Among the many, many stories we at the Scene publish each year, there’s a great deal of work from contributors and staffers about musicians, the music business and everything that goes with it. It’s all part of telling the ongoing story of “Nashville music.”
As the person who assigns and edits our music coverage, I’m already focused on what we’re covering in 2024. But as each year draws to a close, I like to run back through the previous year’s coverage, and there are always stories that jump out at me for various reasons. Maybe they resulted from a great pitch that I never would have thought of, maybe they were just really fun to edit (or, in a few cases, to write myself).
Here are 12 stories I’ve enjoyed revisiting, organized by the date we published them. Thanks for reading, and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2024.
Longtime Scene contributor Sean L. Maloney articulated the strange and fascinating ways that Brazilian psych masters Os Mutantes come into fans’ lives and stay there in his feature ahead of their Nashville debut. This one also hits close to home for me: I am 99 percent certain Maloney was behind the counter when I bought my own copy of Everything Is Possible at long-defunct, fondly remembered Murfreesboro hangout Grand Palace Records circa 2005.
I really, really hope the band recorded some of the shows on this tour for a live LP; their Third Man gig was transcendent. Maloney has a gift for narrative in music writing too — if you haven’t checked out his cover story on onetime rapper and rising country star Jelly Roll, rectify that!
Thanks to COVID, Bikini Kill’s triumphant return to Nashville was rescheduled twice. When the show finally came around in the spring, contributor Hannah Cron (who was our editorial intern at the time) came up with a fantastic framework for a feature story. When the opportunity to interview Kathleen Hanna came up, she knocked it out of the park. That trend has continued, not least with Cron’s review of Taylor Swift’s Nissan Stadium stop.
The Jonah People, a collaboration between jazz and classical luminary Hannibal Lokumbe and the Nashville Symphony, was a massive undertaking — made all the more impressive and poignant by its cohesive storytelling. Ron Wynn, who’s coming up on 30 years as a Scene contributor, had a great conversation with Lokumbe and others to preview the premiere. Here’s hoping that the work — which includes elements of opera, choral music, jazz, many dance styles and so much more — will be produced here again.
Vinyl continues to be a critically important piece of the music-industry puzzle — for fans, artists, record stores and labels — despite persistent issues in the realm of vinyl production. Kim Baldwin, the Scene’s digital editor, had the brilliant idea to talk with Piper Payne, who launched the relatively new Physical Music Products vinyl pressing facility.
Hannah Herner, who reports mostly on health care for the Scene and our sister publication the Nashville Post, is also a fantastic music writer. Her review of Duran Duran’s June show at Bridgestone Arena may have gotten a little lost in the pre-Bonnaroo madness. Herner absolutely nails her subtle and implicit description of the ways that absorbing music can become a huge part of your life.
Managing editor Alejandro Ramirez and I were both a little surprised when Killer Mike agreed to an interview around the tour for Michael, the Atlanta MC’s first solo album in more than a decade. Ramirez didn’t stick to easy questions, and Mike didn’t shut them down — even if not everything he has to say is something everyone will agree with.
Longtime contributor P.J. Kinzer brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and context to his coverage of punk bands and other elements of underground music in Nashville. For a prime example, look no further than his rundown of artists associated or affiliated with the phenomenal Snooper. But do look further — don’t miss Kinzer’s Year in Punk recap and his chat with the Random Sample crew, among heaps of other great work.
The big event of mid-July was Beyoncé’s return to Nashville — see Kim Baldwin’s great review of that. If anyone was going to nail a review of Blink-182’s “snotty, good-time nostalgia bomb” of a Nashville return, it was going to be editor-in-chief D. Patrick Rodgers.
You’ve mostly seen H.N. James’ contributions to the Scene as a freelance photographer, but she’s a great writer too. Her review of standout rising rockers Gloom Girl MFG’s show at The East Room cured my FOMO about the gig. See also: James’ recap of Big Ears Festival in Knoxville (with her great photos!) and contributor Charlie Zaillian’s excellent sit-down with the band.
This year, contributor Brittney McKenna has written in-depth about homelessness and the folks trying to help the homeless community near her in Madison. But she’s still doing fantastic work in our music section, including a profile of R.A.P. Ferreira’s new Soulfolks outpost and this great sit-down with Adeem the Artist ahead of AmericanaFest. Their conversation makes the transphobic incidents that happened at this year’s festival — shout-out to contributor Rachel Cholst for her in-depth reporting on the issues and possible solutions — all the more disappointing.
Among other talents, new-to-us contributor Addie Moore is really great at conveying the sound of music and its emotional impact. This line in her feature on Friendship Commanders’ latest LP Mass says it all: “With Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Gits, Black Sabbath and the entire pantheon of sludge and doom metal pioneers as their guides, Friendship Commanders tell the interconnected tales in 'Move,' 'High Sun,' 'Distortion,' 'Blue' and other songs with the ferocity and volume of Southern stoner-rock gods Jucifer and the attention to lyrical detail of an Americana wordsmith.” Moore also covered Screaming Females for us this year, previewing and reviewing the beloved Jersey punks’ Halloween show at Drkmttr — which turned out to be their last visit here before announcing their amicable dissolution after 18 years.
This year, I got to cover a bunch of awesome concerts — Mo’ Better Blue Room was a huge highlight — I got to sit down with Alicia Bognanno, and I got to chat with Truman Steffens of Sounds of Shelby. However, I couldn’t let October go by without writing about Boo Dudes. A Halloween band that only comes out in October doesn’t have to have serious chops or deep kayfabe lore to be tremendous fun. But Boo Dudes are committed to both, making them a true delight to cover year after year.
When Nashvillians voice anxiety about losing a collaborative creative spirit to rising costs of living and other pressures, they’re probably not talking specifically about Boo Dudes. But the health of an ecosystem that can produce bands like them — alongside rap aces, country stars, rock champions and more — is critical. Without it, there’s less and less to differentiate Music City from any other town.
