Curious Nashville

Much of Middle Tennessee’s important Native American history has been disturbed by development.

This has prompted listeners like Kelly Cannon to wonder what’s been lost. She asked Curious Nashville about something she’d heard about the Brentwood Library:

WPLN’s Cynthia Abrams went to find the history of that site and shares the story — and its connections to other local sites, and the national movement for repatriation.

We also learn from ProPublica reporter Mary Hudetz about her reporting for "The Repatriation Project" and Tom Kunesh, who is working to protect Native American sites as president of the Tennessee Ancient Sites Conservancy.

We got a question about a grass-covered mound — or building? — at the corner of Thompson Lane and Vultee Boulevard, near Nashville's airport and the iconic gold box of a building known as International Plaza.

Educator and sixth-generation Nashvillian Sonia Fernandez LeBlanc is a big Curious Nashville fan — such a fan that she knew we had slowed down on answering questions in the last few years. But she said to herself that if we ever revived the project, she was asking about this mysterious mound she just began to notice.

WPLN's Blake Farmer met her out there and invited a Metro agency to pinpoint the answer.

What are the pictures on the front of the Metro Courthouse that appear to be outlined in gold? Are they ever going to be restored?

This question came to Curious Nashville way back — in 2016 — during the first year of the project. As the series is now marking 10 years of answering your questions, it's finally time to tackle this answer. And we're getting research help from Harpeth Hall "Winterim" intern Allyson Mao.

Learn more, and see photos, at Curious.WPLN.org.

It’s the 10-year anniversary of Curious Nashville and we’re revisiting some of the weirdest and most surprising questions you’ve asked. This means we're going underground to a fallout shelter, to the top of a skyscraper, and in between we’ll visit beehives, talk about dump trucks, and revisit some infamous pranksters.

And you get to go behind the scenes of the reporting with WPLN Metro Reporter Cynthia Abrams and host Tony Gonzalez.

This episode highlights these seven stories:

Today we shine a light on an obscure album recorded in Nashville more than 50 years ago that features a Christmas choir performing inside the lobby of a downtown bank.

Local listener Matthew Bond came across the vinyl record two decades ago and wondered: Why did a bank form a choir? And what were their performances like?

To figure this out, we dive into the city's banking history, glean clues from the recording itself, and learn just how popular this all-volunteer choir became.

Credits: Curious Nashville is a production of Nashville Public Radio and uses music from Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to Nashville Public Radio's Tasha A.F. Lemley, Blakle Farmer, Mack Linebaugh, and Cynthia Abrams.

Host: Tony Gonzalez

Reporter & producer: Justin Barney

The Grand Ole Opry has elevated Nashville and its country music to a global stage and turns 100 years old this week. That much you've probably heard (WPLN has lots of Opry 100 coverage online.)

But a Curious Nashville listener has a question that hits at the foundation of the Opry: What does it mean for an artist to be a “member” of the Opry? WPLN’s daily talk show, This Is Nashville, dove deep into the Opry and tapped multiple music experts to share the answer.

Some listeners could not get enough of Curious Nashville's reporting about gyros. When we broadcast the story on WPLN’s This Is Nashville program — and opened up the phone lines — some called in with first-hand intel about Chicago-Style Gyros and founder Joey Kahn.

Our question today: What is a "Chicago-style gyro," and why are there so many shops with that name in Nashville? 

Little did we know that trying to figure this out would take us way beyond Nashville and lead us to uncover the very creation of the gyro as we know it. And reporter Justin Barney is taking you along as he crisscrosses the country, plunges into culinary history, hits the factory floor, and gets face-to-face with the man who elevated a niche menu item into a cultural staple.

You can make Curious Nashville even better by asking us a great question at WPLN.org/Curious.

Credits:

Curious Nashville is a production of Nashville Public Radio and uses music from Blue Dot Sessions. Another version of today’s story was also produced for the food podcast “Proof,” from America’s Test Kitchen, and you can check that out if you want to go deeper into culinary history.

Host: Tony Gonzalez

Reporter & producer: Justin Barney

Editing: Blake Farmer

Special thanks to Nashville Public Radio's Tasha A.F. Lemley, Mack Linebaugh, and Cynthia Abrams.

WPLN is reviving Curious Nashville. The recipe is simple: Listeners ask questions and we find the answers.

Learn more about the comeback in this interview between WPLN's Tony Gonzalez and Blake Farmer.

"Making Noise" is a four-part series by Nashville Public Radio about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is in the WNXP Podcasts feed. Subscribe now!