News

What is Americana Music? Hear for yourself at the 2019 Americana Music Festival

What is Americana music? With the rootsy sound of 500 Americana Festival performances pouring out of at almost 60 Nashville venues from now until September 15th, it’s time to figure out what Americana music is.

There’s an awards show tonight at The Ryman and you can listen to the full awards program will be streamed live online (via NPR Music) and broadcast on the radio (100.1-FM WRLT, 89.5-FM WMOT and 650-AM WSM). Based on past award winners (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit won three of the awards in 2018 and Johnny Cash won three awards in 2003), the voters know what Americana music is when they hear it but that doesn’t help describe it. The sound is broad (country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues) with roots in acoustic music but often played with a full electric band. The genre is an inclusive, mellifluous miscellany of singers, songwriters and instrumentalists. It is a reaction to restrictive, curmudgeonly gatekeepers of country music (just ask L’il Nas X if country is welcoming) who have decided that pop/bro country is the current sound of country. To figure it out for yourself, listen to Americana Music Association® playlists of this year’s performers and go to Grimey’s Americanarama XII on Saturday. To help you decide what shows to go to Nashville Scene created a quick-reference guide to AmericanaFest 2019.

End of Summer Nashville Events

If the arrival of Pumpkin Spice Lattes hasn’t tipped you off that Fall is just around the corner, we’re here to let you know that you only have a few more weeks left of Nashville Summer. Granted, Autumn in the South tends to be short and sweet, but even though the heat will be sticking around for awhile longer, these fun events will not! Here are a few more things to do in Music City before Summer comes to a close on September 23rd:

SEE AN OUTDOOR MOVIE - Monday, September 16th

We’ve had so many thunderstorms this Summer, that several of Cinema by JW’s events have been rescheduled to later dates. There’s one last showing of Sleepless in Seattle on Monday, September 16th! The movie starts at sundown on the JW lawn, and tickets are free on Eventbrite. Enjoy popcorn and s’mores on a cozy plaid blanket beneath the city lights and stars!

GRAZE THE FOOD TRUCKS ON DEADERICK - Thursday, September 19th

Street Eats is a weekly food truck feast that lines Deaderick Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. Up to 20 local food trucks will serve a variety of fares from 11am-2pm, so take a mid-day break to go chow down with your Nashville neighbors!

CATCH SOME TUNES AT CENTENNIAL - Thursday, September 19th

Musicians Corner hosts September Sundown every Thursday in Centennial Park from 5-9pm. This weekly series showcases local artisans, food trucks, and, of course--musicians. The September 19th lineup includes Dylan LeBlanc, Super Doppler, Pet Envy, Amber Woodhouse, and Amilia K Spicer. 

GET THEE TO THE THEATER (OR PARK) - Sunday, September 22nd

The Nashville Shakespeare Festival hosts their Shakespeare in the Park series every year, and this Summer’s last performance will be The Tempest, followed by Pericles. Food and drink vendors open at 5:45pm, and the show begins at 7pm on Sunday, September 22nd at oneC1TY. Summer Shakespeare is always free, but donations are encouraged.

Test Your Nashville Knowledge

We hear a lot of stats and stories about Nashville's current boom, but how well do you know the facts? Here's a quick true/false quiz to see if you've been paying attention to the changes in Music City.

"All Things Tomato" Night Market

Join us Friday night July 19 from 5pm-9pm for the "All Things Tomato" Night Market  at the Nashville Farmers' Market featuring tomato samples, tomato cocktails, food trucks, and tasty charcuterie served with smoky tomato jam.

Vote Like You Mean It

Early voting in the Metropolitan General Election has begun and locations for early voting expand on Friday (pdf) so it’s finally time to get informed and vote like you mean it. Statistically, only one in five voters show up and vote, we hope that this roundup of races and candidates will get more folks the polls. 

• For the mayoral race, WPLN has stories with the candidates addressing everything from schools, traffic, and, even, go-to karaoke songs. 
• The Tennessean has a full list of the 111 candidates who have filed to run for mayor and Metro Council. 
• Here are the responses to Walk Bike Nashville’s questionnaire from mayoral and Metro Council candidates.

Finally, if you want to see what the elected council members do once they are elected, watch the recent seven-hour meeting from July 2nd and ask yourself what these candidates are thinking.

Tour Olive and Sinclair in East Nashville

Southern Summer Reading List

Explore the South from variety of perspectives—natural, personal, irreverent, weird—with our curated selection of summer reads.

In Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, Margaret Renkl weaves the experience of loss and with an appreciation of nature's renewal and insensitivity to the inevitable. Listen to her interview on WPLN where she also expresses an appreciation for OxyClean and other inheritances.

Tony Horwitz's final book reports on the residents of small Southern towns bubbling with divisions. He doesn't try to analyze the folks he meets. Rather, he shares his experiences with “the three-dimensional individuals I drank and debated with in factory towns, Gulf Coast oil fields and distressed rural crossroads.” After publication, he unexpectedly passed away and his obituary highlights his respected career.

The essays in I Miss You When I Blink are full of spot-on observations about home, work, and creative life from acclaimed essayist (and bookseller at Parnassus) Mary Laura Philpott. She takes on the conflicting pressures of modern adulthood with wit and heart. For delightful distractions featuring dogs, deers, and books, follow her on Instagram.

In her book Southern Lady Code, author Helen Ellis dishes on the sugar, the spice, and the not-so-always-nice of being a Southern woman. She explains Southern sayings including "'Bless your heart,' which could mean 'Thank you for this funeral casserole,' or it might be the last thing you hear before someone pushes you out of a moving car."

South Toward Home, with a foreword by Jon Meacham, is Julia Reed’s attempt to provide a view of the South in all its complicated, sometimes embarrassing glory. Find out more about her love of the South and its rich characters in this Q & A.

Summer Recommendations from Subscription Box Purveyors

We asked the purveyors featured in June's Batch Nashville Subscription Box what they enjoy about summer in Nashville.

Nerissa Nicole of Mimi Jo's

One of my favorite things about Nashville is just the unique vibe of the city. Having been born and raised here in the area near Edgehill which is now the Gulch I like to pride myself as a “native tourist”. Things have changed so much but still one thing that remains the same is the delicious food, parks, “people watching” and taking in a stroll through downtown or our greenways. I enjoy grabbing Nashville’s Hot Chicken preferably from Hattie B’s and then going across town to the Cupcake Collection to grab my favorite sweet potato cupcake while taking in  a nice day at the Parthenon. My mother would take me to the Centennial park as a child to feed the ducks. Also, I absolutely LOVE the local farmer’s markets that’s where I got my first start with Mimi Jo’s Fruit Tea and I frequent those to see the new vendors and offer my support by shopping local. Nashville is full of so many beautiful places, cute and trendy shops. The variety of what Nashville has to offer is amazing…last but not least taking in a nice outdoor jazz festival is so relaxing.

Autumn Grant of The Kind Poppy

My favorite thing about Nashville summer's are the outdoor festivals and concerts. It's so fun to watch the sunset at Ascend (with a drink in hand) listening to your favorite band.

Josh Davis of Farm & Food

Summer is actually my favorite season of the year! Everything that Middle Tennessee has to offer outdoors becomes available. All of the pools, lakes, rivers, dog parks, sidewalks and patios fill up and everyone is out walking around and enjoying the sun. Nashvillians are known to be fickle weather creatures so when the sun is out so are all of its inhabitants!

Michele Harbin of Harbin Hollow

In my current season of life, as a mom of two young kids, (Lylah Jane 5, and Cooper 2), I love family picnics in the park, particularly Dragon Park, and festivals. Most recently, the hubs and I indulged at the Taste of Music City. :)

The Peach Truck Cookbook

When Stephen and Jessica Rose settled in Nashville, they fell in love with their new city. Their only reservation: Where were the luscious peaches that Stephen remembered from his childhood in Georgia? Amid Nashville’s burgeoning food scene, the couple partnered with his hometown peach orchard to bring just-off-the-tree Georgia peaches to their adopted city, selling them out of the back of their 1964 Jeep Gladiator in Nashville’s farmer’s markets. Since starting their company in 2012, Stephen and Jessica have attracted a quarter of a million followers on social media and have delivered more than 4.5 million peaches to tens of thousands of customers in 48 states. With The Peach Truck Cookbook, (pre-order now!) the couple brings the lusciousness of the Georgia peach and the savory and sweet charms of Southern cooking, as well as the story behind their success and an insider’s guide to the Nashville food scene.

The Winning Formula for You Are So Nashville If... contest

Submissions are open through June 27th for the Scene's Annual 'You Are So Nashville If ...' As a service for Weekly What readers, we analyzed the 30 past winners and have come up with the winning formula for YASNI entries.

Winning topics:

• Country music (5 winners)
• Local celebrities (4 winners)
• Crime (4 winners)
• Gay (4 winners)
• Acronym wordplay (3 winners)
• Growth/Development (3 winners)
• Southern-fried ignorance (3 winners)
• Mayoral romantic scandals (2 winners)
• Local landmark (2 winners)
• Religious sanctimony (2 winners)
• Neighborhoods (2 winners)

With those results in mind, here’s our suggested formula for a winner:

• Local landmark + country musician + crime + new development
• Mayoral election + acronym + neighborhood + southern-fried ignorance + gay
• Country music song + overcrowded city + religious sactimony

Also consider adding these hot topics in your entry: Scooters, Old Town Road, Cherry trees, high rise apartments, Cade Cothren, NFL Draft