Features
The Children Selling Newspapers in Nashville 116 Years Ago
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When I see someone selling the Contributor, I think of Lewis Wickes Hine’s time in Nashville.
Vendor Writing
Poetry Issue
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We’ve highlighted our favorite Contributor vendor poems from the last year accompanied by custom illustrations by Melissa Willis.
Features
2417 Jefferson Street Open Again
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The Band Concurrence Shows How Music Can Transcend Destruction
On the Harbor Stage at the 2026 Newport Jazz Festival on July 31, bassist Greg Bryant and pianist Paul Horton of Concurrence were playing their way through the history of North Nashville: the clubs and communities that once surrounded Jefferson Street, the construction of Interstate 40 through them and the musical possibilities that disappeared with the physical places that had sustained them. The pair were showing that what is gone can still have life in music. Halfway through the duo’s Newport Jazz Festival debut set, Bryant asked the audience to consider where they were standing. Fort Adams had served as a summer White House during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency, which meant that 70 years after Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, a Black bassist from Nashville was standing on grounds associated with his presidency, performing music about what happened when the interstate system reached North Nashville. The historical symmetry is almost indecently tidy.
News
Back to School
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What Metro Nashville Public Schools Faces This School Year
As school heads back into session for the 2026-27 year, Metro Nashville Public Schools faces a number of new challenges, opportunities and mandates that affect students, teachers and families. From new laws from the state legislature to increased state spending on vouchers to new school start times and a giant budget, MNPS starts the year with a bevy of things on the slate. Here are a few of the larger items facing the district:
MNPS Makes Adjustment to School Start and End Times
After community input and surveys to families last year, Metro Nashville Public Schools will start this year with a new schedule. Start and end times for elementary, middle and high school will now be staggered, with later start times for high school and elementary and no change to the middle school schedule. The Metro Nashville Board of Education voted to approve the schedule ahead of the 2026-27 school year.
Features
Who’s on the ballot this election season?
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For this special election edition, The Contributor worked to create a mini guide of all the offices and candidates for whom you might be asked to check a box in this year’s election.
News
World Cup Fever Hits Nashville
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Every four years, World Cup Fever takes over the summer when the globe’s biggest sporting event returns. The quadrennial competition holds extra resonance for local soccer fans this time around.
News
Safe Streets Can’t Come Soon Enough
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Metro and Mayor Freddie O’Connell have been promoting a Vision Zero goal to eliminate fatalities and injuries on the roads in Nashville, but advocates have called for the city to move faster.
Features
Summer Reading
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As is our annual tradition, The Contributor brings you our annual list of books that can take you somewhere the algorithm might not allow.
