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WHEN CONSTITUENTS CROSS BOUNDARIES WITH LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS

OCTOBER 1–7, 2026 I VOLUME 45 I NUMBER 36 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

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WYNONNA JUDD TAKES A LONG, HARD LOOK ON THE HARD TRUTH >> PAGE 31

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Bluegrass, born 80 years ago in Nashville, is enjoying its latest golden age

PICKIN’ PARTY By Craig Havighurst

WITNESS HISTORY These custom-made, sunflower-adorned cowboy boots were made for Country Music Hall of Fame member Hank Snow by Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors. From the online exhibit Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Brighter

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CONTENTS 5 NEWS When Constituents Cross Boundaries With Local Elected Officials Councilmembers expect emails and debate — but recent incidents have turned personal BY ELI MOTYCKA

5 Rock Farm When an ‘agricultural’ pond becomes a massive unpermitted quarry BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR

6 The Nonprofit Acting as a Watchdog for Wages Stand Up Nashville wants Nashville’s businesses to pay wages that keep up with rising costs BY JULIANNE AKERS

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

COVER STORY

11 Pickin’ Party

Bluegrass, born 80 years ago in Nashville, is enjoying its latest golden age

Jackie Shane Archives • ANGELINA CASTILLO

BY CRAIG HAVIGHURST

MUSIC

19 CRITICS’ PICKS

Johnny Blue Skies and the Dark Clouds, Nashville Nightmare, Sarah Jarosz, John Proctor Is the Villain, Knoblinfest and more

FOOD AND DRINK

Jeff Burke, Amanda Accardi and Ethan Hawkins; photo: Eric England

Wynonna Judd’s The Hard Truth is deeply, unflinchingly personal BY BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER

31 For the Other One

Jonathan Levine and Allen Thompson discuss ACE, a benefit show celebrating the legacy of the late Bob Weir

27 75 and Thriving

As The Loveless Cafe celebrates its 75th anniversary, the restaurant remains a local — and national — favorite

BY SEAN L. MALONEY

32 The Spin

CULTURE

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The Scene’s live-review column checks out Beach House at Brooklyn Bowl

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BY ANNIE PARNELL

28 ‘That’s Jackie’ Archive of trans soul trailblazer Jackie Shane to be displayed at Vanderbilt

ON THE COVER:

31 Sing Your Own Song

FILM

35 Back in Black The International Black Film Festival continues its mission of celebrating independence and thematic diversity

BY HANNAH HERNER

BY RON WYNN

36 Where the Sidewalk Ends With The History of Concrete, John Wilson’s offkilter documentary style goes long BY ANNIE PARNELL

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NEWS

ROCK FARM

WHEN CONSTITUENTS CROSS BOUNDARIES WITH LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS Councilmembers expect emails and debate — but recent incidents have turned personal

When an ‘agricultural’ pond becomes a massive unpermitted quarry BY MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

BY ELI MOTYCKA

METRO COUNCIL CHAMBER

SPLIT NASHVILLE INTO 35 districts, and pretty quickly neighbors become councilmembers. Enjoy zoning quirks enough, start regularly attending weeknight neighborhood meetings and raise a few thousand dollars, and suddenly an after-hours hobby turns into a part-time job. For a little more than $25,000 a year, 40 members (35 district representatives plus five at-large members elected countywide) legislate twice a month — in between, there are emails, community meetings and the regular chilling fear that you and your loved ones face existential danger. “You have to believe in democracy, and you have to believe in local government’s ability to make life better for people,” says Councilmember At-Large Quin Evans Segall, an attorney who won her seat in 2023. “But don’t think for even a second that it is gonna be easy, that you’re going to have any privacy, or that you’re going to feel safe.” Routine zoning bills and land acknowledgments have led to death threats, doxxing and heated public confrontations, driving at least one councilmember to temporarily live with a friend and others to have tearful conversations with their spouses and children. Many councilmembers can directly quote descriptions of violent personal attacks directed at them via emails and social media. District 14 Councilmember Jordan Huffman — who says he’s had four death threats against himself and others against his wife and young child — started carrying his firearm at community meetings and other public appearances midway through his term. Huffman and another member have had their homes’ floor plans posted on social media without their knowledge. At a public meeting over the summer, constituents joined District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton to discuss a specific plan development project in The Nations. Partway through, after Horton had left for another meeting, a disgruntled opponent wove details about Horton’s recent divorce into a larger tirade against the specific

plan. According to several members of the Metro Council, local politics have become increasingly personal this term, punctuated by disturbing violations of members’ privacy. “My constituents aren’t random people flung out across a congressional district or an entire state,” Horton tells the Scene. “They’re my neighbors. I know them, they know me, and we see each other at the park or a restaurant or a coffee shop. But as soon as you’re elected to office, some people seem to think that no rules apply.” Councilmembers must adhere to the Metro Charter’s code of ethics. Plenty have faced formal ethics complaints from constituents, and sometimes these complaints advance to hearings or disciplinary measures. When constituents’ behavior crosses a line, officials have only their skills of diplomacy and legal recourse. Elected officials must also weigh the political impacts of a public criticism or formal proceeding against a citizen. Was it merely annoying, politically obsessive and personally inconvenient, or was it potentially dangerous? What separates a strongly worded email from a threatening paper letter sent to one’s home, pasted together like a ransom note? These boundaries vary among chamber colleagues. Some councilmembers spoke to the Scene on background, worried that publicly acknowledging hate mail — and the psychological toll it takes — would only encourage harassment. Speaking out can be construed as provoking or complaining. Drawing a line too soon might impose a chilling effect on both the democratic practice and the accessibility prized in neighborhood politics. Members come back to some version of the Golden Rule. “At the end of the day, we’re all human — I think that’s easy to forget for some people,” says District 30 Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda. “We should always be held accountable to our constituents, but there needs to be respect through it.” Sepulveda says her partner — a military veteran — significantly contributed to a sense of safety that she especially sought as an outspoken critic of ICE activity in Nashville. “Some councilmembers only deal with political and policy disagreements — I also deal with the racial side of it,” Sepulveda tells the Scene. “I am the only Latina on council, so I don’t think I have the privilege to be silent. And my part is very

small compared to other community folk who are out there putting their bodies on the line.” Metro Council action on big issues has made the local body a lightning rod for national attention, putting the spotlight on some members. Both Huffman and Councilmember At-Large Delishia Porterfield remember taking threats and harassment for publicly rebuking Morgan Wallen in 2024. For Porterfield, who is Black, this included racial slurs. A few articulate a distinct shift in 2025 that followed Trump’s second inauguration. “Donald Trump has done this — he has charged politics to an extra level and instigated fear and violence among his supporters,” says Huffman. “But I think both the far left and the far right need to do self-reflection, because the far left has taken tactics from the far right — a crude, mean style of politics they see working for Trump.” But the intense partisans aren’t the ones who worry Huffman the most. Mental health issues, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, could precipitate the worst situations he imagines. “Councilmembers in Nashville are average people who have decided to run for office, but many see us on the same level as the president and Congress,” Huffman says. “The more noise you make as a public official, the more attention you get, and you can’t make change if you don’t make noise. Politics will always make people angry, and it just takes one person to have a bad day and decide I’m the cause of it.” Throughout 2024, Evans Segall fielded intense public backlash over housing-related bills, known collectively as NEST, aimed at the city’s zoning code. Raucous meetings and emotional public hearings were not always fun, but they were “mostly what I would call debate,” Evans Segall remembers — the real crowded rooms of democracy. A few personal details — the price she paid for her home, her address — and general vitriol drove her and her husband off Nextdoor, a message-board platform that uses controversial posts as flywheels for engagement. Evans Segall says it was last year, after the housing debate, that something changed in the tenor and content of public feedback. She no longer reads and responds to every email. “The national tenor just really started to bleed down into local government politics, but it is people on all sides of all issues,” Evans Segall says, broadly describing verbal attacks that have increasingly flooded her inbox. “I engage with people a lot like I parent, which is: ‘I’m open to being wrong, but you can’t do it with a temper tantrum.’” ▼

FAIRFIELD PIKE QUARRY

PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNY MCKEE

BEDFORD COUNTY’S Zoning Board of Appeals held a contentious meeting on Sept. 17 that could have come from a Grisham novel. At three hours and 20 minutes, it ran 30 minutes longer than Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. At issue were two plots of former farmland — one on Fairfield Pike and one on Tennessee State Route 64 — each containing industrial-scale limestone excavation. In defiance of local zoning law, Hawkins and Price, a construction company, and Matthew Allen, owner of a trucking firm, had run unpermitted quarries on these properties for two years. How did they manage this? By calling their operations “farm ponds.” They relied on the Tennessee Right to Farm Act, a 1982 law designed to stop citified neighbors from using zoning laws to block normal farm activities. The act allows owners of A1 agricultural property to make farm improvements without pesky zoning or permits. One allowable improvement is a “farm pond” for livestock. Hawkins and Allen both run cattle on properties elsewhere (among other business interests). “By completely bypassing the standard public rezoning process, residents were stripped of their right to due process and a fair voice in what happens in their own community,” Jenny McKee, one of two local residents leading a fight against these quarries, tells the Scene. Although not a courtroom, the meeting room of the historic courthouse on the Shelbyville square was packed. Aggrieved residents gave impassioned speeches, saying the blasting damaged their homes and rock dust damaged their lungs. They complained of heavy trucks damaging local roads. Lawyers spoke for both sides, presenting visual displays and complex legal arguments. Nine days before the meeting, I ventured to one of the “ponds” in person. Tall gravel mounds blocked casual highway views, but McKee and I caught a wild ride to the backside of the Fairfield Pike quarry for a close look. The concerned owner of a nearby forested tract drove us in his Gator side-by-side. Bouncing down rutted trails, we passed limestone outcrops and at least one cave entrance before stopping at a fetid pool. The owner said the water leaked out of the quarry, and he was awaiting tests on it from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

She appeared surprised moments later when Jason Holleman, the lawyer for three neighbors challenging planning director Chris White’s decision that the quarries were ponds, stepped to the podium to say these images were less than two weeks old. Beyond the three named clients, others spoke against the quarries that night, including some who had been hesitant to be quoted a week earlier. Among them was 80-year-old Charles Shoemake, who suffers from both leukemia and prostate cancer. He said the rock dust “was killing him.” Kerry O’Brien, a nearby resident running a cow-calf production herd, said, “Our house was shaken by a violent force we thought was an earthquake.” He said his next water bill revealed usage had jumped from 13,000 gallons a month to 50,000 due to a crack in his swimming pool. Three hours and 19 minutes in, zoning commissioner Greg Vick requested a 30-day pause to let Hawkins and the rest investigate claims made that night. He received no second. The board voted 4-1 to overturn planning director White, meaning the quarries are no longer ponds. White sent out a stop-work order the next day. Hawkins and Price LLC did not respond to requests for comment. McKee and Holleman expect the quarry operators to appeal. ▼

THE NONPROFIT ACTING AS A WATCHDOG FOR WAGES Stand Up Nashville wants Nashville’s businesses to pay wages that keep up with rising costs BY JULIANNE AKERS

PHOTO: JOHN JO

We hiked toward the roar of machinery, pushing through brambles to barbwire at the edge of the property. Beyond giant rock slabs, we saw an excavator scooping gravel to dump into awaiting trucks. An industrial rock-crusher the length of three 18-wheelers spewed a steady fountain of water, evidently needed to crush rock. The water pooled in a stream that flowed toward the property where we stood. “What am I looking at?” I asked McKee. “It’s not a pond, and it’s not a lake,” she said. “That is a quarry, and it’s completely unregulated.” Citing a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling, she also said industrial rock-crushers are illegal on land zoned A1 agricultural. As we bounced back through the woods, our guide said his property eventually discharges into Garrison Fork, a tributary of the Duck River — Tennessee’s most biologically diverse waterway. Like other quarry neighbors I spoke with, he did not want his name in print. Few in Bedford County seem willing to cross the Hawkins family. Think the Duttons of Yellowstone or the Ewings of Dallas — on the scale of a Middle Tennessee county with a population of 50,000. Chuck Hawkins runs Hawkins and Price LLC with his brother Chris in what the company website lists as commercial and residential construction, excavation, asphalt paving, underground utilities installation, real estate and several other services. “Allen, Hawkins, Price and [Greg] Curl are all related,” McKee says. “Four branches, one tree. This granddaughter married that grandson.” She explains that Greg Curl sits on the board of a political action committee supporting county candidates willing to back Hawkins. McKee and I took cellphone photos and videos. She would blow up some of these for meeting displays. Tonya Austin, a lawyer representing the pond owners, implied that McKee’s photos — along with drone shots taken from a neighboring farm — were all months old, taken before the ponds were “completed.” Austin passed photos to the board on Sept. 17. “This is what it looks like as of yesterday, and it very much looks like a pond.” She held up shots of cattle drinking what she called “water trucked from the Fairfield pond” the day before.

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BEDFORD COUNTY BZA MEETING PHOTO: JENNY MCKEE

FAIRFIELD PIKE DRONE SHOT

PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNY MCKEE

AS NASHVILLE BECOMES increasingly expensive, one local nonprofit is acting as a watchdog for wages in the city. Stand Up Nashville recently incorporated volunteer organization Nashville Living Wage’s certification program into its Good Jobs Nashville initiative. Through the program, small businesses and nonprofits in Nashville can apply to receive certification proving they pay what’s considered a living wage for the city. To obtain the living wage certification, businesses must be in line with United Ways of Tennessee’s ALICE Report, which classifies Nashville’s living wage as $22.10 per hour without health insurance benefits and $20.10

per hour with benefits. (ALICE stands for Asset Limited Income Constrained, Employed.) The application notes this is what they call a “survival wage” rate for Davidson County and is considered the bare minimum wage needed for workers. The ALICE Report considers Davidson County’s “stability wage” $33.65 per hour — a rate they say is often unattainable for many small businesses in the area. As of this writing, 40 businesses are certified through the program. These include nonprofits like Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and Tennessee Justice Center, as well as restaurants like Tantísimo and Fait la Force Brewing, among other organizations.

“WE'RE JUST TRYING TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE PEOPLE IN THE CITY, BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT PEOPLE ARE DEALING WITH IN THIS ECONOMIC CRISIS RIGHT NOW, AND WE WANT PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO SURVIVE AND STAY IN THE CITY OF NASHVILLE.” —NATHANIEL CARTER, STAND UP NASHVILLE 6

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Good Jobs Nashville also has a job board on its website featuring listings from vetted companies demonstrating a “commitment to investing in Nashville’s working-class families and communities.” “We’re just trying to give something back to the people in the city, because we know what people are dealing with in this economic crisis right now, and we want people to be able to survive and stay in the city of Nashville,” says Nathaniel Carter, director of workforce and employment at Stand Up Nashville, who previously sat on the board for Nashville Living Wage. Carter says ensuring workers are paid a living wage has become even more important as rent and grocery prices skyrocket despite Tennessee’s minimum wage having remained at $7.25 — the federal minimum — since 2009. In the state legislature, Democratic lawmakers make yearly attempts to raise the minimum wage, though the efforts have always been shot down by the state’s Republican supermajority. Carter also says he understands there are small businesses that might not be in a position to pay a living wage, but if they are striving to get there, Stand Up Nashville wants to help them reach that goal. “We want everybody to apply who feels that they can get up to the living wage threshold, and if they have any barriers, we’re going to have monthly meetings with these small business owners,” he says. “We’re going to have an ecosystem where we can actually sit down, have conversations, and hopefully find resources to help these small businesses grow into what they want to become.” Stand Up Nashville strategic campaigns coordinator Isaac Swafford says part of the organization’s mission is to promote small businesses — and to ensure that the small businesses that give Nashville character stay open as the city grows and large corporations like Oracle set up shop. “It’s a two-way street,” says Swafford. “We need to invest in one another, and if we continue selling out Nashville to the lowest bidder in these large corporations, we’re all going to lose.” The exact wage considered “livable” varies. A 2025 Metro Social Services report found that about 200,000 workers in Davidson County are making less than the living wage — which, they say for Nashville, is roughly $53,000 a year. That makes up about half of Nashville workers, the report says. Meanwhile, Metro Social Services released a report this year that found more than half of employed Black Nashvillians make less than $50,000 per year. ▼

PITH IN THE WIND

NASHVILLESCENE.COM/NEWS/PITHINTHEWIND A right-wing conference — featuring prominent Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, who advocates against women’s voting rights and marriage equality — is drawing backlash ahead of its planned event this week at The Factory at Franklin. The 2026 Fight Laugh Feast Conference, whose theme is “Holy Wars: Just War, the Crusades, and the Christian Life,” is set to take place Oct. 1 through 3. Wilson is an Idaho-based pastor who earlier this year led a worship service at the Pentagon at the invitation of one of his followers, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Many Franklin community members opposed to the event have signed a Change.org petition seeking the event’s cancellation.

Former Rutherford County Library director Dr. Luanne James has filed a federal lawsuit against the library system and board alleging First Amendment violations and discrimination and retaliation. James was fired earlier this year after refusing to relocate 132 children’s books to the adult section of the library amid a statewide “age-appropriate review” of public library books. The suit alleges that the defendants violated the First Amendment by restricting the public’s access to certain books in the public library system, and by firing James after she spoke out against the plans to remove books from the children’s and young adult sections of the libraries. The complaint also alleges that the defendants violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

Metro will honor a coveted pathway to Hume-Fogg Academic High School for all Meigs Academic Middle School students who qualify — despite a historically large class admitted to the magnet middle school by error in 2024. An unspecified admissions mistake two years ago brought Meigs’ sixth-grade class to 310 students, up from 170 the year before. The same year, Meigs dropped fifth grade as part of a countywide shift by Metro Nashville Public Schools to gradually move fifth grade from middle schools to elementary schools. The same class began eighth grade this school year with 287 students. Meigs students have a rare privilege within MNPS — if they meet certain testing and grade thresholds, a rising eighthgrader is guaranteed passage to Hume-Fogg. Parents have begun questioning the feasibility of this year’s class entering Hume-Fogg next year. Last year’s incoming class at Hume-Fogg was 208 students; no incoming class in the past decade has exceeded 231 students.

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Dozens of signs read “Black Voters Matter.” Scrawled across countless other posters was the phrase “Protect the South: No Jim Crow Maps.” These words were spelled out on placards carried by hundreds of protesters who flooded the Tennessee State Capitol earlier this month during a special session eliminating Tennessee’s only majority-Black district at the federal level — which also serves as the state’s only Democratic seat and includes much of Memphis.

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Julianne joined the Scene in 2025 after several years of covering community news in her home state, Georgia. She primarily reports on state and local government, though she dabbles in music and culture writing as well as the elusive Malört and crayfish beats. Find her exploring Nashville’s dining scene in search of the best bowl of pho.

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Lou Presents Bluegrass Women showcases a who’s-who of Nashville’s top-tier musicians. “Right now, when I look around at the scene, I feel so lucky. We’re all inspiring each other and bouncing ideas off of each other. Creativity is at its peak when you’re in a world where everybody’s collaborating. So it’s a really beautiful place to be.”

PICKIN’ PARTY IN LATE AUGUST, the four young guys who play as Mountain Grass Unit invested in white sport coats, string ties and black cowboy hats — an homage to the sartorial standards of the 1950s — for their debut on the Grand Ole Opry. Twenty-four hours later, in their more typical jeans and cozy overshirts, the band played down their new album Appalachian Smoke for almost 1,200 fans packed into Brooklyn Bowl. Less than a year ago, they were playing The Basement East, which is about half the size. Emerging bluegrass bands don’t usually experience this kind of rapid liftoff. But the Birmingham-born jamgrass quartet is, probably more than any other group, catching the updraft of arena-filling star Billy Strings. Another show, days earlier, presented a more familiar scenario. Three generations of the famous McCoury clan took over the Ryman for a show billed as “The Legacy Continues.” Pompadoured patriarch Del McCoury led his band during the first half, with his bluesky tenor in

Bluegrass, born 80 years ago in Nashville, is enjoying its latest golden age BY CRAIG HAVIGHURST

perfect shape at age 87. He sang the propulsive spiritual train song “All Aboard,” Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” and his legendary cover of Richard Thompson’s ballad of love, black leather and tragedy, “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” Then The Travelin’ McCourys — basically the same band without Del, and thus the long-term vehicle for sons Rob and Ronnie McCoury in a post-Del world — offered their more progressive vision of the string-band music this family has been making out of Nashville since settling here in 1992. Rob, on banjo, and Ronnie, on mandolin, match up in this tight and fluid group with fiddler Christian Ward, guitarist Cody Kilby and bass player Alan Bartram, all recruited over many years from Nashville’s peerless acoustic talent pool. If Mountain Grass Unit represents the youth

brigade of bluegrass and string-band musicians moving to Nashville to establish a professional beachhead, the McCourys embody the genre’s living lineage here. Since Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys debuted their revolutionary sound on that same Ryman stage just after World War II, bluegrass has had a home and hub in Music City. Eighty years after the genre’s Big Bang, a case can be made that bluegrass has never been more dynamic, more ubiquitous or more artistically exciting than it is in 2026. Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle — both Grammy-winning touring acts with bands of Nashville pickers — are the big stories of this decade. But at the club and street level, a lot more is going on. “It is a really special time,” says singer and songwriter Lindsay Lou. Her new album Lindsay

THE TALENT When histories of music scenes are told, they tend to focus on the spotlight artists — those who wrote and sang the songs. Bluegrass is different, with a foundation built on musicianship, because it’s demanding ensemble music that requires expertise on its component instruments: fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, upright bass and resophonic guitar (that square-necked slide thing Jerry Douglas plays, commonly called a dobro even though that name is taken from one of many brands). Before and even more so after the COVID pandemic, young players have surged into town to grow as musicians, to build networks and to make this niche work for them. Some came from family band situations around the South and Midwest, and quite a few from music colleges

"WE'RE ALL INSPIRING EACH OTHER AND BOUNCING IDEAS OFF OF EACH OTHER. CREATIVITY IS AT ITS PEAK WHEN YOU'RE IN A WORLD WHERE EVERYBODY'S COLLABORATING. SO IT'S A REALLY BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BE." —Bluegrass singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

PHOTOS: ERIC ENGLAND

ETHAN HAWKINS

like East Tennessee State University and Berklee in Boston. Some were anxious about finding too many players chasing too few gigs, but they’ve often been surprised. Opportunities expanded. They found their peers and elders to be more supportive than competitive, and there were places to play. Among the pilgrims is 35-year-old Ethan Hawkins, a guitarist, singer and bass player who moved here three years ago from his hometown of Staunton, Va., after music college in Boston. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” Hawkins says. “I’ve been chasing music and community as part of my life for the better part of 15 years. My dad played and my grandfather played. Nashville, to me, is the biggest [talent] pool, and it’s also closest to the culture that I grew up in. So that’s why I’m here.” Award-winning fiddle player and singer Bronwyn Keith-Hynes came to town in 2018 as a side musician and emerged as an artist. After almost three years touring and recording (and winning a Grammy Award) with Molly Tuttle’s band Golden Highway, she’s released two albums of her own work, including the brand-new Rattlin’ Bones. Now touring as Bronwyn, she says Nashville, for bluegrass, is “the epicenter of everything” — a place where the musician-centric nature of the genre is super-served. “The fans get really attached to the individual musicians, and that doesn’t really seem to happen nearly as much in other genres, you know?” Keith-Hynes says, referencing her year or so leading the Monday night house band residency at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison. “People become fans of all these different banjo players and guitar players, and then it’s almost like trading cards. Like, ‘What if we put this combination together? What superpowers is this

combination gonna have?’” These pickers — and there are scores if not hundreds of them in and near town — live an on-call kind of lifestyle, stitching together tours long and short with local gigs, recording sessions, and other musical and nonmusical hats besides. But scenes require catalysts and instigators as well. In the past year or two, an important one has been mandolin player, talent booker and former touring artist Jeff Burke, founder of the concert calendar and show production company Bluegrass Nashville. “I guess I’m a promoter now,” says Burke, a trim 51-year-old known for his ubiquity around town and his coiffed shock of silver hair. “I never thought I would be one, but I’ve kind of just turned into that because it’s sort of fun, and I’m passionate about the music. We’re all passionate about the music — about the people that play it and the venues that host it.” If anyone knows how vibrant and busy bluegrass is right now, it’s Burke. “As people doing our best to search every website and reach out to the community and to at least try to know where all the bluegrass gigs are,” he says, “that’s getting harder and harder every day, because there’s more and more of them popping up.”

and is now largely on the road, supporting its three albums. Dee’s maintained Bluegrass Mondays, with a residency slot from 6 to 8 p.m. — held by Bronwyn and then modern banjo player Kyle Tuttle — followed by a ticketed full band show. It’s where the sound of Nashville grass is being worked out week to week. Another headquarters for the music has been a long-running East Nashville Wednesday night jam. It started at The 5 Spot around 2007 with epic nights where star players, new-to-town hopefuls and skilled hobbyist musicians met one another, picked together and sometimes formed bands. In the 2010s, it moved up Gallatin Road to the American Legion Post 82 and became a kind of string-band complement to the venue’s popular Honky Tonk Tuesdays. While the latter dance party shifted to Eastside Bowl in 2024, Bluegrass Wednesdays are still a hot spot. “It just feels like the place we’re always meeting,” says Burke. “Post 82 is where we go to pick and commune and talk about, you know, where

THE SPACES Things can only “pop up” with the participation of venues, and Nashville has more music rooms welcoming bluegrass than folks can remember. For decades, while the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman held a place for bluegrass, the Station Inn had mostly a monopoly on the genre at the club level. Opened in the mid-1970s, it became the community’s home and hearth, with shows all week and an open jam session on Sundays, where countless relationships were forged. Magical and historic collaborations have been playing out on its stage for 50 years, and they still do. But in recent years, the exploratory hangout culture for younger musicians and bands-in-progress has moved to the East Side and to Madison, the suburb north of Briley Parkway where numerous bluegrass legends — including Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs and John Hartford — used to live. Leading the way has been Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge. Starting around 2017, the cozy dive turned Monday nights over to a bluegrass collective, which gelled over time into East Nash Grass, an extraordinary and original band. Though its founding lead singer James Kee recently stepped away, the band retains his spirit

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

JEFF BURKE

you’re going out next, or to trade mandolins.” The Legion isn’t just for informal sessions either. This summer, the space hosted a wild and colorful album release concert by Nashville fiddler Matt Combs — a veteran of the Opry house band and John Hartford’s last group — for his whimsically titled 50 Years of Clown School. Working with Burke and Bluegrass Nashville, Combs cooked up a carnival outdoors and a mini-circus indoors, with clowns, jugglers, a sword swallower and a magician. After the thrills and laughs, the band got serious with lushly arranged instrumental originals played by top Music City masters, including fiddler Brittany Haas, mandolinist Dominic Leslie and clawhammer banjo player Victor Furtado. It evoked the imagination and spectacle that show promoter Bill Graham was famous for in San Francisco and New York in the 1960s and ’70s. Burke leads his own collective Get Off My Grass at East Nashville’s Drifters on Sunday afternoons. It’s always a great hang during the

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MELODY WALKER AND THE BLUEGRASS PRIDE JAMBASSADORS PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

temperate months. He has also helped the venerable 3rd and Lindsley make a push into bluegrass, promoting shows recently by major league touring artists such as Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Laurie Lewis and Tim O’Brien. Other venues hosting variations on the high lonesome sound recently include Acme Feed & Seed and Chief’s on Broadway, Tennessee Brew Works in SoBro, The Nations Bar and Grill, Star Rover Sound in Germantown, Honeytree Meadery in East Nashville and the Countrypolitan downtown — plus a Sunday old-time jam at Fran’s Eastside on Dickerson Pike. No venue owners have welcomed bluegrass in the past few years quite like those behind Nectar Urban Cantina and Tennfold Brewing in Donelson, sister businesses that sit almost across the street from each other on Lebanon Pike near Briley Parkway. Nectar, with its Mexican-inspired menu and juice/coffee bar,

opened in 2017. Co-owner Hunter Hakanson decided to build a stage in its big backyard, then did another at Tennfold. Billy Strings played Nectar before he blew up. So did Mountain Grass Unit when they were still high schoolers visiting from Birmingham. “I just love bluegrass and wanted to give back to the community,” says Hakanson. “There’s so much talent here in this town that really needs a place to kind of spread their wings. I do love the fact that I can go, ‘Hey, so-and-so played at the Nectar stage.’” In September, Nectar hosted its first all-day Music City Flatpicking Festival and Guitar Championship, with a slate of local bands, including a mix-and-match outfit called Melody Walker and the Bluegrass Pride Jambassadors. Therein lies one more side of the stringband community. Singer and songwriter Melody Walker is a Bay Area native who moved to Nashville when her bluegrass circuit friends Billy Strings, Molly

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

Tuttle and Lindsay Lou were doing so. Among her efforts here — including sharing the 2025 Grammy for Best American Roots song for co-writing Sierra Ferrell’s “American Dreaming” — has been tending to LGBTQ inclusion and representation in the music through Bluegrass Pride. One manifestation is a monthly picking party at Canvas Lounge, the gay bar and club in East Nashville. From that cohort, the Jambassadors band was drawn. “We’ve been doing the jam on first Sundays for over two years now and get a ragtag mix of American Legion jammers, touring superpickers, hobbyists and folks who only come to this jam because of the open atmosphere,” Walker tells the Scene by email from the road. “If you wanna bring people back to bluegrass, it needs to be a big tent, because the gatekeeping has too often been wrapped up in the right-wing version of identity politics. My favorite part of the jam is the Canvas regulars who come specifically to listen and sing along to the music they grew up with. It’s emotional for them.”

THE RECORDINGS Two albums released this season illustrate not only the sound of today’s bluegrass, but also the collaborative ethos that Nashville artists and musicians bring to the music. Lindsay Lou Presents Bluegrass Women is the kind of multi-artist project that periodically concentrates the power and skill of the acoustic roots world, calling to mind 1972’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (and featuring lots of bluegrass collaborators). She curated familiar songs from the folk canon that were written by women and rallied a cohort of stellar female musicians, mostly from Nashville. Every song gets a custom mix of voices and arrangement. The beautiful “All I Ever Loved Was You,” composed by Dorothy Skaggs (mother of Ricky), features vocals by 75-year-old pioneer Laurie Lewis. “High on a Mountain,” a muchloved song by Ola Belle Reed, is propelled by Sierra Hull’s mandolin. “I didn’t want to have deep cuts on the record,” Lou says. “I wanted them to be songs that everybody knows, because that’s the impact. That’s when you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve been singing

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this forever. I didn’t know it was written by a woman!’ That’s where the big ‘aha’ moment happens.”

Bronwyn’s project Rattlin’ Bones is a more straightforward studio opus that completes KeithHynes’ journey from band member to leader. The two-time IBMA Fiddler Player of the Year developed her dynamic stage presence working with Molly Tuttle and has toured heavily since that band went on hiatus in 2025. Her aim, she says, was to write and choose songs that will translate well to the stage. While hers is not a jamgrass band, she and her posse insist on keeping things spontaneous. “A big thing that I was thinking about was, ‘How can I make arrangements that might have some built-in places to stretch out and and have a longer jam section?’” says Keith-Hynes, “And just be able to kind of shift and change night to night, based on what the music needs and how the audience is reacting?” Other records released this year by Nashville-based artists show impressive range and imagination. Mandolinist Thomas Cassell made Guitar Collection, featuring a set of duos with

master flatpickers including Jake Stargel and Frank Rische. Three members of Punch Brothers live here — Brittany Haas, Chris Eldridge and Paul Kowert — and their new Unsung Adventures album is super-cerebral instrumental music. Toronto native (and Bronwyn band member) Frank Evans, one of the best

fivestring banjo pickers to move to Nashville in years, dropped his solo debut Fit for a Dog this spring. Meanwhile Jarrod Walker — mandolinist for Billy Strings’ band — made his solo debut with Nighthawk, a mix of straight-ahead songs and brain-melting instrumentals.

THE LORE Bluegrass history is Nashville history. Born here. Raised here. The genre branched and blossomed around the world like only a few other American musical experiments, such as jazz and rock ’n’ roll. And while not the only hub of change by any means, Nashville kept pace with hotbeds in the Bay Area, Colorado, New England

BLUEGRASS MONDAY AT DEE’S COUNTRY COCKTAIL LOUNGE PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

and the D.C. region. Music City was (and still is, in some cases) home to Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Jimmy Martin, New Grass Revival and Sam Bush, John Hartford, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Vassar Clements, Stuart Duncan, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, and Béla Fleck. It’s the city of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Grass Is Blue (Dolly Parton’s breakthrough bluegrass album) and The Nashville Network, which helped keep the music visible to the nation in the ’80s and ’90s. Youngsters flock here to be part of this lore and lineage. They learn a common repertoire and study old recordings and videos with the zeal of scholars. Picking parties build bonds across gen-

erations, and excellent musicians get recognized and onboarded into a busy, transnational string-band ecosystem. This alacrity has made the city rich with bands who play locally and nationally, including veterans like The SteelDrivers and Sister Sadie and newer outfits such as Wood Box Heroes, Nash Grass Unit, Thunder and Rain, DownRiver Collective and the Jason Carter Band. Whether this translates to a proportional

surge of interest among fans is an open question. The “Billy Strings Effect” has been more muted than some had hoped, but his tours and his ambassadorship for the music are definitely minting new, younger bluegrass fans. For the uninitiated — especially those weary of Live Nation corporatism and wary of AI fakery — bluegrass offers a mix of authenticity, musical virtuosity and familial warmth that’s hard to match. For those who’d like to take a deep dive, the World of Bluegrass — the annual convention of the International Bluegrass Music Association — is now taking place every fall in nearby Chattanooga. The key public-facing component of the event is the ticketed festival Bluegrass Live! taking place Oct. 23 and 24. Craig Havighurst is host of The String and The Old Fashioned on WMOT Roots Radio, an emcee and interviewer at regional festivals, and the 2024 International Bluegrass Music Association Writer of the Year. ▼

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NASHVILLE BALLET: GISELLE

PAGE 20

[GHOSTLY]

NASHVILLE BALLET: GISELLE

CLAYTON BELLAMY

WITH SPECIAL GUEST LOOSE LIPS

OCTOBER 18, 2026

PAGE 21

THURSDAY / 10.1 DRINK

Nashville Ballet continues its season this weekend with Nick Mullikin’s dark and dreamy reimagining of Giselle. Originally drawing inspiration from a pair of ghost stories (Heinrich Heine’s folktale De l’Allemagne and Victor Hugo’s poem “Fantômes”), the piece follows an innocent peasant girl who loses her heart to a handsome but deceptive young prince, a prince who is already promised to another. Devastated, poor Giselle dies of a broken heart, joining the ranks of the dreaded Wilis — a vengeful group of spirits who have all been betrayed by their lovers. Exploring timeless themes of love, deceit and despair, Giselle is set to a haunting score from French composer Adolphe Adam, and brought to life by Nashville Ballet’s music director and principal conductor Ming Luke and the Nashville Symphony. This marks the first time Nashville Ballet has presented Giselle since 2009, and it’s also Mullikin’s first full-length ballet as the company’s artistic director. Audiences can look forward to new choreography, fresh design elements and a rather bold new ending that asks audiences to consider the often weighty consequences behind our actions. AMY STUMPFL OCT. 2-4 AT TPAC’S JAMES K. POLK THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.

NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE

[MIDNIGHT MARGARITAS]

IMPRACTICAL MAGIC POP-UP

Because of its much-anticipated sequel, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman’s witchy ’90s cult classic Practical Magic is everywhere this fall. If you’re in search of those whimsigoth vibes, let Hidden Bar’s Impractical Magic pop-up enchant you now through Halloween. With decor that evokes the Owens family’s New England Victorian home, it’s a well-crafted experience perfect for fans of the film — with the taste to match. Drinks served in teacups and

NASHVILLE COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL PAGE 24

potion bottles dot the menu and bring creative palates to the forefront. Case in point: the Fly by Night, a creamy, decadent vodka cocktail with the surprising addition of carrot — and it comes topped with a tiny broomstick. ANNIE PARNELL THROUGH OCT. 31 AT HIDDEN BAR AT NOELLE 200 FOURTH AVE. N.

MUSIC

PICKIN’ AT THE PANTRY

FRIDAY, OCT. 2 DANCE

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Visit calendar.nashvillescene.com for more event listings

[BUILDING BRIDGES]

SARAH JAROSZ

One great thing about Nashville music is how easily the singer-songwriter ethos merges with, well, Nashville itself. In other words, country and bluegrass provide a new context

Be Moved. Be Amazed. BE. HERE.

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KIND HEARTED STRANGERS for singer-songwriters who work here. For Texas-born singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sarah Jarosz, the post-folk music of Joni Mitchell is one point of reference, but Jarosz has perfected her own rigorous approach. Fellow Nashville musician Daniel Tashian added subtly futuristic production to Jarosz’s 2024 album Polaroid Lovers, which might be her most satisfying release to date. I’m also a fan of Jarosz’s work in the Americana trio I’m With Her, which released a superb album, Wild and Clear and Blue, in 2025. Polaroid Lovers made it clear that Jarosz feels comfortable bridging Americana, folk and pop. She’s currently touring around the 10-year anniversary of her Grammywinning 2016 full-length Undercurrent, which established her as a major talent. It’s a great album, and apart from the aforementioned Polaroid Lovers, I’m not sure where I’d tell you to start if you don’t know her work. Build Me Up From Bones, from 2013, is engrossing and amazing, and don’t forget 2021’s exquisite Blue Heron Suite, which is both mystical and toughminded. EDD HURT 7:30 P.M. AT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM’S CMA THEATER 224 JOHN LEWIS WAY S.

MUSIC

2pm TOMMY WOMACK 2.4 SUN 10.4 SAT 5pm 4PM KSIT EVININ WOLF FREE 2.3 WED 95PMPMCW RITERS @ ,THE WATER OPEN MIC ROCTOPUSS PUMP ACTION 2.7 8:30pm FUN HOUSE!!! (ROCKNROLL DJ) &DANCING!!! POPLAR CFREE! REEK

[FALL FRIENDS]

ALAN LEQUIRE & FRIENDS

Fall art season is the best art season in Nashville, and even though we’re only just starting to feel the cooler days of autumn, LeQuire Gallery has gone full pumpkin spice with a varied group show that feels like the warm-up for the big West Nashville Art Crawl event that will happen in early December. LeQuire’s Monumental Figures exhibition at The Parthenon was one of the biggest shows of 2025, and this new display includes works by the artist along with those by friends and protégés like Amber Lelli, whose best work combines classical sculpture techniques and materials like bronze with subjects borrowed from pop culture. Alan LeQuire & Friends also includes contributions from Meredith Edmondson, Stephen Hutchinson, Robert Gregory and Olivia Blanchard. JOE NOLAN OCT. 1-10 AT LEQUIRE GALLERY 4304 CHARLOTTE AVE.

MUSIC

FRI

9pm DIRTY KNEES, COUNTERFEIT TWENTIES, BARCODE $10 6PM WHITE ANIMALS FREE 5pm JIM SKINNER

[INTERESTED PARTIES]

KIND HEARTED STRANGERS ALBUM RELEASE

Thursday night at The 5 Spot, rockers Kind Hearted Strangers will celebrate the Sept. 25 release of their third full-length record, the inspired Conflicts of Interest. Co-produced by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Marc Townes and engineer Todd Divel, the album was recorded just a block away from the club at what was formerly the headquarters of the late Todd Snider’s Aimless Inc. “We very much wanted to do this show at The 5 Spot because of its proximity to The Purple Building where all this music was made,” Townes tells the Scene. He’s excited about

[PANCAKE PICKIN’]

PICKIN’ AT THE PANTRY

The Pancake Pantry is used to selling out at breakfast. People love the restaurant, with its long history and 23 varieties of scratch-made pancakes. This summer, the Pantry sold out its inaugural Pickin’ at the Pantry event too. With help from partner Buddy’s Place, the Hillsboro Village staple is bringing it back for round two. On Thursday, songwriters Alex Hall, Jamie Floyd and Brett Sheroky will perform in a traditional songwriters’ round, telling the stories behind their songs. Hall recently released his EP Turn This Love Around, featuring collaborations with Vince Gill, Tenille Townes and Mae Estes. Floyd has been nominated for a Grammy three times. Sheroky is known for clever wordplay in his lyrics, which always makes for a fun addition to a writers’ round. Since 2011, Buddy’s Place has produced songwriters’ rounds in venues across the city. At this one, the restaurant is being turned into a songwriters’ room, so you can order a limited menu of the restaurant’s greatest

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

SARAH JAROSZ

PHOTO: SHERVIN LAINEZ

2.1 THU 10.1

the album, which explores the various kinds of conflict that affect the lives of touring musicians. “It’s such a great feeling,” he says. “Once you let it out there, it’s like, ‘All right, now we can go make more stuff.’ That’s what I love.” The group’s set will focus on material from Conflicts of Interest, but will also include some songs from previous releases. “We want to mix in a couple of things,” Townes says. “There’s some music we released this year that’s not even on the album.” Easton Admiral and Charlie Treat are also on the bill, and both artists will sit in with Kind Hearted Strangers during their set. DARYL SANDERS 9 P.M. AT THE 5 SPOT 1006 FOREST AVE.

FRIDAY / 10.2 MUSIC

hits as you listen to the writers’ greatest hits. Tickets are available online for $30 each, plus a $15 food minimum per person. MARGARET LITTMAN 7 P.M. AT THE PANCAKE PANTRY 1796 21ST AVE. S.

[EXCITED DELIRIUM]

JOHNNY BLUE SKIES AND THE DARK CLOUDS

Sturgill Simpson is always reinventing himself. The Americana iconoclast could’ve dined out on his reputation as mainstream country’s foremost pain in the ass for decades. Thank goodness he hasn’t done that; the music probably wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting. Simpson’s second album under his alter ego Johnny Blue Skies, Mutiny After Midnight, is a disco-country-funk ripper. It’s a bit of a departure from Johnny Blue Skies’ rock-centric first release, Passage du Desir, harkening back to some of the groovier tracks on A Sailor’s Guide to Earth and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. JBS and his killer backing band the Dark Clouds — guitarist Laur Joamets, bassist Kevin Black, drummer Miles Miller, and keyboardist and saxophonist Robbie Crowell — will take the stage for a hometown arena show on Friday. Bring your earplugs. LOGAN BUTTS 8 P.M. AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA 501 BROADWAY

HAUNTED HOUSE

Classic horror B-movies are such a specific flavor of comfort. They’re just spine-tingling enough to conjure thrills, but cheesy enough to put on anytime and enjoy the romp. The 1988 remake of The Blob scratches that itch perfectly, even if it came out after the heyday of B-movies. Directed by the late Chuck Russell and co-written by legendary screenwriter/ director Frank Darabont, the film follows the havoc of the titular Blob as it causes all kinds of goopy chaos after crash-landing into the small town of Arborville. The film wryly invokes the ’50s iconography of the original with the teen protagonists slotting into high school stereotypes, but pulls enough twists and turns from this conventional formula to keep you constantly entertained. Not to mention that this was made during an incredible time for practical horror effects, with so many creative deaths and wide shots of the Blob consuming everything in its path. Seriously, this stuff rivals many of the gruesome kills from any of the big ’80s slasher franchises. The Belcourt will be showing the film as part of its Midnight Movies program on Friday, where it’ll be a perfect fit for a late-night spook. IAN MATTHEWS MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE. [GRAVE & BUSTER’S]

NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE

Madison’s Nashville Nightmare is more than a simple haunted house. It is a fullfledged fear factory — a multi-attraction operation, creatively designed and staffed with a cast of committed local performers. This year’s lineup of primary attractions runs the gamut from officially licensed horroricon status (“Jason Universe: Survive the Night”) to original science-fiction madness (“Vector Research: Code XIII”), monster mash-ups (“Fairy Tale Hell”) and, naturally, clown-based horror (“Mr. Sweets’ House of Horrors”). Nashville Nightmare also offers a pair of escape rooms — one zombie-based, the other witch-oriented — as well as a “Zombie Apocalypse Training Facility” (a shooting range with airsoft-like GellyBall pistols) and a 21-and-up secret bar with themed cocktails. For those who take Spooky Season seriously,

Nashville Nightmare is a genuinely worthy group outing — though freakout fans ages 15 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. The facility kicks into high gear in October, open most nights throughout the month and a few days in November. Visit nashvillenightmare.com for tickets, hours and details. Word to the wise: Buy your tickets and fill out your waivers in advance. D. PATRICK RODGERS THROUGH NOV. 13 AT NASHVILLE NIGHTMARE 1016 MADISON SQUARE, MADISON

MUSIC

MIDNIGHT MOVIES: THE BLOB

BRINGING ORIGNAL MUSIC BACK TO BROADWAY

[MAGIC MELODIES]

PRACTICAL MAGIC: SISTERHOOD IN SONG

Songwriters like Bre Kennedy, Lydia Luce and Emily Hackett are women whose words build worlds of feelings that make it easy to believe in magic. Kennedy, one of the strongestrooted writers in the game, is a beacon of light in a world that needs hope now more than ever. Writing through the beginning stages of motherhood and beyond, Luce and Hackett are constant forces in the Nashville community. Luce’s maternal strength blooms in her latest track “Baby Blues” — a song that has made me teary-eyed the handful of times I’ve seen it performed live. Hackett, a writer who knows how to be true to herself, navigates changing phases of life in her record Must Be Present to Win, an album that serves as a reminder to take a deep breath and be still in the midst of never-ending chaos. Nashville has such a special community of musicians, and the Practical Magic: Sisterhood in Song lineup (Kennedy, Luce, Hackett, Lily Meola, Sad Penny, Taylor Janzen and Elise Hayes) is about as special as they come. The show at OG Basement will surely be a celebration of stories and the women who tell them. GRACE BRASWELL 7 P.M. AT THE BASEMENT 1604 EIGHTH AVE. S.

FILM

[BEWARE THE BLOB!]

[DOES THAT SCARE YOU?]

DONNIE DARKO 25TH ANNIVERSARY RELEASE

Few films capture the sheer unreality of teenage angst like Donnie Darko. For all its time-bending physics and complicated mythology that references both an urban legend from writer-director Richard Kelly’s home state of Virginia and his longtime

10.24 Willis Alan Ramsey

10.6 Haley Reinhart 10.15 CRAIG CAMPBELL

UPCOMING SHOWS 10.31

Aaron Nichols & The Travellers - Chris Stapleton Tribute

10.29

Brassfield, Matt Warren & The Goodfoot

11.1

Eric Johanson, Alastair Greene

Haley Reinhart

11.3

10.8

Ultimate Eric Church Experience

Dallas Wayne, Daryl Wayne Dasher

11.4

Jeff Hyde

10.10

Sundance Head, Casey James

11.5

Anthony Gomes

10.11

Nik Parr & the Selfless Lovers

11.7

Waymore’s Outlaws

10.15

12.3

Sandra McCraken

Craig Campbell

10.19

12.5

Jared James Nichols

Buddy’s Place Premiere Writer’s Round

12.6

10.22

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys

The History of Country Music - Holiday Edition

12.9

RaeLynn

10.24

Willis Alan Ramsey

12.12

Julie Roberts

Uncle B’s Damned Ole Opry Plays & Sings The Beatles’ Revolver

12.17

Struggle Jennings

10.3

Point of Grace, Rachael Lampa

10.4

Scott Terry (Red Wanting Blue)

10.5

TKA Takeover w/ Alli Walker, Colin Stough, and more

10.6

10.28

ORIGINAL MUSIC AT CHIEF’S Great music comes from the heart and soul of its creators. Chief’s celebrates the brilliant minds behind some of today’s most iconic songs.

THE BLOB

11.5 ANTHONY GOMES

10.3 POINT OF GRACE

10.10 CASEY JAMES

GET TICKETS AT CHIEFSONBROADWAY.COM

2ND & BROADWAY NASHVILLE, TN FOLLOW US @ChiefSBROADWAY NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

10/22 8/25

10/24

10/23

michigander

chasing abbey

my so-called band: 90s halloween!

THEATER

w/ chapel and noah torralba

10/25

edgehill

10/26

3/5

wednesday 13

W/ palmer & meadowglade

just announced

Rayland Baxter

W/ dead on a sunday & above snakes

Upcoming shows oct 1 juice w/ Claire Ernst Oct 2 hot in herre: 2000s dance party oct 3 greta van fleet Sold out! oct 5 bleach w/ pomegranate & meadowglade oct 7 willi carlisle w/ dylan earl oct 8 finn wolfhard w/ malcy Sold out! OCT 9 ace - A Celebration of the Life & Music of Bobby Weir oct 10 greta van fleet Sold out! oct 11 golden: a k-pop kids party! oct 12 russian circles w/ pelican oct 13 mind enterprises w/ FRED FANCY oct 14 olivia o'brien w/ maya donovan oct 15 ax and the hatchetmen w/ the hails oct 16 the renaissance Room oct 17 greta van fleet Sold out! oct 18 After oct 19 The linda lindas w/ grace bowers oct 21 aaron lee tasjan w/ madeleine kelson oct 22 chasing abbey

oct 23 Michigander w/ chapel & noah torralba oct 24 My so-called band: 90s Halloween! oct 25 edgehill w/ palmer & meadowglade oct 26 wednesday 13 w/ dead on a sunday & above snakes

OCT 27 PORCH LIGHT w/ HOTEL FICTION OCT 29 Donny BENÉT w/ OTNES OCT 30 THE BENDS oct 31 Early show! rock and roll playhouse: halloween spectacular for kids oct 31 blade rave nov 2 maddie zahm w/ semler nov 3 the olllam w/ rachael davis nov 5 deer tick w/ dug nov 6 sawyer hill w/ never ending fall nov 7 havok w/ hellripper, slackjaw, & xoth nov 8 dan deacon w/ terror pigeon nov 10 sim w/ zero 9:36 & aurorawave nov 11 mushroomhead & fearfactory w/ nine treasures & sicksense

Stop by Lowbar located underneath the basement east for drinks, pool, darts, karaoke and more! Open 5pm-late

[VILLAINOUS]

NASHVILLE REP: JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN

For more than 70 years, the character of John Proctor (from Arthur Miller’s classic drama The Crucible) has been presented as the ultimate tragic hero — a principled man who would rather die than compromise his integrity. But Kimberly Belflower’s Tony-nominated play John Proctor Is the Villain — which opens at Nashville Rep this weekend — offers a decidedly different perspective. Set in smalltown Georgia, this sharp dramatic comedy follows a group of high school students as they study The Crucible — reconsidering Proctor through a modern feminist lens. Nashville Rep favorite Lauren Shouse (POTUS, The Cake, Avenue Q) directs a solid ensemble here, with New York-based actor Lucas Calhoun, along with Norah Younger, Aubrey Bagley, Brityn Ramsey, Ella Saliba, Advika Ravishankar, Lorenzo Rivera, Brent Bentley and McKenna Steel. As you might expect, John Proctor Is the Villain does dig into some sensitive content, including depictions of grooming, abusive relationships and descriptions of sexual assault. But it’s sure to spark plenty of conversation. Blending timely themes with biting humor, it’s a terrific way to open the Rep’s 42nd season. AMY STUMPFL THROUGH OCT. 18 AT TPAC’S ANDREW JOHNSON THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.

1604 8th Ave S Nashville, TN 37203 | thebasementnashville.com thebasementnash thebasementnash thebasementnash

10/09

10/10 improvement movement w/ the point

Hot like mars

Upcoming shows

Don't miss new faces Night every tuesday at 7pm!

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

PHOTO: KELSEY KENY

oct 6 free show! melanie dyer [6pm] oct 1 kaylee keeney w/ joiner [7pm] oct 1 marc ridge & the revelers w/ alejandro preschel [9pm] oct 7 free show! bmi plug & play w/ Davie, Ford Cooper, Maisy Owen and Vinny Tovar. [5:30pm] oct 2 practical magic sisterhood in song w/ Lily Meola, oct 8 joe stamm band [7pm] Bre Kennedy, Lydia Luce, Sad Penny, & more [7pm] oct 9 improvement movement w/ the point [7pm] oct 2 six foot blonde w/ genevieve heyward [9pm] oct 3 bay street w/ the far betweens & moonlight drowns [9pm] oct 9 the brokes [9pm] oct 10 stop. drop. rewind. w/ hayloft [7pm] oct 4 the sweet lillies [7pm] oct 10 hot like mars [9pm] oct 5 taylor leonhardt w/ special guests [7pm] oct 5 tobias lund & greyson turner w/ kimberly june [9pm] oct 11 wheelchair sports camp & gaelynn lea [7pm]

JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN

FILM

SATURDAY / 10.3 [HAVE THE LAMBS STOPPED SCREAMING?]

WEEKEND CLASSICS: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

As the Oscars slowly become more accepting of horror movies — last year alone saw two of the four acting prizes go to actors in horror films — let’s take a moment to honor the true trailblazer: Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. The iconic adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel is one of just three films in Academy Awards history (alongside fellow masterworks It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) to take home an Oscar in each of the Big Five categories — Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. Before I hear any of you shout “But it’s not a horror movie!” consider these two points: 1. A film can be both a horror movie and a thriller; and 2. a cannibalistic serial killer crucifies a prison guard (in a scene set in Memphis!). I think that’s grounds for inclusion. Watch screen legends Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster go toe to toe, hopefully with a nice glass of Chianti, at the Belcourt this weekend. For showtimes, visit belcourt.org. LOGAN BUTTS OCT. 3-4 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.

FESTIVAL

917 Woodland Street Nashville, TN 37206 | thebasementnashville.com basementeast thebasementeast thebasementeast

fascination with Watership Down, the question the film ultimately asks is simple: What if the world actually was out to get you? Donnie’s road to a series of 25th anniversary screenings has been long, with an online afterlife coming after it bombed in theaters. There’s been a hitor-miss 2004 director’s cut, and a questionable 2009 sequel, S. Darko, along the way. But as the weather starts to cool and Kelly prepares to release a sequel novel called The Philosophy of Time Travel, it’s the perfect time to revisit this Halloween cult classic. Visit Fathom Events’ website for tickets and showtimes. ANNIE PARNELL OCT. 2-4 AT REGAL AND AMC THEATERS

[NASH BASH]

CELEBRATE NASHVILLE CULTURAL FESTIVAL

If you want to experience firsthand how diverse Nashville really is, spend a Saturday at the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival. Returning to Centennial Park on Oct. 3 for its 30th anniversary, the free festival brings more than 50 cultural communities together for a packed day of music, dancing, food, shopping and community. The festival kicks off with a parade at 9 a.m. before the grounds fill with performances across multiple stages. The Global Village will showcase music, dance and visual arts from around the world, while the World Bazaar will offer handcrafted and imported goods, demonstrations and local organizations to explore. The food area is filled to the brim, with more than 30 vendors serving everything from arepas and empanadas to

OCTOBER 3 & 31

SHOP THE SCENE

6-8 PM

RYMAN HAUNTED HISTORY TOURS OCTOBER 18

nashvillesceneshop.com

RYAN BINGHAM & THE TEXAS GENTLEMEN JANUARY 29

ILIZA

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM The

The

10/1 THE BLACK QUEEN 10/3 DRIVIN N CRYIN 10/4 XAVIER WULF 10/9 OMENBRINGER: MONSTERTHRASH III 10/10 FASCINATION STREET: HALLOWEEN 10/14 BREAD & PUPPET THEATER 10/16 HALLOWEEN BALL VI 10/17 HARVEST MOON: A NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE 10/21 GIMME GIMME MORE MARKET 10/23 SUSPENDED GRAVITY CIRCUS 10/24 SIMPLY THE BREAST BURLESQUE 10/29 PUP 10/30 A TRIBUTE TO PANIC! AT THE DISCO 10/31 SYSTEM OF A CLOWN: HALLOWEEN SYSTEM OF A DOWN TRIBUTE 11/2 HONEY REVENGE & DEAD POET SOCIETY 11/6 DANGEROUS TOYS 11/7 BERTHA: GRATEFUL DRAG 11/8 TOTALLY RAD COLLECTORS MARKET

10/1 HIGH STEP SOCIETY 10/2 THE FAMILY FT. DYLAN LEBLANC, BAY SIMPSON, ANGELA HACKER 10/3 DR. GANGRENE’S HORROR HOOTENANNY 10/4 PALM GHOSTS 10/5 UNPUBLISHED 10/6 SOPHIE HUNTER 10/8 RWAKE & DEADBIRD 10/10 BAYWAY 10/13 GREASY CHICKEN REVIEW 10/14 MARY BRAGG 10/15 ROBERT ELLIS 10/17 LAMP FT. LAWTON, METZGER, & PACZKOWSKI 10/21 ADAM SHOENFELD 10/23 ENTHEOS 10/24 R.E.M. TRIBUTE: 40 YEARS OF LIFES RICH PAGEANT

Main Room

‘58

MARCH 9

MICHAEL SHANNON & JASON NARDUCY AND FRIENDS PLAY REM’S DOCUMENT ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM APRIL 8

LIVE AT THE OPRY HOUSE

TOM SEGURA

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM APRIL 25

MATTHEW WEST ON SALE MONDAY AT 10 AM

The

Lounge

10/1 TENNESSEE ROUNDUPS 8PM 10/2 THE RUSTY NAILS 7PM 10/3 FOSTER MCGINTY 7PM 10/6 JON BYRD 6PM 10/7 LESTER, WINCHESTER, MCKENDREE 7PM MUSIC CITY SOUL 8:30PM

MAY 29

SILVERADA

ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

“

And of course, there’s the patron saint of Nashville movies, Ernest P. Worrell. If you’re a local, you know the story: What started out as an advertisement for Nashville-based Purity Dairies became a beloved series of slightly oﬀkilter family films featuring locals in front of and behind the camera. The late director John Cherry and star Jim Varney’s collaborations epitomize the best of what Nashville’s film output can be: eclectic, long-lasting and community-led.

FROM “TAKING A TOUR OF NASHVILLE’S FILM INDUSTRY”

Logan has covered Nashville-area sports for more than a decade. Since joining the Nashville Scene, the native Middle Tennessean has also been able to chronicle his other favorite subject: film. You can likely find him at the Belcourt, at a local sports venue or at home watching Survivor with his wife and cat.

BE C O M E A M E M BE R .

ISSUES ARE FREE ON NEWSSTANDS BECAUSE MEMBERS PAY FO R IT. KEEP LOGAN AT THE MOVIES.

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

BEFORE WE HAD NAMES

Before We Had Names is a new group show of Black creators curated by local artist Marteja Bailey. The show’s theme comes from an Ubuntu saying, “I am because we are,” and the artists each explore identity as something shaped not only by the individual, but through memory, ancestry, and all the histories we carry with us. Woodcuts Gallery will also be hosting an artist talk on Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. as part of the North Nashville Arts Coalition’s 10th anniversary celebration and the North Nashville Culture Crawl. Before We Had Names features work by Dough Joe, Elisheba Mrozik, Lorenzo Swinton, Phishbone and more. JOE NOLAN OPENING RECEPTION 6 P.M.; THROUGH OCT. 31 AT WOODCUTS GALLERY 1613 JEFFERSON ST.

ART

S T T U B N A G O L OR ASSOCIATE EDIT

[NAMELESS]

[COMIC CLUB]

NASHVILLE COMIC ARTS FESTIVAL

Though continuously expanding, the Nashville Comic Arts Festival, now in its third year, retains its intimate and eclectic appeal to any and all self-determined identities, mine being weirdness. For example, last year I fixated on finding bizarre holiday cards. Think zombie Santas, flesh-eating Yule cats and winter solstice with sacrificial elements. When I suggested to one exhibitor that holiday cards might become a sweet new revenue source, their eyes glazed with $-shaped pupils and a thought balloon appeared above their head, swirling with freakish and disturbing holiday concepts. Nice. That enthusiasm makes this festival singular. Besides the inaugural gathering of the Black Comics Collective Youth Group, featured artists Hyena Hell, Chris Schweizer and Steenz will host workshops, and Jon Sewell of the local Salt Weekly will present an overview of Nashville’s independent press. Of course, anyone who goes to these festivals knows that comics are merely the foundation. Creators offer every possibility: one-shots, roughs, splash art, panel pages, patches, buttons, accordion-fold books, stickers, prints and any imaginable art with a paper-based delivery system. This year I’m excited to see if anyone followed my greeting card suggestion. The AI-free event will be following safer spaces policies. Admission is free. KEVIN BROWN (KEVBRO) 11 A.M.-6 P.M. AT VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY CENTRAL LIBRARY 2201 WEST END AVE.

[SPOOKED YA]

KNOBLINFEST

In the early 1800s, stories began to circulate about a strange critter in the vicinity of a 700-foot hillock called Todd’s Knob, near the bank of the Stones River in what’s now Donelson. To this day, folks haven’t agreed on what the Goblin of Todd’s Knob (or Knoblin) looks like or what it wants, but mischief from weird noises to missing food has been ascribed to it. The inaugural Knoblinfest celebrating this almost-forgotten creature of lore takes place Saturday where Old Lebanon Pike meets Donelson Station Boulevard, near the Donelson Plaza shopping center (behind which Todd’s Knob rises to the north). Festivities include food trucks, an art show and a vendor market (with vintage clothing, food, books and more), interactive art installations, the Knoblinland kids’ area and heaps of live music. Music on the main stage kicks off when the gates open at 10 a.m. with the inventive and expansive takes on roots music from Fats Kaplin Gang; a new act is set to start each hour, wrapping with venerable ’70s-inspired rock outfit Them Vibes at 5 p.m. Area businesses Phat Bites and Homegrown Taproom will each host stages during the day as well. The fest ends at 6 p.m., but stick around since Phat Bites will host a special Knoblin After Dark set from rockers Cashville Trash Pandas at 6:30. STEPHEN TRAGESER

10 A.M.-6 P.M. AT OLD LEBANON PIKE AND DONELSON STATION BOULEVARD

FILM

ART

bubble tea and mochi doughnuts. There will be plenty of activities for families as well, with Kidsville, Teens United and interactive activities throughout the festival. Centennial Park becomes a place where Nashville’s many cultures are not just represented, but actively celebrated — and there is no admission fee to join in. JESSE JONES 9 A.M.-6 P.M. AT CENTENNIAL PARK 2500 WEST END AVE.

FESTIVAL

GET TO KNOW THE SCENE

[SCREEN SCREAMS]

NASHVILLE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

We’re officially in Halloween season, which means we’ll be getting a lot of scary movies playing all over the city. The Belcourt’s monthlong Shocktober series is officially underway, complete with the already-sold-out 12 Hours of Terror movie marathon nestled in the middle, while Full Moon Cineplex has a full schedule of classic chillers lined up. This weekend, macabre-movie lovers can head over to Regal Green Hills for the third annual Nashville Horror Film Festival, where they’ll screen the latest wave of independent horror features (shown on Sunday) and shorts (shown on Saturday). The short we’re looking forward to the most is “Manifested,” a horror-comedy short starring Good Mythical Morning regular (and Nashville native) Emily Fleming. Attendees will get the opportunity to shop with local vendors on Saturday, as well as participate in a costume contest with multiple categories and trophies. And both evenings will end with award ceremonies for the films. By the way, this fright fest is free for the entire weekend. Visit instagram.com/ nashvillehorrorfest for showtimes. CRAIG D. LINDSEY OCT. 3-4 AT REGAL GREEN HILLS 3815 GREEN HILLS VILLAGE DRIVE

LIVE IN PERSON

Thursday, October 1

Saturday, October 10

FILM SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Block Party

The Endless Road

3:00 pm and 6:00 pm

2:00 pm · FORD THEATER

HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

Saturday, October 3

Sunday, October 11

SONGWRITER SESSION

HATCH SHOW PRINT

Jimmy Robbins NOON · FORD THEATER

Family Block Party

Saturday, October 3

10:00 am

POETS AND PROPHETS

HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP

Salute to Legendary Songwriter

Sunday, October 11

Pat McLaughlin

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

Chuck Wagon Gang

2:30 pm · FORD THEATER Sunday, October 4

EMMYLOU HARRIS

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT

IRA GLASS

LEE C. CAMP

HOST OF

Chris Tuttle

Saturday, October 17

1:00 pm · FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

Belles

Saturday, October 10

NOON · FORD THEATER

SONGWRITER SESSION

James T. Slater

LIVE FROM NASHVILLE!

NOON · FORD THEATER

NOVEMBER 22, 2026

WITNESS HISTORY

Locals Kids Always Visit Free Plan a trip to the Museum! Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Nashville-Davidson and bordering counties always visit free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.

MKTG_Scene_1:3Page_PrintAd_Rolling_10.01.26 .indd 1

FULL CALENDAR

9/24/26 2:07 PM

Because Nashville is so much more than honky-tonks and bachelorettes...

Sign up for your daily dose via the Daily Scene Newsletter NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

Nashville artist Levi Foster will release Appalachian Funk Tree on October 9 produced by 4x Grammy Award winner Shooter Jennings. The 13 tracks on Appalachian Funk Tree blend mountain gospel spirit, Red Dirt attitude, new and traditional Country, and Americana storytelling that feels lived-in rather than manufactured.

TO FREE ND AT T E

S AV E T H E DAT E

Join the Nashville Scene and Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair at oneC1TY on November 7+8 from 11am-4pm to shop from 60+ local and regional artists. Find unique products including home goods, textiles, candles, ceramics and more. CRAFTYBASTARDS.COM 26

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

! N OV

E M B E R 7+ 8

KID & PET FRIEN D LY

FOOD & DRINK

75 AND THRIVING

As The Loveless Cafe celebrates its 75th anniversary, the restaurant remains a local — and national — favorite

DURING A RECENT drive down Highway 100 — out to the southwestern edge of Davidson County, past Bellevue and into Pasquo — it was finally beginning to feel like fall. The late-September leaves were on the verge of changing, and I was headed to a Nashville institution: The Loveless Cafe. The restaurant’s iconic neon sign welcomed me, a beacon through the rain as I approached the roadside eatery. Members of the famously hospitable staff were humming along with the timeless Ray Charles tune “What’d I Say” as I entered the lobby, which features a vintage TV and autographed photos of seemingly every Nashville (or Nashville-adjacent) celebrity. As Loveless celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, it remains one of Nashville’s bestknown and most beloved restaurants. And that’s largely due to the establishment’s commitment to its own history. When Annie and Lon Loveless purchased what was then known as the Harpeth Valley Tea Room, the couple was simply responding to what they saw as an obvious need. Highway 100 was the most direct route from Nashville to Memphis at the time, and hungry travelers needed a place to stop on their way out west. What began as a few picnic tables on the front porch of the Loveless’ four-room home quickly morphed into a 14-room motel. In the years since, Loveless has been featured everywhere from Southern Living to The Today Show. It received a historical marker in 2020.

LOVELESS CAFE SIGN IN 2026 “I think it’s nostalgic,” says Loveless Cafe spokesperson Wendy Felts. “It’s original. … There’s not that many restaurants left that serve Southern country cooking, and we still do. And they are original recipes from the 1950s.” The cafe indeed uses Annie’s original recipes for its long-held Southern staples — fried chicken, fruit preserves, country ham and, of course, the biscuits. The Loveless team says they bake upwards of 10,000 biscuits daily. “We’ve got one oven that is solely dedicated to biscuits,” says executive director Merrell Peck. “It is set to its temperature, and you are not to change it under any circumstances. That is the biscuit oven all day long.” But as restaurants shutter in a constantly evolving city, Loveless has had to adapt to the times without losing its local charm. In 2009, the Loveless Barn was built, kick-starting the restaurant’s expansion into the events business. Now hundreds of events take place on the property throughout each year. In 2019, Loveless added a food truck, which is available for private and public events. “We stay consistent in what we serve, but at the same time, we have added some things to keep up with the times,” Felts tells the Scene. Catering continues to be a major piece of the cafe’s business. The restaurant’s Hams and Jams mail-order business — credited to George McCabe, the son of then-owners Charles and Donna McCabe — was launched in 1982. The mail-order venture was so successful that the

McCabes converted the 14 motel units into rooms dedicated to storage and facilitation. When Nashville native Tom Morales, the entrepreneur behind a slew of Music City restaurants and the catering business TomKats, led a group of local investors in the purchase and restoration of the restaurant in 2004, catering remained a focus. It’s still a focus today under current owners Chuck and Trisha Elcan. One of the restaurant’s most creative attempts at branching out has been this year’s special collaborations. In honor of Loveless’ 75th anniversary, the cafe has partnered with fellow local favorites like Frothy Monkey, Daddy’s Dogs, Cledis Burgers, Sushi-San and Locust on a series of unique menu mash-ups. “We just wanted to find a way to work with New Nashville,” says Loveless marketing manager Isabella Guda. “I think Loveless is often considered the original, and we wanted to bridge that gap between New and Old Nashville. … We love those Dine Nashville collaborations with the chefs. We did Locust earlier this year, and we’ve always had such a fun time with that.” Above all, the team stresses how important the people — both the customers and the staff — are to Loveless’ enduring appeal. “Without our local people, we wouldn’t be who we are,” says Felts. One family, the Oliphants, have eaten at Loveless every Easter since 1963. The hospitality of the staff, like late, beloved “Biscuit Lady” Carol Fay Ellison, drives return visits even more

than the original fried chicken recipe or the biscuits and preserves. “The food is great, but the Southern hospitality that you get when you come here, when you sit with [servers] Virginia or Chaz or Owen, our people are our greatest asset,” says Peck. “I think that’s what makes it feel like you’re sitting around a family table, because they treat everyone like their family.” ▼

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

ARCHIVAL SHOT OF LOVELESS CAFE

PHOTO: HAMILTON MATTHEW MASTERS

BY LOGAN BUTTS

The Loveless Cafe 8400 Highway 100 lovelesscafe.com

NASHVILLE SCENE • OCTOBER 1 – OCTOBER 7, 2026 • nashvillescene.com

CULTURE

‘THAT’S JACKIE’

Archive of trans soul trailblazer Jackie Shane to be displayed at Vanderbilt BY HANNAH HERNER JACKIE SHANE

PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO

LITTLE RICHARD AND JACKIE SHANE

THE CASE OF Jackie Shane is a heartbreaker for a historian like Sarah Calise. She and Shane lived in Nashville at the same time, but Calise never got the chance to meet her before Shane’s death in 2019. In fact, Calise first learned about the Nashville native trans soul singer through her obituary in The New York Times. Shane lived in relative isolation for the last couple decades of her life, and even some of her nieces and nephews didn’t know about her. But in the past decade or so, she’s started to receive her due recognition. She released a compilation album in 2017 (and later talked to the Scene about it) and was the subject of the Peabody-winning documentary Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story in 2024. Calise was a part of that movement — with her project Nashville Queer History, she helped place a historical marker on Jefferson Street honoring Shane in 2025. Beginning on Oct. 6, Nashvillians can view photographs, stage costumes, writings and other artifacts that Calise — acting in their role as Vanderbilt’s curator of community histories — has obtained from Shane’s family. Shane rocked the stages of North Nashville’s Jefferson Street at the start of her career, but fled the oppressive Jim Crow South and moved to Canada

by 1960. She gained popularity in Toronto, frequently packing out the Saphire Tavern stage, and her song “Any Other Way” reached No. 2 on Toronto’s radio charts in 1963. Her peers included artists like Little Richard — for whom she created wigs and stage costumes — as well as Marvin Gaye, Etta James, The Drifters and The Temptations. Calise tells the Scene that Shane was invited to be on The Ed Sullivan Show and other notable programs, but producers wouldn’t allow her to perform as her true self — a woman. She ultimately left the music industry in 1971. In her scrawling script, often written in all capitals, Shane wrote “MISS JACKIE SHANE” on nearly every one of the records in her collection, as well as other belongings. (The archive includes an extensive diary of movies she had watched, in which she denoted which ones were “GAY.”) In her artist bio, Shane refers to herself as “she” — which was always replaced with “he” before distribution. Shane was as out as she could be, but remained limited by her race and transgender status. “A lot of times it is ‘Miss Jackie Shane,’” Calise observes, “and a part of me is like, ‘Is that her, over her life, constantly affirming for herself, Miss Jackie Shane, Miss Jackie Shane?’” At the Oct. 6 opening reception, Calise hopes

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people will walk away with a new favorite artist. Jackie Shane is every bit the fun, flashy and sassy frontwoman with a generational vocal talent. Shane also was known to give an inspirational speech about herself, punctuated with references to herself in the third person — “That’s Jackie.” People need that affirmation, Calise says. During a monologue in her live album, Shane shares a word of encouragement to the audience. “You know what my slogan is?” she asks. “Baby, do what you want, just know what you’re doing. As long as you don’t force your will and your way on anybody else, live your life, because ain’t nobody sanctified and holy. … When we leave here we don’t know where we’re going.” Calise wants visitors to realize that Shane was also creative in her life, outside of her music. “She was creative in life in rejecting these boxes,” they say. “We all grow up with these societal ideas and the boxes that we’re all supposed to fit into. There are actually really amazing, creative people out there from the past and today that are brave enough to say, ‘No, I reject your box.’ I’m going to do my own thing, and as

PIECES FROM JACKIE SHANE’S WARDROBE

long as it doesn’t hurt you, it’s fine.’” They continue: “I think trans people are the most creative people on earth, because they are able to imagine a world that does not exist. They’re able to imagine a better world where you can be whoever you want to be, and everyone’s cool with it.” Calise notes that it is rare to have a collection from a Black trans woman from the South. Because of population density and a concentration of resources, the coasts have been more documented in LGBTQ history, as well as the Midwest, concentrated around Chicago. “Jackie proves that people were doing this 100 years ago,” she says. “They were doing it 500 years ago. We have documented evidence of that. That is the importance, at the end of the day, of archives.” ▼

The Roots of Her Rhythm: Jackie Shane Archives opening reception 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Vanderbilt University Special Collections, 1101 19th Ave. S. Registration encouraged

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MUSIC

SING YOUR OWN SONG

Wynonna Judd’s The Hard Truth is deeply, unflinchingly personal BY BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER

PHOTO: THOMAS CRABTREE

The Hard Truth out Friday, Oct. 2, via ANTI-

WYNONNA JUDD

BEFORE THE MASSIVE success of The Judds, the history-making duo that Wynonna Judd formed with her mother Naomi, they were living in a small community just outside of Berea, Ky., singing blood harmonies to Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard records. The rustic mountaintop cabin where the family resided looms large in Judds lore. It’s where Wynonna first learned to play guitar and where the duo began to discover the power of their blended voices while singing together on the back porch. The Hard Truth, out Friday via ANTI-, puts the focus on that Wynonna — not the mononymous megastar, but the girl from Kentucky who reluctantly stepped into the spotlight when she was still in her teens. She’s gone on to navigate adulthood, difficult family dynamics and unimaginable grief on the world stage. The album, Judd’s first since her mother’s

death by suicide in 2022, opens with a lonesome fiddle that leads into “All Downhill From Ashland,” a song exploring her family’s generational trauma. Featuring backing vocals from husband-and-wife country duo The War and Treaty, the song also pays homage to Naomi Judd’s birthplace of Ashland, Ky. “Kentucky roots burnin’ deep in our blood,” sings Wynonna as the haunting track unfolds, “And there’s some things that you just can’t rise above / The whole world heard but couldn’t see / The price it cost you and me / For those Kentucky blood harmonies.” Judd, who wrote and recorded the 10-track album with her husband Cactus Moser on their Tennessee farm, continues to reckon with fame on the Southern rock groover “Everything.” Written by the couple with Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, the track finds Judd looking

PHOTO COURTESY OF JONATHAN LEVINE

FOR THE OTHER ONE

Jonathan Levine and Allen Thompson discuss ACE, a benefit show celebrating the legacy of the late Bob Weir BY SEAN L. MALONEY JOHNATHAN LEVINE (LEFT) AND BOB WEIR

BOBBY WEIR’S LEGACY is a big one. There are stonecold classic Dead songs, decades of shows, a penchant for tiny shorts. But the most profound impact that

back on the demanding touring schedule The Judds kept during their early days. “I was raised to stand up straight / And conquer and control,” Judd sings. “I was in the spotlight, baby / 18 years old.” Hood also appears on the track, playing the part of the ever-present manager as he sings, “Don’t forget to smile, Wy, don’t forget to smile.” Despite her early trepidations surrounding the limelight, Judd has never faltered when it comes to her love of music and performing and her strong bond with her fan base. “I’m a woman of faith, and that has been tested these last two years,” Judd shared onstage during a 2024 taping of Austin City Limits. “I lost my mama to suicide, and when she died I thought I would die of a broken heart. So instead I went on tour. A lot of people didn’t understand why. I now understand it’s because the music

remains in the wake of the Grateful Dead co-founder’s death in January is the multifaceted culture around the band. Spanning generations and continents, the community of musicians and fans that the Dead cultivated became a model for modern live touring, anchored entire genres and inspired countless artists to follow their own paths. That community comes together Oct. 9 at The Basement East for ACE: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Bob Weir. It’s a benefit for Porter’s Call, a Middle Tennessee-based nonprofit supporting touring musicians and their loved ones. Like so many

healed me and the fans supported me through a very difficult time in my life.” “Broken and Blessed,” which Judd co-wrote with Moser and Sarah Siskind, centers on her grief in the wake of the loss of her mother. She sings about how her faith and ability to be honest about her own pain has been a lifeline, leaving her “somewhere between survival and revival.” “When I lay my body down in the dead of the night,” she sings, “I’m just praying for the light / When I’m somewhere between hell and hallelujah.” “Hear Me Now,” a co-write with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine (who also sings backup on the track), is a Joni Mitchell-esque stunner, in which Judd sings directly to her late mother. “Would you roll your eyes / Would you be surprised / If you could hear me now?” Judd sings. “Would you harmonize / If you could hear me now?” On the earthy “Kentucky Queen,” Wynonna takes her rightfully earned place in the pantheon of Appalachian music heroes. Meanwhile, the standout track “Girl Who Could Sing,” written about the father she never knew, explores the questions that can never be answered. “Did my voice and my backbone both come from you?” sings Judd. “Now the middleman’s gone / All the answers died with her too / Did you ever buy a ticket? / Did you come to a show? / It will play in my mind for a lifetime / To never really know.” Artists calling an album their “most personal yet” has become a cliché in the music media world. In the case of Wynonna Judd’s The Hard Truth, it’s no empty platitude. The album is a triumph of vulnerability, raw honesty and finding joy and human connection even in the darkest moments. Fittingly, Judd closes out the album with “Love Ain’t Got the Best of Me Yet,” an anthem for anyone who is, in her words, “somewhere between hell and hallelujah.” “Love has chewed me up / Love has spit me out / It saved my life and I want more / I can’t turn it down / And if freedom means I got nothing left to lose / Then I guess I got a lot more to get / ’Cause love ain’t got the best of me yet.” ▼

happenings in and around the Dead universe, the show is an unofficial, grassroots labor of love, with no connection to Weir, his family or any of the various enterprises related to the band. It was spearheaded by Weir’s longtime friend and associate Jonathan Levine, and is organized and executed by a crew of Music City heads including musicians Allen Thompson and Jack Silverman (the latter of whom is also a contributing editor at the Scene) along with The Basement and The Basement East co-owner Mike Grimes. Levine worked with Weir and his fellow late Dead cofounder Phil Lesh since the mid-1990s days of Furthur

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from Bobby Weir,” recalls Levine. “And on January 6th of this year, I have texts between Bobby and I. And on January 10th, he was gone. And on January 19th, I was sitting in City Hall Plaza in San Francisco with my wife, crying and mourning his passing. I mean, life is going to life every time — and every situation and how you can go about celebrating somebody’s music and life and impact on a community is different.” The fact that the ACE show is focused on raising money for a charity that supports the financial and mental health of touring musicians is no coincidence. The move was inspired by Weir’s impromptu decision to donate the money from his March 2020 show at the Ryman — the last live show Levine saw before COVID lockdown — to help victims of that week’s destructive tornadoes, and by the Dead’s long legacy of performing for the benefit of others. Porter’s Call and its mission to help touring musicians work through the unique challenges of life on and off the road feel like a natural fit for a community coming together for mutual support. The for-heads-by-heads approach to this gig brings a powerful energy that’s missing from your average cash-on-the-barrelhead cover show. “I love working with Jonathan, and I love playing music with him,” says aforementioned co-organizer Allen Thompson, a singer-songwriter-guitarist who will be playing in the band alongside Levine (on drums), Silverman and Jeff Malinowski on guitar, Luke Sands on bass, Matt Martin on drums and Matty Walberg on

keys. Thompson has been organizing The Basement East’s annual Last Waltz charity tribute shows for years. “To be in it that long at the level he has, and to still have that childlike excitement about throwing the show, and about playing the tunes and all of that stuff. It’s a real testament to Weir especially, and how he was a dude that really took having as much fun with this as possible very seriously.” While the lineup of guests hasn’t been announced as of this writing and we’ve been sworn to secrecy, we can say with confidence that the talent pool is deep and the set list will be fire (on or off the mountain, as it were). Weir’s greatest legacy might be his unflappable enthusiasm for this art form and the way he shared that joy with others. And for Levine and company, that is worth cherishing and sharing with friends and strangers alike. “Because I know if Bobby was on this phone call with us, he’d be saying two words,” says Levine. “‘Fuckin’ A.’ That’s Bobby. That’s what he’d be saying, ‘fuckin’ A.’” ▼

the public eye, emerging briefly for short tour runs or the occasional musical offering. In the absence of studio albums, these transmissions are strange and wonderful. This year, they’ve released a cover of Robert Lester Folsom’s “April Suzanne” for an upcoming tribute LP, and scored the documentary Eternity One, which explores Virginia’s rapidly disappearing Tangier Island with a “cosmic, omnipresent” narrator in the form of an asteroid. These are perfect projects for Beach House, a

band that dwells in the unreality of nostalgia. On Sunday night, a week before the 20th anniversary of their debut self-titled album, they took us into that place, embarking on a fourshow run with a marathon set at Brooklyn Bowl that spanned their career. In some ways, Brooklyn Bowl was a strange spot for it. In 2015, years before achieving TikTok fame, the band played the Ryman, which has double the capacity. Brooklyn Bowl’s various VIP ticket packages do also feel a bit

ACE: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Bob Weir 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, at The Basement East

MUSIC: THE SPIN

PHOTOS: H.N. JAMES

NashvilleScene.com

Fest and Weir’s post-Dead band RatDog. It becomes very clear over the course of my conversation with Levine that this show is an act of love and friendship. It’s an opportunity for friends and fans alike to come together and celebrate the fellowship that Weir fostered. “I started out like a lot of people, as a fan of the Grateful Dead, going back to my early teen years,” says Levine. “And it became one of those things where [they were] my musical North Stars in life. I was probably 12 or 13 when I first discovered them. And the first time I saw them — I believe I was 15 and it was at the Uptown Theater in Chicago, oh, wow. And then that just started me down the rabbit hole, and I saw them countless times over the next decades.” If you’ve ever heard those Uptown Theater shows from the late 1970s, it’s easy to see how they could inspire a life in music. It’s the band at their best — simultaneously tight as hell and miraculously loose, with all-killer-no-filler set lists, a testament to their craftsmanship and creativity. And interestingly enough, those nights included particularly ripping takes on Weir’s signature song “The Other One,” by that time a catalog classic and something to play for someone who’s Dead-curious. “The Other One” thoroughly exemplifies the band’s group sound and ethos, in which individual personalities recede and the collective takes over — the support system that allows each player to do their best work and the community to carry on. “On January 1st of this year, I have my New Year’s text

LEGRAND PIANO: BEACH HOUSE

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME BY ANNIE PARNELL IT’S BEEN A long winter for Baltimore dream-pop outfit Beach House. Since touring their 2022 record Once Twice Melody and releasing the 2023 Record Store Day exclusive EP Become, the band has largely retreated from

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VICTORIA LEGRAND pretentious, though blessedly no one was using the bowling lanes on Sunday night. But the underbooking didn’t discourage anyone: An hour-and-a-half before the show, fans were already queuing around the corner, some reportedly having arrived as early as 1 p.m. In front of my group, three kids exchanged excited looks as they got Xs drawn on the backs of their hands, and I thought back to my own first concerts. Talk about a Teen Dream. Inside, as “Cheree” by Suicide died down over the speakers, keyboardist and vocalist Victoria Legrand, guitarist Alex Scally and drummer James Barone (a longtime touring member who officially joined the duo in 2022) took to the stage with no opener. Bathed in fog and transcendent lights, they opened with “Levitation” from their velvety album Depression Cherry, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. What followed was an eclectic selection of fan favorites and deep cuts — possibly informed by the band’s online set list creator, where fans submit the songs they most want to hear on tour. As each one began, the audience erupted in cheers. A lot has been made lately of the devolution of concert etiquette. But whether it was because of changing social tides or the

specific trance that Beach House can put you in, Sunday’s crowd was rapt and attuned to each other. Phone recordings were considerate and brief. As the band played “Lazuli,” from their 2012 album Bloom, we all swayed along in the same rhythm. With “Sparks,” Legrand leaned back from her keyboard into the light, and Scally’s guitar soared. Next to me, a girl noticed me writing in my notebook and asked if I was psychic. As the band guided us through the night, their banter between songs was light but potent. Before playing “PPP,” Legrand asked, “Is it smoky enough in here for you guys?” Closer “Space Song” was introduced with thanks to “the ghost that opened for us tonight.” After “Superstar,” as undulating stars faded from the screen behind them, she teared up while addressing the crowd: “You guys are so kind. Thank you for everything.” Gratitude was a prevailing theme of the night: for the band, for the audience and for the space we created together. During the encore, before the cowbell, cascading keys and warbling guitar introduced “Myth,” Legrand named the feeling perfectly: “It is a sweetness that is unmatched.” ▼

10.04

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