Growing up in Johnson City, Tenn., Mo Sabri could look out the window of his parents' house and see cows. He grew up listening to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. He played baseball and football. It was an all-American childhood in many ways. Add a guitar, and all of this sounds like the perfect backstory for a country music singer — except for a detail or two.

Mo's parents immigrated from Pakistan, and he grew up Muslim. Neither of those facts can take away his love for country music, or his pride in being raised just down the road from the hallowed ground of Bristol. Still, after nearly a decade in Nashville and an international following, Mo still finds that for many, just being Muslim is, as he describes it, "radioactive." But that's not stopping him from writing songs or finding new connections between the traditions he embodies.

And now, those connections are coming to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, where Mo will perform a special Eid concert on May 31 with musicians of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, combining Appalachian country with South Asian qawwali.

This episode was first broadcast in April 2025.

Guest: Mo Sabri, musician

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producer: Steve Haruch

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