Banner & Company

Introducing Staking Our Claim — a new limited podcast series from Banner & Company Productions and the Nashville Banner.

Hosted by writer, critic and podcaster Kashif Andrew Graham, Staking Our Claim follows seven Nashville area families who, over the past few years, have found themselves up against difficult circumstances — navigating day to day life amid an atmosphere of displacement, exclusion and fear.

It’s a story about the fight for belonging, and what happens when people decide to double down and say: This is home — for all of us.

Host: Kashif Andrew Graham

Producer: Steve Haruch

Editor: Andrea Tudhope

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Banner managing editor Andrea Tudhope sits down with reporters Steven Hale and Mikeie Honda Reiland to talk about the nightmare that unfolded at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution this week. Christa Pike was set to be executed Wednesday for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. After an eleventh hour stay was vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state proceeded with the execution. The 14-hour day ended with Pike surviving two doses of the lethal injection drug meant to kill her, and being taken to a hospital in an ambulance. We walk listeners through an unprecedented day in history for the state and the nation.

Produced by Andrea Tudhope

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Formerly the U.S. special enjoy to Northern Ireland and U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district, Joe Kennedy III has had an impressive public career, befitting a person with his surname. (He swears there is no required skillset that comes with it, though.) It was on a trip to Ireland that Joe met Demetria, and on a recent trip to Nashville, he found a spare hour to sit down for a conversation.

No surprise, Joe is not a fan of people trying to tear down the Kennedy name, literally or figuratively. These days his focus is on the organization he founded, Groundwork Project, which invests in "hyperlocal efforts that create sustainable civic infrastructure, engage and educate voters, and build power for the underrepresented and disenfranchised." They're not active in Tennessee, at least not yet.

Guest: Joe Kennedy III, former U.S. representative and diplomat, founder of Groundwork Project

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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Tamara Saviano has worked in radio, been a publicist — Kris Kristofferson was a client — served as president of the Americana Music Association (the first woman to do so), and produced albums and award shows at the Ryman Auditorium. All of this has given her an inside view of the Americana scene from the very start. If that sounds like a singularly winding career path, you can now read about it in her new memoir.

This week, Tamara sits down with Demetria to talk about that book, as well as her path from Wisconsin to Music City, what she loves about working with musicians, and what it's been like wearing so many hats over the years while staying true to herself along the way.

This episode was first broadcast in September 2025.

Guest: Tamara Saviano, writer, author, Poets and Dreamers: My Life in Americana Music.

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Shauna Reynolds and Steve Haruch

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Banner reporters Steven Hale, Stephen Elliott and Eden Turner sit down to talk about new data on how many refugees have likely ended up in Nashville in recent years and the dwindling resources available to them now due to policy changes and funding cuts under the second Trump administration. Stephen tells the story of a mother fleeing threats of violence and political persecution in Venezuela, and Eden shares what she’s heard from advocacy organizations still trying to do their work. Plus, Eden decides to move into a new apartment when Tennessee is the hottest place on the planet, and Steven suddenly develops a knee injury, like Andrea, so he cannot help.

Produced by Andrea Tudhope

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Like many musicians before him, Jay McDowell came to Nashville with a guitar and a dream. And then, as he was trying to help his friends find an upright bass player, with little luck they finally asked him: Why not you? And to his surprise, he said yes. The band was BR549, a group of throwback country rockers who played on Lower Broadway in an era when there were no celebrity bars and few tourists — or much of anyone after dark — and rose to fame on the back of their raucous live shows.

He's been known as "Smilin' Jay" since he was a little kid growing up in Indiana. He says he's just always been optimistic — even in the face of a serious birth defect. For much of his childhood, he underwent surgery every year around Christmas, as doctors worked to reconnect his ribs. But childhood wasn't all hardship. His dad got him his first acoustic guitar when he was 8, and he was a quick study, banging out Buddy Holly and Little Richard songs, preparing himself for a life of music.

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Banner reporters Steven Hale and Stephen Elliott go deep into the weeds of an unfolding scandal involving a top official in one of the Metro government’s largest departments. Stephen explains the exclusive reporting he’s done on former Metro Water Services official John Honeysucker, Nashville businessmen Roy Dale and Mack McClung, all three of whom are under federal investigation. While we don’t know what the feds are looking into specifically, Stephen walks us through what public records reveal about the men’s business dealings and the questions they raise. Also Andrea gets a mic and Stephen plays hurt with a coffee burn on his leg.

Produced by Andrea Tudhope

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Every Southerner knows the importance of a good biscuit. But not everyone knows how deeply important self-rising flour has been to the development of the South. In their new book Self-Rising: The Magic Rise Behind Biscuit and Cornbread Culture, Mindy Merrell and R.B. Quinn look at this underestimated ingredient, which not only helped provide inexpensive meals for hard-working people but became a vehicle for culture as well.

From the Martha White test kitchen to "Hot Rize" and the biscuit jingle that became a bluegrass hit for Flatt and Scruggs, the influence of self-rising flour on the musical and cultural landscape of Nashville is undeniable.

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Banner reporters Steven Hale and Sarah Grace Taylor put on their tinfoil hats and chat about why it feels like somebody or something is watching them. Sarah Grace brings us into her reporting process for her recent story on Waymos idling and recording in residential areas around Nashville. They discuss why it’s worth reporting on questions of privacy in an era when many people assume they are being surveilled and note a few developments about license plate readers. Also internet cookies. 

Produced by Andrea Tudhope

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Not too many people can say they got to sing with Dolly Parton. But Brian Hull can. Over the years, he wrote and directed numerous multimedia performances for Dollywood, the late singer and songwriter's eponymous theme park, and in recording sessions would often sing along with Dolly on parts that would later be performed live onstage. Her death this week hit him particularly hard.

"She was there for you all the time," Brian recalls. "It's like a force of nature was moving. That's what she was."

Outside of his work with Dolly Parton, including with her Imagination Library, Brian has had an extensive career as an actor, singer, director and puppeteer — including programs at the Nashville Public Library and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum where, yes, there is a Dolly puppet.

Guest: Brian Hull

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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