Banner & Company

McKenzie Tuckson and Joyce George have each been trailblazers in their own ways. McKenzie was the first student with Rett Syndrome, a rare and severe form of autism that rendered her nonverbal, to attend Metro Nashville Public Schools. With the help of assistive devices, she found her voice, succeeded in school and even landed a job at a bubble tea shop. Joyce was one of the first women to work fo...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Sarah Grace Taylor stay up late to talk about Tuesday night’s election results. They discuss Marsha Blackburn’s surprisingly close victory over Jerri Green to become the next governor and several congressional races, including one shocking upset. They also drink beer and think out loud about what last night means for Tennesseans. Produced by Andrea Tudhope Learn mo...

The Nofal family was the picture of the American dream: high school sweethearts; a Navy officer husband and a nurse wife; two young kids at home. But even though Hani Nofal had spent most of his life not thinking much about his Palestinian identity, the war in Gaza changed that. He couldn’t accept being part of a military that was backing what he saw as a genocide. That altered the course of his l...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott sit down to talk about next week’s elections. They answer community questions about election integrity, bus fare on Election Day and the three proposed constitutional amendments before rounding up all the races on the ballot. They also discuss fond memories of past Halloween costumes. Produced by Andrea Tudhope Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Miguel* knows what work is. During the peak of summer, he works seven days a week, sometimes 14 hours a day or more. He does it to provide a good life for his family. As an HVAC technician, he's done a lot to help people feel comfortable in their homes. But his own sense of home is complicated: After fleeing violence in Venezuela, Miguel has been waiting for a decision on his asylum application fo...

Shawn Dromgoole was afraid to walk in his own neighborhood. Even though he’d grown up in 12South, as a Black man in a rapidly gentrifying part of Nashville, he felt paralyzed by fear. Then, what started as a simple walk with his mother became a national story, and blossomed into something bigger than either of them could have imagined. In this episode, we meet Shawn, along with his mother Lyn, his...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott sit down to talk about the DC Blox lawsuit, Sheriff Daron Hall’s retirement and this week’s Metro Council meeting. There’s much discussion about a no-longer-endangered salamander. Plus we unveil the podcast’s new official name and honor Andrea’s new title as the city’s Best Audio Producer in 2026 per the Nashville Scene. Produced by Andrea Tudhope L...

Introducing Staking Our Claim — a new limited podcast series from Banner & Company Productions and the Nashville Banner. Hosted by writer, critic and podcaster Kashif Andrew Graham, Staking Our Claim follows seven Nashville area families who, over the past few years, have found themselves up against difficult circumstances — navigating day to day life amid an atmosphere of displacement, exclusion...

Banner managing editor Andrea Tudhope sits down with reporters Steven Hale and Mikeie Honda Reiland to talk about the nightmare that unfolded at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution this week. Christa Pike was set to be executed Wednesday for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. After an eleventh hour stay was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state proceeded with the execution. The 1...

Formerly the U.S. special enjoy to Northern Ireland and U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district, Joe Kennedy III has had an impressive public career, befitting a person with his surname. (He swears there is no required skillset that comes with it, though.) It was on a trip to Ireland that Joe met Demetria, and on a recent trip to Nashville, he found a spare hour to sit d...

Tamara Saviano has worked in radio, been a publicist — Kris Kristofferson was a client — served as president of the Americana Music Association (the first woman to do so), and produced albums and award shows at the Ryman Auditorium. All of this has given her an inside view of the Americana scene from the very start. If that sounds like a singularly winding career path, you can now read about it in...

Banner reporters Steven Hale, Stephen Elliott and Eden Turner sit down to talk about new data on how many refugees have likely ended up in Nashville in recent years and the dwindling resources available to them now due to policy changes and funding cuts under the second Trump administration. Stephen tells the story of a mother fleeing threats of violence and political persecution in Venezuela, and...

Like many musicians before him, Jay McDowell came to Nashville with a guitar and a dream. And then, as he was trying to help his friends find an upright bass player, with little luck they finally asked him: Why not you? And to his surprise, he said yes. The band was BR549, a group of throwback country rockers who played on Lower Broadway in an era when there were no celebrity bars and few tourists...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott go deep into the weeds of an unfolding scandal involving a top official in one of the Metro government’s largest departments. Stephen explains the exclusive reporting he’s done on former Metro Water Services official John Honeysucker, Nashville businessmen Roy Dale and Mack McClung, all three of whom are under federal investigation. While we don’t k...

Every Southerner knows the importance of a good biscuit. But not everyone knows how deeply important self-rising flour has been to the development of the South. In their new book Self-Rising: The Magic Rise Behind Biscuit and Cornbread Culture, Mindy Merrell and R.B. Quinn look at this underestimated ingredient, which not only helped provide inexpensive meals for hard-working people but became a v...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Sarah Grace Taylor put on their tinfoil hats and chat about why it feels like somebody or something is watching them. Sarah Grace brings us into her reporting process for her recent story on Waymos idling and recording in residential areas around Nashville. They discuss why it’s worth reporting on questions of privacy in an era when many people assume they are bein...

Not too many people can say they got to sing with Dolly Parton. But Brian Hull can. Over the years, he wrote and directed numerous multimedia performances for Dollywood, the late singer and songwriter's eponymous theme park, and in recording sessions would often sing along with Dolly on parts that would later be performed live onstage. Her death this week hit him particularly hard. "She was there...

Candice Storey Lee was recruited to play basketball for Vanderbilt University, and halfway through the drive from Alabama, she changed her mind. She begged her dad to turn the truck around. But he stayed the course. That was 30 years ago, and since making it to West End, she has not looked back, though she admits she never thought she'd stay at Vanderbilt this long. Three degrees later — bachelor'...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott get together to talk about the Metro Council. First thing’s first, Steven asks Stephen to weigh in on the Titans rebranded raccoon mascot T-Rac. Stephen carefully explains the situation with the Music City Center refinancing and expansion plans. Then they discuss police drones and the start of the vice mayoral race. Both reminisce on their blogging...

A connector, mentor and start-up whisperer, Michael Burcham is one of the most influential figures in Nashville's business ecosystem. The founding president and CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, he's a serial entrepreneur himself, starting three successful investor-backed businesses. He teaches business and healthcare innovation at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management...

Banner reporter Steven Hale sits down with Steve Cavendish and Mikeie Honda Reiland to talk about Thursday’s execution of Anthony Darrell Hines for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins. They discuss the details of the case and the recent court fights surrounding it. Steven shares his history with Hines’ defense team, Mikeie explains what he saw outside the prison and Steve details his...

Kimmie Christian has been jumping Double Dutch for as long as she can remember. “It's kind of like a passage, right?” she said. “When you're born, you just, everyone just jumps Double Dutch. My mom jumped Double Dutch. My aunts jumped Double Dutch. My sisters jumped Double Dutch. It's just kind of what the girls did in the neighborhood.” She brought that longstanding tradition from her upbringing...

Banner reporter Steven Hale is joined by Steve Cavendish and Sarah Grace Taylor to talk about all of Thursday night’s primary election results, from Marsha Blackburn’s victory to Andy Ogles’ upset defeat. Sarah Grace details her time crisscrossing the state with the Blackburn campaign in a private plane before the three breakdown what to (and not) take away from who won and lost. Produced by Andre...

Middle Tennessee weather can be unpredictable — and dangerous. When things get iffy, a trio of "suburban dads" keeps the information flowing. But once the watches turn to warnings, they really get serious: That's when they start livestreaming on YouTube, tracking storms in real time and letting their audience know when to shelter and when it's safe to carry on. Nashville Severe Weather started as...

Banner reporters Steven Hale and Lillian Avedian sit down to talk about the coming school year in Nashville and how Lillian approaches covering education. They discuss what Lillian learned from her first year on the beat, how she’s keeping up with schools while school is out of session and what she has her eye on this fall. Steven wonders if later start times will help him get his kids to school o...