MACC Talk at Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center

It’s been another great year for music in Nashville. From singer Hayley Williams’ album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party to Shaboozey’s single “Good News,” Music City has continued to crank out the hits. To celebrate these accomplishments, MACC Talk has launched its first annual Year in Music podcast. In this special episode, Nashville Scene Music Editor Stephen Trageser and Nashville music journalist Ron Wynn join host John Pitcher to talk about the top Nashville music stories of 2025. They also discuss their favorite album releases, the city’s ever-changing venue landscape, and much more. The episode is sponsored by TriStar Hendersonville Medical Center.

David Wright is the premier artist of the American Frontier. His paintings depict historical subjects with deeply researched accuracy and detail. David’s paintings are now the subject of a beautiful new book titled David Wright: Historian with a Brush. The book showcases some of David’s finest paintings of the American Frontier and the U.S. Civil War, along with some of his remarkably expressive renderings of Native Americans. In this episode of MACC Talk, David joins host John Pitcher to discuss his artistic process and his passion for historical art. The episode is sponsored by TriStar Hendersonville Medical Center.

Pianist Lori Mechem is a co-founder and former director of the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Every year, Lori and her quartet herald the holiday season with their annual Charlie Brown Christmas concert. In this episode of MACC Talk, Lori joins host John Pitcher to discuss her life in music and love for jazz. She’s especially passionate about the timeless soundtrack that the jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi composed for the classic animated Christmas special.

James Coleman is one of the world’s foremost artists and animators. During a storied career with the Walt Disney Company, Coleman worked on the animation of nearly a dozen feature-length films, including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. He left Disney after 22 years to become a fine artist, and his impressionistic paintings can now be found in collections around the world. In this episode of the podcast MACC Talk, Coleman joins host John Pitcher to discuss his eventful life and career.

Cristina Spinei is a Nashville-based composer and performer who has written music for numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles. She is best known for her work with ballet, having written music for Nashville Ballet, New York Choreographic Institute, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Parsons Dance Company, and many more. In this episode of MACC Talk, Cristina joins host John Pitcher to talk about her new album and her life as a composer.

Early Music City plays the music of Bach and Handel the old-fashioned way – with gut-string violins, valveless horns and other period instruments. In this episode of MACC Talk, countertenor Patrick Dailey and lutenist Francis Perry join host John Pitcher to discuss their historically informed music group’s sing-along Messiah at Nashville’s Christ Church Cathedral. The episode is sponsored by Ponce Law.

What does a visual artist need to do to get the Nashville Scene’s attention? That’s a question we pose to Laura Hutson Hunter. Laura is the long-time arts editor of the Nashville Scene. For more than a decade, she’s overseen the paper’s visual arts coverage, and she’s written some of the publication’s most perceptive visual arts stories. In addition to writing and editing, Laura also curates the Scene’s Adult Contemporary art exhibition series. In this episode of MACC Talk, Laura joins host John Pitcher to talk about the hottest artists and exhibitions in Nashville. The episode is sponsored by Spencer Fane Bone McAllester.

Greg Wilson is the founding artistic director of Actors Point Theater Company in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The company stages four or five productions a year and offers classes and workshops to aspiring young actors and theater enthusiasts. Recently, Actors Point was named theater-company-in-residence at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tennessee. In this episode of MACC Talk, Greg joins host John Pitcher to discuss the critical role live theater plays in a rural county like Sumner. The episode is sponsored by the Samaroo Group.

Nashville Opera is opening its 45th season with a production of The Shining, a contemporary opera based on Stephen King’s delightfully creepy 1977 novel. John Hoomes, Nashville Opera’s long-time artistic director, joins MACC Talk host John Pitcher to discuss the qualities that make The Shining a perfect subject for opera. The company’s season also includes operas by Puccini and Rossini. The episode is sponsored by the Carolyn Smith Foundation.

Nashville Ballet Artistic Director Nick Mullikin is a passionate champion of contemporary dance. That probably explains why his company is opening its 40th anniversary season with a new dance that pays homage to the life and music of Elvis Presley. The upcoming season will also feature such classics as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, as well as a contemporary dance inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. In this episode of MACC Talk, Mullikin joins host John Pitcher to discuss the anniversary season and the importance of dance in a creative city like Nashville. The episode is sponsored by Nashville Interiors Magazine.