- INSIDE -
FALL GUI E
FEATURING PREVIEWS OF THE SEASON’S BEST CONCERTS, BOOK EVENTS, THEATER, FILMS AND MORE
Multiplicity is a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary art that will change the way you think about collage
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTERWhat Legislation Did Lawmakers Pass During the Special Session?
The short answer: nothing particularly meaningful
BY KELSEY BEYELERMetropolitik: O’Connell Captures Middle Ground in Nashville Mayor’s Race
The outgoing Metro councilmember and conservative opponent Rolli enter final chapter of a long election season
BY ELI MOTYCKARepublican Focus on Human Trafficking Surfaces Once Again
The TBI and an array of local nonprofits already work heavily on the issue
BY HANNAH HERNEREasy Being Green
A plot of forested land in Lockeland Springs is now permanently protected
BY CONNOR DARYANICOVER STORY: FALL GUIDE 2023
Cutting Crew
Multiplicity is a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary art that will change the way you think about collage
BY LAURA HUTSON HUNTERI Love His Work
John Cameron Mitchell comes to OZ Arts for an ACLU benefit
BY AMY STUMPFLTheater and Performing Arts
Nashville Children’s Theatre leads our roster of the season’s best theatrical events
BY AMY STUMPFLVisual Arts
Your directory of the must-see exhibitions and events of Nashville’s coolest art season
BY JOE NOLANMusic
Our picks for the best concerts, festivals and music events of the season
BY STEPHEN TRAGESERBooks
This season’s best events from independent bookstores and literary nonprofits
BY KIM BALDWINFilm
From the Nashville Film Festival and the International Black Film Festival to the Belcourt’s Doc Spotlight, here are this season’s coming attractions
BY D. PATRICK RODGERSCRITICS’ PICKS
Tenacious D, Middle Tennessee Highland Games and Celtic Festival, Latinx Month Writers Round, 9 to 5 and more
CULTURE
Wolf at the Door
Talking with Michelle Wolf about the WGA strike and the effect of social media on comedy ahead of her appearance at Zanies
BY KIM BALDWINBOOKS
Modern Roommate Wanted Jenna Levine enters the supernatural romance scene with My Roommate Is a Vampire
BY ABBY N. LEWIS; CHAPTER16.ORGMUSIC
Self Reliance
Jobi Riccio steps forward with Whiplash
BY RACHEL CHOLSTGearing Up: The Sum of Their Parts Sounds of Shelby makes effects-pedal magic with vintage techniques — and components
BY STEPHEN TRAGESERIntentional Walk
After a decade-long layoff, NYC rock iconoclasts
The Walkmen are back on the road
BY CHARLIE ZAILLIANThe Spin
The Scene’s live-review column checks out Bully at Brooklyn Bowl
BY HANNAH CRONNEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD
AND THIS MODERN WORLD
MARKETPLACE
ON THE COVER:
“No It Ain’t, Yes It Is,” Brittney Boyd Bullock. 2023. Mono printed paper, fabric, paper, acrylic, tulle, thread, felt, canvas and tissue paper; 45 by 42 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
SUBSCRIBE
NEWSLETTER: nashvillescene.com/site/ forms/subscription_services/
PRINT: nashvillesceneshop.com
CONTACT
TO ADVERTISE: msmith@nashvillescene.com
EDITOR: editor@nashvillescene.com
WHO WE ARE
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF D. Patrick Rodgers
REMEMBERING GOV. DON SUNDQUIST, A RESILIENT LEADER WHO NEVER LOST AN ELECTION
TODAY WE FIND ourselves reflecting on the career of former Gov.
Don Sundquist, a man who left an indelible mark on Tennessee’s political landscape. Since the news of his passing broke late last month, many have stopped to remember the positive contributions he made to our state.
Don Sundquist was a name synonymous with Tennessee politics, a Republican leader who achieved a feat few can boast: “Mr. Sundquist never lost an election in eight tries in Tennessee — six for Congress and two for governor,” according to The New York Times. From his victories in Congress to his successful runs for governor, Sundquist’s ability to connect with voters and drive his vision forward was pretty remarkable, and spoke volumes as to how he valued his constituents. According to Beth Fortune, a former Nashville Banner reporter who also served as Sundquist’s communications director: “Gov. Sundquist was a connector. He delighted in bringing people together from all walks of life to work for the common good. It was a hallmark of his governorship.”
Gov. Sundquist’s legacy is marked by several significant achievements that impacted the lives of countless Tennesseans. His Families First welfare reform program, designed to empower recipients to find employment while offering essential support, demonstrated his commitment to both fiscal responsibility and social welfare.
According to The Washington Post: “In his second term, Mr. Sundquist proposed repealing the sales tax on groceries, saving each Tennessee family of four nearly $500 per year. He also recommended repealing the franchise and excise taxes and replacing them with a ‘fair business tax’ that treats all companies the same. The levy was 2½ percent on profits and 2½ percent on salaries for all companies.” These proved his desire for equity and fairness.
Beyond the realm of politics, Sundquist’s legacy is defined by a steadfast commitment to making a tangible difference. Colleagues and luminaries within our community echo their recognition of his contributions. Lamar Alexander, a former Tennessee governor and U.S.
senator, aptly observed that Sundquist “put the state ahead of his own political interests.” These words encapsulate Sundquist’s dedication to public service and the well-being of Tennessee. Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis added: “Don Sundquist was a man of his word. … He was a man of good character and moral rectitude, and his was a life well lived.”
Despite efforts and intentions, Sundquist’s second term as governor was met with controversy, particularly surrounding his proposal for a state income tax. While opinions on the matter differ, it’s undeniable that Sundquist’s willingness to grapple with difficult issues showed his commitment to confronting challenges head on, even when it meant facing dissent. He was willing to go against what was popular when he believed it was the right thing to do for the greater good of Tennessee. And to this day, many — myself included — can only applaud him for his efforts.
Sundquist’s prowess extended beyond politics. He was known for his love of golf — a sport that, much like politics, presents formidable challenges that demand strategic thinking, patience and resilience. Perhaps that’s why the game resonated with him, offering an outlet to channel his determination and will to overcome obstacles.
Sundquist was also obviously guided by his love for and commitment to his family — his wife, children and grandchildren. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he’d been married to his wife Martha for 64 years. That’s quite a record. Being married to a politician can be a difficult road: Every decision is under scrutiny, and it takes a special person to meet those challenges, to be that support system.
As we bid farewell to former Gov. Sundquist, let us remember the positive contributions he made and the inspiration he leaves behind. To echo Rep. Cohen, I believe Sundquist’s life was indeed “well-lived,” and I hope Martha and her family can find comfort within those words.
I extend my warmest regards and deepest sympathies to the Sundquist family during this time of sorrow and loss.
Bill Freeman
Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post, and The News.
Regular readers will notice a different look in this issue. The Scene was overdue for a refresh, so this week we’re debuting our print redesign. You’ll still be able to find our usual features moving forward, from coverage and analysis of state and local politics to events previews and arts, music, film and food criticism. We’ve just freshened things up a bit with a newer, cleaner approach, and we’ve added a few new details.
We hope you like the new look. And as always, thanks for reading.
D. PATRICK RODGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELIZABETH JONES, ART DIRECTOR MIKE SMITH, PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER MICHAEL JEZEWSKI, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERMANAGING EDITOR Alejandro Ramirez
SENIOR EDITOR Dana Kopp Franklin
ARTS EDITOR Laura Hutson Hunter
MUSIC AND LISTINGS Editor Stephen Trageser
DIGITAL EDITOR Kim Baldwin
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cole Villena
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Erica Ciccarone, Jack Silverman
STAFF WRITERS Kelsey Beyeler, Stephen Elliott, Hannah Herner, Eli Motycka, William Williams
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Logan Butts, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Rachel Cholst, Lance Conzett, Hannah Cron, Connor Daryani, Steve Erickson, Nancy Floyd, Adam Gold, Kashif Andrew Graham, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Amanda Haggard, Steven Hale, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, P.J. Kinzer, Christine Kreyling, J.R. Lind, Craig D. Lindsey, Sean L. Maloney, Margaret Littman, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Daryl Sanders, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Nadine Smith, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Abby White, Andrea Williams, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian
EATING:
ART DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones
PHOTOGRAPHERS Angelina Castillo, Eric England, Matt Masters
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Sandi Harrison, Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Christie Passarello
GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Kylie Taylor
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR Olivia Britton
MARKETING AND PROMOTIONS MANAGER Robin Fomusa
PUBLISHER Mike Smith
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Michael Jezewski
SENIOR ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS
Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright
ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS MANAGERS Teresa Birdsong, Maddy Fraiche, Kailey Idziak, Allie Muirhead, Niki Tyree, Alissa Wetzel
SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER Chelon Hill Hasty
ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS ASSOCIATES
Audry Houle, Jack Stejskal
SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR Susan Torregrossa
PRESIDENT Mike Smith
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Todd Patton
CORPORATE
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Elizabeth Jones
IT DIRECTOR John Schaeffer
CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR Gary Minnis
FW PUBLISHING LLC
Owner Bill Freeman
For advertising information please contact: Mike Smith, msmith@nashvillescene.com or 615-844-9238
VOICE Media Group: National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com
©2023, Nashville Scene. 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615-244-7989.
The Nashville Scene is published weekly by FW Publishing LLC. The publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one paper from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first initial and last name (no space between) followed by @nashvillescene.com; to reach contributing writers, email editor@nashvillescene.com. Editorial Policy: The Nashville Scene covers news, art and entertainment. In our pages appear divergent views from across the community. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $150 per year for 52 issues. Subscriptions will be posted every Thursday and delivered by third-class mail in usually five to seven days. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, any issue(s) could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Send your check or Visa/MC/AmEx number with expiration date to the above address.
In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016
SEPTEMBER 7 | WILD BILL & THE BRUISERS
SEPTEMBER 14 | JACK RUCH ORGAN TRIO
SEPTEMBER 21 | CRISTINA VANE
SEPTEMBER 28 | THE FUNDAMENTAL SOUND
OCTOBER 5 | THE EXPLORERS CLUB
OCTOBER 12 | END OF THE LINE AN ALLMAN BROTHERS TRIBUTE BAND
OCTOBER 19 | THE TIGER BEATS
OCTOBER 26 | LES SABLER Reserve
WHAT LEGISLATION DID LAWMAKERS PASS DURING THE SPECIAL SESSION?
The short answer: nothing particularly meaningful
BY KELSEY BEYELERIT’S DIFFICULT TO pinpoint the most shocking moment of last month’s special session, called by Gov. Bill Lee to address the Covenant School shooting in March, which left three students and three staff dead.
There were the new rules House Republicans implemented to limit internal debate and public participation. Then there was the enforcement of those rules, which led to the removal of gun-reform advocates who were holding signs. There was the subsequent lawsuit that ultimately led to a Davidson County judge blocking the House’s no-signs rule, as well as the moment when Covenant School parents who were planning to testify were kicked out of a committee, along with others, because some people clapped. There was the stalemate between House and Senate Republicans, the moment Democrats left the House floor in protest of Republicans’ silencing of Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and the confrontation between House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) immediately after the House adjourned.
What wasn’t shocking was the fact that the Tennessee General Assembly left the Capitol without passing meaningful legislation to help prevent mass shootings. Members of the Republican supermajority weren’t interested in taking up any such bills — not even extreme-risk protection orders, a form of legislation suggested by fellow Republican Lee. As with regular legislative sessions, all the Democratic superminority could do was highlight their conservative colleagues’ inaction. Rep. Jones also made an unsuccessful attempt to call a vote of no confidence on Speaker Sexton.
Tension between Senate and House Republicans dragged the session out days longer than many anticipated. House Republicans wanted to
O’CONNELL CAPTURES MIDDLE GROUND IN NASHVILLE MAYOR’S RACE
The outgoing Metro councilmember and conservative opponent Rolli enter final chapter of a long election season
BY ELI MOTYCKAuse it as an opportunity to pass other legislation, including a bill that would allow certain juveniles to receive blended sentencing that could put them in adult prisons. The Senate refused to consider all but four bills, opting to hash out more complex legislation when the body reconvenes in January.
What they did pass doesn’t change much — the legislation lacks enforcement mechanisms or was already being implemented in some capacity. Take, for instance, a bill that encourages safe storage by providing free gun locks to Tennesseans, removing sales tax for safe storage devices, creating a public awareness campaign and emphasizing safe storage in forthcoming firearm training courses. These courses are optional following the permitless carry law passed in 2021, entities including the Metro Nashville Police Department have already been distributing free gun locks, and there’s been a similar sales tax holiday in effect since 2021.
AS OF THIS WRITING, more than 30,000 people have voted in the city’s runoff elections, almost doubling totals from the same early-voting period in the Aug. 3 general election. Tapping the coffee stirrer on the voting screen has become an errand this time around, especially at the top of the ballot, where Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli have staked out neighboring territory in a mayor’s race that will finally end on Sept. 14.
Rolli’s last big campaign was helping Lamar Alexander avoid an upset from Joe Carr (then a state rep, now Rutherford County mayor) in the 2014 GOP primary for U.S. Senate, a contest that ended closer than expected and notched a win for the kind of institutional conservatism that has marked her bid for mayor. Rolli proved in the general election that railing against crime and taxes can still get you pretty far in Nashville. In the extra innings, though, when a 12-person field narrowed to just her and O’Connell, Rolli lost the soft, gooey middle where most of Nashville votes. Her talking points — police and good government — stayed static. A few
Another bill requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to submit a report on human trafficking. The TBI already tracks this information, but the new legislation will require the bureau to organize it into an annual report.
(More on that on p. 8.) The other bill legislators passed codifies an April executive order from Lee that shortens the timeframe in which courts must submit information to the TBI to inform background checks — though courts will not be penalized if they don’t get that information in on time. In response to the April executive order, the TBI published a report that demonstrated the need for a centralized system that enables faster reporting, estimating that more than 700,000 cases were still pending. A bill was filed to create a centralized system but was tabled by the Senate.
A spending bill was passed that allocates $110 million toward school safety, mental health supports and implementation of the safe storage
blunders shifted her campaign further to the right when she needed to go in the opposite direction, and a pledge not to raise taxes has betrayed Rolli’s reductive understanding of city finances. A savvier campaign might have spun O’Connell as a big-government advocate or a miracle for the far left — or both at the same time.
bill. Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) called it “a waste of taxpayer dollars” compared to other actions the legislature could have taken to curb gun violence. Of that money: $1.1 million will pay for the public campaign on safe storage; $10 million will be granted to charter schools and public schools that don’t have school resource officers; $30 million is for higher-education safety grants; $12.1 million provides sign-on and retention bonuses to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and affiliated behavioral health professionals; $3 million provides public behavioral health scholarships; $4 million is reserved for the Behavioral Health Safety Net program, which provides resources to those who have mental health diagnoses without proper insurance to cover them; and $50 million of reverted TennCare funds will support community mental health organizations.
Covenant School parents were present throughout the week, sharing stories of what happened to their children and advocating for and against specific bills. They testified against a bill that would allow more guns on school campuses and supported one that would close the autopsy reports of minors killed in violent crimes and require schools to train on differentiating emergency alarms. They expressed immense disappointment after the session ended with no substantial action — some even hinted at future political campaigns, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
“We need legislators on both sides of the aisle to be able to have respectful, thoughtful debate,” said Covenant parent Sarah Shoop Neumann. “We will work toward ensuring every one of those seats is replaced by someone who has a true desire to listen to their constituents over firearm association lobbyists.” ▼
Early voting in the Metro runoffs ends Sept. 9, with Election Day on Sept. 14
“In order to beat the long odds, Rolli would need to run a more-orless mistake-free campaign,” wrote Stephen Elliott for the Scene last week. “She has not.”
Instead, it’s O’Connell who expanded, taking up the vote-rich territory left behind by third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers Matt Wiltshire, Jeff Yarbro and Heidi Campbell, well-liked and well-heeled politicians whose mutually assured destruction split a combined 38,000 votes on Aug. 3. All three former candidates — along with seventh-place finisher Vivian Wilhoite — have endorsed O’Connell in the runoff. In recent debates, the
outgoing district councilmember made sure to highlight his support for the Metro Nashville Police Department, which his council has consistently furnished with new equipment, additional positions and facilities upgrades. A new mailer boasts his endorsement from Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, now on his sixth term as Nashville’s local jailer, a direct counter to Rolli’s endorsement from the Fraternal Order of Police. O’Connell’s four-bullet priority list includes his support for a “renewed focus on safety” in schools, a fuzzy line that gestures at August’s blown state legislative session on gun reform. During the runoff’s various debates and forums, O’Connell has flexed his thorough understanding of how the city is run and lent credibility to the high-level fixes he’s promised on the campaign trail. When he gets the chance, O’Connell pushes Rolli further right, emphasizing the school board takeover she floated in June and her ideological
PET OF THE WEEK!
alignment with the conservative state lawmakers who have repeatedly pissed off Nashville voters.
HOMER
IS A SWEET
3-YEAR-OLD, 67-pound, boy who enjoys spending time indoors, playing with his toys and running around the house. He likes playing outside with a human friend or two, as well. Homer also loves receiving treats for all of his good behaviors -PLUS- this helps him learn quickly (since he is totally an adult dog who is up for the challenge to learn new tricks) Want to help Homer find his furever home? Tell all of your friends to visit him today at NHA!
Call
Located
Adopt.
(615)
Voted
O’Connell’s subtle shifts in runoff messaging left Rolli little room to maneuver. When she does try to draw contrast — like an impassioned speech at the Tennessean debate advocating for school resource officers, uniformed cops in Metro Nashville Public Schools who supposedly affect the likelihood of a mass shooting — it’s not immediately clear that O’Connell even disagrees with her. (When it comes to cops in schools, he does.)
REPUBLICAN FOCUS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING SURFACES ONCE
AGAIN
The TBI and an array of local nonprofits already work heavily on the issue
BY HANNAH HERNERLAST MONTH’S SPECIAL legislative session on public safety called in response to the Covenant School shooting brought four bills to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk. One requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to put together a yearly report on human trafficking, and only one mentioned guns.
During the session, Aaron Gulbransen and Aaron Spradlin — executive director and board chair, respectively, of right-wing organization Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition — joined Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) and other Republican leaders to promote the toothless legislation, which the group called a “major victory in our war on child and human trafficking in Tennessee.”
The report won’t be breaking any new ground.
“Basically, what we’ll be doing is cobbling together the information that lives elsewhere into a singular report about trafficking,” says TBI spokesperson Josh Devine.
In the TBI’s latest state report, human trafficking is mentioned 16 times, while gun violence is mentioned once and “gun” eight times. The state received 1,268 tips related to human trafficking in fiscal year 2021-2022, with 621 involving minors, though it is unclear how many cases were pursued. Gun violence was the leading cause of death for children in Tennessee 2021, according to recent data from the Sycamore Institute, and overall 1,569 people died of gun violence that year.
Human trafficking is a common talking point for Gov. Bill Lee, who brought on expert and former executive director of Ancora (previously End Slavery Tennessee)
Margie Quin as the commissioner of the Department of Children’s Services a year ago. Earlier this year, DCS started the Human Trafficking Response Team within the Office of Child Safety, which hired 11 people.
It was also Quin who built TBI’s human trafficking bureau. The TBI has run a public awareness campaign on human trafficking for 10 years, and staffs a designated hotline. Devine explains that human trafficking involves sex or labor in exchange for money or an item of value, and in order to be categorized as trafficking, force, fraud or coercion must be proven. (If the victim is a minor,
He’s also the one with kids actually in MNPS, a card the councilmember played at a debate a few weeks ago when he called out Rolli for sending her kids to private school. On license plate readers, Rolli’s chance to hammer O’Connell for a recent no vote on expanded use of the technology, she allowed him to frame his vote as a responsible display of caution amid otherwise staunch support of MNPD Chief John Drake and Nashville’s police force. At times, O’Connell even seems to pitch himself as a successor to John Cooper, eager to pick up projects
like the East Bank and The Village, Cooper’s community safety roundtable.
Such little-contested middle ground has also robbed the city of critical public debates about the most important local issues of the next decade, like corporate subsidy packages, the future of tourism, the role of charter schools in the public system, large-scale transportation projects, and housing density.
Every week, the race feels less competitive in favor of O’Connell. ▼
force doesn’t have to be proven.)
Locally based organizations focus mainly on women, and mainly on sex trafficking. Among the local groups are Thistle Farms, Ancora, Freedom’s Promise, Hope for Justice, Nashville Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition (NAHT), and Rescue 1 Global. They bring in a combined annual total of nearly $27 million to the cause, according to Giving Matters data.
Ancora, which manages all human trafficking referrals for Middle Tennessee as part of the Tennessee Counter Trafficking Alliance, recently established a home for clients. NAHT is on its way to establishing a social enterprise called Sweet Daisy, similar to the Thistle Farms Cafe model, in which former victims of sex trafficking are given steady opportunity for employment.
Inextricable from the conversation around human trafficking this year is the conservative hit film Sound of Freedom. Ancora and NAHT have both expressed support for the movie raising awareness of human trafficking. NAHT founder and executive director Mary Trapnell recalls that in the group’s monthly Zoom training session for volunteers following the film’s release, 53 participants joined in, compared to a typical 15 to 20. The organization has also seen additional speaking engagements and tours, which she credits to the movie.
“The human trafficking industry is just exploding,” Trapnell says. “It’s through the internet. It’s driven through pornography, driving demand. It’s a business, you know, where there is demand, there will always be supply.”
Ancora COO Leah Moyer says her group has seen an uptick in calls in the past year, especially regarding children — something Moyer credits to former boss Quin. Moyer points out, however, that Sound of Freedom, which is based on a true story, does not resemble the typical trafficking experience.
“Not to minimize any experience, because clearly that was a real, true story and experience, but it’s just not necessarily how it looks here in the United States,” Moyer says. “Let’s make sure people understand what it looks like so that they can help, and I believe there’s a
place for everyone to help in this issue.”
Meanwhile, organizations like the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Workers’ Dignity point out that immigrant workers regularly experience wage theft and abuse at their jobs, but have few places to turn to.
“The broader narrative on human trafficking often highlights commercial sexual exploitation, which is a form of labor exploitation,” says Judith Clerjeune of TIRRC. “However, it’s crucial for us to recognize that a significant portion, if not the majority, of trafficking victims are trapped in coercive and exploitative labor situations.”
Even the TBI says its main focus has been sex trafficking — and leans on federal counterparts for labor trafficking, an issue that often affects undocumented immigrants.
“We’re continuing to try to learn more and more about labor trafficking and address cases as we see them,” Devine says. “I think it is a complex kind of crime, there can oftentimes be connections to other states, so we’ve got to work with federal counterparts in a lot of those types of labor cases as well.”
On Aug. 2, leaders of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition joined Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in Nashville to “demand” the release of the writings of the Covenant School shooter — an appearance that also saw Ramaswamy repeat his presidential campaign promise to defund and dismantle the FBI. Two weeks later, Rep. Ogles and Senate Majority Leader Johnson spoke at a TFFC event in Franklin, where Ogles also called for defunding the FBI.
“TBI is fortunate to have great relationships with federal partners in much of our work,” Devine says. “That primarily includes [Homeland Security investigations] in the trafficking space, along with collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service. We’re hopeful those relationships continue to benefit our cases — and public safety in the state — for years to come.”
Additional reporting by Hamilton Matthew Masters ▼
EASY BEING GREEN
A plot of forested land in Lockeland Springs is now permanently protected
BY: CONNOR DARYANIAFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS of politicking, fundraising and community engagement, Nashville became four acres greener last week — forever.
The culmination of months of work by nonprofit organizations, Metro and community stakeholders came to a head on Aug. 30 at East Nashville’s Urban Cowboy. The topic of the toast? A four-acre plot of land less than half a mile down the road — barely a three-minute walk. Until Aug. 24, that plot of forested land connecting Lockeland Springs Park and the Shelby Golf Course was privately owned, and its future was in jeopardy. Now not only is that land owned by Metro Parks, but even if it were to change hands tomorrow, the forest will remain protected forever.
“This community where we are today is the epitome of a place that embodies a neighborhood and a community where nature is close by,” said Noel Durant, addressing a crowd that included Mayor John Cooper, mayoral candidate and Metro Councilmember Freddie O’Connell, outgoing District 6 Councilmember Brett Withers and incoming District 6 Councilmember Clay Capp. Durant is the Tennessee director of Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit that works to expand parks and green spaces through community engagement and advocacy. TPL spearheaded the effort to save the park, raising $800,000 from the community in six months. That money was then matched by Metro to make the final purchase.
Durant tells the Scene that because TPL is a nonprofit, the group has more flexibility to negotiate and organize the purchase of land. So after buying the four acres on Aug. 24, TPL immediately sold it to Metro — the very same day — but not without first donating the conservancy easement to TennGreen, the state’s oldest land conservancy.
“Worst-case scenario, if the city goes bankrupt and starts selling off land, at least with
these four acres, if they end up selling it off, it doesn’t matter,” says Alice Hudson Pell, executive director of TennGreen. “It’s always protected, forever.”
Pell explains that TennGreen now owns a variety of rights that will prevent anyone from changing the forest and natural springs area in any way. The right to subdivide the property, the right to mineral, timber and resource extraction, and the rights to building and tearing down things in the space are all owned by TennGreen. The conservancy even has a trail easement, which means that while Metro is allowed to create trails in the park for people to enjoy, TennGreen will monitor their creation, making sure they aren’t too wide or destructive.
The plot of land itself had been ignored for years, and had become overgrown and neglected. Plans are already underway not only to clean it up, but to put in trails and other amenities. Aside from public figures at the Urban Cowboy celebration, the room was packed with East Nashville residents who were excited about the project. Lockeland Springs Park and Shelby Park are already extremely popular, and this expansion was anticipated by the community long before it was even underway.
“I want to encourage all of you guys to just go down there, go to the park, sit down, sit near where the water is flowing,” said Bo Parr, an East Nashvillian whom Durant referred to as the “fairy godmother of Lockeland Springs Park.” “And just be still and realize the magic that it has to offer. To all of us. And that will keep going forever.”
Though most of Trust for Public Land’s work in the state has been based around Chattanooga, with the success of this project, Durant is hopeful that TPL can continue to have an impact in Nashville.
“The story doesn’t end here,” Durant told the crowd. “This is forever. And it’s amazing the opportunities ahead for this neighborhood.” ▼
SEPTEMBER 10 7-9 PM
RYMAN HAUNTED HISTORY TOURS
ADDITIONAL DATE ADDED BY DEMAND!
SEPTEMBER 15
RHIANNON GIDDENS WITH ADIA VICTORIA
SEPTEMBER 21 2 SHOWS
DANIEL TOSH
SEPTEMBER 29 & 30
LITTLE FEAT
THE ALBUMS TOUR: SAILIN’ SHOES IN ITS ENTIRETY PLUS THE HITS (9/29) AND DIXIE CHICKEN IN ITS ENTIRETY PLUS THE HITS (9/30)
DECEMBER 9
LEANN RIMES
ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM
DECEMBER 30 & 31
OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW
WITNESS HISTORY
Nineteen-year-old Maybelle Carter bought this Gibson L-5 model guitar in 1928 with $275 from the Carter Family’s successful first recordings. “Mother Maybelle” used it to revolutionize the role of the guitar— transforming the rhythm instrument into a lead voice with her signature “Carter scratch.”
From the Precious Jewel exhibition
artifact photo: Bob Delevante
RESERVE TODAY
IN 1912, PABLO PICASSO pasted a fragment of oilcloth onto a small oval-shaped still life. In 1979, The Sugarhill Gang spliced interpolations of disco hits into rap songs. The Frist Art Museum’s Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage draws a line straight through those two points and into the rich artistic tradition where it extends — collage and collage-informed art made by some of the most influential and relevant artists working today.
“This is the first major museum exhibition
devoted to the subject, which I would argue is really understudied and undervalued,” says Frist senior curator Katie Delmez. Delmez has selected roughly 80 works of art made by 52 artists whose ages range from 30 to 80 for the expansive exhibition, which will span the Frist’s Ingram Gallery. Masterworks by long-celebrated powerhouses like Kerry James Marshall and Howardena Pindell will share space with pinups overlaid with celestial maps by Lorna Simpson, a salon-style installation of 21 junglescapes peopled with hip-hop luminaries by Lester
Multiplicity is a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary art that will change the way you think about collage
Julian Merriweather, and digital amalgamations of Black visual culture from Lauren Halsey. Multiplicity is a wide-ranging, multifaceted feat, and its significance should not be understated.
“The notion of collage is very rooted in the African American experience,” Multiplicity artist Derek Fordjour tells me from his studio in the South Bronx. “It’s a way of putting old and new things together, or finding new life for old objects or old materials.”
Fordjour is a native Memphian who has recently exhibited at both the St. Louis Museum of Art and The Drawing Center, and his artmaking practice involves building up and scraping off layers of paint, pastels and charcoal into something that resembles the surface of an old billboard. Onto those rough terrains he composes figures that are, in many ways, superhuman. His work “Airborne Double,” a 60-by-100-inch mixed-media work from 2022, depicts a pair of leaping drum majors in matching marching-band garb, seemingly suspended in midair.
“I really try to imbue the DNA of my work in contemporaneous notions of the Black figure, the Black entertainer, the Black athlete,” he says. “But I want to weave in an undercurrent of discomfort, in the case of ‘Airborne Double,’ this notion of flying, which is kind of superhuman. And, you know, for me, that is a doubleedged sword — that it can be very flattering to reference athleticism, to the extent that it transcends one’s own humanness, but I’ve also seen that kind of superhuman quality used against a Black person in the court system, when you have a cop saying, ‘I was afraid for my life, the guy was so fast.’”
Another Multiplicity artist with a studio in the South Bronx is Yashua Klos, who has two works in the exhibition — “Uncle Scott” from 2022 and “The Face on Mars” from 2009. Klos, who was raised on Chicago’s South Side, has a singular technique that incorporates woodblock prints instead of ready-made source material.
“I’m carving blocks of wood,” he says, “carving into the surface of them in low relief, then rolling ink out over the surface, putting paper on top and then, with hand pressure, pulling prints from those blocks of wood. Those prints then become the source material that are cut up and recombined to form the imagery.”
The result is an unexpected mix of color and texture that gives Klos’ work a timeless quality. The portrait of his uncle recalls the cubist still lifes of Georges Braque, who pasted trompe l’oeil wood-grain wallpaper onto charcoal drawings at the same time Picasso was making the aforementioned “Still Life With Chair Caning.” But with Klos’ contemporary, autobiographical subject matter, “Uncle Scott” is also a testament to artistic determination.
“I think there’s always been this resourcefulness around African American cultural production,” Klos says. “I’ve always seen a collage attitude in that. Hip-hop is a great example — with sampling, taking bits of a preexisting work of musical arrangement and slowing it down, or remixing it, or chopping it up and making a whole new genre of music. It’s
a very clear example of that resourcefulness in the present day.”
It was a similar kind of resourcefulness that led Multiplicity artist Jamea Richmond-Edwards
to collage. The Detroit native and longtime art educator was formally trained as an oil painter, but she began making collages because she had a newborn baby, and was concerned that the
Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage
Sept. 15-Dec. 31 at the Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway
oil-paint solvents and mediums wouldn’t be properly ventilated in her home studio.
“I just naturally transitioned into mixedmedia,” Richmond-Edwards tells me from
“I THINK THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN THIS RESOURCEFULNESS AROUND AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL PRODUCTION.”
— YASHUA KLOS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
7PM–10PM
spirited EXPERIENCES
Specialty Cocktails and Mocktails - Live Science Demonstrations
All Your Favorite Exhibits - Shows in the Sudekum Planetarium
her studio in Maryland. “I recently started describing it as almost like scrying. Like cultivating a garden and just giving it what it needs.”
Richmond-Edwards works with a fantastical palette full of brilliant colors that evoke Yo! MTV Raps, Fraggle Rock and Lisa Frank school supplies — all favorites from her childhood. Her massive “Holy Wars,” from 2022, is an example of the scale that artists can work with in collage — at 96 by 144 inches, it reads like the kinds of classical history paintings Richmond-Edwards might have taught her students about. The artist depicts herself astride a white unicorn, galloping along a terrain of pink, yellow and blue cotton-candy clouds as flaming arrows whiz past and a volcano erupts hot-pink puffs behind her.
“This was my response to what really feels like spiritual warfare that’s going on,” she says. “So what I decided to do with it is to make myself a victor in it, because at one point, I felt like a victim. It’s really allegorical to the adversity and uncertainty that we are inflicted with currently living in this particular time.”
Memphis-based artist Brittney Boyd Bullock’s
“No It Ain’t, Yes It Is,” is both of this particular time — it was made in 2023 — and rooted in history. Bullock collages monoprints of blackand-white newsprint photographs depicting Black figures onto a canary-yellow panel. Each of the figures has been photographed from behind, and each is looking off into the distance. What they’re looking toward remains ambiguous.
In a conversation from 2020 featured in the book Black Futures, artist Arthur Jafa discusses the theme of Black genius, which is central to his 2016 masterpiece “Love Is the Message. The Message Is Death,” the only work of video art featured in Multiplicity. “There’s something to be said about [the] ability to be able to see beauty everywhere,” he says. “It’s something that Black people have developed. We’ve actually learned how to not just imbue moments with joy but to see beauty in places where beauty doesn’t necessarily exist.”
Fordjour recounts an early discovery of the kind of beauty Jafa describes. “One of the sources I collected many years ago was a postcard from Emancipation Day,” Fordjour explains. “It was a painting of recently freed
slaves. ... All they owned was what was on their bodies, but the clothes that they wore were stitched together from many different sources. The idea that they were sort of collaging together this new identity from the beginning — that previously an owned person that had no autonomy and now the, you know, potential to fashion your own self in terms of how you dress — it just sent my mind down so many rich paths around how deep and how far this goes, this sort of pulling together disparate resources to try and add up to something dignified.”
“Pulling together disparate resources” could be Multiplicity’s subtitle. Fordjour calls it “collage logic,” and it extends into the programming around the exhibition as well. The exhibition catalog includes artist biographies that were written by Fisk University students. Vanderbilt University is partnering with the National Museum of African American Music to host Multiplicity artist and Knoxville native Wardell Milan as an artist-in-residence. Fordjour will be working on public art projects on the Tennessee State University campus. Tinney Contemporary will host an exhibition of work by Multiplicity artist Lovie Olivia, and Fisk University’s Carl
Van Vechten Gallery will host a show of collages from its collection by 20th-century giants Romare Bearden, David Driskell and Sam Middleton. Plus, a daylong celebration of Multiplicity will take place at the Frist on Saturday, Sept. 23, featuring panel discussions with artists from the exhibition — including Richmond-Edwards, Olivia and Ewing, as well as Nyugen E. Smith, Paul Anthony Smith, Rashaad Newsome and more. And there are even more collaborative events that will be announced in coming weeks — visit fristartmuseum.org to keep up.
“I felt like it was important to meet people where they are, and to let the impact of the show spread beyond the walls of the museum,” Delmez says.
Once you start looking at things through the lens of collage logic, it’s hard to stop seeing examples of it everywhere — quilts made from discarded scraps, multicolored signs piling up along graffiticovered storefronts, gumbo made from bits of well-seasoned seafood. And, of course, multigenerational exhibitions that bring all those big ideas together. ▼
FALL GUIDE
Featuring previews of the season’s best concerts, book events, theater, films and more
I LOVE HIS WORK
John Cameron Mitchell comes to OZ Arts for an ACLU benefit
BY AMY STUMPFLIT’S HARD NOT to feel angry and overwhelmed when confronted by injustice. And while many Tennesseans are still reeling over recent anti-LGBTQ legislation, including legislation targeting drag performers, the trailblazing cultural icon John Cameron Mitchell remains dedicated to what he calls “the great antidepressant” — creativity.
“I feel like my main goal lately is getting people in the same room together — entertaining them, bringing thoughts to minds and reminding them that they’re not alone,” he says. “That’s what buoys my spirit these days.”
Of course, Mitchell has been buoying the spirits of die-hard fans for years, whether as the creator and star of the groundbreaking genderqueer rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch or, more recently, playing Tiger King’s Joe Exotic in the Peacock series Joe vs. Carole. And in October, the Tony Award-winning artist comes to Nashville for John Cameron Mitchell Sings Out for LGBTQ Justice: A Benefit for the ACLU of Tennessee
The performance is billed as an “unforgettable night of hilarity, campy performances, and unabashed queerness,” and Mitchell will be joined by acclaimed cabaret star Amber Martin and backed by the Hedwig house band Tits of Clay.
“When these twin laws — the anti-drag bill, and the one barring youth trans care — passed on the same day in Tennessee, I heard from a friend of mine who lives there,” says Mitchell, who currently makes his home in New Orleans. “Of course, the ACLU is very much a part of that ongoing legal strategy, so we wanted to do a benefit for them. You know, it’s such a tired old story. If you go back to the scapegoats of history — meaning queer people, women, immigrants, pretty much anyone that isn’t white — it’s just trying to find someone to blame, some new threat. I’m 60 now, and I’ve seen waves of this under Reagan, Bush and Nixon before that. But we try to counteract it the only way we know how — which is getting people together to have some fun, and to remind ourselves that we’re not alone.”
Mitchell says the OZ performances will follow a similar format to Cassette Roulette — the popular cabaret show he and Amber Martin created together, in which the audience helps choose the songs by spinning an oversized roulette wheel.
“What’s fun about the show is that I might sing a song from Big River, which I did on Broad-
THEATER AND PERFORMING ARTS
Nashville Children’s Theatre leads our roster of the season’s best theatrical events
BY AMY STUMPFLway. Or from Secret Garden, with Amber as the 11-year-old girl. And then she’ll sing from her country album — songs like ‘I Left My Weed in Texas.’ She’s such fun — she does all these crazy characters, but has a voice that can really back it up. So I’m excited to be doing these two shows at OZ.
“Nashville has always been a great town — an artist’s town,” he adds. “So it’s naturally a more broad-minded place, because art requires broad-mindedness. If it’s just propaganda for one side or another, it’s no longer art. With propaganda you’re being told something. With art, you’re asked to think about something, and bring your own thoughts to it. You have to meet it halfway. That’s what makes it art, and not just agitprop.”
Beyond the music, Mitchell says OZ audiences can expect to hear more about the history of drag, “performance to find out more about yourself,” and the punks he calls “Hedwig’s spirit gods.”
“Hedwig is from a long line of drag and cross-gender performance,” he says, noting that
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is really not a trans statement, but more a story of survival. “The character is forced into an operation against their will … and then abandoned by their boyfriend — mutilated and left to die. But the character survives, picks themselves up, uses drag, uses rock ’n’ roll to protect themselves, to find their way into the world. And then actually lets go of that drag and walks naked into the world, as if to say: ‘Take me for what I am. I am a gender of one. I have these scars, but I’m not afraid of them. This is me.’
“Hedwig name-checks Patti Smith and Tina Turner, and Aretha and Yoko and Nico [in the song ‘Midnight Radio’]. And I would also add Little Richard to that list of queer gods. I mean I think we all look to Little Richard, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich — all the people who were crossing boundaries for the sake of finding commonality, and not just to say, ‘Fuck you.’ Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘Fuck you,’ but other times you say: ‘Come on in — join the party! And if you can’t, I’m sorry for you.’ That’s what drag’s about, and that’s what this show is going to be about.”
STRONG INSIDE CAST
THROUGH SEPT. 26: STRONG INSIDE AT NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE, 25 MIDDLETON ST.
It’s not unusual for Nashville Children’s Theatre to celebrate new works. In fact, five out of this season’s six productions are world premieres for young audiences. But with Strong Inside, NCT also celebrates a true Nashville hero. Based on the New York Times bestseller by Andrew Maraniss and adapted for the stage by Tyrone L. Robinson, Strong Inside follows the story of Perry Wallace, who made history as the first African American to play college basketball in the deeply segregated Southeastern Conference. The star Vanderbilt athlete would go on to become a successful lawyer, educator and civil rights activist. “This is such a wonderful opportunity to put Nashville onstage, with an inspiring true story that reflects our community at a real turning point in history,” says NCT’s executive artistic director Ernie Nolan. “It’s a powerful story, and we’re thrilled that Perry’s legacy will live on with all the young people who see this show.” Directed by Nolan, along with Tamiko Robinson Steele, the cast includes Gerold Oliver, James Rudolph II and Will Henke.
ALSO OF NOTE:
SEPT. 21 & 23: Pagliacci at Nashville Opera, 3622 Redmon St.
SEPT. 22-24: Firebird (with Justin Peck and Jiří Kylián) at Nashville Ballet, 3630 Redmon St.
OCT. 13-28: Ride the Cyclone at Street Theatre Company, 4003 Indiana Ave.
OCT. 19-29: Million Dollar Quartet at Studio Tenn, 230 Franklin Road
NOV. 4-DEC. 17: Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Nashville Children’s Theatre
NOV. 9-1: Rennie Harris’ Rome & Jewels at OZ Arts
NOV. 30-DEC. 10: Geoff Sobelle’s Food at OZ Arts
FALL GUIDE
THOMAS STURGILL: LIVE IN CONCERT
Through Sept. 22 at Lipscomb’s John C. Hutcheson Gallery, 3714 Belmont Blvd.
This solo show by Thomas Sturgill uses handmade furniture and photography to explore how family heirlooms transmit memories, guilt, pride and mourning from one generation to the next — a perfectly autumnal theme. Sturgill’s interdisciplinary exhibitions are playful magpie collections of works that combine to explore deep questions, while simultaneously winking at human absurdities. Formal rigor meets contemplative content in another don’t-miss display from Sturgill.
BENJY RUSSELL: THERE’S A POEM IN MY GARDEN
Through Nov. 20 at OZ Arts, 6172 Cockrill Bend
Circle
Benjy Russell’s unnatural photographs of natural subjects bring a surreal and sometimes supernatural-seeming sensibility to landscapes and portraits. Nashville’s fall season is filled with photography, and Russell’s contemporary works bring new perspectives to the timeless image-making of faces and flowers.
AN ALAN L. MAYOR RETROSPECTIVE: NASHVILLE 1974-1999
Through Jan. 6 at Bobby Hotel, 230 Fourth Ave. N Nashville photographer Alan L. Mayor established himself as a music-biz photojournalist in the 1970s. He captured the rise of Dolly Parton and the heyday of outlaw country, snapping music-makers onstage and behind the scenes. An Alan L. Mayor Retrospective: Nashville 19741999 is the latest collaboration between Tinney Contemporary and Bobby Hotel, and brings a look at old Nashville to new downtown.
THE BAND OF FIRSTS: ARISTOCRAT OF BANDS
Sept. 25-Oct. 26 at TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery, 1108 37th Ave. N.
Tennessee State University’s legendary marching band — Aristocrat of Bands — was the first HBCU marching band to appear on national television in 1955, and they won a Grammy this year for their album The Urban Hymnal The Band of Firsts: Aristocrat of Bands celebrates the legacy of the legendary marching musicians in a display of archival photography that’s right on time for another busy football season. Go Tigers!
DUNCAN MCDANIEL: FOUNTAIN
Sept. 29-March 31 at the Parthenon, 2500 West End Ave
Duncan McDaniel’s painterly sculptures and sculptural paintings are category-defying works that play with light and color as much as they play with viewers’ expectations of art
VISUAL ARTS
Your directory of the must-see exhibitions and events of Nashville’s coolest art season
BY JOE NOLANgenres and materials. His recent work has been a highlight at Red Arrow group shows, and this solo museum display signals a new high-water mark for a local artist whose playful creative practice continues to evolve and expand.
HALLE BALLARD: INSIDER
Oct. 6-Nov. 18 at Elephant Gallery, 1411 Buchanan St.
Philadelphia-based puppeteer, painter, illustrator, graphic designer and sculptor Halle Ballard puts playful multimedia world-building on display at Elephant Gallery in October. Ballard’s Insider titling is a double entendre that points to the push and pull of introversion and social immersion that define many creative practices. Ballard’s large paintings and sculptures are rooted in pop culture and sports imagery, but her narrative scenes featuring novel characters evoke mental states, emotions and moods.
NICO’S PLAYHOUSE BY MARLOS E’VAN
Oct. 21-28 at Red Arrow, 919 Gallatin Ave. Marlos E’van’s live art carnival at Red Arrow feels bittersweet given the recent passing of OG playhouse prankster Paul Reubens. Nico the Clown is a character E’van created for their in-production debut film. This exhibition deploys new clown-centric paintings, drawings and videos of Nico, creating a conversation about clowning as a joke, but also as a form of social satire or political parody. It’s a clown world, y’all — and we’re all in this circus together. Beware of flying pies.
NORTH NASHVILLE CULTURE CRAWL
Oct. 21-22 at various North Nashville venues
Like many Nashville neighborhoods, North Nashville has been home to several forms of art crawls over the years, from monthly events on the legendary Jefferson Street to the newer creative enclave at 100 Taylor St. Artist Elisheba Mrozik is spearheading a new creative event to bring the North Nashville community back to life after the disruptions of the 2020 tornado and the COVID pandemic. The North Nashville Culture Crawl is a neighborhood-wide happening that includes creative spaces and small businesses on Jefferson and Buchanan streets, as well as 100 Taylor St. and Germantown.
North Nashville’s visual arts history is Nashville’s unique modern art legacy, and after the recent chaos, it’s a great sign to see the North Nashville scene leading a renaissance. ▼
LIVE MUSIC LINE UP THROWBACK
Amazon Courtyard Stage
SEP
Wednesday, Sept. 13-Meet local brew masters with their most popular concoctions in our courtyard during the BuckShee BrewFest & toast to the jams of COWBOYS & HIPPIES! Sampling limited to the first 400 BrewGoers! The BrewFest starts at 6:30pm (included with fair admission.)
615 Stage
FROM SMALL CLUBS to amphitheaters to your friendly neighborhood enormodome, the fall is jam-packed with concerts and festivals you’ll want to put on your calendar. Below we’ve picked out the ones that caught our eye, with some extra notes on a handful of them.
SEPT. 19-23: AMERICANAFEST
The expansive music fest that pulls artists whose music might draw on country, folk, blues, rock or other traditions under one big tent is set to spread across Nashville once again. Some highlights among this year’s massive lineup include ace songsmiths Amythyst Kiah and Mya Byrne; also don’t miss country legend Jessi Colter, whose Margo Price-produced Edge of Forever is set for release Oct. 27. Snag a conference pass that gets you into an array of panels or a fest pass that gets you into most shows via the Americana Music Association website.
SEPT. 20: WU-TANG CLAN AND NAS AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA, 501 BROADWAY
Both of these legendary hip-hop acts have played Music City separately in recent years, including Wu-Tang gracing the stage at the Ryman and Nas performing with the Nashville Symphony. If you’ve missed out, the New York State of Mind Tour is your chance to catch up.
SEPT. 23-24: PILGRIMAGE MUSIC AND CULTURAL FESTIVAL AT THE PARK AT HARLINSDALE FARM, 239 FRANKLIN ROAD, FRANKLIN
Pilgrimage checks a lot of boxes: It’s a multi-
MUSIC
Our picks for the best concerts, festivals and music events of the season
BY STEPHEN TRAGESEROCT. 31: SCREAMING FEMALES AT DRKMTTR, 1111 DICKERSON PIKE
New Brunswick, N.J.’s Screaming Females have been recording and touring with their brand of heavy-ass rock ’n’ roll for almost 20 years. Even though the onset of the pandemic threw a wrench in the making of their eighth LP Desire Pathway, not a drop of emotional immediacy is lost. Their fall tour pulls into Drkmttr on Halloween, with Lip Critic and Rodeo Boys in tow.
MORE SHOWS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Sept. 15: Voices of Mississippi at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music
Sept. 16: Be Your Own Pet at The Blue Room
Sept. 26: Zulu and Soul Glo at Exit/In
Sept. 27: Avey Tare w/Geologist at The End
Sept. 27: C.O.F.F.I.N. at The Blue Room
Sept. 29-30: Musicians Corner season finale at Centennial Park
Oct. 6: Becca Mancari at The Blue Room
Oct. 8: Benefit for Girls Write Nashville at 3rd and Lindsley
Oct. 8-10: You Got Gold: Celebrating the Life and Songs of John Prine at various venues
Oct. 9: Sheer Mag at The Blue Room
genre, multi-day music fest with four stages; you can bring the kids; and you won’t have any trouble getting to work and school on time on Monday. Oh yeah, and there’s a ton of great music as well. Can’t-miss undercard acts include Ivory Coast-born Nashville country-folkster Peter One, rocker and songsmith Margo Price and soulful songsmith Yola; Americana mainstays The Lumineers and rising country star Zach Bryan headline.
OCT. 6-8: PHISH AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA
The New England jam-band heroes celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2023, and they’re carrying on the traditions fans have come to know and love. That includes playing extended versions of catalog classics as well as songs from their most recent studio release (Get More Down, credited to their alter-ego band Sci-Fi Soldier) and beyond. And they’re playing multiple dates at big venues, with this three-night run at the ’Stone among Phish’s biggest in Middle Tennessee.
OCT. 12-14: BRISTON MARONEY’S PARADISE AT BROOKLYN BOWL, 925 THIRD AVE. N.
Hot on the heels of his new LP Ultrapure, the Nashville-by-way-of-East Tennessee rocker is set to headline three nights at Brooklyn Bowl in a festival of sorts whose goal is to give back to the community that’s supported him so much. Partner and fellow songsmith Samia is among the undercard acts on Oct. 12, while Austin, Texas’ Hovvdy are among the additional acts on
Oct. 13, and Detroit-born Charlie Burg and others join in on Oct. 14.
OCT. 20: ALANNA ROYALE ALBUM RELEASE AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS, 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
Songsmith and soul singer supreme Alanna Royale and her glove-tight band have been gearing up all year for the release of their third LP. Trouble Is will finally be out on Oct. 6, and their extensive touring schedule will bring them to Third Man’s intimate Blue Room a couple weeks later for what’s sure to be among the soul events of the season.
Oct. 11: Raphael Saadiq Revisits Tony! Toni! Toné! at the Ryman
Oct. 12: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s eight-night run at the Ryman begins
Oct. 17: Nick Cave at the Ryman
Oct. 19: Depeche Mode at Bridgestone Arena
Oct. 22: The 1975 at Bridgestone Arena
Nov. 2: The Wooten Brothers at Riverside Revival
Nov. 11: Kim Petras at Municipal Auditorium
Nov. 25: William Tyler and the Impossible Truth at The Blue Room
BOOKS
This season’s best events from independent bookstores and literary nonprofits
BY KIM BALDWINONE OF THE GREAT THINGS about living in Nashville is that we have a robust community of writers and readers. And independent bookstores! Whether you’re a reader looking for author events or a writer looking for classes and community, Nashville has a lot to offer. On a budget? Many of these events are free.
Below is a sampling of events happening this fall. For a complete list of events, check the websites of Parnassus Books, The Bookshop, Novelette Booksellers, The Porch — and of course, the Southern Festival of Books.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 10: Nashville Black Storytellers, virtual welcome meetup hosted by Tonya Abari via The Porch, 11 a.m. via Zoom
TUESDAY, SEPT. 12: Brianna Wiest, author of The Pivot Year, signing-line-only event, 4-7 p.m. at The Bookshop, 1043 West Eastland Ave.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13: Lorrie Moore, author of I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books, 3900 Hillsboro Pike
THURSDAY, SEPT. 14: Lauren Groff, author of The Vaster Wilds, in conversation with Lindsay Lynch, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
SATURDAY, SEPT. 16: Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr., author of Gay Poems for Red States, in conversation with Mercy Bell, 5 p.m. at The Bookshop
TUESDAY, SEPT. 19: Jennifer Chesak, author of The Psilocybin Handbook for Women, in conversation with Susannah Felts for The Porch’s Birthing the Book series, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
THURSDAY, SEPT. 21: Emily Habeck, author of Shark Heart, in conversation with Bookshop bookseller Rachel, 6:30 p.m. at The Bookshop
SUNDAY, SEPT. 24: Nashville AAPI Writers Meetup, moderated by Yurina Yoshikawa and Tomiko Peirano via The Porch, 2 p.m. at The Porch, 2811 Dogwood Place
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26: Rea Frey, author of The Other Year, 7 p.m. at Novelette Booksellers, 1101 Chapel Ave., Suite 108
TUESDAY, SEPT. 26: Mona Awad, author of Rouge, in conversation with Aly Plasterer, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 4: C Pam Zhang, author of Land of Milk and Honey, in conversation with Steve Haruch, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
MONDAY, OCT. 9: Kosoko Jackson, author of The Forest Demands Its Due, in conversation with Hannah Whitten, 7 p.m. at Novelette Booksellers
THURSDAY, OCT. 12: Janaka Bowman Lewis, author of Light and Legacies: Stories of Black Girlhood and
Liberation, in conversation with Tonya Abari for The Porch’s Birthing the Book series, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
SUNDAY OCT. 15: Queer Writers Meetup, hosted by Eliana Ramage, 2 p.m. at The Porch
OCT. 15-22: The Southern Festival of Books at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Tennessee
State Museum and various other locations. Visit sofestofbooks.org for details.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18: Nick Cave, author of Faith, Hope, and Carnage, signing-line-only event, noon at at Parnassus Books
THURSDAY, OCT. 19: SWING magazine launch, featuring readings from local contributors and a
musical performance from Paul Burch, 5:30 p.m. at Analog at Hutton Hotel, 1808 West End Ave.
THURSDAY, OCT. 19: John Scalzi, author of Starter Villain, as part of the 35th annual Southern Festival of Books, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
TUESDAY, OCT. 24: Margaret Renkl, author of The Comfort of Crows, with Billy Renkl and Ann Patchett, 6:30 p.m. at Harpeth Hall School’s Frances Bond Davis Theatre, 3801 Hobbs Road
TUESDAY, OCT. 24: Meredith Lyons, author of Ghost Tamer, 7 p.m. at Novelette Booksellers
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25: Literary Trivia With The Bookshop, a collaboration with The Porch, 6:30 p.m. at East Nashville Beer Works, 320 E. Trinity Lane
THURSDAY, OCT. 26: Stephanie Garber, author of A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart #3), in conversation with Jeff Zentner, 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books
FRIDAY, NOV. 3: Let’s Make Friends!, a panel on networking as a writer, hosted by Lisa Bubert, Jennifer Chesak and Ciona Rouse, 5:30 p.m. at The Porch
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8: The Porch Presents Mirror House, with a special focus on Kurdish artists and a screening of a short film by Beizar Aradini, 7 p.m. at Tempo Nashville, 2179 Nolensville Pike
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8: Erin Hoover, Ciona Rouse and Cara Dees, poetry reading, 6 p.m. at The Bookshop
THURSDAY, NOV. 9: Mercury Stardust, author of Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair, hosted by Novelette Booksellers, 10 a.m. at the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St.
THURSDAY, NOV. 9: Minda Honey, author of The Heartbreak Years: A Memoir (October 2023) in conversation with Destiny O. Birdsong for The Porch’s Birthing the Book series, 5:30 p.m. via Zoom
NOV. 9-12: Rivendell fall retreat via The Porch, at Rivendell Spiritual Center, on top of the Cumberland Plateau in Sewanee, Tenn.
SINCE ITS INCEPTION back in 1969, what is now known as the Nashville Film Festival has seen name changes and venue shifts. This year — for the festival’s 54th installment — NaFF will feature more than 140 short films, features and documentaries, which will screen at the Belcourt Theater, Regal Green Hills, the Franklin Theatre, Vanderbilt’s Rothschild Black Box Theater and Sarratt Cinema from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4.
Among the flicks showing at NaFF is opening-night presentation Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive, a documentary about the disco icon’s long path to earning her second Grammy. Also featured during the festival will be the Ari Aster-produced A24 joint Dream Scenario, which features Nicolas Cage as a professor who becomes “an overnight celebrity after appearing in every person on earth’s dream.” Other intriguing titles include documentaries Time Bomb Y2K and Black Barbie, Anne Hathaway-starring psychological thriller Eileen, boarding-school horror film Sacrifice Game, demonic romp The Puppetman, star-studded sci-fi drama Fingernails, French period piece A Taste of Things and many, many more. As ever, also on the slate for this year’s fest is the Creators Conference — a broad array of panels and networking events. Intriguing topics there include “AI Illuminated: The Future of Film,” “Catalyst Presents: How TV Really Works,” the annual Filmmaker and Screenwriter Mixer and much more. You can find details about this year’s Nashville Film Festival, or purchase tickets
From the Nashville Film Festival and the International Black Film Festival to the Belcourt’s Doc Spotlight, here are this season’s coming attractions
BY D. PATRICK RODGERSand passes, at nashvillefilmfestival.org.
Of course, NaFF isn’t the only long-running film festival that will kick off later this month. This year’s International Black Film Festival will take place from Sept. 27 through Oct. 1 at Belmont University’s R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center as well as at The Loading Dock and the Looby Community Center. Celebrating 18 years and featuring the theme “Curated by the Culture,” the IBFF will feature a focused lineup of screenings including documentaries Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll, Two Classes of 1968 and Black Barbers Doc, narrative feature Four Walls and more. Also on the docket will be a number of industry panels including “Get Greenlit: Live Pitch Session,” “Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop” and more.
Outside of film-fest world, Nashville cinema center the Belcourt is hosting a number of promising films this fall. Upcoming new releases include psychological erotic thriller Fair Play (opening Sept. 29) as well as — prepare yourselves, Swifties — concert doc Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Oct. 13). The Hillsboro Village arthouse also has a handful of extremely enticing series planned, including the already-underway Doc Spotlight (landing a month too early to be called “Doctober,” sadly). Among the 14 documentaries showing in that series are Knoxville filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal (Sept. 1519), which “meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities
it has shaped, and the myths it has created,” as well as rock docs The Elephant 6 Recording Co. (Sept. 11) and Mutiny in Heaven: Nick Cave’s Birthday Party (dates TBA) and triple-program concert doc The Cramps & The Mutants: The Napa State Tapes (Oct. 2). With nearly a dozen other titles, the series is a veritable feast for doc-heads, with other selections including Our Body (Sept. 17-20), Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (Sept. 25) and Invisible Beauty (Sept. 30-Oct. 3), among others.
What’s more, the Belcourt has also programmed a pair of tribute series for two recently departed creative giants. A Tribute to Paul Reubens is set for Sept. 8 through 24, with titles including Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-wee, Cheech and Chong’s
Nice Dreams, Life
During Wartime and Mystery Men. Stretching out just a bit longer will be the theater’s A Tribute to William Friedkin (Sept. 9-Oct. 22), a truncated tour through the masterful cinema icon’s catalog featuring Sorcerer, The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A., Cruising and Bug — plus, just in time for Halloween, arguably the greatest horror film of all time, The Exorcist
With the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes ongo-
ing for who knows how much longer, it remains to be seen if and which big fall releases will be delayed. Sci-fi dorks such as myself were distraught to learn that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two was pushed from an October release back to March 15 — after all, Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet can’t use their star power to promote the film until the actors’ strike is resolved. The most important thing? That writers and performers are able to negotiate a fair deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, of course. For now, Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated epic Killers of the Flower Moon is still set for a wide release next month (Oct. 20). Other titles that, as of press time, remain on the autumn release calendar include: Kenneth Branagh’s third turn as Hercule Poirot, A Haunting in Venice (Sept. 15); Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi epic The Creator (Sept. 29); Saw X (Sept. 29); David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer (Oct. 6); crime drama Pain Hustlers (Oct. 20); David Fincher’s The Killer (Oct. 27); Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley biopic Priscilla (Oct. 27); and MCU installment The Marvels (Nov. 10). ▼
JOHN CAMERON MITCHELL
THE
HEDWIG STAR SINGS OUT FOR
LGBTQ
JUSTICE! A BENEFIT FOR ACLU OF TENNESSEE with featured performer Amber Martin and special guests
OCTOBER 20 & 21
“It’s wigged, skirted, glittered, and sweaty. And it’s nothing if not the most punk rock thing you’ve ever seen.”
— BroadwayWorld
“A love letter to Hedwig fans everywhere”
“A living legend... too spicy for radio.”
— NPR
Tony Award-winning cultural icon and Hedwig co-creator John Cameron Mitchell makes a special, timely visit to Tennessee to demand justice for all members of the queer community. One of alt-culture’s boldest creators, Mitchell’s arrival in Nashville heralds a rallying cry for every Tennessean who has felt like an outsider — all to benefit ACLU of Tennessee’s LGBTQ+ Justice initiatives.
BENEFIT TICKETS FROM $40 OZARTSNASHVILLE.ORG
PART OF OZ ARTS’ FEARLESS 2023-24 SEASON — MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE!
LATER THIS FALL AT OZ ARTS
NOVEMBER 9-11
RENNIE HARRIS PRESENTS ROME & JEWELS
TICKETS FROM $25
Showcasing the talents of more than a dozen dynamic Hiphop dancers, this is a Romeo & Juliet unlike any version you’ve seen before. Dueling DJs lay the beats for the Bessie Awardwinning production Rome & Jewels — a story of fear, love, and triumph set in the streets of Philadelphia and deeply rooted in the traditions of Hip-Hop, popping, break dance, and more.
NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 10
GEOFF SOBELLE FOOD
TICKETS FROM $30
Take a seat around a giant 500-square-foot table for a night of magical stagecraft and illusion as renowned theater-maker Geoff Sobelle cleverly explores the human relationship with what we eat. Please note, though: there’s no actual eating at this dinner party, so don’t come hungry!
“The most respected—and, to my knowledge, the most brilliant— Hip-hop choreographer in America.”
— The New Yorker
“5 Stars. A profound and surprising experience you won’t forget in a hurry”
— Edinburgh Reviews
SEPT. 9-10
FESTIVAL
[CELTIC CELEBRATION] MIDDLE TENNESSEE HIGHLAND GAMES AND CELTIC FESTIVAL
With bagpipes, kilts and banners in tow, the Highland Games — or at least a version of them — are coming to Middle Tennessee. The Middle Tennessee Highland Games and Celtic Festival is set to once again be a shining example of the great Scottish traditions that have made the games such a special historic event. Taking place at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, the festival will feature a bagpipe contest, traditional dancing and even some unique Scottish cuisine. It also wouldn’t be a Highland Festival without some kind of athletic challenge, and there will be plenty of those on display. A cabertoss event, in which competitors hurl 100-pound wooden beams, is sure to be a fan favorite. These events of Scottish culture are a fantastic way to close out your week and have some fun while learning.
BRADEN SIMMONSSEPT. 9-10 AT SANDERS FERRY PARK
513 SANDERS FERRY ROAD, HENDERSONVILLE
THURSDAY / 9.7
THEATER
[SO MUCH CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR …] CALENDAR
You probably know Jack E. Chambers primarily as an actor and director. Over the past 30 years or so, he has proven to be one of Nashville’s most reliable talents, working with companies such as Nashville Rep, Actors Bridge Ensemble, Street Theatre Company, Boiler Room Theatre, GroundWorks, ACT 1 and more. But Chambers is also an accomplished writer (not to mention a songwriter and filmmaker), and this weekend you can check out the world premiere of his newest play, Calendar. Presented by Verge Theater Company and ToeToaster Productions, Calendar centers on Jeff (played by Chambers) and Mel (Nashville favorite Alicia Haymer), who meet at a mutual friend’s New Year’s Eve party and decide to take a chance on love. Over the next 12 months, we get to follow the “ups and downs, romance and struggles, leaps and obstacles, and all of the many complications that face an adult, interracial relationship.”
MUSIC [MASTER EXPLODERS] TENACIOUS D
Ever-unserious yet deeply entertaining duo Tenacious D is coming to Franklin, and that got me contrasting and comparing Jack Black and Dolly Parton. (Also, who wouldn’t want to see that collaboration?) They’re both musicians who also act and are widely adored by fans spanning generations and musical tastes. But where Parton sings about butterflies and love, Black sings about demons and dicks. While Parton had incredible duets with the likes of Kenny Rogers and Porter Wagoner, she’s by and large a solo artist — where Tenacious D would be nothing without the contributions of Black’s partner, the one and only Kyle Gass. Gass and
9 TO 5 PAGE 30
LATINX MONTH WRITERS ROUND FEAT. KARINA DAZA, CATALINA AND MORE PAGE 34
MICHELLE BRANCH PAGE 36
Black have been playing together in Tenacious D for nearly three decades, and have starred in a self-titled HBO show and a movie — the latter initially flopped but eventually became a cult classic. They’ve released four studio albums and lots of other fun stuff, like a collaboration with Jack White (titled “Jack Gray,” hilariously), the Post-Apocalypto graphic novel that accompanied an album of the same name and, most recently, a single called “Video Games,” which features an epic animated music video. They’ll be coming to Franklin as a part of their Spicy Meatball Tour, along with comedian and musician Dave Hill. Prepare to have your mind blown. KELSEY BEYELER
8 P.M. AT FIRSTBANK AMPHITHEATER
4525 GRAYSTONE QUARRY LANE, FRANKLIN
FILM [FLORALS?]
NIGHTLIGHT MOVIE SERIES: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Back in July, I was standing outside a Brooklyn jazz club chatting with a fashionable friend when I asked for his hot take on Barbie (Everybody has one.) “It was fine,” he replied, as he retrieved some Santal 33 from his Gucci mini, “but it wasn’t, like, Devil Wears Prada.” And he’s so right. The Devil Wears Prada is about the careerist slaves working behind the scenes at a Vogue-esque fashion magazine. It stars Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and fashion. This is by no means a perfect film, especially by Greta Gerwig standards — the main character chooses her mopey boyfriend over her career — but the costumes and designer-centric dialogue make
it a cultural force in fashion history. It’s showing Thursday at Bicentennial Mall — not at Lincoln Center — so you can wear whatever you want. But don’t you dare show up in cerulean blue. Presented as part of the NightLight series, the screening is 21-and-up and will feature local craft beers, wine and food trucks.
TOBY ROSE6:30 P.M. AT BICENTENNIAL CAPITOL MALL STATE PARK
600 JAMES ROBERTSON PARKWAY
FRIDAY / 9.8
[I CAN’T HELP]
MUSIC
CANDLELIGHT: A TRIBUTE TO ELVIS
I can still hear the violin melody as I waited for that perfect moment in the song. “For I ... can’t ... help ... falling in love ... with ... you,” I sang in my mind. And somehow, I still missed my cue to tell my wedding planner to open the curtains. At this point, I knew my soon-to-be husband was wondering if I was going to leave him standing up there alone. So I just had her throw open the curtain and began to walk down the aisle to the altar, which was lined with candles. The rest, as they say, is history — albeit recent history, considering this was just a couple of months ago. You too can have a romantic candlelit evening listening to classical versions of the King’s iconic songs. It may not be quite as dramatic as my version, but memories will no doubt still be made. The music — played by a string quartet in the Parthenon, which will be filled with glowing candles — is sure to make you swoon as though Elvis himself
were onstage. The tentative program does not list “Can’t Help Falling in Love” as one of the songs to be played, but I suppose that’s all right, because other favorites like “Hound Dog,” “Devil in Disguise” and “Suspicious Minds” are among the possibilities for the set list. Taking place under the watchful eye of the Parthenon’s full-scale Athena replica, other installments in the ongoing Candlelight Concert series are coming up if you miss this one — but none where you can get the King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s range of emotion played out in melodic strings.
NICOLLE PRAINO
7 AND 9 P.M. AT THE PARTHENON 2500 WEST END AVENUE
MUSIC [SUPERSINGER] CLAUD
If you’ve got a “Soft Spot” for indie pop, you probably already know and love singersongwriter Claud. They released their debut solo album in 2019 but gained mainstream attention with the release of their 2021 record Super Monster, their first on Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory label. Claud recently followed up the success with Supermodels, which builds on their signature bedroom-pop sound with increased confidence and sleek production. They even gained national attention with the debut of the music video for the Supermodels single “A Good Thing,” featuring Paul Rudd as an earnestly oafish mailman — the actor and artist had met by chance at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, a 2023 fairy tale if one ever existed. With experience warming up crowds for artists like
[WHAT A WAY TO MAKE A LIVIN’!] 9 TO 5
Let’s face it — Dolly Parton can make even the most ordinary day seem just a little bit brighter. As the Nashville Repertory Theatre opens its 39th season this weekend, audiences can look forward to catching Parton’s feel-good musical comedy 9 to 5. Based on the 1980 hit film of the same name starring Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, 9 to 5 follows the misadventures of “three working women who take revenge on their sexist, lying, hypocritical, egotistical, bigoted boss.” Parton crafted a ton of fun songs for this charming musical, such as “Shine Like the Sun,” “Backwoods Barbie” and, of course, the title song. Beki Baker directs a stellar cast for the Rep, featuring a nice mix of new and familiar faces — including Allyson A. Robinson, Megan Murphy Chambers, Mariah Parris, Geoffrey Davin, Evelyn O’Neal and many more. AMY STUMPFL SEPT. 8-17 AT TPAC’S POLK THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.
Bleachers, Paramore and label exec Bridgers, Claud certainly has the star power to bring The Blue Room a show to remember. Indie-rock duo Boyish is set to open. HANNAH CRON 7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
MUSIC [ON REFLECTION]
JESS NOLAN ALBUM RELEASE
There’s a good chance you’ve seen and heard Jess Nolan’s work with other musicians. Pull up the top-notch multi-instrumentalist’s laundry list of credits, and you’ll see she’s recorded or performed with folks like Katie Pruitt, Joy Oladokun and Kyshona; she’s also in Jenny Lewis’ touring band. If you enjoy those artists’ records, you’re going to want to add Nolan’s own to your collection, starting with the new one she’ll be celebrating on Friday titled ’93. Coming via Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label, the LP trains a spotlight on Nolan’s keyboards and gentle voice. Nolan is in her own groove, but you might find some commonalities with Joni Mitchell or Natalie Prass here; the R&B-inspired rhythms scan as gentle too, but they’re sneakily kinetic, and you could say the same about her lyrics. One standout among the
SEP 14 to 16 | 7:30 PM
Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor | Garrick Ohlsson, piano
PROGRAM
Julia Perry: A Short Piece for Orchestra
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Igor Stravinsky: TheRiteofSpring
SEP
Presented
Lee Mills, conductor
OCT 7 | 7:30 PM
Presentation
NICK CARTERWHO I AM TOUR
PresentedwithouttheNashvilleSymphony.
OCT 6 | 7:30 PM Special Event Common with the Nashville Symphony
OCT 8 | 7:30 PM
Presentation
RUBEN STUDDARD & CLAY AIKEN: TWENTY YEARS | ONE NIGHT PresentedwithouttheNashvilleSymphony.
OCT 10 | 7:30 PM
Special Event
The Black Violin Experience with the Nashville Symphony
OCT 12 | 7:30 PM
HCA Healthcare and Tristar Health Legends of Music
Billy Ocean PresentedwithouttheNashvilleSymphony.
OCT 14 | 7:30 PM
OCT 15 | 2 PM
Amazon Movie Series
HOCUS POCUS IN CONCERT with the Nashville Symphony
OCT 17 | 7:30 PM
Special Event
SIMPLY THE BEST: THE MUSIC OF TINA TURNER with the Nashville Symphony
SEPTEMBER 17
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
THE BLACK RAINBOWS TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUEST JON MUQ
OCTOBER 7
BOBBY BONES
COMEDICALLY INSPIRATIONAL ON TOUR
OCTOBER 8
THE PRINE FAMILY PRESENTS
YOU GOT GOLD: CELEBRATING THE SONGS OF JOHN PRINE SOLD OUT
OCTOBER 28
RODNEY CROWELL THE CHICAGO SESSIONS TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUESTS ROB ICKES AND TREY HENSLEY
NOVEMBER 8
A MUSICAL CONVERSATION WITH VALERIE JUNE, RACHAEL DAVIS, THAO, & YASMIN WILLIAMS
DECEMBER 21
BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY
BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY’S WILD & SWINGIN’ HOLIDAY PARTY
MARCH 5
GEOFF TATE & ADRIAN VANDENBERG
members receive exclusive pre-sale opportunities for CMA Theater concerts. Learn more at CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership.
new songs is “Emergency Landing,” in which she navigates the tricky balance between her relationships with herself and others, as she sings: “It’s highly likely I’ll be feeling the pressure / Call an emergency landing / If I help myself, I’m helping you / If you take a breath, I’ll take one too.” Nolan has a huge party planned to celebrate, including music from Crystal Rose and Angela Autumn, a dance performance from Garage Collective and visual art by Kristin Carrara, Josie Dunne, Andrew Combs, Grouch Bucket and Nolan herself. STEPHEN TRAGESER
7 P.M. AT SOFT JUNK
919 GALLATIN AVE.
SATURDAY / 9.9
MUSIC
SONGS] CUT WORMS
[COWBOY
In June of last year, Max Clarke — best known as the Brooklynite behind indie-rock outfit Cut Worms — played to a full house at The Blue Room at Third Man Records, a fantastic show featuring top-notch performances from Clarke and his band. Since then, the songster has released what is very likely Cut Worms’ best effort yet, July’s self-titled LP, via longtime indie Jagjaguwar. It’s bursting with the kind of folkinfluenced, Western-styled rock that some have referred to as “cowboy pop” — a term coined in the 1980s to describe country singers including Marty Robbins and Michael Martin Murphey. Whatever you want to call it, Cut Worms is full of lilting, melodious, pedal-steel-adorned tunes with titles like “Ballad of the Texas King” and “Let’s Go out on the Town.” Is it poppy? In a classic sort of sense, yes. Is it the music you can picture a lonesome cowpoke strumming along to by the campfire? Absolutely. This weekend Clarke and his band return to The Blue Room.
D. PATRICK RODGERS
8 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS 623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
MUSIC [CLEAN THROUGH] LILLIE MAE ALBUM RELEASE
You may have gotten acquainted with Lillie Mae through her membership in Jack White’s band, or perhaps through her family band’s long-running residencies on Lower Broadway that started when she was a very young child.
Either way, her two solo LPs — 2017’s Forever and Then Some and 2019’s Other Girls — have given you plenty of reasons to stay a fan. Her songs, her commanding voice and her instrumental prowess in the broad country-folk-Americana realm are enough to recommend her work, but she always goes a step further, drawing on a deep roster of friends and family to add more nuances and dimensions. Her new record Festival Eyes continues the tradition and is duly credited to Lillie Mae and Family. Appropriately, the titular song is a lively string-band ode to big celebratory gatherings, musical or otherwise. The eight-song set also includes a thoughtful, lilting cover of “Razor Love” — probably not one of the first songs you list if someone asks you to name a Neil Young song, but the empathetic number is a credit to his vast catalog and Lillie Mae’s repertoire too. No matter how much I’ve enjoyed Lillie Mae’s records, she and her collaborators always find ways to make the songs burn even brighter in person, so don’t miss your chance to hear for yourself.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
9 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT
1604 EIGHTH AVE. S.
MUSIC [FIRST OVERALL PICK] BÉLA FLECK
The Nashville Symphony is kicking off its 2023-24 season with some star power as banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck takes the Schermerhorn stage. It’s a partnership that just makes sense: Fleck is hailed as one of the instrument’s greatest masters, and the NSO is an elite musical ensemble in a city that celebrates the banjo perhaps more than any other, as the home of country music. In 2011, the two joined forces to premiere a banjo concerto, “The Impostor.” This weekend’s program will bring that 2011 composition back to the Schermerhorn along with pieces by some of the titans of American classical composing. The banjo probably isn’t the first instrument you picture when you think of large jazz ensembles, but people like Duke Ellington regularly featured the instrument before the guitar became the dominant stringed instrument in big bands. You’ll get a chance to hear the banjo in this context when Fléck plucks away on George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue COLE VILLENA
7:30 P.M. AT THE SCHERMERHORN
ONE SYMPHONY PLACE
[VOCES PODEROSAS]
MUSIC
LATINX MONTH WRITERS ROUND
FEAT. KARINA DAZA, CATALINA AND MORE
Writers’ rounds are an old Nashville tradition, and it’s no surprise the city has seen a few different iterations of the performance format, including those that celebrate genres besides country. In that spirit, Nashville-based singer Karina Daza and a few friends are launching the Latinx Month Writers Round. Daza, a rising Latin alternative artist, organized the event with her new collective Musicana, which aims to support Latin American music and artists — assembling a heavy-hitting lineup of fellow talented Latina artists. And as the name implies, the event also marks the upcoming start of Hispanic Heritage Month (officially Sept. 15). The seven artists showcase a range of styles, from pop-rock virtuoso Catalina to country- and mariachi-inspired singer Rachel Rodriguez. You can also catch exciting acts Marta Albarracin, Lindsay James, Alyssia Dominguez and Elia Esparza on the bill. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
7:30 P.M. AT CITY WINERY
609 LAFAYETTE ST.
SUNDAY / 9.10
[TRIP AROUND THE STUMBLING BLOCK]
COMEDY
KEVIN JAMES THORNTON
Do you have religious trauma? I’m just kidding, you don’t have to answer that. But if you grew up in a small town, had a strict religious family and consume content about that experience, you’ve probably come across a video or two by Nashville-based comedian Kevin James Thornton. Thornton’s videos gained popularity during the pandemic, particularly his auto-tuned TikToks about growing up in his super fundamentalist Christian church in the ’90s. Whether you can relate to stories of attempts at speaking in tongues or hearing
about former church members who had “backslidden,” Thornton’s delivery and humor are infectious. His It Was the ’90s tour will stop in Nashville for shows on Sept. 10 and Oct. 1 at Zanies, both at 4 p.m. The show, like many of his local performances, is billed as Kevin & Friends, so there’s no telling just who might show up.
HANNAH CRON
4 P.M. AT ZANIES
2025 EIGHTH AVE. S.
[EMO CAVE NITE]
MUSIC
TENNESSEE IS FOR LOVERS FEAT. HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, UNDEROATH, MAYDAY PARADE & MORE
Are you a semiretired scene kid who misses those sticky-hot summer days on blacktop parking lots, sweating it out to the soundtrack of your teenage angst at the Warped Tour? Well, here’s the show for you: Tennessee Is for Lovers, a one-day touring festival curated by emo-rock outfit Hawthorne Heights (best known for the TRL-era single “Ohio Is for Lovers,” of course).
Tennessee Is for Lovers — should we make TIFL a thing? — boasts a lineup that covers many of the guitar-slinging genres that ballooned at the height of the so-called “emo” mainstream explosion in the 2000s: headbanging staple Underoath; pop-rock mainstay Mayday Parade, tried-and-true punk vet Bayside (a band that now partly calls Middle Tennessee home), post-hardcore torchbearer Thursday and the aforementioned Hawthorne Heights, among others. Taking place at the Caverns in nearby Grundy County, the all-day show utilizes both permanent stages on venue grounds — the underground concert hall and the neighboring amphitheater. See you in the pit, fellow olds.
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
NOON AT THE CAVERNS
555 CHARLIE ROBERTS ROAD, PELHAM
b y D a v e K e n n e d y . N a s h v i l l e ’ s p r e m i e r e l i s t e n i n g l o u n g e i s t h e p l a c e t o b e o n t h i s n i g h t , w h e r e y o u ’ l l h e a r t h e s t o r i e s b e h i n d h i t s f r o m L u k e C o m b s , B
MONDAY / 9.11
Cocktails Small Bites
Intimate Atmosphere
4210 Charlotte Ave. | 615 - 678 - 4086 ottos nashville.com
STOP BY YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD TAPROOM WITH SCRATCH-MADE EATS AND DAILY DRINK SPECIALS. 704 51st Ave N | 51northtaproom.com
an independent bookstore for independent people
UPCOMING EVENTS
PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES
6:30PM
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
2023 SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS PREVIEW at PARNASSUS
10:30AM
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
SATURDAY STORYTIME with BRIDGET HODDER
The Promise
6:30PM
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE
MEG MEDINA
In partnership with NPL & NPLF at NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
6:30PM
MICHAEL KIGGINS at PARNASSUS and The Train Kept Moving
6:30PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
LORRIE MOORE at PARNASSUS
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home
6:30PM
SEPTEMBER
MUSIC [NETHER LANDS]
RICHY MITCH & THE COAL MINERS
Because Americana is a genre with skewed ideas about authenticity, it’s easy to miss the pop underbelly that lies beneath music that purports to be folkish and rootsy. For example, the Colorado band Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners (Colorado has sported many coal mines and coalmining towns over the years) reminds me of a slew of bands and performers who aren’t exactly authentic in the roots-folk sense of the word. Their 2019 album Subliming is a collection of gauzy pop tunes that occasionally rock out in the time-honored folkie manner. Singer Richy Mitch’s voiceprint kept nagging me until I realized he sounded a lot like the late Bob Welch, onetime Fleetwood Mac singer and Nashvillian. I listen to Welch a lot these days on one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac albums, 1972’s Bare Trees, which contains his hit tune “Sentimental Lady.” Critics and fans often cite Americana as derivative of music that should have gotten its due but didn’t, no thanks to the bad old record business and the taste of benighted listeners who prefer to listen to regular pop music. That may have been the case 20 years ago, but it’s hard to view current Americana as anything other than a certain kind of classic rock aimed at a generation that didn’t experience it firsthand. Subliming sounds like its creators really like Fleetwood Mac and The Lumineers, and “Somersault” and “Backburner” are nice, wimpy folk-pop-rock tracks. If you ask me, every generation gets the Dan Fogelberg it deserves, and Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners might just fill that gap. EDD HURT
9 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT
1604 EIGHTH AVE. S.
TUESDAY / 9.12
MUSIC [IN THE TIME OF CHIMPANZEES]
ARCTIC MONKEYS W/ FONTAINES D.C.
During an appearance on the Broken Record podcast in July, Blur/Gorillaz mastermind
grandfather’s guitar, thinking about how funny I must look.” Irish post-punk outfit Fontaines D.C. is set to open the two-night stand.
JASON VERSTEGEN
8 P.M. SEPT. 12-13 AT ASCEND AMPHITHEATER 310 FIRST AVE. S.
MUSIC [JUST BREATHE] MICHELLE BRANCH
Trust me, you know Michelle Branch. She is one of those artists so present in pop culture, with radio hits and features on shows and movies in the early Aughts. Movies like What a Girl Wants and Ice Princess include her work, and she briefly acted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and One Tree Hill. When she released her first album, The Spirit Room, in 2001, Branch was just 18 years old. That album brought us probably her most recognizable song, “Everywhere,” along with “All You Wanted.” Perhaps you recognize her for “The Game of Love,” a collaboration with Santana that earned her a Grammy in 2002. She quickly followed up with sophomore album Hotel Paper in 2003 before taking a hiatus. Now older and wiser, Branch got to go her own way with Hopeless Romantic in 2017 and her latest album, The Trouble With Fever, in 2022. A self-professed over-sharer, Branch is raw and real. She’s had some trouble in her personal life lately, but it’s best to trust the woman who wrote “Breathe” to handle it. HANNAH HERNER
7:30 P.M. AT CITY WINERY
609 LAFAYETTE ST.
MUSIC [DEEP GRAMMARS] DEERHOOF
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
LAUREN GROFF with LINDSAY LYNCH at PARNASSUS The Vaster Wilds
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/FIRST-EDITION-CLUBS
6:30PM
SUSAN LEE with MAZEY EDDINGS & SASHA PEYTON SMITH at PARNASSUS
The Name Drop
@parnassusbooks1 Parnassus Books
Damon Albarn’s comments on the state of guitar music shook up the modern rock world. “For me, the last great guitar band would have been Arctic Monkeys, and I don’t really know if there’s anything as good as that since,” said Albarn. To be fair, he followed up with an optimistic perspective for the future of guitar rock, but the legendary British artist’s recent opinion is hard to deny. Arctic Monkeys’ evolution from scrawny Sheffield schoolboy punks to bravado-laden international rock stars is a crescendo-worthy story for an era of rock ’n’ roll that found itself lost in transition toward the end of the last decade. Released to critical acclaim last year, the group’s seventh studio album The Car finds frontperson Alex Turner’s songwriting no longer at a crossroads as he abandons signature rock riffs for introspective dance balladry. On the album’s title track, Turner fully embraces his innermost crooner on the opening line, “Your
Veteran indie rockers Deerhoof sound energized on this year’s full-length MiracleLevel, the band’s 19th studio album. From the hyphenated album title to songs that also have hyphenated titles — and two that use exclamation points — Miracle-Level is about a rock quartet devoted to exposing the deep grammar of compositions that reference rock without exactly rocking out. I like the Captain Beefheart-meetsLowell George feel of “My Lonely Cat!,” which might be the catchiest — which means the most straightforward — track on Miracle-Level Meanwhile, “Momentary Art of Soul!” ends up being a blues tune. Drummer Greg Saunier, who started the band 30 years ago in San Francisco, plays patterns that define the style of the group. He alludes to funk but leaves the backbeat behind, and I hear traces of Captain Beefheart drummer John French’s style in his playing, not to mention the equally advanced groove of Meters skinsman Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste. Bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki wrote the lyrics for Miracle-Level in Japanese, and there are some good songs here — “The Little Maker” is as conventional as the album gets. Speaking of grammar and song titles, I guess “Phase-Out All Remaining Non-Miracles by 2028” (what, no exclamation point?) sums up this record’s achievement. As grammar students know, when you hyphenate a verb-adverb combination like “phase out,” you turn it into a noun. MiracleLevel is no phase-out — the band sounds more confident and funny than ever. Flynt Flossy and Turquoise Jeep open. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT EAST 917 WOODLAND ST
Firebird
Un Ballo
Year of the Rabbit
Tony Award-winning choreographer
Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit makes its Nashville debut!
September 22–24, 2023
TPAC'S POLK THEATER
Live music by the Nashville Symphony
BY
BUY TICKETS AT NashvilleBallet.com
WOLF AT THE DOOR
IF YOU THINK about the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner when you hear Michelle Wolf’s name, we’ll allow it. After all, in pandemic years, 2018 was five minutes ago. But you are missing out on all the great things she’s done since then, including a Netflix special called Michelle Wolf: Joke Show.
In August, Wolf kicked off her It’s Great to Be Here tour, which stops in Nashville for a fiveshow run Sept. 7 through 9. We caught up with her recently to discuss social media, the WGA strike, comedy and politics.
Your team does a good job of uploading videos of your stand-up. Do you think comics uploading videos helps or hurts comedy? It’s good to give people a snippet of what you do. What’s hurting is a lot of those crowd-work videos with almost no jokes in them. People go to a show and expect, “I’m gonna get called on and get a moment for me,” and it takes away the art of writing a joke. How do you feel about social media? I’m not a fan. I’ve been working on a bit about this in my set. We need to respect ourselves more by watching good and interesting things by talented people. We all doomscroll on Instagram. There are things out there more interesting than what you’re seeing on your phone. We need to
BY KIM BALDWINvalue talent more than we are.
You’ve written on shows like The Daily Show, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Saturday Night Live. Are you part of the strike? The entire [Writers Guild of America] is on strike. I don’t really have any sort of writing job, but we all are collectively on strike together. Stand-up is not a WGA position.
I 100 percent stand behind the strike. It’s important that we’re standing up for this now.
How is the strike affecting stand-up? People that normally aren’t able to do stand-up because they have a full-time writing job are able to do more stand-up. That being said, they’re also not able to make the money that they normally would, because we’re all on strike.
Is there something you wish people who aren’t in the big industry cities like New York and L.A. knew about the strike? The overall perception that some people have is that these Hollywood writers just want money. But what we’re seeing in a lot of industries is that the people in charge are making more profits. So it’s just people wanting their fair share of what’s being made.
Do you like performing in Nashville at Zanies?
It’s a great club. I’ve always had a good time. I know people who, before they go out on their theater tours, they like to do some sets there because it’s always a fair read of your material,
which is great.
Do you prefer a club to a theater? For me, [a club] is the best way to do stand-up. I’ve done theaters and arenas, but clubs — that just feels like how stand-up is supposed to be seen.
Are you working up to a new one-hour special?
I just started, and we really like the hour that I’m going on. I would potentially like to tape it towards the end of the tour, but I just have to see how it goes. You only want to tape something if you feel like it is a good release.
How do you feel about the Trump indictments? Is he interesting to talk about? I’ve never been particularly interested in talking about him. I think it’s always boring. A lot of the jokes about him are repetitive. If there’s something genuine sticking to him, it might be worth talking about, but for now, it just seems like a bunch of noise.
Is there anything you want to plug? I’m really excited about this new hour and I can’t wait for people to see it. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff to talk about. And I am excited to try it out in Nashville.
Sponsored by:
MODERN ROOMMATE WANTED
Jenna Levine enters the supernatural romance scene with My Roommate Is a Vampire
BY ABBY N. LEWISCASSIE GREENBERG is a struggling artist living in Chicago, working cobbled-together part-time jobs that still don’t cover the rent. Her landlord is evicting her for nonpayment, and despite scouring apartment listings, she can’t find a new place within her budget. She’s going to have to settle for crashing with her friend Sam and his husband — until she stumbles on a Craigslist posting for a roommate. The spacious third-floor brownstone apartment is in Lincoln Park, and the rent is a mere $200.
Thus opens Nashville writer Jenna Levine’s paranormal rom-com My Roommate Is a Vampire. Needless to say, the Craigslist ad mentions nothing about a vampire, simply stating that the current tenant is “seldom home after sundown.” The ridiculously low rent alerts Cassie that something is amiss, but even if the listing is a scam, it would be irresponsible, she thinks, not to at least send an email and see if the room is still available.
Although advertised as romance, Levine’s novel is also very cozy. A woman working as a children’s librarian and a barista, devoting her spare time to her dream of being an artist, Cassie Greenberg is an immensely relatable character. She’s not a sexy 20-something looking for a hot boyfriend but an educated woman with an MFA suffering at the hands of the disaster that is the 21st-century economy. Cassie has followed the touted path to success — going to school, earning a terminal degree — and she, like many of us, is rewarded with underpaid jobs that inevitably leave her unable to pay the sky-high Chicago rent. Which is why when she sees the listing for a spacious apartment with very few visible strings attached, she takes the risk.
ment before making her decision, she encounters not some out-of-touch wealthy old man, as she was expecting, but an immaculately dressed and very attractive guy who looks to be her age:
He looked like he was maybe in his mid-thirties, though he had the sort of long, pale, slightly angular face where it was hard to tell. And his voice wasn’t the only thing with high production values. No, he also had this ridiculously thick, dark hair that fell rakishly across his forehead like he’d sprung fully formed out of a period drama where people with English accents kissed in the rain.
Once Cassie takes the plunge and decides to move in, she begins to notice some strange things. For instance, packages begin arriving for Frederick — packages that seem to make noise or emit smoke. What’s more, per the lease agreement, Cassie is not allowed to enter Frederick’s bedroom (which seems very reasonable), but she is also not allowed to open the mysterious hall closet that smells oddly … fruity. Additionally, the décor in the house seems to come from the Victorian era, and when Cassie attempts to boil water for pasta her first night there, she discovers there are no pots, pans or utensils to be found in the kitchen.
My Roommate Is a Vampire
By Jenna Levine Berkley352 pages, $17
The lister, Mr. Frederick J. Fitzwilliam, replies to Cassie’s inquiry about the listing with a stiff formality at odds with the current century, and he also displays a clear lack of understanding about how to negotiate a rental agreement. He does not offer to let her view or tour the apartment. Instead, he simply writes, “Do let me know at your earliest convenience whether you would like to move in and I will have the necessary paperwork drawn up for your signature.” Cassie thinks, “The email was so strangely worded and so formal, I had to wonder exactly how old this person was.” However, when she manages to negotiate a time to see the apart-
Levine opens each chapter with a piece of writing to key the reader into events happening within and slightly outside of the main story. For example, the first chapter opens with the Craigslist ad. Subsequent chapters feature excerpts from news articles, text messages between characters, and even handwritten letters. Of course, the story doesn’t just consist of a string of odd incidents and roommate peculiarities. The longer Cassie shares the apartment with Frederick, the more they get to know each other and the more secrets they unravel.
Cassie has the standard secrets — slight fibs here and there to make herself seem more put-together and confident than she is — but Frederick has some serious skeletons in his closet. Will this pair be able to overcome all the hurdles thrown at them? Dear reader, you’ll have to delve into the book to find out.
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
FOOD, DRINKS AND LIVE MUSIC!
PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS!
Tickets are included with Walk Bike Nashville memberships. Join today: www.walkbikenashville.org/membership
TK & THE HOLY KNOW-NOTHINGS with Special Guest KRISTINA MURRAY THE FRENCH CONNEXION
The Velveteers
DEERHOOF W/ FLYNT FLOSSY & TURQUOISE JEEP
DURAND BERNARR w/ JeRonelle
LEAH KATE w/ Conor Burns, Senses & Alex Capelli
DOPAPOD W/ STOLEN GIN
JAKE MILLER W/ brooke alexx & HARIZ
MAUDE LATOUR W/ DEVON AGAIN
AMERICANAFEST: Mipso, Della Mae
AMERICANAFEST: Band of Heathens, Kaitlin Butts, The Panhandlers, carter faith, Drayton Flores
AMERICANAFEST: A Tribute to 1973
AMERICANAFEST: Sarah Jarosz, Maggie Rose, The Wilder Blue, Blue Water Highway, The Shindellas zz ward w/ jaime wyatt noah gundersen w/ casey dubie mo lowda & the humble W/ JIVE TALK
SHAWN JAMES W/ RACHAEL DAVIS & EVAN BARTELS
ambar lucid w/ rubio & ethanuno
LANCO w/ Meghan Patrick & Willie Tate
vacations & last dinosaurs
Wilderado w/ Sego and Baseball Game
The National Parks w/ Zach Seabaugh
Doobie w/ Call Me Karizma
DEHD W/ SARAH GRACE WHITE
You Got Gold: John prine tribute eloise w/ james smith del water gap w/ kristiane neighbor
dan deacon
sam barber w/ elliot greer
deer tick w/ country westerns
noah floersch w/ edgehill gone gone beyond w/ Laura Elliot & Happie ashley cooke w/ matt schuster
medium build w/ henry j star
trousdale w/ anna vaus
Jalen
stacey kelleher w/ max gall (7PM]
Maddie Lenhart, Julie Eddy, Jack McKeon (9PM]
Get happier fridays: Maggie Miles, V3RN, ZG Smith, special guest tba ok, tyler (7PM]
lille mae (9PM]
Brian Sour, kidPlastic, Doug & The Dying abby hamilton (7PM]
Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners (9PM]
lvvrs
The Astronomers w/ jady (7pm)
Lowertown w/ the sewing club & Melania kol (9pm)
Get happier fridays: Iguanahead, Cabin Boys, Cam Pierce, Janna Marie pierce edens
jon owens w/ jesse black and brooke stein
abby hamilton (7PM]
moose miller w/ trippp (7PM]
ben chapman's peach jam w/ special guests (3PM]
americanafest: joy clark, the pink stones
americanafest: Channing Wilson, Mia Borders, Jack Botts, Sons of the East, Jake Kohn
americanafest: Trapper Schoepp, Tyler Ramsey, Mikey Ferrari, Autumn Nicholas, Cruz Contreras
JOBI RICCIO THINKS of herself as an outsider — not quite fitting into the bubbles around country music or indie rock, but certainly borrowing liberally from both in her highly personal songwriting. Whiplash, out Friday via Yep Roc, is Riccio’s debut album, but she’s already garnered impressive accolades.
This summer, she played at the Newport Folk Fest for the first time, where she was the inaugural recipient of the John Prine Fellowship. In a few weeks, she’ll also play her first two sets at AmericanaFest: first, during the LGBTQ songsmiths’ showcase Americana Proud: A Voice for All at City Winery on Sept. 19, and again at Exit/ In on Sept. 21.
“I grew up doing a lot of hiking and spending time outdoors in nature,” Riccio tells the Scene She grew up in Morrison, Colo., the town about half an hour outside Denver that’s home to Red Rocks. “I always dreamed of moving to the East Coast and moving to a city. I ended up going to college in Boston, but once I was there I was super homesick for the West and for wide-open spaces.”
SELF RELIANCE
Jobi Riccio steps forward with Whiplash
BY RACHEL CHOLSTRiccio, a Berklee grad, earned her stripes in Boston’s folk music scene before returning home to Colorado for a stint, then moving to Nashville. This prompted Whiplash’s meditations on young adulthood and exploring one’s identity.
“For Me It’s You” is the first single released after she signed with Yep Roc last year and a standout on Whiplash. It’s a nuanced love song about losing a partner to someone else. Riccio’s narrator is fully aware of the situation by the time they’re singing the song, but it came through a process of slow realization, which they mirror for the listener as the refrain comes back around: First it’s “Everyone has a person they sing their love songs to,” then “Everyone has a dream they know probably won’t come true,” and finally “Everyone has a person who’ll never feel the way they do.”
Genre orthodoxy frustrates Riccio: “To be a creative, perceptive person, you’re always going to feel a little unsatisfied.” She combines her early love of commercial country music with her parents’ collection of singer-songwriters’ records, with touchstones like the Eagles, Linda
Ronstadt, Bruce Springsteen and Emmylou Harris. Riccio came to bluegrass as a teenager, reveling in the dynamic performances at festivals around Morrison.
While Music City’s primary export is commercial country music, Riccio was drawn to Nashville by the breadth and depth of the songwriting scene. She continues to be energized by the panoply of genres she and her neighbors dabble in after hours.
“My peers and I fall all across the spectrum of folk and rock music,” says Riccio. “I have friends who play alt-country, friends who play punk music, friends who play indie folk — we’re all sort of drawing from a similar source, and we all have a deep love for all kinds of music. Nashville’s music scene is the thing that really keeps me here.”
Even with all the momentum behind her, Riccio knows that professional life for a musician can be an uphill battle. But she’s determined to press on.
“I feel like I always knew that I would do this no matter what,” she says. “That I would go for
this, that I would chase this. I’ve definitely had moments of doubt, and it still feels really unrealistic and really hard. And I still wanna do it.”
Whiplash has built plenty of buzz over the summer, and while Riccio is excited for it to be out in the world, she’s already at work on a new album. She’s going into that project with a new sense of trust in herself, built in part by working with her Whiplash co-producers Gar Ragland, Jesse Timm and Isaiah Beard.
“Because of lockdown, we were able to really take our time on [Whiplash]. My producers really trusted me and let me lead in a way that I wasn’t really expecting — I wasn’t expecting myself to have such a strong opinion and vision about certain things on the production side. I always will be experimenting and trying to write and create what’s gonna make me the most excited.” ▼
Whiplash out Friday, Sept. 8, via Yep Roc
In our occasional series we call Gearing Up, we profile some of the people around town who make, repair or sell the instruments and other equipment that musicians use.
WHEN SOUNDS OF SHELBY’S Truman Steffens posts photos of a guitar effects pedal that he’s built to his Instagram profile, the first one is usually not of the hand-painted enclosure, but of the pedal’s guts. The circuits are his takes on classic effect designs — such as the Fuzz Face favored by Jimi Hendrix and the Supa Fuzz made famous by Jeff Beck — made with new-old-stock electronic components manufactured during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s (but never installed in a device). Colorful resistors and diodes are laid out elegantly on fiberboard, wired point to point with flying-saucer-esque transistors, chunky capacitors and more, like a map of the first human settlement on a newly discovered planet.
“There’s a lot of really, really good current stuff — with brand-new surface-mount components — that I enjoy,” Steffens tells the Scene “But there’s a different compression that you kind of feel in your fingertips when you play some of the older gear. I try to … capture the feel and the look of the older stuff. A big contribution to really achieving that is actually using the older components.”
Steffens, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., got his first guitar in fourth grade, and he’s been playing classical music, heavy metal, sophisticated funk and more for about 20 years. In high school, he read an article about modifying pedals that you could pick up at any Guitar Center — alterations that would make the sound heavier or help it cut through the mix better — which sparked his passion for tinkering. He kept it up while studying political science at Auburn University, working on build-your-own-pedal sets that he describes as “like a Lego kit that
INTENTIONAL WALK
GEARING
UP:
THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS
Sounds of Shelby makes effects-pedal magic with vintage techniques — and components
BY STEPHEN TRAGESERmakes noise in the end.” He wanted to be in a music town that wasn’t too far from home, so he settled in East Nashville.
As Steffens took jobs repairing vintage equipment, he made a careful study of circuit design. He was drawn to old-school distortion effects and Fender amplifiers, which were wired by hand back before the advent of printed circuit boards. That inspired him to settle on the method he’s been using for Sounds of Shelby pedals for the past four years or so, which involves cutting fiberboard, laying out his circuit and adding eyelets, testing components, soldering them into place and installing them in an enclosure that he’s decorated.
He’s found components at flea markets and in friends’ parents’ basements, and bought them from specialist websites and eBay. One component that’s useful in many circuit designs is germanium transistors made for the Soviet military. Steffens found a source for them — in Ukraine, just before the Russian invasion.
“The first time I bought stuff from this particular seller, the very next day there’s an airstrike in his city, and 95 percent of the city lost power as a result,” he recalls. “I thought, ‘Well, I guess I’m not going to get my stuff, but I’m not going to ask for a refund.’ It ended up coming two weeks later. ... It seems like a lot of Ukrainians are trying to stick with business as usual, [though] they’re acutely aware of being in the middle of wartime.”
For the past few months, Steffens put Sounds of Shelby on pause and went back home to care for his mother, who has a serious illness. However, he’s been able to complete a small batch of new pedals that he’ll be putting up for sale very soon. He says those will include a couple iterations each of his Uno (that’s a special take on the Fuzz Face with only one control knob on the outside), his spin on the Jordan Boss Tone (a
After a decade-long layoff, NYC rock iconoclasts
The Walkmen are back on the road
BY CHARLIE ZAILLIANIN TERMS OF UNITS MOVED, magazine covers adorned or models dated, The Walkmen never scored the highest among the early-Aughts generation of New York musicians. Interpol, The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs were at the top of that heap. But while “best” is subjective, The Walkmen are that scene’s foremost “band’s band” — the hardest-working and most consistent, a crucial branch of the family tree of that cast of impossibly cool East Coast bands.
The Walkmen formed in 2000 out of the ashes of Jonathan Fire*Eater — the hotly tipped, star-crossed late-’90s combo whose gifted yet troubled guiding force Stewart Lupton’s demons finally caught up with him in 2018, 22 years after he torpedoed JF*E’s one-and-done major label deal. Between
gnarly fuzz that’s prominent on Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky”) and his Script Driver (a take on the 1970s MXR Distortion+ pedal used by late, great Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads).
While Steffens uses only components that he verifies match the specification for the circuit he’s building, he points out that part of the magic is how no two iterations of these hand-built circuits ever sound exactly the same. Different manufacturers’ versions of the same
component — or even ones made at different times by the same company — might create variations in tone or response to playing. That was the norm when Hendrix was buying his first Fuzz Face in 1966, but not something you’ll hear most pedal builders aspire to today.
“I know which guy has the best-sounding Fuzz Face that I’ve built. … I still think about that one. I got to hear him play it live through a cranked ’65 Princeton Reverb, and it’s incredible. It’s good just knowing that it’s out there.” ▼
Live Piano
Saturday, September 9
SONGWRITER SESSION
Bryan Simpson
NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, September 10
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Joe Fick
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, September 16
CONVERSATION
Opry Memories
with Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely, Bud Wendell, and Mark Wills
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, September 16
HATCH SHOW PRINT
Block Party
3:00 pm · HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Sunday, September 17
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Chris Leuzinger
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Tuesday, September 19
CONVERSATION AND PERFORMANCE
Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
Spin the Wheel
3:00 pm · FORD THEATER AS PART OF AMERICANAFEST
Thursday, September 21
CONCERT
Hank’s 100th
In Celebration of Hank Williams
Presented by Spotify
3:30 pm · CMA THEATER AS PART OF AMERICANAFEST
WITNESS HISTORY
Museum Membership
Receive free admission, access to weekly
’02 and ’13, The Walkmen’s magnetic singer Hamilton Leithauser and bassist-organist Peter Bauer, plus timekeeper Matt Barrick and six-stringers Paul Maroon and Walter Martin — the latter three all ex-Fire*Eaters — cultivated, perfected and never stopped exploring a signature ultra-analog, vintage-gear-powered, bandin-a-room sound with a timeless feel but few obvious antecedents.
The group’s six full-lengths prove this — all naturalistic, live-in-studio sounds, anchored by Leithauser’s versatile, envelope-pushing vocals. Its career arc has involved no member changes or tragedies outside of Lupton’s downfall — which essentially planted the seed for both The Walkmen in particular and the 2000s New York scene in general. No breakup was ever announced; things simply seemed to have run their course after 2012’s Heaven LP, which is a perfectly plaintive ripper of a record with a series-finale feel to it.
Now, a decade later, Leithauser and his cohorts, based in Brooklyn, have come roaring back. They’ll headline Brooklyn Bowl — the one here — on Saturday, Sept. 16, with fellow New Yorkers Yeah Baby supporting. Judging from ink spilled so far about The Walkmen’s comeback shows, the time off hasn’t come close to dulling their edge. Four of five members have generated solo output in intervening years, while drummer Barrick has kept busy behind the kit with Fleet Foxes, The Hold Steady, Maggie Rogers and more.
In interviews, the 45-year-old Leithauser has credited a run of instant-classic solo shows in 2020 at Brooklyn’s Cafe Carlyle for reigniting the spark. Set lists since the band got back on the road have pulled from each Walkmen record, including 2004’s hardcharging Bows & Arrows and its rager-for-the-ages
“The Rat” to 2008’s stately, autumnal You & Me — even resurrecting a long-lost tune off Jonathan Fire*Eater’s sole DreamWorks LP, Wolf Songs for Lambs, “Impatient Talent Show.”
Leithauser & Co. have been coy about whether a follow-up to Heaven might be a possibility — but even without it, sets so far have provided plenty of intrigue.
“We’re better than we were before,” the frontman told U.K. magazine Far Out in August. But as he told Stereogum a few months earlier, “We’re not going to turn into the Pixies” — insofar as they won’t spoil this slight return with an ongoing string of subpar new material compromising The Walkmen’s legacy.
The Sept. 16 show comes almost 12 years to the day after the release of the group’s fifth LP Lisbon. It’s also about 15 years removed from when a badass cast of then-fresh-faced Nashville independent music figures convened to cover songs from You & Me live at Grimey’s to celebrate the album on the day it came out.
As bands’ trajectories go, The Walkmen have lived a relatively charmed existence. Their story might not be the most fraught. With respect to the immortal “The Rat,” they never had a mainstream hit. Compared to The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem and all the rest, they claimed only a few pages in Meet Me in the Bathroom — Lizzy Goodman’s brick-heavy, 600-pluspage oral history of the early-2000s NYC scene that, if you weren’t there, you’re likely to at least recognize as a constant presence on music-nerd friends’ bookshelves. (The book was also turned into a 2022 documentary film.) Still, the cool and creativity they’ve instilled into rock’s oft-rigid framework deserves recognition. If these are things you care about, you’ll regret missing this gig. Be there. ▼
MUSIC: THE SPIN
HOPE IN A BROKEN HEART
BY HANNAH CRONTHE LAST TIME Bully headlined a Nashville stage, it was on the hallowed ground of the currently defunct Mercy Lounge. Alicia Bognanno makes the kind of music you want to hear in an old room, with the intimacy of history and sweaty mosh pits gone by, songs blaring from blown-out speakers. Brooklyn Bowl is not that kind of venue just yet — everything is still shiny and new, with fancy lighting rigs and a handful of disco balls suspended above the main floor. But Bognanno has an unmistakable power that transcends space and time, able to make any room seem intimate and real, with music that simultaneously recalls bygone talent and feels like a freeze-frame of this very moment in time.
Chicago quartet Bev Rage and the Drinks — whose name is among the all-time great band names — warmed up the stage, performing a slew of uptempo, ska-tinged rockers that can only be described as drag-queen punk. Fronted by queen Bev Rage, the group bashed through head-bopping hits like “Bitter Old Queen” and the Chicago-inspired “Hollywood Beach,” but not before lamenting Nashville’s lack of “gay
water features!” The songs were fast and the music was fun. What more could you want from an opening act?
After a set change and a few minutes of dark, ambient sound that might fit in a Saw-esque torture flick, Bully hit the stage. And boy did Bognanno and her band come out swinging. Clad in a black lace bodysuit, she attacked every word of Lucky for You opener “All I Do” with grace and fury. Screaming the pivotal line “I’ll never get fucked up again” with the raw pain of a never-quite-healed wound, Bognanno made it clear to the audience that she’d still be there rocking for her own sake, even if no one else was.
Bognanno isn’t a talker — the band made it through 11 songs before she spoke a word. She’s said everything in her music, and she isn’t afraid to let it stand alone. The set list heavily featured songs from the latest Bully album, with old favorites like “I Remember” and “Running” sprinkled into the mix.
As with many Nashville bands’ homecoming shows, you never know who might show up to play a song or two. Lucky for You producer J.T. Daly joined the band on saxophone for “A Love Profound,” and Soccer Mommy herself Sophie Allison hopped on stage for “Lose You,” the lead single from the record, which she sang on. Before the two performed it together for the first time, Bognanno told the crowd that the appearance had come together only the day before,
and noted that this marked the first time she’d ever had a guest performer onstage.
The show crescendoed with back-to-back bangers — “Days Move Slow” followed by “All This Noise” — before a brief break into the encore. Bognanno returned to the stage alone to perform an as-yet-unreleased song (whose title hasn’t been announced) and a cover of Jane’s Addiction’s classic “Jane Says” before inviting the band back to close out the set with a riotous rendition of early fan favorite “Milkman.”
While Bully is technically a solo act, the backing band’s contributions to the show should not be overlooked. Composed of bassist Nick Byrd, drummer Benji Coale and guitarist Elle Puckett — who also played harmonica on “A Wonderful Life” — the band punctuated Bognanno’s heartfelt songwriting with masterful precision.
A record like Lucky for You could not be easy to perform live. Beyond the shredding vocals and intricate instrumental arrangements, the record is rife with grief, inspired by the loss of Bognanno’s beloved dog Mezzi. But Bognanno is at the top of her game, hitting every note and hanging onto every word like her life depends on it. She screams, gutturally and with force, the embodiment of rage and grief — setting her free from the way women are taught to push down, to hide, to ignore whatever might inconvenience somebody else. It is not her problem anymore. There is nothing more beautiful. ▼
NEAL JOHNSTON STEVE AUSTIN
With over two decades experience working in Nashville we’d love to be part of your next addition, renovation, or custom build!
BIRDIECONSTRUCTION.COM
For over 50 years our family company has been at the forefront of technology while embracing the equipment and techniques of yesteryear. From century old engraving printing presses to state-of-the-art digital equipment (and everything in between). Visit us on the web, give us a call or stop by and see us in person!
Nashville’s premier printing company. 111 Oak Valley Drive | Nashville, TN 37207 615.327.1758 |
ACROSS
1 Urgent order
5 Alternatives to dogs
10 Winter hrs. in Seattle
13 “Mas Que ___” (classic Brazilian song from the 1960s)
14 Certain bite risk
16 Quizzical cries
17 Striped polecat’s defense
18 ___ pan (kitchen utensil)
19 “The sweetest joy, the wildest ___ is love”: Pearl Bailey
20 Important warning before you answer 32-, 40- and 52-Across?
23 Maneuvered (for)
26 Skyline features
27 Skyline feature
28 Top suit
31 Interruption
32 2003 Pixar animated adventure
35 Start to profit?
36 Pad, so to speak
37 Pirates’ domain
40 2004 Quentin Tarantino martial arts film
45 Suburb about 20 miles WNW of Boston
47 Low island
48 Birthplace of Pythagoras
49 Petitions
51 “___? We don’t need no stinking ___!”
52 1993 Warner Bros. family drama
56 Investment inits.
57 Disinclined
58 Texas is the largest U.S. producer of these
62 Hullabaloo
63 Makes merry
64 Thought
65 Acoustics, for one: Abbr.
66 Striped yellow balls, in pool
67 Stretch in logic
DOWN
1 Year in Brazil
2 Word before case or sack
3 Flurry
4 Chimichurri ingredient
5 Chicks, say
6 Actor Malek
7 ___ Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd
8 Flooring option
9 Some card readers
10 Standing like Wonder Woman, say
11 They’re constantly lapped
12 Kind of fly
15 Jump scares, in horror movies
21 Ideal, informally
22 Gallagher of rock’s Oasis
23 Subject line abbr.
24 Home of N.Y.C.’s Public Theater
25 Singer with the 2016 #1 album “This Is What the Truth Feels Like”
28 Apt rhyme for “Rubik”
29 “The ___ Holmes Mysteries,” young adult series about a 14-year-old detective
30 Not as expected
33 Kind of branch depicted on German euro coins
34 Formerly known as
38 Political correspondent Mystal
39 [Sigh]
41 Rime
42 Cause to be admired
43 Anachronistic verb in the age of smartphones
44 Lotion alternative
45 Green bugs
46 One of a character class in Dungeons & Dragons
50 Upside-down L, on a calculator
51 Approve
53 Goddess in the Hindu pantheon
54 Small bird with a loud song
55 Man, for one
59 Ending with Gator or hater
60 Rooibos, e.g.
61 Exhaust
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year).
Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.
Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/studentcrosswords.
Party improved by
providing various service, labor, and parts.
Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann.
§ 66-14-104, notice is hereby given that Secured Party, pursuant to applicable law, will sell the Vehicle described above by
Public Sale as follows:
Date of Sale: September 21, 2023
Time of Sale: 1:00 p.m. CST
Place of Sale: Exo Legal PLLC 818 18th Ave S, Tenth Floor Nashville, TN 37203
(or other
place designated in the Notice of Sale)
Agent for Creditor: Exo Legal PLLC
The Public Sale will be conducted by Exo Legal PLLC, pursuant to a separate notice provided to all interested parties. For information, contact David Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC, at (615) 869-0634.
As to all or any part of the Vehicle, the right is reserved to:
(i) sell part or all of the Vehicle and/or delay, continue, adjourn, cancel or postpone the sale of any part of the Vehicle; and/ or (ii) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale.
Secured Party shall sell, grant, convey, transfer, and deliver unto any successful purchaser all of the right, title, and interest in and to the Vehicle which Secured Party has a right to sell as a Secured Party and no further or otherwise.
The Vehicle will be sold “as is”, “where is”, and “with all faults”, without any representations or warranties, expressed or implied and subject to any prior liens or encumbrances, if any. Without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, Secured Party has not made and will not make any representations or warranties regarding the Vehicle, the condition of the Vehicle, warranty of title or marketability of title and the conveyance shall be with all defects and without any warranties, expressed or implied, including warranties of merchantability, condition, or of fitness for a general or particular purpose.
David M. Anthony, Exo Legal PLLC
818 18th Avenue South, 10th Floor Nashville, TN 37203
Telephone: (615) 869-0634
NSC: 8/31, 9/7/23
NOTICE OF SHERIFF’S SALE
By virtue of an execution and Levy issued by the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, in Ann L. Talbot, et. al., Plaintiffs vs. Sharon M. Hayes, Defendant, Davidson County Chancery Court Docket No.19-0868-II, as well as that Memorandum and Order entered on November 7, 2022 (the “Sale Order”), the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department will offer to sale to the highest bidder, for cash, the interest of Sharon M. Hayes, in the following real property consisting of 509 Pima Road, Madison, TN, 37115, Map/Parcel 042-12-035.00 (the “Property”) and described as follows:
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Warranty Deed dated March 26, 1999, of record at Book 11404, Page 424, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Being Lot No. 29 and the northerly part of Lot No. 26, on the Plan of W.W. Gray Subdivision, of record in Book 974, Page 22, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Said Lot No. 29 and part of Lot No. 26 front 100 feet on the southerly margin of Pima Road, formerly Walnut Avenue, and extends back between parallel lines 150 feet, to a line in the rear on which it measures 100 feet.
Being the same property conveyed to Sharon M. Hayes by Warranty Deed dated March 26, 1999, of record at Book 11404, Page 424, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Map/Parcel Number: Map/ Parcel 042-12-0-35.00
Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 509 Pima Road, Madison, TN, 37115, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description herein shall control.
This sale is made pursuant to Tenn. R. Civ. P. 69.07(4) and Tenn. Code Ann. § 26-5-101, et. seq. and is in satisfaction (whole or in part depending on amount of sale) of the judgment in favor of Plaintiffs contained in the Memorandum and Order entered by the Chancery Court on November 17, 2020, as supplemented by the Memorandum and Order entered by the Chancery Court on June 9, 2021.
All property is sold “as is”. No warranties or guarantees are made, expressed or implied. Other interested parties receiving notice: None.
At 10:00 o’clock A.M., on October 18, 2023, at the south front entrance of the Metro Historic Davidson County Courthouse, Public Square, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, the Sheriff will sell the above property for payment toward said judgment together with all expenses and legal costs accruing.
TERMS OF SALE: Cash, Certified Check, or Receipt on Judgment from Plaintiff. Bidding will start at $89,550.00, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 26-5-115. High bidder will be required to execute a written sale agreement at conclusion of bidding. Plaintiff is allowed to credit bid. Redemption rights and equity of redemption are waived, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-8-101(2). The sale and ultimate sale terms shall be approved and confirmed by the Davidson County Chancery Court, the Court which issued the process directing this Sale, and that approval Order shall direct the Sheriff to provide the deed described at Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-8111 after entry of the order of confirmation of the sale and after confirmation of payment to Plaintiff. As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; and/or (ii) to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale. In the event of a
Bankruptcy Case filing, the Sheriff shall continue the Sale to a new date.
Questions related to the sale or the underlying debt can be addressed to: David Anthony, attorney for judgment creditor, at Exo Legal PLLC, 615-869-0634; david@exolegal.com.
THIS 7th day of September, 2023. BY: Davidson County
Sheriff
NSC: 9/7, 9/14, 9/21/23
EMPLOYMENT
Sr. Analysts, IT Logistics Systems. Configure, support, and maintain logistics systems located at distribution centers and mixing centers for a major retailer from both a project and operational perspective.
Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Headquarters in Brentwood, TN. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume (no calls/emails) to S. Case, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027 and reference job code 21- 0229.