This Is Nashville

If you were to buy a ticket to the symphony right now — here in Nashville, or in another city — you likely wouldn’t see many Black performers. That won’t be the case at this weekend’s inaugural performance of the Nashville African American Wind Symphony. The group aims to challenge what has become the norm in classical spaces. We talk to members of the group about why they felt a Black symphony wa...

Note: This episode originally aired on March 4. The honky-tonks on Lower Broadway contribute to Nashville’s economy and its reputation as a destination party city. While “NashVegas” has become a playground for bachelorette parties, locals have pushed back — complaining about  unruly tourists  and  under-regulated party vehicles . Things got so out of hand that the word “transportainment” made its...

Nolensville Pike is famous in Nashville as a bustling corridor of culture and cuisine from all over the world. As Nashville grows — and becomes more expensive — some are embracing new interest and investment in the area, while others worry that development with displace existing immigrant communities. To learn more about how Nolensville Pike became the multicultural hub we know it as today, and di...

Hot chicken is Nashville’s most famous dish. It has a cult following, a mythological backstory and humble beginnings. But it is much more than just a meal — it tells a story about gentrification and race in Nashville. We take a deep dive into what hot chicken says about the city’s culture. We’re joined by the matriarch’s of hot chicken – Ms. André Prince of Prince’s, and Ms. Dollye Matthews of Bol...

It’s national Pet Appreciation Week! Our pets are like family — maybe even more so after these last two years — and many of us have recently seen an addition (or two!) to our households. In this show, we hear from cat people and dog people about the work they do taking care of the furries and finding the right forever homes. But first, we talk supercomputers! Tennessee is home to the fastest compu...

When Nissan Stadium, then called the Adelphia Coliseum, opened in 1999 to house the newly-arrived Tennessee Titans, the lease agreement stipulated that Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County was responsible for 80% of maintenance costs. At the time, Nashville was not a major pro sports destination, and the favorable lease agreement was an important incentive to attract the Titans...

Nashville’s independent music venues have long been a proving ground for up-and-coming artists. They’re also increasingly under threat as development and gentrification continue to put pressure on property values.  Mercy Lounge, Cannery Ballroom and the High Watt recently closed , and it’s an uncertain future ahead for revered venues like  Exit/In . The city is waking up to the problem. Mayor John...

Southern Baptists belong to a denomination that believes in the inerrancy of Biblical scripture, the autonomy of their congregations and complementarity of men and women. In light of the recent Guidepost Report , in this episode we talk about the what the Southern Baptist Convention believes in, its structure and how the absence of female presence in its leadership has contributed to the silencing...

Child care is often expensive, hard-to-find and deeply necessary for working parents and guardians. With schools being out for the summer, many families in Middle Tennessee are in need for child care.  To help address these access issues, Metro Council approved a measure that provides $7.5 million to support child care and early childhood education in Nashville this April. Today, we’re sitting dow...

As the school year draws to a close in Middle Tennessee, we check in with students to see how they’re feeling. The Uvalde, Texas, school shooting is still in the headlines and it comes so soon after another mass shooting in Buffalo. Both were perpetrated by teenagers . And an even more recent shooting in Chattanooga saw six people injured, all of them younger than 15 . How are students processing...

This Is Nashville is off for Memorial Day. We are rebroadcasting our episode about Larkspur, which originally aired April 14.   Death is something that’s sure. It’s also something many of us avoid. Certain people, though, have made facing death part of their everyday life. In an opening feature, we visit  Larkspur Conservation  – one of the only conservation burial grounds in the country as we say...

The WNXP Artist of the Month for May is The New Respects. The Nashville band released its new single "Don't Worry" on Friday, which marks a new chapter for The New Respects since it's the band's first major independent project. In this episode, we're joined by two of the band's members to talk about their music and  how their upbringing shaped The New Respects' sound. But first, we'll hear from WN...

Goals, vision board, 5-year plan, bucket list, whatever you call it — we have many ways of trying to realize and track our passions and accomplishments. When we think of  bucket lists , well, we have to admit that at some point we all kick that bucket. That’s where the urgency comes in. On this show, we talk to people with different backgrounds about the goals they’ve set and the meaningful things...

Losing a family member suddenly and unexpectedly is difficult. But that experience can feel magnified if that loved one is killed by the people tasked to protect us – law enforcement. On this episode, we speak with Sheila Clemmons Lee, whose  son Jocques Clemmons was killed  by a Metro Nashville Police Department officer in 2017; Vickie Hambrick,  whose son   Daniel Hambrick  was killed by an MNPD...

A deadly mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket on May 14 sent shockwaves throughout the country, including in Middle Tennessee. In a document written before the attack, the gunman used rhetoric that echoed racist conspiracy theories and, in some places, the recently leaked Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe. v. Wade . On this episode, we explore the connections between hatefu...

Note: This episode originally appeared on March 18.   Nashville has changed a lot over the past handful of decades — and our city’s LGBTQ+ scene is no exception. The first gay bars popped up after World War II, and the number of LGBTQ+ establishments grew from there, peaking in the 1980s and 1990s with more than 20. None of them are still around today. In recent years, increasing social acceptance...

What does it take to get the best cut of local meat? Turns out it’s a lot. From land, to feed, to slaughter, processing, aging and cooking. We talk to farmers, producers and entrepreneurs about how and why they go the extra mile for local meat — keeping the whole animal in mind, from birth to plate. First up, we take a look into a new Vanderbilt University initiative to establish an Asian American...

After tragedy struck her neighborhood in 2018, artist M. Simone Boyd wanted to do something. Boyd enlisted neighborhood youth to create a mosaic depicting civil rights leader Curlie E. McGruder . The mosaic, created in partnership with a neighborhood woodworking shop, was mounted on the side of the Elizabeth Park senior center, over a window that had been cemented over. Now the Art Against Violenc...

This Is Nashville listeners have reached out with questions about changes they've seen at Centennial Park - particularly with the park's pavillion. In this episode, we address listeners' concerns and take a look at the park's work be more accessible and represent Nashville's diverse communities. We also look at how the Centennial Arts Center is learning from its own history ahead of its 50th anniv...

On May 17, 1961,10 members of the Nashville Student Movement boarded a bus from Nashville to Birmingham, Alabama, as part of the Freedom Rides. The riders were arrested in Alabama and then sent back to the Tennessee border in the middle of the night. However, they helped bolster the civil rights movement as it continued to roll across the South.  In today’s episode, we explore the legacy of Nashvi...

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 short shorts as they climb into pickup trucks. Women appear in as few as 10 percent of the songs on country radio. How did we get here? And how hav...

This Saturday, Percy Warner Park will host the 81st Iroquois Steeplechase. The race, nicknamed Nashville’s “rite of spring,” has taken place every year since 1941 with only two exceptions: 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 1945, due to World War II. In today’s episode, we’re joined by two trustees of the Iroquois Steeplechase to learn about the race’s history and its origins in the sport of...

East Tennessee native Dr. Stephen Loyd once had a 100-pill-a-day addiction and even stole pain pills from his own patients. Years after he first sought help for his substance abuse disorder, Loyd in now the vice president of the state board medical examiners as well as the medical director of multiple service organizations. Loyd's says he has yet to find a way to treat dead people. His past has sh...

The future of abortion access in the United States is in question after  POLITICO published on May 2 a draft opinion  revealing that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Tennessee has a trigger law in place  that will ban almost all abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned. In this episode, we examine how we got to this pivotal moment in the future of abortion access. We also talk ab...

It’s been 10 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine. More than 5 million people have fled, millions more have been displaced inside the European country and thousands of civilians have died due to the ongoing conflict. The war is also  threatening the global food supply . On this episode, we hear from Nashville residents with ties to Ukraine, a filmmaker documenting the conflict, and others who are le...