It may seem like Ashley Monroe is contradicting herself when she sings these emphatic sentiments nearly back to back: “Country music is the reason I’m alive. …But I hate Nashville.”
Jewly Hight
Music critic and journalist Jewly Hight has been based in Nashville for two decades. Often, she's interpreted developments in Nashville's music communities and industries for a national audience. Her work has appeared on NPR and in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine/Vulture, The Guardian, Billboard, The Oxford American, Slate and numerous other outlets, and she's lent her expertise to a number of podcasts and documentaries. Hight landed her first book deal while studying religion, gender, sexuality, music and the South at Vanderbilt Divinity School, she was the inaugural winner of the Chet Flippo Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism and she helped launch WNXP as its Editorial Director in 2020. Now Senior Music Writer for Nashville Public Radio, and working with a diverse Nashville audience in mind, she's created the organization's first limited podcast series focused on music, "Making Noise."
Elevating Nashville’s R&B scene is a collective effort | Key Changes
The rising R&B scene here in Nashville is advancing through the collaborative dynamic they’re cultivating and the type of music they’re making.
Country music comedy is back | Key Changes
Do you remember when country music had a sense of humor? Punchlines have taken a backseat to the sullenness and swagger of some of the genre’s current male superstars, but it hasn’t always been that way.
New Music Friday: The best albums out May 1
Welcome to New Music Friday, NPR Music’s podcast dedicated to sharing the best albums out each week. This week, our guest is Jewly Hight critic and journalist from Nashville Public Radio.
Veronique Medrano, Kacey Musgraves and Gillian Welch want to let their roots show | Key Changes
Artists including Kacey Musgraves, Gillian Welch and Veronique Medrano are giving credit where they feel it’s due, and connecting their work to musical and cultural lineages.
Nashville artist Summer Joy has learned how to transcend boundaries with her voice
“Singing, honey, that is like breathing to me,” says Summer Joy. The emerging singer-songwriter released her debut EP, “Lessons in Love,” in March.
AI music platform launched in Nashville puts songwriters in control
Soundbreak, an AI songwriting platform, gives users an approximation of co-writing with artists they admire.
So many music halls of fame, so many opinions | Key Changes
It’s that time of year when music halls of fame make their big announcements. And since everyone tends to have their own definition of musical greatness and who embodies it, people have opinions.
The significance of sports soundtracks | Key Changes
We take for granted that sporting events have music. But for performers, it can serve as personal or political expression.
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