Chapter 16 | A Community of  Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Hidden Heartbeat of Music City

In Shake Your Hips, Randy Fox tells the story of Nashville’s Excello Records

By Ed Tarkington | January 22, 2019

Nashville’s reputation as the capital of the country-music industry belies the fact that some of the city’s deepest, richest musical veins trace back to Nashville’s African-American community. In Shake Your Hips, Randy Fox describes the canny conversion of art and commerce that led Ernie Young to found Excello Records, tapping into the hidden heartbeat of Music City and broadcasting it to the world.

Leaving White Supremacy

Eli Saslow’s Rising Out of Hatred recounts one man’s confrontation with his own racism

By Aram Goudsouzian | January 18, 2019

In Rising Out of Hatred, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eli Saslow tells the story of Derek Black, a former white nationalist who now speaks out against racism. Saslow will give a free public lecture at the University of Memphis on January 23.

Mayhem in Memphis

Peter Ash takes on both gangs and white supremacists in Nick Petrie’s most recent thriller

By Faye Jones | January 17, 2019

The trip to Memphis was supposed to be healing for combat veteran Peter Ash. Then he gets on the wrong side of both a powerful gang and a psychotic white supremacist. Nick Petrie will discuss Tear It Down at Novel in Memphis on January 22.

The Weight of Mountains

Mesha Maren’s debut novel, Sugar Run, is a tale of suspense and gritty social realism

By Ed Tarkington | January 16, 2019

In Sugar Run, her debut novel, Mesha Maren explores the complications of addiction, obsession, and rural poverty through the lens of an ex-convict’s love affairs with two captivating and self-destructive women. Maren will discuss Sugar Run at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 22.

Nothing Left to Lose

A Sky for Us Alone, the debut YA novel by Nashville author Kristin Russell, portrays a struggling coal-mining community

By Tina Chambers | January 15, 2019

Kristin Russell’s A Sky for Us Alone opens on Harlowe Compton’s eighteenth birthday. It’s a wonderful summer day in the country. It’s also the last time Harlowe will see his older brother alive. Russell will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 18.

Double Album, Double World

In That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound, Daryl Sanders documents the making of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde

By Ed Tarkington | January 14, 2019

In That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound, Nashville music journalist Daryl Sanders painstakingly and reverently narrates the making of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, offering a window into the creative process of a genius and the crucial influence of Dylan’s Nashville collaborators in producing a singular work of art.