Issuu

SEPTEMBER 30–OCTOBER 6, 2021 I VOLUME 40 I NUMBER 35 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

CITY LIMITS: WHY AREN’T WE TALKING MORE ABOUT VENTILATION?

FILM: 13 FILMS TO CHECK OUT AT THE NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL

PAGE 8

PAGE 42

SPIN: READ OUR RECAP FROM LAST WEEK’S AMERICANAFEST PROCEEDINGS PAGE 40

A Cut Above 10 years in, the butchers of Porter Road are changing how we get our meat BY STEVE CAVENDISH cover_9-30-21.indd 1

9/27/21 5:34 PM

October 2, 2021 • 10am–6pm Centennial Park

In-person & virtual!

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

Visit celebratenashville.org for more info.

single-game tickets and

season packages

on sale now! nashvillepredators.com/tickets nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

E D I S O N PA R K N A S H V I L L E . C O M Centrally located in The Nations neighborhood, one of the hottest and fastest-growing in Nashville, are 80 townhomes and flats with modern industrial styling, open floor plans, abundant natural light, and beautiful designer finishes. Last few units remaining. Ask about our incentives!

THEBECANNI.COM

ELLIOTTGERMANTOWN.COM

Located 10 minutes from downtown Nashville, the Becanni’s spacious luxury residences sit immediately adjacent to Charlotte Park in West Nashville – just a few blocks from Rock Harbor Marina and the peaceful waters of the Cumberland River.

Elliott Germantown is a residential project without equal in Nashville. The historic Elliott School residences and contemporary Row Homes bring together the best elements of historic preservation and modern design with urban living and extraordinary downtown views.

Pictured above: Mark Deutschmann, Newell Anderson, Danielle Helling, Crystal Atkinson, Caroline Dean, Callie Hughes, Deborah Vahle, Anna Dorris, Devin Mueller, Giovanna Burchell, Maggie K. Hall, Latina Davis, Shelbi Aimonetti

H E L P I N G Y O U F I N D VA L U E I N N A S H V I L L E R E A L E S TAT E 4

615 383 | NashvilleCityLiving.com 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com NASHVILLE SCENE 6964 | SEPTEMBER

CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 30, 2021

Why Aren’t We Talking More About Ventilation? ................................................8

Lift Every Voice ........................................ 32

CITY LIMITS

Further improvements to ventilation in Metro schools could help prevent the spread of COVID-19 BY STEVEN HALE

Speaking for the Trees...............................8 Proposed clear-cutting in a White County wildlife management area has activists rallying BY J.R. LIND

Pith in the Wind .........................................9

CULTURE

Walk Together Children spotlights the Fisk Jubilee Singers

Longer Braunger ..................................... 33 Talking to comedian Matt Braunger ahead of his Zanies appearance BY JASON SHAWHAN

BOOKS

Lucille’s Better Half

Blues legend B.B. King gets the royal treatment from biographer Daniel de Visé

A Cut Above

10 years in, the butchers of Porter Road are changing how we get our meat BY STEVE CAVENDISH

CRITICS’ PICKS The Southern Festival of Books, International Lens: The Fever, Soccer Mommy, John Hiatt, Mysteries and Illusions With Magician Jason Michaels, The Great Muppet Caper, Outside of Here, Celebrate Hillsboro Village Festival, Tennessee Honey Festival, Freddie Gibbs, The Other Two and more

FOOD AND DRINK

When Ryan Met Bobby Chef Ryan Poli’s return to Nashville ushers in a new culinary era at the Bobby Hotel BY MARGARET LITTMAN

30 ART

Crawl Space: October 2021 The first crawl of the fall brings a harvest of painted text, unexpected losses and Brooke Shields BY JOE NOLAN

Bob Moore, 1932-2021

BY RON WYNN

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

COVER STORY

THIS WEEK ON THE WEB:

BY DAVID WESLEY WILLIAMS AND CHAPTER 16

MUSIC

Cloud Control: Mimi McCarley Is a Master Maker of Connections ................ 37

Health Care Hucksters to Host Quack Convention in Nashville Trap Garden Partners With Tito’s for GroBoxes The Eyes of Tammy Faye Expertly Examines Its Tricky Subjects ON THE COVER:

James Peisker (left) and Chris Carter Photo by Eric England

Talking with the songwriting and publishing pro about helping artists establish careers in Music City BY D’LLISHA DAVIS AND 2 L’S ON A CLOUD

Another Look ........................................... 38 The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Allie, S-Wrap and Rashad tha Poet, LadyCouch and more

The Spin ................................................... 40 The Scene’s live-review column checks out Emily Scott Robinson, Carlene Carter and more at AmericanaFest BY ABBY LEE HOOD, J.R. LIND, STEPHEN TRAGESER, EDD HURT AND OLIVIA LADD

42 FILM

A NaFF Riot 13 films to check out at this year’s Nashville Film Festival BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY, JOE NOLAN, JASON SHAWHAN AND CORY WOODROOF

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

MARKETPLACE

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

contents_9-30-21.indd 5

9/27/21 5:33 PM

PET OF THE WEEK!

FROM BILL FREEMAN

HI EVERYONE - MAX HERE! Check out my

PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS

whiskers. Amazing, right? Yup. Just like me. I’m a super-duper friendly 5 year old orange tabby cat that loves the company of humans. Looking for a lap cat? Looking for a best buddy to snuggle on the couch with? That would be me. I’m a chill cool cat who gets along with everyone. So whatever type home you have... I WILL PURR with excitement to be a part of it. Speaking of PURRING: I’m told my motor is the loudest at NHA! Would you like to meet me? Hear my friendly and calming purrs in person? Open Paw invite to visit me and ALL the pets at NHA - Thanks, I can’t wait to meet you???? Call 615.352.1010 or visit nashvillehumane.org Located at 213 Oceola Ave., Nashville, TN 37209

Adopt. Bark. Meow. Microchip. Neuter. Spay.

THE STATE LEGISLATURE SHOULDN’T MAKE IT HARDER TO PROTECT ABUSED CHILDREN

With feet on the street, we discover Nashville’s own unique beat – one mile at awith time

Walk a

Mile

J.R. Lind

WANNA MAKE SOME DOUGH? five points pizza $100 signing bonus APPLY ONLINE AT

FIVEPOINTSPIZZA.COM/JOBS

Last year, Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services took in more than 120,000 reports of abuse — a significant decline from 2019. While that sounds like good news, it isn’t: The COVID-19 pandemic made it harder to spot and report abuse, because children were not in school or other programs where teachers and other caregivers could spot potential abuse. Now Tennessee lawmakers are considering a law (House Bill 908/Senate Bill 1014) that could make reporting abuse more difficult. The bill, if passed, would mean that anyone deciding to report suspected child abuse or neglect would no longer be able to do so anonymously. Child advocates are very concerned that this bill, if made law, could become a great deterrent to reporting neglect or abuse. Feeling we should always err on the side of providing the best care and safety for our children, I understand that concern. The law is not needed. There is already a state law serving to punish those who file false abuse or neglect reports with up to six years in prison or a fine of as much as $50,000. Yes, there are anecdotal reports of parents or families who have had their lives turned upside-down by false accusations of abuse or neglect. Advocates for the bill argue that the anonymous reporting system too easily allows vengeful accusers to make a false report, and that a new reporting system is needed. Rep. Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) and Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) sponsored the bill, which would allow abuse reports to request confidentiality, but would also allow the accused person to petition the court for the identity of the reporter. If “good cause” is shown, a judge could provide the accused with that information. Doggett tells The Tennessean that “the intent is to give wrongly accused people a legal avenue to pursue compensation for the damage they suffer.” But what is best for the children? Will this bill deter reporting of abuse? Child advocates think so. Kristen Pavlik McCallie, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hamilton County, tells WRCB-TV in Chattanooga: “I think

this legislation can be very damaging to folks who are reporting in good faith, [and] most reports are made in good faith.” Drew Wright of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services further argues that some who report child abuse “do so anonymously because they fear retaliation from the person who they’ll be alleging the abuse against.” “We might lose one [report] that might protect a child from dying, and that’s not worth the risk,” Wright tells The Tennessean. In 2020, the DCS took 123,776 child abuse reports, with nearly 1 in 5 of those an anonymous report. But research shows that false reports are only about 4 to 8 percent of the total, and that most fabricated reports are submitted by adults involved in custody battles. More worrisome is the fact that less than one-third of abuse incidents are reported, according to the advocacy organization Darkness to Light. Being the target of a false allegation is damaging and can take years to mend. The investigation process itself takes a long time, because child abuse of any kind is difficult to trace. But we have a duty to protect children. Unfortunately, child abuse most commonly comes from someone the victim knows. Though it’s certainly troubling to think of parents who may have been falsely accused, it isn’t wise to create a law that could be detrimental to the process of finding a real child abuser. Doggett has said he will work with lawmakers to examine additional options before bringing the bill forward during next year’s legislative session. I hope he will stand by that. After all, the goal is to ensure that our children are safe and protected, to the best of our abilities. The goal is also to keep safe those who are trying to help a child by reporting abuse in good faith. If anonymity is taken away, we could fall short of both of those important goals. We could endanger the lives of children unnecessarily.

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

©2021, 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

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

letter_9-30-21.indd 6

9/27/21 6:05 PM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

CITY LIMITS

WHY AREN’T WE TALKING MORE ABOUT VENTILATION? Further improvements to ventilation in Metro schools could help prevent the spread of COVID-19 BY STEVEN HALE

or the past two months, much of the public-healthpolicy energy left over after arguments about the COVID-19 vaccine (and how to convince or coerce more people to get the jab) has been directed toward debates about masks. Deliberations about whether to mandate masks in Middle Tennessee schools, including in Nashville, led to chaotic and notably contentious school board meetings; Gov. Bill Lee waded in by issuing an executive order — since blocked in part by three federal judges — allowing parents to opt out of school mask mandates. Most recently, the Metro Council passed a resolution urging Nashville’s health department to reinstate a countywide mask mandate. The health department declined to do so, and now the council is considering a bill that would require masks by city ordinance. At the council’s Sept. 21 meeting, before the body narrowly advanced the proposed mask mandate on the second of three readings, District 19 Councilmember Freddie O’Connell voted against the bill. He said that he supported mask-wearing, but felt the council was spending an “unusual amount of energy on a mitigation that has limited efficacy at best.” He added that he’d rather see more time put into more effective mitigation strategies — increasing vaccination rates, of course, but also improvements in ventilation in public buildings and, particularly, in Metro schools. In an interview with the Scene, O’Connell expresses support for existing mask

mandates in Metro buildings and in the city’s schools. But beyond that, he says he expects people who have resisted maskwearing since the beginning to continue doing so now, regardless of Metro’s policies. “You want to focus on the systems you can change,” O’Connell says. “The best part about ventilation is, it’s a mask that fits everybody. You don’t have to change people’s personal behavior in order to get something that fits. You can do so much to reduce the likelihood of transmission of COVID in interior spaces by improving the air quality of those spaces.” In his remarks to the council, O’Connell cited the Belcourt Theatre’s efforts to improve ventilation ahead of its reopening in November of last year. But on a citywide basis, he said, Nashville is not “maxing out our efforts” on ventilation improvement or testing, he noted. When it comes to Metro schools — public buildings where tens of thousands of Nashville parents send their children every day — the issue is particularly relevant. The quality of air ventilation in schools is not just relevant to efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 — and thus reduce the number of students who miss class because they are sick or quarantined — but also to other airborne illnesses. Citing information from the Metro Nashville Public Schools Facilities Department, Metro schools spokesperson Sean Braisted points to a number of ways MNPS is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention related to ventilation. Among them: starting

systems up earlier and allowing them to run longer in the afternoons to provide more air changes; increasing the MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) rating on filters to the maximum MNPS systems will allow; running HVAC systems, in many cases, constantly during the day to increase air changes; ensuring exhaust fans in restrooms and kitchens are working correctly, which increases ventilation and air destratification; and providing new HVAC systems or new outside makeup air units, or both, along with new building controls as funding develops. MNPS has already made some HVAC upgrades using funds from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, and plans to spend at least $4 million more. Additionally, the fiscal year 2022 capital spending plan approved by the council earlier this year includes more than $60 million in ventilation-related upgrades. The district’s buildings are 49 years old or older on average, Braisted tells the Scene. Although “many components would have been repaired or replaced as needed to maintain functionality,” Braisted says, he notes that “there are often components of the HVAC system (distribution pipes, etc.) that may be original to the structure.” Some recommendations from the CDC and other public health experts aren’t being acted upon in Nashville schools, though. In updated guidance released earlier this year and aimed at supporting in-person learning, the CDC encouraged schools to crack open a window or door to the outside to increase outdoor airflow, “which helps reduce the potential concentration of virus particles in the air.” In information shared by O’Connell, Metro schools facilities officials say the district has taken steps to increase “outside air intake as much as possible and practical,” but MNPS is not recommending opening doors and windows. “We cannot create one potential environmental problem while solving another,” Braisted says. “Maintaining a humidity level in our facilities of 50 percent to 60 percent is of utmost importance to

the proper operation of the systems in our facilities. If we overtax the systems with humidity, they do not work well, which can result in poor quality air, higher CO2, and contaminants such as mold and mildew. It will also reduce mechanical airflow — what we do not want to do. The same can be said for the cooler and winter months here.” The CDC has also encouraged the use of “portable air cleaners that use highefficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters,” a tool also cited by Meharry Medical College president Dr. James Hildreth. But MNPS says that “air purifiers can clean the air but unfortunately don’t circulate the air as needed and can overload the electrical circuitry in older systems.” The district also points to the size of the virus that causes COVID-19, stating it is so small that even HEPA filters would be less effective at catching it. That could be wrong, though. A November 2020 article in Wirecutter, the New York Times-owned productreview website, cited a 2016 NASA study in reporting that “air purifiers with HEPA filtration efficiently capture particles the size of (and far smaller than) the virus that causes COVID-19.” Kelsey Beyeler contributed reporting for this story. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

outdoor paradise in general, a place of outstanding natural beauty, a habitat for a variety of flora and fauna, and a prime stopover point for migratory birds.

Hiking trails crisscross the woodlands and the high meadows, leading to nine stunning waterfalls. The east end of the Bridgestone-Firestone

“THE BEST PART ABOUT VENTILATION IS, IT’S A MASK THAT FITS EVERYBODY. YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHANGE PEOPLE’S PERSONAL BEHAVIOR IN ORDER TO GET SOMETHING THAT FITS.” —COUNCILMEMBER FREDDIE O’CONNELL

SPEAKING FOR THE TREES

Proposed clear-cutting in a White County wildlife management area has activists rallying

n the 19th century, a traveler across the Cumberland Plateau — his name lost to the mists of history — was making his way through Scott’s Gulf, south of Sparta in White County. He gazed down from the steep bluffs to the churning Caney Fork River hundreds of feet below him and said it was the “Grand Canyon of the Cumberlands.” Since the 1990s, 10,000 acres in the area, given to the state by tire giant Bridgestone-Firestone, has been public land. Officially it’s a wildlife management area, basically a state-run game preserve, accessible

PHOTO: ALISHA BUBE

BY J.R. LIND

WELCH’S POINT AT VIRGIN FALLS STATE NATURAL AREA

to hunters and sportsmen who don’t have access to private land. But it’s not just a sportsman’s paradise; it’s an

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

citylimits_9-30-21.indd 8

9/27/21 5:36 PM

CITY LIMITS

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND

BOTTLED ON-SITE in DOwNTOwN NaShvILLE is

feaTuRing a cockTaiL baR WiTh fLighTs, Whiskey TasTings anD LimiTeD eDiTion boTTLes.

rd P

Amazon reportedly confirmed a muzzle sent to Dr. Michelle Fiscus, the state’s former top vaccine official, was purchased fraudulently with a credit card in her name. A state investigation previously reported Fiscus’ card was used to purchase the muzzle and implied she sent it to herself. Axios originally reported the investigation, and Fiscus took to Twitter to say she feels Axios reporter Nate Rau owes her an apology. … Republicans are fighting over redistricting rumors even though new map configurations have yet to be publicly revealed. The biggest rumor is that Republicans may split Davidson County to gain an extra seat. Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green called the idea “greedy.” During the reshuffling, Green’s 7th Congressional District could lose some or all of Williamson County, the source of many of his campaign donations. Fellow Republican and House Speaker Cameron Sexton called Green’s comments “irresponsible” and “ Chicken Little, the-sky-is-falling rumors.” … On Friday, state judiciary officials announced that Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia Clark died after a short battle with cancer. She was 71. She was first appointed to the high court by Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2005 and was re-elected in 2006 and 2014 retention elections, despite a coordinated effort to unseat her and other Democratic appointees in 2014. Clark served as chief justice from 2010 to 2012 and was the longest-tenured member of the state Supreme Court, having heard more than 1,100 cases, according to a release. … An anonymous report from a Belmont University faculty member says the school’s new president has thrown out all COVID-19 precautions save for rarely enforced indoor mask mandates. The author notes the school encourages students to develop plans in case they contract COVID, though the suggestions are costly, including renting hotel rooms or Airbnbs. … Contributor Betsy Phillips breaks down how white supremacy is the ultimate pyramid scheme, wherein racist leaders drum up fear and hate to folks who don’t realize how multicultural the U.S. already is. “What was considered white when the country was founded didn’t even wholly include Germans or Swedes. … Most of you already are the Great Replacement. You are the non-whites who have come in and changed our country and taken spots that were intended for white people.” … Speaking of grifts, the charlatans organizing October’s The Truth About Cancer convention at the Opryland Resort and Convention Center will bring together right-wing figures like Roger Stone and Eric Trump, anti-vaccine conspiracists and alternative-medicine hucksters for a weekendlong misinformation mixer. The event is hosted by Sumner County’s Tyler and Charlene Bollinger, who, in addition to denying the efficacy of chemotherapy, have branched into anti-vaccination schemes and the pro-Trump Stop the Steal conspiracy.

LOCaL NaShvILLE Whiskey

s ta n

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG:

EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

ouR

Centennial Wilderness WMA abuts Virgin Falls State Natural Area, with trails of its own leading down to the Caney Fork and to the eponymous waterfall, a popular trek for hikers and nature lovers. It’s easy to cross from one to the other. Despite being managed by different state agencies — the WMA is run by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, while Virgin Falls is under the ambit of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation — in the middle of the woods, the jurisdictional boundaries are a bit fuzzy and more or less irrelevant. Technically, activities other than hunting are prohibited in the WMA during the state’s big-game seasons (basically late August to midJanuary, with a few weeks for turkeys in March and April), but it’s doubtful a hiker crossing over the line briefly would encounter strict enforcement. All that to say, it’s not unusual for folks out for a stroll to start their hike in the WMA and connect through to Virgin Falls. And it’s certainly easy to see from one to the other. As part of its statewide effort to provide habitat for the eastern bobwhite quail, the TWRA plans to essentially clear more than 2,000 acres of the Bridgestone-Firestone Centennial Wilderness WMA of trees, leaving roughly two trees per acre, basically creating a savannah on the Cumberland Plateau. That’s great for quail — and upland bird hunters — but opponents say it’s bad for other users of the public land, including deer and turkey hunters and hikers who take advantage of the broad canopy in the warmer months and enjoy their annual autumn show. The acreage TWRA plans to clear basically occupies the entire ridge in the northern end of the WMA, which directly borders Virgin Falls SNA. For four miles, south from the main Virgin Falls trailhead, hikers would see essentially no trees on the left-hand side of the trail. During public meetings, agency representatives claim there are no plans to cut trees adjacent to the trail, but pictures abound on social media of those trees marked for harvesting. Save the Hardwoods — a local group of civic leaders, hikers and hunters — says there’s nearly 3,000 acres of non-native pine forest less than three miles away in the portion of the WMA in nearby Van Buren County. The group has asked TWRA to consider this site instead, but the agency has not backed down. In addition, there’s a 1,000-acre quail habitat within the WMA already. Opponents believe the proposed tree clearing has nothing to do with habitat and everything to do with money. Under state law, the sale of TWRA assets enures to two funds administered by the agency. In nearly every other state department, similar sales would go to the state general fund. Hardwood timber is more profitable than pine, thus clearing hardwoods means more money for the TWRA than the compromise solution. The original land transfer from BridgestoneFirestone establishes a host of covenants and requirements the state agreed to follow. It’s an incredibly detailed document, but the long and short of it is that the state agreed to keep the area pristine. The gift does allow for the creation of wildlife habitats, but it rubs local opponents the wrong way that the TWRA is going to profit by clearcutting land it was given for free, particularly when alternatives exist. State Rep. Paul Sherrell (R-Sparta) has presented his constituents’ concerns to the TWRA, though there’s been no change in the agency’s position. A public meeting is scheduled for Oct. 4 at the Sparta Civic Center, and Save the Hardwoods — recognizing that both the wildlife management area and Virgin Falls draw visitors from across the state — is trying to drum up opposition from Dyersburg to Ducktown.

ISK Y C E

219 5th ave N. • Nashville TN 37219 615-800-2017 Sun-Thurs 12pm-10pm | Fri & Sat 12pm-11pm Register for group cocktail classes online Live music every Wednesday night Local DJs on Thursday nights standardproofwhiskey.com

@standardproof

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

citylimits_9-30-21.indd 9

9/27/21 5:36 PM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

CHRIS CARTER (LEFT) AND JAMES PEISKER

coverstory_9-30-21.indd 10

9/27/21 1:36 PM

A Cut Above 10 years in, the butchers of Porter Road are changing how we get our meat BY STEVE CAVENDISH

the slaughterhouse for most of the month, working 90-hour weeks to service hunters and keep the supply going to the Gallatin Pike location. “I slept in the little area [where] you would be above the actual truck,” Peisker says. “Chris slept down low. There was a 30-degree temperature difference between where he slept and where I slept.” “You could put your arm up and feel it — it was like the equator,” Carter says about the propane heat, which kept them from freezing. It was their second deer season and not fun. (Side note: When guys who butcher animals tell you cutting up a deer is “gross,” you tend to believe them.) Carter shared his bunk with his 100-plus-pound dog, and at some point the living conditions just got the better of him. “Chris was out of it because he couldn’t get the door to open one day,” Peisker says. “So, he’s sleeping — or not sleeping — and it’s boiling hot and he’s sharing the space with his mastiff Marley. He was just like, ‘Fuck, I got to get out of here.’ ” “Oh yeah,” Carter replies. “I had to get out the door. I was having a huge panic attack.” To top it all off, Peisker told him that he might be moving to Chicago. Peisker and his wife Marta had moved to Nashville so that she could get a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Vanderbilt. But she completed her studies and the city didn’t have an appropriate job for her, so Marta was spending her days as the most overqualified counter clerk at Porter Road’s shop. “James told me he was moving to Chicago,” says Carter. “And we literally said, ‘Well, I don’t want to do this without you.’ ” That could have been it. After deer season ended, the holidays ramped up and Porter Road was inundated with requests for the holiday favorites, mostly tenderloins and roasts. For an operation that had been devoted to wholeanimal butchery and leaving nothing to waste, December left them with great cuts of meat that were sold off cheaply or, worse, ended up in ground beef. “We had the largest Christmas in 2016,” Peisker says. “That year, I was up on the ladders harvesting tenderloins out of hanging carcasses while Chris was holding either the carcass or the ladder. I don’t really know at that point because we were half-dead. We literally took a saw and cut out rib roasts from carcasses hanging. And we were like, ‘We’ll deal with the rest of the animal later.’ Before the New Year, [Carter is] going through talking to his friend, this gentleman named Ryan Darnell, and they’re video phoning. He’s walking through our cooler saying, ‘Look at all these amazing cuts.’ Teres majors, picanhas, flat-irons, bavettes. All of these steaks that we can’t keep in stock anymore. We just had mountains of them because all people wanted during

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

o understand the relationship at the heart of Porter Road Meats, the Nashville butcher shop that’s become an internet success story, you first have to understand that a business partnership can be a lot like a marriage. There are highs, there are lows, and there are things that partners share that almost no one else can understand. And in the fall of 2016, the partnership between Chris Carter and James Peisker was leaning toward a divorce. Over the course of the previous five years, the duo had built Porter Road from a farmers market operation — where they bought one cow at a time and sold the cuts piecemeal — into a thriving retail and wholesale operation with shops in both East and West Nashville. They had become friends in restaurant kitchens and shared a passion for butchering, and earnestly wanted to change the way Nashvillians think about meat. Working with farmers, they gradually built a supply of high-quality products without many of the issues plaguing industrial meat providers: antibiotics and hormones in the animals, inhumane conditions and a boom-bust cycle for the humans tasked with raising them. “Our health will change if we change what we eat,” Peisker told the Scene in 2012, months after opening the initial shop on Gallatin Pike. But fast-forward to 2016, and much of Carter and Peisker’s enthusiasm was drowned out by the problems of their growth. Porter Road had gone from being a couple of butchers with a vision to a business struggling to keep good employees. At the store on Charlotte Avenue — a converted Mrs. Winner’s — the pair had visions of building breakfast clients with sausage biscuits and sweet rolls in the mornings while selling their favorite cuts of meat all day. And for a while, it worked. But a revolving door of cooks, counter help and meat cutters (restaurants hired away some of their best butchers) often had them working 5 a.m. shifts just to keep the operation moving. The purchase of a processing facility in Princeton, Ky., in 2015 had given them the control they wanted over their meat, but it also meant another management headache — one located 100 miles away. The lowest point came in November 2016. Carter and Peisker had closed Porter Road’s West Nashville shop at the end of October, tired of the headaches and the drag on quality. But rather than celebrate the sale of the building to Fresh Hospitality for Pat Martin’s new burger concept Hugh Baby’s, the pair headed up to Princeton for deer season. It was a holdover from the previous ownership of the processing facility that Porter Road simply couldn’t afford to ignore: Almost a third of the income for the year at the facility came from processing the kills of local hunters. So the pair lived in the back of a 1970s-era camper behind

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

coverstory_9-30-21.indd 11

9/27/21 1:36 PM

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

Christmas was tenderloin and the rib-eye. And we were like, ‘There has to be a better way, there has to be a better way.’ Our favorite parts of the animal were just getting sold off at discount to our lucky friends that own restaurants.” Darnell, by quirk of fate, had shared a spot on the defensive line with Carter at Hendersonville High. After playing baseball at MTSU, Darnell got an MBA at Vanderbilt before heading off to New York in pursuit of a career in finance. As it happened, Carter had been talking with Darnell for months, bouncing ideas off of his friend-turned-venture-capitalist during the commute between Princeton and Nashville. “I didn’t know what a venture capitalist was, but I knew that Ryan Darnell had become one,” Carter says, half joking. “And that he had money to get people to grow their business. And then about three weeks later I came in and told James, ‘What do you think about launching a website? You can work remote, and come in and run the facility. We’re going to raise money. We’re going to build an incredible business. And won’t have to be buried in the facility at all times.” ’ From a hectic deer season that almost broke them, porterroad.com was born.

THE BEEF INDUSTRY in the United States looks like an hourglass. At the top are more than 900,000 farms and ranches of all shapes and sizes, growing the livestock that we consume. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, those farms and ranches (farms in the east, ranches in the west) produced 27.2 billion pounds of beef in 2019.

“Porter Road was originally started in the search of that perfect steak, in search of finding that flavor. And along the way, we found that if you take care of the animal and take care of the land while you’re doing that, flavor comes as a reward.”—CHRIS CARTER On the bottom are nearly 40,000 retail outlets, more than a million restaurants (pre-COVID) and 328 million or so American consumers. All told, we ate about 218 pounds of meat per person in 2019 — an astonishing number when you consider that Gallup says the average American weighs 181 pounds. If you consider the fact that 5 percent of the U.S. is vegetarian, we’re probably well north of 225 pounds per meat-eating American. (That includes 56.8 pounds of beef, 51 pounds of pork and 92 pounds of chicken per person.) But in the middle of that hourglass are the packers, the sector that turns those heads of cattle into the cuts that appear in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, ground beef for your favorite fast food

joint’s burger and everything in between. Just four meat-packers — Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef Packing — make up about 70 percent of total U.S. beef production. And that’s where many of Big Meat’s problems lie. During the pandemic, when supply chains were disrupted and virus outbreaks plagued the large meat-processing facilities, the Big Four were accused of price gouging. Nineteen senators and 11 attorneys general urged the USDA to investigate the giants. Smaller ranchers complain that they are being crushed by the Big Four, while consumers and regulators say that the average price per pound of beef has remained artificially high.

If the economics weren’t controversial enough, critics of factory farming argue that abuses can be found across all areas of production, from poor conditions for animals in feedlots to poor working environments for plant workers. It’s enough to put some people off meat, and it in part explains the explosion in popularity of plant-based substitutes like Impossible Foods in recent years. For the most part, Carter and Peisker agree with the critiques of the industry, and those critiques guided their approach to meat. “So feedlot beef are fed a diet to where they’re almost going to keel over and die because it’s so unnatural ... but they fatten up and they grow really fast,” Carter says.

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

coverstory_9-30-21.indd 12

9/27/21 1:36 PM

THE 52ND NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL SEPTEMBER 30- OCTOBER 6, 2021 IN-PERSON AND ONLINE NASHFILM.ORG

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

“So they’re fed antibiotics to make sure that they’re healthy and they stay alive. What we try to do is give them a more natural diet to where they’re still healthy, they don’t need the drugs, they’re given space to run around and go, but they fatten out. Because that finish is what we’re looking after too. Because Porter Road was originally started in the search of that perfect steak, in search of finding that flavor. And along the way, we found that if you take care of the animal and take care of the land while you’re doing that, flavor comes as a reward.” Developing relationships with farmers has been crucial to Porter Road’s response to factory meat. Over the years, Carter and Peisker were able to set standards for animal care, including prohibiting the use of antibiotics, hormones and steroids. That resulted in not only better living conditions for cows, pigs and chickens, but also in price surety for producers. Porter Road has paid, according to Carter, a 20 to 40 percent premium to farmers for the final product, a figure set well in advance. But because they’re processing entire animals and not just taking the best cuts, there’s less waste. And for their farmers, uncertainty created by the roller-coaster world of commodity prices has been cut dramatically. “It’s a relationship that we’re building, and that relationship is about trust because our consumers trust us that we’re doing the work to make sure that we’re selling the products that we are,” Peisker says. “We really want to make sure that we’re being truthful with our actions. And that’s [why we’re] making sure that we’re doing those audits, making sure that we’re going to the farms, making sure that [farmers are] adhering to the standards and then doublechecking them. We can double-check them when the animals get to the slaughterhouse. We can double-check them when we go out to the farms. We do surprise visits. We send other people there.” That emphasis from the field to the final product set Porter Road apart in the eyes of investors. If controlling the whole process had been what Peisker and Carter originally sought in order to get a better, more humane product, it also left them with advantages that became apparent quickly to Darnell, whose job is to sift through companies and find what makes them a unique opportunity. “We got into ‘What if you guys went from being just a single store in Nashville and trying to build a national brand?’ ” Darnell says. “That’s a much different business than, obviously, trying to have a local butcher store. It’s a big shift in mindset too, because you’re not going to raise venture capital and be small. You’re going to really go for it. You’re going to try to have hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue instead of a million dollars in revenue. I think we went on this three-month exploratory adventure together to figure out: 1) if it’s something they wanted to do, 2) is it viable and 3) in bringing in a lot of outside capital and building a real team, did they need help? They needed help understanding the direct-to-consumer world.” To enter the venture capital world, Peisker and Carter would have to go to New York — something Carter had never done. It was a long way from starting Porter Road with just $500 between the two. Darnell arranged a series of meetings with prospective investors.

“I kind of wanted to throw them in the deep end with some of the most legit people in the world, and let’s see what happens,” Darnell says. “And one of our early design partners [Red Antler], who has been one of the most successful design partners with startups in the world, was I think their first meeting. It was a huge meeting, and they just raved about the product. And the thing that they saw was, a lot of times you get a lot of Harvard business school grads who come in and say, ‘Hey, here’s this white space in meats ... here’s how big the market is.’ And they don’t really know, they’re not really the authentic person.” Over the course of a relentless set of 30-minute pitches, the trio found traction. Even when they didn’t find investors, people were impressed by Carter and Peisker’s knowledge of the meat industry, and Porter Road’s story had resonance. Eventually a couple of top early-stage digital commerce investors climbed on board. “I think we left New York and it went well,” Darnell says. “Chris and James are smart guys. They know how to adapt and quickly learn. So they did that, and they made the commitment like, ‘Hey, we’re all in here, if you want to do it with us.’ And I said, ‘If you’re all in, I’m all in.’ So we kind of got our act together, we made some key hires that would help them understand how to operate a digital business, how to build out the digital infrastructure, how to basically build an online brand that has no physical real estate.”

ON A SCORCHING DAY in early July of this year, Carter and Peisker stand in front of a 28,000-square-foot white building in Princeton, Ky. A host of dignitaries including that city’s mayor, two state representatives, a state senator and the lieutenant governor have showed up to cut a ribbon on Porter Road’s new processing facility. The Princeton Fire Department’s Ladder No. 2 truck is decked out with a giant American flag

waving high over two tents full of locals enjoying hot dogs and hamburgers. “This is a big deal, not just for the community, but for the region,” says Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman. After being elected in 2019, she pledged to concentrate on rural workforce development, and this expansion certainly qualifies. By the time it’s fully operational, Porter Road will add 60 jobs to the 40 already in place, making them the thirdlargest employer in town. Peisker sounds like he might be campaigning for something himself (he’s not) as he explains how one pig led to two and then four and then more and more as the company grew. “There’s a broken system,” he says. “And it is broken for all the farmers who put in all the hard work.” The pair lead groups through the new facility, pointing out all the small touches that were made with employees in mind: The break room is one of the biggest rooms outside of the cold warehouse, with a TV on the wall; locker rooms were designed for ease of use; the office workers who sat almost on top of each other at the old facility now have their own spaces. In the shipping facility — an area as big as the entire processing plant they moved from — rolling racks are designed to minimize the twisting motion that can lead to back problems. It’s hard to believe this building previously housed a big illegal marijuana grow operation — something that’s not in the talking points of the local dignitaries. While the crowd is focused on the festivities of the day, Carter is already looking ahead at the next expansion. He signed a deal to buy their next building in Princeton just before the start of the ceremony. All of this is possible for two reasons: First, porterroad.com has had huge success since its launch in 2018, with the business growing more than 10 times by the end of 2020. And second, the company closed on its second major round of funding, raising $10

million from a variety of funders in order to fuel that growth. During their initial trip to New York, Darnell introduced Peisker and Carter to Ryan McIntyre, who would eventually run Porter Road’s digital side. McIntyre’s only experience with meat was “that I really liked it,” he tells the Scene with a laugh. But he realized that Porter Road was arriving at an interesting time in e-commerce. Fascinated by the company’s story, he spent much of 2017 going through all of the processes it would take to turn porterroad.com into the kind of experience Carter and Peisker sought to create in the Gallatin Road shop years before, from packaging to cloudbased inventory to checkout. Key to their success would be Shopify, one of a newer series of consumer platforms that was democratizing e-commerce for small businesses. McIntyre estimates that just a few years ago, Porter Road would have had to maintain a payroll of developers in the neighborhood of $50,000 per month instead of paying a couple thousand for an off-the-shelf solution. At the same time, Porter Road had to begin finding digital customers. Good wordof-mouth gave them a strong base of support, but in order to grow, they would have to employ a range of marketing, from email to something as old-school as direct mail. They’ve been aggressive about taking advantage of Peisker’s relative ease in front of a camera, featuring him heavily in the brand’s Instagram feed as well as partnering him with various YouTube channels for cooking and barbecue shows. One half-hour episode of Binging With Babish, a popular culinary show, features Peisker cooking every cut of meat in Porter Road’s lineup. As of press time it has more than 3.3 million views. Over the past three years, Porter Road has morphed from an East Nashville butcher shop to a direct-to-consumer meat provider shipping to every one of the lower 48 states. The site thrived during COVID

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

coverstory_9-30-21.indd 14

9/27/21 1:37 PM

G R E AT F O R AG E S 4 +

Join Nashville Ballet on a spectacular, high-flying adventure to Neverland! C H O R EO G R A P H Y BY

Paul Vasterling

October 8–10 at TPAC

LIVE CHAMBER MUSIC

TPAC will require patrons ages 6+ to wear a mask and guests 12+ to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 PCR or antigen test result within 2 days of the performance date. For additional Health and Safety Protocols and more details, please visit tpac.org/PatronHealth.

T I C K ETS AVA I L A B L E AT

NashvilleBallet.com. P H YS I CA L LY

D I STA N C E D S EAT I N G AVA I L A B L E .

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

— so much so that McIntyre says they had to remind customers not to panic buy, like many retail grocers were experiencing. Says McIntyre: “We actually sent a letter to our customers via email, no links in it whatsoever, and it was like: ‘We get it. It’s a really weird time. We’re not going anywhere. We’re isolated here in western Kentucky. We don’t expect any disruptions to our supply chains just given how insular our supply chains are. You don’t need to panic buy.’ And I think it was one of the more productive sales emails we ever sent. We’re like, ‘Well, that wasn’t the intent.’ We wanted to have just a, ‘It’s going to be OK everybody’ [message], but boy oh boy, did people end up coming around the edges and buying from that email. But OK, we very quickly hit the production capacity cap out of the old facility.”’ In fact, McIntyre adds, Porter Road had to actually dial back its marketing. The pandemic also helped Porter Road complete the transition mostly out of the wholesale market. Where restaurants once made up more than half of their business, now it’s just a couple of select clients with the rest sold at retail.

be different. He talks glowingly about their dry-aging process and how it gives them an advantage over others. “You know, we talk about the dream being, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to take this business to be 1 percent of the annual beef harvest in the U.S.?’ ” says Rupp. “And today that’s probably round numbers — 26 million cattle get harvested a year in the U.S. So 1 percent of that’s 260,000 head, which is a long ways from where they’re at today. But if you think about that, if you’re talking about 1 percent of the supply, you’re really talking about 1 percent of the demand too. I think there’s a trend among consumers today where they want to understand more and more where their meat came from. They want to make sure that the supply chain is transparent. They don’t necessarily want to know every detail, but they want it to be there if they do. And so I think that kind of consumer that I just described is a growing segment of consumers. And I think it’s more than 1 percent today. And then I think you marry that with a consumer that just wants an outstanding eating experience, and that fits Porter Road as well.”

Is Porter Road going to unseat Cargill or any of the Big Four that control 70 percent of beef production? No, not even close. But what happens if an upstart like Porter Road, dedicated to humane practices and better meat, were to capture just 1 percent of U.S. beef? NINE YEARS AGO, an idealistic Carter and Peisker told me they wanted to change how Nashville consumed meat. It was the kind of statement you chalk up to enthusiasm and a little naivete, the words of a couple of guys who really wanted to do something different. In the wrong light, it could be considered hubris. But from two guys who really loved what they were doing — they once rolled an in-use smoker down Gallatin Road to their favorite bar with a police escort — it comes across as straightforward passion. As the company turns 10 later this fall, they may actually be building something special. Consider the hourglass that represents beef production in the U.S. right now. Is Porter Road going to unseat Cargill or any of the Big Four that control 70 percent of beef production? No, not even close. But what happens if an upstart like Porter Road, dedicated to humane practices and better meat, were to capture just 1 percent of U.S. beef? It’s a prospect enticing enough to attract Bill Rupp to join the Porter Road board this month. In 2016, Rupp retired as president of JBS, one of the Big Four. Before that, he had been president of Cargill. He’s spent an entire career on the side of Big Meat, but he sees something in Porter Road that could

One percent would make Porter Road a $600 million business. It’s something that excites Randall Ussery, whose L37 firm led the latest round of funding. He says the ripple effects from the success of someone small could bring real change to an industry that could use it. “If you think about Ben & Jerry’s, everyone said they couldn’t do what they did from a supply-chain perspective,” Ussery says. “They couldn’t bring in the best ingredients, hire the best employees, do all these sorts of things, because ice cream’s a commodity. Well, your food should not be a commodity. It should be something you really love and enjoy, but it shouldn’t be at a price that’s so exorbitant that everyone around you can’t have it. And these guys have the ability to bring pricing down, to make a small bite, just 1 percent in the industry that will end up having lasting effects from perception in the industry. We do think it’s a very large play, but it could also have a massive impact on an industry that needs help right now.” It’s not something that could happen in a year. But in 10, or 20? Maybe. Not bad for a couple of guys who could barely afford to buy a single cow a decade ago. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

coverstory_9-30-21.indd 16

9/27/21 1:37 PM

B E T H E STO RY. BE THE SONG.

Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present EXHIBIT NOW OPEN

DOWNTOWN

VISIT TODAY CountryMusicHallofFame.org nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

MKTG_Be Here_SceneAd_9.30_21 .indd 1

9/27/21 11:22 AM

RETREAT YOUR SOUL PRESENTS AN ALL-INCLUSIVE, CREATE-YOUR-OWN EXPERIENCE RETREAT

THE ALIVE AND WELL FREEDOM FEST AT

KAYASOUL 10/22 - 10/24

LIVE MUSIC+WELLNESS+CAMPING UNDER THE FULL MOON IN THE HILLS OF TENNESSEE TICKETS GO ON SALE 9/23 ONLY AT

WWW.KAYASOUL.COM Now partnering with holistic, health, and wellness practitioners, vendors, artists, poets, musicians, pioneers, free-thinkers, dreamers, rebels, and soul-searchers

KAYASOULRETREAT@GMAIL.COM IG: @KAYASOULNATION

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

CRITICS’ PICKS W E E K L Y

FILM

[FEVER DREAM]

INTERNATIONAL LENS: THE FEVER

The Fever, the debut feature film from Brazilian documentarian Maya Da-Rin, is particularly concerned with borders, set within the indigenous community of the northern Amazon, which spreads throughout Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

T O

D O

SOCCER MOMMY FRIDAY, OCT. 1

Cannery Ballroom

FRIDAY / 10.01 [LET’S PLAY BALL]

SOCCER MOMMY W/SQUIRREL FLOWER

Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison released her album Color Theory in February 2020, and the record is a striking and vulnerable examination of depression and isolation — coincidentally, a perfect companion to the pandemic’s obstacles. In the song “Circle the Drain” Allison sings: “I’m trying to seem strong for my love / For my family and friends / But I’m so tired of faking / ’Cause I’m chained to my bed when they’re gone / Watching TV alone / Till my body starts aching.” If that isn’t the anthem for the sad seclusion that comes with a global pandemic, I don’t know what is. She’s also something of a video game connoisseur, and with an album to promote, Allison connected with her fans via livestreams, and dove deeper into the virtual world by hosting performances in Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. When it came time to “tour,” Allison helped her fans in other cities feel seen by releasing 8-bit versions of her and her band performing in Minneapolis, Chicago, Austin, Seattle and Toronto. We were all alone; we were all together in that loneliness. And now, more than a year later, we can finally experience a live performance of the songs that got so many of us through those early, gloom-filled days — it will be nothing short of cathartic. Playing with Squirrel Flower, the stage name of artist Ella Williams. 8 p.m. at Cannery Ballroom, 1 Cannery Row MEGAN SELING

[DOWN IN MISSISSIPPI]

JOHN HIATT

Throughout his long career, singersongwriter John Hiatt has had a knack for mythologizing the rock ’n’ roll past without turning his music into another museum piece. Hiatt made his bones in the 1970s and ’80s as a songwriter whose tunes were adaptable enough to be covered by the likes of Mother Earth and Three Dog Night, and his 1983 album Riding With the King is arguably his most incisive work to date. Unlike Elvis Costello and Graham Parker, to whom he’s sometimes been compared, Hiatt doesn’t get over on his singing, which is expressive without a trace of singerly guile. Still, Hiatt puts his songs across, as you’ll hear on his fine 2018 album The Eclipse Sessions. On that record, Hiatt sings a tune titled “Aces Up Your Sleeve.” It’s one of his best songs, because it manages to fold in big themes like aging and gentrification while goosing the old-time rock and soul he’s always favored. He sounds relaxed on this year’s Leftover Feelings, cut with bluegrass master Jerry Douglas’ band. It sounds like he’s in thrall to that timeless blues-rock-soul mythology on the album’s “Mississippi Phone Booth,” which finds him somewhere in the Magnolia State thinking about Memphis, Jackson and New Orleans. For Thursday’s show, he’ll be backed by Douglas’ band, and he’s got his huge songbook to draw from. 8 p.m. at the Ryman, 116 John Lewis Way N. EDD HURT

FILM

The 33rd annual Southern Festival of Books has kicked off a bit early this year to accommodate a host of great authors presenting online and at a few inperson events. (The big weekend is still set for Oct. 9 and 10 online, and we’ll have plenty of coverage in next week’s print issue about those events.) For now, you can wade in those waters with some sessions that promise to be excellent. Robert Jones Jr. (6 p.m. Thursday online) began his blog Son of Baldwin in 2008 as a place for honest and often vulnerable discussions about race, gender and sexuality, and he’s continued to publish about culture, film, books and much more. His debut novel The Prophets is about two gay men who are enslaved in antebellum Mississippi. In How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, Kristin Kobes Du Mez (7 p.m. Thursday online) explores how Jesus became synonymous with white masculine power to evangelicals — and what it has to do with Trump. Naturalist Janisse Ray, author of essay collection Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans, will be joined by Amy Wright (7:30 p.m. Thursday online). Wright’s Paper Concert: A Conversation in the Round collects the voices of Dorothy Allison, Rae Armantrout and many more thinkers and artists in interviews about an array of topics. Sharon Cameron’s YA historical novel Bluebird tracks a German girl who drops into New York just after World War II, determined to bring a Nazi leader to justice. Cameron will be joined by local favorite J.T. Ellison (6:30 p.m. Saturday at Parnassus). Bestselling author Jess Walter’s latest novel The Cold Millions is hailed by The Washington Post as “a work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun” and “one of the most captivating novels of the year.” Set in early20th-century America, the story follows two fictional brothers who are involved in labor organizing and brush shoulders with historical characters like feminist firebrand Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Walter’s event (6:30 p.m. Monday at Parnassus) is likely to bring a crowd. Back online, catch Irish poet and writer Doireann Ní Ghríofa (noon Wednesday) and local YA fave Erica Waters (6 p.m. Wednesday). Online sessions will air on the Southern Festival of Books YouTube channel. Find the full schedule at sofestofbooks.org. ERICA CICCARONE

T H I N G S

[EAT SHIT AND LIVE, BILL]

FULL MOON CINEPLEX SCREENINGS: TOTAL RECALL & SLEEPAWAY CAMP

Well, folks — October is here, and Full Moon Cineplex is getting into the gory spirit by programming a month full of bona fide thrillers and chillers. The main feature presentation this weekend is Total Recall, the futuristic 1990 blockbuster in which Arnold Schwarzenegger travels to Mars and discovers who he truly is. Yes, the movie is more sci-fi than horror, but don’t forget that the legendary Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Starship Troopers, Showgirls) directed this — you know the dude properly amped up the blood and gore on this one. And if you’re looking for an old-school slasher flick straight from the ’80s, the Cineplex is also screening Sleepaway Camp on Saturday night. This twisty Friday the 13th knockoff from 1983 became such a beloved weirdo cult hit via home video rentals and countless showings on cable that it also became a horror franchise, spawning four sequels. Total Recall 7 p.m. Oct. 1-2; Sleepaway Camp 9 p.m. Oct. 2 at Full Moon Cineplex, 3455 Lebanon Pike CRAIG D. LINDSEY

SATURDAY / 10.02 MAGIC

THE SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

MUSIC

[CHECK ’EM OUT]

O F

But it’s concerned with more than just the borders on a map — The Fever has a keen awareness of the many kinds of boundaries, binaries and divisions that run through human society: urban and rural, indigenous and colonizer, progress and tradition, past and present. The film’s protagonist, Justino, is a member of the Tukano people, who have an incredibly unique relationship to spoken language, a culture in which every person is multilingual and almost speaks their own individual tongue. Justino makes a living in the industrialized world as a dockworker, but he feels something pulling him back to nature and tradition, an intense fever that leads him on nighttime walks into the dark rain forest. Da-Rin uses the landscape to explore the connection between our culture as human beings and the world around us, and to examine how we speak influences who we are. As part of the ongoing International Lens series, the free screening is presented by Benjamin Legg, Vanderbilt’s senior lecturer of Portuguese, and Karen Amorim de Melo, a Ph.D. candidate in Spanish and Portuguese. Parking is available at no charge in Zone 2, Lot 5A at the corner of Terrace Place and 21st Avenue South. 7:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema, 2301 Vanderbilt Place NADINE SMITH

MUSIC

BOOKS

THURSDAY / 9.30

R O U N D U P

[HAND SLEIGHTERY]

MYSTERIES AND ILLUSIONS WITH MAGICIAN JASON MICHAELS

Jason Michaels ranks among Nashville’s most talented and experienced professional

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

criticspicks_9-30-21.indd 19

9/27/21 1:40 PM

CRITICS’ PICKS

OCTOBER 4

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS WITH BUFFALO NICHOLS OCTOBER 11

BOZ SCAGGS NOVEMBER 23

OPETH AND MASTODON

WITH SPECIAL GUEST ZEAL & ARDOR NOVEMBER 30

LESLIE JORDAN & FRIENDS COMPANY’S COMIN’ TO THE RYMAN ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

HEIST! SERIES: THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER

As with many Jim Henson joints, my favorite part of The Great Muppet Caper involves Miss Piggy. In the 1981 musical heist film — in which investigative reporters Kermit and Fozzie get caught up in shenanigans while reporting on a jewel heist — she steals the show in a water-ballet scene set to a song called “Miss Piggy’s Fantasy.” The absolute best part is her cute piggy feet flying out of the water with heels on. The scene, filmed in a specially built pool, apparently took a ton of work to coordinate (figuring out if muppet material changes when wet and how to get that dang puppeteer from making bubbles in the water while operating the pristine porcine). Henson said of it in the notes from his daily work journal: “It’s safe to say that no one has ever done a sequence like this in any other film. At least not with a pig.” As the song says: “All the world’s ever wanted, was you, a dream come true. Ah, Miss Piggy.” Also featuring the great and recently departed Charles Grodin, The Great Muppet Caper will screen twice as part of the Belcourt’s ongoing Heist! series. Oct. 2 & 5 at the Belcourt, 2102 Belcourt Ave. AMANDA HAGGARD MUSIC

DECEMBER 8

A VERY SHE & HIM CHRISTMAS

[AH, MISS PIGGY]

PUNCH BROTHERS

WITH HALEY HEYNDERICKX ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

[STEPPING OUT]

OUTSIDE OF HERE

Since bursting onto the local theater scene in 2016, Pipeline-Collective has earned a sterling reputation for its innovative programming and unwavering commitment to excellence. But its latest project may well be its most ambitious to date. On Saturday, Pipeline-Collective will premiere an unusual theatrical event titled Outside of Here, broadcast in partnership with NECAT. Written by local playwright Claudia Barnett, the piece centers on a woman who receives an unexpected guest who tries to entice her with “poignant and joyful visions of the world outside.” But as one guest leaves, another arrives — the scene plays out again and again over 12 realtime hours, with dozens of different actors. Producing artistic director Karen Sternberg stars in the pivotal role of “Her,” and the supporting cast list reads like a who’s-who of Nashville talent — with names such as Rona Carter, Galen Fott, Denice Hicks, Nat McIntyre, Tamiko Robinson Steele, Garris Wimmer and more. Exploring themes of isolation and wonder, Outside of Here poses the question: “What does it mean to return to the world when every day has been the same as the one before?” Outside of Here will broadcast live on NECAT’s public access channel (Comcast channel 9, ATT U-verse channel 100). Viewers can also access the livestream via Pipeline-Collective’s Facebook page. Watching the performance is free, although donations will be shared among participating artists. To learn more, visit pipeline-collective.com. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. via NECAT AMY STUMPFL

[KIRBY’S DREAMLAND]

KATY KIRBY

On “Peppermint,” “Traffic!” and other uptempo folk-pop numbers from Katy

KATY KIRBY

FEBRUARY 15

THEATER

WITH REIGNWOLF

Kirby’s early-2021 sleeper hit Cool Dry Place, the Texan-born Belmont alum finds a seemingly effortless sweet spot between intimate and accessible, with hooks galore and nary a hint of lugubriousness. Cool Dry Place’s album-closing title track, meanwhile, rocks with vintage Built to Spill-style abandon. On Saturday, Kirby’s Third Man Records debut in the venue’s Blue Room comes in the middle of a full U.S. tour supporting Birmingham, Ala., altcountry world-beater Waxahatchee. Locals Styrofoam Winos and Dream Wave open the gig. 8 p.m. at Third Man Records, 623 Seventh Ave. S. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

COMMUNITY

RIVAL SONS

FILM

OCTOBER 3

magicians. And yes, this city is home to far more such folks than you might think. Michaels is the founding entertainment director and former magician-in-residence at downtown Nashville’s House of Cards, and his performances always elicit joyous responses from patrons. Now the venerable magician ventures to another SoBro locale to present Mysteries and Illusions at The Filming Station. The show will allow the master craftsman to spotlight the sleightof-hand and illusion skills he has performed in 25 countries. Michaels will perform both his signature effects — such as his Shakespearean Cups and Balls — and “new, original mysteries.” “Over the past decade, I’ve traveled all over the world with the sole purpose of spreading joy, laughter and the feeling of amazement,” he says. “It’s time to bring that incredible feeling of wonder to audiences in my hometown.” Saturdays through Oct. 23 at The Filming Station, 501 Eighth Ave. S. WILLIAM WILLIAMS

[RUN FOR THE HILLS]

CELEBRATE HILLSBORO VILLAGE FESTIVAL

Development began to take off in the area now known as Hillsboro Village around 1920, following the construction of streetcar lines extending west from downtown. Since then, it’s been known as a working-class neighborhood; an upscale neighborhood; a fine-dining hub; a student hangout convenient to the campuses of Vanderbilt University and Belmont University; and sometimes a bit of all of those at once. Some constants in the past couple decades of change include beloved cinema the Belcourt, which opened as the Hillsboro Theatre in 1925, and Fannie Mae Dees Park, named for a neighborhood activist and known as Dragon Park for the enormous, colorful sculpture that kids have been playing around since about 1980. Saturday, the Celebrate Hillsboro Village Festival marks 101 years of that rich history

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_9-30-21.indd 20

9/27/21 1:41 PM

101 HILLSBORO VILLAGE YEARS CELEBRATE | UPCOMING EVENTS

GET TICKETS & LEARN MORE AT PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT

6:00PM

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

TRISHA YEARWOOD on CROWDCAST Trisha’s Kitchen

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 2:00PM

CAROL ORSBORN

with HARRY RICK MOODY on FACEBOOK LIVE The Making of an Old Soul 6:30PM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2

SHARON CAMERON

with J. T. ELLISON at PARNASSUS Bluebird 6:30PM

MONDAY, OCTOBER 4

SALON@615 SPECIAL EDITION:

Saturday, October 2

Saturday, October 30

SUSAN ORLEAN

SONGWRITER SESSION

Matt Jenkins

SONGWRITER SESSION

ELIZABETH STROUT

Saturday, October 2

OCT 20 at 6:15PM Montgomery Bell Academy Ticket Required

PAMELA PAUL NOV 3 at 6:00PM on Facebook Live Free Event!

at PARNASSUS The Cold Millions

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5

ALIX HARROW

with HANNAH WHITTEN at PARNASSUS A Spindle Splintered 7:00PM

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6

LOUISE ERDRICH NOV 9 at 7:00PM on Crowdcast Ticket Required

AMOR TOWLES

with ANN PATCHETT on ZOOM The Lincoln Highway 6:30PM

GET TICKETS & RSVP AT PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT

at PARNASSUS We Are Not Like Them

CHIBUNDU ONUZO on FACEBOOK LIVE Sankofa

NOON – 12:45 pm

•

FORD THEATER

Alan Rhody and Rafe Van Hoy NOON – 12:45 pm

•

FORD THEATER

LIVE IN CONCERT

Friday and Saturday, November 12 and 13

The Two Birds Tour

Willie Nelson And Family

Lori McKenna 8:00 pm

•

CMA THEATER

8:00 pm

LIVE AT THE HALL

Suiting the Sound The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter 7:00 pm

•

LIVE IN CONCERT

FORD THEATER

•

CMA THEATER

•

SOLD OUT

Thursday, December 2 LIVE IN CONCERT

Carly Pearce 7:30 pm

•

CMA THEATER

Saturday, October 16

Thursday and Saturday, December 9 and 11

SONGWRITER SESSION

LIVE IN CONCERT

Sharon Vaughn

Keb’ Mo’

NOON – 12:45 pm

7:30 pm

•

FORD THEATER

•

CMA THEATER

Saturday, October 23

Friday, December 17

LIVE ON STAGE

LIVE IN CONCERT

Nurse Blake

Mike Farris Sings!

The PTO Comedy Tour

The Soul of Christmas

8:00 pm

7:30 pm

•

CMA THEATER

•

CMA THEATER

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7

CHRISTINE PRIDE & JO PIAZZA 6:00PM

DOWNTOWN

Tuesday, October 12

JESS WALTER

6:30PM

FALL EVENTS IN CONVERSATION WITH ANN PATCHETT

@parnassusbooks @parnassusbooks1 @parnassusbooks

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

CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Calendar

MONDAY, OCTOBER 11

3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net

Members Get More Membership includes unlimited Museum admission, ticket pre-sale opportunities, and much more. JOIN TODAY: CountryMusicHallofFame.org/Membership

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

CRITICS’ PICKS

VOTED BEST FOR 15 YEARS!

10% Off Dine In TOTAL BILL

$5 Off To Go Orders

ON PURCHASE OF $25 OR MORE MUST BE PRESENT AT SITAR (EXP 10/28/21) PRI NTERS ALLEY

WE DELIVER WITH: GRUBHUB...POSTMATE DOOR DASH...UBER 116 21st Ave. N. | 321-8889 | SitarNashville.com

To Order Call 615-321-8889

FREE PARKING!

PRI NTERS ALLEY

NASHVI LLE, TN

Kitchen & Spirits | L ive music

Hide out tonight in Printer’s Alley, with a scratch, local kitchen and the next generation of bluegrass and Americana virtuosos. ja n e s h i d e away. c o m

STEPHEN TRAGESER

p.m. at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Ave. AMY STUMPFL

SUNDAY / 10.03 FOOD & DRINK

Winner: Readers’ poll

with a street party, which begins with a parade led by a dragon float and a brass band and features kids’ activities, food and drink from area eateries and food trucks and more. At noon, there will be a ceremony dedicating a plaque erected by the Metro Historical Commission, marking the studio that country music legends Harold and Owen Bradley operated before they moved over to Music Row. The building, since demolished for a parking garage, hosted sessions with Kitty Wells, Bill Monroe, The Stanley Brothers and others. Throughout Saturday, there will be two stages with live music. The main-stage lineup — including NASHVI LLE, TN THERE’S honky-tonk heroes The Cowpokes and NOT Chelsea Lovitt — is NOT country tradition bender co-curated with BOOZE WSM, in a nod to the short HERE INto period from 1934 1936 that the Grand Ole Opry broadcast from the Hillsboro Theatre. Meanwhile, the acoustic stage features queer pop ace Daena, singersongwriters Aidan Madden and Gloria Anderson and others. Admission is free — see celebratehillsborovillage.com for full details. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in Hillsboro Village

[STICKY FINGERS]

TENNESSEE HONEY FESTIVAL

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, or so the saying goes. But why would you want to catch flies? Perhaps this mystery will be solved at the third annual Tennessee Honey Festival, where you can browse and sample Tennessee honey from vendors like The Burns and the Bees, Tennessee Artisan Honey and more. The festival will host a strong lineup of educational speakers to teach us about the role of bees and pollinators in our ecosystem and how to protect them, and the Williams Honey Farm’s Mobile-Bee-Yard Classroom will be parked at the Bicenntenial Capitol Mall State Park. Interested in starting your own apiary? You can learn about the craft of beekeeping via demonstrations and see if it might be a hobby for you. Adorably, the festival will include a spelling bee for elementary and middle school students,

PHOTO: SAINADH MALLULA

$12

Taco Tuesdays

905 51st Ave N. • Tues. - Sat. 4 pm-close • @elpaseoNashville

[CELEBRATING COMMUNITY]

CELEBRATE NASHVILLE CULTURAL FESTIVAL

The Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival returns on Saturday with a great lineup of performances and activities designed to honor the many traditions and heritages that make up our growing city. This year’s entertainment includes everything from world music and dance to theater and storytelling, showcasing talent from chamber choir Portara Ensemble, Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville, Music City Soul, Samba Nashville, Upasana Performing Arts Center and more. There’s a market called World Bazaar that will feature handcrafted and imported items, plus local nonprofits and service organizations dedicated to supporting inclusion and diversity. And the Kidsville Children’s Area is sure to provide plenty of activities for little ones. Nashville Soccer Club will be on hand with its IMPACT community program to offer familyfriendly activities, prizes and giveaways. As always, there will be a variety of global cuisine available, along with an Oktoberfest Beer Garden and designated picnic area. Admission and parking are free. To learn more, visit celebratenashville.org. 10 a.m.-6

and kids can do arts and crafts with the fine folks from Hendersonville’s Monthaven Arts & Cultural Center. Musical guests Mo Pitney, Jeremy McComb, The Dryes and Morgan Alexander will take the stage to provide tunes, and libations will be provided by Jim Beam, Pickers Vodka, Honeytree Meadery and more. There’s also a VIBee Experience for those interested in trying some local honey-infused cocktails and mocktails, and plenty of food trucks will be on hand for lunch. What’s more wholesome than that? 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, 600 James Robertson Parkway ERICA CICCARONE

TUESDAY / 10.05 MUSIC

Best Tacos & Margaritas

CELEBRATE NASHVILLE CULTURAL FESTIVAL

COMMUNITY

Margarita Thursdays

[RIDIN’ THROUGH THE CITY]

BRELAND

Late last summer, contributor Marcus K. Dowling wrote a profile for the Scene on Breland, a New Jersey-born, Atlantaresiding singer-songwriter-producer whose specialty is eradicating the already-fuzzy lines between hip-hop and country. The main point of entry for the conversation was “My Truck,” a country-trap track Breland first released in late 2019 that began to >> P. 27

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

criticspicks_9-30-21.indd 22

9/27/21 1:41 PM

T N E M O M E H T T E E M N O S A E S 2 2 / 1 2 0 2 a k on r a b Em

ve Bra f o son sea w d ne bol

“OZ ARTS LEADS THE WAY” – NASHVILLE SCENE

ith rt w A New

o up t e s i yr the s a rs rme o f r pe and s t s arti ary r o mp nte o c l vita

. ent om m e t th mee

TICKETS START AT $20 PACKAGES START AT $100

OZARTSNASHVILLE.ORG | 615-350-7200 | 6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE NASHVILLE TN 37209 nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE 23

RENNIE HARRIS PUREMOVEMENT Nuttin’ But a Word

“THE MOST BRILLIANT HIP-HOP CHOREOGRAPHER IN AMERICA”

— THE NEW YORKER

“THE BASQUIAT OF THE U.S. CONTEMPORARY DANCE SCENE” — THE TIMES (LONDON)

OCTOBER 14-16 TICKETS FROM $25

P H c f

PHOTO BY ANDREA MOHIN

EVENT PARTNER

THE THREE LAWS OF HIP-HOP

A dance legend discusses his work BY RENNIE HARRIS

Historically in this country, the expressions of African Americans have been seen as nothing more than entertainment for those outside of the culture. Words like passionate, spectacle or phenomenon are often used to describe our dance. These words perpetuate the exotification of African Americans, thus suggesting a lack of intellect, clever play with time, space, narrative and/or rhythm, etc. If we are to be seen as physical or passionate, we are in other words being seen as an untamed child, with no discipline or control of emotion. Nuttin’ But A Word challenges what you think Hip-hop or Street dance is, and it does it by playing with texture and an application of subtlety and narrative. And to my peers and colleagues, I say to you that Street dance is progressive by design, and this design is governed by its three laws. The three Laws of Hip-hop are Individuality,

OZ ARTS 2021/22 SEASON | MEET THE MOMENT 24

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

G T N

Creativity, and Innovation. There is nothing about these laws that suggests we as practitioners of the form should only adhere to its foundation; it is quite the opposite. Nuttin’ But A Word challenges the Hip-hop and Street dance puritans, practitioners, and guests of our culture. It serves as a reminder that without individuality, creativity, and innovation, there cannot be progression of life as we know it.

“

PHOTO BY ANN SUMMA

Nuttin’ But A Word is a suite of works that challenge the structural integrity of various street dance styles such as Campbell locking, House, Hip-hop and B-boying. Now that we are a global Hip-hop nation if you will, we seem to have become Hip-hop and street dance zealots. This purist attitude has stagnated the natural progression of street dance. Simply put, black, white or indifferent in America, we have become elitist about Hiphop and popular community culture. This is due in part to racism, ignorance of cultural differences, and capitalism. If a street dancer isn’t demonstrating dynamic movement, being energetic or displaying some sort of acrobatic

skill set like flipping over another dancer’s head, the vocabulary is challenged. Some may go as far as to say it isn’t Hip-hop or Street dance.

R B E

H Y w A d

FALL/WINTER

FABLE CRY

MIWA MATREYEK

OCTOBER 30

NOVEMBER 11-13

Festival of Ghouls Tickets $20

Infinitely Yours and Myth & Infrastructure

DAVE RAGLAND & SHABAZ UJIMA Steal Away

Tickets from $20

with Inversion Vocal Ensemble, Diaspora Orchestra, & shackled feet DANCE

DECEMBER 2-5 Tickets from $20

PHOTO BY ANDREA MOHIN

Put on your ghoulish best for this immersive Halloween party and over-the-top cabaret created by Nashville theatrical rockers and cult favorites Fable Cry.

Blending kaleidoscopic animation and live performance, LA-based multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek confronts the climate crisis in her latest work, weaving poetic narratives of conflict between humanity and nature.

Featuring dozens of Nashville artists, Steal Away is a new contemporary music-theater-opera hybrid inspired by traditional spirituals and art songs.

PHOTO BY TIFFANY BESSIRE

PHOTO BY GAYLE LAIRD

PHOTO BY TIFFANY BESSIRE

RONALD K. BROWN / EVIDENCE

VADIS TURNER

TICKET PACKAGES FROM $100

Portals: A Performance Party MARCH 4-5 Tickets $20

Grace, Mercy, and The Equality of Night and Day FEBRUARY 10-12 Tickets from $25

Don’t miss a moment. See it all with a Full-Season Package or choose your own adventure with a customizable Flex Pass

“ONE OF THE MOST PROFOUND CHOREOGRAPHERS OF HIS GENERATION… RICHLY EXPRESSIVE AND ENDLESSLY KINETIC.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

Hailed as a “modern dance savior” by the New York Times, Ronald K. Brown’s extraordinary work fuses the form, rhythm, and history of African dance with contemporary and urban dance styles.

The massive soft sculptures of renowned visual artist Vadis Turner are installed throughout OZ Arts Nashville’s expansive creative warehouse, creating an environment for popup performances by a diverse array of Nashville choreographers, spoken word artists, musicians, and media artists.

PHOTO BY JULIETTA CERVANTES

VADIS TURNER WITH RED GATE, 2018, PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN SCHWEIKERT

OZARTSNASHVILLE.ORG | 615-350-7200

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

SPRING

GOB SQUAD

(Berlin, Germany) Kitchen: You’ve Never Had it So Good MARCH 24-27 Tickets from $25

“INSPIRED BY WARHOL’S KITCHEN…IT’S A LIVE MAGIC ACT OF SORTS, AND ONE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE SUCH FEATS I’VE EVER SEEN AT THE THEATER.”

MALPASO DANCE (Havana, Cuba) APRIL 29-30

Tickets from $30

“AN ARTISTIC DAWNING... MALPASO’S DANCERS WERE EXCEPTIONAL” — LOS ANGELES TIMES

— THE NEW YORK TIMES

Berlin’s ingenious Gob Squad travels back in time in an attempt to recapture the essence of Andy Warhol’s heyday. Shrewdly crafted and frequently hilarious, the actors create a live black-and-white film on stage — with a little help from the audience.

A groundbreaking force in the contemporary dance world since bursting on the scene in 2012, Malpaso Dance Company has already become one of the most sought after Cuban dance companies, with a growing international profile.

PHOTO BY DAVID BALTZER

PHOTO BY DAVID ALTSCHUL

BRAVE NEW WORKS LAB MAY 12-21

Tickets from $20

MEOW MEOW JUNE 4

Tickets from $30

“SHE IS SENSATIONAL. 5 STARS.” — THE TIMES (LONDON)

Teams of daring Nashville artists transform OZ Arts into a laboratory for the creation and premiere of new works and works-in-progress.

Delivering a riotous mix of theatrical concert and comedic performance art, post-post-modern chanteuse Meow Meow arrives in Nashville to kick off Pride month with an unforgettable one night stand.

PHOTO BY TIFFANY BESSIRE

PHOTO BY HARMONY NICHOLAS

NASHVILLE’S HOME FOR

BRAVE NEW ART

An ever-changing world inspires ever-changing art. And OZ Arts strives to support the most vital contemporary artists and performers as they rise up to meet the moment. Through performances, exhibitions, and community events, OZ Arts produces and presents the work of local and visiting artists who reflect our diverse society, utilize new artistic forms and technology in creative ways, and provide opportunities for meaningful engagement.

OZARTSNASHVILLE.ORG | 615-350-7200 | 6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE NASHVILLE TN 37209

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

CRITICS’ PICKS

EVERGREEN: PODCAST

THINGS TO DO ANY TIME

blow up in February 2020 and was certified gold by the RIAA in August, earning him significant credit in the business. (The single went platinum in January.) Their discussion centered on ways Breland was looking to spend that credit wisely to build a foundation for his ongoing career. A year later, you might know Breland for many different things: collabs with Mickey Guyton, Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley; an appearance at a star-studded fundraiser for Humphreys County flood relief that was organized by Loretta Lynn’s team; as the guy in a new Chevy truck ad. The rise of a particular Black artist does not indicate that any of the problems with racism in country music are fixed — but it’s a further reminder that when Black artists get the support they deserve, they thrive, just like their white peers. Breland is a natural performer, and you’ve got an opportunity on Tuesday — the kind you probably won’t have for too much longer — to see his arenagrade talent in the extremely intimate environment of The High Watt, Cannery Row’s smallest room. 8 p.m. at The High Watt, 1 Cannery Row STEPHEN TRAGESER

MUSIC

WEDNESDAY / 10.06 [HALF MAN, HALF COCAINE]

FREDDIE GIBBS

Freddie Gibbs is one of the fiercest rappers around, and the quality of his output rivals anyone in mainstream or underground hip-hop. Not many MCs of the past decade can boast at least two modern classics — 2014’s Piñata, his first full-length collaboration with Madlib, and last year’s team-up with Alchemist, Alfredo, which was nominated for a Grammy. (Some fans would make the case that Bandana, the second MadGibbs effort from 2019, deserves the same praise.) With a precise and intricate flow and swaggering charisma that can deliver raucous jokes and drug-dealing boasts with similar ease, the rapper is a force of nature every time he takes a mic. He’s even starring in a movie now — Down With the King, which debuted at Cannes earlier this year. 8 p.m. at The Basement East, 917 Woodland St. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ

LISTEN TO HERE TO THERE RADIO WITH DJ SPINNA ON APPLE MUSIC HITS

75 th Anniversary 2021/22 Season Share the Music. Inspire the Soul.

Just recently, I was notified on Instagram that DJ Spinna has his own show on Apple Music. It’s called Here to There Radio With DJ Spinna, and finding out about it filled me with joy. For those who don’t know of this Spinna gentleman, he’s a Brooklyn-based DJ and producer who has dropped many fascinating projects throughout the years. Along with releasing his own albums and producing tracks for such MCs as J-Live and Homeboy Sandman, he’s also known for the Stevie Wonder tribute events — called Wonder-Full parties — he produces with Bobbito Garcia. You know you’re in good hands musically when Spinna is behind the 1s and 2s, which makes this weekly two-hour mix session the show to listen to every time a new episode drops on Fridays. Spinna can make an episode full of house-party classics, or a deep dive on yacht rock, or just devote a whole show to those funky siblings from Teaneck, N.J. — the Isley Brothers! Just as the show’s name says, with Spinna at the wheel(s), you know your ass is going for a ride.

Presented without orchestra

on sale now • DECEMBER 22

OCTOBER 8

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

BRELAND

[GO FOR A SPIN]

[AIN’T A PARTY TILL YOU REEK]

STREAM THE OTHER TWO ON HBO MAX

Unless you read Ashley Spurgeon’s excellent Scene pop-culture and television column And Another Thing, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of this utterly hilarious, absurd and delightful comedy series called The Other Two. Created by Saturday Night Live writing partners Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, The Other Two originally premiered on Comedy Central and has since been picked up by HBO Max, where you can now stream the entire first season and the ongoing second season. The show’s inciting event is the sudden fame of Chase Dubek, aka ChaseDreams, an adolescent boy who goes full Bieber after his song “Marry U at Recess” becomes a viral sensation. Other singles include “Stink” — as in “dance until you stink” — and “My Brother’s Gay and That’s Okay!” But the show is really about the bizzarro effect fame has on Chase’s mom (played by the great Molly Shannon) and his older siblings, the titular “other two.” Even as I describe it, I sense myself starting to doubt that it’s as good as it is. But it is! Its well-developed characters and sharp satiric view of fame and celebrity culture allow its premise to serve as more than fodder for a brief SNL sketch, and it makes me laugh like an idiot every episode. STEVEN HALE

BEETHOVEN’S FIRST Plus Winds and Organ Showcase with the Nashville Symphony

OCTOBER 21 TO 23 THE HOT SARDINES October 24

Presented without orchestra

THE PRINCESS BRIDE

November 7

Presented without orchestra

In Concert October 29 & 30

KENNY G & the nashville SYMPHONY

NEXT GENERATION OF CLASSICAL MUSICIANS

STRINGS ON PARADE WITH JUN IWASAKI

November 4 to 6

CONCERT PARTNERS

1964 THE TRIBUTE

November 12 & 13

November 18 to 20

WITH SUPPORT FROM

Compose Your Own Package Choose 3+ shows and enjoy discounts and perks. Simple and Flexible!

Nashvillesymphony.org 615.687.6400 Tickets@NashvilleSymphony.org #nashvillesymphony nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

criticspicks_9-30-21.indd 27

9/27/21 1:41 PM

LIVE MUSIC | URBAN WINERY | RESTAURANT | BAR | PRIVATE EVENTS

10.01

10.02

Bobby Rush

Drag Brunch

(Full Band) with Jackie Venson

J U ST A N N O U N C E D

10.02

12.28

An Evening with

Ruben Studdard

Shawn Mullins

5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18

Sample 20+ Wines Music & Wine Pairings Tastings & Winery Tours VIP Experiences & More!

10.30 9.29

THE JOHNNY FOLSOM 4 - ULTIMATE TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY CASH

9.30

JOSLYN & THE SWEET COMPRESSION IN THE LOUNGE

10.1

10.10

ALICIA WITT IN THE LOUNGE

10.10

BONEY JAMES: SOLID TOUR (EARLY SHOW) LOW TICKET ALERT

BOBBY RUSH (FULL BAND) WITH JACKIE VENSON

10.10

BONEY JAMES: SOLID TOUR (LATE SHOW)

10.2

AN EVENING WITH RUBEN STUDDARD

10.11

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET WITH SPECIAL GUEST STEPHEN KELLOGG

10.5

THE VOICE OF THE MOODY BLUES: JUSTIN HAYWARD - FT. MIKE DAWE SOLD OUT

10.12

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET WITH SPECIAL GUEST STEPHEN KELLOGG

10.5

LESLIE MENDELSON IN THE LOUNGE

10.14

CARSIE BLANTON IN THE LOUNGE

10.6

JORDAN TICE ALBUM RELEASE SHOW IN THE LOUNGE

10.14

THE MINIMALISTS - LOVE PEOPLE USE THINGS TOUR

10.7

JOSH KELLEY WITH HARPER GRAE

10.15

STEPHEN LYNCH - THE TIME MACHINE TOUR LOW TICKET ALERT

10.8

JANE LYNCH & KATE FLANNERY: TWO LOST SOULS

10.17

THUNDERSTORM ARTS IN THE LOUNGE

LOW TICKET ALERT

Halloween Candy & Wine Pairing IN

the lounge

oct 13

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

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

FOOD AND DRINK

WHEN RYAN MET BOBBY

Chef Ryan Poli’s return to Nashville ushers in a new culinary era at the Bobby Hotel BY MARGARET LITTMAN

CHEF RYAN POLI from its stylish rooftop bus bar, he didn’t know much about the hotel. It opened in 2018, when he was busy at The Catbird Seat, and after that, of course, he left town. As soon as Poli talked to Jacob Strang — area director of culinary operations for Castlerock Asset Management, the Bobby Hotel’s management group — he was intrigued. “Jake is a legend,” says Poli. “He’s so down-to-earth, and we really saw eye-toeye on a lot of things.” Strang agrees that Poli seemed like the right fit almost immediately. “It was important not only to have a good culinary scene, but to find someone who would fit into the culture, who would be fun to work with,” he says. “We found out pretty quickly. Things clicked for him and for me.” So as the Scene reported exclusively in mid-September, Poli committed to leading a transformation at the Bobby — the same kind of transformation he’s gone through personally. Initially, this kind of project might not seem to have the low-stress vibe Poli’s pandemic shift prescribes. But he believes he can lead a team of largely young staff, teaching them to look for balance in their hospitality careers and empowering them to make their own decisions (and mistakes) so that he can delegate, maintain some balance and still be at the top of his game. “As terrible as the pandemic was, I have balance now, and I now do things that make me a better person,” says Poli. “When I am a better person, well, hopefully it is contagious.” “During the three years Ryan spent at The Catbird Seat, we had the privilege of watching him fine-tune his craft, creating innovative and delicious food in a welcoming and fun environment,” says Max Goldberg, who co-owns Catbird ownership group Strategic Hospitality. “The goal is always

PHOTOS: DANIEL MEIGS

or Ryan Poli, the pandemic was transformative — both in terms of his physical residence and his approach to life. Before COVID hit, the chef, who worked from 2016 until 2018 at Nashville’s high-profile, intense and innovative The Catbird Seat, had been engaging his wanderlust cravings since leaving the Midtown institution. For all of 2019 he traveled, first staying with friends in Japan before heading to Bali, Korea and Malaysia. He didn’t worry about what to do if the dishwasher didn’t show up for his shift or what to put on a menu. He helped a few high-profile friends open restaurants in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Napa Valley, but he had the fun, creative parts of the job — cooking in the kitchen, working with a team — minus the stress. When Potato Head Beach Club in Bali asked Poli to spend six months to a year consulting for them, he agreed. Why not return to a beachside resort in a place he loved, doing yoga and jiu-jitsu in the jungle in his downtime? In January 2020, Poli packed his bags and headed out. In April 2020 … well, you know. The resort temporarily closed. He decided he didn’t want to wait out a global pandemic in Bali, and found himself on one of the last planes out before travel restrictions would have limited his options. While he had kept his residence in Nashville during his sojourns, it was rented out, so he headed to Chicago — his hometown, and where before The Catbird Seat he was known for his work at restaurants including Butter, Perennial and Tavernita. He made pasta kits in Chicago and pondered his next steps. As soon as he could return to his place in Nashville, he did. “I left here physically, but I never left mentally,” he says. Poli’s brother Matthew, who was beverage director at The Catbird Seat during their tenure, is now a mixologist at Blackberry Farm. Being in the same state as his brother was a draw for Poli to make Nashville home again. He spent some of those months after he returned in 2020 cooking for friends and their friends in pandemic-safe underground dinner parties. At one of those dinners, Poli met his current girlfriend and committed long term to the yoga, fitness and spiritual practices that had grounded him in Bali. As he looked for his next professional step, he vowed one thing: “I am never going back to working 15 hours a day, six days a week.” Poli, now 44, heard that the Bobby Hotel was looking for an executive chef to overhaul its four dining and drinking establishments and to oversee its banquets (for weddings and meetings at the hotel). The goal is for the Bobby to be a dining destination for locals. While Poli had seen friends post about having drinks on the Bobby rooftop — in its igloos in the winter even before the pandemic made those ubiquitous — or

for Catbird alumni to move on to new and exciting opportunities, and we look forward to seeing Ryan grow in this new role.” It’s a big deal that the Bobby was able to nab someone with Poli’s credentials, connections and culinary vision to create restaurants and bars that will, they hope, rival their competition for locals’ nights out. While the rooftop at the Bobby is known by locals, its other bars and restaurants are not. Think about who is helming other hotel restaurants in town: Tony and Cathy Mantuano at The Joseph Nashville; Jean-Georges Vongerichten headed soon to the Hermitage Hotel; and Sean Brock doing his best work from tableside carts at The Continental inside the Grand Hyatt. Kristin Beringson — who cooked at Holland House, Ellington’s Mid Way Bar & Grill at The Fairlane and on Food Network’s Chopped — became executive chef at Henley at the Kimpton Aertson earlier this year. Poli is not naive — he knows he’s signed on to a big undertaking, and he’s not rushing it. He’s just starting the transformation,

and hasn’t yet ironed out details like menus or even if all the restaurants will keep their current names. (It’s likely both Tavern at Bobby and Cafe at Bobby will change.) Bobby’s Garage Bar, the hotel’s Printers Alley watering hole, may not serve food at all. Poli’s first focus is the cafe, a small, sunny space with a patio on Fourth Avenue North near the hotel’s entrance. “There is opportunity to bring local flair into that space that wasn’t there before,” Strang says. “The goal is to make it a local destination, and then visitors will be an added bonus.” Poli intends to do that by streamlining menus and focusing on working with local purveyors. Levon Wallace’s FatBelly Pretzels, Aaron Distler’s bagels and Nicoletto’s Italian Kitchen pasta are a few of those at the top of his mind. “After everything happened to us as a society,” says Poli, “I am really excited to be back and to be a really small part of this growing community.” EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

food_9-30-21.indd 29

9/27/21 1:38 PM

ART

CRAWL SPACE: OCTOBER 2021

The first crawl of the fall brings a harvest of painted text, unexpected losses and Brooke Shields

the gallery’s front porch at 7:30. Channel to Channel will continue Gavin Benjamin and Omari Booker’s Portraits of Culture in October. We predicted this exhibition would be an autumn highlight in our Fall Guide, and now that we’ve seen the show, it’s important to note that Booker’s exceptional contributions to the exhibition mark a high point in the local painter’s output. We also want to share the bittersweet news that Channel to Channel will be leaving Nashville for Chattanooga after it’s finished its 2021 schedule. One of the great ironies of the pandemic era is that many art galleries — including Channel to Channel — have thrived through virtual exhibitions, which have translated into far-flung online sales. Channel to Channel has evolved from an art studio that also showed work in the pre-renovation days at the May Hosiery Building, into one of the best galleries in the city. Gallery owner Dustin Hedrick was keen to move the gallery into a bigger space, and real estate prices and the recent birth of his first child made the Chattanooga move the best option for the gallery, and for his family. Hedrick’s still playing with the idea of having gallery spaces in both Chattanooga and Nashville, and gallery manager Lina Silvers is already planning local pop-up projects under Channel to Channel’s curatorial banner. It’s a big loss for Nashville’s gallery scene — but ironically, it’s also another example of how resilient Nashville’s galleries have proven to be after more than a year of literally lifethreatening challenges.

DOWNTOWN

Chauvet Arts will continue its group show Balance: Order and Chaos in its main space in October, but the secondary “cave” gallery will be getting a spooky makeover with a selection of Halloween-inspired art and looping projections of vintage horror movies. The gallery is also offering a full month of movie programming for guests who are looking to get into the spooky-season spirit and away from their screens and streaming services. The gallery’s movie lineup includes cult classics like The Tingler, the homeinvasion thriller Lady in a Cage, the original 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and George Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead. Visit chauvetarts.com for dates, tickets and times. The gallery will be open for Saturday night’s crawl from 6 until 8 p.m. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

COTTAGECORPS AT COOP

e know lots of you have been sipping cider and watching spooky seasonal streams since the kids went back to school. But technically, we only just entered into fall with last week’s autumnal equinox — and that means that October’s First Saturday art openings mark the official start to Nashville’s 2021 fall art season. And what a promising kickoff it is. Also, big news about one beloved

local gallery making the move from Nashville to Chattanooga.

WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON

Coop opens Margaret Hull’s Cottagecorps on Saturday night. It’s a display of textile art that touches on fashion, domesticity and environmentalism, and it looks to be a worthy follow-up to Coop’s September exhibition, Nick Fagan’s great Labour and Its Lost Souls. Fagan’s show featured a selection of found moving blankets that the

“AMAZON RIVER,” JORGE YANCES

MARGARET HULL

BY JOE NOLAN

artist painted and displayed like stretched canvases and tapestries. Cottagecorps also makes use of found materials, which the artist transforms into patchwork blouses in a variety of scales using a specific pattern from McCall Pattern Company. The blouse pattern 8616 was created through a licensing agreement with celebrity model and actor Brooke Shields in 1983. A 15-year-old Shields debuted her infamous Calvin Klein designer jeans ad in 1980, and by 1983 she was already a fashion icon and a movie star. McCall Pattern Company still sells sewing patterns — even if making clothes at home is now often more of a niche hobby than a utilitarian task, as it traditionally was in the mid-20th century. Hull’s exhibition is about women homemakers of that era and their labor, but it also speaks to viral cottagecore aesthetics, as they’re called, creating online communities, sustainable art-making — even the colonial associations of chintz fabric. It’s a super ambitious show to hang on the tiny shoulders of a blouse from the 1980s, and we’re anxious to see this one during Coop’s opening reception — it’s on Saturday from 6 until 9 p.m. Wayne White wins the award for best exhibition title this month: Radio Magic Eightball at Julia Martin Gallery is a reference to a game the White clan created to entertain themselves on long road trips. The game’s name references the Magic 8-Ball fortunetelling toy that’s still being manufactured by Mattel. The radio version of the divination practice goes like this: Tune the car radio to an AM talk show. Turn the volume down. Ask a question about the future. Turn the radio back up for a snippet of insight. Rinse. Repeat. White claims the answers the game elicits can seem surprisingly meaningful, and this practice of tuning in and tuning out to words and phrases spoken out of context is the inspiration behind his most recognizable paintings. White recontextualizes the bits of phrases he collects into the colorful block lettering he paints on the surfaces of found thrift-store landscape prints and paintings. Critics understandably draw connections to Ed Ruscha’s text-centric work, but White mostly manages to make familiar elements his own by deploying a weird mix of down-home absurdity, and by transforming the verdant serenity of orphaned landscape scenes into ironic and iconic works of art. Loney Hutchins Sr. will perform a set at 6 p.m., and White himself will perform with a three-piece band called Username Password on

BALANCE: ORDER AND CHAOS AT CHAUVET ARTS

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

art_9-30-21.indd 30

9/27/21 1:34 PM

TICKETS ON SALE NOW LIMITED AVAILABILTY

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

CULTURE

WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN: THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS AIRS 9 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 3, AND 4 P.M. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 6, ON NPT-8. VISIT WNPT.ORG FOR MORE UPCOMING AIRTIMES.

LIFT EVERY VOICE Walk Together Children spotlights the Fisk Jubilee Singers BY RON WYNN

he extraordinary cultural and inspirational impact of the Fisk Jubilee Singers has been recognized since the early days of their existence. The original group was created as both ambassadors and fundraisers for Fisk University and champions of and advocates for vintage Negro spirituals — a powerful and evocative musical form whose message of salvation and deliverance has resonated with audiences from the 19th century to the present day. 2021 is proving to be a special year for this acclaimed group. Their latest LP Celebrating Fisk! (The 150th Anniversary Album), produced with Curb Records, earned a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album. It features superb renditions of vintage Negro spirituals and is enhanced by guest appearances from such stars as Ruby

PHOTO: KRISTEN SHEFT

TPAC WILL HOST A VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION AT NOON MONDAY, OCT. 4, AS PART OF ITS INSIDEOUT PROGRAM. REGISTER AT TPAC.ORG.

Amanfu, Keb’ Mo’ and CeCe Winans, among others. In addition, a wonderful performance film Walk Together Children: The 150th Anniversary of the Fisk Jubilee Singers will be shown Sunday and Wednesday on NPT-8, with several other showtimes scheduled for NPT-2 throughout October. The film represents a cinematic collaboration between the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, producer-director Jon Royal and current Fisk Jubilee Singers musical director Dr. Paul T. Kwami. It includes marvelous vocal performances and equally moving spoken re-creations by the contemporary Fisk Jubilee Singers who reenact the life experiences of the original members in monologues. “It was absolutely critical that we went back to the original singers for this film,” Royal tells the Scene. “Dr. Kwami really wanted to drive home to the audience how these singers saw themselves, their mission and the importance of what they were doing in terms of the spirituals and presenting them to the world.” TPAC presented the film this spring for free to student audiences across Tennessee and to the public via Vimeo on Demand, with proceeds split between TPAC and the Fisk Jubilee Singers Scholarship Fund. Royal and Dona Spangler co-produced Walk Together

Children, with narration by Persephone Felder-Fentress and costume design by Loretta Harper. The nearly hourlong project also incorporates ample narrative and historical perspective and context. “We did a lot of work in terms of filming and completing the project in a condensed period of time,” Royal says. “I think the singers were really enthused and moved by the occasion, and I feel the ‘portrait concept’ as conceived by Dr. Kwami really came together well throughout the film.” There were nine members in the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, all of whose lives and experiences are commemorated throughout Walk Together Children. The roster of songs performed by the present-day singers spans the gamut from extremely familiar to rarely heard. The list includes Kwami’s arrangements of “Down by the Riverside” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”; William L. Dawson’s “Talk About a Child”; H.T. Burleigh’s “Heav’n, Heav’n”; Moses Hogan’s “Walk Together, Children”; and John W. Work III’s “Done Made My Vow,” “Run, Mourner, Run,” “Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham” and “Rockin’ Jerusalem.” The roster of contemporary Fisk Jubilee Singers includes Eren Brooks, Jeffrey Casey, Allen Christian, Andrew Davis, Kennedi Hall, Trinity Hervey, Kemani Iwu,

DeJuan Jackson Jr., Kristen Oguno, Ariana Okhuozagbon, Hezekiah Robinson, Micah Showers, Jada Spight, Cortney Towns and Tory Westbrook. “I really thought I knew a lot about the Fisk Jubilee Singers,” Royal says. “I’m a native of Nashville and have heard about them all my life. But once I really got into the preparation and research for this film, I found out that there were plenty of things that I didn’t know. Perhaps the most surprising for me was learning that none of the original singers ever earned a degree. They were so busy performing and raising money to help keep Fisk going that they had to neglect their education. “But the sacrifices they made and the hardships they endured, as well as the acclaim and fame that they earned, not only helped save Fisk and helped it and Nashville become known all over the world, they also showed everyone through their performances the greatness of the Negro spiritual and its importance,” he continues. “I think everyone who sees Walk Together Children will get a better understanding not only of the group’s history and origins, but its standing as one of this nation’s greatest cultural institutions.” EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

culture_9-30-21.indd 32

9/27/21 1:39 PM

CULTURE

LONGER BRAUNGER

in getting a feel for your aesthetics. I love talking to people about horror because that’s how you find out who exactly they are, and I’m interested in what horror films you’ve seen lately that have really affected you. His House was fantastic. I

Talking to comedian Matt Braunger ahead of his Zanies appearance

think everyone agrees about that one, but to hang it on the refugee experience and the loss of a child and to do it that well — just incredible. And the one that has one — actually two “Holyshit!” moments was Saint Maud. I was really knocked out by that. I do like the slow-burn approach, but I’m not always knocked out by it. But I’m so glad I gave Saint Maud a chance, because I was so immersed in her turmoil and in that world. And usually I don’t like ambivalence. I’m very much a “Did it happen?” kind of person, but the way they do it is so good. That’s my pick.

BY JASON SHAWHAN

omedian and podcaster Matt Braunger has been an amiable and lanky fixture of the stand-up comedy scene for the past decade. Nimblevoiced and expansive in social perspective, MATT BRAUNGER WILL he’s been a secret RECORD A NEW SPECIAL weapon in the hands SUNDAY, OCT. 3, AT ZANIES of podcasters and animators throughout the entertainment industry. His stand-up specials (Shovel Fighter, Big Dumb Animal and Finally Live in Portland) have benefited from the mechanized chaos of varying streaming platforms — he eschews references that date the proceedings, and he specializes in a welcoming vibe that never feels condescending or disingenuous. For his latest special, in the midst of his nationwide Out of the House Tour, Braunger will record at Zanies, giving Nashville’s comedy scene a major event. We spoke with the comedian by phone. PHOTO: MINDY TUCKER

You’ve lived in Portland, Ore., Chicago and Los Angeles. Which one do you think has been the most conducive to your creative process? I will

I’m required by the Ministry of Civic Pride to ask what made you decide on Nashville as the place for your new special. Nashville audiences are fantastic, and they like to go out and enjoy themselves, but I specifically wanted to do it at that club [Zanies]. I wanted this to happen at a club that’s been embraced by the place that it’s in, and there are 10 or so clubs that can’t miss in the United States, and I wanted to shoot there. Last time around, I shot the special in a rock club, like I’d done for the previous one, and they were both awesome and I love both those specials. But this time I wanted that comedy-club feel, because I think we’re missing that. I would say it’s 30 percent the people, because Nashville audiences are incredible, but it’s 70 percent that club. It’s perfectly built for stand-up.

You’ve been touring the country in a surprisingly comprehensive fashion, and the amateur sociologist in me wants to know what you’re seeing from audiences. How are they doing? I went to every kind of place, and I did it with expedited speed, and it drove home that we’re more similar than we are different, despite what some people might think. People are happy to see a show, and if you’re not comfortable doing that, I understand, but I have, happily, what I call a vaccinated fan base. It’s not the biggest fan base, it’s maybe in the tens of thousands, but they generally just want to have a good time and not eff over anybody else in the pursuit of that good time. If anything, people are really happy to go to shows — it’s an event.

Going to a show has become special again. And it’s not even that the event is special, it’s that you make it special. But yeah, that golden month before Delta reared its ugly head — that was amazing.

You recently became a father, which is something that feels like a defiant statement of hope in the future. How do you reconcile the impulses of being a dad, being a comedian and being a

citizen of this terrifying experiment that we call being alive on earth right now? Because it seems like those three things might be at odds with one another. It’s absolutely horrifying when you think about all of it. I think you have to choose hope. You definitely have to work toward making things better, and a lot of that is not letting everything get you down all the time, which is a huge part of taking care of yourself. I’ve learned — so late but at least I’m learning it — so much of this life is how you react to things. Do I flip out, do I bang my head against the wall and say all is lost? I can think of five or six horrific things I could talk about, about how the future seems incredibly grim. … This may sound simple and silly, but I was doing a yoga class, and the instructor said, “Just work on turning toward joy as best you can.” When we got the results of the pregnancy test, I thought for sure it was going to be a highfive, “we did it” kind of moment, like in a rom-com, but it was more “oh.” We couldn’t even meet each other’s eyes, processing the magnitude of it. But everything since then — it hasn’t even been “look on the bright side,” it’s all bright side.

If a restaurant had a Matt Braunger sandwich on its menu, what would it be? There was a place in Portland that was a food cart, and they made a sandwich for me. I don’t remember exactly what all it had on it — I know there was beef brisket, and maybe a sharp cheddar. … But for now, I’m gonna go really crazy and it’s going to be a crab salad sandwich. Just dungeness crab on a soft crusty roll with a little bit of greens and a little bit of mayo, and some Old Bay. That’s a

tough one to sell, because I’m sure it would cost like $20, but it’s so good.

What’s the song you use to kick-start your day? It does change… I really like the title song from Mo’ Better Blues. It’s got a hard-won optimism to it that feels nice. For more of a nighttime song, “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” by Herbie Hancock. If I’m having a weekend coffee morning, then we might have Thin Lizzy “Waiting for an Alibi” or “Push It Along” by A Tribe Called Quest. You could ask me that tomorrow, and it would change.

As a notably tall person, how does it feel when you’re in a public space and you find yourself a default public utility? I don’t mind. If someone smaller is trying to put their bag up and they can’t, I’ll offer. Sometimes they’ll ask, and I’m happy to help. We all have different advantages. … We all need each other for different things.

I always ask people I meet who are above 6-foot-2, because it’s this society-wide phenomenon where no matter how curmudgeonly someone is, there are aspects of being a human being that require cooperation and help. We want to help each other, but we don’t want to be in debt to each other.

You’ve done heaps of animation voiceover as well as lots of TV and film work. Which do you enjoy more? If I had to pick one, it’s live action. You perform with so much more. It is fun to do voices and have them become part of cartoons, but I’ve been an actor since I was a kid, and live-action performance is one of those experiences that I love, when it all comes together.

Your appearance on the Kingcast talking about Creepshow was a delight, and also very helpful

say Chicago affected me in emotional ways I never used to think about while I was there. If I had lived there as I got older, it would have been devastating to me. It’s so cold in the winter and so hot in the summer, and there’s a fleeting, maybe month of spring, and you just squeeze every moment out of it. I was there for six years, and I look back and it felt like 10 — in a good way. Chicago was my actual school, because I was an adrift actor when I actually was in college, and Chicago gave me a path, and it was stand-up. From there, I chose L.A. because I didn’t want to go back to NYC, so I went to L.A. and I hated it for a solid year. Now I dig it, but I know all of its problems. I’m reading this book right now, Everything Now, but it’s the argument for L.A. being America’s only city-state, and it’s kind of true. It’s so big, and so many people are here, and you can find whatever you’re looking for if you dig deep enough. As someone says in that book, “You get out of L.A. what you put into it.” I think Portland is the most relaxed of the three. It’s generally a very welcoming place. It was cool to grow up where they didn’t judge you for being artistic. But all things considered, depending on who you are, L.A. and Chicago have more of a sense of immediacy for motivating creativity.

I never got to interview Harris Wittels, so it’s a very special thrill to get to talk to someone whose work has transformed the English language. Because of your bit about drunk dining, you can go throughout the English-speaking world and ask for “ham dancers” or “cheese babies,” and it’s quite possible that someone will understand, and be able to serve you something. And you very well may have helped save drunk lives that way. It’s not up there with “humblebrag,” because that is — to this day — perfect for the modern era. Half of Instagram is humblebragging. … But it is funny that “ham dancers” now just means drunk food. But there are several restaurants that have ham dancers on their menu, and I’ll find out about it and think, “I want my money,” you know, just messing with them. It’s an honor. And no two recipes are exactly the same. They couldn’t be. You have to come through with the cheese babies and the hot boy. The thing is, ham dancers and cheese babies, you can picture what that could be. But the hot boy? You’re broaching the surreal there. Definitely veering into surreality. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

culture_9-30-21.indd 33

9/27/21 1:39 PM

BOOKS

EARLY MUSIC CITY | BAROQUE AND BEYOND TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5 AT 11:45 A.M. LIBRARY.NASHVILLE.ORG/COURTYARDCONCERTS

LUCILLE’S BETTER HALF Blues legend B.B. King gets the royal treatment from biographer Daniel de Visé BY DAVID WESLEY WILLIAMS

K NASH ART BASH A party and fundraiser supporting Nashville’s creative community

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 6:00 PM THE COURTYARD AT CENTER615

CREATIVE EXCHANGE The conference for artists, makers, movers and shakers.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2 9:00 AM CENTER615

FEATURING KEYNOTE SPEAKER,

JOSH BLACK TICKETS ON SALE FOR BOTH EVENTS AT

ABCNASHVILLE.ORG 34

ing of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King is touted as the first “fulllength and authoritative” biography of the Mississippi Delta-born, Memphis-minted guitar great. It was worth the wait and (at 496 pages) the weight, as author Daniel de Visé has a whole lot of living and a lifetime of blues to chronicle. B.B. King, who died in 2015 at age 89, gets the royal treatment from his biographer, and rightly so. We get it all — a life in full from dirt to gold, roadhouse to the White House, tractor (the mode of transportation on his first date with future first wife Martha) to Cadillac (a pink-and-cream El Dorado with blue-and-white tires and a batterypowered TV). We see B.B. as young Riley, stuttering and girl crazy, getting a bluesman’s version of religion when he sees sanctified preacher Archie Fair play guitar in church on Sunday. The Rev. Fair “filled the room with the low thunder of his voice and the sweet tang of his guitar,” de Visé writes. We see Riley seduced by the “shapely curves” of a guitar and entranced by the 78rpm sounds of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith and Lonnie Johnson at the cabin of his Great-Aunt Mima, the snuff-dipping free spirit who was “the settlement’s resident hipster.” And we see his slow, hard education on the guitar — the early fumblings, the search for his own sound and, crucially, his musical influences. KING OF THE BLUES: THE RISE AND REIGN OF B.B. KING BY DANIEL DE VISÉ ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS 496 PAGES, $30 DE VISÉ WILL DISCUSS HIS BOOK AT 5:30 P.M. TUESDAY, OCT. 5, AT AN INPERSON SESSION OF THE 2021 SOUTHERN FESTIVAL OF BOOKS HELD AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC The author is especially good at showing that, while King was born in Mississippi and grew up when early legends of the genre were active, he wasn’t shaped just in the usual way. You can hear Robert Johnson in Muddy Waters and Charley Patton in Howlin’ Wolf. But King’s influences ranged from Hawaiian and country lap-steel players to the Belgium-born jazz legend Django Reinhardt. Closer to home but still beyond the borders of the Magnolia State, he drew from Lonnie Johnson (Louisiana) and fellow blues great T-Bone Walker (Texas), plus jazz guitar hero Charlie Christian (Texas born, Oklahoma raised). And in Memphis, where a WDIA show pitching Pep-Ti-Kon tonic

turned into a DJ gig, the rising bluesman had unfettered access to records — a world of sound. “Never, perhaps, had a blues guitarist drawn from such diverse influences,” de Visé writes. “And now, with an entire radio station at his disposal, B.B.’s ears were about to explode.” This is how artists become great. This is how B.B. became singular. By taking in everything that turned his head or caught his ear. By making it all his own. Great artists are scavengers before they’re anything else, scroungers of the first order, but the wonder is in what they do with it all. They see, hear, feel, divine what others can’t. They take what they’ve gathered and build something grand. One man’s found parts is another’s pink-and-cream Caddy El Dorado. This is de Visé’s triumph, explaining how B.B. went from being the “weakest link” at his first recording session to leading his own blues orchestra. How he became a guitarist young players studied and jazz greats like Miles Davis adored. How he became an innovator on his way to becoming an icon: B.B would never master the lap steel. But with his strong, thick, cotton-picking fingers, he found that he could bend and trill the strings of his own Gibson guitar to similar effect, and he could do it without a slide. He called this new technique the “Butterfly.” Now he was an artist, this bluesman who would be king. He was out from under the spell of his influences: “These men had taught their guitars to sing. B.B. taught Lucille to cry.” Ah, Lucille — B.B.’s name for his beloved guitar. If you can’t name a B.B. King song other than “The Thrill Is Gone,” you know about Lucille. You may even know the story of how she got her name, one December night in tiny Twist, Ark. But if you’re not a serious fan or student of his playing, you probably just know B.B. as the bluesman who was always there — who didn’t flame out or disappear, didn’t die from drugs or guns or crossroads devilment. He played on, whether people were buying his records or not. He played on, whether the show was at the Regal Theater in Chicago or the Moon-Glo Roller Rink in Kent, Ohio. B.B., then, was the king we kind of took for granted. That’s why we needed a “full-length and authoritative” biography of the man, the artist, Lucille’s better half, the King of the Blues. Now we have it. It’s good and worthy and something more: essential. To read an extended version of this review — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

books_9-30-21.indd 34

9/27/21 1:34 PM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

thebasementeast basementeast thebasementeast

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 thebasementnashville.com

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

3RDANDLINDSLEY.COM

livestream tickets also available

PERPETUAL GROOVE // OCT 2

GREAT MUSIC • GREAT FOOD • GOOD FRIENDS • SINCE 1991

FLIP THE MONSTER HITS // OCT 4 PRESENTED BY I KNOW A WOMAN

THIS WEEK THU

BRASSVILLE

FRI

JIMMY HALL & BONEPONY BACKSTAGE NASHVILLE!

9/30

THE NUDE PARTY // OCT 5

EMO NIGHT TOUR // OCT 7

W/ TWEN

10/1

SAT

7:30

8:00

12:30

10/2 DAYTIME HIT SONGWRITERS SHOW

SUNNY SWEENEY

8:00

BUFFALO NICHOLS

8:00

THE TIME JUMPERS

8:00

6:30

8:00

W/ TYLER HALVERSON

MAE & THE JULIANA THEORY // NOV 5

10/3 W/ PHILLIP MICHAEL SCALES

tennis w/molly burch Jake Wesley Rogers shannon and the clams

10/4

Upcoming shows sep 30 oct 1 oct 2 oct 4 oct 5 oct 6 oct 7 oct 8 oct 11 oct 12 oct 14 oct 16 oct 17 Oct 18 oct 19 oct 20 oct 21 oct 22 oct 24 oct 25

Fozzy w/ Royal Bliss & Black Satellite Jukebox the Ghost w/fleece Perpetual Groove flip the monster hits presented by i know a woman

the nude party w/twen freddie gibbs emo night tour Mae & The Juliana Theory k camp natalie hemby w/ ashley ray okey dokey w/nordista freeze & gatlin parker millsap w/molly parden noga erez w/mckinley dixon Madison Cunningham w/s. g. goodman gus dapperton w/spill tab how long gone the backseat lovers w/brandon anderson SOLD OUT! Pecos & the Rooftops SOLD OUT! southern underground pro wrestling highly suspect

MON

oct 26 Oct 27 Oct 28

tauk Rome & duddy badflower w/teenage wrist & dead poet society stephen day w/carly bannister shane smith & the saints susto w/hotel fiction & Paul Whitacre lucie silvas halfnoise w/ louis prince & elke the lemonheads w/ soft kill & hey rocco ayron jones w/ hounds JP Saxe w/ cat burns SOLD OUT! Bre kennedy Kolby Cooper ft. palmer anthony Kolby Cooper ft. corey kent MisterWives w/ frances forever Chloe Moriondo w/ kid sistr & sydney rose John Mark McMillan w/ the gray havens & antoine bradford

ME ND ADAM // OCT 7

W/ GOOD BUDDY & BRYAN CATES

W/ EMILY DEAHL

UPCOMING SHOWS sep 30 oct 1

0ct 4 0ct 6 0ct 6

palm palm sweettalker, behold the brave, & lindsay starr chip greene, katie cole (7 pm) jive talk w /crumbsnatchers & travollta (9 pm) charles kaster, the great dying, & ben de la cour zoe cummins w/madeleine & allie dunn ellie turner w/connor mcginnis (7 pm) annie williams w/Good buddy &

oct 7

bryan cates (9 pm) me Nd adam w/emily deahl (7 pm)

oct 2 oct 2 oct 3

oct 7 oct 8 oct 9 oct 10 oct 11 oct 13 oct 14 oct 14 oct 15 oct 15

the minks, basically nancy, & Justin and the cosmics (9 pm) samia w/ savannah conley SOLD OUT! the bones of j. r. jones julie williams & madeline edwards willi carlisle w/ cristina vane the 502s w/ samuel herb AJ smith (7 pm) liily (9 pm) troy cartwright (7 pm) matt mann & the shine runners w/ dusty

oct 16

bo & hillbilly herald (9 pm) the ladies of... ft. james hall

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 thebasementnash 36

thebasementnash

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

8:00

10/5 LAINE HARDY, DILLON CARMICHAEL, ERIK DYLAN & NICK WALSH WILDHEART WEDNESDAYS WED 10/6

THE WILDER BLUE

THU

FEAT. ZANE WILLIAMS AND PAUL EASON

10/7

WILL HOGE

FRI

W/ BUICK AUDRA

10/8

WILL HOGE

SAT

10/9

W/ ADEEM THE ARTIST

JUST ANNOUNCED

w/thelma and the sleaze

Oct 29 Oct 30 Oct 31 nov 2 nov 3 nov 4 nov 5 nov 7 nov 8 nov 9 Nov 10 NOV 11 Nov 12 Nov 13 Nov 14 Nov 16 Nov 17

ANNIE WILLIAMS // OCT 6

SUN

K CAMP // OCT 11

TUE

8:00 COUNTRY OUTDOORS PRESENTS

10/27

10/31 THE CLEVERLYS

11/27 RESURRECTION : A JOURNEY TRIBUTE

BRAISON CYRUS

COMING SOON 10-11 THE TIME JUMPERS 10-12 JON STATHAM, TRAVIS TIDWELL, ALEX SMITH (EARLY) / ANOTHER SMITH & SAM EXTRAVAGANZA (LATE) 10-13 WILDHEART WEDNESDAYS FEAT. ERIN ENDERLIN (ALBUM RELEASE SHOW) 10-14 HUNTER METTS W/ WALKER BURROUGHS 10-15 SERATONES 10-16 WORLD TURNING BAND “THE LIVE FLEETWOOD MAC EXPERIENCE” 10-17 EMILY WOLFE 10-19 TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS 10-20 ETTA BRITT’S 65TH BIRTHDAY BASH 10-22 THE EAGLEMANIACS

10-23 JEFFREY STEELE + ANTHONY SMITH 10-24 GIRLS WRITE NASHVILLE FEATURING BRITTANY HOWARD, MARGO PRICE, & MORE 10-26 TENILLE ARTS 10-27 THE CLEVERLYS 10-28 THE PETTY JUNKIES 10-29 VINYL RADIO 10-30 RUBIKS GROOVE : HALLOWEEN 11-3 WILLIE WATSON W/ NAT MYERS 11-4 TUNED INTO 3RD FEAT. CHLOE LILAC & MORE 11-5 A PINK FLOYD EXPERIENCE : ANDERSON COUNCIL PERFORMS “MEDDLE WITH THE DARK SIDE” 11-6 ARLO MCKINLEY

11-7 LERA LYNN W/ ANDREW COMBS 11-27 RESURRECTION : A JOURNEY TRIBUTE 11-11 JAKE SHIMABUKURO 11-12 THE LAST BANDOLEROS W/ KREE HARRISON 11-13 STRUNG LIKE A HORSE 11-14 LILLY HIATT / LYDIA LOVELESS 11-21 12-5 12-22 2-12

BRANDY CLARK DAVID SHAW THE CLEVERLYS LOS COLOGNES

LIVESTREAM | VIDEO | AUDIO Live Stream • Video and Recording • Rehearsal Space 6 CAMERAS AVAILABLE • Packages Starting @ $499 • Cinematic Focus Our partners: Nugs.tv

PRIVATE EVENTS

FOR 20-150 GUESTS SHOWCASES • WEDDINGS BIRTHDAYS • CORPORATE EVENTS EVENTSAT3RD@GMAIL.COM

SOLD OUT!

MUSIC CLOUD CONTROL

MIMI McCARLEY IS A MASTER MAKER OF CONNECTIONS

Talking with the songwriting and publishing pro about helping artists establish careers in Music City Cloud Control is a collaboration between the Nashville Scene and music news, events and promotions platform 2 L’s on a Cloud.

ith a knack for developing partnerships between songwriters and publishers to launch music careers, Mimi McCarley is a pivotal entity who holds many roles in the Nashville music scene. She is inspired by artists who have the audacity to believe in themselves and assists them on their journey. She’s popularly known for partnering with Thalia “Muziqueen” Ewing in Nashville Is Not Just Country Music, an organization that aims to cultivate a diverse array of music in FOLLOW @MIMIMCCARLEY ON Nashville. Together INSTAGRAM FOR UPDATES they’ve developed into two powerhouses to know. Growing up in the church in Dayton, Ohio, McCarley felt an attraction to music at an early age. She was exposed to funk music, gospel and Motown, but she had not yet become familiar with the business side of the industry. Then she attended a cooperative high school and majored in radio and TV broadcasting. “It was a gang of creatives that had access to recording facilities and equipment, so we started experimenting,” explains McCarley. “That is where I got my background in radio, learning to be a program director, an on-air personality, a disc jockey and everything else under that umbrella.” After enrolling at Dillard University in New Orleans, where she was granted an athletic and academic scholarship, McCarley realized mass communications studies would not lead her toward the music industry like she anticipated. She made a new friend from Murfreesboro who encouraged her to attend Middle Tennessee State University if she wanted to dive into music further. McCarley immediately took action and transferred to MTSU, where she hit the ground running. “That was the game changer,” McCarley says, laughing. “I started meeting all kinds of people — MTSU is a breeding ground of talent — from songwriters, artists and professors to people who knew about the business.” McCarley credits her easy transition to beloved entertainer and Murfreesboro legend Big Fella, who assisted in connecting her with the who’s-who of the campus. She knew her passion was in the business side of the industry, and she was intrigued by figures like Clive Davis, Berry Gordy, Diddy and Jay-Z — executives who could lift up talent

in various communities and encourage its growth. While MTSU now has bridges from the school to the industry, when McCarley graduated, she was unable to find work in the music business and took a part-time job at a local pharmacy. Throughout that period, she worked with many creative talents and began managing artists. She found that her niche was bringing musicians together to build out albums. A few years later, she moved to Nashville with her family, and she found many of the relationships she built at MTSU were still bearing fruit. “I kept running into songwriters who didn’t have music and producers that had the music but nothing else,” McCarley explains. “I started running digital mini camps where I invited artists and producers to get tracks completed and recorded within two weeks. From that process alone, we created over 40 songs, and I knew I was onto something.” She admits to being naive about technical aspects of the business such as split sheets — tools for establishing parties’ individual ownership stakes in a song they made together — which made it difficult to utilize the tracks after the camp. Soon she was encouraged to reach out to Thalia Ewing, known to friends and colleagues as Muziqueen, who had established relationships with a variety of artists. “After we met, we immediately clicked on an energy and music-business level,” McCarley says. “I told her I wanted to work with her clients and run a camp with her artists, and she was open and willing. Through that process we ran a camp and generated about 20 solid tracks with the new group.” With the support of her husband, McCarley then took the risk of moving full time to music. After purchasing her first studio, McCarley sought out new goals in independent music publishing and writing music meant to be licensed for use in film or TV, or “music for sync.” She sacrificed an enormous amount of time and energy to this work, but within two years, she’d helped get more than 40 records finished. Then she and Muziqueen officially launched Nashville Is Not Just Country Music and the Urban Writer’s Round series in 2014, and soon after, the pair began to expand their work in music for sync. “When Thalia and I made our business situation official, we went out and got a jointventure deal with Riptide Music Group,” McCarley explains. “We started pitching songs there, and it was cool. But they were all the way in Los Angeles, so there was a bit of a disconnect [at first]. We started going to L.A. for more opportunities and were able to meet the president and other team members, and we built a good alliance in person.” McCarley and Muziqueen pushed music

PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND

BY D’LLISHA DAVIS

constantly while also making sure clients like 2’Live Bre and Derek Minor had music to release. In late 2020, word came that they’d landed a sync placement for Minor’s “Who Gon Stop Us” in the widely popular basketball game NBA 2K Mobile. They celebrated the moment but also saw it as a sign to push their clients’ work harder than ever. The two try to impress on their artists that sitting on the sidelines while scheming the perfect plan slows down any professional momentum they might build. “The best way to promote what you are doing is to put it out,” says McCarley. “If we are promoting you as a songwriter, you have to stay consistent.” As two Black women taking on such an important industry role in the Nashville music scene as publishing — publishing rights are, after all, a key income stream for songwriters — McCarley and Muziqueen have faced an uphill battle to be taken seriously. However, they channeled their frustrations into working directly with artists in urban genres that have been neglected for years in Music City. With success stories like Minor’s in their portfolio, McCarley sees an even bigger win on the horizon: They’ve established an incubator for independent music publishers that also pitches individuals to labels as people in possession of a wide range of skills and a catalog of self-published music. They find that their clients appreciate their unique business model and choose them over a company that’s been around longer but doesn’t seem to be as energetic about innovative practices. “What I like about publishing is you get

paid when the artists get paid,” says McCarley. “It helped us dive into learning label deals, supporting artists properly and funding them in the process. The business changes, but if you aren’t afraid of continuing to build your craft as you go, you will be just fine. At the end of the day, in order to sustain an artist’s career, you have to find ways to make money for them.” Throughout her career, McCarley has worked directly with artists to engulf herself in brand development, publishing administration and artist and label support. It’s a lot of plates to keep spinning, but she’s become well-versed in developing an array of potential streams of income while still supporting artists in the world of sync. McCarley hopes to continue advocating for artists in a variety of markets while still being based in Nashville. She’s also joined We Own Now, a movement founded by Minor that focuses on promoting and supporting Black ownership — turning the consumer power of Black audiences into ownership power. In December, We Own Now will host a pilot discussion in Washington, D.C., focused on the wealth gap between Black and white communities, centered specifically on entertainment. McCarley has also established a partnership with Guidance Whiskey, owned by Jason Ridgel, to bridge the gap between spirits and entertainment. No matter what part of the entertainment world she sees an opportunity in, McCarley is going to find a way to elevate creative folks across the community who can take advantage of it. EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

music_9-30-21.indd 37

9/27/21 5:38 PM

MUSIC

ANOTHER LOOK

The Scene’s music writers recommend recent releases from Allie, S-Wrap and Rashad tha Poet, LadyCouch and more BY KELSEY BEYELER, EDD HURT, STEPHEN TRAGESER, RON WYNN, CHARLIE ZAILLIAN AND JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

all is finally here, and there are a bevy of shows for you to see in person once you grab a mask and throw on a sweater. But there’s also a shedload of great recent releases from local artists for you to drop in the FIND LINKS TO STREAM AND ol’ treat bag. Our BUY THESE RECORDS AT writers have eight NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC new recommendations for you, so add ’em to your streaming queue or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or put them on your wish list for #BandcampFriday, the promotion in which the platform waives its cut of artist fees on the first Friday of the month — the next installment of which is Oct. 1.

ALLIE, MAYBE NEXT TIME (OTHER PEOPLE) Sometimes music gives us permission to feel in ways we didn’t know we needed to. What takes me to that place is objectively beautiful melodies with a steady backbeat. The 16 tracks on Maybe Next Time by indie rocker Allie fall into this category, and have the power to make me feel ready to process my emotions. On their impressive LP, recorded last year and released in August (it’s a follow-up to the also-great EP Junior Coder’s Experiment), the 26-year-old artist spits out unbelievably gorgeous songs whose sonic textures clang with heartache and loss, as richness and fullness dissipate into moments of haunting sparseness. While I wouldn’t call this a coming-of-age record, I would call it an expression of coming into oneself through self-love and taking long, hard looks. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT

S-WRAP AND RASHAD THA POET, THE OTHER SIDE (SELF-RELEASED) The ties between hip-hop and spoken-

word poetry are historically strong, and many of Nashville’s best MCs are also masterful spoken-word artists. Case in point: SWrap and Rashad tha Poet’s The Other Side is an interconnected collection of uplifting pieces about a journey to finding peace and purpose, built atop a musical foundation of psychedelic soul. The initial inspiration for the project is also noble: It grew out of an effort to produce 100 unique spoken-word albums to show The Recording Academy how unique this art is, and to convince the organization to make audiobooks ineligible for the Best Spoken Word Album category at the Grammys. STEPHEN TRAGESER

LADYCOUCH, THE FUTURE LOOKS FINE (BLACKBIRD) The keyboard flourishes and horn arrangements on LadyCouch’s debut fulllength The Future Looks Fine color an album that puts you in mind of 1960s and ’70s soul music. Led by singers and songwriters Keshia Bailey and Allen Thompson, LadyCouch plays off the conventions of soul-rock groups like The Electric Flag, The Band and Booker T. & the MG’s — but The Future Looks Fine Americana-izes those usages in sterling fashion. The band covers Isaac Hayes and David Porter’s “As Long as I Have You,” which was originally released by The Charmels on the Volt label in 1967. Meanwhile, “Free to Breathe” adds psychedelic guitars to the mix, along with an arresting horn riff that repeats throughout the song. The Future Looks Fine is easygoing and complex enough to merit repeat listens, and the lyrics are unfailingly upbeat and optimistic. EDD HURT

THE DINALLOS, THE DINALLOS (MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL) East Nashville’s sterling husband-wife duo Michael and Juliet Dinallo’s latest release features 16 soulful and exuberant compositions that nicely alternate between inspirational and reflective perspectives. Longtime Radio Kings guitarist and coproducer Michael provides outstanding electric and acoustic support in tandem with several outstanding musicians. The top instrumental corps crafts crisp, superbly executed backdrops. Chief lyricist and vocalist Juliet consistently soars and excels on tunes ranging from the stirring lead single “Kilimanjaro” — enhanced by

powerful harmony assistance from The McCrary Sisters — to evocative numbers like “I Need to Be Free.” There are also such intense and urgently delivered tunes as “Purgatory Road” (with a strong duet vocal from guest Will Kimbrough), “You’ve Got Nothing on Me” and the enchanting “When the World Was Wine.” There’s not a forgettable number, as the pair takes listeners on a delightful excursion through a host of sounds and styles. RON WYNN

THE BLACKSON, LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR (BLACK CITY) This short and sweet release — you might call it a digital 7-inch, consisting of the tracks “Sweet Toof” backed with “OTW” — puts together two new tracks in which the standout rapper gets real about stress and tells himself to stand strong. Though different production teams worked on each track (Dopey produced “Sweet Toof” and LacMan and A.B. Eastwood teamed up on “OTW”), the overall effect reinforces trying to find joy in a melancholy situation. It’s a solid formula, as The BlackSon raps: “Only thing they ever took from us is notes.” STEPHEN TRAGESER

THE ROBE, THE JASON EP (YK RECORDS) Longtime Grimey’s staffers Rollum Haas and Jason Bennett join forces for the second official release from Haas’ project The Robe. The duo wrote the material together and Bennett sang the songs — hence the title, The Jason EP — while drummer-abouttown and synth aficionado Haas pulled out all the stops instrument-wise. The result is pleasingly era- and genre-transcending. Poppier than The Robe’s self-titled 2019 debut, The Jason EP is guided by Anglophilic sensibilities, with the propulsive, OMDstyle synth-pop of opener “Summer Secret” giving way to kaleidoscopic guitars and a Kinks-like shuffle on “All Your Favorite Days.” A study in catchy, cohesive songcraft and music that keeps the listener guessing what instrument or effect might be deployed next, it’s a dynamic worth exploring further — a Jason LP, perhaps? CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

JORDAN LEHNING, THREE COLORED WALL (TONE TREE MUSIC) After several years of being best known

for his production and arranging work, Jordan Lehning is releasing some mighty fine solo material. Three Colored Wall, released in August, is a significant departure from Little Idols, the intimate folk-pop song cycle about a fictional extramarital affair he released in 2020. Well, sonically, at least: The walls of synths and gated-reverb drum sounds put me in mind of XTC’s 1989 maximalist pop opus Oranges and Lemons. While Three Colored Wall’s subject matter is also different, the attention to detail in discussing the intricacies of close relationships is a common thread. STEPHEN TRAGESER

NORDISTA FREEZE, BIG SKY PIPE DREAM (SELFRELEASED) Nordista Freeze is a Nashville DIY diehard, the man and the band (the two share a name) responsible for such memorable events as Space Prom and Freezefest. Their new LP Big Sky Pipe Dream — coming in the wake of a long string of previously released singles like “Hey GiGi,” “Wysteria” and “Dolphin” — embodies some of the best things from the indie-pop-rock sphere, with catchy riffs, cheery melodies and dreamy lyrics. The tunes celebrate love and all the ups and downs it can bring. Freeze is known for his energetic, theatrical performances, and while nothing will compare to a live concert, the frontman’s vocals on the record keep your attention in much the same way he does in person. You’ll soon have plenty of opportunities to do that, so keep an eye on his website. KELSEY BEYELER EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

music_9-30-21.indd 38

9/27/21 5:38 PM

GUITAR LESSONS

with former Musicians Institute and Austin Guitar School instructor

MARK BISH.

TUESDAY LIVE MUSIC 7PM WEDNESDAY 39 CENT WINGS 6PM

512-619-3209

markbishmusic@gmail.com

GOODNIGHT, TEXAS

MERCY LOUNGE

THU 9.30  BLAKE RUBY CHLOE HOGAN

F RI 10.1  ALMOST FAMOUS

FRIDAY COMEDY NIGHT (OPEN MIC) 7PM

FRI 10.1  SOCCER MOMMY

SUNDAY BRUNCH SPECIAL & LIVE MUSIC 11AM-2PM OPEN JAM 7PM 8 AM - 11 PM MONDAY - THURSDAY AND 8 AM - 12 AM FRIDAY TO SUNDAY

210 LOUISE ST. (OFF ELLISTON PL.) 615-321-COCO • CAFECOCO.COM

TUE 10.5  BRELAND THE HIGH WATT

TUE 10.5  TV GIRL JORDANA

MERCY LOUNGE

THE HIGH WATT

THURSDAY OPEN MIC 7PM-9PM

SATURDAY SANGRIA SATURDAY 6PM Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Fusion, Funk, Flamenco, etc. Technique, theory, songwriting. Programs available. 40 years exp.

THU 9.30  THE BROTHERS COMATOSE

THE HIGH WATT

T HU 10.7  ZOOFUNKYOU, ADMIRAL PHUNK, MILES BURGER THE HIGH WATT

SQUIRREL FLOWER

CANNERY BALLROOM

FRI 10.8  BBNO$ CANNERY BALLROOM

FRI 10.1  BOOMBOX

FRI 10.8  SLEIGH BELLS

MERCY LOUNGE

S AT 10.2  BIG FREEDIA QDP DJS & SAANEAH

F RI 10.8  RAYVON OWEN THE HIGH WATT

CANNERY BALLROOM

SAT 10.2  BAILEY BRYAN LEAH KATE

SAT 10.9  HELLOGOODBYE MERCY LOUNGE

THE HIGH WATT

SAT 10.2  MOUNTAINS LIKE WAX

CARVER COMMODORE, CREATURE COMFORT

MERCY LOUNGE

SAT 10.9  GOLDPARK

MAGGIE MILES & EASY HONEY

THE HIGH WATT

an unabashed, finger-on-the-pulse,

live-liKe-You-

THU. 9/30

can’t-get-enough

supporter of the arts

for 30 Years. Call for take-out!

The Brothers Comatose mercy lounge · Goodnight, Texas

FRI. 10/1

soccer mommy

cannery ballroom · Squirrel Flower

nashvillescene.com

Authentic Mexican Cuisine & Bakery...Side by Side!

615-669-8144 PanaderiayPasteleriaLopez

SAT. 10/2

big freedia

bailey bryan

cannery ballroom

the high watt

917A Gallatin Pike S, Madison, TN

now open IN EAST NASHVILLE!

The Mountain Goats

nothing,nowhere.

Cannery Ballroom · Sophia Boro

Mercy Lounge

10.17 

615-865-2646 TacosyMariscosLindoMexico

THU. 10/14

SAT. 10/10

THE LIBBY O SHOW PRESENTS SIX ONE FIVE COLLECTIVE THE HIGH WATT

11.3  LARRY JUNE

THE HIGH WATT

3.4  PARQUET COURTS CANNERY BALLROOM

MERCY LOUNGE

3.14  GEESE

12.15  THE ACES

THE HIGH WATT

CANNERY BALLROOM

4.4  CRANKGAMEPLAYS

12.16  12.

CHARLIE PARR & DEAD HORSES MERCY LOUNGE

SUN 10.10  NOTHING,NOWHERE. MEET ME @ THE ALTAR, ARMS LENGTH

MERCY LOUNGE

CANNERY BALLROOM

WED 10.13  JON SPENCER & THE HITMAKERS THE HIGH WATT

MON 10.11  MANDA

NANCY DAINES, JACKSON DREYER

THE HIGH WATT

TUES 10.12  MONOPHONICS TU PAUL & THE TALL TREES

THE HIGH WATT

12.17  90'S KIDS & BETCHA

THU 10.14  JUDAH. MERCY LOUNGE

THU 10.14  THE MOUNTAIN GOATS SOPHIA BORO

CANNERY BALLROOM

1106 Woodland St. | Near Five Points

MyBurgerAndCoMpAny.CoM

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

MUSIC

THE SPIN

… AND THAT’S AMERICANA(FEST) BY ABBY LEE HOOD, J.R. LIND, STEPHEN TRAGESER, EDD HURT AND OLIVIA LADD

TRÉ BURT

HAILEY WHITTERS (LEFT) AND BRITTNEY SPENCER that reads as a more pessimistic retelling of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and is rightfully getting a dose of commercial rotation. With a cool, clear night and a nearcapacity crowd Friday at 3rd and Lindsley, Jim Lauderdale eased into his 45-minute set with the aplomb of a master of pop-country. Indeed, Lauderdale has refined his art over the decades, with a cooled-out manner that doesn’t hide his considerable chops as a singer, songwriter and bandleader. With the help of a precise six-piece band, he strolled through his set. Lauderdale is indeed a deceptive performer, because he doesn’t seem like he’s trying. Underneath his unruffled exterior, however, he communicates heartbreak and joy. He sang four songs from his excellent recent full-length Hope, which may be his finest album to date. His songwriting has always been sharp, but Hope is a great record that takes various usages of 1970s pop-rockcountry and translates them into COVID-era Nashville, with a little Leon Russell and Grateful Dead thrown in for good measure. Lauderdale and his band swung through a few rockers, too — they turned “King of Broken Hearts” into a set piece that defined country-rock as an amalgam of the styles of George Jones and Gram Parsons. Ultimately, what was most impressive about the set was Lauderdale’s unforced, emotive singing. On the aforementioned “King of Broken Hearts,” he even did a few Joneslike curls and turns, but he also sounded as casual as Parsons himself. His set was one definition of Americana, since you couldn’t quite place it by its stylistic hallmarks. All you could say was that it was very good, and filled with what came across as love for the way the music can cross boundaries. A few blocks away at Mercy Lounge, California folk-rocker Tré Burt — who recently released You, Yeah, You, his second LP for the late John Prine’s Oh Boy Records — got settled for one of his last appearances of a busy week. Backing him up were three ace

Nashville players you might expect to see in a small club or at a house show: guitarist Josh Halper, bassist Coley Hinson and drummer Josh Minyard. Burt’s voice was nearly worn through, but the nearbreaking edge to his rasp felt appropriate on songs that reflect his love for storytelling as well as the exhaustion that comes from constantly having to prove yourself if you’re not white. The wistful “Sweet Misery” was one key moment in the set, spotlighting some places where the talents of Burt and Deer Tick’s John McCauley overlap. But the emotional peaks came in the driving “Under the Devil’s Knee,” which relays the lives of George Floyd, Eric Garner and Breonna Taylor and their deaths at the hands of police, and the ominous “By the Jasmine,” in which a young Black man, minding his own business, finds himself in a confrontation with police who are called to the scene by a white woman. One of the major roots traditions celebrated in Americana is American folk songs that call for social justice. Burt has recently penned two superlative examples, and the genre sorely needs more of them. AmericanaFest closed out on a high note Saturday with a lineup of masterful songwriters. Emily Scott Robinson managed to silence a chatty crowd at 3rd and Lindsley with a selection of emotionally potent story songs. The tunes preview her forthcoming album American Siren, another release from the aforementioned Oh Boy. Robinson and her band got into an upbeat groove with “Cheap Seats,” her ode to the Mother Church and VALERIE JUNE AT PILGRIMAGE

the legion of musicians in this town hustling in the service industry while waiting for their big day to come. She pivoted with ease between acoustic and electric guitar and keyboard. Toward the end of her set came songs that brought a tear to many eyes in the room. “Let ’Em Burn” and “Hometown Hero” relayed deeply personal stories in a way that was universally relevant — much like Prine himself. “I won’t talk as much as I normally talk, which is still a lot, anyway,” said Carlene Carter, beginning the final set of the night at The Basement East. She could have talked all night, because she had the audience in the palm of her hand with her stories about ex-husbands (one of whom is Nick Lowe) as well as her badass acoustic guitar performance. The set started off with some sound problems that got fixed as it went on, and it ran a little late. None of that mattered to Carter, whose enthusiasm was amazing to behold. A highlight was her reading of “Easy From Now On,” a now-classic country song she wrote with Susanna Clark in the 1970s — a living history lesson. Carter played what you might call traditional rock ’n’ roll, but nothing about it felt canned or nostalgic. With a superb band that included guitarist Chris Casello, she did it all, essaying one-chord rockers that turned the beat around, swung like crazy and never let up for a second. It was like catching a handbill that advertised the mastery of the rockcountry past in a newly developed Nashville neighborhood. It was the kind of set that reaffirmed your faith in music. EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

SEE OUR COVERAGE OF THE PILGRIMAGE MUSIC & CULTURAL FESTIVAL AT NASHVILLESCENE.COM/MUSIC

PHOTO: MATT MASTERS

PHOTO: BRITTON STRICKLAND

e got our AmericanaFest 2021 in-the-field experience underway early on a beautiful and brisk Thursday evening with the Rainbow Happy Hour showcase presented by Country Queer, an outstanding online pub that centers LGBTQ voices in country and Americana, at Vinyl Tap. The event was a welcome mix of emotional moments and tunes for which the only appropriate response was hearty stomping. Among the highlights was Lilli Lewis’ cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” a song about the pain of being made to feel like an outsider, which she dedicated to untold stories about queer people, misfits, immigrants and people experiencing homelessness. Lewis also sang “Copper John,” a tune about unhoused people who helped her through a dark time. She was accompanied by Joy Clark on electric guitar, who peppered the performance with grooving, rollicking solos. Later, several audience members had tears in their eyes during indie-rock-schooled songwriter Izzy Heltai’s set. Along with Mya Byrne, who also played the show, Heltai is one of the first two transgender artists known to be booked for an AmericanaFest showcase, and he sang about believing at one time that he wouldn’t be alive today, since the life expectancy of trans kids is so low. A little while later at 3rd and Lindsley, a quartet of extraordinarily gifted women jointly and separately showed what country music is at its core and can and should be better known for — if only the industry would stretch its arms and embrace the time travelers and dreamers just outside the comfortable circle of safe pablum it manufactures. One standout: Brittney Spencer, a favorite of The Highwomen, showcased her church-trained voice and her funny, clever, heart-wrenching songs that twirl so gracefully between country and soul and folk and gospel that no genre except one so broad as Americana could possibly hold her. That breathtaking voice, so obviously hewn in the pews and the choir loft of her AME church in Baltimore! Soulful when it needs to be, soft when it has to be and full of praise for life, no matter the challenges it brings. Spencer is an artist’s artist, as proven when Highwoman Amanda Shires joined her onstage and gushed with praise for her. The pair dueted on a Christmas song (shh: It has a bad word in the title!) they wrote in June when Spencer thought she was just visiting the home of Shires and husband Jason Isbell simply to swim. The best Christmas songs are written in the summer (just ask Irving Berlin), and this one, in a just world, would join the pantheon. Spencer closed her set with her single “Sober and Skinny,” a song

PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

Editor’s note: Here are a handful of our favorite sets from Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Find all of our review coverage at nashvillescene.com/music.

NASHVILLE SCENE | JULY 21 – JULY 27, 2016 | nashvillescene.com

music_9-30-21.indd 40

9/27/21 5:38 PM

JOIN US! Nissan Stadium, 1 Titans Way October 23, 2021 | 8 AM

2ND ANNUAL FITNESS CRAWL TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER

2ND ANNUAL FITNESS CRAWL Real Men Wear Pink gives men in our community a

TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER chance to make a meaningful impact in the ﬁght against breast cancer. Every dollar raised helps the American Real Men Wear Pink gives men in our community a chance to make a meaningful Cancer breast cancer by funding impact Society in the fightsave againstlives breastfrom cancer. Every dollar raised helps the American Cancer Society savecancer lives from breast cancer by funding innovative innovative breast research, education and breast cancer comprehensive research, education and comprehensive patient support. patient support.

2ndAnnual AnnualFitness FitnessCrawl Crawl to to Fight Fight Breast Cancer 2nd Cancer 2021 2021Schedule Schedule SUN. OCT. 17TH – 11:30am - MARATHON SAT. OCT. 2ND – 8:30 & 9:30am, 12 & 1:30pm PILATES NUPOWER YOGA + BARRE THURS. OCT. 21ST – 5:30pm - MELIORA MON. OCT. 4TH – 8:30am - BARRE3 NASHVILLE Sat. Oct. 23rd – 8am - American Cancer Society’s MOVEMENT Gulch Making Strides Against Breast Cancer FRI. OCT. 22ND – 6pm - Friday Night Flow WEDNESDAYS OCT. 6, 13, 20 & 27 – Wear Pink BEND AND ZEN HOT YOGA Wednesdays all day - ORANGE THEORY FITNESS Brentwood, Green Hills, Melrose & Midtown SAT. OCT. 23RD – 8am - American Cancer SAT. OCT. 9TH – 9am - NASHVILLE BALLET Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Dancefix SAT. OCT. 23RD – 2:30pm - NASHVILLE BALLET SAT. OCT. 9TH – 12:15pm - CYCLEBAR Gulch Intro to Ballet SCAN HERE FOR THEallSCHEDULE & WED. OCT. 13TH – Wear Pink Classes Day SUN. OCT. 24TH - 4:15pm - BARRE3 BRENTWOOD HOTBOX THURS. OCT. 28TH – 6:30pm - YOGA MUTTZ DONATION LINK FRI. OCT. 15TH – 5:45pm - SHAKTI POWER YOGA FRI. OCT. 29TH - 4:15pm - BARRE3 NASHVILLE SAT. OCT. 16TH – 8, 9, 10, 11am & 12pm - STUDIO Paddock Place PILATES NASHVILLE Sat. Oct. 2nd – 8:30 & 9:30am, 12 & 1:30pm - NUPOWER YOGA + BARRE

Sun. Oct. 17th – 11:30am - MARATHON PILATES

Mon. Oct. 4th – 8:30am - BARRE3 NASHVILLE Gulch

Thurs. Oct. 21st – 5:30pm - MELIORA MOVEMENT

Wednesdays Oct. 6, 13, 20 & 27 – Wear Pink Wednesdays all day -

Fri. Oct. 22nd – 6pm - Friday Night Flow -

_ORANGE THEORY FITNESS Brentwood, Green Hills, Melrose & Midtown

BEND AND ZEN HOT YOGA

Fri. Oct. 8th – 4:15pm - BARRE3 NASHVILLE Paddock Place Sat. Oct. 9th – 9am - NASHVILLE BALLET Dancefix Sat. Oct. 9th – 12:15pm - CYCLEBAR Gulch

Sat. Oct. 23rd – 2:30pm - NASHVILLE BALLET Intro to Ballet

Wed. Oct. 13th – Wear Pink Classes all Day - HOTBOX

Sun. Oct. 24th - 4:15pm - BARRE3 BRENTWOOD

Fri. Oct. 15th – 5:45pm - SHAKTI POWER YOGA

Thurs. Oct. 28th – 6:30pm - YOGA MUTTZ MOVEMENT

Sat. Oct. 16th – 8, 9, 10, 11am & 12pm - STUDIO PILATES NASHVILLE

LOUNGE

SCAN HERE FOR THE SCHEDULE & DONATION LINK

MAKINGSTRIDESWALK.ORG/NASHVILLETN

FILM

A NAFF RIOT

13 films to check out at this year’s Nashville Film Festival BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY, JOE NOLAN, JASON SHAWHAN AND CORY WOODROOF

probably be able to build your own Wicker Man once you’ve absorbed the exhaustive detail included in this documentary’s threeplus-hour runtime. Available via the virtual cinema JOE NOLAN

CRAIG D. LINDSEY

EVERYBODY IS LOOKING FOR SOME LIGHT

OLD HENRY

Tennessee-based indie-rock foursome Colony House set out to prove that they’re musicians on a mission with this concert film/visual album mashup. Before the release of their 2020 album Leave What’s Lost Behind (released mere weeks before the pandemic hit), the boys went on a road trip performing selections from the album in various desert and mountain settings across the country. What was initially a zany journey to unite music with nature now looks like a commentary on how ready, willing and able rock bands are to perform after a yearand-a-half of isolation and distancing. Available via the virtual cinema CRAIG D. LINDSEY POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA

fter last year’s fully virtual presentation, the Nashville Film Festival is returning in person — in part, anyway — for its 52nd annual iteration. This year’s NaFF is ditching the traditional NASHVILLE FILM setup of one cinFESTIVAL ema (usually a NASHVILLEFILMFESTIVAL.ORG Regal cineplex) SEPT. 30-OCT. 6 ONLINE AND to instead scatter IN PERSON AT ROCKETOWN, THE BELCOURT, MARATHON around at four MUSIC WORKS AND BELMONT Nashville locaUNIVERSITY tions: the Belcourt Theatre, Belmont University, Rocketown and Marathon Music Works. A number of the 150plus films being shown this year will be available both in person and online via the fest’s virtual cinema, while some will be available in person only or online only. Established as the Sinking Creek Film Celebration in 1969, what is now known as the Nashville Film Festival has a longheld tradition of presenting music-related films. That tradition continues this year with a number of music-centric features and documentaries, among them docs about legendary all-woman garage-rock act Fanny (Fanny: The Right to Rock), Nashville legends John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas (Leftover Feelings: A Studio B Revival), LGBTQ women in Southern music (Invisible) and Brian Wilson (Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, which will serve as the fest’s Opening Night Presentation Thursday at Rocketown). There are also several films with local connections, including but not limited to “How Did We Get Here? Nashville Surviving 2020,” a documentary short about Music City’s rotten year made by a small group of Belmont University students, as well as director Danny Dones’ comedic short “Nashville Dads Club.” What’s more, NaFF has planned a number of panels, workshops and presentations, with topics including: Ethics in Filmmaking, Diversity & Inclusion in Filmmaking, Distributing Your Film, Festival Strategies for Filmmakers, Create It in Tennessee! and more. There will also be music-specific panels and presentations like The Case Study in Sync (TV/Film), Rising Music Supervisors

POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA and much more. Tickets and VIP badges for the screenings are on sale via nashvillefilmfestival.org. Below, Scene critics round up 13 can’t-miss films to check out at this year’s festival. This is all, of course, just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the films and events taking place this year at NaFF — so log onto the festival’s site and do some exploring of your own.

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR

It was only about a decade ago when British actor and writer Mark Gatiss popularized the term “folk horror” to describe films that often highlight raw landscapes and the madness-inducing isolation that lies in wait in wild spaces. Recent movies like Mandy, Midsommar, The Lighthouse and In the Earth find the genre in a true golden age, and Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror feels right on time for this year’s autumn film festival. You’ll

Adina (who is considered the black sheep because she’s planning to join a polyamorous marriage). 9:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at Rocketown; also available via the virtual cinema

Tim Blake Nelson has long been one of Hollywood’s best character actors, and he gets his first leading role since The Ballad of Buster Scruggs with the Western Old Henry, which was filmed right here in Tennessee. Stephen Dorff and Scott Haze are other recognizable names in Potsy Ponciroli’s film, which premiered to good notices at the Venice Film Festival. If you’re able to make it out to Rocketown, Nelson himself will be on hand for the screening. Let’s be honest: A Nelson-led Western should be on everyone’s must list during this year’s fest. 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at Rocketown CORY WOODROOF

THISTLE

Writer-director Wes Hurley takes some fantastical leaps in telling this semi-autobiographical coming-out/coming-of-age story. The first half is set in cold, brutal Russia (though the entire cast speaks English), where a young boy (Hersh Powers) and his mother (Sera Barbieri) cope with living in a deadly, depressing environment. A chance for a better tomorrow comes when the mom marries a stateside Christian conservative (The Wonder Years dad Dan Lauria) and they high-tail it to America, where the boy’s interest in movies and men grows with time. Available via the virtual cinema CRAIG D.

LINDSEY

Thistle Farms is one of Nashville’s most impactful nonprofits, an organization whose mission is to help women who have survived difficult situations including trafficking and addiction. Filmmaker Ryan Camp has woven together this collection of experiences from the women who have grown together through the ministry. Thistle will have its world premiere at NaFF this year and should be a great opportunity for festivalgoers to grapple with massive issues on a local stage. It’s great that the film festival is staying true to its roots in telling community stories that matter. 10:30 a.m. Oct. 4 at Belmont University’s Large Theater; also available via the virtual cinema CORY WOODROOF

CHARM CIRCLE

THE NEUTRAL GROUND

Nira Burstein has a family that is, to say the least, eccentric AF. So of course they’d all make prime subjects for a documentary. Burstein heads back to the Queens home she grew up in (a place so dirty and disheveled it makes Grey Gardens look like DJ Khaled’s crib) and does interviews with her mom and dad, two people with long histories of mental illness. She also talks to big sis Judy (who also has mental health issues) and little sis

Comedian and Daily Show field producer C.J. Hunt takes a sharp look at the history of Confederate monuments and Lost Causism, which has plagued Southern minds and history books for more than a century. That supremely ugly, hilariously vandalized Nathan Bedford Forrest statue alongside I-65 has long embarrassed Nashville, so the negative impact these monuments have on communities across the South shouldn’t come as a

CHARM CIRCLE

NASHVILLE SCENE | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | nashvillescene.com

film_9-30-21.indd 42

9/27/21 6:17 PM

FILM

MANDY BARNETT Oct. 1-2

I’M WANITA

CORY WOODROOF

I’M WANITA

Man, wait until you get swept up by the red-haired force of nature who is Wanita, the focal point of this documentary. She has quite the story: She’s an autistic, bingedrinking, Loretta Lynn-obsessed country singer known as the “Queen of Honky-Tonk” back home in Australia. (She’s also a proud sex worker.) Watch her finally get the opportunity to go to America — spending time in music meccas Memphis, New Orleans and, yes, Nashville — and record the honky-tonk album she’s always wanted to make. 11 a.m. Oct. 5 at Marathon Music Works; also available via the virtual cinema CRAIG D. LINDSEY

A-HA THE MOVIE

When the pioneering pencil-sketch animated music video for A-ha’s “Take On Me” took over MTV back in 1985, it won the band a worldwide audience. No Norwegian band had ever broken so big and so quickly. A-ha the Movie revisits those flickering images and that unforgettable keyboard riff before taking audiences on an illuminating trip through a career that includes nearly a dozen studio albums and the band’s ongoing struggle to stay true to the muse that united three small-town kids with the biggest of dreams. 1:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at Marathon Music Works; also available via the virtual cinema

JOE NOLAN

FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK

Fanny was the first all-woman rock band to release an album on a major label, but today they’re all but forgotten. The documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock aims to set this particular chapter of rock history straight. Three of the band’s four members were members of the LGBTQ community, and the Filipina Millington sisters — June on lead guitar and vocals and Jean on bass — were trailblazers in terms of inclusion of women of color on Western stages and radio. But the reason all of this really matters? Fanny actually rocked as hard and as loud as all the young dudes during one of rock’s hardest and loudest eras. 4:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at

HEAL HUMPHREYS COUNTY HOSTED BY TAYLA LYNN Oct. 11

Marathon Music Works; also available via the virtual cinema JOE NOLAN

WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR

Like The Empty Man, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is a film that hides deep inside an easy précis — a creepypasta carapace that hides something more primeval. And like the past 30 years of Candymen, the hook is sharp and gets you from the beginning, something viral and participatory; all too easy to do, yet difficult to resist. But We’re All Going to the World’s Fair understands all too well that the existential unease of youth itself, hormonal and chaotic and deeply rooted in truly becoming aware of the passage of time, is the foundation of true horror. Jane Schoenbrun’s film is a perceptive, haunting dive into the digital subconscious, the face and metadata of the next evolution in transformative fantasy terror. 10 p.m. Oct. 5 at Marathon Music Works JA-

DAVID NAIL Oct. 15

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2

10am • Outside Under the Big Tent Nashville Jazz Workshop • 1012 Buchanan St.

FREE EVENT!

SON SHAWHAN

ages 2-10

FLEE

An animated documentary with nerves of steel and a huge heart, Flee wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year with its harrowing story of a gay Afghan refugee making the most of his difficult situation. The best films allow you an opportunity to join the protagonist on their journey, not just watch it, and Flee is just as immersive as it is singular in its portrayal of grace and fight in struggle. It’s fair to say that Flee is one of the best animated films of the past decade. It’s a must-see movie. 1 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Belcourt CORY WOODROOF

THE MUSIC OF CHARLIE PARKER Plus, MASKERADE: Bring a mask to decorate!

THE WEIGHT BAND Oct. 16

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER OCT. 22

RODNEY CROWELL Oct. 27-28

THE HUMANS

Playwright Stephen Karam’s striking directorial debut takes his lauded one-act play and expands it into a delicate spiral down an austere staircase into the heart of a dysfunctional American family. Free from pretension and filled to the brim with a still unease you’d normally find in a horror film, The Humans haunts with its impeccable set, dedicated cast and creeping sense of post9/11 dread — the feeling that anything could go wrong at any moment, even at a family Thanksgiving. It’s a taut, enveloping drama with tension to spare. The Humans screens Wednesday as this year’s Nashville Film Festival Closing Night Presentation. 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Belcourt CORY WOODROOF EMAIL ARTS@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

CIRQUE-TACULAR’S SPOOKTACULAR Oct. 29-30 A LSO PER FOR M ING Louis York & The Shindellas Edwin McCain Jim Caruso’s Cast Party with Billy Stritch

surprise to locals. Hunt’s commentary is assured, at times painfully funny, at times downright infuriating and ultimately empathetic. His impressive debut is more than worth your time and consideration. 4 p.m. Oct. 4 at Belmont University’s Large Theater; also available via the virtual cinema

Nov. 12 Nov. 14 Nov. 16

FT Live and Great Performances Sponsored by

615.538.2076 | FranklinTheatre.com 419 Main St., Franklin, TN 37064

nashvillescene.com | SEPTEMBER 30 – OCTOBER 6, 2021 | NASHVILLE SCENE

film_9-30-21.indd 43

9/27/21 6:17 PM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16 11AM TO 4PM WALK OF FAME PARK IN DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE

N OV E M B E R 6 - 7 ONEC1TY / 10 AM - 4 PM

70+ ARTISAN VENDORS | FREE ADMISSION CRAFT COCKTAILS + BEER | FOOD TRUCK FARE

Come celebrate the Best of Nashville at our FREE festival with 2021 winning businesses, shopping, food trucks, games, giveaways, live music and more!