This Is Nashville

It's fair season and we're digging in to give you a taste of what's coming up.

Fairs celebrate the local community with exhibits, show animals, fried food and, of course, thrilling rides and tricky games. Today we look at the tradition through the eyes of its people and performers. We meet folks who've been around the circuit for a while as well as a few first-timers. Plus, we track down a vendor dreaming up this year's must-try bite.

The Williamson County fair is going on now but wrapping up Saturday. The Wilson County - Tennessee State Fair kicks off tomorrow. And the rest will start up in September. You can keep in the know at the Tennessee Association of Fairs.

This episode was produced by Mary Mancini.

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The headlines: A remembrance of Martha Ingram with Alan Valentine and Mac Pirkle and a live interview with Charlie Hatcher, the Republican who upset Congressman Andy Ogles.

The newsmaker: General Sessions Court Judge Ana Escobar discusses Athena’s Court, a decade-old program designed to identify human trafficking survivors in the court system and connect them with support and services.

The tastemaker: Writer and Author Joe Pagetta tells us about The Indefatigable Life and Ministry of Father Aloysius Orengo, the Italian priest who faced war, hardship and dangerous anti-Catholic vitriol as a missionary in Tennessee.

You could count Zack Slingsby as one of Nashville's Covid-era transplants. He moved his family – now with five kids – from New Jersey to Franklin. After years of building a company that makes videos for big brands, he’s branched out to producing comedy and running a production space called Bungalow Studios. Now he’s up against all the dumb videos that make their way to being viewed millions of times, trying to see if scripted comedy can compete in our social media algorithms. We talk to him about King Jester and his debut novel.

It's back to school time for millions of kids in America. We want to highlight local issues on parents' minds now — and hear from you. We're talking education-related issues including vouchers, safety, bus driver shortages and AI. Something specific on your mind? Give us a call and we will include you on the show. That number is 615-760-2000. You can also watch live and chime in on YouTube.

This episode was produced by Josh Deepan. 

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The storied history and cultural significance of the Cheekwood estate is beyond dispute. But as the home, gardens and galleries continue to attract more and more visitors, it has created a feud with neighbors that the nonprofit says is threatening its future.

It’s been said that to fully understand the history of Cheekwood, you have to begin with Leslie Cheek and Mabel Wood. After marrying in 1896 and securing a fortune from the sale of Maxwell House Coffee Company, they built the house as a family estate. Donated in 1960 to the newly established non-profit, Tennessee Botanical Gardens and Fine Arts Center (now known as Cheekwood Estate & Gardens) by the Cheek’s daughter, Hulda, and her husband, Walter Sharp, the attraction has since grown in size and popularity. Today we explore Cheekwood’s history, the genealogy of the Cheek family as well as their latest chapter – a dispute with Belle Meade neighbors who argue, among other things, that traffic to the property already exceeds recommended volumes for neighborhood streets.

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Correction: Cheekwood's MOU with Metro requires visitor parking to move off parks land by December 2027, not 2026. 

The headlines: WPLN's Marianna Bacallao and Chloe Akers of The Best of Tennessee talk about the governor's rase, surprisingly high turnout and the overlooked importance of voting in Tennessee primaries.

The newsmaker: Assistant federal defender Kit Thomas discusses the scheduled execution of Darrell Hines August 13 and how a botched lethal injection from May has informed the legal strategy for his last days.

The tastemaker: Restaurateur Chen Chen explains how his Asian-inspired Nashville Hot Chicken took off in Toronto and then made its way back to his hometown.

In this episode, we bring together a titan of the Nashville business community and an oracle of the city’s nonprofits. And it was pretty easy because they’re married. Hal Cato and Michael Burcham are one of Nashville’s power couples. Hal is the big-hearted optimist. Michael is the stop-at-nothing-to-reach-his-goal entrepreneur. They join Blake to share their love story, beautifully complimentary careers, insights on lending their talents to our community and how their own outsider stories shaped their lives and careers.

We’ve learned a lot this week exploring the nuts and bolts of songwriting — from the creative process to the realities of the business. But we also have more questions.

Today, three Nashville songwriters in various stages of their careers join us to tell us their stories and answer any lingering curiosities. Plus, they take your calls. Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Rivers Rutherford, along with Rhys Rutherford and Joybeth Taylor, are in the studio. If you’ve ever wanted to pick the brain of an award-winning songwriter, this is your chance. Call 615-760-2000 during the live show to join the conversation or pop into chat on our YouTube stream!

This episode was produced by Liv Lombardi and Mary Mancini.

Guests

The business of songwriting is a full-blown economy of its own — chock full of jargon like “splits,” “P-R-Os,” “plugger” and “mailbox money.”

But what does it all mean? Today we follow the money: how writers get paid, what happens when a song gets cut, what the different kinds of publishing deals are, and what the implications are for copyrights now that AI has come to town. It’s day three of songwriting week and we’re talking about the business of songwriting.

This episode was produced by Liv Lombardi and Mary Mancini.

Guests

Country music songwriter Harlan Howard famously described country music as “three chords and the truth.”

He makes it sound simple, but thousands know it’s much more complicated – and it’s different for everyone. It may start with an idea and then come together from there. Or a note or a phrase may come first and then it’s built word by word and note by note. On day two of songwriter week, Grammy-nominated Luke Dick and Grammy-winning Melody Walker, two songwriters with impressive songwriting credits, join Blake in the studio to start from scratch. Together they’ll share ideas, write lyrics, and sample melodies and explain the choices they make along the way. Will inspiration strike? Will the muse show up? And by the end of the hour, will they have a hit song on their hands?

This episode was produced by Liv Lombardi and Mary Mancini.

Guests