Banner & Company

Before The Store opened, Jasmine Ledsinger would drive by and wonder what this new business was going to be. When she learned it would be a place for those in need to shop for free food, she quickly became interested — and before she knew it she was the first employee hired by founders Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

Today, Jasmine is The Store's program director. It's not exactly where the Nashville native saw herself after studying social work at MTSU, but it's a job she knew right away was meant for her. In just a few years, The Store's mission has grown as need has grown. Even so, they have an extensive waiting list despite serving hundreds of families across the city. Early next year they'll expand their operation with a second, much larger facility.

Guest: Jasmine Ledsinger, program director, The Store

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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A familiar face to many, Joe West is the "house band" at Nashville International Airport. In this role, he performs regularly for ever-changing crowds as they arrive in the city for the first time, or return home from far-flung travels. His regular gigs at the airport have also earned him high-profile spots on other stages in Nashville and beyond.

Joe comes from a musical lineage. His parents, Sarge and Shirley West of Fayetteville, Ark., formed the first African American country music duo, and toured together and broke barriers with every performance. Today, Joe's daughter Rebecca often joins him onstage. And after a recent health scare involving a ruptured aorta — he's fully recovered now — Joe is more grateful than ever for the chance to make music.

This episode was originally broadcast in January.

Guest: Joe West, musician

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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From 2003-2023, Jim Cooper represented Tennessee in Congress — most recently from the reliably Democratic District 5, which included Nashville. But when the Tennessee legislature redrew the congressional maps, splitting Nashville across three new heavily Republican districts, it didn't take him long to do the math, and he did not seek re-election.

Born into a political family in Nashville and raised in nearby Shelbyville, Jim has always kept busy. And he still keeps his ear to the ground politically. The race to fill one of the seats carved out of his old district is a surprisingly close one, and it will come as no surprise whose campaign he donated to — but some of his other ideas might raise an eyebrow. Hint: They include changing Nashville's borders again.

Guest: Jim Cooper, former Tennessee congressman

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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For Nashville attorney John Day, there is no overstating how important the rule of law is to our everyday lives — not just when it comes to our personal freedoms, but also in making the economy work in a predictable fashion. He compares it to oxygen: You don't notice it until it starts to go way. John was recently named president of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a nationwide group that has advocated to preserve the rule of law under increasing pressure.

He had always planned to study and practice law with his father in Wisconsin, but a college professor suggested John see some of the world first: North Carolina first, for law school, then Nashville for an internship. The law community at the time was much smaller than comparable Southern cities, and he felt like could fit in. He's been practicing here ever since.

Guest: John Day, attorney

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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Throughout his career, Mark Deutschmann has tried to balance preservation — he worked to develop the historick Werthan Mills complex into lofts — with progress. He's a big advocate for the development of the city's greenway system, and hopes for more ways to build attainable (rather than "affordable") housing.

Mark had a winding path to Music City — one that included working with orcas, nearly getting lost at sea, and winding up on an island with only two inhabitants. Once here, he managed to take up juggling (peaking at seven balls at a time) and start his own real estate company, Village, in 1996. He was recently inducted into the Nashville Entrepreneur Center's hall of fame.

Guest: Mark Deutschmann, developer, founder, Village Real Estate

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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Raised in a military family and a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Sharon K. Roberson has drawn on years in the corporate world to lead the YWCA of Nashville & Middle Tennessee (not to be confused with a similarly named but unrelated organization that you might associate with workout equipment). Moving in to the nonprofit world was an adjustment, but in a way she's returned to her roots in service to others.

The YWCA has an ambitious mission: "eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all." That might sound like a tall order, but for Sharon, it's a calling that brings all her years of professional experience to bear on making the world a better place. With domestic violence a persistent problem and hunger on the rise, it's more urgent work than ever.

Guest: Sharon K. Roberson, president and CEO, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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Steve Norris had never set foot inside a prison when became commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction. And he had only been on the job three months when he was suddenly thrust into one of the biggest crises in the state's history: an inmate uprising, including a "full on riot," across multiple prisons. Five correction officers were taken hostage. Inmates were allowed to give a live press conference. "I thought about turning it down,'' Steve says, " but ultimately concluded that it was in everybody's interest that the media be allowed in and everybody could see what we were dealing with."

Looking back at those 36 hours in the summer of 1985, Steve says it was a turning point. And around the same time, an upstart company called Corrections Corporation of American — now known as CoreCivic — was just beginning. Today, it operates several Tennessee prisons, including the troubled Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility. Steve says he has no special knowledge of what's going on there, but he does have some ideas about how to turn the situation around.

Guest: Steve Norris, former commissioner, Tennessee Department of Correction

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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For a long time, Barry Mazor (along with fellow music writers) puzzled over what struck them as a glaring omission: There was no dependable, carefully sourced book on one of music's most important groups, The Everly Brothers. Eventually, Barry's agent asked a question that seems somewhat obvious in hindsight: "Why don't you write it?" That is the origin story of Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story.

Barry's painstakingly researched new book captures not only the story of the duo's music and lasting influence, but also dives into Don and Phil Everly's close and sometimes fraught relationship. As for himself, Barry knows a bit about having performers in the family — some of his relatives were vaudevillians — and as both one of the country's top music writers and a lifelong Everlys fan, he knows his way around the legend and the lore.

Guest: music writer, author of Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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This week, Bob Bernstein announced that beloved Hillsboro Village coffee shop Fido will be closing — three years from now, on June 1, 2028. In the announcement, which was posted below a digital countdown clock, he wrote: "As leases expired, many of those who put their savings and dreams into their small businesses and created the look, feel and taste of Nashville became victims of their own success." The news sparked conversations around the changing character of the city.

Bob didn't intend to open one of Nashville's most beloved coffee shops. In fact, he first moved here to be a journalist. But hearing about plans for growing the city, he bought into the idea that something special was happening in Music City. He opened a coffee house — even though he didn't drink coffee at the time — because he loved the culture. Bongo Java, intended to be a gathering place for Nashvillians of all stripes, opened on Belmont Boulevard with a line out the door on its very first day.

Guest: Bob Bernstein, owner, Bongo Java and Fido

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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Growing up, Stephen Bargatze got into plenty of trouble. He wasn't a very good student. His home life was rocky at best, and he had a terrible relationship with his mother. But with some help from family, he got a chance to turn his life around. And when he found he had some skill at magic tricks, his world brightened a bit. Then he discovered that with clown make-up on, "talking funny" was actually an asset.

These days, Stephen is still dazzling audiences with his sleight-of-hand and enjoying the outsize fame of his son, comedian Nate Bargatze. (His parents still think of him as Nathaniel.) He'll soon be recording his first special with his family's production company — one of the many doors that Nate's success has opened for the family.

Guest: Stephen Bargatze, magician and comedian

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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