Jewly Hight

Charley Pride was a symbol, ancestor and influence. But the country singer was also a master interpreter of song, his warm baritone attuned to deep emotion.

Blade, based in Nashville, has parlayed a youth of solitude into an artistic practice based inspired by video game soundtracks and visions of a dark, silver-lined future.

After his older brother helped The BlackSon get his artistic career underway, the pair now find themselves living in a new "city."

McBride has channeled her performing abilities, affably clever personality and college-level industry studies into her own version of artistic and professional equilibrium in Music City.

The pair have found and are maintaining a place for themselves in the professional songwriting world of Nashville.

The autodidact producer spent time learning in Florida, before returning to Nashville with a vision for elevating the entire city.

Rap from Nashville isn't new, nor is the city's tendency to overlook the creators and entrepreneurs behind that music – despite country artists borrowing liberally from the genre over the past decade.

Bandleader Raul Malo and guitarist Eddie Perez both claim Latin American heritage, but their roots music-driven band had never ventured into creating an entirely Spanish album until now.

The two country-leaning singer-songwriters on their time in Nashville, addressing the darkness of life while staying in the light and the difficulties of thinking forward in the South.

Nashville has rigid hierarchy of success — particularly when it comes to artists promoting themselves and ascending the city's ladder. And then came a virus.

The intersections of country music and LGBTQIA+ communities can sometimes come across as solitary acts of bravery. But the state of queer country is better measured by its full time residents.

These music makers have wildly different relationships with genre and cultural conventions. They don't look or sound alike or share the same aims or aspirations. That's the point.

"I did Nashville the Nashville way for so long ... with very little results," Guyton tells NPR. "So why am I holding out just in case?"

Professional songwriting sessions in Nashville can often have the appearance of a lively social call. What happens when that work has to go virtual?

Dierks Bentley and his band tapped into a long tradition of comedy and country music when they created a parody group to open for them on tour. Now, Hot Country Knights has a debut album.

While Nashville's standard studio music-making processes remain at a standstill, here's another roundup of compelling new and recent music from Tré Burt, Paul Burch, Marshall Chapman and more.

The Nashville music community remains holed up at home, but spring still brings new music from artists like Jessi Alexander, Sarah Siskind and Kandace Springs.

After spending many years tracing the outline of a music career, Diffie finally found success in the early '90s with songs featuring his patented honky-tonk attitude.

The fact that Nashville's famously bustling live music scene has temporarily gone silent makes this an opportune time to enjoy a round-up of Nashville voices.

"I went through a breakup of a 15-year relationship. And my therapy on an everyday basis is to go in and write songs," Brandy Clark says of her string- and horn-laden album, Your Life is a Record.