This Is Nashville

National Ice Cream Day was this past Sunday, and if this  unrelenting heat is good for one thing , it’s creating the perfect backdrop for a cold treat. This hour is all about ice cream in Nashville. What are some current trends? What is the scene like? We learn a little about the “queen of ice cream” back in 1840s Nashville, meet some of the people churning away today and finally ride shotgun on a...

Early voting is currently underway in Davidson County for the Aug. 4 state and federal primary election, and the county general election. Local officials are encouraging voters to prepare before heading to the polls because this election features the longest ballot in Metro history . It's also the first federal election to take place after the Republican-controlled Tennessee legislature split Nash...

With the  drama  and attention around the  gigantic purple martin roost  at the symphony over the last two years, more of our eyes are on the sky and on our migrating feathered friends. What is migration? Why is Nashville not only a stopping point for bachelor parties – but hundreds of thousands of  feathered  birds each year? And how can we be better hosts? In this episode, we hear from three gue...

Among cultures around the world, it’s traditional to grow your own food. But with the rise of supermarkets and grocery stores, gardening in the United States has become more and more uncommon. But, what do you do when the food you like to eat isn’t sold in grocery stores? Or when there are no supermarkets near you, and you can’t afford to buy fresh produce? This isn’t uncommon in Nashville. North...

Even on our best days, for most of us, police interactions carry at least a small element of strain. We want to get it right and are aware of the power differential. Emergencies, trauma, and potential fines or jail time all bring an additional sense of gravity to the moment. When facing a mental health crisis, are police officers the best resource to call on? In this episode, we hear a feature abo...

On June 29, a pipeline ruptured in West Tennessee, spilling approximately 200,000 gallons of crude oil . It was the second-largest spill in state history. But at the time, there was no public announcement of the spill, which came very close to contaminating Tennessee's largest aquifer. Environmental activists say this incident goes to show that the state needs to do a better job of maintaining its...

Nashville has an ongoing lack of affordable housing. What exactly is "affordable housing"? Who defines it? And what does it mean to get subsidized housing? In this episode we talk with some experts who can knock out some of those questions for us. We'll also hear from a former landlord who's navigated making a profit while renting to college students and Section 8 voucher holders. Then we bring in...

After the Supreme Court  overturned Roe vs. Wade , some supporters of the ruling presented adoption as an alternative solution to unwanted pregnancies. A  photo  of a couple holding a sign that read, “We will adopt your baby” went viral.  While adoption may be an option, it’s not necessarily so straightforward, and  the process  can also be tricky to navigate, both for birth parents and hopeful ad...

Nashville is growing fast, but as a city largely designed around cars, its pedestrian infrastructure is seriously lagging. Only about 19 percent of Nashville streets have sidewalks. A callout to WPLN listeners yielded some common themes: too many streets and neighborhoods with no sidewalks, making for dangerous walking conditions; and too many gaps between existing sidewalks. In 2020, a Metro repo...

White lightning. Firewater. Mountain dew. There are a lot of names for moonshine, but what is it? Strictly speaking, it’s any illegal homemade spirit, and can be made from pretty much anything including fruits, grain and vegetables. People all over the world have been making their own alcohol for millennia, but moonshine as we know it today came to be after Prohibition laws made getting legally-pr...

Unions have historically been associated with factory workers and those in the automotive industry. In Tennessee, food service employees – particularly baristas – are leading the labor organization push. In Knoxville, Memphis and Murfreesboro, there’s been various efforts to unionize local Starbucks locations. While in Nashville, much of the labor organizing is taking place at smaller, independent...

Nashville is not a city known for robust public transportation — and it seems that nearly everyone has an opinion on what needs to improve. There’s an impressive lack of sidewalks, bus routes and protected bike lanes, among other challenges. The options may be improving but are still limited. For many residents, the public transit options we do have are essential. For others, riding the bus is a l...

Tennessee has a long history with hate groups and white nationalism. The state is the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, but more recently, a "White Lives Matter" protest at a Juneteenth celebration on June 18 in Franklin, Tennessee, provided a visible local example of anxieties around white identity. Another white supremacist group, American Renaissance, routinely hosts its annual conference at Mont...

The This Is Nashville team is off for July 4. We’re rebroadcasting an episode about women and country music, which originally aired on May 16. As the 1990s came to a close, country music’s biggest stars were women — Shania Twain, Faith Hill and the Chicks ruled the charts. Fast forward to 2021, and it’s “bro country” as far as the eye can see. Women are often the  subjects  of songs — wearing shor...

For decades, vinyl was the primary medium for recording and listening to music. As technology advanced, CDs and digital downloads became the norm, and records fell by the wayside. However, for the past decade or so, vinyl has enjoyed an incredible renaissance. Some people say they prefer the sound of vinyl. Others say they enjoy the ritual of selecting and playing a record. Still others say it jus...

On June 21, the Nashville Metro Council passed its $2.9 billion budget for the 2023 fiscal year.  Metro’s budget approval process can be difficult to navigate, and the citizen’s guide to the budget published by the city includes  documents with more than 700 pages . For this episode of Citizen Nashville, we asked local experts listener-submitted questions about the budget. Later in the show, we’re...

Disputes between landlords and renters typically end up in front of judge and can result in an eviction. Instead of going to court, some landlords and renters are turning towards mediation to find a solution that will keep tenants in their homes while making sure property owners get paid. By design, mediation is a neutral experience that's not about one party or the other. Both sides are able to g...

Dr. Robyn Henderson-Espinoza has been on a mission to truly understand their body. The transqueer theologian, activist and Nashville resident recently published a new book, Body Becoming: A Path to Our Liberation . It charts their journey to understanding our bodies as profoundly meaningful connection points to the world and to each other. They join us to talk about their book, their activism and...

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision on  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health  this morning, overturning  Roe v. Wade  and ending the constitutional right to abortion. In Tennessee, this means a nearly total ban on abortion will likely go into effect in 30 days as a result of a so-called “trigger law,” designed to ban abortion if  Roe v. Wade  is overturned. More than  two dozen other states  hav...

Promise Land was established and settled by formerly enslaved people near Charlotte, Tenn., during Reconstruction. The original settlers included at least five former members of the United States Colored Troops: Clark Garrett, Landin Williams, Ed Vanleer and the brothers John and Arch Nesbitt. The community grew at one point to about 1,000 acres, home to about 50 families. It remained independent...

Gaming = community. That’s what this is about. It’s about connecting with people, learning new skills and breaking out of your comfort zone. Throughout the pandemic, gaming brought a lot of folks together online — in an otherwise isolating time. Whether role-playing, board games, e-sports or virtual gaming, the gaming subculture is alive and thriving here in Nashville. We invited players who are p...

The This Is Nashville team is off for Juneteenth. We are rebroadcasting our episode about Fort Negley, which originally aired on April 4.   Nashville is developing a new master plan for Fort Negley, one of the city’s most significant and unique historical landmarks. The fort was built during the Civil War by conscripted free Black men and women for the Union Army. The U.S. Colored Troops who defen...

If you’ve stepped outside in Nashville this week, you know  the heat right now is no joke . The fire department has responded to dozens of heat sickness-related calls just this week. Residents are being  asked to conserve energy to reduce strain on the grid . Forecasters expect things to cool down just a bit over the Juneteenth weekend, but then we could hit 100 degrees next week. How long has it...

In Tennessee, anyone found guilty of first-degree murder is sentenced to a minimum 51-years in prison – even if they were under 18 at the time of the crime.  Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” series recently released a  documentary  about Almeer Nance — a Knoxville man who received what is essentially a life sentence for felony murder in 1997. He was 16 when the crime happened and didn’t pull the trigger...

From political turmoil and police brutality to inflation and an ongoing pandemic, the past few years have been incredibly stressful for many people. But for those looking for help, mental health care can be confusing to navigate and expensive to access. The stigma that surrounds discussing care and mental health challenges openly makes things more complicated. To learn more about the importance of...