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City Cast Nashville

We ask local movers and shakers the essential questions.

Margaret Kingsbury

Exciting news: We’ve hired Rachel Iacovone as our new City Cast Nashville host! Rachel previously served as a host, editor, and director at Nashville Public Radio before joining Connecticut Public to report on the Puerto Rican diaspora, where she won a 2026 award from the Public Media Journalists Association. We’re absolutely thrilled to have her return to Nashville to join our team! And never fear, the wonderful Marie Cecile Anderson isn’t leaving the team; she’s returning to her role as creative producer.

“I missed Music City more than I cared to admit — to others or myself — for a while. There are the predictable things like live music and great food, but ultimately, I really missed the culture we experience day-to-day living here. The seven degrees of separation are two at most in this city, and I love being able to get together a group last-minute on a weeknight and discover that two unrelated friends actually work at the same campus or hospital or coffee shop. I hadn’t experienced that interconnectivity before or since coming to Nashville, and I won’t ever take it for granted again!”

What Nashville restaurant did you miss most while you were in Connecticut?

 at the top of my Nashville restaurants), it was 

 I thought about and missed the most. It’s our best-kept secret from the tourists, though every time I’m there lately, I do see a couple sneaking in with expressions like they know they’re getting away with something. 

 will treat them as kindly as he does when he greets me with a question about how my mom is doing each time. (They’ve met twice.) You can’t order wrong at the cozy converted home: The breakfast biscuit sandwiches are killer, but so is the fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, and shrimp and grits, and…”

If you could change one thing about Nashville, what would it be?

“Our external reputation. I know. I know. I shouldn’t care so much about what others think. But coming from a Latino family, I fielded a lot of questions about my initial move here in 2019. Since then, I’ve made sure to acclimate them, like you do to a pet-store goldfish, by submerging them in 

, and ensuring them I’ll keep up my Spanish skills through 

. Over the years, I’ve expanded that to include the diversity of exhibits at the 

, and the many other cultures with populations here willing to share their food and customs (most recently, at 

 Kurdish breakfast with my mom). Nashville is so much more than, to quote Hayley Williams, 

the latest racist country singer’s bar opening

🎧 Listen to Rachel on our August guide

City Cast Nashville has a new podcast host, Rachel Iacovone! Here are some things she loves most about Nashville.

Why Our New Host Loves Nashville

Meet Our New City Cast Nashville Host — Rachel Iacovone!

What Nashville celebrities, public figures and key citizens have to say about living here.

3 Questions With Nashville Public Figures

3 Questions With

Tonight, July 7, will be Metro Council’s 

 addressing data center construction in Nashville. We talked to Drew Small, the man behind 

, about why he’s fighting projects proposed near the 

A reminder that if you’re headed to tonight’s council meeting, they have implemented 

 for those wishing to speak. The list will open at 5 p.m.

What could be the impacts of the zoo data center on your South Nashville neighbors?

Every concern we have for the animals at our zoo also applies to us, our children, our senior citizens, our unhoused neighbors, and the local wildlife we share this corridor with. There is a hidden healthcare cost to these facilities that keeps rising every year, with U.S. data centers now responsible for 

 annually in pollution and health damages, according to a 2026 Carnegie Mellon analysis. A single large facility can cost a local community $50-100 million a year in health damages alone. Put that into a community already struggling with a cost of living crisis, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Why should Nashvillians be concerned about data centers, and how can people get involved?

Data centers are an everyone problem. What we're building today is so different from anything that's come before, and developers have shown they'll place them anywhere they're allowed to. It's not a question of if this reaches you, it's a question of when, at the pace these projects are moving. The good news is we still have time, and we still have power. Show up to local meetings, pay attention, and repeat. Then find local neighbors near you who are already doing the work. One person paying attention is useful, but a few hundred people paying attention quickly becomes a problem. Sometimes being a problem is the solution.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to start a similar grassroots effort to change something about Nashville?

Better is always on the other side of boring. It's not the protest signs, or the public hearings where hundreds turn out. It's reading the permits, the geotechnical documentation, reading laws at 12:39 a.m. The people who win these fights aren't the ones with the most charisma, they're the ones who did the unglamorous work long enough to know more than the people trying to push the project through. In reality, you've got two options: worry about it, or work on it. In my experience, you don't get what you wish for, you get what you work for.

🎧 How data center regulation could work 

​​Drew Small from No New Data Centers explains why he’s trying to protect more than just the zoo.

Three Questions With Drew Small from No New Data Centers

The Man Leading Nashville’s Data Center Fight

On May 14, former Team USA Paralympian and Nashville local 

 athletic team about sports and disability. Gray is also the founder of 

, a nonprofit focused on blind awareness, inclusion, accessibility, and community impact. I had a chance to chat with Gray ahead of his speech about what it was like growing up blind in Nashville, and how the city can improve accessibility.

What was it like growing up blind in Nashville?

“Growing up blind in Nashville was fun in a lot of ways. My roots are really in Antioch. I was always around family, always around people, and I loved being active and outside. At the same time, it wasn’t always easy. I was born with oculocutaneous albinism, which means I have albinism that affects my skin, hair, and eyes, and it also comes with visual impairment and light sensitivity. Growing up, I felt like a sore thumb sticking out, especially since I’m African American, and I didn’t look like any of my friends and family that were in my community. I was often the only person around with albinism, and I do think that created an identity struggle for me. There were times when I felt like I had to act a certain way or put myself in certain spaces just to fit in and not stand out. Looking back, that caused a lot of hardship for my family and me because it put me in situations I had no business being in, and the outcomes could have been a lot worse.

“What helped me was that my family never let me shrink because of my disability. They were big on making sure I was integrated into athletics and social spaces with my sighted peers, and when I was younger, they were my loudest advocates. My dad had me in peewee football at the Boys Club, and I played for the Woodbine Broncos. I loved that because I was always rough, competitive, and physical. I learned early that my blindness and albinism might affect how I did something, but I still belonged.

“The Tennessee School for the Blind helped bring all of that into focus for me. TSB gave me confidence, community, and perspective. It helped me understand that even though I was living in a sighted world, I didn’t need to lose myself trying to fit into it. I had to define my own lane and my own version of success. Seeing other blind and visually impaired students compete, lead, and live fully changed how I saw myself, and that stayed with me.”

How did your nonprofit, Sight School, come to be?

“Sight School came out of real conversations, lived experience, and a real need. Lex Gillette and I were having deeper conversations around blindness, identity, perception, and the gap between how the sighted world often sees us and what our actual lived experience looks like. The more those conversations grew, the more it became clear that this needed to be bigger than just talk.

“For me, it was personal because I know what it feels like to grow up hearing more about what you cannot do than what you can. I know what it feels like to need exposure, confidence, mentorship, and opportunity. Athletics gave a lot of that to me. It helped shape my life and showed me what was possible. That made me want to help create that same kind of confidence and exposure for other blind and visually impaired young people.

“At its core, Sight School is about helping people better understand blindness and visual impairment through sport, education, advocacy, and immersive experiences. It’s about building confidence in blind and visually impaired individuals while also helping the sighted world move beyond assumptions and low expectations. More than anything, it’s about dignity, opportunity, and helping people truly see value and potential where the world too often expects limitation.”

How can Nashville ensure that TSB students can access everything our city has to offer?

“I think the first step is understanding that access is about a lot more than just whether someone can physically get into a space. Real access means transportation, information, opportunity, confidence, and belonging. It means blind students should be able to move through Nashville knowing they are expected in the room, not treated like an afterthought once they arrive.

“That looks like stronger pathways into internships, employment, athletics, recreation, arts, and community events. It looks like organizations building relationships with schools like TSB and not waiting to be asked. It looks like making information accessible from the start, thinking through mobility and transportation, and creating spaces where blind students can participate with dignity instead of being overhelped or underestimated.

“More than anything, it takes expectation. If Nashville really wants blind students to access everything the city has to offer, then the city has to stop seeing them only through the lens of limitation or inspiration. They are young people with talent, ambition, personality, and something to contribute right now. When a city raises its expectations, opens more doors, and is intentional about inclusion, blind students don’t just gain access to Nashville. Nashville becomes better because of their full participation.”

♿ Navigating Nashville’s Nightlife With a Disability

Former Team USA Paralympian Joseph Gray chats about growing up blind in Nashville, and how the city can improve.

Three Questions Former Team USA Paralympian Joseph Gray

How Nashville Could Be More Accessible With Former Team USA Paralympian Joseph Gray

” was created in the aftermath of The Covenant School shooting to make space for important conversations on gun control, and what it looks like to move forward with compassion. On May 11, The Belcourt Theatre is holding 

, with a 60-minute version airing that same evening on Nashville PBS. I spoke with two of the documentary’s creators, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show and NPR Morning Edition host David Greene, to learn more.

Why was making this documentary important to y’all?

David: “I have built a career in journalism on the belief that listening — truly listening, with an open and curious mind — can bring change. That kind of listening sounds easy. And yet we rarely do it, especially in today’s society. Our documentary is meant to show, by example, that this rare experience — sitting down with people who share a passion, like music, or people who happen to be your neighbors — can be so meaningful. The experience may help drag you out of your echo chambers, open your mind to new ideas, and put you in a mindset where you can collaborate with fellow humans to solve problems — even some of the most polarizing and intractable ones of our day, like gun violence.”

Ketch: “Three years ago, a shooting at The Covenant School felt like it put all our community’s schools, teachers, and children in the crosshairs of the national gun violence epidemic. I wanted to do something.”

Does one conversation from the film in particular stand out to you now?

David: “There were so many powerful conversations. One that stands out to me was an exchange at a Nashville restaurant. Tennessee Rep. Shaundelle Brooks, whose son was killed in a 2018 shooting at a Waffle House outside Nashville, sat across the table from Bill Robeson, a gun owner who learned to shoot when he was five years old. Bill argued passionately that we should all feel safer because we have gun owners there to protect us. Shaundelle shared that after her son’s murder, ‘people would come up to me and say I wanna take their guns — I don’t wanna take your guns, I want to be safe.’ She added, ‘not all gun owners are irresponsible.’

“I was struck by the nuance and rawness of this exchange, and the entire conversation that night in Nashville. This just never happens in society today. And it must.

“Bill shared that evening that his friend’s older brother shot and killed his younger brother — then five years old — and that his friend’s family has been tortured ever since. ‘They weren’t locked,’ Bill said of the firearm used in the tragedy. ‘Mine are locked.’ It was a moment that drove home for me that gun owners like Bill know more about gun safety than anyone else in the conversation. How can people fighting to end gun violence not be willing to listen to people like Bill?

“As we talked about Shaundelle’s experience, and how some gun owners seem to look for any reason to accuse people of trying to take their guns away, Bill acknowledged, ‘that happens a lot.’ Bill brought things home that night with, to me, one of the most memorable moments from the film: ‘I appreciate everyone’s opinion,’ he said. ‘I’ve never been opposed to doing things that make sense. And I think a lot of gun owners are the same way. They just feel attacked. And both sides feel attacked. Everyone feels attacked. Why do we have to be like that? Can we not just be adults and have a conversation?’

Ketch: “I once met a father of a teenage daughter in a prisoner’s support group who had recently finished serving a lengthy jail sentence, and now faced the challenge of being ineligible to own a firearm. He talked about how scared he felt that he couldn’t protect his child. Meanwhile, I felt scared for my child, thinking of there being a firearm in my house. We couldn’t have been looking at the same issue any differently; we both shared the desire to protect our kids. This man helped me see that even opposites can agree, and it makes me more hopeful that by defining those places of overlap, we can find a compromise for the protection of our nation's most vulnerable.”

What do you hope people leave with after watching this film?

David: “I hope people leave with a willingness to TRY this. Look for relationships or disagreements in your lives that you have avoided because you don’t see a way forward. Maybe it just feels too toxic or too impossible. I’m not saying radical listening will work every time, or even once. But what if it does? What if you judged another person unfairly, or wrongly assumed there’s no way forward with someone, and that robbed you of the chance to tackle something hard together? Wouldn’t you rather seek out things that might bring you together — like country music, or bowling, or love of a sports team — and explore where that might take you? What if a surprising connection develops and you’re able to listen to one another in ways you never expected? Isn’t trying it better than the alternative?”

Ketch: “I hope that our viewers will consider sitting down with somebody they think they’ll probably disagree with on the topic of gun violence, gun reform, the Second Amendment, etc., and just talk about it. Sometimes it feels like this problem is too colossal for us to solve, and yet it’s people sharing ideas and working together that will solve not only this seemingly insurmountable issue but many many more.”

🎥 Watch the Film at the Belcourt

“Louder Than Guns” was created in the aftermath of The Covenant School shooting, with the goal of making space for important conversations on gun control.

Inside the Making of "Louder Than Guns"

The Local Documentary Asking Tough Questions About Gun Violence

“Parents helping parents, helping children” is the tagline for Tennessee’s free Regional Intervention Program, currently being rebranded as 

. I know I’m not the only parent who has felt overwhelmed, so I spoke with the program’s Director of Infant and Early Childhood Initiatives, Melissa Binkley, to learn more.

“The Regional Intervention Program and Parenting That Works is native to Tennessee! The program started in 1969 at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, and has been growing ever since. Parenting That Works has been replicated locally, nationally, and internationally. I started with the department in 2015, first as the training coordinator and now as director, and I’ve learned so much about children and families from the people who pass through our doors. I wish I could have begun my career here!”

What kind of services does the program offer parents?

“RIP and Parenting That Works is a positive parenting program that supports children ages two through five and their families who are dealing with challenging behaviors — both big and small. Parenting That Works is FREE! There’s no diagnosis or income requirement. Families participate together over the course of 4-6 months, and their commitment leads to positive results. Parents who complete the program express more confidence in their own parenting skills, lower parenting stress, and improved social skills and behavior from their children. We see parents as the experts on their own children, and here they will have a chance to learn and practice strategies alongside other parents and children, while receiving support from staff members who completed the program themselves.”

What advice would you give to new Nashville parents?

“Parenting is HARD WORK! And you don’t have to go it alone — or scroll social media’s endless supply of ‘parenting hacks.’ At RIP, and within the Parenting that Works program, you will find a community excited to support you and your child! As one parent shared, ‘Learning from and being supported by other families in similar situations has been both normalizing and encouraging beyond words.’"

 on May 9 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. They’ll have family fun including touch-a-trucks, a puppet show, face painting, community resources, and program tours and information.

🚸 Find Out More About Parenting That Works

Learn more about this free program helping Nashville parents.

Check Out This Free Parenting Program in Nashville

Parenting That Works: Nashville’s Free Parenting Program

St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series

 is returning to Nashville this weekend, on April 25 and 26. This annual racing event helps raise money for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and is Nashville’s most popular race. To learn more, I spoke with race director Adam Zocks and runner Susy Meade.

How has the St. Jude Rock ’n’ Roll Running Series Nashville changed over the years?

Zocks: “Over the last 25 years, the St. Jude Rock’ n’ Roll Running Series Nashville has grown into a full race weekend that really showcases the spirit of Music City. What started primarily as a marathon and half-marathon has expanded to include a 10K, 5K, 1 Mile, KiDS ROCK, and the Doggie Dash. With live music along the course and thousands of runners filling the streets of downtown Nashville, it has become a major community event that brings together runners, spectators, and volunteers while supporting the lifesaving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”

How can people get involved with the race?

Zocks: “There are several ways for people in Nashville to be part of race weekend. In addition to running or walking, the event relies on hundreds of volunteers who help make the weekend possible. Volunteers assist at the free two-day Health & Fitness Expo, support runners along the course at water stations, and help hand out finisher medals at the finish line. Many participants also choose to run as St. Jude Heroes, raising funds to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It truly becomes a citywide effort where the community comes together to support the runners and the mission.”

What's your favorite part of the Nashville race course?

Meade: “My favorite part of the Nashville course is running through the heart of downtown with the live bands and crowds cheering you on. The energy is incredible, and you can feel the whole city supporting the runners. But the most meaningful moments are when you see the St. Jude signs and families along the course. It reminds you why you’re out there running and fundraising, and it gives you an extra boost to keep going.”

🏃 Find Out More

The St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series is returning to Nashville this weekend, on April 25 and 26. Here's more about the annual event.

Your Guide to Nashville's Rock 'n' Roll Running Series

Run for a Cause With the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series

Nashville’s big Earth Day celebration is this Saturday, April 18, at Centennial Park. City Cast Nashville is proud to be one of the sponsors of this family-friendly event, featuring interactive exhibits, free trees, live music, and so much more. To learn more about 

, I spoke with Justin Branam, Centennial Park Conservancy's Vice President of Programming.

How did the Nashville Earth Day festival get started?

“I’m no historian, though I believe that the first ever Nashville Earth Day celebration was in 1990, and presented in collaboration with the Earth Day Coalition, Mayor Bill Boner’s Office, and Rosanne Cash’s Earth Communications Office. It was held at Riverfront Park, and included a concert by Rosanne Cash, The Bellamy Brothers, and Rodney Crowell. The festival moved to Centennial Park in the early 2000s, and is now held at the historic bandshell in Centennial Park, where it welcomes about 13,000 people each year.”

What are your favorite new activities happening at this year’s festival?

“This year, we have lined up a really impressive group of speakers, who will give short presentations at the festival across several topics in the sustainability, nature, and environmentalism space. As always, we’ll have incredible 

 at the bandshell, as well as great food options, activities for children, and more.”

What do you hope people leave with after attending the festival?

“I hope the day serves as an opportunity to celebrate what Earth has given to each of us, and also an opportunity to reflect on how we can better care for Earth. I hope that attendees leave with practical knowledge and tools to take small steps towards sustainability in their own everyday lives.”

More than 75 vendors will be in attendance, including Small World Yoga, The Science Guys, and Turnip Green Creative Reuse. There will also be 16 food trucks, like The Grilled Cheeserie, Hoss’ Loaded Burgers, and NashBowls Açaí.

🌎 More Event Details

Learn more about the history and event schedule of this year's Nashville Earth Day celebration.

Learn More About the Nashville Earth Day Festival

Celebrate the Earth at Nashville’s Greenest Festival

This Sunday, Feb. 15, local classically trained composer, singer, and master of the guzheng Wu Fei 

will perform at Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall

 in celebration of the Lunar New Year. I interviewed 

 ahead of this free performance to learn more about how Nashville has shaped her music.

How has living in Nashville impacted your music?

“The people here have changed everything about my music and life. I came to the city because I was working with the banjo player Abigail Washburn on a record produced by Béla Fleck. They taught me most of what I know about bluegrass and American traditions, and they also welcomed me and my family so warmly that we moved here. My formal education covered all kinds of classical and global folk music, but almost no American music at all, so Nashville has been a crash course!

“Saxophonist Jeff Coffin has also deepened my understanding of jazz and opened doors to many global musical traditions for me, and Jen-Jen Lin of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville has shown me how to keep foreign traditions alive and relevant in the heart of the American South.

“Celine Thackston and the Chatterbird Ensemble she founded gave me roots in the classical music scene here. Chatterbird performed the premiere of “Hello Gold Mountain,” my composition for symphony and chamber orchestra, at Ingram Hall at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.

“The legacy of Nashville’s music has inspired me: Everyone I’ve met and worked with in the music circle really puts in the work. People know how to grind: They tour relentlessly, they practice relentlessly. It’s a noble thing to contribute to this musical tradition.

“But it’s not just the music industry folks. I have never felt so welcomed anywhere, and I’ve lived everywhere from Beijing to New York and Boulder. One after another, ordinary people have gone out of their way to help me, and this has been humbling and inspiring as an artist. I was taught to make music in an imperial palace, but in Nashville I learned to make music for my fellow humans, to be giving and not to be selfish.”

What can people expect from your performance on Sunday?

“The concert starts at 3 p.m. But at 2 p.m., the Ingram Hall lobby will open for a Lunar New Year celebration with cultural exhibits and activity booths, including Chinese drumming by the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville.

“The concert is my suite for guzheng and voice, “Moon Hunter.” The guzheng is the 21-string Chinese zither, which has been played for around 2,500 years. “Moon Hunter” draws on the singing form of ancient Chinese poetry, and weaves improvisations together with traditional guzheng repertoire, folk songs, and Chinese opera. I’ll briefly tell the history or talk about the significance of each piece of music.

“Nashville-based, Asian American artists will join me for the second half of the program on several songs. At the end, we all join together to sing “The Moon Represents My Heart 月亮代表我的心,” a beloved Chinese love song that is popular all over Asia.

“The concert includes a video installation by visual artist Erik Sharpnack. The guest musicians are:

Reza Filsoofi (Persian daf drum, setar, and santoor)

Performers from the Blair Jazz Department”

How do you plan to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Nashville?

“My parents live in Nashville with me, my husband, and our two kids. As Northern Chinese, we will make homemade dumplings on the first day of the New Year of the Horse (Tuesday, Feb. 17), and hang lots of red lanterns around the house and spring festival couplets (decorative red paper strips with auspicious poetry) on the doors. We’ll also let off some fireworks.

“The Lunar New Year (aka Spring Festival) lasts for 15 days. Each day we are supposed to do certain traditions, but my family will just eat a lot of Chinese food. We will be calling our family members and friends in China and around the world to wish them good health and a prosperous new year.”

💬 More Interviews With Locals

Classical Chinese musician Wu Fei discusses Lunar New Year and Nashville's impact on her music ahead of a free performance.

Classical Chinese Musician Wu Fei on How Nashville Has Impacted Her Music

Lunar New Year in Nashville With Master of the Guzheng Wu Fei

Australian artist Wendy Murray is working on an ambitious project: To draw every building on Gallatin Pike. The 

 perfectly capture Gallatin’s character. But WHY Gallatin? I recently chatted with Wendy to answer just that question, and what she’s learned about Nashville in the process of working on this series.

What inspired you to draw every building on Gallatin Pike?

“I guess the long answer is back in 2011, I saw a copy of Edward Ruscha’s “

,” and ever since then, I've been looking for a drawing project that might fit that. I'd also been drawing what I call my daily drawings since 2010. I started out in rural New South Wales, Australia, and last spring, I was lucky enough to win an internship at Hatch Show Print. So I came out to Nashville for six weeks, and I just really loved Gallatin.

“There's a street like Gallatin in every city — a street with fast food joints, tire repair shops, coffee shops, supermarkets. They embody all the things that make the U.S. awesome and awful at the same time.”

What have you learned about Nashville while working on this project?

“There are so many kind and thoughtful people in this community. People have contacted me through social media and said, ‘It’s really hot out there, can I bring you a drink?’ The business owners are also supportive and amazing.

“I'm getting to know Gallatin as I draw it. I live close to one of two Krogers, and because I didn't have a car until last week, I was on the bus or on my bike. So I didn’t know the area around the first Kroger. Folks tend to stay in a radius around their house. I'm no scientist or urban geographer, but that's interesting for a car-centric place.”

What have been your favorites in the series so far?

. I really like that building. In Australia, they're called Nissen huts, but you call them Quonset huts. They're such lovely people as well, and they adopted one of the stray cats around there who had had some kittens, so I call in occasionally to say hi to them. I enjoyed doing the 

 and those older buildings there. I could sit in the shade of the Goodwill drop-off to draw those. That’s relaxing compared to, say, drawing 

 on the corner of Trinity and Gallatin, which was a hair-raising exercise, because folks fly around that corner and there are often accidents.

“That's why I haven't drawn the bank on the corner of Hart and Gallatin yet. I've just gotta find a safe time to sit there and draw, without a car flying through and smashing into me.”

🎨 Explore Her Art!

Australian artist Wendy Murray is working on an ambitious project: To draw every building on Gallatin Pike. City Cast Nashville recently chatted with Wendy to find out, WHY Gallatin?

Nashville Artist Wendy Murray on Capturing the City

Capturing a Road’s Character: 3 Questions With Artist Wendy Murray

Nashville’s longest running home music venue, 

, is coming to an end after 12 years of providing a safe space for musicians, artists, and other creatives to experiment with their art. They’re celebrating with one last 

 on August 1-2, an annual music and art festival that I know from experience is gonna be pretty wild — I read poetry at a previous FEST(er)! Here’s my conversation with The Mouthhole’s Michael Sadler about the venue, and what’s in The Mouthhole’s future.

“When I was going to college in Huntington, WV, I was in a car accident that ended up paying me a decently sized insurance settlement. I had the idea to take that money, buy a house, and fill it with my artist friends from college. I hoped it would be an incubator for art and community, but my parents talked me out of it. Years later, I moved to Nashville with the lingering idea still stuck in the back of my mind. That’s when Travis and his brother Zac joined me. We were living in a small apartment with too many people when we all decided to find a place with a basement and take a stab at making a DIY art/music space. We came up with the name and the concept and have endured as Nashville’s longest-running house/DIY space!”

What do you have planned for The Mouthhole’s last FEST(er)?

 last Fest(er), we have two days jam-packed with music, and a comedian! We managed to talk some bands from years past into coming out of hiatus and gracing the Mouth stage one more time. We have over 20 acts performing on Aug 1-2. As always, it’s free, so come on out!”

What’s the future like for The Mouthhole?

“We’re very sad to say goodbye to this house, and we’re grateful for everything it’s given us and our community! That being said, we’re also excited to have a fresh start at a new house. We have a 

 right now that will help us with moving expenses. We won’t have shows there in the same sense that we had them at The Mouthhole, but we will continue to throw some parties and have bands and artists on a lower scale. We will also continue booking as The Mouthhole, like at 

 in West Nashville, where we do a comedy game show, 

🎵 Check out the FEST(er)’s lineup!

After 12 years, The Mouthhole is closing, but not before one last music festival.