WNXP Podcasts

What Where When-sday: IndigeNash Nov 20, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss IndigeNash, a multimedia event showcasing Native artists happening at the Forge this weekend

On The Record with WNXP: Orla Gartland Nov 19, 2024

Many artists have fallen victim to the sophomore slump. It’s hard to follow up the success of a widely-accepted, slam dunk debut. Yet, Orla Gartland has struck gold once again with her second LP Everybody Needs A Hero.

After launching her career as a teen on YouTube, the London-based, Dublin-born singer, songwriter has continued to use her quick wit to win fans over. Listeners often find themselves in on the joke before being sucker-punched with Gartland’s equally emotional songwriting. This rollercoaster is prevalent throughout her sophomore effort. The 12-song collection explores the turmoil of romance and womanhood. The instrumentation takes a similar ride — transitioning from soft, gentle arrangements to pop-punk riffs. It builds on the foundation Garltand built with2021’s Woman on the Internet and shows a range well beyond her years.

Hear her discuss the inspiration behind the record and the struggles of touring while on the record with WNXP. Watch Orla Gartland perform “Little Chaos,” “Backseat Driver” and “Late To The Party” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: The Hard Quartet’s ‘The Hard Quartet’ Nov 18, 2024

The Hard Quartet is a new four-piece composed of Stephen Malkmus, Emmett Kelly, Matt Sweeney and Jim White, each of whom boasts big bona fides and decades of output in indie rock. The band's sonically diverse self-titled debut record on Matador features the members taking turns on lead but always gelling thanks to their affinity for each other and the "social experience" of music-making. Hear Kelly and Sweeney discuss the LP and the enviable, agenda-free hang that is The Hard Quartet.

TEASER: Music Citizens Episode 2 Nov 14, 2024

Episode 2 of Music Citizens tells the story of Piper Payne, a scrappy, independent record manufacturer who opened up in the middle of the recent vinyl boom. But as her story unfolds, we discover the vinyl industry is at a profound inflection point that no one has reported on — until now.

What Where When-sday: Frist Arts Fest Nov 13, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss the Frist Arts Fest happening this Sunday with Meagan Rust, Interpretation Director of the museum.

Record of the Week: Pressure Heaven 'Head Start' Nov 12, 2024

Pressure Heaven is a new band in the Nashville music scene that's making big waves. They were named Best New Band by the Nashville Scene in their Best of Nashville issue. Pressure Heaven's sound is Deftones meets Sleigh Bells meets Nine Inch Nails, and we love it. Their EP "Head Start" is our Record of the Week.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Chuck INDigo Nov 11, 2024

Over the last several years, Chuck INDigo has emerged as a leading voice in Nashville hip-hop. The Nashville Scene alt-weekly just named him the city’s best rapper, and he's WNXP's Nashville Artist of the Month. But senior music writer Jewly Hight says that it’s taken INDigo until his seventh project, Until I Get There, to figure out that where he wants his music to come from is where he really does come from.

On the Record with WNXP: Royel Otis Nov 07, 2024

After three EPs and a few viral videos, the world anxiously awaited a full length from Australia’s Royel Otis. The Sydney duo comprised of Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic delivered a debut well worth the hype with Pratts & Pain. Produced by esteemed indie mastermind Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Foals), the feel-good, breezy album is indie pop perfection. With infectious hooks and smooth baselines, the 13-song collection is sonic sunshine.

Watch Royel Otis perform stripped-down versions of “Sofa King” and “Til The Morning” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

What Where When-sday: Third Coast Improv Fest Nov 06, 2024

After a grueling election week, we can all use a laugh. In this What Where When-sday, we discuss the 8th annual Third Coast Improv Fest happening this weekend with Emma Supica, founding director of Unscripted, and Luke Watson, co-owner of Third Coast Comedy Club.

Record of the Week Joy Oladokun 'Observations from a Crowded Room' Nov 04, 2024

This week our WNXP Record of the Week is Observations from a Crowded Room from Nashville singer/songwriter Joy Oladokun. Dealing with hard times while on tour, she had a day off in Bend, Oregon where she wrote the first song for the new album “Letter From A Blackbird” a response to The Beatles “Blackbird.” The album’s songwriting from there would take a raw and honest account of what its like being a Black, queer artist in spaces that aren’t always welcoming. She hopes this album will serve as accountability for some and inspiring for others coming behind her.

What Where When-sday: Kosher Nashville Hot Chicken and Jewish Arts & Music Fest Oct 30, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we talk with Jesse Feld about the 9th Annual Kosher Nashville Hot Chicken and Jewish Arts & Music Fest happening this Sunday at the Gordon Jewish Community Center.

Record of the Week: Porridge Radio 'Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me' Oct 28, 2024

Porridge Radio's Dana Margolin said she wrote much of the band's new LP Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me in a period of disorienting stillness that she experienced in the wake of an aggressive touring schedule. Spanning identity and healing from the end of relationships, some of Margolin's rawest, most revelatory songs make up the British band's fourth album, which is WNXP's Record of the Week.

What Where When-sday: Halloween Oct 23, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Halloween, since many of us will be celebrating ahead of the Thursday holiday this year. Joining us with some ways to get your spook on is WPLN’s Rachel Iacovone.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Kings of Leon Oct 21, 2024

For the first time ever we dedicated an entire show to just one artist — our current Nashville Artist of the Month Kings of Leon. Earlier this year Jason Moon Wilkins sat down with the most successful rock band in Nashville history at their newly built studio and rehearsal space. The wide-ranging conversation covered their new album 'Can We Please Have Fun' as well as particularly timely topics like why they have stayed out of politics up to this point and where they stand on the trend of “going country.” The unexpected influence of Ronnie Milsap shows up as well.

Record of the Week: Lutalo 'The Academy' Oct 21, 2024

WNXP’s Record of the Week is The Academy by Lutalo. The Vermont-based songwriter who has ties to Big Thief was initially cast as an indie folk artist but Lutalo says this album was meant to shrug off those limitations. Playing every instrument, they show off a masterful command of multiple styles and genres to tell crucial, and often heartbreaking, stories of their first quarter of life while also making commentary on consumerism and politics in a way that never feels preachy.

The week before the release, Lutalo joined us to share some reflections on the album and insight into how a particular Nashville-based artist gave them a peek into what was possible as an artist of color in the overwhelmingly white world of indie music.

What Where When-sday: DRKMTTR Fest Oct 16, 2024

DRKMTTR Collective is a local, all-ages music venue that hopes to build a community in underground music and arts scenes. This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss DRKMTTR Fest happening on Saturday and Sunday. Katy Kirby, one of the event’s performers and worked at the space for a few months, joined us to talk about how important the DIY venue was for her through her journey.

Record of the Week: Styrofoam Winos 'Real Time' Oct 14, 2024

Styrofoam Winos are a radically equal in that there is no set lead singer, guitarist, drummer or bassist. It's unusual, but it works. Each song on their new album Real Time, has a different perspective and voice, but the beauty is the harmony they all create as one.

Interview: Tucker Zimmerman Oct 11, 2024

Musician Tucker Zimmerman is a bit of a musical Forrest Gump. In his 83 years he has sipped coffee with the Beats in San Francisco, taught David Bowie how to record in a studio, and now he has made an album with Big Thief. Dance of Love is a freewheeling album that brings intergenerational hippies together into one common feeling.

What Where When-sday: Concert and Conversation: Night Train to Lovenoise Oct 09, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Concert and Conversation: Night Train to Lovenoise: A Generation Journey of Black Music in Nashville. The event is taking place this Saturday at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum from 2:30 to 4.

Record of the Week: A.G. Sully 'Premonition of Rain' Oct 07, 2024

A.G. Sully grew up in Hartselle, Alabama, just a few hours away from Nashville. She describes it as very small and very conservative, but it’s a place that shaped her to become who she is today. She said she started writing around sophomore year of college writing her first songs "Lil Mama" and "FOMO" which she wrote inside one of the practice rooms at MTSU. The music she started to make was a far cry from the Christian music she was used to singing.

She describes her songwriting as linear and wouldn’t say it was super structured. Like many artists, she takes inspiration from what’s going on in her personal life. Her life between Space to Think and her new record, Premonition of Rain, has been vastly different and its reflected in the songwriting.

Interview: Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes Oct 07, 2024

Alt-rock legends Violent Femmes are touring in 2024 celebrating the 40th anniversary of their sophomore release 'Hallowed Ground.' But in certain cities -- including Nashville on October 9 -- they're playing a wide selection from their discography with the accompaniment of symphony orchestras. Femmes frontman Gordon Gano shared with WNXP about the experience playing with so many instrumentalists, and also the sustained musical chemistry with bandmate Brian Ritchie.

What Where When-sday: Celebrate Nashville Oct 02, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival happening this Saturday at Centennial Park.

New Music Experience: JD McPherson Oct 01, 2024

Our special guest this week is former NashvillianJD McPherson. He explains why the new record, Nite Owls, took seven years to arrive, how his daughter inspired one its greatest songs and how his covers EP opened the door to the new album’s direction.

Record of the Week: MJ Lenderman 'Manning Fireworks' Sep 30, 2024

Our Record of the Week is with newly crowned guitar god, MJ Lenderman, where he talks about his new found attention, the character studies of Manning Fireworks and learning about rock music through Guitar Hero.

On The Record with WNXP: Paris Paloma Sep 30, 2024

After her single “labour” took the internet by storm, audiences worldwide impatiently awaited Paris Paloma’s debut full length. Luckily, Cacophony lived up to the hype. Inspired by Stephen Fry’s book of Greek myth retellings “Mythos,” Cacophony processes anxiety, oppression and trauma through brilliant songwriting and ethereal vocal layering. It’s hauntingly beautiful and unexpectedly textured.

Watch Paris Paloma perform “my mind (now),” “bones on the beach” and “labour” from Cacophony live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

New Music Experience: Honeyglaze Sep 26, 2024

Honeyglaze, the South London trio whose Fat Possum debut Real Deal has already produced two singles you’ve heard on WNXP in “Don’t” and “Pretty Girls” and whose ability to add soaring melody and nuanced vocals to a post-punk foundation helps them jump the line of soundalikes.

What Where When-sday: Show Yourself Music and Activation Fest Sep 25, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Show Yourself Music and Activation Fest with Alex Wong and Leah Light. Happening this Sunday at the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition in South Nashville, the fest will feature music from Wong, Mike Floss, Ruby Amanfu, Brassville, Vienna Teng and Steph Jacques, and will be hosted by comedian Cortney Warner with appearances from Equity Alliance and TIRRC Votes.

On The Record with WNXP: Slow Pulp Sep 24, 2024

Chicago’s indie music scene is bursting at the seams with young talent. Yet few are as cohesive as laid-back quartet Slow Pulp. Country-tinged indie rock with a hint of shoegaze combined with emotional songwriting makes Slow Pulp’s music sink into your body like a warm cup of coffee. It’s breezy and welcoming. Their latest full length Yard embraces that sense of comfort, blending fuzzy guitars with sweet instrumental arrangements that showcase Slow Pulp’s undeniable chemistry as a band.

Watch Slow Pulp perform Yard standouts “Doubt,” “Slugs” and “Cramps” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Nada Surf "Moon Mirror" Sep 23, 2024

Nada Surf's "Moon Mirror" the veteran indie rock band's 10th LP now out on New West Records, is WNXP's Record of the Week. The band's front man Matthew Caws dropped by our studio to talk about the record and play songs solo acoustic.

Feature: "Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story" Sep 20, 2024

There’s a sub-genre of documentaries that track down figures who’ve disappeared from public view. A new film called “Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story” captures Shane as a powerhouse R&B performer and a Black, trans woman who got her start in Nashville, then took the Toronto scene by storm in the 1960s. She eventually stoppedperforming and no one knew where she was. Decades later, Shane was excited to be found by a filmmaker, but she died before they could really get to work.

Senior music writer Jewly Hight says the challenge became figuring out how to do justice to a performer who’d never been properly appreciated even in life.

Record of the Week: Hinds "VIVA HINDS" Sep 16, 2024

Hinds is the duo of Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote who hail from Madrid, Spain and have made "VIVA HINDS" our Record of the Week.

Interview: "Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted" with Isaac Gale, Paul Lovelace, and Swamp Dogg Sep 14, 2024

Legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Swamp Dogg has a new documentary called "Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted" which you can check out during Americana and Nashville Film Fest. Director Isaac Gale and editor Paul Lovelace joined us to talk about the film and the subject of the film Swamp Dogg talks Americana Fest & new album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th ST.

Record of the Week: L10N "Speed of Love" Sep 13, 2024

One name that has kept popping up in the Nashville hip-hop scene since the late 2010s is Lul Lion. At shows, on projects and in collectives, she was often the only woman in the mix. And her music is really the only record there is of her story — she’s rarely given an interview.
The Tennessee native seemed to drop off the radar last year. Senior music writer Jewly Hight tracked her down in her current home LA, where she’s been reinventing herself. Her new EP, “Speed of Love,” is WNXP’s Record of the Week.

On The Record with WNXP: Real Estate Sep 12, 2024

After six full length records, indie rock veterans Real Estate show no sign of slowing down or staying complacent. Their latest record Danielshowcases the band’s ability to create consistently hooky songs that are universally approachable and pleasant, but it also pushes their sound to new bounds. Recorded at the historic RCA Studio A in Nashville, the New Jersey quintet embraced a bit of twangy tradition, following the current trends of many of their indie peers. Still, Real Estate stays loyal to the jangly guitars and sweet songwriting fans have come to expect.

Watch Real Estate perform “Water Underground,” “Flowers” and “Haunted World” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

What Where When-sday: Hispanic Heritage Month Sep 11, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we talk Hispanic Heritage Month with WPLN’s own Rachel Iacovone.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Conner Youngblood Sep 09, 2024

Most artists move to Nashville to be part of the music community and land opportunities in the business. Not Conner Youngblood. He’s the WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month. And he’s quietly done his thing here for a dozen years. Senior music writer Jewly Hight met up with him at the one place that tenuously connects his new latest project to Nashville.

What Where When-sday: Silent Book Club Sep 04, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Silent Book Club with the founder of Nashville’s chapter and the owner of the local bookstore that’s co-hosting. Silent Book Club is happening at various locations throughout the month of September, and on.

Record of the Week: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 'Wild God Sep 03, 2024

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds have been a band since 1983 and have gained a cult following around Nick Cave's persona as a sort of Prince of Darkness. But about ten years ago, he encountered real tragedy that changed him and his music completely. Wild God, is The Bad Seed's 18th studio album, it deals with Cave's journey through grief of the past decade and landing on new, long dormant emotions like joy, that the band are experiencing once again. WNXP was granted this rare interview with Nick Cave.

What Where When-sday: Nashville Public Library’s Courtyard Concert Series Aug 28, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss the Nashville Public Library’s Courtyard Concert series taking place near their downtown location at Church Street Park. It’s happening every Tuesday from September 3rd to October 22 with Ed Brown, Public Information Officer for the library.

Record of the Week: BEAN. 'BEAN. EP' Aug 26, 2024

Nashville band BEAN. has only been together for a few years but has been rising through the Nashville music scene with their blend of bedroom pop and alternative soul. Their connection all started in the dorm rooms of Belmont University the same place where the wrote songs off their debut self-titled EP.

On The Record with WNXP: Gustaf Aug 22, 2024

Gustaf are a post-punk band from Brooklyn, a description that fits what seems like hundreds of bands during this current “post-punk revival.” But few stand out like Gustaf. Yes, their music embodies the familiar sounds of the genre — agitated guitars, dynamic bass lines and talk-singing preaching — but their latest record Package Pt. 2 is also experimental, unexpected and often uncomfortable. It’s obvious the five-piece is willing and able to push their sonic boundaries beyond the simplicity of punk. Their instrumental layering and the vocal stylings of maniacal frontwoman Lydia Gammill are commanding in ways that make the band incomparable to their peers.

Watch Gustaf perform “Starting and Staring,” “Close” and “Ground” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

What Where When-sday: Live From DRKMTTR Listening Party & Tape Swap Aug 21, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Live From DRKMTTR Listening Party & Tape Swap happening this Saturday with Billy Campbell, who produced and engineered the record.

On The Record with WNXP: Ratboys Aug 20, 2024

Bootgaze, freak folk, whatever you want to call it, it’s no secret country-leaning indie rock is having a major moment. So much so, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to stand out in the ever-growing popular “genre.” Chicago’s Ratboys met that challenge with their most transformative record yet. Recruiting acclaimed indie rock producer Chris Walla, The Window combines the perfect amount of twang and punchy riffs to create swelling, cinematic moments that the settle into comforting, front porch-sitting familiarity.

Watch Ratboys perform “It’s Alive,” “Black Earth, WI” and “Country” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Iron & Wine 'Light Verse' Aug 19, 2024

More than 20 years into the Iron & Wine project, 2024 finds singer-songwriter Sam Beam having released both a new studio album, 'Light Verse,' and a concert documentary film, 'Who Can See Forever.' Beam stopped by WNXP studios to discuss creative momentum and the importance in taking risks even though life, as he says in the documentary's trailer, has "no safety ropes." The Iron & Wine 'Light Verse' tour stops at Ryman Auditorium on Saturday, August 24.

On The Record with WNXP: Squid Aug 16, 2024

They’ve been dubbed post-punk, but that doesn’t quite encompass what Brighton’s Squid is capable of. Drummer and singer Ollie Judge has gone on the record calling the quintet’s sound “some sort of twisted, 21st-century jazz,” pairing rock guitars with classical and jazz instrumentation. It’s chaotic and frenetic, but intentional. Their latest LP O Monolith showcases exactly that. Regardless of its lack of “genre,” everything Squid does is expansive and all-consuming. It’s bigger than the sound they create. It’s a work of art.

Watch Squid perform “Fugue (Bin Song),” “Undergrowth” and “Swing (In A Dream)” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

What Where When-sday: Eastside Jam Aug 14, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Eastside Jam, happening every Sunday at Inglewood Lounge in East Nashville, with Jody Lee. Lee is the drummer and organizer of the event.

Record of the Week: Fana Hues 'Moth' Aug 12, 2024

Fana Hues started her career as a musician at two years old. "Moth" shows her expertise, blending serious song craft into pop R&B bangers. We talked to her on the balcony of The Ryman before her performance at the Mother Church.

What Where When-sday: East Nashville Facebook Page The Musical Aug 07, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we sit down with Emma Supica to discuss “The East Nashville Facebook Page: The Musical” happening this Saturday at Riverside Revival.

What Where When-sday: The Sweetness of Life Culinary Experience/Family Ice Cream Social Jul 31, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss The Sweetness of Life Culinary Experience/Family Ice Cream Social taking place this Saturday at the Frist Arts Museum with Lokelani Alabanza of Saturated Ice Cream.

Record of the Week: Remi Wolf 'Big Ideas' Jul 29, 2024

Remi Wolf grew leaps and bounds between the release of her 2021 debut Juno (which she made entirely in bedrooms during COVID times) and this summer’s launch of sophomore record Big Ideas. This period represented near-constant touring, and writing in short spurts when home in California, as the artist grappled with surging through her mid-twenties while simultaneously becoming an indie pop star.

She said, "Along with it came so many new feelings. Of loneliness, isolation, community, love, friendship, confusion about my own identity, confusion about relationships. It was all a big whirlwind.” Hear Remi Wolf talk about the collaborative new record and some of her influences in this discussion.

What Where When-sday: NashFeels 6th Anniversary Jul 24, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss NashFeels. The popular, social event highlights genres from hip-hop and R&B to Reggae and Afrobeats. It will be celebrating its 6th year with two nights at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday and Saturday. I spoke with the headliner for night one, Nashville rapper Starlito, and co-founder D’Llisha Davis.

Interview: Starlito Jul 24, 2024

NashFeels, the popular, social event highlights genres from hip-hop and R&B to Reggae and Afrobeats, will be celebrating its 6th year with two nights at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday and Saturday. We spoke with the headliner for night one, Nashville rapper Starlito about performing at the event, building up the Nashville hip-hop scene, and his new album Imposter Syndrome.

On The Record with WNXP: Buck Meek Jul 23, 2024

There’s no denying Buck Meek’s integral role in one of the buzziest contemporary indie bands in the world. But Meek’s solo work pushes his artistry beyond the bounds of Big Thief. His third solo effort Haunted Mountain is arguably Meek’s most ambitious work yet. His sweet, warbly vocals highlight his impressive storytelling and somehow shine through deeply textured musical arrangements complete with big Meek riffs. The contrast shouldn’t work, but his ability to fill space in unique ways is unmatched. His modern approach to country-rock is refreshing and proves why Meek is becoming one of the most revered musicians of his genre.

Watch Meek perform “Haunted Mountain,” “Paradise” and “Where You’re Coming From” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Rosali 'Bite Down' Jul 22, 2024

Now residing in North Carolina where she made a record inspired by the nature of Appalachia, Rosali's "Bite Down" is our WNXP Record of the Week.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Meg Elsier Jul 19, 2024

An artists’ debut album is often a chance to tell the story of their life, and new Nashville artists are usually eager to get that story out. But that’s not the case for Meg Elsier, who is WNXP’s Nasvhlle Artist of the Month. She told WNXP’s Justin Barney that instead of telling a story through her debut album, Spittake, she wanted to make a record based on feeling.

What Where When-sday: The RESET: An Immersive Sound Healing Experience Jul 17, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we focus on health and wellness with The RESET: An Immersive Sound Healing Experience with Davin Youngs at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Sunday.

Record of the Week: Veaux 'Love in the Midnight' Jul 15, 2024

Having been in Nashville for a while, the trio Veaux were trying a bunch of different things musically, but nothing clicked until they decided to make what they want to make unapologetically. Over the next two years, the band would release singles, including their most streamed song “Strawberry Blues,” and tour the country. Now they've put together their first official project as Veaux is the new EP titled Love in the Midnight.

What Where When-sday: Pink Pony Club: Chappell Roan Night Jul 10, 2024

Chappell Roan released her debut, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,back in September 2023. You’ve probably heard "HOT TO GO!," "Red Wine Supernova," and "Pink Pony Club" on WNXP and all over the internet. Just this week, Roan earned her first top 10 Billboard-charting track with "Good Luck, Babe!" Her career breakthrough has been fun to watch this year, especially if you are a longtime fan. WNXP’s resident Chappell Roan expert Carly Butler joins me to talk about Pink Pony Club: Chappell Roan Night at Brooklyn Bowl this Friday — and the impact her music has made on fans.

Feature: Black Opry Records Jul 09, 2024

On a June afternoon, it seems like business as usual at the independent music company Thirty Tigers, as staffers file into its Nashville conference room, and colleagues dial in remotely. But this isn’t just any marketing meeting. They’re joined by Holly G, the founder of the Black Opry platform and its new record label, and the first artist she signed, Jett Holden. Everyone’s here to strategize about a one-of-a-kind album launch.

Record of the Week: Angelica Garcia 'Gemelo' Jul 08, 2024

In 1991 the artist Angelica took a song from Rosie and the Original, kept the bubblegum pop melody, but swapped the instruments out for a fat synthesizer and released this version of Angel Baby, it was a hit, reaching number 29 on the Billboard hot 100.That singer is Angelica Garcia’s mother. Garcia has released Gemelo, our Record of the Week on WNXP. It’s an album that is similarly in love with the sounds of a synthesizer. Just like her mom’s album.

Interview: Deanie Parker of Stax Records Jul 05, 2024

Deanie Parker has worn many different hats at Stax Records. From a songwriter, singer, arranger, collaborator, and publicist for the since the beginning of the label existence. Decades later continues to persevere the history of Stax. President and CEO of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Stax Music Academy and executive director of Soulsville Foundation. The Grammy Award winner joined us to discuss her legacy with the legendary label out of Memphis, Tennessee.

What Where When-sday: Queer Qlassics Jul 03, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we talk about an event that kicks off next Wednesday through August 7. Queer Qlassics — that’s “classics” with a “q” — returns to the Belcourt, Nashville’s nonprofit film center. Films will include "The Color Purple" (July 10), "Saint Laurent" (July 17), "The Last of Sheila" (July 24), "Hard Candy" (July 31), and "Hairspray" (August 7). Our special guest is Belcourt historian and archivist T. Minton.

On The Record with WNXP: Ty Segall Jul 02, 2024

It’s a challenge to capture the energy of a gritty rock club once an artist graduates to larger stages and better resources. Yet Ty Segall continues to make music that feels as dynamic and spirited as his early DIY days. The prolific musician has released 15 studio albums as a solo artist, and that doesn’t even begin to cover his other projects and collaborations. With every release, Segall pushes the boundaries of what’s expected. He’s proven he’s more than fuzzed out, distorted guitars, but continues to bring a youthful sense of experimentation to everything he does. Clocking in at 66 minutes, his latest solo effort Three Bells embodies this sense of sonic exploration while staying true to Segall’s garage rock royalty status.

Watch Segall perform “The Bell,” “Void” and “My Best Friend” from Three Bells live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Hana Vu 'Romanticism' Jul 01, 2024

L.A.-based indie artist Hana Vu's sophomore record 'Romanticism' explores the inner workings of her mind at age 22. Working with producer Jackson Phillips (Day Wave), Hana Vu layered synths and beats under her strong vocals and alt-grunge rock leanings on this follow-up to her acclaimed debut LP 'Public Storage.' Her tour stops in Nashville July 30.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: T Bone Burnett Jun 28, 2024

There are legends and elders in music, and then there’s T Bone Burnett. He’s produced more than his share of historic projects over the last six decades. This year, he put that care into an album of his own. Reporter Justin Barney went to Burnett’s house to find out how the WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month keeps finding new life in old things.

On The Record with WNXP: Nathaniel Rateliff Jun 27, 2024

Nathaniel Rateliff dropped by WNXP in advance of his band, The Night Sweats, releasing its fourth record South of Here on the Stax label out of Memphis on June 28. After performing an early album single "Heartless" solo acoustic, Rateliff sat down to talk about making this record with producer Bradley Cook, getting on top of his perfectionist-leaning anxiety, is his native Missouri the South (?) and hitting the road with another beloved live rock band, My Morning Jacket, this year.

What Where When-sday: The East Room Jun 26, 2024

The East Room opened up in 2012 in East Nashville. The independent venue has been a space for up-and-coming local and touring artists as well as a space for dance parties, theater and comedy acts. This week for What Where When-sday our special guest is Taylor Cole, talent buyer and GM of the venue.

Record of the Week: Aaron Frazer 'Into the Blue' Jun 24, 2024

Aaron Frazer fell in love with soul music dancing around his living room to Michael Jackson playing on the turntable as a kid. But, in a way, his love of soul amplified thanks to hip-hop and the first CD he ever owned, Will Smith’s 1997 album Big Willie Style.

Frazer got a soul education at the age of nine listening to the interpolation of “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers, Smith’s “Men in Black” rap to Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots,” the George Benson sample on “Miami,” and the biggest song on the record “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” a melody taken from Sister Sledge's “He’s the Greatest Dancer.” Studying classic hip-hop records helped Frazer develop his instrumentation through the years and some of that hip hop philosophy can be heard on his second solo album Into the Blue.

Music Citizens Episode 1: The Lifer Jun 20, 2024

In Nashville, there are more people who work in the music industry per capita than any other city in the world. It’s the perfect setting for Music Citizens, a series about the people behind the scenes who make music work.

Episode 1 is about Bruce Fitzpatrick, owner of The End. We’re doing this series at a time when independent music venues like The End are in trouble. And it’s all precariously held together by one 80-year old man who does the job of 10 people.

Voices in the episode include:

Jason Moon Wilkins — Host
Justin Barney — Reporter, Producer
Bruce Fitzpatrick — Owner of The End
Alyson Estes — Assistant GM of The End
Michelle Egnasko — Legacy Promotions
Jason Ringenberg — Lead singer of Jason & the Scorchers
Danie Pujol — Lead singer of Pujol
Brennan Wedl – Musician
Amy Dee – Owner of Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge

This episode was produced by Justin Barney, Emily Siner and Jason Moon Wilkins. Mixing and Mastering by Michael Pollard. Special thanks to Tony Gonzalez, Jewly Hight, Rachel Iacovone, Marquis Munson, LaTonya Turner, Meribah Knight, Jesse Strauss, Carly Butler, Stephanie O’Byrne, Emily Young and everyone who helped.

Institutional support from Metro Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts Thrive and First Horizon Foundation.

Follow WNXP on social platforms as @WNXPNashville. and for more on Music Citizens you can head over to WNXP.org/musiccitizens/

Interview: Eric Bobo of Cypress Hill Jun 19, 2024

Interview: Eric Bobo of Cypress Hill

Record of the Week: Daisha McBride 'People Like Me' Jun 17, 2024

Daisha McBride was just messing around when she started posting raps from her MTSU dorm room about a decade ago, but quickly got serious about her hip-hop career. She could’ve chased trends, or a record deal. Instead, she’s learned to veer away from what doesn’t work for her while steering towards what does. The paradox is that her new project, an EP titled People Like Me, offers both the clearest view of her creative and professional ethic to date and her most multi-faceted music-making. Senior music writer Jewly Hight, who’s chronicled McBride’s evolution over the years, digs in to the latest phase.

TEASER: Music Citizens Jun 11, 2024

WNXP and Nashville Public Radio are proud to announce a new podcast series about the people in the music industry who make music work: Music Citizens. Each episode will explore the behind the scenes jobs of music's working class and the folks who do them. Episode one features The End’s owner/operator Bruce Fitzpatrick, “The Lifer.”

Music Citizens launches its first episode on Thursday, June 20, on 91.ONE FM, at wnxp.org and through all podcast outlets.

Interview: Donald "DJ" Johnson of Khruangbin Jun 11, 2024

Donald "DJ" Johnson is the percussionist for, and one third of, the Texas trio Khruangbin, which released its fourth studio LP called A La Sala in April. The band that draws inspiration from funk, soul and psychedelic rock made all across the globe is currently touring the states and playing A La Sala front-to-back. They also play Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee June 14. Hear Johnson describe dusting off the rust to prepare for touring this year, how the band continues to grow and connect with each record, how festival sets necessarily differ from Khruangbin headlining shows and an item he's learned he cannot live without while traveling.

What Where When-sday: 615 Day at The Basement East Jun 10, 2024

Saturday is 615 Day with a daytime event happening at the National Museum of African American Music, and at night, our subject for this week’s What Where When-sday: 615 Day at The Basement East. WNXP spoke with Gee Slab of Six One Tribe about the event.

Interview: Terrace Martin Jun 07, 2024

Before his show at City Winery Nashville on Monday, Terrace Martin, producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, joined us to discuss when he fell in love with music, his creative process, working with Dinner Party, and what to expect from his live show on Tuesday.

What Where When-sday: Sound Makers at NMAAM Jun 05, 2024

In honor of Black Music Month, this week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Sound Makers happening throughout June at the National Museum of African American Music with Dion Brown and Noelle Taylor.

Record of the Week: Hermanos Gutiérrez 'Sonido Cósmico' Jun 03, 2024

Brother duo Hermanos Gutiérrez's second LP for Nashville-based label Easy Eye Sound is called Sonido Cósmico, which finds the instrumental guitar band leaving the desert and ascending to space thanks to their trusted blood relative synchronicity you just can't fabricate, plus the help of extra instrumentalists in Music City. Hear the conversation with Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez from WNXP's Sonic Cathedral discussing our Record of the Week, Sonido Cósmico, released in full on June 14.

What Where When-sday: Blue June Music Fest May 29, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Blue June Music Fest with John Vincent III. Happening at Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday, the touring one-day music fest will highlight folk, Americana, roots and country through local and non-local artists from Cece Coakley, Kara Jackson, and Vincent himself. He joined us to talk about how the event came together.

Record of the Week: Bleachers 'Bleachers' May 28, 2024

Jack Antonoff has produced albums for Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent and FKA Twigs in the past couple years, he even co-produced the most recent Kendrick Lamar diss track, but what is a Jack Antonoff album like when he is in front of the mic instead of behind the producers booth? The result is our Record of the Week on WNXP.

On The Record with WNXP: Mannequin Pussy May 23, 2024

Mannequin Pussy is impossible to ignore. Sure, the name catches your attention immediately, but the music holds you hostage. The Philadelphia rock band combines power pop with punk to create unapologetic, in-your-face anthems. On paper, the combination shouldn’t work, but Mannequin Pussy’s latest album I Got Heaven proves time and time again that it does, weaving in and out from lush harmonies and hazy guitars to abrasive yelling and shredding.

Watch them perform “Loud Bark,” “Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!” and the title track off I Got Heaven live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

What Where When-sday: Mindful Creative “Off the Record” May 22, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Mindful Creative “Off the Record.” Taking place at 100 Taylor on Thursday, the mix and mingle for the creative community of Nashville will be a vinyl show and tell, discussing your favorite records and the art that inspires us to create. Kaylah Symone, the founder of Mindful Creative, spoke to us about the event.

Record of the Week: Chicano Batman 'Notebook Fantasy' May 20, 2024

When you hear the title of Chicano Batman's latest album, Notebook Fantasy, you might be reminded of that time in school when your imagination took you in another direction from the subject the teacher was teaching. As our minds would float off into these hopes and dreams, as young people, we would use our notebook to illustrate those ideas.

Guitarist Carlos Arevalo says it represented this time when you were young, or you could be any age, and you write down your hopes, dreams and aspirations in your journal. This was that him, Bardo Martinez, and Eduardo Arenas vision on this record. Aspiring to be greater than the last record and the records before that.

Interview: Kane Strang of Office Dog May 17, 2024

Office Dog is a newer band out of Auckland, New Zealand — just now about to embark on its first U.S. tour in support of New West Records labelmates Nada Surf — born from the solo artist burnout of singer-songwriter-guitarist Kane Strang, who sought the collaboration of friends Mitchell “Mitch” Innes (drums) and Rassani “Ras” Tolovaa (bass). Office Dog’s debut record is called ‘Spiel’ and we spoke to Strang about its creation.

Feature: MGMT May 17, 2024

Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden were in their early twenties when they painted their faces for the album cover of their decade-defining album Oracular Spectacular in 2007. They were self-proclaimed psychonauts exploring the subconscious unknown though heroic doses of psychedelic drugs, looking to find what any twenty-year-old is looking for, the answers to life. And what did they find? The answer comes after a decade of reflection in the last song off their new album Loss of Life, which is a bit of a trip in itself.

What Where When-sday: Creative Girls Rock Expo May 15, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Creative Girls Rock Expo: Broken Crayons Still In Color at Tennessee State University with founder and CEO Charmin Bates. The organization based in Nashville mission is to educate and empower young girls to utilize their creative talents in unique ways. In honor of Mental Health and Wellness Month, this Saturday they are offering a Creative Girls Rock Expo: Broken Crayons Steel C.O.L.O.R., an acronym for Cultivating Our Lives One Radiant Hue at a time. Main host, along with Creative Girls Rock, is an organization called Smooth founded by Sabrina Greenlee, the mother of DeAndre Hopkins, wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans.

Record of the Week: Kyshona 'Legacy' May 13, 2024

Former WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month Kyshona has a collaborative songwriting program called Your Song whose mission is helping people find their voices through songs, writing their story, and find healing through songwriting. On her latest album Legacy, our WNXP Record of the Week, she does just that. An album she’s been making for a decade goes back multiple generations of her family legacy and history. She discusses the album’s concept and the importance of family on this record.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Rainbow Kitten Surprise May 10, 2024

Most bands that start in a college dorm room don’t last past graduation. Not Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The group came close to calling it quits, but its willingness to evolve has kept it going for well over a decade. Leading up to the new album “Love Hate Music Box,” R-K-S underwent profound change. Senior music writer Jewly Hight reports it’s the band’s first project since singer Ela Melo transitioned ... and imagined new musical possibilities for the group.

What Where When-sday: Strawberry Jubilee & Mother's Day May 09, 2024

This Saturday, the Strawberry Jubilee makes its return. Courtney Cotton oversees marketing at the Nashville Farmers Market spoke about the event and Sunday is, of course, Mother’s Day. So, if you don’t have plans yet, listen up. Nashville Public Radio’s resident foodie Rachel Iacovone is here to save the day.

On The Record with WNXP: Arlo Parks May 07, 2024

Arlo Parks became an international sensation after the release of her 2021 breakout album Collapsed in Sunbeams earned the singer, songwriter several Grammy and BRIT award nominations. With this newfound success, Parks took an even more introspective approach on her highly anticipated sophomore effort My Soft Machine. The deeply personal record narrates Parks’ transition into adulthood with a much more dynamic soundtrack than her debut, showcasing a new exploratory approach to her artistry.

Parks’ vulnerable storytelling is backed by dreamy arrangements that make for pleasant listening for all. Watch her perform “Blades,” “Dog Rose” and “Devotion” off My Soft Machine live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Eric Slick 'New Age Rage' May 06, 2024

Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Eric Slick, best known as the drummer for Dr. Dog, released his second solo record 'New Age Rage' in April. Before embarking on tour for this funky, dance-y, sample-rich and obviously highly percussive album, Slick visited WNXP’s studio to talk about the new music and his elation to get back in front of people. The Nashville show is Friday, May 10 at The Blue Room.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Phosphorescent May 01, 2024

WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month for April is Phosphorescent. The man behind that project is Matthew Houck. Over two decades he’s compiled a library of songs, some of the best are anthems, epic in scope and often dealing with melancholy. Most are written though from a standpoint of assuredness, like that wild-hearted character whose bones are steel in “Song for Zula.” The new album Revelator takes a different perspective.

What Where When-sday: It’s Giving Global’s Cinco De Mayo at Golden Pony May 01, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss It’s Giving Global’s Cinco De Mayo event at Golden Pony. Taking place on Sunday, the event will feature DJs spinning Latin and global sounds with food and clothing vendors.

Record of the Week: Gloom Girl MFG 'Polycrisis' Apr 29, 2024

The four songwriters and instrumentalists that make up Nashville punk/garage rock band Gloom Girl MFG have only played together for a couple of years, but they've quickly gelled as a group and attracted lots of positive attention for their high-energy live shows. Counted among their enthusiastic local fan base is Cage the Elephant guitarist and producer Brad Shultz, who asked to work with Gloom Girl MFG on the band's first official studio recording, Polycrisis, a six-song EP out May 3. The band joined Celia in-studio to discuss this release track by track.

Record of the Week: Alice Randall's 'My Black Country' Apr 24, 2024

Everybody’s been talking about how Beyoncé’s new album spotlights Black country and cowboy traditions. But even before she teased that project, author and songwriter Alice Randall had already announced her own book and album, both titled “My Black Country.” Randall’s been lifting up foundational Black country voices for a lifetime, and senior music writer Jewly Hight reports she’s finally being treated as one herself.

What Where When-sday: Black Opry Presents Three-Year Celebration Honoring Alice Randall at City Winery Apr 24, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Black Opry Presents Three-Year Celebration Honoring Alice Randall at City Winery. The Black Opry has been a platform for black artists and fans of country, roots, folk, and Americana in an industry that doesn’t often offer them the space. They are celebrating their third year by honoring Randall, whose songwriting contributions have been overlooked in that space. Those songs are now being reimagined and performed by Black women for the first time on her album My Black Country and at the City Winery show. Senior music writer Jewly Hight spoke with Randall about the show.

Interview: Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie Apr 22, 2024

The high-demand 20th Anniversary Transatlanticism and Give Up tour, co-headlined by Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service in celebration of their respective records first released in 2003, has extended into 2024 with a stop at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on April 29. Death Cab’s founding bass guitarist Nick Harmer, who connected from home in Seattle before tour began, shared some of the “real-life time machine” feelings that have come up in rehearsing and performing the band’s breakthrough record in its entirety.

What Where When-sday: Earth Day N' The Hood Apr 17, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Earth Day N’ The Hood with Jaffee Judah, executive director of Recycle & Reinvest. Starting as a local community cleanup crew in 2018, the organization’s mission is to provide safer communities and greener environments while promoting sustainability — and using music in the efforts to raise awareness of environmental importance to the next generation.

Record of the Week: Gustaf 'Package Pt. 2' Apr 08, 2024

The songs that make up “Package Pt. 2” from Gustaf are a logical continuation of the powerful debut LP by the NYC five-piece, with more loud, in-your-face punk songs but also some surprising detours into experimental grooves. Gustaf’s singer and lyricist Lydia Gammill shed light on this new LP, WNXP’s Record of the Week, in advance of their U.S. tour, which stops in Nashville May 17 for a WNXP Presents show at DRKMTTR.

What Where When-sday: OZ Arts' 10th Anniversary Bash Apr 03, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss OZ Arts’ anniversary bash with Executive and Artistic Director Mark Murphy. Housed in a renovated, former cigar warehouse in West Nashville, OZ Arts is celebrating 10 years with this event on Friday. The evening will be a culmination of the first decade with pop-up performances and visual art installations. Murphy, who worked in the contemporary art space before landing at OZ , says it was the organization’s avant garde approach that drew him in.

Record of the Week: Waxahatchee 'Tigers Blood' Apr 01, 2024

In 2012 Katie Crutchfield took the moniker of a creek by her house in central Alabama, the Waxahatchee creek and released the album American Weekend. Where she garnered a good amount of buzz in the blog era for being a songwriter in her early 20’s who was a vividly personal storyteller. “My life was so chaotic. As many people’s in their 20’s are, you know? It was just chocked full of drama. Everything was so intense and melodramatic and every slight or heartbreak was intensely recorded on those records.” Those records resonated, and then in 2020, just before everything happened, she released the album Saint Cloud.

It’s ease and beauty sound tracked many people’s pandemics and made Waxahatchee a much larger success. It was a record that sounded like an artist no longer trying, but finding their truest self. She’s followed that with Tigers Blood, our Record of the Week on WNXP.

On The Record with WNXP: Yard Act Mar 29, 2024

Leeds’ four-piece Yard Act made a massive splash in a crowded post-punk wave with their 2022 debut The Overload. Frontman James Smith was impossible to ignore, and the band’s humorous approach to the genre was a refreshing addition to the established acts leading the scene.

On their follow-up Where’s My Utopia?, Smith’s charisma is still front and center, but a bit more self-reflective, and the agitated guitars have been replaced with synths and dance beats. Co-produced with Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr., the disco-inspired dance-rock album drastically expands on their post-punk minimalism.

Watch Yard Act perform “Petroleum” and “Dream Job” from Where’s My Utopia? as well as 2022’s “Payday” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Feature: The Return of Boom Bap Mar 28, 2024

There are number of series making hip-hop, soul and R&B more available to Nashville crowds. From NashFeels, Motown Monday, Sunday Night Soul, among others. But there is one that’s making its return this weekend that captures the essence of hip hop from the late 80s and early 90s.
The series Boom Bap started as an event in Nashville in late 2000s with local and eventually legendary DJs from Jazzy Jeff to 9th Wonder playing hip hop in spaces that normally wouldn’t. After a couple year hiatus the event is back happening at Blind Barber on Saturday. We spoke with the organizers about how the idea for the party came together.

What Where When-sday: Linking Arms for Change Mar 27, 2024

Today is the anniversary of the Covenant School shooting, which killed three adults — Mike Hill, Katherine Koonce and Cynthia Peak — and three children — Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney and Hallie Scruggs — on March 27, 2023.

Last year, there were many events, both planned and organically happening, in the weeks and months after. This year, there is really the one, collectively. This week for What Where When-sday, we talk to some of the organizers behind Linking Arms for Change, which will form a human chain from Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital to the capitol tonight. Organizations like Moms Demand Action and local clergy have announced their attendance.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition behind the event, Voices for a Safer Tennessee, began 11 months ago and now has chapters in all 95 counties in the state. Its board chair, Todd Cruse, and well-known musician and performer, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, sat down with us to discuss the event and the last year.

On The Record with WNXP: Hotline TNT Mar 26, 2024

While the music industry has labeled them as “shoegaze,” Hotline TNT’s sound expands far beyond what that description would suggest. The brainchild of Brooklyn-based musician Will Anderson, the project features a rotating cast of players with Anderson’s DIY brilliance at the helm. His dedication to the craft and the scene made their third LP Cartwheel one of the most highly-anticipated releases of 2023.

Watch Hotline TNT perform “I Thought You’d Change,” “History Channel” and “Stump” live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral here.

Record of the Week: Adrianne Lenker 'Bright Future' Mar 25, 2024

Adrianne Lenker is reaching the status of folk hero. Her stick-to-your-gut, freewheeling attitude is one that Adrianne Lenker brings to her new solo album, “Bright Future” our Record of the Week. “I wanted to make this record feel like you’re in the room with us. ”In order to actually bring you into the room, Lenker’s record label brought us to a studio in Greenwich Village to capture an interview with Lenker and three songs, live in the room, mistakes and all.

What Where When-sday: The Rock and Roll Playhouse Mar 20, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss The Rock and Roll Playhouse plays the Music of The Beatles at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday. The kid-friendly live concert series brings the music of iconic musicians to allow parents to share their musical experiences with their children in an atmosphere that’s fun and engaging for both parties, including games, face painting and, yes, a parachute.

Record of the Week: Britti 'Hello, I'm Britti' Mar 18, 2024

New Orleans based artist Britti had the vision she would work at a Guitar Center in Nashville and that was how she would get discovered. Although that’s not exactly how it worked out, she bought a guitar and during the pandemic would sing covers on her Instagram from Lainey Wilson to John Denver. This caught the attention of Tom Osborn of Easy Eye Sound who would fly Britti out to Nashville for writing sessions with Dan Auberbach. That journey led her to her debut album Hello, I’m Britti our WNXP Record of the Week.

Interview: Blonde Redhead Mar 14, 2024

The trio known as Blonde Redhead formed in New York City in 1993, therefore just celebrated 30 years together with the release of their fall 2023 release called Sit Down for Dinner, the band's first full-length in nine years. Their 2024 American tour supporting this record included a February stop at Nashville's Basement East, where WNXP host Celia sat down backstage with bandmates Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amadeo Pace. They reflected on their history as a band, the look and feel of their fan base, collaborating to pull this record together throughout and post-COVID, and also memorable meals.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Mama Zu Mar 14, 2024

Posthumous music releases are tricky. Especially for the creative decision maker left behind. You’re navigating loss, assumption, expectation, doubt... all without input from the voice. In the case of Mama Zu, the voice is Jessi Zazu, a crucial figure in the Middle Tennessee indie music scene who died from cancer seven years ago at the age of 28. Before her death, Zazu had been making what became Quilt Floor with Linwood Regensberg her longtime bandmate in Those Darlins and the person responsible for finishing Mama Zu's recordings without her. There had been talk of the recordings around town for years but it took time for Regensberg to even restart it.

What Where When-sday: Music City Irish Fest Mar 13, 2024

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day this weekend! So this week for What Where Wednesday, we are highlighting Music City Irish Fest. It’s been happening since March 10th so you can start your celebration as soon as today at venues across the city. Brenda Willis is owner and CEO of the group putting this on this event.

Interview: Jenny Lewis talks show at the Ryman Mar 11, 2024

Jenny Lewis is playing the Ryman Auditorium this Wednesday March 13. It's a venue that she's played before but this will be her first time playing it as a Nashville resident. Jenny Lewis talks to Justin Barney about moving to Nashville and playing the Ryman.

Record of the Week: Mannequin Pussy 'I Got Heaven' Mar 11, 2024

Philly hardcore? Indie? Punk? band Mannequin Pussy is our Record of the Week on WNXP. The album was brought to light in an effort with super producer John Congleton and shows Mannequin Pussy in their fullest dynamic range, from a screaming rage that burns with the heat of a thousand suns, but also, the hushed tones of a brushed drum stick playing softly under delicately delivered lyrics from Missy Dabice.

What Where Whens-day: Soul Brunch at Acme Feed & Seed Mar 06, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Charles “Wigg” Walker’s Soul Brunch at Acme Feed & Seed with co-owner Lauren Morales and drummer for the Nashville soul legend Pete Abott. The building at 101 Broadway has served many tenants since 1890 — from Southern Soda Works to Tennessee Wholesale Drug company and a few transfer and storage operations. In 2014, Tom Morales and his partners leased the building and turned it into a rare spot on Lower Broad that is inclusive of all music.

Record of the Week: Bats 'Good Game Baby' Mar 04, 2024

Nashville native Jess Awh hated country music. Until she moved away and started missing home. Now she’s back and she’s written an album that is country in its core but also dabbles in long extensions of layers of found sound that she has been collecting since she was 15, big droning guitar. For Nashvillians there are detailed references to what it’s like to drive on Dickerson Pike after a DRKMTR show after 11 o’clock at night and the relatable song title, “Downtown Sucks You Can’t Park Anymore.” Jess Awh’s band is Bats and their new album, Good Game Baby is our Record of the Week.

Interview: Maseo of De La Soul (2023) Mar 01, 2024

Legendary hip hop trio De La Soul released the 35th anniversary of their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising featuring some previously unreleased records. Around this time last year their music became available to fans on streaming platforms for the first time and Maseo of De La Soul spoke to WNXP’s Marquis Munson back in 2023 about the impact of their music being released on streaming services, sampling, the impact of producer Prince Paul and celebrates the life of fellow member Trugoy the Dove.

Making Noise: The Next Generation Feb 29, 2024

If one generation found Nashville inhospitable to their hip-hop and R&B ambitions, what about the next wave of artists? And what role could Lovenoise play for them? After 20 years of mounting influence for the company, the final chapter of “Making Noise” examines the work that is still to come.

What Where When-sday: Analog Soul - A Celebration of Making Noise Feb 28, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Analog Soul - A Celebration of Making Noise with Jewly Hight and Nicole Kemp. Nashville Public Radio’s podcast series Making Noise tells the story of the music promotion company Lovenoise, who for 20 years provided a platform for Black music and reaching underserved audiences across generations. The final episode airs tomorrow, and the event at the Hutton Hotel will be a celebration of Lovenoise's journey through conversation, spoken word and music. Senior music writer Jewly Hight spoke to me about the series reaching its conclusion.

Record of the Week: Real Estate 'Daniel' Feb 26, 2024

Real Estate, a band with New Jersey roots but now spread out around the country, convened in Nashville to lay down their sixth LP, Daniel. A return to some of the early sounds of Real Estate -- uncomplicated, melody-forward, easy and breezy indie rock -- 'Daniel' showcases the songwriting of frontman Martin Courtney, who spoke with Celia about his vision for this full-length. Also reached to talk about the making of WNXP's Record of the Week was Daniel Tashian, the Nashville-based artist and producer who led Courtney and his bandmates through a quick, nine-day recording blitz in RCA Studio A on Music Row.

Making Noise: Leveling Up Feb 22, 2024

By the early 2010s, Nashville was exploding as a destination for tourists and new residents. If Lovenoise wanted to make a difference in a city on the rise, they’d need to figure out how to tap into that growth — and try to make sure music-makers holding down the R&B and hip-hop scenes didn’t get left behind. Or pushed out.

What Where When-sday: Regeneration Live with Mike Floss & Rod McGaha Feb 21, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Regeneration Live at The Blue Room with jazz trumpet player Rod McGaha and Nashville hip-hop artist Mike Floss. The latter is known for his immersive shows from his Contraband EP release show to the Meat and Three series. Now, the father and son duo will perform together this Saturday night to bring together their respective social movement and visual art.

Record of the Week: Keyon Harrold 'Foreverland' Feb 19, 2024

Keyon Harrold has showcased his trumpet playing for various artists in the studio and on the road, most notable Jay-Z on his 2007 hit “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is).” The trumpeter from Ferguson, Missouri started playing around the age of six studying the greats from Miles Davis to Clifford Brown and Clark Terry. His journey led him to a jazz camp in Colorado when he was a teenager, that’s where he met future collaborators Robert Glasper and Terrace Martin. Touring with Common for his breakout album Like Water for Chocolate in the early 2000s. Although grateful for the opportunities to share the studio or stage supporting different artists, he has branched out into his own work. Harrold and his trumpet are back front and center on his third solo project Foreverland.

Making Noise: History Lessons Feb 15, 2024

Last week, we introduced you to Lovenoise. Now we’re zooming in on exactly how they pushed through barriers that had long existed in Nashville. We’re also going to travel further back in time, to the heyday of Nashville’s Black music scene, and the role the city played in unraveling it. Then we’ll meet the first generation of R&B players, hip-hop MCs and neo-soul singer-songwriters who found what they’d been looking for at those Lovenoise Sunday nights.

In the early 2000s, Holt and his fellow Lovenoise founders may have been new to putting on events – aside from the party promotion that some of them had dabbled in – but they were savvy enough to learn from what was already working in Nashville. That meant borrowing from the strategies of a couple of country-oriented showcases that were considered institutions in the city.

What Where When-sday: Music in my Neighborhood with Nashville Symphony Feb 14, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Music In My Neighborhood with Kimberly Kraft McLemore, VP of Education and Community Engagement for the Nashville Symphony. It’s a weeklong musical takeover of the North Nashville and Bordeaux neighborhoods — in a partnership with the symphony and local organizations to highlight the history, culture and residents.

Record of the Week: Madi Diaz 'Weird Faith' Feb 13, 2024

Record of the Week artist Madi Diaz has a lot going on. Since her reign as WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month a couple of years ago, she’s been co-signed by Muna and Waxahatchee. Her friend Kacey Musgraves jumped on a duet. She was picked by Pitchfork as a top album and Rolling Stone recently proclaimed this “the year of Madi.” Oh and Harry Styles handpicked her to not only open some shows but to join his band for a massive world tour! In our interview Madi explains how that experience “blew the lid off” her thought process around songwriting and recording. She shares a unique, recurring performance dream and a real-life nightmare (with a happy ending) that brought that feeling to life while opening for Styles. And she walks us through several tracks on Weird Faith, expanding on the big picture themes she tackles in songs like “Kiss the Wall,” “God Person” and “Obsessive Thoughts.”

Making Noise: The First Flyer Feb 08, 2024

Sometimes, a concert can be so big that it makes the local news. Like in 2021, when legendary rapper Nas performed with the Nashville Symphony. So how did that watershed moment come to be? Behind the scenes — for some 20 years — the music promotion company Lovenoise was laying the groundwork, carving out “a safe space for Black culture,” and boosting artists of color.

“Making Noise” is a joint production by WPLN and WNXP, the sister stations of Nashville Public Radio. Senior Music Writer Jewly Hight reported the stories and hosts the show.

The editors and producers are Tony Gonzalez, Justin Barney, and Marquis Munson, with additional editing and guidance by LaTonya Turner, Meribah Knight, Nicole Kemp, Jason Moon Wilkins and Magnolia McKay. Fact-checking by Emily Siner.

The logo is by Mack Linebaugh, the accompanying live event on March 3 is directed by Nicole Kemp, and digital support comes from Rachel Iacovone and Carly Butler.

The music you heard comes from Blue Dot Sessions and from the creative commons of the Free Music Archive, where we found the artist Holizna and his tracks “Bus Stop,” “Chills,” “Life on Cassette,” and “Busking in the Sunlight.”

What Where When-sday: Live From $ville with Chuck Indigo Feb 07, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Chuck Indigo: Live From $ville with Carlos Partee, owner of Cashville etc. There’s a ton of nicknames to describe Nashville. Music City, more recently the It City, but Cashville as a moniker has embraced the city's black community. Partee has taken the name and turned it into a clothing and community brand highlighting black creatives through fashion and music. I sat with Partee at Cashville store front in 100 Taylor’s Arts Collective to discuss what the word Cashville means to him and the music showcase happening on Thursday.

Record of the Week: Marika Hackman 'Big Sigh' Feb 05, 2024

Big Sigh is the fourth LP by British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marika Hackman, and her first original material in several years. The songs that make up Big Sigh are lush, expansive, thoughtful, and deep, so unsurprisingly my conversation with Marika Hackman felt that way, too. Hear Hackman discuss the making of Big Sigh -- a collection of tunes about "relief, release and acceptance" that comes with the "tackling of quite dark themes."

Trailer: Making Noise — How a Sunday night party changed Nashville Feb 01, 2024

"Making Noise" is a four-part series by WPLN and WNXP about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. Subscribe now!

What Where When-sday: Jefferson Street Sound Museum Jan 31, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Black History in Music: Work, Worship, and Celebration at Jefferson Street Sound Museum with Lorenzo Washington, founder and curator, and Karen Lynn Coffee, vice president. Taking place every Saturday during the month of February, the event features an exclusive art exhibit that aims to celebrate businesses and entrepreneurs that made Jefferson Street a musician haven. Washington and Coffee discussed the event and the museum’s mission to keep the memory of thriving times on the historic street.

Record of the Week: Katy Kirby 'Blue Raspberry' Jan 29, 2024

Our Record of the Week is Katy Kirby’s Blue Raspberry. After graduating from Belmont University here in Nashville Tennessee, Katy Kirby released Cool Dry Place on the Keeled Scales record label out of Austin. The record received acclaim far and wide. The folks over at Anti- Records, home of Tom Waits and Fleet Foxes noticed it too and signed a record deal with Katy Kirby. The new label has a new expansion of sound on the record and features many Nashville musicians and explores concepts of religion, personal identity and what it is to be real.

Interview: WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month Brian Brown talks sports Jan 25, 2024

Outside of being one of Nashville's most prolific MCs, Brian Brown's passion outside of music is sports. You can hear it in his lyrics you can see it on his social media the avid Detroit Lions fan and our WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month spoke about his love for the Lions and playoff prediction, the Tennessee Titans new head coach, and playing NFL Blitz while writing his breakout 2020 project Journey.

What Where When-sday: Cannery Hall Jan 24, 2024

This week for What Where Wednesday, we discuss Cannery Hall with general manager Brent Hyams. The site off 8th Avenue South formerly known as Cannery Ballroom, Mercy Lounge and the High Watt, sold to a New York-based real estate company back in 2019. After undergoing renovations for the new space, the new Cannery Hall is set to start running shows starting tonight. Hyams discuss the process and vision for the venue.

Record of the Week: Ty Segal 'Three Bells' Jan 22, 2024

Ty Segall is inarguably prolific. The indie rock artist will drop his 15th full-length album, Three Bells, early this year. It must be a combination of all the aforementioned factors, with the underpinning of just being a very cool dude, that keeps the SoCal native pumping out the jams. His tour brings him to Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl on April 24, and we talked about Three Bells right before he began rehearsal for this new batch of songs.

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What Where When-sday: Abortion Access Benefit at DRKMTTR Jan 17, 2024

Our guest this week is Rachel Scarbrough, a former Nashville resident who’s worked with Ground Control Touring to bring Saturday’s Abortion Access Benefit at DRKMTTR to fruition. This fundraiser show (100% of ticket proceeds go to regional organizations supporting reproductive rights) is one of five held around the country on the same night, and Nashville’s boasts a stacked bill of some of our favorite acts, including current Nashville Artist of the Month Brian Brown, plus WNXP regulars Soccer Mommy, Snõõper and Mali Velasquez.

Record of the Week: Alanna Royale 'Trouble Is' Jan 17, 2024

Nashville singer/songwriter Alanna Royale uses her classic soul and R&B influences to explore the highs and lows we universally experience in life while sharing her own personal experiences on her latest album Trouble Is. She linked up with Kelly Finnegan of Monophonics to produce the record during the pandemic and during a time when she was dealing with her own personal trauma. Going to therapy helped her in her songwriting for this album and helped her be more vulnerable and honest with the stories she wanted to tell.

What Where When-sday: Let Freedom Sing Jan 10, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss the 31st annual Let Freedom Sing with Dr. Jeffery Ames, director of choral activities at Belmont University and conductor of the event. Happening at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center this Sunday, the choose-what-you-pay community event honors the life, legacy and triumphs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Nashville Symphony, Celebration Chorus and their Youth Chorus will perform classical works. Ames, who is going into his third year conducting the event, talks about his vision for the performance.

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Record of the Week: Olivia Barton 'Big Sad' Jan 08, 2024

Olivia Barton is a bighearted songwriter who wears her emotions on her sleeves and in her songs. 2023 was a big year for Barton, she featured on a song with her partner Corin, whose artist name is Corook on the song “If I Were A Fish” which has now been watched and listened to over 20 million times and has been made into a children’s book. In December Barton released her EP Big Sad which is our Record of the Week.

WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Brian Brown Jan 05, 2024

Generations of rappers have made music repping where they came from and how it’s shaped them. After spending most of his 30 years in Nashville, hip-hop artist Brian Brown has arrived at his own way of doing that. Senior music writer Jewly Hight says the Nashville Artist of the Month has a keen eye on those who’ve been shoved aside in his changing city.

What Where When-sday: Analog at the Hutton Hotel Jan 03, 2024

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss Analog at the Hutton Hotel with Director of Programming Meredith Dimenna. Located on West End Ave, Analog provides an intimate space for artists and songwriters to engage and interact with their audience, giving them an up-close and personal experience while also featuring recurring events from Super Felon, Southern Rounds, and Analog Soul on Sundays. We spoke with Dimenna and discussed how the space came together and the overall mission for the venue.

What Where When-sday: Killjoy's NYE Party Dec 27, 2023

This week for What Where When-sday, we discuss a booze-free option to bring in the new year with Stephanie Styll, owner of Killjoy, Nashville’s first booze-free beverage shop in the Wedgewood-Houston area. Killjoy will host A NYE PARTY at The Eastsider and she joined me to discuss the event and how the idea for the shop came together.

What Where When-sday: Christmas Pop-Ups Dec 20, 2023

This week for What Where When-sday, we (WNXP's Marquis Munson and WPLN's Rachel Iacovone) set out to show you a different side to the holiday pop-up scene. Yes, we've compiled them all in our interactive map below, but the places we stopped on our personal bar crawl were away from the downtown rooftops, all offered food and were two-out-of-three family friendly.

Feature: May & Them Pups Dec 15, 2023

In 2021, Nashville-based Megan Piphus made headlines, when she became the first Black woman puppeteer on Sesame Street. That led to another big milestone: her first album, “Spaceships & Dreams.” Senior music writer Jewly Hight says that, too, is a head-turning project, a hip-hop kids album with a colorful cast of guests.

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Feature: Year-In-Review with Six One Tribe Dec 15, 2023

Late last year, the Nashville hip-hop collective Six One Tribe released its first album and put on its first real show. Senior music writer Jewly Hight says that was just the prelude to the group’s incredibly productive 2023. She went back to TRIBE headquarters to get the rundown on what the former Nashville Artist of the Month accomplished over the last 12 months.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Corook Nov 30, 2023

This past spring, Nashville artist Corook had an emotional day — then put on a green frog shaped bucket hat, spent 10 minutes writing a silly song, uploaded 50 seconds of it to TikTok and changed their life.The comments on the video, now viewed more than 19 million times continually say how wonderful it is to see someone who is so authentic and fun. But Corook says that for them to figure out who they really are, a couple things had to happen first.

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Record of the Week: Chappell Roan 'The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess' Nov 27, 2023

On The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess Chappell Roan balances piano ballads about leaving home to achieve her dreams and lusting to meet an ex with outright bangers about the joy of starting a little drama on a Saturday night and ditching basic dudes for super-ultra-modern-girls like herself.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Stephen Sanchez Oct 31, 2023

It’s been a big year for Nashville’s non-country music scene from the triumphant return of emo powerhouses Paramore to the rabid response to indie queen Mitski. But there’s only one artist who’s racked up a billion combined streams on a single song.

Stephen Sanchez tapped into a multi-generational audience with the throwback sound of “Until I Found You.” It was a hit on the radio, YouTube, and yes, TikTok. While Sanchez is not alone in achieving virality it’s how he’s handled the spotlight and who he’s shared it with that sets him apart.

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Record of the Week: Deeper 'Careful' Oct 23, 2023

Chicago-based quartet Deeper is currently touring in support of their third full length and our Record of the Week Careful! WNXP’s Celia Gregory spoke with the band when they stopped in Nashville earlier this month.

The 13-track album marks Deeper’s debut on the revered indie label Sub Pop and demonstrates a wow-worthy evolution of their already tight sound. While the post-punk outfit calls to mind classic guitar rock from the likes of The Cars, David Bowie, The Cure and Television, these guys have modern tools in their arsenal that obviously weren’t available in the ’70s and ’80s like effects pedals allowing for loops and layers, drum triggers and endless options for tone.

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Record of the Week: Vagabon 'Sorry I Haven't Called' Oct 09, 2023

Laetitia Tamko’s speaking voice is as sultry and instantly soothing as her singing voice, and that’s saying something. Connecting with me via Zoom from Paris, where she was touring with Arlo Parks, the artist who makes music as Vagabon greeted WNXP’s Celia Gregory smiling, seated in the borrowed bedroom of a friend’s child. It was just days after the release of her third LP Sorry I Haven’t Called, an album she calls “a miracle” to have even been made.

It’s not a record about grief – in fact it’s quite whimsical, sassy, sexy – but most of these songs were born out of the chosen solitude she afforded herself to mourn the loss of a dear friend and musical collaborator, Eric Littman, back in 2021.

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Record of the Week: Tre Burt 'Traffic Fiction' Oct 02, 2023

Some of Tré Burt’s earliest musical memories are from watching “The Temptations” television miniseries, and listening to recording artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, War, and Bobby DeBarge. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter especially cherishes those musical moments because he was able to share them with his grandfather Tommy Burt, who was the inspiration for Tré’s third album Traffic Fiction.

Around the time he was writing these songs, Burt’s grandfather was struggling with early onset dementia and was slipping away each time Tré saw him. He preserved those moments of connection by using a tape recorder during some of those final conversations. In early 2023, his grandfather Tommy Burt would pass away, and Tré would use some of those voice recordings throughout the record.

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Record of the Week: Ratboys 'The Window' Sep 26, 2023

On this album, The Window, Ratboys recruited one of most sought after producers in indie rock, Chris Walla. He produced breakthrough records like The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife, Tegan and Sara’s The Con, and both Transatlanticism and Plans for his former band, Death Cab For Cutie. Walla’s touch on The Window maximizes the ten years of Ratboys coming together to make the transformative album of their career. It’s earthy and comforting. It accomplishes big moments without sounding like it’s trying too hard. Moments soar, moments wander, moments come back to earth and settle in.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Allison Russell Sep 20, 2023

It was big news when the founder of Rolling Stone magazine spelled out his view that the musical geniuses are white men, and artists who happen to be Black or women don’t have much to say that’s worth hearing. Allison Russell is one Black woman whose artistry and activism is taken seriously, and after last week’s Americana Music Awards, she has the trophy to show it. She’s also WNXP’s Nashville Artist of the Month for September.

Senior music writer Jewly Hight says that Russell’s recent work — from her new album to her community organizing — transcends limitations.

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Record of the Week: Nation of Language 'Strange Disciple' Sep 12, 2023

Brooklyn-based trio Nation of Language has referred to their new full-length record as one for the emotional “wayfarer.” They elaborated on the theme that pervades their third LP Strange Disciple and connects its ten robust, synth-forward tunes.

Record of the Week: Jalen Ngonda 'Come Around and Love Me' Sep 05, 2023

Jalen Ngonda has described his music as modern soul and R&B, while trying to fit the Beach Boys and the Beatles somewhere in between. The DC-born, London-based singer-songwriter’s music could sound like a call back to the days of Motown and Stax Records and you can hear those elements on his debut album Come Around and Love Me. But it wasn’t digging through crates or going through his parents’ record collection that helped him discover the music that would later influence him.

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Record of the Week: Becca Mancari 'Left Hand' Aug 28, 2023

On “Over and Over,” the first single released from Becca Mancari’s Left Hand, they relive an important, early phase as a queer and gender expansive person: They call back to the youthful disregard and fleeting bravado felt after they escaped the rejection of the religious world in which they were raised, found a new home in chosen family and an uninhibited way of presenting themselves. With longtime collaborator Juan Solorzano, Mancari cast off restrictions and finally produced themselves on Left Hand, creating their most expansive work yet.

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Record of the Week: Snooper 'Super Snooper' Aug 21, 2023

Nashville band Snõõper’s debut LP is not a concept record preaching the gospel of exercise. But the group does punch above their weight.

Having formed just three years ago, the first songs and videos born out of COVID infections and forced off-work time for singer Blair Tramel and guitarist Connor Cummins, they’ve landed incredible opening slots and generated loads of hype for a new band, here and abroad. Their songs are so fast and compact, you might double-check your playback settings when streaming Super Snõõper, which is shorter than the average Nashville commute, 14 songs totaling just 23 minutes.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Be Your Own Pet Aug 17, 2023

Back in the mid-2000s, Be Your Own Pet frenetically tuneful punk sneered at the trappings of adulthood with snottily on-the-nose wit. After a 15-year hiatus, the second lineup reunited and recorded Mommy, a nervy new album, funkier, keener and muscular than any of BYOP’s previous work.

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Record of the Week: Mick Jenkins 'The Patience' Aug 14, 2023

After a collection of mixtapes starting in 2012 with The Mickstape, Mick Jenkins released his breakout project The Water[s], prequel to his third mixtape Trees & Truths. Despite releasing bodies of work dating back to those collections of mixtapes, EPs, and albums from The Healing Component and Pieces of a Man. It was after his third album Elephant in the Room where he knew something had to change.

With this new level of freedom, Jenkins was able to create his latest project The Patience and album title appropriate for the patience he had to endure to get to this stage of his career.

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Record of the Week: Janelle Monae 'The Art of Pleasure' Aug 08, 2023

The Age of Pleasure is that “paradise found,” where she can, and does, love quite freely. “We’re in the Age of Pleasure baby, the Age of Pleasure,” Monáe reinstates to me over Zoom. On her last album, Dirty Computer, Monáe’s alter-ego Jane 57821 led a group of Black femme dissidents who broke free from The New Order, the totalitarian group of oppressors, and now they are living and loving in the Age of Pleasure.

The “paradise found” in The Age of Pleasure is an island of Black beauty, somewhere in the humid Caribbean, where it’s always golden hour, fresh fruit is being served in abundance to a beautiful group of people who do not make a distinction between friends and lovers.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Bully Jul 28, 2023

The bulk of Bully, the musicial monkier of Alicia Bognanno, fourth full-length LP Lucky For You serves as “one big love song to” 80-pound Shepherd-Husky mix named Mezzi. So when Mezzi passed away last year it upended Bognanno. It’s still a characteristically loud collection of tunes drenched in distorted guitars but it also captures the tenderness Bognanno felt and still feels now in Mezzi’s absence.

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Feature: Lo Naurel reinvention on "Draft Pick" Jul 24, 2023

Plenty of other artists have communicated significant matters through name changes this century. (Think: ANOHNI shedding Antony for a name that aligns with her identity as a trans woman; The Chicks distancing themselves from a regional term that romanticizes the old, segregated South; Yasiin Bey retiring the moniker Mos Def in favor of owning his personal evolution and conversion to Islam.)

Lo Naurel’s decision to no longer make music as Lauren McClinton falls squarely into that tradition of signifying artistic transformation.

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Record of the Week: Bonny Doon 'Let There Be Music' Jul 17, 2023

Bonny Doon’s new record Let There Be Music is our Record of the Week. It’s a sunshiny record, dare I say breezy with its “ohh sha laa laa”s and “nah nah nah nah”s. It’s a cold beer on a hot day kind of record. It’s as comforting as a worn-in porch chair. It an album that is decidedly happy and sounds like a group of friends who are relaxed and comfortable in their identity as a band.

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Record of the Week: Palehound 'Eye On The Bat' Jul 10, 2023

Before Palehound released “The Clutch,” a rippin’ rock song and the first single off of their new LP, Eye On The Bat, we’d most recently heard the vocals and elevated guitar work of El Kempner as one half of the duo Bachelor. Kempner teamed up with Melina Duterte of Jay Som to form the supergroup and deliver the stand-out 2021 record Doomin’ Sun. But just as the recording of Doomin’ Sun was finished in early 2020, and Kempner hit the road with Palehound to tour their own solo work, the world shut down.

Eye On The Bat, a 10-song collection written around and largely about that holiday break-up, finds Kempner once again excelling at the plainspoken.

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Record of the Week: Killer Mike 'Michael' Jul 03, 2023

Michael is Killer Mike’s most personal and vulnerable album to date — an audio biography of the nine-year-old Michael Render on the album cover, a boy with a halo and devil horns over this head dreaming about being an emcee and the challenges he would have to go through to get there. From drug dealing in Atlanta on the song “Something for Junkies” to saying his mother, Denise, was dead for the first time on the song “Motherless,” each song on the album serves as chapters in the journey of Michael Render.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Six One Tribe Jun 28, 2023

Hip-hop is known as aspirational music. Six One Tribe, Nashville’s largest hip-hop collective, is living its own version of that. The group is working to accomplish what once seemed impossible for the genre they love in the city they call home. Senior music writer Jewly Hight digs into the vibe of TRIBE, our WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month for June.

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Record of the Week: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 'Weathervanes' Jun 27, 2023

“If we hear some old adage or southern euphemism, we expect it to be honest and valuable to us, but sometimes it’s really not,” Jason Isbell says about the song “Cast Iron Skillet,” in which he delivers bits of folk wisdom over acoustic guitar, before giving dark details that counter the presumption of authority in an old saying.

Isbell has been doing that for years with his music, and online presence, and in-person presence. But in Weathervanes, his latest album, he injects it into the characters in his songs, who are proud and strong-willed, but who are also flawed and complicated.

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Record of the Week: Jenny Lewis 'Joy'all' Jun 21, 2023

Joy’All is Jenny Lewis’s fifth solo effort, and her first on the historic Blue Note record label. It’s also her first full-length release since the pandemic. Splitting time between Los Angeles and Nashville, her mostly solitary quarantine experiences gave her a lot to think and sing about in the tunes that make up Joy’All, several of them stemming from a virtual, song-a-day writing workshop led by Beck (with whom she’s touring on the West Coast later this summer).

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Peter One Jun 01, 2023

Peter One’s story is incredible in itself. Peter is from Africa’s Ivory Coat. In the 1980’s he released an album that was very successful in Africa and had him touring the continent. In the 1990’s he came to the United States to make music, but found himself in a much more stable career, nursing, here in central Tennessee. And in his mid-sixties he released his second album, “Come Back to Me” in May.

But an incredible music story would be nothing if the music didn't back it up. “Come Back to Me” stands up on it’s own without the story. It’s a warm cup of coffee on a slow Sunday morning kind of record. There is a kindness in his voice that makes you realize why he made a profession out of caring for people. You can hear the softness of his soul.

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Record of the Week: Durand Jones 'Wait Til I Get Over' May 29, 2023

The history of Hillaryville, Louisiana can be traced all the way back to the late 1800s. Located along the Mississippi River, the small community was founded by eight slaves who received it as a form of reparations after the Civil War. The stories of green sugarcane, longshoremen on the river, and rice farmers in this deep rural south of Louisiana are passed on generation after generation, including Durand Jones’ grandmother who describes it as “The place you’d most want to live.”

Jones takes listeners on a journey through his views of the history and his own personal experiences on his debut solo album Wait Til I Get Over.

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Record of the Week: Pearl & The Oysters 'Coast 2 Coast' May 22, 2023

Pearl & The Oysters Bandcamp bio reads,

“After winning a free trip to the ★Ostreoid Asteroid Resort★ (from whence came their name) on the back of a dehydrated cereal box, a joyous society of galactic gleaners began making music together under the Neptunian moniker: 𝒫ℯ𝒶𝓇𝓁 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒪𝓎𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇𝓈. ✩ ☾ ❈❖✢❖”

Here we have the real story. Starting with a picklemonger from Brooklyn to two high school students in Paris who bonded over Burt Bacharach and then moved to Florida with two carry-ons full of tiny instruments and made Coast 2 Coast an acid trip of a journey to outer space.

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Record of the Week: Indigo De Souza 'All Of This Will End' May 15, 2023

Indigo De Souza has adopted, and been warmly embraced by, a new community since the making of her 2021 record Any Shape You Take. Her third LP, All of This Will End, is beautifully illustrative of De Souza’s recent shifts: shifts in mindset, in the people from whom she draws support and/or inspiration, and — as a result — in songwriting.

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Record of the Week: Joy Oladokun 'Proof of Life' May 10, 2023

Initially self-released, Joy Oladokun’s 2020 record In Defense of My Own Happiness was created in pandemic isolation; she doodled her way to emotional, relational and social verities, mainly using the instruments, microphones and software she had on hand. For Proof of Life, she entered into a partnership with Verve Forecast and Republic that didn’t break her of DIY recording habits so much as vastly expand her cast of collaborators and enable her to pursue a wider array of sonic ideas.

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Record of the Week: Blondshell 'Blondshell' May 01, 2023

Listening to Blondshell’s self-titled debut can feel like a punch to the gut. The relatability in Sabrina Teitelbaum’s lyrics may explain the instant buzz behind her latest project. Channeling the angst of ‘90s alt-rockers like Hole, The Cranberries and PJ Harvey, her sharp-tongued one-liners are backed by riffy guitars and scant drums, highlighting the emotion in Teitelbaum’s vocals.

The coming-of-age record hones in on searching for intimacy while dating sleazy men and partying too much. Written in the midst of the pandemic, Blondshell covers the gambit of fragile topics from addiction to heartbreak and violence against women, but Teitelbaum says it was never intended for a real audience.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Devon Gilfillian Apr 28, 2023

It's been a decade since Devon Gilfillian landed in Nashville and set about slowly building his career in music. In that time, he's had a major label breakthrough — and also a parting of ways with that label. Now Marquis Munson says Gilfillian is having another moment through his activism, his latest album release, and WNXP's Nashville Artist of the Month.

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Record of the Week: Anna B Savage 'inFlux' Apr 24, 2023

On her new album, in|FLUX, London-based artist Anna B Savage zigs where many musicians zag. in|FLUX is all low end. There is a clarinet, a low saxophone and what sounds like a leopard’s growl. Lean in and you might hear a chime way in the background or something unexpected altogether. Savage’s parents are singers. Both classical. On in|FLUX, her poetry is in the forefront, but from first listen the element that catches you is her voice. It’s settled and comfortably low, yet somehow it still yearns.

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Record of the Week: Wednesday 'Rat Saw God' Apr 11, 2023

The band Wednesday stitch together the details of their lives with triumphant guitar riffs and tragic lap steel. They see the big by zooming into the small bits of life in and around North Carolina. Their new album is our Record of the Week, Rat Saw God. In it, Wednesday are authors of a new Southern Gothic.

Record of the Week: The War and Treaty 'Lover's Game' Apr 04, 2023

Lover’s Game, the first The War and Treaty full-length released on a major country label Mercury Nashville, the two work up naturalistic, slow-burning, piano-driven arrangements of several of their originals, songs that spill over with devotion or need or take on the relational labor of giving comfort instead of slipping into cruel indifference. The Trotters sing them with a grown-up sense of pacing and phrasing, lingering here and there on meaning that’s hard to express.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Michigander Mar 31, 2023

Last year was shaping up to be great for Michigander. The Michigan born, Nashville-based artist was set to release an EP It Will Never Be The Same, he’d booked his first, major headlining tour and was about to mark a career milestone with the song “Stay Out of It” entering a top ten radio chart. But a pair of life-changing accidents altered the course of his career and revealed an unexpected source of support.

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Record of the Week: The Hold Steady 'The Price of Progress' Mar 28, 2023

The Hold Steady celebrates its 20th anniversary with the release of their ninth studio album 'The Price of Progress.' Singer, songwriter and frontman Craig Finn said that recording these songs together felt like a homecoming for him and his bandmates Bobby Drake, Tad Kubler, Franz Nicolay, Galen Polivka and Steve Selvidge. After swapping song stems and lyrics remotely, the six-piece got together in Rhinebeck, New York to make a joyful noise in-studio. There, they rejoined Heavy Covenant collaborators engineer D. James (Dan) Goodwin and producer Josh Kaufman to bring these 10 new, rich storytelling tunes to life.

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Record of the Week: Caroline Polachek 'Desire, I Want To Turn To You' Mar 14, 2023

Pop artist Caroline Polachek brings her addictive beats, synths and vocal acrobatics to Ryman Auditorium for her American tour in support of her newest LP called Desire, I Want To Turn Into You. On a February day she was preparing to play in Paris, after some show cancellations due to winter illness, Celia Gregory snagged some time Zooming with a rested-up Polachek, one of modern music’s inarguable “It Girls,” to discuss her songwriting process and multiple interpretations of the album’s title.

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Record of the Week: De La Soul's '3 Feet High and Rising' Mar 07, 2023

Interview with author Dan Charnas about the impact of De La Soul's 1989 debut album '3 Feet High and Rising' ahead of their catalog release on streaming services.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: R.A.P. Ferreira Feb 28, 2023

Rory Allen Philip Ferreira is an artist with a bit of mystery. He’s lived in eight different cities and gone by five different names. He’s never had a publicist or a PR campaign, and yet he’s been acclaimed by The New York Times and The Needle Drop and his records sell for $150 a piece. Let’s dive into the myth of our Nashville Artist of the Month, the uncompromising artist, R.A.P. Ferreira. He’s a poet of scholarly whimsy, rapping casually and poetically about Rhonin, paladin, 1950’s beat poets, Garcia Lorca and other expressions of enduring wisdom.

Record of the Week: Sunny War 'Anarchist Gospel' Feb 14, 2023

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sydney Ward, known as Sunny War, says there are two sides of her. One of them is very self-destructive and the other is trying to work with the other half to keep things balanced. From a devastating break-up and the loss of her father, the conflict of pain and preserving, the balance between a break-up album and an uplifting project, this became the theme for her fourth album Anarchist Gospel.

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Record of the Week: White Reaper 'Asking For A Ride' Feb 07, 2023

One of the first singles released from the long-time-coming 4th LP of Louisville, Kentucky band White Reaper, called Asking For A Ride, was the track “Pink Slip,” which laments: “Hard to believe us when we grow up so slow.” Sure, the eternal youth modeled and perpetuated by a thrashy, bratty, moshy rock band is alluring in even the best of times and we can all agree the times since their last record, 2019’s You Deserve Love, have been anything but “best.” It would be easy and forgivable to disappear into disassociation, as artists and as fans, refusing to grow up until the world out there seems a little safer to grow up in.

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WNXP Nashville Artist of the Month: Samia Jan 31, 2023

On Honey, Samia’s second solo album, the indie singer-songwriter has actually refined and defined her voice by venturing away from that sort of certainty. By envisioning how differently someone else might have perceived an interaction and letting her questions for them hang in the air, she’s subtly enlarged the scope of her songs.

Senior music writer Jewly Hight spoke with her about choosing that approach, and a number of other decisions she made on her way to this point, beginning with going into the entertainment business like her folks, Kathy Najimy and Dan Finnerty, did before her.

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Record of the Week: R.A.P. Ferriera '5 To The Eyes With Stars' Jan 30, 2023

Being good at talking is what makes R.A.P. Ferreira, full name, Raury Allan Phillip Ferreira a great rapper. “5 to the Eye with Stars” is a line Ferreira lifted from vocalese master Kurt Elling. Five to the eye is a knockout punch. Like Elling, you might call Ferreira’s artform vocalese. Bending words into abstraction, using context clues to fill in the details, landing a syllable in an unpredictable way is the through line of Ferreira’s work.

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Record of the Week: Adeem the Artist 'White Trash Revelry' Jan 24, 2023

Adeem the Artist’s 2021 album Cast Iron Pansexual, rendered with shaggy charm and a mixture of DIY and old-time string band sensibilities, was celebrated within the coalescing community of queer roots music devotees. They brought their strengths and insights together more fully on White Trash Revelry, a collection of keenly knowledgeable and arresting songwriting delivered over spirited, full-band arrangements with a charisma that can feel needling, mischievous or vulnerable.

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