Funding for the good road has been provided by-- There's a lot of good happening all over the globe.

And to see it all, Toyota offers vehicles designed for both everyday drives, and rugged roads off the beaten path.

Like the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma, and the body on frame 4 Runner.

These off road machines feature available technology for added traction, performance, and capability.

So no matter where your globetrotting takes you, off road doesn't mean off limits.

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Technology changes the world, but not on its own.

Hardware needs heart.

Software needs soul.

When we match compute power to instinct, and acceleration to imagination, tomorrow comes alive.

For us, it's not what we achieve alone, but sharing a vision to solve the world's most important challenges.

Because together, anything is possible.

AMD.

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Stories about bold people changing the world.

When most people think Nashville, they think country, hot chicken, and now, bachelorette parties.

But locals know, with a little effort, you can find more than honky tonks and pedal taverns.

We meet some of the people making space for off brand music while exploring ways to be more inclusive in this growing city.

From an idea factory posing as a record store, to the next generation of Black music champions, we dive into the other side of Music City.

We love hot chicken as much as the next person.

But the mainstream Nashville story leaves a lot out.

[industrial music plays] Third Man Records, a beacon for all things unique; music, art, film, whatever this is.

Established by Jack White in the 90s as a way to maintain ownership over his songs, it has evolved into a full scale record label, retail venture, publishing house, and more.

The Nashville location, originally acquired to simply store gear, has, in the words of operations director Katie Studley snowballed from there.

Welcome to third Man Records.

Thank you Katie.

Thank you.

Yeah.

For people's musical tastes are broader than Broadway.

[laughter] I need that t-shirt.

This is one of our most prized possessions.

This will shoot out a 6 inch record of about two minutes worth of music, whatever you want to record in there.

This will work.

We have to repair it every 10 minutes or so, but it works like a charm.

[laughter] A Wax-Matic.

So every morning it smells a little bit like melted crayons when you walk in here.

Some of our mad geniuses put together these cool things for a conference last year.

And basically, this is a theremin.

Yes, it's a theremin.

Oh there it is.

I'm one of the coolest guys you know.

[laughter] This is where the magic happens.

People work here.

30 people work here daily.

This has a lot of my red in it.

I hope you approve of the hue.

It's the perfect red.

[laughter] You say that all the girls.

[laughter] This is a 1955 Scully lathe from King Records.

We're the only venue in the world that can record direct to acetate during a live performance.

And we're selling copies within a few hours.

Wow.

Well, a few weeks or months.

Or years in today's climate.

A friend of mine told me that the vinyl, in terms of the grooves, get more spread out according to the frequency, or the-- It is based on the actual sound.

Bass frequencies take up more space and more depth.

You know, records were designed in the 50s to be 13 minutes a side, and an album was going to be 26 minutes long.

They were in mono and didn't have a lot of bass.

So the challenge every time you cut a record now, is they're twice as long as they used to be, way louder, and there's way more bass.

You have to go to wizard school to study for that.

[laughter] And Warren is one of our wizards.

So we have, as you can see, put our logo on just about anything.

Anything you can imagine.

The space was designed to look kind of like an old motel.

All of these motel rooms down here are different label offices.

So right now, we are collecting supplies to mail out our vinyl subscription service.

But we've had birthday parties in here.

We celebrated Willie Nelson's 80th birthday right here.

Lots of times there are crazy assembly lines in here doing totally random projects, like shooting metal 45 boxes with shotguns and then filing down the hole.

Just trying to make stuff happen that can't happen anywhere else.

We also love to just employ the many musicians who are in this town when they're off the road.

We like to use the privilege of our platform to make sure that when there's beauty that exists outside of the homogeny, that we make it shine, and get as many ears on it as possible.

This is my unlikely favorite stop on the tour-- [laughter] --due to-- I think this is like, the first time on the show that we've been in a bathroom with somebody.

Thank you for that.

[laughter] Before we enter the Blue Room, it's good to have a little color palate cleanser.

OK.

So-- I feel like I've lost the colors.

What the hell?

Yeah.

So, I don't know, can you explain what exactly just happened?

Well no, it's inexplicable.

Just magic.

[laughter] I do like the fact that guys have to name it the Blue Room.

We've had some pretty major names play on this stage; Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, Jack White.

But we also have film nights.

And we're open as a bar a few nights a week.

We have comedy nights, and poetry readings.

If an employee loves something, we try to get it into the family in some way.

Really?

Yeah.

It makes for an inspired staff.

Everyone's fingerprints are kind of all over this crazy-- whatever this is that you guys have-- which, I guess, is a warehouse at some level.

Idea factory, maybe?

But I think we really like to take on projects that are just shy of impossible.

And see if we can't be scrappy and get it done.

All right.

Ben Swank, co-founder, joins us in the Blue Room to talk about their mission, their role in the community, and why the Blue Room is blue.

I just tell people that we patterned it after a womb.

[laughter] We have all been there.

[laughter] What was the-- what's the idea?

Philosophically, for the label, we try to present things that, to us, are strictly about art and culture and community.

It was a real early goal of ours to preach the gospel of tangible, physical things.

Trying to make these places that encourage conversation and interaction.

Culturally, we've probably lost the war since everybody lives in social media.

[laughter] How much of what you thought you were going to do, versus where you are-- how has that evolved?

When we first started, we were trying to hammer home this idea like the Elvis TCB, taking care of business.

But it was TCD, tangible, collectible, and digital.

It was fun for a few years to kind of push innovations and push ourselves to do different things.

Culminating with us sending a craft into near space, playing the first vinyl record in space.

World Records for records.

Yes.

[laughter] And then it was kind of like, OK.

I think we're hitting a point where this might just be perceived as a novelty.

It did get us to a place, though, where we had enough of a presence where we could present things like the Paramount box set, where we're unearthing recordings that haven't been heard in a long time, and that certainly haven't been heard by enough people.

To me, that's how I think of the end goal of all of that novelty-- Absolutely.

--in the beginning years.

Feels like you guys care very much about the people that show up here.

Mm.

You know-- Yeah.

And it also feels like you care very much about where you're physically located inside the city.

Yeah.

We're not in what would have been considered the best part of Nashville.

We're on the precipice of insane changes in the next year and a half.

We've got a Ritz Carlton going up.

And the developers who are coming here are catering to affluent residents and tourists.

And my fear is that they're going to come in and the first thing they're going to start doing is further marginalizing the unhoused community out there.

The mission, or the room in the inn who's behind us, assisted living, you know, what happens if they get marginalized out of this community?

Yeah.

All of these places that are really important-- They're necessary services.

You guys, who come into community want to do good things there and make it better, sometimes I imagine that can backfire.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I do think that you can have an effect on your community without necessarily going out there with press releases and saying, hey, we donated this much money this month.

Every day little things can absolutely have a massive effect on the people around you.

Just showing people that they belong as much as you do, regardless of good credit scores or good luck.

You're fighting against a macro, kind of economic things.

You got the development-- Can't fight it.

Right.

I don't care how many bullets you shoot at a wave, it's still coming.

So, how do you deal with that?

What we've been told by the mission when we've asked them that question, they've just said please help educate.

We'll do the fundraisers, all of those tangible things to help make this better, but I also have our staff going over to do a tour in an Information Center at the mission, so that we can make sure our staff is well equipped.

It's about growing in a way that is ethical and realistic.

This space, I tell everyone who works here, this belongs to everybody.

It's not just about what weird action movie I want to show for my stoner buddies.

[laughter] You do see possibilities everywhere.

Really that is-- DIY.

We screen our own t-shirts.

You know what I mean?

We book our own tours.

We get in the van.

We just-- we're working class Midwesterners who want to work hard on something we actually give a ____ about.

[laughter] There's beauty outside of the homogeny of this town.

And there are very few spaces that provide a spot for that to happen.

I mean, there's nowhere like this.

But at the same time, none of that negative record store hipster crap.

Be super nice to everybody who comes in here.

No pretension.

Yeah.

Cheers to Everything you guys are doing.

[laughter] Cheers to blue man and the Blue Room.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for joining us.

We appreciate it.

Cheers.

Lovenoise was long billed as Nashville's best urban concert promoter.

And when Eric Holt founded it 18 years ago, they were the only game in town for promoting and booking Black music.

But they're still going strong today.

He's now bringing that industry experience to managing talent like A.B.

Eastwood.

A.B.

Is one of Nashville's preeminent new voices in hip hop, and has found success as a DJ, producer, music director, and performer.

Thank you guys.

They joined us at Third Man to talk about the role of hip hop and R&B in a town almost exclusively known for white, commercial, country music.

This is my first place I DJed.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

That's right.

And Jack White was here, man.

It was cool.

I got to thank him for Iggy Pop.

Yeah.

[laughter] Talk a little bit about your business, and who you manage, and what's your role.

I'm a concert promoter turned artist manager turned college professor.

When we started, we wanted to do local shows, like have a platform for emerging artists.

The literal answer from venues was, we don't do Black music.

What does that even mean?

Yeah.

Right, yeah.

It's baffling.

But we went to this little place.

It was a dive bar.

It was called the Bar Car.

And for a decade plus, Black artists could come there to sing, dance, rap, whatever it is.

Being in a lot of different situations, working with a lot of artists on a lot of different levels over those years, the main thing I add is perspective.

I can sit in a room.

And I can negotiate on the business side at a different level.

How did you guys connect?

I have a nephew that's a drummer and there was a collective that he was a part of with A.B., Tim Gent, Bryant Taylor.

And they all lived together, created music together-- seeing their dedication, they inspired me that it's time to maybe tap back in and help assist.

And so many other cities, right, have bigger megaphones than we do when it comes to Black music.

And it gets over-- kind of overshadowed by the country music.

So you're a rising artist.

How much responsibility do you have not to screw up everything that happened before?

[laughter] We get the title of local rapper, or local DJ, but we're doing a lot of national things, you know what I mean?

It's just, we have an opportunity to show Nashville everywhere how we see it, and how we live it.

The world is a lot closer to us than it's ever been, you know?

Well first of all, when you're young, you're young.

And nobody believes in you as much as you believe in yourself.

Right.

But having the infrastructure, how has that changed in the last decade or so since you-- It's made things attainable.

There was no template, you know.

You know what I mean?

Y'all we're making it as you went.

Hacking our own paths, man.

And so having Eric with 18 years experience, who's been around these artists, he can give us that perspective.

How much do the history of Nashville's music scene, the Black music scene?

Quite a bit.

And so I'm just wondering because why is it that the rest of the world doesn't really know that?

Because back to the dollar.

The narrative, country music USA, is strong.

As you walk down to Broadway, you can tell it-- it's very unique.

And it makes a lot of money.

So the Black music narrative really got silenced when they introduced the interstate system on to Jefferson Street.

Over a dozen Black owned live music venues existed on Orange Street at that time.

Today there are zero Black owned live music venues in the city.

I hadn't heard this.

It's inexplicable.

I mean how can that be?

Zero.

And so part of the mission for all of us is to try to change that narrative, and to really reveal the story, and adding on.

It's not taking away from anything, but adding on to that Fuller narrative of Music City.

If you guys are projecting out, what does this Nashville music scene look like?

What should it look like?

Especially the younger guys are really good at branding.

I think their brand is going to invite more culture influence into the city.

You can walk downtown and hear this country song.

But you also hear some rap.

You also hear some R&B.

Me and a few business partners here in Nashville, we've actually acquired a piece of land on Jefferson Street.

The next five years, you're going to see a Black owned live music venue on that street.

And it's not just the fact that it's Black owned, or it's a live music venue, but it's about the community and tying it all together.

Because Nashville is growing.

It's not going to stop.

As Black musicians and artists and businessmen and women-- it's about how we're going to participate in that growth.

The architect said, I want a building on Jefferson Street that look like it's always been there, and that it'll always be there.

That really is a thing to cheers.

Cheers, guys.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Thanks for hanging with us.

Oh, yeah.

[glasses clink] I'm looking forward to seeing the music.

Next up, we're headed to Analog, a music venue and event space not far from downtown, to get the real story from those who know best, Nashville writers and journalists.

We meet author and journalist, Andrea Williams, the Nashville Scene's editor in chief, Patrick Rodgers, program director Jason Moon Wilkins, and editorial director, Julie Heitz, both of whom recently minted the NPR music station WNXP.

And Khalil Ekulona, host of WPLN's newly created daily show, This is Nashville, a radio show whose mission focuses on community voices and local stories.

If there's a issue affecting a community, we really prefer to talk to the people who are living in the community to really express how folks feel about what's happening.

Old Nashville versus new Nashville, what that means.

Is that even a question that should be raised any longer?

Can you do it next time with a radio voice?

[laughter] When I was a kid in Thailand, I remember someone used to say, you know Bangkok in the first five minutes or after 50 years.

We don't have the depth of experience that you guys have.

I mean, it's all relative.

[laughter] The notion of newness didn't just begin.

Then the cycles of gentrification and conversations about trying to sell the city and brand the city-- Right.

Everything that's happening right now, everything we see, everything we hear, there is a historical precedent for that.

And I want to uncover those stories.

I want to correct the history as people talk about the issues now.

I'm like, I know y'all leaving something out.

I can guarantee it.

Nashville's the Music City.

What the hell does that mean?

I will admit, I was a part of It City wave.

We couldn't have bachelorette parties without what you did.

Don't pin bachelorettes on me.

[laughter] Zero.

We can trace it back to Jason.

No.

But when you ask like, what is Music City?

I mean, there's the scholarly answers that go back to the Fist Jubilee Singers.

And then there is a story that is aggressively told every day by millions and millions of dollars, by a machine that has been built here.

And very specifically, one brand of country music-- commercial country music.

Some of these things were very organic.

They were naturally happening.

Jack White moving to town was not funded by the city, you know?

Right.

[laughter] Dan Ob-- As far as we know.

Kings of Leon being based here, like, a lot of the things that happened in the non-country side during the 2000s but even through that, I look back and go, that was not a very inclusive conversation.

The effort was to try and tell the story that keeps getting told over and over and over again that Nashville is more than just country music.

And I can't even believe those words that came out of my mouth.

[laughter] I've probably edited that out of more leads than any other phrase.

[laughter] At The Scene, for a long time, sort of what we tried to do, and what we still try to do, is talk about what exists outside of that commercial engine of country music.

And not just arts stories that aren't being told in parts of town, the creation of I-40 completely disrupting North Nashville.

And you look on Jefferson Street itself, and the tradition of music that came out of there, which then became, I don't know how you guys did it, white country music.

Like you say.

Commercially successful white country-- how the-- The country music notion of Music City, which happened through things like the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum being founded, because that had scaffolding built around it, and was celebrated.

And that's one reason why so many other aspects of even Nashville's music history have languished and been overlooked and whitewashed.

Everybody is like, yeah the mainstream, the machine, the commercial.

That machine is an embodiment of the machine that runs society, that runs this country.

That is why this country looks the way it does.

That's why the city looks the way it does.

It matters that this $10 billion machine gets to be the narrative of an entire city, and Black songwriters don't get in.

Black producers don't get in.

Black stage techs don't get in.

So that's part of it too.

I had a good friend of mine, first thing he told me, he said, just to remind you that Nashville is white people's Atlanta.

And-- [laughter] So good.

With so many folks from different parts of the country coming here, with whatever their dreams, aspirations, and hopes are, but how invested are you going to be into the community that you live in?

And are folks going to be able to afford to live here?

So the idea of coming out here with your guitar, working at a bar, paying enough for a studio bedroom, I think that's kind of gone.

And now all of a sudden, the role that you guys have to curate what's going on in this city now, is a larger and larger audience.

But I will tell you that I don't think people read very many articles more than once or listen to a radio talk show thing more than once.

They'll listen to a song a million times.

What is the role of music?

There are now greater numbers of artists who are Black Nashville natives, formidable voices, that are emerging artists and songwriters, singers, rappers, producers, in hip hop and R&B that have lived their entire lives here in the shadow of the industry.

They have a sense of historical lineage and importance that they want to remind people of and make tangible and visible to us.

This is what excites me.

Because to Khalil's point about people coming in and getting engaged, do people know what to get engaged about?

And so having these voices that can come in and shine a light on that, because to be honest, we are not anywhere new yet.

And I say this about country music.

But it applies to Nashville on the whole.

This has happened over and over and over again.

It is chilling to read the articles that say, don't be surprised that Ruby Falls is a Black woman.

Black women do country music, too.

If we swap out Ruby Falls and drop in Brittney Spencer and Mickey Guyton, these articles are being written today.

I think we're at a really interesting crossroads in what Nashville wants to be.

Such incredible people that now call Nashville home as artists, Brittany Howard, or Yola bought a house during the pandemic.

But at the same time, in the last two years, some of the most vile, most extremist sides, not only came here, but started investing money here.

Where have we gone from like, It City, to that city.

When I came out here I was told Nashville was this blueberry in a bowl of salsa.

[laughter] I haven't heard it said that way.

That's cute.

Nashville, Davidson County decides to pass something that would be a benefit to everybody, particularly an economic measure.

Well the state can simply usurp it.

We're in the South.

We're in a state that passes some of the most retrograde legislation in the country.

The Southern Poverty Law Center just released a report last week that says Tennessee has the most extremist groups out of any of the neighboring states.

If you look at the neighboring states, that's quite a statement.

[laughter] Yeah.

Right?

I mean, one change that I really feel in a tangible way is that there is a little bit of broadening of the discourse.

There are more voices that are registering in more ways right now.

People can still choose to ignore that.

Maybe the better question is, do you all love Nashville?

[laughter] I love Nashville.

I'm in here-- Because we love it.

That's why we came here.

I've been here 12 year.

I'm gonna say all the things.

Like, I'm about to call you on all this stuff.

Because I know what you're capable of.

I'm trying to help you get there.

Lifelong Nashville fans might debate this, because I'm technically from Sumter County, but I have lived in Middle Tennessee my whole life.

And a lot of people who've been here their whole lives are like, oh new Nashville, and bemoaning.

Well, cities change.

Cities grow.

You have to figure out how to do it responsibly.

Give people a seat at the table who haven't historically.

There's all kinds of things that hurt the most at risk people in our city.

I think our city is capable of overcoming the growing pains of it.

But we just haven't learned to reckon with it, yet.

We're honored to be with you here at this table.

You all are the future of Nashville.

Yeah.

And if you guys love it, we still love it.

To our brand new favorite city, Nashville.

[laughter] Thank you, guys, for the stuff that you get.

Cheers to everything.

Cheers, guys.

Yeah.

What will Nashville become?

An example, a bulwark, against unrestrained irresponsible growth?

Or will it become a cautionary tale?

Only time will tell.

But one thing is clear, the more voices in the room, the better chance it has of becoming a city for everyone.

[music playing] Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- Every road is a good road when you're behind the wheel of a Toyota electrified vehicle.

From the hybrid Sienna, and plug-in hybrid RAV4 Prime, to the fuel cell Mirai, and all electric bZ4X.

And with available all wheel drive on select models, they're designed to go the distance, whether you're driving to work, school, or down the Pacific Coast Highway.

Proud sponsor of The Good Road, Toyota.

Let's go places.

Technology changes the world, but not on its own.

Hardware needs heart.

Software needs soul.

When we match compute power to instinct, and acceleration to imagination, tomorrow comes alive.

For us, it's not what we achieve alone, but sharing a vision to solve the world's most important challenges.

Because together, anything is possible.

AMD together, we advance.

And by Uncommon Giving, the generosity company.

At Plow and Hearth, we believe that the place you are can become the place you want to be.

Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

[twangy music plays] Make that money run on down the line.

Make that money run on down the line.