Nashville Scene 8-10-23

METROPOLITIK: ELECTION NIGHT REVEALS THE CHANGING SHAPE OF METRO GOVERNMENT

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CAPITOL IDEA

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CITY LIMITS

Metropolitik: Election Night Reveals the Changing Shape of Metro Government 7 O’Connell and Rolli head to a runoff, and voters remake the Metro Council

BOOKS

On This Hill

A neighborhood unites to protect a

An excerpt from Welcome to Capitol Hill, Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig’s new book about Tennessee’s history of political scandals

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As an older mother, age is a number that matters BY HAILEY HIGDON

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Schelzig (left) and Joel Ebert

Photo by Eric England

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NEW RANKINGS POINT TO NASHVILLE’S THRIVING ECONOMY, STRONG INFRASTRUCTURE AND BRIGHT FUTURE

As a proud Nashville native with more than five decades of experience in the business world, I’ve witnessed a pretty remarkable metamorphosis in our city, and that makes me feel proud. There was a time when Nashville wasn’t the glamorous metropolis it is today, and some folks turned up their noses at the mere mention of it. Those days are long gone, as Nashville is now a dynamic and thriving urban hub that has captured the attention of media outlets from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to CNBC, Mansion Global and countless others.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nashville didn’t always get the spotlight it deserved. People often thought of it as a charming state capital with great music, but not much else going on. But obviously much has changed since. Our cityscape is made up of beautiful skyscrapers, sleek condos, cozy apartments and bustling office spaces. It’s hard to believe there was a time when downtown Nashville wasn’t the vibrant place so many now call home.

And now the accolades have poured in. A 2022 ranking by The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com placed Nashville’s metro area at the forefront of the luxury housing market. I believe this is evidence of our city’s remarkable growth and of the fact that we’re no longer fighting a hick-town stigma. This recognition, combined with Tennessee’s third-place ranking on CNBC’s prestigious new “America’s Top States for Business” list, speaks volumes about the dedication and hard work of our city’s leaders — and our residents. It tells us we are headed in the right direction.

These accomplishments are no coincidence. They’re the result of a calculated transformation that has propelled Nashville and Tennessee into the limelight. The arrival of two professional sports teams — the Tennessee Titans of the NFL and the Nashville Predators of the NHL — was pivotal, setting the stage for our city’s rise. This, combined with the influx of corporations over the years, has created a diverse and robust economy with a low unemployment rate — a testament to the fortitude of our local businesses and entrepreneurs.

According to the CNBC rankings, the unemployment rate in May 2023 was at 3.3 percent. Further, seeing Nashville success-

fully host 600,000 people for the 2019 NFL Draft, and scores more for this year’s NHL Draft and the NHL Awards, only adds to Nashville’s accomplishments. And that’s not to mention the more recent Music City Grand Prix and the return of occasional NASCAR races. Considering we’re also still very much known for our music scene, I believe we can boast having the best of the best when it comes to entertainment variety.

Further, the stats referenced in CNBC’s rankings reflect our city’s triumphs. As noted by the Nashville Business Journal, Nashville’s infrastructure ranking climbed from eighth to third place, highlighting our city’s commitment to development. Our ascent from 15th to ninth place in the workforce category is also noteworthy, and showcases the value we place on education and skill diversification.

Of course, the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. NBJ also notes that CNBC’s “Life, Health & Inclusion” category revealed areas where we need to improve — Tennessee placed 43rd. This aspect, crucial for attracting talent, reminds us that there’s always room for progress.

But it’s nevertheless exciting to witness our city’s somewhat unbelievable growth over the years. Our central location, making commuting a breeze for executives bound for New York or Chicago, adds to our allure. The array of lifestyles we offer speaks volumes about our commitment to diversity and inclusivity. And let’s not forget the tax advantages — Tennessee’s lack of state income tax, coupled with lower property taxes, makes it an appealing destination for high-net-worth buyers seeking both financial and lifestyle gains.

I’m truly proud of Nashville, and this recognition of our city is well-deserved. Our transformation from a modest music town to a thriving urban hub reflects the resilience and spirit of our community. It reflects the ambition and hard work of our residents and business owners. As we continue to evolve, let’s celebrate our diverse community, culture, music, sports and entertainment. The spotlight is on us, and it’s a glowing testament to the beauty, innovation and heart of our city.

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SEPTEMBER 8 7 PM

Bluegrass Under the Stars

ELECTION NIGHT REVEALS THE CHANGING SHAPE OF METRO GOVERNMENT

O’Connell and Rolli head to a runoff, and voters remake the Metro Council

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Metropolitik is a recurring column featuring the Scene’s analysis of Metro dealings.

The Metro government will look very different by the end of September. Election night on Aug. 3 brought a series of upsets, confirming what polls and politicos gestured toward during an extended campaign season: Establishment backlash has become the defining force in Nashville politics.

Savvy candidates — the ones who survived past Aug. 3 — pieced together the moments that have animated citizens (i.e., voters) over the past few years. Seemingly unrelated episodes like the marathon public comment period during budget season in June 2020, Mayor John Cooper’s 2020 property tax hike, stinking trash routes abandoned by city waste contractor Red River in 2021, and Metro’s $2.1 billion sweetheart deal with the Titans for a new stadium all became, in retrospect, chapters in the same story for winners like Freddie O’Connell, Alice Rolli and Angie Henderson. All three argued, successfully, for regime change.

Henderson, a district councilmember from the southwest edge of Davidson County, made Metro history by narrowly deposing incumbent Vice Mayor Jim Shulman. Shulman, a genial council veteran, earns the distinc-

tion of being the first incumbent vice mayor since Metro’s consolidation to unsuccessfully defend his seat. As the council’s presiding officer and architect of its many committees, Shulman was anything but impartial, detractors say, harboring grudges and playing favorites in the chamber. Shulman’s even demeanor cracked when he scolded a roomful of Nashvillians waiting to give public comment on the city budget in June 2020. Unless Metro’s No. 2 is replacing the sitting mayor — as David Briley did after Mayor Megan Barry’s resignation in 2018 — the vice mayor rarely makes news. Suddenly a politically activated subset of Nashville not only knew Shulman, but had strong feelings about him. While Henderson’s colleagues have complained privately about Shulman since 2019, the public misstep may have soured his reputation among enough people to give her an opening. She took it.

Next door to Henderson’s council, the mayor’s office will have a new chief. Matt Wiltshire, Heidi Campbell and Jeff Yarbro, all considered runoff favorites at different points in the race, fell away in the last few weeks of campaigning. O’Connell established himself as the field’s Metro expert and the candidate best positioned to reorient city priorities, leaning on his two-term record representing downtown as the Metro Council’s District 19 representative. He hammered the Titans deal, which he voted against a few months ago, reminding voters of the city’s fundamental commitment to provide basic services to its taxpayers. He will get back to basics, he promised, like trash collection and transit funding, and cut out the frills.

“I want you to stay,” he told a packed room at the Hutton Hotel on election night. Months ago, the earnest appeal became his campaign’s calling card.

Before a long list of thank-yous and the required runoff reminder that the work is not over, O’Connell led his audience in chants of “More ’Ville, less Vegas,” another catchphrase that captures his essential promise to get the city back on the right track.

Across town, Rolli kindled a similar fire in her audience at Coco’s Italian Market. Like O’Connell, she built a following attacking the way things have been done, a pathology she blamed on Democratic ideals and the Metro Council.

“Do we want more of the same?” Rolli asked her crowd. “Do we believe that letting

the city council run the city is a good idea?” Each question elicited an emphatic “No!”

Her solutions — stronger policing and lower taxes — are ready-made conservative talking points that lack O’Connell’s understanding of Metro bureaucracy. Crime has dropped dramatically in the past couple of decades. The city is actively recruiting police and expanding their tools, including pay raises, while the Metro Nashville Police Department struggles to stay fully staffed and fumbles the rollout of license plate readers. Rolli hopes to solve MNPD’s turnover problem with campaigns of public support for the department and pay raises, a significant fiscal note that will come from a stunted budget. Raising the property tax rate has been a sobering chore for nearly every Metro mayor, ignored at the peril of Metro’s bank account. Barry didn’t, a gamble that hamstrung Metro’s finances a few years later; Cooper convinced voters he wouldn’t, but did when COVID hit, earning the city top marks for its strong financial position. During the campaign and on election night, Rolli maligned the city for shaky finances.

The two will butt heads for the next five weeks. In a city that leans to the left, early polls favor O’Connell. Both are already sprinting to raise and spend money ahead of the runoff vote on Sept. 14, with early voting kicking off Aug. 25.

At East Nashville’s Wilburn Street Tavern, District 5 Metro Councilmember Sean Parker called his race 15 minutes after polls closed. With his comfortable reelection in one of the city’s most important urban districts — seismic shifts have already begun in D5, a direct result of the city’s push to develop the East Bank — Parker, who came into the council in 2019 as an avowed democratic socialist, proved that legislative priorities like bike-ability, walkability, inclusionary zoning, and independent neighborhood businesses matter more than labels. Along with returners like district Councilmembers Kyonztè Toombs, Emily Benedict, Erin Evans, Russ Bradford, Sandra Sepulveda and Courtney Johnston and Councilmember At-Large Zulfat Suara, Parker will become one of the principals in a fresh-faced legislative body.

“It’s a 40-person body,” Parker told the Scene on election night. “You can’t do anything by yourself.”

Joined by a dozen friends, Parker led an election-night bus tour. His route, which favored progressive candidates like Delishia Porterfield, Aftyn Behn and O’Connell, turned into a victory lap. Behn, an organizer and activist with a particular focus on health care access, knocked off former Metro Councilmember Anthony Davis in her state House primary race, a special election to replace Democrat Bill Beck, who died in June. Porterfield narrowly missed out on a guaranteed at-large seat, finishing with more votes than any other candidate headed to the runoff. O’Connell’s victory party was electoral proof of an emerging political axis in the city focused on issues like public transportation, affordable housing, reversing city spending on tourism, ending corporate incentive packages and outspoken support for immigrants who have settled in the city.

Voters in Goodlettsville replaced sitting councilmember Zach Young with Jennifer Frensley Webb, the conservative daughter of wealthy car dealer Bob Frensley. Apart from Shulman, it was the only incumbent knockout of the night. In South Nashville, Alexa Little nearly took out incumbent Ginny Welsch. In District 9, progressive newcomer Stephanie Montenegro came within 35 votes of Tonya Hancock. Come September, 18 districts will have new representation. Districts 4, 11 and 29 all head to September runoffs.

With over 10 percent of the vote, Suara was the only at-large candidate to win outright on election night. Others — including at-large incumbent Burkley Allen — will vie for the four remaining countywide seats in the eight-person runoff. Allen, Porterfield and newcomer Olivia Hill all finished in strong positions, clearly separating themselves as candidates in the 21-person field.

Depending on the final district and at-large runoffs, a majority of the Metro Council could be new legislators. It could also be mostly women and have a presence of nonwhite lawmakers that more closely reflects the city’s demographics as a whole, led by a new vice mayor. Either O’Connell or Rolli will come into office having promised big institutional changes. Years of disruptive change have left the city desperate for new hopes. Like so many candidates said on election night, the harder work is still to come.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

FREDDIE O’CONNELL’S ELECTION NIGHT PARTY

ALICE ROLLI’S ELECTION NIGHT PARTY

METROPOLITIK

EARLY VOTING FOR THE RUNOFF WILL TAKE PLACE FROM AUG. 25 TO SEPT. 9, WITH ELECTION DAY TO FOLLOW ON SEPT. 14.

COUNCIL HEARS COMPETING ANALYSES OF POLICE SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Automatic license plate readers cast huge net for few arrests, push MNPD toward targeted policing

BY ELI MOTYCKA

Metro councilmembers held a joint committee meeting on Aug. 1 to hear from police, the Community Oversight Board, community members, and the offices of District Attorney Glenn Funk and Public Defender Martesha Johnson about the city’s implementation of automated license plate readers. After an hour of presentations, the body — a combination of the council’s Public Health and Safety and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, overseen by chairs Russ Pulley and Jeff Syracuse — voted to defer each committee’s review of the pilot program, moving discussion to Aug. 15. Following a rocky start in January, in which police posted cameras without proper initial signage and briefly suspended the program, the city’s six-month LPR pilot ended on July 22.

The vote to approve license plate readers for Nashville police passed a split council in December with an asterisk: A network of automatic scanners would come slowly and cautiously. The six-month pilot program would be highly vetted and strapped with safeguards, boosters assured their colleagues, assuaging worries about giving carte blanche to law enforcement that could increase traffic stops and turbocharge over-

policing. Prior to approval, councilmembers repeatedly raised flags about creating a vast sea of data overseen by police and potentially shared with state and federal law enforcement, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Six months later, information from the program paints a picture of a vast, opaque net of data collection that has produced few results for law enforcement. More than 71 million license plates scanned produced just 1,316 verified hits for police — tag numbers that were visually confirmed by two MNPD officers and returned positive hits when checked with the National Crime Information Center, a centralized database maintained by state and federal law enforcement. Verified hits, which allow an officer to be dispatched, yielded no arrest for MNPD more than 95 percent of the time. About 6 percent of the time, a verified hit enabled MNPD to recover a vehicle. These hits also led to at least 16 vehicle stops and seven searches that did not result in an arrest. Police did not share information about who owns or can access the city’s LPR data, or its camera contracts with private operators like Motorola or Flock Safety, two confirmed LPR vendors. The ordinance approving the LPR pilot stipulates that Metro police report to the council on how LPR data is shared and accessed. Police did

not address whether MNPD had received or complied with data requests from other agencies, like the FBI or ICE.

Despite LPRs producing no results for officers an overwhelming majority of the time, MNPD Officer Gregory Blair argued that the few examples of criminal apprehension justify an expanded full implementation of the program. He also pointed out the challenges of responding to a hit on a moving vehicle, which could slip the city’s surveillance network in the time it takes to verify the plate and dispatch an officer. He did not address the 1,253 instances in which a hit was verified, possibly dispatching an officer in pursuit of a vehicle or prompting a vehicle stop, and did not result in an arrest.

Blair, the city’s deputy chief for Crime Control Strategies, defended LPR statistics as precision policing in his presentation to the council.

“Does it work? Yes, it’s helped out,” Blair told councilmembers. “It’s very beneficial. Did we manage the program well? Yes we did.

To my knowledge, there’s been no complaints, and it’s been a very successful pilot program.”

On Aug. 1, Blair told the body that LPRs had led to 112 arrests. The following morning, MNPD’s dashboard reported that LPRs had instead led to 63 arrests.

The Community Oversight Board’s executive director Jill Fitcheard and data analyst Dylan DePriest followed with a similar presentation. Fitcheard pointed out that the COB had received extensive feedback from Nashvillians.

“People are concerned about the overall use of LPRs and their placement in lowincome, non-white areas of the city,” said Fitcheard. “They are concerned about Nashville becoming a surveillance city, specifically one where the racial and social economic disparities of our criminal justice system are exaggerated by technology.”

DePriest presented maps of LPR cameras and LPR-related traffic stops, demonstrating that the technology has led to a concentration of stops in low-income areas. DePriest’s presentation showed that cameras at two intersections — Trinity Lane and Dickerson Pike, and Gallatin Pike and Old Hickory — made up the lion’s share of stops, arrests and vehicle recoveries. Black individuals were disproportionately represented in LPRrelated arrests and use-of-force incidents involving an officer. Unhoused individuals made up 8.57 percent of arrests, 40 times their representation in Nashville’s population as a whole.

“Since the publication of ‘Driving While Black’ in 2016, MNPD has fundamentally changed how they conduct general vehicle stops, reducing the amount of stops against Black individuals, which used to be higher than their population percentage in Nashville,” DePriest explained. “It appears that LPR-initiated stops do not follow the same improvements.”

Councilmembers agreed that the body needs more time to hear from the community and analyze the results of the pilot before considering full LPR implementation.

“I would also like to consider the fact that we’re in an election season,” said Councilmember At-Large Sharon Hurt. “When we defer this, it’s going to be up to a new council. I think they should be the ones to vet this more.”

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

Visit nashvillescene.com for scenes and results from election night, from the mayoral and vice mayoral election to Metro Council and special state House races. Steve Cavendish and our colleagues at the Nashville Banner have a long-form piece on the surprise moves, big changes and strategic gambles that shaped the emergence of mayoral runoff qualifiers Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli. Based on conversations with more than 30 sources — including candidates, campaign staff, Mayor John Cooper’s administration officials and Metro observers — the Banner dives deep on how progressive Councilmember O’Connell and conservative strategist Rolli ultimately landed Election Day’s No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively. … Beloved priest, homeless outreach advocate and native Nashvillian Charles Strobel died Sunday at age 80. Strobel — who founded and grew outreach organization Room In The Inn — was the Scene’s Nashvillian of the Year in 2004. “Charlie is a natural in this life, in this world,” Strobel’s friend and colleague, the Rev. Becca Stevens, told the Scene at the time. “That’s why he moves freely with the homeless as well as with people of power. He walks with grace and is unafraid to speak the truth.” … A three-judge state court panel early last week sided — temporarily at least — with a new state-appointed board overseeing the Nashville International Airport. The panel denied Metro’s request for a temporary restraining order related to a new state law that went into effect July 1 and gave state leaders the majority of appointments to the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, formerly controlled by mayoral appointees. … With Republican Gov. Bill Lee still planning to call a special session later this month so that lawmakers can consider gun control proposals in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Republican leaders are urging him to back off. The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee on Saturday adopted a resolution calling on Lee to abandon the special session. … State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently sat down with NewsChannel 5’s Phil Williams to defend his office’s acquisition of state employees’ medical records, part of Skrmetti’s investigation into VUMC’s transgender care clinic. Contributor Betsy Phillips wants to know if the AG is taking his cues from farright media figures like Matt Walsh, who publicly attacked the VUMC transgender clinic late last year. … The Music City Grand Prix returned to downtown Nashville for the third time over the weekend, with Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood taking home the trophy Sunday. Josef Newgarden, the Penske racer who hails from Hendersonville, just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish.

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METRO SEEKS PERMISSION TO REPURPOSE UNUSED COVID PODS

More than 100 units worth $1.2 million were never occupied

BY HANNAH HERNER

Twenty-five COVID quarantine housing pods installed in the parking lot of the Nashville Rescue Mission sat empty for seven months from October 2021 until May 2022, having never received clearance from the state Fire Marshal’s Office. There are 83 more units that never saw the light of day in storage at an undisclosed location.

Led by District 12 Metro Councilmember Erin Evans, Metro is seeking control of the pods, with hopes of putting them to use in temporary housing for those transitioning out of homelessness. The Metro Council passed a resolution creating an action plan for the pods at its July 6 meeting.

Since 2021, the Metro Department of Codes and Building Safety and the state Fire Marshal’s Office have been at odds over the matter. The fire marshal’s office oversees all modular housing, including mobile homes, tiny homes and the pods Metro bought with $1.2 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding. According to Kevin Walters, a spokesperson for the state Fire Marshal’s Office, when the pods were installed at the Nashville Rescue Mission, the marshal asked for a letter sent by the codes department and signed by a state-certified engineer who inspected the pods and certified they were up to state residential code. The department never received the letter, he said.

“This is the same conversation we’ve been having since 2021,” says Walters.

In the more recent push for use of the pods, the state needs the same letter to turn over control of the units to Metro. Metro Department of Codes and Building spokesperson Will Dodd told Scene sister publication the Nashville Post on July 10 that letter would come through any day now, and there hasn’t been an update since.

“The state Fire Marshal’s Office told the

Codes Department [in 2021] that they were unable to classify the pods and could not determine fire hazard regulations, which means the project was unable to move forward,” Dodd told the Post via email. “Metro Codes is excited and prepared to put together a plan to put the pallet shelters to use once we receive the long-awaited clearance from the engineer.”

The pods were originally set up for COVID-19 isolation outside the Nashville Rescue Mission as part of a partnership between the nonprofit homeless service provider, the Nashville Office of Emergency Management and the Metro Health Department. As described in a 2021 press release, each pod can hold two people and can connect to electricity, heat and air conditioning. At the time, the CDC funding paid for a certified nursing assistant and 24-hour security, and those using the pods would have had access to restrooms, meals and recreation areas at the Nashville Rescue Mission.

It is unclear where the pods are now, or what state they are in. The Nashville Office of Emergency Management has them in storage, though the department would not disclose a location to the Post

If approved, Evans’ goal is to have the codes department, health department, local fire marshal and office of homeless services convene to make a plan for using the pods.

“My thought process is, are there nonprofits, organizations, faith communities that may have an interest in leveraging the pods to help support their community?” Evans says. “I don’t think it’s an opportunity for Metro to leverage in the same way it had been envisioned originally, but I think there’s a potential for getting it out there and saying, ‘These are available,’ and then figuring out how they could be implemented.”

This article first ran via Scene sister publication the Nashville Post.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

AUGUST 16

CONCERT FOR CUMBERLAND HEIGHTS PRESENTS

CHRIS JANSON WITH CHARLES ESTEN

SEPTEMBER 23

TOMMY EMMANUEL WITH LARRY CAMPBELL & TERESA WILLIAMS

SEPTEMBER 29 & 30

LITTLE FEAT

OCTOBER 26

CHRIS TUCKER ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NOVEMBER 16 2ND SHOW ADDED!

STEPHEN SANCHEZ ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

DECEMBER 10

RICKY SKAGGS & KENTUCKY THUNDER CHRISTMAS WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

DECEMBER 15

ALLMAN BETTS FAMILY REVIVAL ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

WITNESS HISTORY

This Royal electric typewriter was used by Bill Anderson to type song lyrics and answer fan mail after his song “City Lights,” released by Ray Price in the summer of 1958, went to #1 on country charts— a sign that Anderson should shift his beat from journalism to the rhythm of country music.

From the exhibit Bill Anderson: As Far as I Can See

RESERVE TODAY

artifact: Courtesy of Bill Anderson artifact photo: Bob Delevante

CAPITOL IDEA

An excerpt from Welcome to Capitol Hill, Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig’s new book about Tennessee’s history of political scandal

Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig covered their fair share of Tennessee political scandals side by side in the halls of the state Capitol. The two were competitors, Ebert reporting for The Tennessean and Schelzig for the Associated Press and now The Tennessee Journal. Ebert has since moved on to Illinois, where he works for the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, but the two veteran reporters teamed up to author Welcome to Capitol Hill, a collection of stories about the political dramas that have always unfolded in Tennessee. The book, out Aug. 15 via Vanderbilt University Press, compiles archival research, new interviews and files pried free from the feds, who might as well lease office space at the Capitol. The authors want the book to serve as a guide for anyone getting involved in Tennessee politics — on what not to do.

Schelzig says he and Ebert were inspired by stories they both wrote looking back at some of recent Tennessee history’s most famous political scandals. Writing a decade later about the 2005 Tennessee Waltz bribery sting, Schelzig says he could already see that some of the guardrails established in its wake had fallen by the wayside.

“A lot of the reforms that had been put in place had pretty much been dialed back over the next 10 years, just in time for the next round of scandals to start cropping up,” he says. “That is what we found throughout. Every scandal is followed by a reaction. People dedicate themselves to more ethical living, and then they get tired of it pretty quickly, and attitudes get more lax, and people get popped.”

Read an excerpt from the book here.

STEPHEN ELLIOTT

JOEL EBERT (LEFT) AND ERIK SCHELZIG

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

ED GILLOCK was in trouble with the law. The Democratic state senator from Memphis had been indicted in 1976 on federal charges for accepting a bribe “under the color of official right” and engaging in racketeering. The lawmaker was accused of using his position in the General Assembly to prevent the extradition of a man facing charges in Illinois and taking payments to introduce legislation on behalf of four others looking to obtain master electricians’ licenses.

Gillock, himself a criminal defense attorney, recognized the gravity of the situation and soon began soliciting contributions from lobbyists for his legal defense fund. He hired prominent Nashville attorney James F. Neal, a former Watergate prosecutor who would go on to successfully defend Ford Motor Company against reckless homicide charges over deaths in its subcompact Pinto car.

Neal argued the “speech and debate” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which protects members of Congress from being sued over anything they say in the course of their legislative activities, extended to Tennessee lawmakers. Therefore, Neal argued, none of Gillock’s statements or actions as a member of the Tennessee General Assembly should be admitted as evidence in the case.

To the horror of federal prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown agreed.

“To the extent that venal legislators might go unconvicted because of the government’s being barred from proving legislative acts and motives, this is the price that the Founding Fathers believed we should pay for legislative independence,” Brown wrote.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Parrish

said the judge had “created a monster” by finding evidence couldn’t be presented to the jury about lawmakers’ misdeeds.

“This now makes black bag legislation legal,” Parrish lamented.

The case worked its way through the appeals process, with the Sixth Circuit agreeing that lawmakers’ activities were privileged. But conflicting rulings in other circuits led the matter to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately found in a 7–2 decision in 1980 that state lawmakers cannot claim immunity from federal prosecution for actions conducted while in office.

“We believe that recognition of an evidentiary privilege for state legislators for their legislative acts would impair the legitimate interest of the Federal Government in enforcing its criminal statutes with only speculative benefit to the state legislative process,” Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for the majority.

The decision removed any doubt of the authority of federal law enforcement officials to prosecute state-level public corruption. Without it, many subsequent probes into illicit activity by state lawmakers in Tennessee and around the nation may have become more difficult — or even impossible.

Even as things stand, public officials have many advantages when it comes to fending off probes into alleged misdeeds. Lawmakers often circle the wagons around their colleagues, no matter how ugly — or believable — the allegations. State law enforcement officials tend to be tepid in their pursuit of public corruption probes, knowing they depend on the government for large portions

of their funding. And recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have again chipped away at which “honest services” crimes can be prosecuted in federal court.

Every state in America has its own roster of elected officials gone bad. Though some are worse than others, no matter how many bad actors or lengthy the list of misdeeds, there’s one through line: the undeniable authority that comes with entering the hallowed and historic halls of the state Capitol.

Republican, Democrat, or independent, the stature that goes with joining the loyal club of public officials who call the Capitol their workplace has a way of attracting both those seeking to do right by their fellow citizens and those who try to exploit the system for their own gain.

For the latter, the dynamics at play are almost irresistible: power and privilege, politics and influence, temptation and excess, all in the name of governance. For the average person, it’s a delectable cocktail that will never be tasted. But for some of those with keys to the doors of government, it can be all that matters.

From its early days to its modern era, Tennessee has been home to its own infamous miscreants. Our book focuses on the following cases:

• Gov. Ray Blanton’s tumultuous term as governor that ended with his early removal from office amid a pardonselling investigation.

• A historic collapse of the banking empire of Jake Butcher, a two-time Democratic candidate for governor.

• The Rocky Top investigation into wide-ranging official corruption related to illegal bingo gambling.

• State Sen. John Ford’s career of flouting ethical norms culminating in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz bribery sting.

• Serial sexual harassment allegations that led to the ouster of Rep. Jeremy Durham.

• The rise and fall of House Speaker Glen Casada, the first leader of the chamber to be pushed out early in 126 years.

• Campaign finance charges against Casada, former state Republican Party Chair Robin Smith, and onetime top legislative aide Cade Cothren — and a separate case against Sen. Brian Kelsey.

While they weren’t the first to face public fervor, federal charges, or falls from grace, history instructs they won’t be the last. Tales of corruption by government officials in Tennessee are as old as the state itself.

In 1797 — one year after statehood was granted — U.S. Sen. William Blount, a founding father of the country, faced allegations of leading a plot to help the British seize land west of the Mississippi River that the senator owned. When the plan was discovered, Blount became the first federal government official to be subject to the impeachment and expulsion process in the U.S. Senate. Despite a severe national backlash, Blount was warmly welcomed when he returned to Tennessee. He later became speaker of the state Senate.

Records detail a host of other tales of corruption or questionable activities by Tennessee’s elected officials.

“It was common talk about Nashville that

ERIK

PHOTO COURTESY OF NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

GOV. RAY BLANTON, JAN. 15, 1979

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lobbyists were trading upon the votes of their friends, and that members of the two houses, and employees, were guilty of accepting bribes on various occasions,” the Journal and Tribune of Knoxville reported in 1887. The newspaper outlined a host of bills that were approved with bribes, including measures related to taxing sleeping cars and another to defeat a proposed amendment to the Tennessee Constitution.

In 1895, both Democrats and Republicans in the legislature alleged that bribes had been offered to lawmakers in connection with the gubernatorial election between Peter Turney and Henry Clay Evans the year before.

When the election results were contested, the legislature was tasked with deciding the outcome of the race, and Turney, who was the incumbent Democratic governor, was named the victor after thousands of votes for Evans were thrown out by the Democraticcontrolled General Assembly.

In 1910, Gov. Malcolm Patterson pardoned Col. Duncan B. Cooper and his son, who had been convicted of the 1908 murder of Tennessean editor Edward Ward Carmack in a shootout on the street outside the state Capitol. Cooper, who was publisher of the Nashville American, was a friend of the gov-

ernor. Carmack, a prohibitionist who lost to Patterson in the 1908 Democratic primary, had criticized the governor in editorials for supporting the sale and manufacturing of liquor.

One day, Cooper and his son exchanged “heated words” with Carmack when he was walking home, and the confrontation escalated to the point where Carmack was shot three times and killed. Patterson found the Coopers had not been given a fair and impartial trial. Pennsylvania’s Pittsburgh Gazette said Patterson’s action was “high-handed and outrageous,” adding he was “not fitted to be the executive of a great state.” The Richmond Virginian called the pardon “treason to the state.”

In 1911, the Nashville Tennessean published a story on the first day of the legislature’s return to Nashville that said two Republican lawmakers had been offered money the night before in exchange for voting for a candidate for House speaker.

In 1921, state Sen. E.N. Clabo was charged with accepting a $300 bribe — or the equivalent of nearly $4,750 in 2023 — in exchange for his vote on a bill related to taxes. He was later acquitted.

“Almost always when the Tennessee Leg-

islature is in session there are rumors of corrupt practices, and at times there have been evidences of the truth of the rumors,” the Bristol Herald Courier reported days after Clabo was arrested.

During the Great Depression, the collapse of several banks and the related loss of $6.6 million in state deposits (about $125 million in today’s money) nearly led to the impeachment of Gov. Henry Horton. Memphis political boss E.H. Crump — a rival to Horton’s Middle Tennessee backers — personally lobbied senators inside the chamber on the creation of a handpicked committee to launch a formal investigation into the governor’s activities. The Chattanooga News pronounced Crump the “New Czar of Tennessee Politics.”

A gleeful Crump told reporters about his approach to the deal: “First: observe, remember, compare. Second: read, listen, and ask. Third: plan your work and work your plan.”

As the investigation proceeded, Horton appeared headed for an ouster. But several lawmakers who had previously been critical of the governor were offered jobs with the administration, fielded offers to buy their land, or received proposals for contracts to do business with the state. The governor also announced he would move the 105th Aero Squadron back to Nashville after previously basing it in Memphis in what had been widely perceived as a deal with Crump.

With Crump’s hold on the impeachment effort crumbling, Horton went on the offensive in a number of public appearances. He denounced Crump as “a man who struts like a peacock with a cane on his arm and crows like a bantam rooster.” In what was increasingly cast as a Crump versus Horton battle, public opinion turned against the political boss and in favor of the embattled governor.

The impeachment effort ultimately fizzled as a coalition of rural Democrats and East Tennessee Republicans turned against the ouster in 1932.

Crump had failed, but he still came out on top in the following year’s election when his chosen candidate, Hill McAlister, was elected governor.

In 1937 Rep. J.B. Ragon Jr. said he was offered insurance business valued at $1,200, or the equivalent of more than $25,000 in 2023, if he voted for a bill related to county government.

A reporter for the Chattanooga Daily Times said in 1946 it was “very clear to me” when a naturopathy bill was considered by the legislature a few years before that “money had been used” to offer lawmakers bribes.

In 1975, Tom Hensley, a powerful liquor lobbyist known as the “Golden Goose,” testified in a legislative committee that he provided free bottles of whiskey to any member of the General Assembly who wanted one. The revelation came as little surprise to insiders, but the brazen confirmation of free booze flowing to lawmakers shocked the public. Hensley’s testimony came after Lt. Gov. John Wilder formed a three-member committee to look into allegations that two state senators had been offered bribes in exchange for voting in favor of a liquor pricefixing law.

During a 1987 debate on a bill that sought to give lawmakers a pay raise, Rep. C.B. Robinson, a Chattanooga Democrat, said he had seen a lot of money pass “under the table” during his time in the legislature.

And then there was Gillock, the senator whose efforts to beat federal bribery charges ended with the U.S. Supreme Court decision

PHOTO: ERIK SCHELZIG

PHOTO: ERIK SCHELZIG

REP. JEREMY DURHAM

SPEAKER GLEN CASADA AND AIDE CADE COTHERN

“It was common talk about Nashville that lobbyists were trading upon the votes of their friends, and that members of the two houses, and employees, were guilty of accepting bribes on various occasions,” the Journal and Tribune of Knoxville reported in 1887.

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establishing that state lawmakers aren’t immune from facing charges for their actions in office.

Gillock was known for his arrogant attitude while serving in the state House and Senate, often asserting that lawmakers should be given priority when riding Capitol elevators, standing in line in the cafeteria, or parking their cars. He also engaged in a “voter exchange program” with fellow Memphis Democrat Gabe Talarico, an ad hoc redistricting scheme in which predominantly Black voting precincts were moved back and forth between their neighboring districts to ensure neither white incumbent could be defeated by a Black Democratic primary challenger or a Republican general election opponent. A federal court blocked the practice in 1976, finding the moves were made “for no reason based on a rational state policy.”

“No one wins them all,” Gillock’s attorney James Neal said of the Supreme Court decision that allowed the bribery case to resume. “This was just a little round in the Gillock case. The only battle worth winning is the last one.”

The attorney’s words turned out to be prophetic. Gillock’s ensuing trial ended in a hung jury (he was elected to his fourth Senate term while the case was underway) as did a retrial the following year. But that’s when his luck ran out.

While waiting for the cases to go to trial, federal investigators received a tip that Gillock had been given a pickup truck by a Millington businessman. The gift led agents to evidence that executives with Honeywell had engaged Gillock to help land computer contracts worth $2.5 million with the Tennessee Department of Employment Security and $2 million with Shelby County. At his 1982 federal fraud trial, Gillock testified he was working as a consultant for the company, not as a lawmaker. He also showed disdain for federal prosecutors.

“You haven’t convicted me in two other trials, and you’re not going to convict me now,” Gillock sneered from the witness stand.

The jury thought otherwise, finding him guilty of using his elected office to obtain $130,365 in payments (about $400,000 in today’s money) from the company. Gillock was sentenced to seven years in prison. He emerged from incarceration as a minister. Senate Speaker Wilder, who had declined to remove Gillock from the chamber or his

committee positions when he was first indicted in 1976, invited the former lawmaker to return to the Senate as chaplain of the day in 2000.

“He’s found the Lord,” Wilder said in introducing his former colleague from the well of the chamber. “I wish I had what he’s got. I don’t have an 800 number. I have to go through an operator.”

Welcome to Capitol Hill, which borrows its name from a remark attributed to disgraced former lawmaker Jeremy Durham to one of his alleged victims, provides cautionary tales of corruption and wrongdoing in Tennessee. While most of the officials who are the subject of this book were charged with crimes, this by no means suggests that all public officials are dirty or looking for their next grift. Lessons can be learned from each of these characters, including the dangers of acting on temptation, or the risk of letting pure power become a driving force that overrides the initial motivation that led someone to run for public office.

Ours was far from an exhaustive exploration of unscrupulousness. Rather, the book’s examples offer opportunities to make sense of the modern era of government and politics in Tennessee in a different way. Newspapers and history books are replete with partisan politicians’ rehearsed speeches and talking points, and the daily twists and turns of government. Our compendium of corruption contains lesser explored stories about the inner workings of the political system, albeit ones that are equally necessary to understanding the process.

If these scandals hadn’t occurred, much would be different today. The state’s campaign finance and ethics watchdogs exist because of malfeasance. Publicly known wrongdoing has led to many law, policy, and rule changes as well. Perhaps most importantly, without the ire that each official faced, the halls of the Capitol might still be reserved for those with privileged access — a point made readily apparent by this year’s efforts to expel Democratic Reps. Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson. But much work remains.

While nothing can ultimately stop a decidedly corrupt or morally bankrupt public official from crossing the line, the consequences for those who become ensnared should make others in elected office think twice before they act.

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

SEN. ED GILLOCK IN 1980

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CRITICS’ PICKS

WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF THINGS TO DO

THURSDAY / 8.10

MUSIC

[HELP FROM MY FRIENDS] ZOOK

The music Zach Tittel makes as Zook has a lovely unstuck-in-time quality, stemming from his gentle folk-and-psych arrangements, whistle-worthy ’70s-pop chord progressions and vocal delivery that makes me think of Marc Bolan and Lou Reed dueting on a lullaby. It’s a pretty perfect match for his songs, in which his characters are trying to make their way through a world in motion, which is a source of both wonder and stress. There’s a balance between having a community to rely on and needing some space to process, which he articulates contemplatively in “What’s It to You,” a standout from his 2018 LP Garden Variety: “I’ve got my reasons and pyramids / Yeah it’s a secret, better keep it hid / You wouldn’t crack my lid / With your digging crew / If you understand / What I’m going through.” Since last year, Tittel has trickled out tracks from a new album called Vases, released Aug. 4, and he’ll celebrate it with a bunch of friends Thursday at The Blue Room. There’ll be full-band performances from Trevor Nikrant and Kyle Hamlett Cinco, plus additional music, poetry and other performances from Dreamwave’s Kelton Young, Lou Turner, Dan Hoy and JayVe Montgomery. 8 p.m. at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

STREET THEATRE COMPANY: 35MM

AUG. 11-26

The Barbershop Theater

[FOLK

FEST FANTASIES]

PERSEIDS MUSIC FESTIVAL

Perseids Music Festival looks to put a spotlight on the power of folk music with an array of diverse artists. Co-headliner Olivia Barton is an exciting young artist who will likely showcase songs from her

2022 album This Is a Good Sign, which got an extended edition rerelease in May. Her talent is undeniable, and this was made especially apparent with her feature on the viral song “If I Were a Fish” with Corook this spring. The fest’s other co-headliner, Olive Klug, will likely be leaning on crowd favorites from their catalog of singles and other tracks from their debut album, Don’t You Dare Make Me Jaded. That album is officially out on Friday, so the Perseids performance will act as something of a release party. These two alone should be a draw for folk music fans, but there are another 14 talented artists showcasing their unique stories and music across the two-day festival. If you’ve been looking for a show that aims to highlight the intimate tenderness of folk with some fantastic artists, then this festival is a perfect way to close out your week. Aug. 10-11 at The 5 Spot, 1006 Forrest Ave. BRADEN SIMMONS

ART [POWERFUL POP-UP] NASHVILLEPROMISE

If you pass through WedgewoodHouston this month, you’ll see 10,000 handwritten messages and 30,000 strips of orange fabric representing all the children killed by gun violence since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. The interactive installation by Arts4Impact, called NashvillePromise, builds on the Highland Park Arts Memorial and other installations from across the country. It is part of the Museum of Contemporary Art Nashville’s second installment of its pop-up Traveling Museum Project at and around the historic Merritt Mansion. The show,

which includes visual and interactive art, is a collection of works that address the continued onslaught of gun violence, both in the city and the country. The Traveling Museum Project runs through Aug. 12. Inside the mansion is the show Up in Arms, co-curated by local gallerists Evan Brown (NKA Gallery) and Clarence Edward (Cëcret by Cë gallery). The show explores the layered significance of being “up in arms” through photography, digital art and sculpture. MOCAN’s exhibits will be supplemented by sound baths, director’s talks, gallery talks and other programming. Through Aug. 12 at Merritt Mansion, 441 Humphreys St.

MARGARET LITTMAN

FRIDAY / 8.11

MUSIC

[BEING THE CHANGE]

QUEERFEST ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Songsmith Sara Gougeon arrived in Nashville from Berklee College of Music at one of the most difficult times to get established in a new city: in late 2020, right in the heart of COVID lockdown. She also arrived armed with an idea to foster community among queer musicians, and as soon as it was safe to do so, she put it into practice. In summer 2021, she established what was then called Queerfolk Fest as a monthly outdoor gathering of LGBTQ folk, rock and country musicians; the party moved indoors that fall, and Queerfest remains a monthly staple at Vinyl Tap. This year’s anniversary party spreads across the East Side with three shows on

Friday and Saturday. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Justin Hiltner, Gina Venier and many more will hold court at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge just over Briley Parkway in Madison (102 E. Palestine Ave.). The shindig picks up again with a session from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at The 5 Spot (1106 Forrest Ave.), featuring Great Aunt, Summer Joy and Olivia Rudeen, and at 7 p.m. the action moves over to The Basement East (917 Woodland St.) with touring artists like North Carolina’s The Collection and locals like Julia Cannon. Advance tickets for Friday’s show by itself aren’t available yet at press time, but you can get advance tickets to Saturday’s early and late shows via The 5 Spot’s website and The Basement East’s website, respectively; you can also pick up a weekend pass to all three events through The Basement East’s page, and any unsold tickets will be available at the door at each venue. Aug. 11-12 at various locations

STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC [BASS SAVANT] DERRICK HODGE

Derrick Hodge has excelled as a composer, bandleader and bassist while providing constant evidence of the unity between all genres of African American music. The Philly native has collaborated with jazz musicians and bands, created iconic bass lines for rappers and been musical director for many of the greatest performers in the neo-soul movement. He’s even extended his reach into the worlds of film and the symphony, scoring Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts and the documentary Faubourg Tremé:

The Untold Story of Black New Orleans Hodge was the first person to specifically compose hip-hop music for the National Symphony Orchestra in 2014, serving as orchestral arranger and music director for the 20th anniversary celebration of Nas’ Illmatic. Hodge’s rippling, powerful bass lines have also made their mark on numerous classic recordings in other areas besides hip-hop — Maxwell’s 2009 BLACKsummers’night is a strong example — and his own records like 2020’s COLOR OF NOIZE have won praise from critics. Derrick Hodge’s brilliance in so many areas will be on display Friday night at City Winery. 8 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. RON

WYNN

FESTIVAL

[TWENTY

YEARS OF TOMATOES]

TOMATO ART FEST

MUSIC [LEND HIM YOUR EARS] SAVE FRANK’S ASS

SATURDAY / 8.12

COMEDY

SUNDAY / 8.13

[LAUGH TILL YOU CRY]

A TALE OF TWO TITTIES

It takes a gifted comedian to find humor in cancer, and Julia Johns is up for the job. In her one-woman show, A Tale of Two Titties, Johns fearlessly opens up about her journey through breast cancer. Last year, amid the challenges of her double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Johns found solace in writing material to cope with her experience. Her jokes immediately started receiving heartfelt applause from audience members profoundly impacted by her story. This powerful new show, in which she admits to secretly missing her old “saggy gals” is currently touring across the country. Hosted by Nashville native Marie Cecile Anderson, A Tale of Two Titties will have you celebrating life and laughing at its many imperfections. 8 p.m. at Third Coast Comedy Club, 1310 Clinton St., Suite 121 TOBY ROSE

[CRIMES OF PASSION]

FILM

[WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS]

STREET THEATRE COMPANY: 35MM

Tomato Art Fest is a bit goofy, super artsy, somewhat over-the-top and very neighborhoody and cozy. In other words, it’s the essential annual event for East Nashville. The beloved street fair is celebrating 20 years this weekend, which means it’s a perfect time to soak in the outfits, recipes, art pieces and decor that transform Five Points into a colorful, tomato-y paradise. Marvel at the innovative costumes that folks wear to honor the tomato and its key diplomatic role in bringing together fruits and vegetables. Try a juicy new snack, or pick up some whole tomatoes grown right at your neighbor’s place. Reflect on the beauty of elementary schoolers reading poetry at the tomato haiku contest. Pick up a crimson-red art piece or accessory, or at least snag an enamel pin for your bag so everyone at your favorite coffee shop will know you actually live in Nashville and aren’t just some tourist. However you celebrate, it’s hard not to fall a little bit in love with the quirkiness of East Nashville at this long-running local celebration. Aug. 1112 in Five Points, East Nashville COLE VILLENA THEATER

Street Theatre Company is back and ready to kick off its 18th season with 35mm: A Musical Exhibition. Inspired by the photos of Matthew Murphy, this unusual song cycle features music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver (winner of the 2023 Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre, and Murphy’s own husband). The piece is presented as a series of musical vignettes, inviting audiences to explore a wide range of stories, characters and emotions. The musical premiered off Broadway at NYC’s Galapagos Art Space in 2012, with a rather remarkable young cast that included Betsy Wolfe (& Juliet), Alex Brightman (School of Rock; Beetlejuice the Musical), Lindsay Mendez (Carousel), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Parade; On the Town) and Ben Crawford (The Phantom of the Opera). Everett Tarlton is on board to direct Street Theatre’s much-anticipated production, with musical direction by Nick Benefield. The cast offers a nice mix of new and familiar faces — including Kortney Ballenger, Ben Teal Davis, Blake Holliday, Tina Ray and Christian Sandoval. Aug. 11-26 at The Barbershop Theater, 4003 Indiana Ave.

AMY STUMPFL

THEATER

[PURR-FECTLY DELIGHTFUL]

THREE LITTLE KITTENS

Nashville Children’s Theatre has been entertaining eager young audiences since 1931 — including even the littlest of arts lovers. That trend continues this weekend as NCT opens its 2023-24 season with Three Little Kittens. Part of the NCT Snuggery series for little ones ages 5 and younger, this “interactive, immersive spy play” follows three little kittens as they embark on a quest to find their lost mittens. It’s an action-packed journey that “involves meeting neighbors; building unexpected friendships; and, like all good adventures — pie.” Three Little Kittens was created and directed by NCT’s executive artistic director Ernie Nolan, and the cast includes Luke McGuire, Will Henke and Alisa Osborne. I’m looking forward to checking out Scott Leathers’ scenic/lighting design, along with William Ditty’s always delightful costumes. Presented in the cozy Copeland Studio, Three Little Kittens offers a great opportunity to introduce your youngsters to the magic of live theater. Aug. 12-Nov. 26 at Nashville Children’s Theatre, 25 Middleton St. AMY STUMPFL

WEEKEND

CLASSICS: LOVERS ON THE LAM: BONNIE AND CLYDE

When the Belcourt announced it was doing a Weekend Classics series devoted to movies about lovers on the lam, was there ever a doubt in your mind that it wouldn’t start with this fact-based 1967 crime pic? Arthur Penn’s Oscar-winning retelling of the robbing and killing that real-life lovebirds Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty, who also produced) committed all through the Great Depression practically inspired most of the films in the program. It was also the first strike in New Hollywood’s impending invasion, as its violent content and French New Wave influences (screenwriters Robert Benton and David Newman sent the script to JeanLuc Godard and François Truffaut to see if they wanted to direct) made everyone in Tinseltown aware that a storm was about to brew. So if you wanna see the movie that made Pauline Kael write a 7,000-word rave that eventually led to her iconic film-critic reign at The New Yorker, it’ll screen at the Belcourt this weekend. Aug. 13-14 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. CRAIG D. LINDSEY

When the audio engineer at a club makes a show sound great — whether it’s through their skill at using the equipment, their knack for wrangling the musicians a bit, or most likely a combination of the two — they’re doing a lot of people a big favor. The bands, the venue management and the audience shelling out their hardearned cash at the door all benefit, and that in turn keeps our ecosystem of music scenes in good health. Over a long, long tenure running sound in Nashville clubs, including Exit/In and his own establishment The Rutledge, Frank Sass set a high bar. It was always something of a labor of love. Back in 2007, Scene correspondent Chris Slack asked Sass about “the secret of making magic in this town,” to which Sass responded, in part: “It helps to have the stars line up correctly, the right amount of incantations, prayer, sacrifice, crystals, candles, talismans, potions and a little luck. … Once you have all that then maybe, just maybe you have a chance, and I mean just a chance, for something special to happen, and in that one moment (even if it goes no farther) you might be able to affect the life of one person.” Now Sass is facing some serious medical issues, and many musicians he’s worked with over the years from in and around Nashville rock ’n’ roll are heading to Eastside Bowl for a benefit show to help him out — so many players, in fact, that two shows are planned. On Aug. 13, come out for Dave Pomeroy, Gretchen Peters, Bill Lloyd, Kim Richie, The Shazam and Homemade Sin; on Aug. 20, see Sour Ops, Dave Coleman, Tim Carroll, the Raelyn Nelson Band, Tommy Womack and Walk the West. 2:30 p.m. Aug. 13 & 20 at Eastside Bowl, 1508 Gallatin Pike S. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MONDAY / 8.14

[BANSHEE SEASON]

MUSIC

COUNTING CROWS & DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL

Dashboard Confessional leader and Nashville-area resident Chris Carrabba is pretty stoked to be part of Counting

>> P. 29

A TALE OF TWO TITTIES

COUNTING CROWS

The 20th Anniversary of Tomato Art Fest will celebrate its roots August 11-12, 2023 with a two-day art festival that welcomes everyone to East Nashville to showcase the talented artists who turn tomatoes into pieces of art each year. This free festival will continue to stick to its tomato traditions thanks to an active community coming together to participate in wacky activities everyone has come to know and love through art, music, food, costumes, contests, shopping, kids activities, and more!

Located in Historic East Nashville’s Five Points, this free, costume-encouraged event provides a wildly entertaining, fun-filled day for all types and all-ages. A community builder, Tomato Art Fest has steadily drawn larger crowds with each passing year. Last year an estimated 65,000 came to celebrate this beloved fruit/vegetable while creating special memories with family, friends and neighbors.

A sneak peak of the festival starts with the Tomato Art Fest Pre View Party on Thursday, August 10th at 6 pm featuring over 300 tomato-inspired pieces of art that will be available to purchase in advance of the general public. This is a ticketed event that sells out in advance, so purchasing tickets early is encouraged.

On Friday, attendees will have access to a selection of unique vendors, live music and the Tomato Art Show, which will open to the public starting on Friday, August 11th at 12 pm with the o cial hours running Friday, August 11 from 9 am - 7 pm, Saturday, August 12 from 9 am - 7 pm and Sunday, August 13 from 11 am - 5 pm. For those tomato art lovers who are unable to attend, the online Tomato Art Fest Gallery will also be available starting on Friday at 12 pm.

On Saturday, August 12th the festival kicks o with the annual Tomato Art Fest Push, Pull and Wear Parade at 9 am with the streets lined with floats and costumes followed by music, food, drinks, contests, activities and more. For this special anniversary, the annual Tomato Recipe Contest will o er a unique opportunity for the winning recipe to be featured on the Margot Cafe menu during the weekend of Tomato Art Fest.

A complete list of events, contests, activities and entertainment are below, including the third annual Pin Program that features a commemorative pin for only $10 that supports the artists and helps keep the festival free of charge for attendees. A special 20th Anniversary Pin will also be available this year in addition to the Hot Air Balloon Pin that was inspired by this year’s o cial Tomato Art Fest Poster. Plus, attendees will be entered to win cash prizes totaling $1,000 with this year’s Pin Program.

More info and events listed at tomatoartfest.com

ENTERTAINMENT

Every year attendees can expect to see some of East Nashville’s finest musicians takethe stage at Tomato Art Fest. With three stages around the festival and pop-up performances throughout the day, attendees will hear great music everywhere they go. Full lineup below.

FRIDAY AUGUST 11

37206 Main Stage

5:30pm - Teddy and the Rough Riders

6:30pm - Chuck Mead & The Stalwarts

7:30pm - Pet Envy

9:00pm - The Weird Sisters

SATURDAY AUGUST 12

37206 Main Stage

11:00am - The Magi

12:00pm - Bee Taylor

1:00pm - Friday Night Funk Band

2:00pm - Tim Gent

3:00pm - Gloom Girl MFG

4:00pm - Crumbsnatchers

5:00pm - Willie Pearl

6:00pm - Jive Talk

6:00pm - Jive Talk

11th St Stage

11:00am - Señora Rachel RodriguezBilingual Song & Story Time

12:00pm - Amanda Fields

1:00pm - Emily Justin

2:00pm - The Sewing Club

3:00pm - Iguanahead

4:00pm - Ryan Scott

3:00pm Scott

5:00pm - OTNES

5:00pm - OTNES

Muddy Roots Stage

1:00pm - Ilhuilcamina Flechador Del Cielo (Traditional Aztec Dance)

2:30pm - Tribe of Horsman

* Times subject to change

2023 TOMATO ART FEST EVENTS & CONTESTS

TOMATO ART FEST VENDOR MARKETPLACE

Some of the most unique and creative local and regional vendors take over the streets of East Nashville for Tomato Art Fest on Saturday, August 12 from 9am - 7pm. You’ll be sure to find a have-to-have, one-of-a-kind tomato treasure while you’re exploring the marketplace. The beloved tomato takes on many forms, including jewelry, pottery, blown glass, figurines, art, clothing, toys, and so many more. Vendors also offer original, non-tomato items for sale that are guaranteed to be just as impressive as the tomato art.

WHEN: Friday August 11th 5:00 -10:00 pm + Saturday, August 12th: 9am-7pm

WHERE: 5 Points

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ vendormarketplace

TOMATO ART FEST OFFICIAL 20 YEAR

MERCHANDISE

Available in advance online and in person at the festival, you can sport your best Tomato self all yearround. For the 20th Anniversary there will be some extra special merchandise offerings to commemorate the festival, so don’t forget to check out the tomato wares at the merch marketplace!

WHERE: tomatoartfest.com and at the Festival Merch Booth in Five Points

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com

TOMATO ART FEST COMMEMORATIVE

PIN

Each year the festival unveils an enamel pin inspired by the festival’s official artwork. This year, there will also be a special 20th Anniversary commemorative pin, which are both stylish and easy ways to support this free annual festival and parade in historic Five Points. When you register your Commemorative Pins online, you are automatically entered to win great prizes!.

WHERE: Available at the Tomato Art Fest Merch tent or online at tomatoartfest.com

REGISTRATION & MORE INFORMATION: tomatoartfest.com/pinprogram

ENTERTAINMENT

Every year you can expect to see some of East Nashville’s finest musicians take the stage at Tomato Art Fest. With 3 stages around the festival and pop up performances throughout the day you are sure to hear great music everywhere you go. Music is played from open to close so be sure to check out the entertainment lineup and schedule at tomatoartfest. com/entertainment

WHEN : Friday, August 11 - Saturday August 12

WHERE: All over Tomato Art Fest

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/ entertainment

TOMATO ART SHOW

Have you ever seen a gallery full of art inspired by the tomato and its fruit and vegetable friends? We have, and we think it’s awesome, quirky, and different than anything you have ever seen. Stop by the gallery to browse and purchase some great local art!

WHEN: Friday, August 11th: 12pm - 9pm

Saturday, August 12th: 9am - 7pm

Sunday, August 13th: 11am - 5pm

WHERE: 1106 Woodland St, Suite 4

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ tomatoartshow

TOMATO ART SHOW PRE VIEW PARTY

Be the first to see the 2023 Tomato Art Show at the Pre View Party! Guests can enjoy local snacks, drinks, and entertainment, plus you can purchase your favorite Tomato art pieces. Grab a ticket to browse and get your hands on some wonderful local art before festival

ART

weekend! This party is for tomato art enthusiasts and community supporters.

A ticket to the Pre View event also gives you early access to the online Tomato Art Show where you can view and purchase tomato art.

The gallery will open on Thursday night for the ticketed Pre View Party and will open to the public on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Party is your chance to grab your favorite piece first!

Ages 12 and up require a ticket for entry.

WHEN: Thursday, August 10, 6pm-9pm

WHERE: 1106 Woodland St., Suite 4

TICKETS: tomatoartfest.com/tickets

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/artpreview

BLOODY MARY GARDEN PARTY

Bloody Mary fans unite at the Tomato Art Fest Bloody Mary Garden Party. This 21+ tasting event features fullsize Bloody Marys, a robust Garnish bar, mimosas, local entertainment, plus tomato-tastic photo opportunities. Decorate your Derby Style hat and compete in the Hat Decorating Contest to win fun prizes from sponsors and local restaurants!.

WHEN: Saturday August 12 from 10am - 12pm

WHERE: Bongo East Grass Lot

TICKETS: tomatoartfest.com/tickets

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ bloodymarygarden

TOMATO ART FEST “PUSH, PULL, AND WEAR” PARADE

Tomato lovers line the streets of 5 Points to see the quirky and original parade entries every year. Local bands and drumlines bring the excitement and get the crowds involved. We want to see your group marching proudly through East Nashville in your best tomato themes! Push it, pull it, or wear it, it’s all the same to us, just bring that tomato spirit.

The parade is free for community groups to participate in, but registration is required.

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th. Line-up is at 8:30am, Parade begins at 9am

WHERE: Parade line-up is at the corner of S 12th and Russell, Parade ends in 5 Points.

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/ events/parade

KIDS ART SHOW

Hey Kids! What do you think of when you hear “Tomato”? Draw it and submit it to the Kids Art Show! Festival goers can be sure to stop by the show on 11th Street to see all of the great creations. Entry is free butregistration is highly encouraged.

The deadline to submit art is Friday, August 4th.

WHEN: Saturday, August 13, 9am - 7pm

WHERE: 11th Street

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/kidsartshow

KIDS AREA AT TOMATO ART FEST

Come one, come all to the 2023 Tomato Art Fest Kids Area! This is a space for kids and families to enjoy programming for children of all ages. We’ve got you covered for a fun day of family festivities, from table activities like crafts and sensory play as well as kidcentered programming happening all morning long. Be sure to check out Bach to Rock’s musical petting zoo,tomato-tastic crafts, and more!

A full schedule of kids activities will be available soon at tomatoartfest.com/events/kidsarea.

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th, 10:00am - 4:00pm

WHERE: Kids Area at Tomato Art Fest

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/kidsarea

HOME DECORATING CONTEST

Turn your yard, porch, garage, or front door into a tomato masterpiece the week of Tomato Art Fest! The neighborhood has always had a flair for tomato yard decor, so let’s celebrate the creativity. Decorations include tomatoes, arts and crafts, humans, pets, vehicles; we have seen it all.

A crew of local judges will come to judge your decorations on Wednesday, August 9th. Winners will be announced on Thursday, August 10th and prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

WHEN: Decorating August 5th - 8th; Judging will be on Wednesday, August 9th

WHERE: All over East Nashville REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ homedecorating

BIGGEST/LITTLEST/UGLIEST TOMATO CONTEST

We love UGLY tomatoes! That’s right, the uglier the better. We also love those big tomatoes and the teeny weenie ones, too! Enter your Ugliest Tomato, Biggest Tomato, and Littlest Tomato to the Information Booth atthe corner of 11th and Woodland for a chance to win PRIZES!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th. Drop off entries from 9:00am-12:00pm; winners will be announced at the Info Booth at 1:00pm

WHERE: Info booth at 11th & Woodland

CONTACT: Hello@goodneighborfestivals.com

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/biggestlittlest

TOMATO COSTUME CONTEST

We see them every year: your outstanding tomato costumes, hats, and outfits. We’ll be highlighting all the tomato wears once again at the Tomato Costume Contest! Register to join us at 10am after the Parade and show off your creations. A host of local Judges will determine the winners and give out sweet prizes.

CATEGORIES INCLUDE:

• Red Hair Don’t Care

• Best Dressed

• Other Uniters

• Tomato Talents

• Heirloom Tomatoes (kids under 12)

• 20 years of Tomato

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th at 10am

WHERE: Muddy Roots Stage

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ costumecontest

EAST NASHVILLE TOMATO 5K

Start your tomato day by walking, jogging, skipping, or sprinting a 5K through East Nashville. This race is forthe whole family, with a Kids Fun Run taking place before the 5K kicks off. Wear your tomato red and stop by the festival to celebrate finishing the race!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12. Kids Fun Run Starts at 7:00am, 5K Starts at 7:30am

WHERE: The Race starts and ends at East Park Community Center (600 Woodland St)

TIME: drop off entries from 9:00am – 12:00pm. Winners announced at 1pm

COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: Margaret Maddox YMCA

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/tomato5k

EAST END UMC KIDFEST

Join in family fun at the corner of 12th and Holly Street. East End United Methodist Church will once again host the KidFest from 9am - 3pm. There will be crafts, inflatables, sensory play and more. We are thrilled to welcome our community back to this day of summer fun!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12 from 9am - 3pm

WHERE: Corner of 12th and Holly COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: Joanna Cummings and the East End UMC community

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/kidfest

TOMATO ART FEST CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT

Does your team have what it takes to go all the way to the top of the bracket in the Tomato Art Fest Cornhole Tournament? Truly a fan favorite of the festival, teams compete in a bracket-style tournament to crown the top team and win prizes from local restaurants and a Cornhole set from Music City Boards!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th, 11:00 am until a winner is crowned!

WHERE : 1015 Clearview Ave (Parking Lot next to TreeHouse)

COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: Lee Davis & Music City Boards

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ cornholetournament

TOMATO

ART FEST HAIKU CONTEST

HAIKU /hai ku/ (noun) an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively. Add a Tomato twist and enter the contest! Submit a tomato-related haiku in classic 5-7-5 style to snag some pretty sweet prizes.

This contest is free to enter and judges accept up to 5 entries per person. Winners are announced at Tomato Art Fest in person on Saturday, August 12th.

CATEGORIES INCLUDE:

• Heirlooms (ages 17+)

• Greenhouse (ages 16 & under)

• Funnies (humor)

• Oddities (limerick, sonnet, freeform, anything under 200 words)

• 20 Years of Tomato

WHEN: Submit entries by Wednesday, August 9th. Winners’ poems will be read aloud on Saturday, August12th at 10:40am

WHERE: Muddy Roots Stage

COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: Fairytales Bookstore

REGISTER: Email tomatohaikucontest@gmail.com with your name and submission

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/tomatohaiku

BEAUTIFUL TOMATO CONTEST

Picture a beauty pageant with beautiful contestants, perfect outfits, and exciting judges. Now just picture those contestants as your favorite garden tomatoes! Dress up your home grown or store bought contestants and enter them into East Nashville’s favorite pageant. This year’s pageant is hosted by the East End Neighborhood Association and will take place in front of a panel of judges. Set the scene and be ready to present your masterpiece in front of an audience.

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th at 10:30am-10:50

WHERE: Muddy Roots Stage

COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: East End Neighborhood Association

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ beautifultomatocontest

BLOODY MARY RECIPE CONTEST

Who has the best Bloody Mary recipe in all the land? Maybe you do? Get your recipe together and register below to enter the annual Bloody Mary Recipe Contest! Check out the contest starting at 11am on Saturday August 12th as the 10 finalists vie for the title of BEST Bloody Mary. Emceed and judged by a panel of Bloody Mary experts!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th at 11am

WHERE: Muddy Roots Stage COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: bloodymarysociety @gmail.com

REGISTER/MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ bloodymarycontest

ICE CREAM COMMUNITY ART

Art can be found all across the Tomato Art Fest, even near the Ice Cream! On this very special Tomato anniversary, Pied Piper invites community members to bring photos of themselves and past years’ festivities to contribute to the 20 Years of Tomato Collage. Stop by the Pied Piper Ice Cream Booth on 11th Street to add your mark to the community art piece highlighting all the best moments from Tomato Art Fest throughout the years. Participants will also receive giveaways to celebrate!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12th 9am - 7pm

WHERE : 5 Points, Pied Piper Ice Cream Booth

TOMATO RED HEAD CONTEST

East Nashville’s beloved vintage shop, Hip Zipper, will again host the ‘Red Head Contest’ - A festival favorite! Delectable prizes will be awarded for every category.

CATEGORIES INCLUDE:

• Tomato Tots (ages 10 and under)

• The Wild Bunch (ages 10 - 18)

• The Real Deal (Adults 18+ with authentic red hair)

• The Genuine Imitations (Adults 18+ with processed / colored red hair)

• Wild Card: Anything Grows!

Hip Zipper will also be hosting “Tomato Row: a fashion farmers market of vintage vendors, fresh off the vine!” A bumper crop of fresh vintage offerings ‘curbside’ from a select group of hip venders.

WHEN: Saturday, August 12 at 2:30pm

WHERE: The Dolly Mural at the corner of Hip Zipper Vintage and the 5 Spot Bar

MORE INFO: tomatoartfest.com/events/ redheadcontest

BOBBING FOR TOMATOES / TOMATO TOSS

Bobbing for (real) tomatoes, tossing (faux) tomatoes at a target, prizes, treats for the pooches, wading pools to cool hot paws…fun for pets and those who love them!

WHEN: Saturday, August 12, 2023

WHERE: Wags & Whiskers

TIME: 10:00 am - 1:30 pm

TOMATO RECIPE CONTEST

The Tomato Recipe Contest makes its return for a very special 20th year edition of the contest! Registered contestants will submit their dishes for judging at Adobe Mercantile on Saturday, August 5th. The winning recipe will get the Chef Hadley Long treatment and be featured on the Margot Cafe menu on the weekend of Tomato Art Fest.

Pre-registration is required. The recipes should be inspired by the classic BLT, but do not have to be a BLT sandwich. Be creative, whether that’s a soup, pastry, quiche, salsa or otherwise. Participants can enter up to two entries. Dishes must be presented on one regular size plate or platter. Any and all materials are not returnable.

While attendees can’t observe the judging process, Abode Mercantile will host tastings, bites, and demonstrations featuring their kitchen and home goods and locally produced artisan foods and sips from 10am - 3pm that day and the whole neighborhood is welcome to drop by. Local judges will taste the creations and name a winner that afternoon. The judges panel will be made up of local food writers, gallerists, and artists.

WHEN: Drop off is on August 5th between 10:30am11:30am. Winners will be announced at approximately 1:30pm. Enjoy the winner’s recipe at Margot all Tomato weekend long!

WHERE: Judging is at Adobe Mercantile, 1002 Fatherland St #101. The winning recipe will be featured at Margot, 1017 Woodland St. COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR: Mike Smith

REGISTER/MORE INFO: www.tomatoartfest.com/ events/recipecontest

WINNER

TOMATO RECIPE CONTEST

SOURDOUGH HEIRLOOM TOMATO BLT GALETTE BRITTANY HENDRICKSON

Want to taste the winning recipe? Visit Margot Cafe now through August 13 to order the tantalizing tomato dish!

Illustration by Montana Knudsen

Crows’ Banshee Season Tour 2023, which makes a stop Monday evening at the Opry House. Carrabba says he and his bandmates “could not be more excited to be playing all across America with our heroes and friends Counting Crows. Dreams really can come true!” Carrabba and Crows frontman Adam Duritz have been close friends since they met in 2003 at the 17th annual Bridge School Benefit Concert in San Francisco hosted by Neil Young. “One of the best things about a life in rock and roll is that we spend it traveling the world playing music,” Duritz says. “It’s even better when you can do it with one of your best friends and watch them play every night, too.” Dashboard Confessional, whose latest album was 2022’s acclaimed All The Truth That I Can Tell, began their run with Counting Crows in June and will end it with a show at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater in late September. 7:30 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House, 600 Opry Mills Drive DARYL SANDERS

MUSIC [THERE’S A PLACE] WILL HOGE

I’ve always thought Nashville singer and songwriter Will Hoge makes a better rock ’n’ roller than a purveyor of social commentary, and his 2022 album Wings on My Shoes doesn’t disabuse me of that notion. Hoge muses on the nature of a supreme being on “Whose God Is This?” which is a jokey, sawdust-on-the-dining-room-floor affair that doesn’t strike me as the work of an artist who should be doing satire. Meanwhile, “Ain’t How It Used to Be” is about gentrification, as Hoge complains: “But then the money came in / And almost overnight / Turned all the collars from blue to white.” Elsewhere in “Ain’t How It Used to Be,” Hoge takes issue with a society that favors riding Vespas over John

Deere tractors, a conceit that strikes me as simply inaccurate — what person not named George Jones takes a farm vehicle to a restaurant, even in a gentrified town like Nashville? Wings features a couple of fine tunes that allow Hoge to rock out and say his piece about the passing of time.

“Queenie” is a remarkably unsentimental portrait of his grandmother, while “You Are the Place” combines, say, the styles of Elvis Costello and Old 97’s, complete with Southern-rock guitars. Hoge communicates angst without giving you the feeling he’s going under throughout Wings, and he has a knack for creating memorable rock-band arrangements that stick with you. 7 p.m. at The Basement, 1604 Eighth Ave. S. EDD HURT

[TEXAS COOKIN’]

MUSIC

UPCOMING EVENTS

PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES

6:30PM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10

MICHAEL OHER SIGNING at PARNASSUS When Your Back’s Against the Wall FRIDAY, AUGUST 11

6:30PM

JAMES MCBRIDE

with KHALIL EKULONA at PARNASSUS

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

SATURDAY, AUGUST 12

LYLE LOVETT AND HIS LARGE BAND

Lyle Lovett’s 2022 album 12th of June pushes the Texas singer, songwriter, actor and quintessential quasi-country star’s concept — country music as an amalgam of Texas boogie, Guy Clark songwriting and covert jazz moves — into the postpandemic world. 12th of June is Lovett’s first album in a decade, and he showcases his longtime vocal partner Francine Reed on a pair of superb cover versions. The combination of Reed’s forthright but underhanded post-blues vocals and Lovett’s

10:30AM

SATURDAY STORYTIME

with DAWN RENEE YOUNG

The ABCs of Making Good Choices & Tap-Tap-Tap

6:30PM

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15

PHILIP FRACASSI with JEFF TERRY at PARNASSUS Boys in the Valley

12:30PM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17

THE SH*T NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT WRITING PODCAST MEETUP with CECE LYRA at PARNASSUS

6:30PM

REA FREY with JEREMY FINLEYat PARNASSUS The Other Year

10:30AM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19

SATURDAY STORYTIME with HANNA X MADGE

LYLE LOVETT

WILL HOGE

underhanded but suave singing on David Frishberg’s “Peel Me a Grape” and Andy Razaf and Don Redman’s “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” turns what could have been mere cover versions into tracks that might signify Lovett’s willingness to mess with the foundations of country music. After all, this is an ostensibly country-Americana album that opens with Horace Silver’s hard-bop composition “Cookin’ at the Continental” and includes Lovett and his Large Band swinging through “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” Lovett mentions Nashville chicken, The Pancake Pantry and the “motel Loveless” in “Pig Meat Man,” which just may be about eating pork. Meanwhile, Guy Clark himself would approve of the subtle complexity of Lovett’s “The Mocking Ones,” a song about how the pleasures of relationships and the demands of a harsh world don’t always mix. 12th of June is one of his best albums — quasi-country stars have more fun. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 John Lewis Way N. EDD HURT

TUESDAY / 8.15

MUSIC

Action will also have representatives at the show to discuss getting involved in changing the laws that make it easier for gun violence to affect so many people. 7:30 p.m. at City Winery, 609 Lafayette St. STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC [ROCKIN’ ROBIN] ROBIN EATON

[BETTER TOGETHER]

TOGETHER

IN ACTION FEAT. JASON ISBELL, DEVON GILFILLIAN & MORE

It seems that even in the wake of the Covenant School shooting, the Tennessee GOP will happily dig in its heels to prevent or at least slow any kind of meaningful gun reform in our state. But not everyone feels like changing the narrative to deflect attention from the issue is the right way to address it. Among an array of projects underway, there’s Tuesday’s show at City Winery. The concert is presented by two organizations focused on elevating voices of marginalized people in the music world — Country Any Way, which was launched by Black Opry founder Holly G, and eQuality Events, founded by Richard M. Williams and songwriter Autumn Nicholas — and it will raise funds to be donated to gun violence prevention efforts across the state. The show brings together a massive amount of singing and songwriting talent in the midsize room, including the aforementioned Nicholas, Chris Housman, Denitia, Julie Williams, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Devon Gilfillian and Jason Isbell. Grassroots gunreform advocacy group Moms Demand

In May, Robin Eaton dropped the surprise rock album of the year so far in Nashville, Memories of a Misspent Youth Best known as a successful rock producer, songwriter and studio owner, Eaton stepped centerstage and showed he’s a formidable artist as well, shining as primary writer, vocalist and guitarist on the album’s 11 songs. As the title suggests, the record finds the artist taking a stroll down memory lane and revisiting past loves and wild and eventful highs and lows in his life, with a captivating mix of humor and sadness, and some 20/20 hindsight. Eaton will perform the entire Memories of a Misspent Youth album in sequence on Tuesday evening at The Electric Jane. He’ll be backed at the show by the members of the band Joe, Marc’s Brother — Joe Pisapia, Marc Pisapia and James “Hags” Haggerty, who were among the performers on the record. “I’m just so grateful to Joe, Marc and Hags for helping me bring it to audiences,” Eaton tells the Scene. Eaton’s set is part of a special School Night Nashville new-music showcase at the venue. He’s slated to hit the stage at 10 p.m., but the music begins at 7:45 p.m. with a lineup that includes Alexis Donn, Mike Mains and the Branches, and THEBROSFRESH.

7:45 p.m. at The Electric Jane, 1301 Division St. DARYL SANDERS

[CARRIED TO NASHVILLE IN A SWARM OF BEES]

MUSIC

THE NATIONAL W/THE BETHS

For two decades, Cincinnati-to-Brooklyn indie rockers The National churned out brainy, literate, richly arranged records like clockwork — eight studio albums, rarely more than three years apart, with a handful of live albums and EPs thrown in there for good measure. When COVID hit, the five-piece — made up of brothers Bryan and Scott Devendorf, twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and frontman Matt Berninger — mostly went off in other directions. Aaron produced multiple Taylor Swift albums (among other efforts), while Berninger issued his solo debut Serpentine Prison. But the Ohio natives returned

DEVON GILFILLIAN

PHOTO: EMMANUEL AFOLABI

Saturday, August 12

CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

Rhiannon Giddens

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, August 12

CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE

The Black Country Music Association and the Black Opry

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER

Sunday, August 13

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Catherine Marx

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Tuesday, August 15

LOUISE SCRUGGS

MEMORIAL FORUM

Honoring

Lorainne Crook

6:30 pm · FORD THEATER

WITNESS HISTORY

Museum Membership Receive

Saturday, August 19

SONGWRITER SESSION

Jamie Floyd

NOON · FORD THEATER

Saturday, August 19

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY

Sunday, August 20

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Mike Severs

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

Friday, August 25

FILM SCREENING

USO Celebrity Tour: Starring

Patty Loveless

(1989)

NOON · FORD THEATER

to one another for this year’s First Two Pages of Frankenstein, The National’s ninth studio album and an effort that’s somehow both dark and refreshing. (Which, admittedly, is kind of their whole bag.)

Featuring guest appearances from Phoebe Bridgers, Sufjan Stevens and, yes, even Swift herself, Frankenstein is largely made up of beautifully gloomy ballads (“Once Upon a Poolside,” “The Alcott”), though it has its uptempo rockers as well (“Tropic Morning News,” “Grease in Your Hair”).

On Tuesday, The National will headline Ascend Amphitheater, where they’ll be joined by Scene faves The Beths — the New Zealanders’ March show at Brooklyn Bowl in support of their LP Expert in a Dying Field was one of the year’s best rock shows so far. Show up early. 8 p.m. at Ascend Amphitheater, 310 First Ave. S. D. PATRICK RODGERS

WEDNESDAY / 8.16

[STAR-STUDDED?]

AEW DYNAMITE RAMPAGE

There is a long-running concern in the wine world regarding the pervasiveness

of The Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker’s 100-point scale and the influence it has on consumer habits, purchasing patterns for merchants and winemaking itself. It’s created an environment where winemakers aim for a style specifically to please Parker, earn a high score and reap the rewards. The perils are apparent, particularly for vineyards that don’t specialize in the styles Parker likes and consumers who don’t share his taste. There’s a similar pernicious pattern in wrestling: Dave Meltzer’s fivestar scale is similarly pervasive and widely shared, and Meltzer prefers a specific style of wrestling. The wrestlers, producers and bookers at All Elite Wrestling — these are, in many cases, the same people; that’s a whole other issue — are acutely aware of Meltzer and entered the upstart promotion as among Meltzer’s favorites. And AEW seemingly builds matches and shows to please Meltzer and his acolytes. Meltzer has given five stars to nearly three times as many matches in AEW in four years than he’s given WWE in its entire existence. Even if you don’t like Vince’s promotion, that seems … wrong. Anyway, if you like what Meltzer likes, check out AEW at Bridgestone. 6:30 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena, 501 Broadway J.R. LIND

THE NATIONAL AEW DYNAMITE RAMPAGE

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ON THE BOIL

Blackstone Brewing’s Kent Taylor takes aim at a serious brewery danger

BY CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN

In a recap I wrote for the Scene on the big Craft Brewers Conference in May, I cheekily mentioned that I skipped Blackstone Brewing Company founder Kent Taylor’s technical presentation about ways to reduce the risk of boilovers in the brewing process. To his credit, Taylor didn’t take my little jibe personally — in fact, he reached out to discuss what his aims were with the project and the importance of the work his Brewers Association Engineering Subcommittee has been doing.

I’ve long considered Taylor one of the most thoughtful and intelligent brewery operators in our community, so I took him up on the offer to visit his facility and learn more. Before I arrived, he encouraged me to listen to an episode of the Master Brewers Podcast in which Kerry Caldwell describes a harrowing incident: Her brew kettle boiled over and trapped her on the brewers platform, leading to third-degree burns over

more than a third of her body.

“I’ve been passionate about this topic for a while,” says Taylor, “and that podcast really affected me.” Popular representations of life in a brewery like on Apple TV+’s Platonic make it seem like a bunch of dudes working together in a fun environment, making their pet-project beers and chatting up customers across the bar in their taprooms. In actuality, brewing beer is very hard work that can sometimes be incredibly dangerous. The process involves steam and boiling liquid and the delicate dance of maintaining temperature and pressure inside huge steel tanks.

Temperatures can quickly get away from a brewer, especially if he or she is busy handling multiple tasks at once. If the wort (a mixture of water and malty sugars) gets too hot, it can quickly expand to overflow the vessel and spew boiling liquid all over the brew deck. The closed lid of the brew tank raises the pressure, and nucleation points can form instantly and violently, like when people accidentally superheat water in a microwave. Even worse, often the controls for the system can be on the wrong side of the brew deck from where the brewer is working, making the only defense against the perilous situation a hose to try to cool down the eruption.

That was the situation Caldwell found herself in, trapped from accessing the controls for the brewhouse and on the wrong side of the tank — in a spot where her brewing assistant couldn’t reach her for help as the sticky water/sugar/grain mixture splashed all over her. In full view of the taproom, she stripped off her boiling hot clothes while her assistant hosed her down from a distance and skin sloughed from her body. Months later, after a medevac to a burn center, multiple skin grafts and constant care, she beat the 66 percent mortality odds her doctors gave her and survived her ordeal.

So, yeah — maybe I should have taken Taylor’s presentation a little more seriously.

Taylor says roughly 80 percent of Brewers Association members do not have boilover protection systems as part of their equipment, citing the expense as an excuse. Taylor set about looking for a cost-effective solution to this conundrum.

“It’s been a three-year project,” he says. “It was frustrating getting $4,000 to $6,000 quotes from manufacturers, so I decided to see if I could do it myself.”

The result is a functioning homemade demonstration pilot system that he constructed using parts sourced from electronics catalogs and through a lot of trial and error. An accountant by trade, Taylor

figured that if he could work out the process of building a working boilover protection device, then most people should probably be able to make it work.

His demo unit looks like an awardwinning high school science project, and he completed the build for about $1,000. The key component is a conductive sensor that can detect the presence of rising foam in a brew tank, operating the same way a sump pump in your basement senses water and turns on the pump. Taylor designed the system to cut off the heat and sound an alarm as soon as it senses the presence of foam or liquid. “I’ve got it set to immediately cut power to the steam actuator valve, which closes the valve and stops the flow of steam heat,” he says. “In the event of a boilover, you have to cut off the steam, gas or electricity right away, whatever is providing heat to the system.”

His compact demo unit can be easily packed up and carried to show other brewers how it works and how to retrofit it into their own system, but to Taylor’s knowledge, no breweries in Nashville have this sort of boilover protection. “I only finished it two weeks before my presentation at the Brewers Conference,” he says.

But it’s not like the Brewers Association isn’t interested in safety, Taylor says.

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KENT TAYLOR

Indulge in a curated seven-course meal prepared by EXECUTIVE CHEF MARCO ESTRADA, paired with our award-winning City Winery wine made by WINEMAKER MICHELLE FOLETTA BELL.

Indeed, they have all sorts of educational initiatives and programs, but most of them revolve around personal protective equipment, showers, eye wash stations and avoiding slips, falls and drops in the brewery. “Training to avoid accidents is a whole lot cheaper than an OSHA visit, and OSHA only gets involved after the fact,” he says. “If an accountant can design and build one of these things, I’m sure there could be more efficient ways to do it.”

Contrary to Seth Rogen’s happy-go-lucky portrayal of the brew life on Platonic, making beer is a deadly serious business undertaken in an environment of heavy equipment, moving conveyors on canning lines, scalding water, high pressures and

potentially explosive steam boilers. Oh, and the floor is almost always wet. Combining these factors means brewhouse employees must pay constant attention to the production process while practicing their arcane art of converting grain, water, hops and yeast into delicious beers.

Taylor wants to stop these sorts of accidents before they occur, and the fact that he dedicated time and resources to coming up with a solution is certainly admirable. If you’re a brewer and want to learn more about his efforts, reach out to him at kent@blackstonebrewery.com. He’d be happy to take more of his time to discuss and demonstrate his project.

As an older mother, age is a number that matters

BY HAILEY HIGDON

Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women and nonbinary writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.

It finally happened. I was mistaken for my son’s grandmother, and it proved that all my insecurity about being an older mom is definitely alive and well.

We were at the park. My son, at 1-and-a-half, was by far the youngest kid roving around the huge neon-colored playground sets. Older children whizzed through tunnels, over bridges and up and down the twisty slides. It was one of those blistery Kentucky days, much hotter than when I was a kid. My son waddled up the coated metal stairs making his way toward the slide, only to lose his balance, get up again, and forget which way he was going. This is what it’s like to be a toddler. You work so hard to accomplish one thing, only to be knocked down. Then when you stand up again, you forget where the heck it was you were trying to go in the first place.

I made a point to smile at the other children. I helped them notice my son. It felt important to be near him, but also to teach them how to be near him — important for them to explore safety and for him to explore risk.

My son’s middle name is Courage. It connects him to the courage of my grandmothers, both mothers of six children and responsible for more than I can imagine. It connects him to the courage of my own mother, the brave woman who left her first husband with $5 to her name. It connects him to me and my donors — the courage it took for us to make him in the first place.

After a long relationship ended in heartbreak, I was left alone at 40. With what I can only describe as flagrant disregard of my age and financial situation, I was able to conceive my son as a sole parent using an embryo donated by another couple. My son and I have a personal relationship with my donors. We are transparent about his origin story and share updates often. He has met some of his donor siblings, and we live our lives similar to cousins — close enough to feel connected in ways that are unspoken, and far enough to feel confident that our families are distinct. This relationship took a certain amount of risk to develop, hence his middle name, Courage.

It’s quite common to have a baby when you’re over 40 in Seattle, where my son was conceived. It’s common in many metropolitan areas. Still, I started this journey with lots of insecurity about being an older mother. It wasn’t in my plan. Coupled with that insecurity, I have always felt like a

younger person. I still wear some of the clothes I wore in my 20s (though I’m finally getting the memo that I need to let a few go).

I still wear Chuck Taylors and overalls, and I have Hello Kitty stickers on my computer. I still feel like the same person I was 20 years ago, only I’m the better version of that person. I’m more confident. I’m less afraid to be wrong. I do my dishes at night instead of leaving them soaking in the sink. For the most part, I feel proud and unapologetic about who I am in the world. It has taken a long, long time to feel that. I want these things for my son too. I want him to believe in his own ideas. I want him to take risks. I want him to live without embarrassment or shame about whomever he is.

So why was I feeling so rotten when a preteen boy popped out from behind the stairs of the playground, cooed at my son and said, “Aww! Is that your grandbaby?”

In the south end of Louisville, Ky., where we live now, it’s not common to have a baby at 41. Of course he assumed I was a grandmother. Around here, at 41, your first child could have had their first child. His logic was reasonable, but somehow I thought I passed as younger.

“No,” I said, “That’s my baby. I’m his mom.” I said it over and over in my head — as if the idea of being thought of as his “grandmother” made me feel less like his mother. I feel very proud of the journey to make my family. I also feel very much like my son’s mother. It’s rare to experience moments when we don’t belong to each other just because we don’t share genetics. Was it the fact that I was called out as an older mom that got to me? Age is just a number, but as an older mother, it’s a number that really matters.

I’m 43 now, and my son is not even 2 yet. I don’t know if I will ever be a grandmother. I don’t know if he will ever have children, and I’m surely not going to push him to have them young. That’s the sticking point. The ambiguous grief about the grandmotherhood I might not get. Like many of the other mysteries in my future, I try to abstain from diving into the story.

“I’ll probably never have a grandbaby,” I rehearse in my head, “but this baby, my baby, took courage to make.”

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I STILL FEEL LIKE THE SAME PERSON I WAS 20 YEARS AGO, ONLY I’M THE BETTER VERSION OF THAT PERSON. I’M MORE CONFIDENT. I’M LESS AFRAID TO BE WRONG.

NEAL JOHNSTON STEVE AUSTIN

ON THIS HILL

A neighborhood unites to protect a child in James McBride’s The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

BY ED TARKINGTON

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James McBride begins his latest novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, in 1972 Pottstown, Pa., with the discovery of a decadesold murder, a mysterious disappearance and a hurricane that wipes away the multiethnic neighborhood of Chicken Hill and, along with it, all evidence of the unsolved crime.

“And them cops and big-time muckity mucks that was running behind them Jews for the body they found in that old well, they can’t find a spec against ’em now, for God took the whole business — the water well, the reservoir, the dairy, the skeleton, and every itty bitty thing they could’a used against them Jews — and washed it clear into the Manatawny Creek.”

The conflict escalates with the appearance of Nate’s nephew, Dodo, a 12-year-old orphan who lost his hearing and partially his speech to a gas-stove explosion. The state wants to send Dodo to an infamous home for disabled children, where he doesn’t belong and where he’ll likely be subject to abuse.

Nate enlists Moshe and Chona’s help in hiding Dodo from the authorities. Spurred by his racism and his grudge against Moshe and Chona, Doc Roberts involves himself in the search for the “missing” boy. As the conflict escalates, the entire community of Chicken Hill rallies to support the Ludlows and Timblins, at considerable risk.

The heart of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store belongs to Chona Ludlow, a great beauty despite a leg deformed by polio, and a woman ahead of her time:

McBride — who, in addition to being a bestselling and award-winning author, is an accomplished musician and wrote a biography of James Brown titled Kill ’Em and Leave — knows how to kick off a show. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store sustains that initial momentum across an endearing, eloquent, exuberant, frequently humorous and consistently engaging 381 pages. The novel is at once a thriller, a cultural history, a love story and an ensemble comedy with a Dickensian cast of characters, all made unforgettable by James McBride’s swinging prose and uncanny knack for blending social realism and nimble storytelling.

The main action of the novel takes place in the mid-1920s, but its themes resonate deep into the past and future as McBride brings to life the enclave known as Chicken Hill, which in the 1920s was populated primarily by African Americans and Jewish immigrants. At the center of the cast are Moshe and Chona Ludlow, owners and operators of two integrated theaters and the titular grocery store, and Nate and Addie Timblin, de facto patriarch and matriarch of the Black community on Chicken Hill. Nate works for Moshe; Addie becomes Chona’s caretaker and closest friend when she falls ill. The bond between the two couples extends into their communities, particularly after Moshe begins booking Black entertainers at his theaters. The suspicion, resentment and unsubtle racism of white Pottstown surfaces in the form of Doc Roberts, the town’s leading physician. He’s also a Klansman, and he maintains an obsession with Chona dating back to their high school days.

She read everything as a child: comics, detective books, dime novels; and by the time she became a young wife, she’d evolved into reading about socialism and unions. She subscribed to Jewish newspapers, publications in Hebrew, and books on Jewish life, some from Europe. The readings gave her wild ideas about art, music, and worldly matters. She knew more Hebrew than any Jewish woman in town, many of whom had little more than a rudimentary knowledge of the language. She could recite the Talmud better than most of the men in shul. Instead of sitting with the women in the balcony, she insisted on davening downstairs with the men, claiming her bad foot kept her from climbing stairs.

One cannot help but feel in Chona the presence of McBride’s own mother, Ruth McBride Jordan (born Ruchel Zylska), whose remarkable life forms the backbone of McBride’s celebrated memoir The Color of Water. McBride’s history as the Black child of a Jewish mother no doubt informs both his extensive knowledge of early-20thcentury Jewish American culture and his keen sense of the sympathy between two communities beset by bigotry and persecution. In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, that sympathy builds toward a powerfully redemptive conclusion, inspired by the courage and fierce love of its women and the loyalty and tenderness of their men.

It also happens to be a terrifically entertaining read: consistently lively, perfectly paced, beautifully articulated in prose that summons to mind the “gorgeous, stomping, low-down, rip-roaring, heart-racing jazz” performed by Chick Webb’s band in Moshe Ludlow’s All-American Dance Hall and Theater. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is a storytelling symphony and another clear triumph from perhaps the finest American maestro working today.

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

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WMOT Roots Radio Finally Fridays featuring RACHEL DAVIS, LAUREN

ARATA, BILLY PRICE WITH SCARLETT EGAN, LESLIE SATCHER & SUNKAT

MIDNIGHT RIDERS - Allman Brothers Tribute Band + JOHNNY

w/ Angel Saint Queen

MY SO-CALLED BAND

SEAN MCCONNELL W/ Bowen*Young

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DARLINGSIDE w/ Jaimee Harris

THE TESKEY BROTHERS

WYATT FLORES

KENDALL STREET COMPANY w/ DIZGO & Connor

Kelly and The Time Warp PROJECT PAT

YOKE LORE W/ GIRLHOUSE

thee sinseers AND the altons w/ Mount Worcester phony ppl

Dave Cathro 3 [7PM]

Zip-Zapp w/ Afrokokoroot and John Condit [9PM]

darren kiely [7pm]

Daikaju, Harriers of Discord, Bad Bad Cats [9pm]

Kiely Connell w/ Sophie Gault [7pm]

Leah Blevins, Kimberly Kelly & Jess Nolan [9pm]

Abby Johnson, Brennan Wedl, Lily Ophelia, DD Island

Will Hoge

OTTTO & BASTARDANE [7PM]

THE BRIDGES W/ CLAIRE ERNST [9PM]

CHARLES WALKER & LONEHOLLOW [7PM]

THE PSYCODELICS [9PM]

LOVETTA AND KEELY [7PM]

Kristina Murray, The Howdies, Domestic Bliss [9PM]

MOLLY PARDEN W/ DENI

JOSH HALPER & THOMAS DOLLBAUM

BAG MEN featuring Steve Gorman, Luther Dickinson and Nick Govrik

VINJE & JUSTIN LUIS [7pm]

Circuit Circuit, My Wall, Clot, Caregiver [9pm]

Jillette Johnson w/ Jake Etheridge [7pm]

Drugdog w/ Mel Bryant & The Mercy Makers, and The Prickly Pair [9pm]

DEEP AND WIDE

Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound celebrates, extends and updates the blues on Tell Everybody!

BY RON WYNN

It would be inaccurate and a gross oversimplification to say Dan Auerbach’s outstanding Easy Eye Sound label and studio specializes in blues or Americana music. Auerbach opened his studio on Eighth Avenue South in Nashville not long after he and Patrick Carney, his bandmate in Grammy-winning dynamic blues-rock duo The Black Keys, moved here from Ohio in 2010. Both Auerbach and Carney produce records for other artists. Auerbach launched the Easy Eye label, an imprint of Concord Music Group, in 2017, and he helms the combined Easy Eye enterprise. Both label and studio serve as yet another reminder of the sprawling idiomatic diversity that characterizes so much great American music, while reinforcing some shared traits that epitomize both the studio’s production sound and the imprint’s releases.

“[Artists say] that the way we make records here reminds them of how they used to make records with [legendary Memphis production maven] Chips Moman,” Auerbach told NPR’s Jewly Hight in a 2019 interview for World Cafe. “Sometimes you think you’re hearing something that reminds you of [landmark recordings] but you’re actually hearing the people that made those sounds.”

Put another way, Easy Eye Sound extends the formula that the Keys perfected. Across the Easy Eye catalog, Auerbach and the artists he works with utilize the sensibility of blues, rock, country or any genre they choose, while carefully nurturing and showcasing each musician’s individual stylistic flair and flamboyance. The sound is uniformly rich and organic, but always tailored to serve the needs of the artist and the song. Across more than 20 acclaimed releases from artists like soulful songsmith Yola, blues wizard Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and West Coast rockers Shannon and the Clams — as well as a tribute to country great John Anderson — this approach has yielded 11 Grammy nominations. Even more importantly, it’s made the releases truly special, and the superb forthcoming anthology Tell Everybody! 21st Century Juke Joint Blues

From Easy Eye Sound continues the trend. The roster blends the weathered vocals of old-timers with the spry, in-your-face mode of youthful types with one foot steeped in rock distortion and the other in world-weary blues sophistication. Some of the tunes ooze the intimate, close community feel that is the essence of the juke joint experience, while others are more flashy and offer an edgier perspective. But they all adeptly handle the balancing act between traditional and contemporary modes that every 21st century blues performer or group must master. Auerbach instinctively knows as a

producer when to lay back and when to add some spice to the mix.

The LP was recorded over several years, and its title track is by Louisiana’s Robert Finley, who has released two albums via Easy Eye. Its crackling vocal refrain is ably supported by guitarist Kenny Brown and bassist Eric Deaton, both longtime celebrated Mississippi blues masters who recorded with the Keys on Delta Kream, their 2021 tribute to R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. Another of Tell Everbody!’s finest homages to the past comes from Mississippian R.L. Boyce’s anthemic version of “Coal Black Mattie.” It’s a signature tune not only for Boyce, but was for the mighty

Burnside, arguably the greatest performer of updated Hill Country blues. Finley’s version doesn’t merely guide the listener through the lyrics — it makes the subject resonate to the point you think you’ve seen someone like her recently.

Perhaps the record’s most poignant moments come in the moving vocals of revered Cleveland, Ohio, rocker and early Black Keys inspiration Glenn Schwartz, who died in 2018. Like Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, Schwartz wrestled with the issue of whether he should sing for spiritual or secular salvation; he spent several years in the All Saved Freak Band, which was connected to the Church of the Risen Christ, a religious

organization that became a cult. The two tracks featured on Tell Everybody! offer examples of each. A new version of “Daughter of Zion” matches him with longtime musical comrade Joe Walsh — who took over as guitarist in the James Gang when Schwartz left — and powers down the gospel-rock road. His original “Collinwood Fire” is an archetypal blues recounting of a tragedy, telling the story of the 1908 fire at Lakeview School in Cleveland that killed 172 schoolchildren.

There’s really not a throwaway cut — just a question of personal taste and preference.

For me, hearing Holmes and the late Leo “Bud” Welch doing versions of “Catfish Blues” and “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” (presented here in previously unissued mono mixes) is a special treat. Holmes may not have the sheer vocal majesty Muddy Waters brought to his version, but he knows how to make the lyrics memorable. Welch for whatever reason never acquired the reputation among the singing preacher/gospel blues crew he should have enjoyed. His “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” is every bit as delightful in its pace and stern in its message as anything the Rev. Gary Davis or the Rev. Robert Wilkins might have done in their prime.

While I’m not as enamored with some of the contemporary blues material, it is interesting to hear both Nat Myers (a Kentuckyresiding Korean American songsmith whose own Yellow Peril was also recently released via Easy Eye) and Gabe Carter offering fresh takes on the vintage “Bentonia school” style. Though I’m pretty sure Skip James wouldn’t have sung it that way, it is interesting to hear Carter’s almost Auerbach-esque vocal on “Buffalo Road.” There’s also a fresh Black Keys single, “No Lovin’,” and Auerbach steps out solo on “Every Chance I Get (I Want You in the Flesh),” which is sassy and groovy.

With the way the production is built around the artists, no one should be surprised that in Music City, Easy Eye Sound is recording and releasing blues material every bit as splendid, gritty — and yes, authentic — as anything coming out of Chicago or Mississippi.

EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

TELL EVERYBODY! OUT FRIDAY, AUG. 11, VIA EASY EYE SOUND

PHOTO: RUSTIN GUDMIN

R.L. BOYCE

ROBERT FINLEY

A GANGSTA’S REIGN

Memphis rap standout Moneybagg Yo makes his Music City debut

BY CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

Some of the most evocative hip-hop of recent years has come courtesy of Moneybagg Yo, specifically the deepvoiced Memphis MC’s single “Wockesha” from the summer of 2021. The hookheavy minor-key number, from his hit fourth LP A Gangsta’s Pain, chronicles his complicated relationship with lean, aka purple drank or sizzurp — a habit-forming codeine-andsoda concoction that, by any name, has cut short so many promising careers in the rap world.

No shortage of songs exist on this topic: Future’s “Dirty Sprite,” Lil Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying” and 1990s Bluff City

kingpins Three 6 Mafia’s “Sippin’ on Some Syrup” come to mind. (Bagg and longtime Three 6 hype man Crunchy Black are cousins.) “Wockesha,” however, adds two intriguing wrinkles. There are astute lyrics personifying lean as the other half of a toxic, codependent relationship: “One minute I’m done with you / The next one I be running back.” There’s also an intro cribbed from a 2009 interview with Wayne, whose struggles with codeine are welldocumented.

The pathos of “Wockesha,” coupled with the workmanlike swagger of material like “Go!,” “Shottas (Lala)” and “Time Today,” catapulted A Gangsta’s Pain to the No. 1 spot on the all-genre Billboard 200 the week of its release. Bagg had been making music professionally for roughly a decade, drawing on his South Memphis roots and the influence of Southern rap forebears like Wayne, Jeezy and Boosie, and his three previous releases — like A Gangsta’s Pain, they were released via North Memphian Yo Gotti’s Interscope Records imprint CMG — all did well on the Billboard 200. But the sprawling 22-track set, expanded to 29 tracks with the A Gangsta’s Pain: Reloaded edition, is the sound of potential

realized.

Today, the 31-year-old born DeMario DeWayne White Jr.’s permanent residence is in Atlanta. His troubled Tennessee home city, however — an environment where success can be both blessing and curse — is never far from his mind. The emotive title track from A Gangsta’s Pain puts this succinctly: “Bullets don’t discriminate, just had to remind you / No matter how you try to dodge the bullshit, it come find you.” Mere months after A Gangsta’s Pain topped the charts, 36-year-old Young Dolph — another key voice in contemporary Memphis hip-hop, a generous spirit and a second cousin to Chicago’s gone-beforehis-time Juice WRLD — was gunned down, right in his hometown, not long after hinting at his own imminent retirement from the rap game.

In an extensive fall 2022 profile of Bagg, New York Times scribe Jon Caramanica shadowed the MC from his current ATL home base to his South Memphis stomping grounds. There he proudly toured Caramanica around property he’d recently purchased, targeted for a community center, paintball course and more. Even with a bulletproof SUV, vests and armed

security detail in tow, Bagg never stopped looking over his shoulder. That recalled something Bagg had said five years prior in a Q&A with TMZ’s Raquel Harper, who’d asked about the differences between the two cities. “Atlanta stick together, but Memphis, there’s a lot of hate going on,” he said. “I just managed to make it out of it.”

To Bagg’s point about community, his list of collaborators includes Atlantans like Future, Lil Baby, Migos co-founder Quavo and the late local luminary Trouble. He’s also worked with plenty of Bluff City folks like Yo Gotti, Blac Youngsta and newcomer GloRilla, as well as major players from all over such as J. Cole, Freddie Gibbs, DJ Khaled and (naturally) Lil Wayne. Sunday, you’ve got a chance to catch Bagg squarely in his prime: His Larger Than Life Tour stops at Bridgestone Arena for his first Nashville headlining gig, which comes in support of his latest mixtape, the tightly wound Hard to Love. An array of opening acts includes Sexyy Red from St. Louis; Luh Tyler, a 17-year-old phenom out of Tallahassee, Fla.; and YTB Fatt, Finesse2Tymes and Big Boogie, who are all from (where else) Memphis.

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PLAYING SUNDAY, AUG. 13, AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA

THE SPIN

LIVE FROM THE EAST SIDE

BY H.N. JAMES

Summertime Saturday nights in Nashville are so full of events that it’s torment to choose, especially when great musical acts are scheduled head to head. On this rainy and humid Saturday, there were indeed several options, including Waxed and Soot’s split 10-inch release party with Brian Brown. But I was headed to The East Room for the Gloom Girl MFG show featuring openers from Chattanooga — Open and Havoc — and Nashville’s Invitation Global

I was on a mission to see if Gloom Girl MFG lived up to the hype. In recent features in Spin and the Scene, writers noted enthusiastic praise from Basement and Grimey’s co-owner Mike Grimes himself when the band played New Faces Nite at The Basement last year; as the group recalled to Spin, Grimes took the mic to announce, “Ladies and gentlemen, you just saw the future of Nashville rock ’n’ roll.” Wary of grand pronouncements like that one, I had my judgment reserved in my pocket until I could see for myself.

Fresh-faced Chattanooga band Open was first up, with The East Room at a quarter of capacity, although it swelled to two-thirds as the night went on. With their neon “OPEN” sign switched on and their hats in place — a beret, a trucker cap and a hunting cap with earflaps turned up — the trio announced the rules of an Open show, the first two being, “You do not talk about Open.”

Their website calls their music a “liminal indie-punk sound they refer to as Shoegazi.” This description intrigued and amused me when I read it before the show, and I think it’s a perfect fit. The trio has a unique configuration of two bass guitarists and a drummer, and their songs included masterful tempo changes and dynamic shifts. At times the vocals reminded me of the French Kicks, and other times of Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman, supported by a shimmering shoegaze guitar sound that I call “watery.” My companion’s impression of Open was as though Interpol was collaborating with … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. That’s fair, though Open’s sound reminded me most forcibly of Deafheaven’s Infinite Granite. Open’s second full-length album Late will be released later this month, and I’ll definitely be nabbing a copy. Havoc, the second Chattanooga band, was also a trio, consisting of the more conventional guitar, bass and drums. However, their sound was anything but conventional, and initially I had trouble establishing points of reference for what I was hearing. My companion, whose ear is quite refined, picked out that they opened with a cover of Link Wray’s “Rumble” — if you don’t know it by name, you’ve heard it in Pulp Fiction — although played way heavier than the original and far from straight-up. During the rest of the set, Havoc touched on several different recognizable punk and punk-adjacent styles: surf punk, pop punk, hardcore,

sludgy rock ’n’ roll and metal, without committing to any one of them. A bluesy surf-punk song might have a metal breakdown with roaring vocals, for instance, and it kept the audience on their toes. The only commonality among the songs was that they were fast and loud — their handle on most social media is, appropriately, @havocisloud — and their manically animated guitarist jumped, kneeled and head-banged in stocking feet while providing the hot licks.

Nashville’s Invitation Global was next. They’re a six-piece with two drummers, two guitarists (including Ghostfinger’s Richie Kirkpatrick), a bassist and a keyboardist with a Farfisa organ. On some songs, they were augmented by a trio of singers, too. That’s a lot going on, and in the psychedelic-tinged garagerock jam that ensued, the keyboard was frequently drowned out. While tightly timed, the performance was a bit unfocused. Alternating shouty vocals with almost inaudible speech between songs, wild-eyed frontman Cameron Reiss Wilson displayed excellent guitar work. It’s clear that all the players in Invitation are great musicians — can’t throw a stone in Nashville but you hit one — but it’s still a bit unclear to me what this band is about.

RSVP: INVITATION GLOBAL

MFG is one of the tightest local bands I’ve heard in ages; though they came together in late 2020, they’re as smooth as though they’ve been in this band for years.

instruments — MacKinnon’s guitar work was just as impressive as her vocals — and Connor McCourt’s drumming was lightningfast and searing.

Gloom Girl MFG opened with their fantastic single “Litterbug,” a song with a postpunk flavor and what I call a “Bauhaus bass line.” It was clear that a large portion of the audience had come for GG, as a small group was dancing in front of the stage at the start of the set and continued to swell. Gloom Girl

Their fusion of talents is seamless and infectious. Their web bio says they’ve been compared to Hole, Television and The Pretenders. I hear The Pretenders — Paige MacKinnon’s vocals bring Chrissie Hynde to mind — but I also hear PJ Harvey in the mix, as well as contemporary punk bands like Ganser, Priests, The Paranoyds and The Coathangers. The quartet played several new songs throughout, as well as old fan favorites, and did so with refreshing energy and confidence. All of the members were animated, passionate and precise with their

Add me to the line of people waiting for the release of anything by Gloom Girl MFG, whether that’s their long-in-the-works EP or a full-length album. I would certainly be happy if Gloom Girl MFG is “the future of Nashville rock ’n’ roll,” but I’ll be very surprised if Nashville can keep them. See them as soon as you can, while they’re still in intimate rooms — it won’t be long before they’re on progressively bigger stages, and you might find yourself jostling amid a big festival crowd to catch a glimpse.

EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

FACTORY FRESH: GLOOM GIRL MFG

PHOTOS: LANCE CONZETT

32 City where

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Joseph P. Day, Clerk Logan Chapel Deputy Clerk Date: July 26, 2023

Joseph Zanger Attorney for Plaintiff NSC 8/3, 8/10, 8/17, 8/24/23

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