All Access

All-Access Weekly Digest

Standard

Nashville

blue

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Nashville. Written by Nate Rau and Adam Tamburin.

Axios Nashville

Nashville Alerts

Alert

Axios Nashville Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Nashville Members

Membership

Saturday marks the fall equinox, the official beginning of the coziest season.

Break out your cardigans. It's time to plan for another autumn in Nashville.

🪕 The season starts with a twang this weekend, with the Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival taking over The Park at Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin.

The headliners are The Lumineers and new No. 1 hitmaker Zach Bryan, but the roster is stacked with local favorites.

Yola, Ashley McBryde, Margo Price and Hailey Whitters are also performing.

Pro tip: The Nashville-based band Boy Named Banjo, which is playing Saturday, is an under-the-radar joy preparing to make its major label debut.

Their song "Feel For You" is part Chris Stapleton, part Mumford and Sons.

🎞️ Sept. 28-Oct. 4: The Nashville Film Festival is celebrating its 54th year. The festival will feature 125+ film screenings as well as panels and music events across the city and in Franklin.

🍺 Oct. 5-8: Nashville Oktoberfest is once again taking over Germantown for a celebration of German beer and food.

The event features a brat-eating contest and a puppy parade.

🎨 Oct. 13-15: The 45th annual fall Tennessee Craft Fair will feature work from more than 190 artists in Centennial Park.

📚 Oct. 21-22: The Southern Festival of Books will highlight dozens of authors, including local treasure Ann Patchett.

One of the many others on hand will be New York Times reporter Jonathan Abrams, who wrote "The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop."

🍁 Through Oct. 29: Cheekwood Harvest is the ultimate celebration of fall iconography, peaking with the Pumpkin Village.

🍂 Don't forget to plan ahead if you want to make the most of leaf-peeping season. SmokyMountains.com predicts the Nashville area will likely pass its peak fall colors by mid-November.

An autumnal event guide

A scene from last year's Cheekwood Harvest. Photo: Courtesy of Cheekwood

Saturday marks the fall equinox, the official beginning of the coziest season.<ul><li>Break out your cardigans. It&#x27;s time to plan for another autumn in Nashville.</li></ul>

Things to Do

Two years ago Wednesday, we sent our first-ever Axios Nashville newsletter.

Why it matters: Since then, we've written relentlessly about a city at a crossroads.

It's been a tumultuous journey, but time and time again, we have found bright spots from a surprising source: our city's burger joints.

Zoom in: Brown's Diner, a Nashville institution established in 1927, embodies the challenges and opportunities of life in New Nashville.

It seems impossible that Brown's Diner is still doing its thing when so many other beloved Nashville dives have cratered.

You know the list. Rotier's. Hermitage Cafe. Arnold's.

When Brown's sold to new owners a few years ago, we all started writing its obituary.

But something surprising happened: Brown's kept going.

New ownership adapted to the city's changing landscape without sacrificing what made Brown's great in the first place.

We were greeted by the same smell of burger grease and spilled beer when we stopped by on Tuesday for an anniversary lunch. The same creaky booths lined the walls.

We even ran into familiar faces. Outgoing Mayor John Cooper and his aides Sam Wilcox and Ben Eagles came in as we headed out the door.

But there were some signs of the times. The menu now includes loaded chili tater tots, and the owners added a handsome outdoor deck with a bar and plenty of seating that would fit right in at any new trendy restaurant.

In a city clamoring to maintain its soul in a sea of bachelorettes and big development, the Brown's burger points a way forward.

Another patty slinger across town shows that new additions enrich our city, too.

Cledis Beer Garden and Burgers opened last year on a blue-collar stretch of Elm Hill Pike.

Like Brown's, Cledis offers reliably great burgers. It also has a pleasant and spacious outdoor dining area.

Instead of catering to tourists, Cledis' mission is to give back to Nashville, especially its unhoused residents. The restaurant regularly partners with a nonprofit to provide free food to the community.

The bottom line: Our city has its share of struggles, especially affordability and quality of life for longtime Nashvillians.

As we enter our third year of Axios Nashville newsletters, we will continue to cover those issues. But we also want to celebrate the places that make Nashville special — from longtime institutions like Brown's to scrappy upstarts like Cledis.

In these two burger joints, we see a city willing to adapt and meet residents wherever they are.

If you've enjoyed following Nashville with us for the last two years, encourage your friends to join in by subscribing for free.

Axios Nashville looks back on two years of newsletters

Nashville's bright spots are our city's burger joints.

Illustration of the Axios logo as a gold balloon. 

Two years ago Wednesday, we sent our first-ever Axios Nashville newsletter.Why it matters: Since then, we&#x27;ve written relentlessly about a city at a crossroads.<ul><li>It&#x27;s been a tumultuous journey, but time and time again, we have found bright spots from a surprising source: our city&#x27;s burger joints.</li></ul>

News

Tennessee State University president Glenda Glover is calling on the state to "do what's right" by addressing a $2.1 billion shortfall in funding for the institution that the Biden administration identified.

Driving the news: Top officials with the federal departments of Education and Agriculture sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee this week that found the "severe financial gap" in state funding for TSU over the last 30 years.

"The longstanding and ongoing underinvestment in Tennessee State University disadvantages the students, faculty, and community that the institution serves," the letter read.

"This is a situation that clearly predates all of us. However, it is a problem that we can work together to solve. In fact, it is our hope that we can collaborate to avoid burdensome and costly litigation that has occurred in several states."

Why it matters: The federal analysis found that TSU received less per-student funding than the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, even though federal law requires equitable funding.

The Biden administration said the extra money could have bolstered student services and infrastructure and would have better positioned TSU to compete for research grants.

This is not just a problem in Tennessee. Similar letters sent to 15 other governors identified long-term funding disparities at state-run historically black colleges and universities.

Catch up quick: In February, Republican lawmakers slammed the school's president after a report from the comptroller stated that poor leadership had exacerbated an on-campus housing crisis.

What she's saying: Glover tells Axios the federal government's assessment of TSU's enormous financial disadvantage recasts that criticism. She says missing out on state funding is the underlying problem, not university leadership.

"You can look at the challenges that TSU has faced over the years, those challenges would have gone away with $2.1 billion," she says, adding that funding would allow for more staff, new scholarship programs and ambitious construction projects.

"We're doing the work of TSU that's required without the funding."

Flashback: A 2021 state analysis found TSU had been underfunded $150 million to $544 million for its food and agriculture research. Lee followed that up with $250 million for the university in his 2022 budget.

State Rep. Harold Love (D-Nashville), who chaired the committee that looked into that issue, tells Axios that is a recent example of the state responding quickly to help TSU.

He said officials could use "the same pathway" to address the federal analysis. He was hopeful the federal report would be "a springboard" for another influx of funding.

State of play: In a statement, a spokesperson for the governor said Lee "has proposed significant funding for TSU every year," including the $250 million in 2022. The statement said direct appropriations to TSU had grown by 43% since Lee took office.

"Gov. Lee remains committed to working with legislative partners and community leaders to support the success of TSU and HBCUs across Tennessee."

What's next: Glover, who is retiring at the end of the academic year, says confronting this shortfall will be a top priority during her final days on the job.

"I want us to have a meeting, have a conversation and go over this. We can't sweep this under the rug."

"It's never too late to do what's right. So let's do what's right and get the job done."

TSU president weighs in on funding shortfall

The Biden administration says it found a "severe financial gap" in state funding for TSU over the last 30 years.

Photo: Courtesy of Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University president <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Glenda Glover" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2023/08/15/tsu-president-glenda-glover-to-retire-2024" data-vars-content-id="88ff0de5-5b53-4fb6-9827-77571c6d227d" data-vars-headline="TSU president weighs in on funding shortfall" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2023/08/15/tsu-president-glenda-glover-to-retire-2024" target="_self">Glenda Glover</a> is calling on the state to &quot;do what&#x27;s right&quot; by addressing a $2.1 billion shortfall in funding for the institution that the Biden administration identified.Driving the news: Top officials with the federal departments of Education and Agriculture sent a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="letter" data-vars-click-url="https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/files/2023/09/Secretary-letter-1890.pdf" data-vars-content-id="88ff0de5-5b53-4fb6-9827-77571c6d227d" data-vars-headline="TSU president weighs in on funding shortfall" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/files/2023/09/Secretary-letter-1890.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a> to Gov. Bill Lee this week that found the &quot;severe financial gap&quot; in state funding for TSU over the last 30 years.

Decorated country singer Maren Morris says she needs a break from the genre.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times this month, Morris reflected on taking a "step back" from the Music Row ecosystem.

Flashback: Last year, Morris floated the idea of not attending the CMA Awards following a dispute with Jason Aldean and his wife Brittany.

She tells the LA Times she's avoiding "stories going on within country music right now."

What she's saying: "The way I grew up was so wrapped in country music, and the way I write songs is very lyrically structured in the Nashville way of doing things. But I think I needed to purposely focus on just making good music and not so much on how we'll market it. The last few records, that's always been in the back of my mind: Will this work in the country music universe?"

"Obviously, being one of the few women that had any success on country radio, everything you do is looked at under a microscope. You're scrutinized more than your male peers, even when you're doing well."

"So I've had to clear all of that out of my head this year and just write songs. A lot of the drama within the community, I've chosen to step outside out of it."

The intrigue: Morris' two-track EP "The Bridge" came out Friday, with two songs written a day apart. The accompanying videos show an artist tending a garden that sends out vines to attack her.

In "The Tree," she strikes a match to presumably burn down the abandoned city's "family tree," only to "realize it's burning itself down without any of my help," she wrote on Instagram.

In "Get the Hell Out of Here," ashes blanket the town. The imagery is obvious: Maren is burned out, but we know from Greek mythology to expect a phoenix rising.

Maren Morris feels "very distanced" from country music

The decorated country singer reflects on taking a "step back" from the Music Row ecosystem.

Maren Morris performs onstage during Day 1 of the 2022 Stagecoach Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 29, 2022 in Indio, California.

Maren Morris in 2022. Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images for Stagecoach

Music

Decorated country singer Maren Morris says she needs a break from the genre.<ul><li>In an interview <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="with the Los Angeles Times" data-vars-click-url="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-09-15/maren-morris-the-bridge-nashville-country-music-leaving" data-vars-content-id="9d85d938-36b2-47af-a7e2-43899b823b3a" data-vars-headline="Maren Morris feels &quot;very distanced&quot; from country music" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-09-15/maren-morris-the-bridge-nashville-country-music-leaving" target="_blank">with the Los Angeles Times</a> this month, Morris reflected on taking a &quot;step back&quot; from the Music Row ecosystem.</li></ul>Flashback: Last year, Morris floated the idea of not attending the CMA Awards following a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="dispute" data-vars-click-url="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/entertainment/maren-morris-cmas-country-music-culture/index.html" data-vars-content-id="9d85d938-36b2-47af-a7e2-43899b823b3a" data-vars-headline="Maren Morris feels &quot;very distanced&quot; from country music" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/entertainment/maren-morris-cmas-country-music-culture/index.html" target="_blank">dispute</a> with Jason Aldean and his wife Brittany.

A key fall tradition for many of the basic bros out there is the pumpkin spice latte.

We assure you there are more options: Nate and Adam spent the better part of Thursday exploring the tasty fall-themed drinks popping up on Nashville coffee shop menus.

Zoom in: Let's start at Beck's Farmhouse Coffee in Joelton, an Axios Nashville favorite.

Nate ordered the Happy Camper, an impossibly delicious s'mores latte served with the coffee shop's homemade marshmallow syrup and chocolate. The latte is topped with graham cracker crumbles and whipped cream.

Beck's also makes a hazelnut and clove latte and, yes, a pumpkin spice latte on its fall menu.

What's next: Nate ventured into the bowels of East Nashville with a visit to Weak Coffee Company, located inside a drum shop off of Riverside Drive. Its ever-changing menu is anchored by creative takes on lattes.

Weak Coffee's fall drink is called School Supplies. It's a latte made with molasses, orange, clove and fresh ginger.

That's two fall drinks that featured clove, perhaps signaling an heir to pumpkin spice's autumnal throne.

Adam stopped by 8th & Roast for the seasonal We Were in Paris latte, which has roasted hazelnut, cinnamon and brown sugar simple syrup. It was even better when he popped off the to-go lid to smell the warm cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Other 8th & Roast fall menu items evoke an apple pie, pumpkin pie and rich butter pecan.

Check out last year's fall coffee guide for more options

Nashville fall coffee guide 2023: Push past the pumpkin spice

The Happy Camper latte from Beck's Farmhouse Coffee. Photo: Nate Rau/Axios

A key fall tradition for many of the basic bros out there is the pumpkin spice latte.<ul><li>We assure you there are more options: Nate and Adam spent the better part of Thursday exploring the tasty fall-themed drinks popping up on Nashville coffee shop menus.</li></ul>Zoom in: Let&#x27;s start at Beck&#x27;s Farmhouse Coffee in Joelton, an Axios Nashville favorite.<ul><li>Nate ordered the Happy Camper, an impossibly delicious s&#x27;mores latte served with the coffee shop&#x27;s homemade marshmallow syrup and chocolate. The latte is topped with graham cracker crumbles and whipped cream.</li><li>Beck&#x27;s also makes a hazelnut and clove latte and, yes, a pumpkin spice latte on its fall menu.</li></ul>What&#x27;s next: Nate ventured into the bowels of East Nashville with a visit to Weak Coffee Company, located inside a drum shop off of Riverside Drive. Its ever-changing menu is anchored by creative takes on lattes.<ul><li>Weak Coffee&#x27;s fall drink is called School Supplies. It&#x27;s a latte made with molasses, orange, clove and fresh ginger.</li><li>That&#x27;s two fall drinks that featured clove, perhaps signaling an heir to pumpkin spice&#x27;s autumnal throne.</li></ul>Adam stopped by 8th &amp; Roast for the seasonal We Were in Paris latte, which has roasted hazelnut, cinnamon and brown sugar simple syrup. It was even better when he popped off the to-go lid to smell the warm cinnamon sprinkled on top.<ul><li>Other 8th &amp; Roast <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="fall menu items" data-vars-click-url="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwz8YXUuxVT/" data-vars-content-id="ed4cb92d-d630-4f3c-ac7b-275c9f264bd2" data-vars-headline="Nashville fall coffee guide 2023: Push past the pumpkin spice" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cwz8YXUuxVT/" target="_blank">fall menu items</a> evoke an apple pie, pumpkin pie and rich butter pecan.</li></ul>Check out last year&#x27;s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="fall coffee guide" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2022/09/30/nashville-tn-fall-coffee-drinks" data-vars-content-id="ed4cb92d-d630-4f3c-ac7b-275c9f264bd2" data-vars-headline="Nashville fall coffee guide 2023: Push past the pumpkin spice" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2022/09/30/nashville-tn-fall-coffee-drinks" target="_self">fall coffee guide</a> for more options

Adam Tamburin

Featured stories

An autumnal event guide

Nashville fall coffee guide 2023: Push past the pumpkin spice

TSU president weighs in on funding shortfall

Maren Morris feels "very distanced" from country music

Axios Nashville looks back on two years of newsletters