NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Since my “other” job is working with educators, I am keenly aware of bullying and the effects it has on a person.
Tera Townsend is a singer, songwriter, and musician from small-town in Tennessee. She grew up with a speaking disability and ADHD and was mocked and bullied as a child/teen because of her disability.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Nashville is famous for its writers’ rounds. The Song Suffragettes is the only all-female writers’ round and they have been consistently performing at the Listening Room on Monday nights for seven years.
Todd Cassetty founded Song Suffragettes for the simple reason of giving female singer-songwriters a place to play their music and be heard. Those who follow country music know that it is not an even playing field when it comes to women getting record deals and having their music played on country radio.
Read More
If there were ever a darling of the Canadian Country Airwaves, it would be Brett Kissel. Not only has the 30-year-old won numerous Canadian Country Music Association Awards, but he also has three number one hits and numerous top-tens on Canadian Radio.
But the main reason I wanted to interview him was because his music really is that good. His songs are all over the spectrum sonically but they resonate with the listeners.
Kissel admits that absolutely no one in his family is musical. “Not a grandpa, not a dad, an uncle, an auntie, nobody ever played music, period.”
The fact that he picked up a guitar, the fact that he can sing, the fact that he can write songs, and the fact that he moved to Nashville and made a go of it, is nothing short of remarkable.
Read More
The first time I saw Sam Hatmaker was with the Song Suffragettes before COVID. Every songwriter who is part of the Song Suffragettes collective is amazing, but Hatmaker was unique and different. I knew even back then, I wanted to interview her.
It turns out that Hatmaker is from Knoxville, Tennessee. Her mom did theater and her dad was a performer too. It was natural for her to want to be on stage. When she was ten-years-old, she auditioned and was cast in a Christmas show at Dollywood. That ended up with her working at Dollywood for three years.
Read More
Like me, Amanda Cooksey was not raised on country music. Cooksey started playing piano at the early age of six and began learning classical music. Later on, she took voice lessons and started singing in church in middle school. However, this “super shy” kid did not want to be in the spotlight.
Even though being in front of people wasn’t easy for her, Cooksey always loved music. As a young girl, she found a piano/vocal instructor, Ron Feldman, who changed her life.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennessee- No one in Emily Brooke’s family was musical. Young Brooke was a cheerleader, not a singer. But like many preteen girls twelve years ago, Brooke was super into Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana. She wanted to learn to play guitar as they did.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Taylor Hughes was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Although she always loved music and did choirs and shows, her mother was an R & B singer was considered the musical one in the family.
Hughes was an athlete with a scholarship to attend college as a volleyball player when she blew her knee out her junior year of high school and the hope of attending college on a sports scholarship was over.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Becca Bowen is an up-and-coming country artist whose Southern Belle exterior and tomboy personality have earned her the nickname “Country Barbie.” This personal fitness instructor is the single mother of two teenage girls.
Raised in South Carolina, as a child, she participated in pageants and talent shows – but her weekends were spent fishing and enjoying the outdoors with her grandfather. She is a true tomboy with a tiara.
Read More
Daniel Borge is an up-and-coming country music star. When I heard his single, “There I Was” I could tell this song offered the classical country story with a more modern sound. What I didn’t realize was that Borge is from Norway and English is not his first language.
In many ways, Borge’s journey to country music is one of the most unique stories I have heard. However, his path follows one of the most common themes. He learned to sing in church. His dad is a preacher and even though they live in Norway, they played/sang American gospel music.
Read More
Nashville bomber Anthony Warner reportedly mailed packages to people he knew before the attack with pages containing nonsensical rambling statements about lizard people and UFOs.
NewsChannel 5 reported on the development in the Christmas Day bombing case.
Read More
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Sunday morning confirmed to The Tennessee Star that Anthony Quinn Warner is officially under investigation in the Christmas morning explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, injuring three people.
“That person is under investigation,” Don Aaron, MNPD Public Affairs Manager said by email.
Read More
During an early afternoon press conference in Nashville Saturday, authorities asserted that investigators had not identified a person or persons of interest in the Christmas morning bombing. Shortly before the press briefing, CBSNews.com reported that person of interest had been identified: “A law enforcement source told CBS News a…
Read More
Six Nashville police officers were hailed as heroes on Christmas Day after they rushed to evacuate a downtown area of the city prior to an explosion, a law enforcement official said.
“These officers didn’t care about themselves,” Metro Police Chief John Drake said, according to Fox 17. “They didn’t think about that. They cared about the citizens of Nashville. They went in and we’d be talking not about the debris that we have here but potential people.”
Read More
Metro Nashville authorities have imposed a curfew on parts of downtown Nashville after a massive Christmas Day explosion damaged at least 41 businesses on Second Avenue and collapsed one building. Nashville Mayor John Cooper, Nashville Fire Chief William Swann, and Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake updated the public at a Friday evening press conference.
Read More
A massive Christmas morning explosion in downtown Nashville has caused extensive damage and knocked out phone and Internet communications throughout Middle Tennessee.
At least three individuals were injured but no fatalities have been reported.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennesse- I am often sent songs to review to see if I want to feature the song(s) and/or artist in my column. When I heard Lilly Winwood’s song “Few More Records” I knew this singer/songwriter was talented. But surely this Nashville girl wasn’t related to the Brit rocker, Steve Winwood.
It turns out, surely, she is. Lilly Winwood is the 25-year-old daughter of famed rock and roller, Steve Winwood.
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennesse – Years ago, I vaguely remember Luke Bryan giving his guitar to a 13-year-old kid on stage who he met via the Make-a-Wish Foundation. That night, a fire was lit in young Ethan Payne. He knew then that performing country music was what he was born to do.
Diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a toddler (18-months-old), Payne was faced with an uphill battle early on. However, that didn’t stop him from following his passions and pursuing a career in country music. I wanted to find out more about this American Idol alum.
Read More
Country singer and songwriter, Cole Bradley, is a rising star in the North American music scene.
Even though his parents weren’t musical, Bradley’s grandparents were and he started singing at age five. One of his first memories was singing along to Garth Brooks in the back of his Mom’s Toyota.
Read More
A series of marches supporting President Donald Trump and to demand election integrity are being held throughout the country at noon local time on Saturday.
The March for Trump will be held in every state capitol as well as at Freedom Plaza, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C., according to the event website. The website links to America First Projects.
Read More
Citizens opposing Mayor John Cooper’s property tax hike and war against bars and restaurants filed a petition to recall him and seven Metro Council members Monday.
Restore Nashville and Re-open Nashville, were among the groups that held the “Recall Mayor Cooper Petition Kickoff Rally” Monday at Public Square Nashville.
Stop Mayor Cooper was another group on Facebook organizing the rally.
Read More
What happens when you take a person who was raised in a bluegrass family and give him a degree in jazz/classical guitar? Jordan Tice, a musician’s musician, is what you get.
Tice grew up in Annapolis, Maryland where both of his parents played bluegrass. His mother played fiddle and his dad played banjo and they were involved with the local bluegrass scene.
Read More
The Nashville Metro Council on Tuesday gave Mayor John Cooper the authority to deputize certain city workers to issue citations against bars and restaurants that violate his coronavirus restrictions, The Tennessean reported.
Metro Health Department employees are overworked in trying to combat businesses, the newspaper said. Only workers who already have citation powers will be authorized to serve as restaurant police, according to the bill that passed on third reading. The mayor must still given written permission to workers to use this new power.
Read More
Black Lives Matter organizers plan to paint a street mural in Nashville on Saturday.
Muralist Thaxton Waters II and other artists plan to paint the mural along Woodland Avenue, the same day as the Women’s March in Nashville, Fox 17 News reported. Organizers say they soon will announce events for that day, and they expect over 10,000 to attend.
Read More
Informants reportedly helped Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s restaurant police cite two downtown bars over the weekend.
WSMV reported that a task force cited Dogwood and Rebar, both on Division Street, on Saturday for having too many patrons, including on the patio. The task force had members from Metro Public Health Department, the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Metro Beer Board. The task force checked on Dogwood again on Sunday.
Read More
Dennis Ferrier of Fox News 17 continues his reporting on Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s overreach in closing restaurants and bars, which account for only a fraction of coronavirus cases even as that industry continues to suffer.
Ferrier has been digging into the story for some time to gain the actual number of cases.
Read More
Dennis Ferrier of Fox News 17 continues his reporting on Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s overreach in closing restaurants and bars, which account for only a fraction of coronavirus cases even as that industry continues to suffer.
Ferrier has been digging into the story for some time to gain the actual number of cases.
Read More
As The Tennessee Star reported on Monday, Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference he was turning the city back to Phase Two from Phase Three, shutting all bars down for 14 days, temporarily shutting down all entertainment and event venues, and reducing restaurant capacity from to 75 percent to 50 percent due to “record numbers” of COVID-19 cases traceable back to bars and restaurants.
Mayor Cooper did not provide any specific details to substantiate his assertion of “record numbers.”
Read More
When Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced at a July 2 press conference that he was shutting down all the city’s bars for 14 days, reducing restaurant capacity from 75 percent to 50 percent, and temporarily closing event venues and entertainment venues, all due to “record” cases of COVID-19 traceable to restaurants and bars, he apparently knew that his own Metro Health Department said less than two dozen cases of COVID-19 could be traced to those establishments. But he failed to disclose that the “record” of bar and restaurant traceable cases to which he referred to was about one tenth of one percent of Davidson County’s 20,000 cases of COVID-19.
Read More
The Highway Women is an all-female country blend (country, rock, pop) music band like no other bringing a musical movement to support other women in country music and beyond. They are comprised of singers Kristen Kae, Drew Haley, Bailey James, and Heather Harper.
The group started in 2016 and has had various members since then, but the current group has been together for about a year. They don’t have a lead singer as they try to equally share the singing responsibilities.
Read More
Robert Sherrill, a 37-year-old Madison resident, today is a successful businessman who works with at-risk children and runs a local company with nearly $1 million in revenue.
Sherrill has enough clout to have a face-to-face meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
Read More
Those who have been following country music their whole lives know already who Jamie O’Neal is as an artist. Off her first album, Shiver, released in 2000, she had two number one hits, “There Is No Arizona,” and “When I Think About Angels.” Her next top ten hit came in 2005, “Somebody’s Hero.”
I wanted to find out more about this country star who was born in Australia. Having no Australian accent, O’Neal said, “I was born in Sydney, Australia, where my parents (Jimmy and Julie Murphy) were performers who moved to America when I was two. I always say that I am the opposite of Nicole Kidman who was born in Hawaii and was raised in Australia. It was the opposite for me, I was born there but raised in the U.S.”
Read More
At 15-years-old, Ava Paige proves that cancer and the Coronavirus are just bumps in the road for this singer/songwriter and soon-to-be superstar.
Read More
The white country band formerly known as Lady Antebellum has chosen to show racial “sensitivity” by suing to appropriate the name “Lady A” from Anita White, a black singer who has used the moniker for decades.
Lady Antebellum on June 11 said they would start going by the name Lady A since “antebellum” carried racial connotations, Billboard said. The suit was filed July 8 in Nashville’s U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Read More
Here’s what NASCAR hopes is the honky tonk truth — that a Nashville reboot is good enough this time to make the sport a tough ticket in the heart of one of the entertainment hot spots of the south.
The first step? Convincing its star drivers the trip to Nashville Superspeedway in 2021 is the spark of a motorsports rebirth in the area and not just another lazy ride on an intermediate concrete track.
Read More
The first time I heard Drew Baldridge was on Sirius XM’s The Highway as one of their iconic Highway Finds. His songs “Dance With Ya” and “Rebound” resonated with their young audience.
The country singer was kind enough to talk with me over the phone about how he got his start.
Read More
Born and raised on a small farm in South Georgia, Brian Callihan was your typical country boy as he hunted and played baseball and football. However, he found his true passion when he started listening to Keith Whitley.
Callihan said when he was around 10 or 11 years old he got a “Keith Whitley’s Greatest Hits for Christmas,” which was his dad’s favorite singer.
Read MoreNashville officials told local residents last Friday that surrounding counties had suddenly surpassed the city in its COVID-19 count, but they could only claim that because prisoners two counties away contracted the virus.
Read More
Advance Financial Chairman Mike Hodges, who launched the Hodges Foundation for Philosophical Orientation Friday night in Nashville, is popularly fond of Friedrich Nietzsche’s call to “live dangerously.”
Read More
Dr. Reinhard Mueller just completed his PhD program in comparative literature at the University of Texas at Austin with a dissertation on “philosophical reorentations in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and James Joyce.” His unlikely relationship with Nashville businessman Mike Hodges led to his new position as executive director of the Hodges Foundation for Philosophical Orientation, which officially launched Friday night at The Parthenon.
Read More
Friday night’s launch of the Hodges Foundation for Philosophical Orientation at The Parthenon attracted some big names from the public intellectual world.
Read More
By all outward appearances, Mike and Tina Hodges, chairman and CEO of Advance Financial, respectively, have lived the American dream. They run their own business (and a highly-successful one at that) have children and a happy marriage, and are respected in their community.
Read More
Runaway June’s stunning, effortless harmonies, contemporary lyrics, and traditional sound, they will remind you of why you loved country music.
Read More
Four more stars were awarded on Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame. Brenda Lee, Jeannie Seely, Ray Stevens and Ben Folds received the 81st, 82nd, 83rd and 84th stars on the Walk of Fame. Inductees are recognized for their significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and for contributing to the world through song or other industry collaboration.
Read MoreThompson’s Station is one of the fastest growing towns in the counties surrounding Nashville, but it is also home to many backdoor deals and shady developments committed at the hands of its Mayor and Aldermen. Mayor Corey Napier, who took office on the Board of Mayor and Alderman in 2008…
Read More
NASHVILLE, Tennessee–The best way for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen to win over most voters in deep red Tennessee is best summed up by one of his supporters, Rachel Trammell of Nashville. “I think for this campaign Bredesen has taken a more moderate stance, but I think at the…
Read More
TBN announced it will partner with three-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Michael W. Smith to present a free concert and worship event at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday, August 30th at 7 p.m. “Surrounded: A Night to Pray, Worship and Be Awakened” is free to the public and will begin…
Read More
WTN radio’s Dan Mandis tried to hold a reasoned debate with the attorney representing the family of a man who was shot and killed by Metro Nashville Police last month. Mandis hosted attorney Joy Kimbrough on his Super Talk 99.7 program Monday. The audio is available here. Kimbrough represents the…
Read More
Metro Nashville Public Schools’ Director of School Security Jimmy Wheeler is on administrative leave, according to two news stations, and no one cares to say why. School system officials sent Wheeler a letter last week informing him he may not return to his workplace. He may not contact employees. He…
Read More
You, the taxpayers of Tennessee, helped give away nearly $1 billion in tax credits to corporations who set up shop here last year. State law, as it turns out, forbids you from finding out exactly what kind of return you’re getting on your investment. In other words, even though the…
Read More
Kenny Chesney came into Nashville’s Nissan Stadium with two No. 1s in the space of three weeks – sharing David Lee Murphy’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” then hitting the top of the Country Singles chart for two weeks with his own “Get Along” – and the No. 1 selling debut…
Read More