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Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City
Set against the backdrop of Jim Crow, Night Train to Nashville takes readers behind the curtain of one of music's greatest untold stories during the era of segregation and Civil Rights.
In another time and place, E. Gab Blackman and William Sousa "Sou" Bridgeforth might have been as close as brothers, but in 1950s Nashville they remained separated by the color of their skin. Gab, a visionary yet opportunistic radio executive, saw something no one else a vast and untapped market with the R&B scene exploding in Black clubs across the city. He defied his industry, culture, government, and even his own family to broadcast Black music to a national audience.
Sou, the popular kingpin of Black Nashville and a grandson of slaves, led this movement into the second half of the twentieth century as his New Era Club on the Black side of town exploded in the aftermath of this new radio airplay. As the popularity of Black R&B grew, integrated parties and underground concerts spread throughout the city, and this new scene faced a dangerous inflection Could a segregated society ever find true unity?
Taking place during one of the most tumultuous times in US history, Night Train to Nashville explores how one city, divided into two completely different and unequal communities, demonstrated the power of music to change the world.
In another time and place, E. Gab Blackman and William Sousa "Sou" Bridgeforth might have been as close as brothers, but in 1950s Nashville they remained separated by the color of their skin. Gab, a visionary yet opportunistic radio executive, saw something no one else a vast and untapped market with the R&B scene exploding in Black clubs across the city. He defied his industry, culture, government, and even his own family to broadcast Black music to a national audience.
Sou, the popular kingpin of Black Nashville and a grandson of slaves, led this movement into the second half of the twentieth century as his New Era Club on the Black side of town exploded in the aftermath of this new radio airplay. As the popularity of Black R&B grew, integrated parties and underground concerts spread throughout the city, and this new scene faced a dangerous inflection Could a segregated society ever find true unity?
Taking place during one of the most tumultuous times in US history, Night Train to Nashville explores how one city, divided into two completely different and unequal communities, demonstrated the power of music to change the world.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryMusic
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 12, 2023
24 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 8, 2023
This look at the untold story of music city will be released on September 12, 2023. Harper Horizon provided an early galley for review.
The first things that comes to mind when I hear Nashville are of country music, the Grand Ole Opry, and a high school classmate who made his career as a songwriter and performer. This book added a new facet that I had not previously considered when I think about the city and its legacy.
The author's approach on this book is different. I suspect her personal connection to it helps a lot. It opens with a list of names of those involved in the story, with a brief description of who they are and what they did, and then a timeline of events. This is not something I've encountered before up front. Then her writing approach and style is one that draws a lot of elements that one would see typically in fiction. She really emphasizes the "story" in the history. That gives the whole narrative a different feel for a nonfiction book.
It was good to see examples of the way integration and diversity were approached at the time in this particular Southern city. It shows the struggle for representation, acknowledgement and acceptance of those with different backgrounds and cultures.
The first things that comes to mind when I hear Nashville are of country music, the Grand Ole Opry, and a high school classmate who made his career as a songwriter and performer. This book added a new facet that I had not previously considered when I think about the city and its legacy.
The author's approach on this book is different. I suspect her personal connection to it helps a lot. It opens with a list of names of those involved in the story, with a brief description of who they are and what they did, and then a timeline of events. This is not something I've encountered before up front. Then her writing approach and style is one that draws a lot of elements that one would see typically in fiction. She really emphasizes the "story" in the history. That gives the whole narrative a different feel for a nonfiction book.
It was good to see examples of the way integration and diversity were approached at the time in this particular Southern city. It shows the struggle for representation, acknowledgement and acceptance of those with different backgrounds and cultures.
August 9, 2024
There was so much potential for interesting and important stories to be told here, but not a single one was executed. This was a slog and I finished it through sheer force of will.
Read
August 14, 2023As a teenager in central Indiana, I loved to listen to the racy music broadcast by WLAC, a Nashville radio station that somehow delivered its signal to my geographical area. Consider how astonished I was to come across this book--Night Train to Nashville, by Paula Blackman--that tells the story of how WLAC established the R & B tradition that gave voice to so many black recording artists of the time--the very ones I enjoyed via WLAC during my growing-up years. This book also told me how Randy's Record Mart became a prominent sponsor of this music. But most importantly, this book revealed how WLAC and its "race music" intertwined with efforts that helped to desegregate Nashville. Since I was also active in the integration movements of the 1950s and 60s, this book quickly went to the top of my list of books to recommend to my family and friends. I feel now that Paula Blackman, in telling this astonishing story involving her grandfather Gabe Blackman, WLAC, black businessman Sou Bridgeforth, and some of the biggest names in R & B music, has become a valued friend. This book, in my humble opinion, captures the power that caught the conscience of the moment and catapulted Nashville into integration. Brava, Paula Blackman!
May 29, 2024
Old Nashville was tragically separated by color. The power of music on Jefferson Street, WLAC radio, the Grand Ole Opry, rising Motown and country music stars of the era made for a fascinating story.
June 10, 2024
This fantastic, surprising and sometimes shocking recounting of the authors grandfather unwittingly creating powerful change beginning in 1946 Jim Crow Nashville and the rest of our country all through music.
By broadcasting "race" music under the cover of night across the US, his desire to rescue
WLAC radio from its threatened demise at the dawn of TV, thus establishing his place in this new media, not only changed him and his beliefs in untold ways but I believe it changed us all. This was the soundtrack to the boomers youth.
We need to read this now. We need more compassion.
The voluminous amount of historical information from newspapers and those who experienced these transformative years was brilliantly woven together in a way that only a good storyteller can accomplish. I LOVED it. Brava!
By broadcasting "race" music under the cover of night across the US, his desire to rescue
WLAC radio from its threatened demise at the dawn of TV, thus establishing his place in this new media, not only changed him and his beliefs in untold ways but I believe it changed us all. This was the soundtrack to the boomers youth.
We need to read this now. We need more compassion.
The voluminous amount of historical information from newspapers and those who experienced these transformative years was brilliantly woven together in a way that only a good storyteller can accomplish. I LOVED it. Brava!
September 21, 2024
What a great history of R&B in Nashville TN! I was amazed at the number of well known musicians that came through Nashville. I was also ashamed at the prejudice in this city and the lives and businesses it impacted. I can hope it’s better now.
April 2, 2024
An absolute gem of a music, civil rights, and Nashville history book. A great reflection on the people behind the clubs and radio that connected people thru the culture, music, and lives of Black musicians, R&B, blues, Motown, and Rock N Roll. This is a compelling book that I recommend to everyone interested in the history of US music or radio, Nashville, and what life was like in the South 1950-70s.
August 8, 2024
Negative stars.
I actively hated this book.
I actively hated this book.
June 5, 2024
Not only is this book a fascinating tale of rhythm and blues, icons of music, and the history of the Nashville music scene, I am a better person for having read this book.
May 24, 2025
Fascinating story about how black music got on the air in Nashville. So many famous people!
May 31, 2024
This book told an extremely fascinating history of how music and desegregation came together in Nashville. I really enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the city I’ve spent so much time in lately.
August 14, 2023
If you even think you like Rhythm & Blues Music and you enjoy reading about the history of Music, then this book is for you. Night Train to Nashville is the true story of how WLAC Radio of Nashville guided by E.G. "Blackie" Blackman and DJ'd by Gene Nobles, "Hoss" Allen and John Richbourg "Invented" R&B and created the platform that took these performers such as B.B. King, James Brown, Little Richard, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and even Jimi Hendrix and played their music on air for the first time in history. Paula Blackman is the grand daughter of "Blackie" so her close relationship with him and the other players and along with her story telling style will make you feel as if you are standing in the same room with these true to life characters. A compelling story of Life, Love and Friendship that accurately captures a rare moment in time.
February 19, 2024
A really neat look into the cultural revolution that Black music on the airwaves brought about. We’ve all heard whispers of Black influence on rock and roll of the late 50s and early 60s, but this gives the full story. A little bland and excessive in its storytelling, which does everything except keeping the reader engaged, but still highly informative.
June 9, 2024
As a young, white, teenage boy growing up on the southern edge of Nashville in the mid-50s, I struggled against the riptides of that era to understand the adult world that both surrounded and submerged me with its conflicting attitudes, arbitrary rules, and shrouded mysteries. Torn by the confusing contradictions from my own idyllic rural childhood and chaffed by the broader, rapidly changing cultural fabric of the outside world around me, I found myself in the state later described by the great Bob Seger as “working on mysteries without any clues.” It was about this time that the enveloping fog of my own immaturity, my early adolescent biochemical cascade, and my desperate quest for perspective was abruptly penetrated by a most unexpected discovery: a local nighttime radio station.
Nashville (circa 1950) was essentially a small southern town that was comfortable in its moderate conservatism and its closed social structure. Its airwaves were colored by early versions of Rock & Roll that were just beginning to compete with Big Bands and Country for air time on radio station playlists. The earnest voices of fundamentalist preachers routinely exhorted the faithful on daytime AM stations, especially those that blanketed less populated rural areas. Except for restaurants, virtually all businesses were closed on Sundays. Proper citizens dressed for church: men in suits, women in pearls, gloves, and hats. Liquor was illegal to purchase by the drink in retail venues, but ice and mixers were permissible. Therefore, patrons simply brought their own booze along with them, a regional practice prosaically known as “brown bagging.” Segregation of schools, water fountains, restrooms, public busses, etc. was the accepted standard.
Into this fragile, placid, late Old South atmosphere, a series of sonic booms created fissures that began the evolution from “small town” Nashville into today’s dynamic modern city. One of those unlikely fractures was caused by a radical late night programming shift at WLAC’s dominant clear channel 50,000 watt transmitter that sent its signal bouncing off the ionosphere into receivers covering at least half of America.
Promptly at 10:30 PM, WLAC transitioned from its regular programming, which included Gospel and Christian, directly to the genre of black artists that had been known previously among black communities, night clubs, and rural joints across the south. When the sounds of Perry Como and Vic Damone met Lightnin Hopkins and Howlin Wolf, a tsunami began. Heard for the first time by a wide white audience, this black music immediately became dubbed “jungle music” or “race music” by the segregation establishment and white parents. Eventually it became accepted as “Rhythm & Blues” by the new generation of young white kids to whom it was an utter revelation.
As the grand-daughter of the WLAC executive who pioneered the controversial introduction of black programming on this previously all-white southern station, Ms. Blackman has built upon her unique insider perspective on this period. Her grandfather, “Gab” Blackman, had worked at one of the two major newspapers in Nashville prior to his career at WLAC. His first-person experiences and associations with the power brokers of that period, the newsmen, politicians, and social icons, provided Ms. Blackman unparalleled access to the political and social forces at work behind the scenes. Local businessmen, country club society, police forces, elected officials, numbers operators, black musicians, and black night club owners interrelated at various levels and degrees of intensity during Nashville’s turbulent Civil Rights period.
Night Train to Nashville also illuminates the colorful deejay personalities at WLAC who introduced, promoted, and interpreted the previously unknown work of such classic black performers as Otis Redding, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, Etta James, B.B. King, Della Reese, and many, many other superlative singers and musicians. Bill “Hossman” Allen, “John R” Richbourg, Gene Nobles, and Herman Grizzard each played pivotal roles in advancing the sounds of early black jazz and R&B while introducing to white America a wealth of previously unknown black artistry. Each became instrumental in influencing the musical styles of subsequent young white performers that became rock & roll legends. Eric Clapton, The Rolling Sones, Elvis, and far too many others to mention have publicly acknowledged their debt to these deejays.
Night Train to Nashville opens a priceless window into the social, business, racial, political, and musical personalities that impacted both the evolution of Nashville and the United States between 1940 - 1980, as well as the musical alchemy of America. In viewing that period through Ms. Blackman’s open window, she helped to clear away remnants of confusion this young kid who was thunderstruck by his introduction (to and lifelong love of) the “race” music he first discovered on WLAC’s nighttime radio broadcast, the signal that changed the world.
Nashville (circa 1950) was essentially a small southern town that was comfortable in its moderate conservatism and its closed social structure. Its airwaves were colored by early versions of Rock & Roll that were just beginning to compete with Big Bands and Country for air time on radio station playlists. The earnest voices of fundamentalist preachers routinely exhorted the faithful on daytime AM stations, especially those that blanketed less populated rural areas. Except for restaurants, virtually all businesses were closed on Sundays. Proper citizens dressed for church: men in suits, women in pearls, gloves, and hats. Liquor was illegal to purchase by the drink in retail venues, but ice and mixers were permissible. Therefore, patrons simply brought their own booze along with them, a regional practice prosaically known as “brown bagging.” Segregation of schools, water fountains, restrooms, public busses, etc. was the accepted standard.
Into this fragile, placid, late Old South atmosphere, a series of sonic booms created fissures that began the evolution from “small town” Nashville into today’s dynamic modern city. One of those unlikely fractures was caused by a radical late night programming shift at WLAC’s dominant clear channel 50,000 watt transmitter that sent its signal bouncing off the ionosphere into receivers covering at least half of America.
Promptly at 10:30 PM, WLAC transitioned from its regular programming, which included Gospel and Christian, directly to the genre of black artists that had been known previously among black communities, night clubs, and rural joints across the south. When the sounds of Perry Como and Vic Damone met Lightnin Hopkins and Howlin Wolf, a tsunami began. Heard for the first time by a wide white audience, this black music immediately became dubbed “jungle music” or “race music” by the segregation establishment and white parents. Eventually it became accepted as “Rhythm & Blues” by the new generation of young white kids to whom it was an utter revelation.
As the grand-daughter of the WLAC executive who pioneered the controversial introduction of black programming on this previously all-white southern station, Ms. Blackman has built upon her unique insider perspective on this period. Her grandfather, “Gab” Blackman, had worked at one of the two major newspapers in Nashville prior to his career at WLAC. His first-person experiences and associations with the power brokers of that period, the newsmen, politicians, and social icons, provided Ms. Blackman unparalleled access to the political and social forces at work behind the scenes. Local businessmen, country club society, police forces, elected officials, numbers operators, black musicians, and black night club owners interrelated at various levels and degrees of intensity during Nashville’s turbulent Civil Rights period.
Night Train to Nashville also illuminates the colorful deejay personalities at WLAC who introduced, promoted, and interpreted the previously unknown work of such classic black performers as Otis Redding, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, Etta James, B.B. King, Della Reese, and many, many other superlative singers and musicians. Bill “Hossman” Allen, “John R” Richbourg, Gene Nobles, and Herman Grizzard each played pivotal roles in advancing the sounds of early black jazz and R&B while introducing to white America a wealth of previously unknown black artistry. Each became instrumental in influencing the musical styles of subsequent young white performers that became rock & roll legends. Eric Clapton, The Rolling Sones, Elvis, and far too many others to mention have publicly acknowledged their debt to these deejays.
Night Train to Nashville opens a priceless window into the social, business, racial, political, and musical personalities that impacted both the evolution of Nashville and the United States between 1940 - 1980, as well as the musical alchemy of America. In viewing that period through Ms. Blackman’s open window, she helped to clear away remnants of confusion this young kid who was thunderstruck by his introduction (to and lifelong love of) the “race” music he first discovered on WLAC’s nighttime radio broadcast, the signal that changed the world.
July 19, 2023
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Harper Horizon for an advance copy of this book on the intersection of race, radio, music, and the changes that came from it.
Change is not something that people want to do much of. Especially if that change admits that something they have been doing for a long time is wrong. A lot of people equate America with the line "Land of the Free, home of the Brave", but a better one is "Well that is the way it always has been" missing the fact that somehow, someway, this had to once start, and was at the time a change. Government doesn't like change, nor do the police who like the status quo of docility. Religion hates change for the same reason, control. Business, on the other hand, doesn't like change much, until the money that can be earned with change, is higher than staying the same path. They will take a good game, pretend to stay the same, but money talks, and as a character says in this book, "Sell to the poor, you’ll dine with the rich.” What is amazing is that so much change came from playing music, starting after midnight, growing into something that is still reverberating today, with many of the same arguments and mentality as almost seventy years ago. Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City by Paula Blackman tells the story of the power of music, and of two people who almost accidently changed things far more than they ever expected.
E. Gab Blackman was a man with a lot of dreams, including a new Dodge sedan, and a lot of plans on how to get there. Working at a newspaper and though good at his job, he was not a fan of his current boss, and Blackman knew that the future was an television. Blackman took a job at WLAC a radio station that was ranked third in the market, to gain experience, and hopefully use the influence he was sure to gain there to get a television station in Nashville. At the time radio was considered a dying medium, television was king, the FCC was pushing too many regulations and the music played was not bringing in listeners. However Blackman had a plan, and that was to play music that never got air time, songs that were considered race records R&B and spirituals that appealed to the black community, and untapped market for listeners, And one night after midnight Blackman gave it a try. William Sousa "Sou" Bridgeforth was a powerful member of the black community, running numbers, and supplying music an entertainment in his clubs. A man who gave much to his community, bailing out civil rights workers, paying for funerals when needed, Sou began to notice that the market for music that he knew and let perform was growing, growing with both white and black listeners, who needed places to listen to this music. Both men began to face a, kickback from a lot of different people, who did not like the idea of music bringing anyone together when Jim Crow segregation ruled.
A fascinating and personal look at something that was a pivotal moment in music history and yet still remains a mystery. Paula Blackman was the granddaughter of Gab Blackman so heard a lot of this stories from the source. In addition Blackman has done much research working with others to try and get an idea of what things were like from the other side. The book is very well written with lots of good stories and anecdotes, but a lot of research too. I enjoy how Blackman asks questions like, How could two black men enter a locked building to bring in records, without a lot of people knowing in advance. After asking Blackman does her best to answer this questions. And well. A very enjoyable book about music that I knew very little about.
Recommended for music fans without a doubt. Stories about the people who played in Sou's club are worth it, along with all the little facts and stories that Blackman has in her book. Also a very interesting book for people interested in race relations and cultural studies. A book that was a lot more than I expected.
Change is not something that people want to do much of. Especially if that change admits that something they have been doing for a long time is wrong. A lot of people equate America with the line "Land of the Free, home of the Brave", but a better one is "Well that is the way it always has been" missing the fact that somehow, someway, this had to once start, and was at the time a change. Government doesn't like change, nor do the police who like the status quo of docility. Religion hates change for the same reason, control. Business, on the other hand, doesn't like change much, until the money that can be earned with change, is higher than staying the same path. They will take a good game, pretend to stay the same, but money talks, and as a character says in this book, "Sell to the poor, you’ll dine with the rich.” What is amazing is that so much change came from playing music, starting after midnight, growing into something that is still reverberating today, with many of the same arguments and mentality as almost seventy years ago. Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City by Paula Blackman tells the story of the power of music, and of two people who almost accidently changed things far more than they ever expected.
E. Gab Blackman was a man with a lot of dreams, including a new Dodge sedan, and a lot of plans on how to get there. Working at a newspaper and though good at his job, he was not a fan of his current boss, and Blackman knew that the future was an television. Blackman took a job at WLAC a radio station that was ranked third in the market, to gain experience, and hopefully use the influence he was sure to gain there to get a television station in Nashville. At the time radio was considered a dying medium, television was king, the FCC was pushing too many regulations and the music played was not bringing in listeners. However Blackman had a plan, and that was to play music that never got air time, songs that were considered race records R&B and spirituals that appealed to the black community, and untapped market for listeners, And one night after midnight Blackman gave it a try. William Sousa "Sou" Bridgeforth was a powerful member of the black community, running numbers, and supplying music an entertainment in his clubs. A man who gave much to his community, bailing out civil rights workers, paying for funerals when needed, Sou began to notice that the market for music that he knew and let perform was growing, growing with both white and black listeners, who needed places to listen to this music. Both men began to face a, kickback from a lot of different people, who did not like the idea of music bringing anyone together when Jim Crow segregation ruled.
A fascinating and personal look at something that was a pivotal moment in music history and yet still remains a mystery. Paula Blackman was the granddaughter of Gab Blackman so heard a lot of this stories from the source. In addition Blackman has done much research working with others to try and get an idea of what things were like from the other side. The book is very well written with lots of good stories and anecdotes, but a lot of research too. I enjoy how Blackman asks questions like, How could two black men enter a locked building to bring in records, without a lot of people knowing in advance. After asking Blackman does her best to answer this questions. And well. A very enjoyable book about music that I knew very little about.
Recommended for music fans without a doubt. Stories about the people who played in Sou's club are worth it, along with all the little facts and stories that Blackman has in her book. Also a very interesting book for people interested in race relations and cultural studies. A book that was a lot more than I expected.
September 22, 2024
There is a great story here - thanks to Craig Havighurst's very good book Air Castle of the South, I have an appreciation for the role of Nashville radio station WSM in increasing the visibility and popularity of country music - I did not realize that Nashville radio station WLAC played a significant role in popularizing R&B. Blackman tells that story using the intertwined stories of Gab Blackman who had the vision for the station and Sou Bridgeforth, owner of the legendary New Era night club. This story is particularly relevant for author Paula Blackman because she is Gab Blackman's grand daughter.
The story is interesting; the book is an easy read; and Blackman works to incorporate other stories related to the Civil Rights movement in Middle Tennessee into the book.
Author Blackman chose to create dialogue as she imagined it between the historical figures. The writing is a bit uneven, and sometimes Blackman does a better job than others at incorporating the outside events - for instance, the section on Diane Nash and the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins works well, but other times, like the incident in Maury County that was labeled a race riot and brought the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall are limited and in my view tease an important event rather than properly introduce it.
All in all, a readable account that offers an introduction to the role of WLAC in promoting R&B and some of the remarkable characters that area a part of that story.
The story is interesting; the book is an easy read; and Blackman works to incorporate other stories related to the Civil Rights movement in Middle Tennessee into the book.
Author Blackman chose to create dialogue as she imagined it between the historical figures. The writing is a bit uneven, and sometimes Blackman does a better job than others at incorporating the outside events - for instance, the section on Diane Nash and the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins works well, but other times, like the incident in Maury County that was labeled a race riot and brought the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall are limited and in my view tease an important event rather than properly introduce it.
All in all, a readable account that offers an introduction to the role of WLAC in promoting R&B and some of the remarkable characters that area a part of that story.
August 19, 2024
This book offers a great look at the clubs and radio station that build R&B into what it is today. It reveals just how many steps the Broadway clubs took to avoid being shut down by the racist government and how overtime they won the support of the next two generations that eventually supported the Civil Rights movement. The book does not shy from how Gab Blackman took advantage of an untapped market for personal gain, but it also does a great job revealing how over the years he ended up becoming a strong supporter of desegregation and grew closer to the club owners on Broadway. The book captures Harriet Bridgeforth's sharp sense of humor and reflects the real friendship between her and Paula Blackman that persists to this day. The tragic downfall of Hoss Allen and his personal demons dampens the legacy of a charming man that couldn't kick his worst impulses, but the book humanizes his struggles and makes us want to see him get better. All the cameos from Elvis to Jimmy Hendrix to Little Richard to B.B. King to Big Mama Thornton will satisfy all the music lovers here.
January 25, 2024
This book was donated by the publisher to my book club. I’ll start with the fact that the (true) story is interesting. WLAC radio station started playing ‘race’ music, later called R&B, late at night. It was during the Jim Crow South so the station got blow back but this music finally had a place for a wider audience. There’s another part of the story of New Era Night Club where a lot of the R&B musicians performed. Lots of race issues and famous names dropped in this book written by the granddaughter of WLAC ad man from the stories he recounted to her. While the story is a very interesting slice of history, the execution of the story is a slog to get through. There’s way too much (assumed) dialog and way too many names. Thankfully, there’s a cast of characters list and a time line in the front of the book. While it’s an interesting story, I felt this book needed a lot more editing to really make this history easier to read.
February 2, 2024
This book offered a very dense look into how R&B music found its way onto the airwaves during segregation and the civil rights era. The story is factually heavy and would be best appreciated by a reader who has a niche knowledge of the background of R&B music and the founding artists. Too many people and places mentioned, without any value add to the story. The front part of the book offers an outline and list of characters that are supposed to help the reader keep track of events. However, there really were too many and made the whole book difficult to connect to. A very interesting peek into this time period, but a difficult book to read as it needed a better type of editing to help it flow more in its storytelling.
Thank you to #BookClubCookbook, #GalleyMatch, @harperhorizon, for providing our book club with copies of ARC to read in exchange for our honest opinions.
Thank you to #BookClubCookbook, #GalleyMatch, @harperhorizon, for providing our book club with copies of ARC to read in exchange for our honest opinions.
December 8, 2023
I picked this up assuming it was going to be about country music, and I was pleasantly surprised that it's actually about early rock and blues. Written more as a narrative than as a collection of facts, this story follows Gab Blackman, an advertising man at a radio station who wants to start playing Black artists to expand the station's audience, and Sou Bridgeforth, a Black nightclub owner hosting these same artists. These two men are living on different ends of the same city and interacting with a lot of the same folks, but their paths don't actually cross until they are old and retired and playing the same golf course.
This book chronicles the struggles of a number of legendary artists, as well as the social and political struggles in Music City circa the Civil Rights era.
This book chronicles the struggles of a number of legendary artists, as well as the social and political struggles in Music City circa the Civil Rights era.
September 14, 2023
I fell in love with Nashville when I visited because it's a city full of contradictions, myths, light and darkness.
This books tells a story I never heard before and was a fascinating read as it talks about black music and a radio that was basic in launching R&B
Excellent, highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
This books tells a story I never heard before and was a fascinating read as it talks about black music and a radio that was basic in launching R&B
Excellent, highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
August 16, 2024
girl, just put this book down, preferably, in the town dump and walk away. I was genuinely so excited to read it. I thought I was going to get music history and race relations and a excellent dive into Nashville and what makes that city tic.
What I got was your drunk auntie telling a series of unrelated stories which have far too many characters and no discernable purpose.
Also, I fully thought this was non-fiction so why did we have long swaths of rambling dialogue? And don't get me started on the use of racial epithets in a book written by a white woman. Ma'am, please go sit down somewhere.
What I got was your drunk auntie telling a series of unrelated stories which have far too many characters and no discernable purpose.
Also, I fully thought this was non-fiction so why did we have long swaths of rambling dialogue? And don't get me started on the use of racial epithets in a book written by a white woman. Ma'am, please go sit down somewhere.
January 21, 2024
Such an interesting read.
August 19, 2024
This book covers a critical story in music history. It's admirable that the author opens up about her family.
April 5, 2025
This felt like a love story by the author to her family and I couldn't finish it.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews