Listen Nashville writer TJ Jarrett is, by many objective measures, a successful artist. She’s won awards for her work and has published books of her poetry about history and race and family. But as she tells WPLN’s Emily Siner in our live series and podcast Movers & Thinkers, it’s not easy getting to the point […]
The Ups And Downs Of Tennessee Arts Funding
Listen In terms of federal funding for the arts, Nashville organizations have received far more than other Tennessee cities — including twice as much as Memphis — in the past three years. That’s one of the insights from data provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which is […]
Listen: An Old-Time Musician On The Evil Of Honky Tonks
Listen Nashville is known for its “honkytonks” — the popular country music bars on Lower Broadway in downtown. The origin of the term is disputed — but a recently digitized interview with a Tennessee folk musician shows the impact that early honkytonks had on traditional music.
Movers & Thinkers: Why Bryce McCloud Makes Art For Everyday Places
Listen You probably won’t find the work of Nashville artist Bryce McCloud in a museum. He purposely puts it in places that are more mundane: coffee shops, a record store, even a baseball stadium. McCloud talked to WPLN’s Emily Siner as part of our live series and podcast, Movers & Thinkers, about his desire to […]
Listen: A Sad Song Preserved In Tennessee’s State Parks Project
Listen Long before Tennessee digitized a collection of traditional folk songs and storytelling, a small group of trained researchers had to collect those recordings in the field. That started in earnest in state parks in 1979.
Listen: This Is What A True Tennessee Holler Sounds Like
Listen From ghost stories, to advice on how to build a banjo, to tales from the early days of electricity — all these subjects, along with traditional music, are captured in the Tennessee State Parks Folklife Collection.
Belcourt Theater’s Dramatic Remodel Expands Cultural Reach – And Accessibility
Six months after temporarily shutting its doors, the Belcourt Theatre reopened last week, showing off both new updates and meticulous preservations.
With Jefferson Street Art Crawl, A Changing Nashville Neighborhood Shows Off Its Creative Scene
Listen North Nashville has long been a center of artistic expression — from the Fisk Jubilee Singers in the 1860s to vast murals, painted in recent years, that span buildings and blocks. But organizers of the Jefferson Street Art Crawl are hoping to get more of the city paying attention to an often overlooked creative […]
Student Musicians From South America Come To Nashville To Learn R&B Hits
Listen There’s a new band in Nashville playing R&B hits and getting some decent gigs. And they’re made up mostly of middle school students from Colombia, South America.
20 Photos: Ghosts Of The Past, Seeds Of The Future On Dickerson Pike
Before I-65, Dickerson Pike/US 41 was the main road between Louisville and Nashville, and the vintage signs of the pike’s motels are the most striking sights on the street. They recall a time before interstate freeways homogenized regional cultures, and they remind me of how exciting it must have been to be a tourist, a business man or even a wannabe country star arriving in Nashville for the very first time after a long, slow drive.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM