Nashville in Focus

One of Adrien Saporiti’s I Believe in Nashville murals.

A smoke break on Lower Broadway.

Kelsey Montague painted these twenty-foot-tall wings on the side of a building in the Gulch, and all day long people stand in front of them to have their pictures taken. It’s called What Lifts You, and it does.

East Nashville’s Tomato Art Festival is a celebration of all things tomato.

Johnny Cash: Nashville’s T.J. Eckleburg.

Nashville’s classic Prince’s Hot Chicken takes to the streets in a food truck.

If you’re old enough to play a fiddle, you’re old enough to busk.

Riding shotgun.

Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell backstage before a sold-out performance. 

Chris Thile (mandolin), Edgar Meyer (bass), and Yo-Yo Ma (cello), rehearsing Bach at Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The internationally-known cellist stopped by Parnassus Books on his way to rehearsal and played cello for twenty people and then rolled around on the floor with the shop dogs.

Blackbird Assembly is part of the resurgence of motorcycle clubs in Nashville.

Whether it’s the thriving equestrian scene, weekend polo matches, the work horse who helps round up the cattle, or the pet horse ridden in the yard, Nashville cannot do without its horses.

Photos and captions excerpted from Nashville: Scenes from the New American South by Heidi Ross and Ann Patchett.