your Name I can almost hear him shrug over the phone when I ask about the new tunes.

“They’re all just different songs,” he says with a laugh. “A couple are older — ‘Elements’ and ‘Alright’ — but didn’t fit on [previous] albums. I kind of have a backlog of songs like that.”

Ask Martsch about being onstage and the repertoire Built to Spill has worked up for the tour, however, and his excitement ramps up.

“We’ve got about 35 or 40 songs. Plus some weird covers [that] make you rethink how you play guitar. There’s nothing more fun. It’s a blast — my favorite part of our show every night. Sometimes we’ll do a couple; sometimes we won’t do any.”

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PLAYING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, AT THE BASEMENT EAST

PHOTO: ISABELA GEORGETTI

The Emo Night Tour

Twen w/ Afrokokoroot and Eve Maret Joywave w/ Dizzy & Elliot Lee

Dan Deacon Church of The Cosmic Skull w/ Valley Of The Sun and Lord Buffalo

Ron Gallo w/ The Weird Sisters and John Roseboro

Built To Spill w/ Disco Doom and Oruã

Cold w/ Divide The Fall, Awake for Days, Sygnal to Noise

David Morris

The Happy Fits w/ The Hails

Aoife O’Donovan plays Nebraska w/ The Westerlies

TWRP w/ Magic Sword

The Heavy Heavy w/ Shane Guerrette

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MUSIC

THE SPIN

REVOLUTION GIRL STYLE, NOW

BY P.J. KINZER

Even though music exists in the moment you’re hearing it, it’s a form of art that lends itself to finding new life again and again. Olympia, Wash.’s Bikini Kill didn’t get swept into the mainstream of American culture before they ended their original run in 1997, but they’ve been far more influential than a lot of bands who took up a lot more airtime and moved a lot more units.

One reason the group has remained influential is the sound: Singer Kathleen Hanna’s ferocious, melodic screams, erstwhile guitarist Billy Karren’s street-walkin’-cheetah riffs and the hand-in-glove rhythm section of bassist Kathi Wilcox and drummer Tobi Vail crystallized into a format that’s been a foundation for tons of young rockers. The other half of the recipe is their unapologetic revolutionary feminism, reflected in their major role in the riot grrrl feminist punk movement. Hanna candidly notes that riot grrrl’s original incarnation wasn’t perfect and could have been far more intersectional. But their unapologetic dedication to calling

pation to build up. The last time the band played Nashville was in 1994, in the early days of Lucy’s Record Shop as a youth culture center — a show immortalized in Stacy Goldate’s documentary Lucy Barks! For reference, the stage at Marathon is larger than the entirety of Lucy’s. Looking around, I noticed a large number of people who brought their kids, elementary- and middleschool-age. Some of them were the children of folks I’ve known for more than 20 years. I thought about the world these youngsters live in, just days after three 9-year-olds (as well as three adults) lost their lives in the Covenant School shooting. I thought about how they live in a state where the legislature seems hell-bent on continuing to strip away their human rights. Yet here they were, with hope and energy and excitement bubbling out of them from being at what was likely their first punk show.

Billy Karren decided to abstain from the reunion, and Hanna’s The Julie Ruin bandmate Sara Landeau is filling in on this tour. If the group has recorded any new music, they haven’t released it yet, and the set list brimmed with classics like the leftist chant “Reject All American” and the feminist rage anthem “Suck My Left One.” The players occasionally switched instruments, with Vail or Wilcox taking the mic from time to time.

Some things have changed so disgustingly little since 1994, and the band mem-

out sexism within punk music and in our culture generally — in a way that you have to try pretty hard to ignore — never really stopped generating aftershocks. And just when the world needed them most, Bikini Kill got back together. Their reunion tour, launched in 2019, finally brought them to Marathon Music Works on Thursday.

While the prospect of seeing Bikini Kill was exciting to me, I have to say the openers were just as much of a draw. Hurry Up is composed of Maggie Vail from Pacific Northwest punk champs Bangs, plus Kathy Foster and Westin Glass, who make up two-thirds of The Thermals — a band that has clocked a lot of time on my turntable during the past 15 years. But while those two defunct groups relied on earworm riffs and clever lyrics, Hurry Up is much bleaker and more angular. Their lo-fi sound is an homage to The Wipers that captures the primal urgency of a Crass Records 7-inch. Playing in drag, the trio lived up to their name by cramming their set into less than 40 minutes.

Bikini Kill’s show was announced just before the pandemic and rescheduled a couple of times due to COVID, giving fans old and young three years for the antici-

bers’ firsthand accounts of misogyny and the crowd’s chants of “Girls to the front!” feel just as timely now as they did decades ago. Hanna & Co. celebrated the indictment of Donald Trump that was announced just a few hours before the show. With each song, I watched a trio of my friends’ elementaryage kids hold hands and run in a clockwise loop, bouncing off the adults around them — like a hybrid of a circle pit and a game of ring-around-the-rosie. Behind the children were hundreds of fans screaming and bouncing, thrilled to finally see Bikini Kill in the flesh. The show wrapped with the riot grrrl theme song “Rebel Girl,” spawning a sing-along with Gen X punks and their young’uns together.

In a world where marginalized people have an increasing amount of things to fear, artists like Bikini Kill offer both an outlet for rage and a space of comfort for the folks who need it most. The foursome’s special brew is making something smart, vulnerable, confident and liberating all at once. As long as there’s a world in need of a revolution, it’s good to know Bikini Kill is here to provide a score for the uprising.

JEFF COFFIN, GRAMMY-WINNING SAXOPHONIST

PAINT IT CRACKED

Owen Wilson paints a portrait of a bizarro Bob Ross

BY JOE NOLAN

Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson) is an alternative-universe Bob Ross — a public-television art star with a gravity-defying perm and fans who fawn over every dab of burnt sienna, every splash of vermilion.

Nargle shoots his program, Paint With Carl Nargle, at the Burlington Public Broadcasting Center on a set that’s dressed to look like the inside of a cozy log cabin. In every episode he transforms the blank canvas on his easel into an idyllic landscape featuring the rugged and ubiquitous Mount Mansfield. He narrates the scene for at-home viewers, practically whispering pseudo-scientific ramblings about the life cycle of the forest, naming parts of the scene as they materialize in linseed and pigment: Miss Marcy the blackberry bush; Arthur the evergreen tree. But behind the scenes, the station is in trouble. And when the director asks Nargle to double the length of his episodes and create two paintings per show, the painter refuses, saying it would cheapen his art.

Nargle’s perm is the crown of his retro fashion sense, which also includes vintage shirts featuring floral and Southwestern designs and a sharp selection of maplewoodcolored leather jackets. He smokes a big Oom Paul-style tobacco pipe and wears socks with his sandals. Nargle drives a custom van dubbed “Vantastic,” complete with a misty landscape paint job and a loud speaker connected to his CB radio — which he uses to whisper greetings to his fans. He’s a gentleman sexist who’s had affairs with multiple women who work on his show. He blasts the

WE CAN NEVER GO BACK AND BE STRANGERS

Jason Isbell: Running

With Our Eyes Closed is a documentary about a marriage

BY HANNAH CRON

At a Q&A last month at the Belcourt, Jason Isbell said there are two kinds of music documentaries: the kind the musician is OK with, and the kind that doesn’t suck.

Thankfully, Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed definitely doesn’t suck.

The new documentary, which debuts this week on HBO, follows the acclaimed singer-songwriter through the making of his 2020 record Reunions

band Crow’s 1971 song “Don’t Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll” through open windows, and kids on bikes wave and shout from quiet sidewalks bathed in golden-hour light through an autumn prism of orange, red and yellow.

The movie is set in present-day Vermont, but the painter is stuck in the past. A journalist asks if he’s listened to a voice message on his cellphone, but Nargle still hasn’t “gotten the hang of using the answering machine inside of it.” Nargle is full of himself, but mostly too dim to be a jerk about it, and Wilson is perfectly cast. Paint will find an eager audience among fans of the actor’s knack for playing clueless but kindhearted bohemian types, from novelist Eli Cash (The Royal Tenenbaums) to fashion model Hansel McDonald (Zoolander).

When Nargle declines the offer to lengthen his episodes, the station hires a second painter. Ambrosia (Ciara Renée) is the Anti-Carl: a young woman of color with hip contemporary sensibilities and a wildly

adventurous style that pits her blood-soaked UFOs against Nargle’s staid natural scenes of the venerable Mount Mansfield. Ambrosia shakes up the station and the viewers. She starts winning fans of her own and striking up a problematic and unbelievable — and unnecessary for the plot — romantic connection with the station’s assistant director, Nargle’s ex-girlfriend Katherine (SNL alum Michaela Watkins — Bitch Pleeze!).

The rivalry between Nargle and Ambrosia makes for a fun set piece at a portrait auction during a station fundraiser. There’s also a great turn from Denny Dillon (of HBO vintage classic series Dream On) as the auction host and a hilarious bit featuring a kid magician. Writer-director Brit McAdams sets one scene to the country funk of Jerry Reed’s “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” but in more thoughtful moments he adds musical moods courtesy of Dolly Parton, Steve Forbert, John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot.

Paint is laugh-out-loud funny throughout, but it’s also sweet and slow and kind of sad

in that chilly-September-in-Vermont, everything-is-gorgeous-and-dying kind of way. Amid its laughs it’s a movie about moving: Nargle needs to learn and move on from the past if he — and his art — are going to have a place in the future; Katherine contemplates moving for a promotion at a station in Albany, N.Y.; Ambrosia is moving out of her young adult life, an artist and a woman still learning how to be both.

Paint is McAdams’ feature film debut, and it’s firmly on my early list of best movies of the year so far. It gives viewers happy blackberry bushes, deluded artists, regretful lovers, proud pines, big hair and the even bigger majesty of Mount Mansfield. It’s a movie that’s deftly balanced between laughable lines and lonely lives. Though it nearly tips into Adam McKay/Will Ferrell spoof territory, ultimately it stays rooted as a melancholy ensemble piece about misfits trying to take a second chance on themselves and each other.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

and substance abuse. The two share the same sense of humor — their dry delivery creeps up on you — and willingness to speak uncomfortable truths.

While most of the “action” does take place in the studio — Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, that is — with Isbell bouncing ideas off his band The 400 Unit and producer Dave Cobb looking like he walked straight out of a 1970s Wrangler catalog, this music documentary really isn’t about the music. Interviews from Isbell’s manager Traci Thomas, his former Drive-By Truckers bandmate Patterson Hood and his parents frame the story of how he became who he is today, but the story

goes far beyond that. Just minutes into the film, it becomes clear that contrary to its marketing, this is not a making-of documentary. It’s a film about a marriage.

Isbell and his wife, fellow musician Amanda Shires, clearly have a strong connection. They’ve known each other for nearly two decades, first becoming friends during Isbell’s Drive-By Truckers days. Early in the couple’s relationship, Shires became the reason Isbell decided to get sober after years of serious addiction

If the Scene were asked for a single adjective to include with the Running With Our Eyes Closed press materials, I might just say “uncomfortable” — but that’s not to say the film isn’t good. The painful tension between Isbell and Shires is the core of the story; it begins with a trivial argument about prepositions and quickly expands into a communication breakdown, all in clear view of the audience. Where the documentary succeeds most is in its treatment of this trauma. Director Sam Jones shows us that Isbell’s past — before and since meeting Amanda Shires — runs parallel to his present. The decision to tell Isbell’s story in a nonlinear way might be just the thing that saves it from, as Isbell put it, sucking.

The film’s true revelation is that accountability brings about healing in the end. Near the conclusion, Isbell muses, “I know I wasn’t going to hurt anybody from my perspective, but there were other perspectives.” The invitation to examine Isbell’s story and compare it to your own drives home Running With Our Eyes Closed, leaving the viewer to grapple with their own life.

EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PAINT PG-13, 96 MINUTES OPENING WIDE FRIDAY, APRIL 7

JASON ISBELL: RUNNING WITH OUR EYES CLOSED PREMIERING FRIDAY, APRIL 7, VIA HBO AND HBO MAX

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ACROSS

1 Young farm animal

5 Palindromic staple in Indian cuisine

9 Gumption

14 Classic cartoon character originally named Spot

15 Palindromic honorific

16 It helps you show your point of view

17 Sites of many revolutions

19 Flower whose name comes from the Greek for “star”

20 Sample

21 Dark-colored drink

22 Lighten (up)

23 Child-oriented nonprofit grp.

25 Confirmations

27 Physicist who invented the electric battery

28 Drab

30 Further considers

32 Add-ons to some bills

35 Scary thing to ask for, maybe

36 City street demarcation

38 Image in some “Happy Halloween!” texts

42 Line at a theater, maybe

44 Any of the Baudelaire children in “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

45 “Ooh ... I so want to!”

48 Whiffs

49 Sounds at a poetry slam

50 “about when will u b here?”

51 Add up to

52 Direction en España

53 Bon ___, indie band with a platinum debut album of 2008

55 Long-running animated TV role that hasn’t had a speaking appearance since 2017

58 Back in style

60 Subject of some medical research … or a description of this puzzle’s theme?

62 Ponder, with “over”

63 Recipient of some donation requests, informally

64 Stick with it

65 Supply

66 Salt-N-___ (“Let’s Talk About Sex” group)

67 Places for squatters DOWN

1 Amount to

2 Sign of ripeness, perhaps

3 Hopping spots?

4 Remedy for a sore throat

5 “I ___ tired!”

6 Whom so-called “Swifties” are fans of

7 Influencer, as with fashion

8 Breakfast times, in brief

9 Grp. of club owners?

10 Boil over

11 Speech that ends sentences with rising tones

12 Peaks

13 “Squid Game” setting

18 ___ Records, division of Sony

24 1987 biopic set in China

26 Kind of beetle with large jaws

28 “Hold on,” in a message

29 Simu ___, portrayer of Shang-Chi in the Marvel Universe 31 Jaunty greeting

37 Name found in “ingredient”

46 Body image?

47 Waved the white flag

49 Some Eastern Europeans

51 Lead-in to sine, cosine or tangent

54 Tennis champ Raducanu

56 Kind of job that’s coveted

57 Purposes

59

ANSWER

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