TrueSouth episode 3 review: Nashville, TN
Nashville is grappling with its new reality as a trendy moving destination while trying to hang onto the history that made it a great southern city.
By: Bossman Slim
The sands are shifting beneath our feet in the modern south. The agrarian lifestyle that spawned our world-renowned culture, religion, attitudes and the likes of Hank Williams and The Highwaymen is giving way to urban sprawl, apathy, glitzy high rises and “boyfriend country.” Like many cities in the Bible Belt, modern Nashville finds itself in a tug of war between tradition and trendy.
This week, we join host John T. Edge in this rapidly changing capital city of Tennessee. In 2019, 82 people a day moved to Music City. Added up, that’s 30,000+ in one year and 2% growth. The city is now home to close to 1.8 million people. As Peter Cooper, editor-in-residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame points out, construction cranes are as prominent in Nashville’s skyline as the famous AT&T building. Nashville is busting at the seams.
At one point in 2019, it was reported that Nashville had reached the legal limit of cranes. (Photo: Shelley Mays, The Tennessean)
Quick aside: it’s striking to watch an episode that first aired in the fall of 2018. We were all on the titanic headed for a big viral iceberg, blissfully unaware of the calamity that lay ahead. You won’t find a mask in sight in this episode, a refreshing reminder that we’ll get back there soon. And aside from seeing everyone’s faces and smiles, it’s also great to see lines out the door and packed cafeterias at the restaurants we’ll get to in just a moment. Hang in there, folks.
As glossy 20+ story buildings pop up all over the city, the food scene is also undergoing an evolution. The famous meat and three’s that were once a Nashville staple are disappearing at an alarming rate. Now, the city is known for Nashville Hot Chicken - which, admittedly, I absolutely love. But before that, it was soul food and country cookin’ at the meat and threes. Now, if you aren’t from Nashville, you may wonder what the hell a “meat and three” is.
It’s a restaurant with a cafeteria vibe, but don’t mistake it for your dingy high school cafeteria or for its cardboard food. This is real, mama’s-been-up-since-3 am-cooking food with a heaping side of love. When you walk in, you get a choice of the meat being served that day, be it chicken, ham, meatloaf, catfish, hamburger steak, etc. Next, you pick three sides that are going to stick to your bones: mac n’ cheese, collard greens, green beans, black-eyed peas, creamed corn, etc. It’s working-class food. It’s soul food. And, the internet tells me, it’s typically topped off with a piece of cornbread and a generous cup of fine southern sweet tea. Hallelujah.
A typical meat and three plate from Bishop’s in nearby Franklin, TN (Photo: Serenity Joy Miller, Williamson Source)
Now, while the tides of change may be taking old favorites like the beloved Pie Wagon meat and three with every wave of newcomers that strike shore, not all sand is shifting. Some sand is sturdy as a rock, even in the midst of profound shifts. The sand I’m talking about is silver, and it’s just northeast of Downtown Nashville.
Sophia Vaughn runs Silver Sands Café, a rock in the community for three generations. Even through a TV screen, it feels like the walls are wrapping you in a warm embrace just like when you walk in the door to your family home. And all who walk in feel that love that comes from Sophia - old and young, rich and poor, white and black. Watching Sophia work and talk about her kitchen and the love she has for her people reminds me of “The Giver,” a song by another Nashville native, singer/songwriter Nathan Colberg. It’s a song about being down on yourself, down on your luck, and going to God. Many in this position are in luck if they wander into Silver Sands because a guardian angel runs the kitchen. No one will go hungry here.
Sophia Vaughn is “The Giver” of Nashville.
So if they aren’t going hungry, what are they eating? Some of the best dang soul food you’ll find in America. Just scroll John T.’s social feeds for a minute - you’ll find plenty of references to Silver Sands. It’s an institution. Each day has a different meat front and center. On Sunday, get ready for oxtails and turkey and dressing. On Tuesday, hog maws, baked ribs and pork steak. It’s a delightful surprise to see what you’ll get on any given day if you aren’t a regular who has memorized every detail of the menu - and we don’t blame you if you have. After choosing your protein, you’ll have the impossible choice of choosing three sides. When you’ve got apples, cabbage, coleslaw, corn, mac n’ cheese, mashed potatoes, okra, potato salad, spinach, squash, and sweet potatoes to choose from, the decision is not easy. I’d sure be holding up the line.
If I add another picture like this in here y’all may eat your screen. I know The Waco Kid would. (Photo: @SilverSandsCafé)
While Silver Sands stays steady to the north, Arnold’s Country Kitchen faces the winds of change head-on in Pie Town south of Downtown Nashville. Like Silver Sands, Arnold’s is a community icon. It’s been standing since 1982, started by a man who lived between country boy and city-slicker named Jack Arnold. He started it along with his wife Rose, who still helps run the place today beside her affable son Khalil Arnold. I don’t think either of them has met a stranger, and it sounds like Jack was the same way. When you come to Arnold’s, you’re going to find a big helping of meat and three dang good sides that will take you back to old Nashville right here in 2021.
Watching the episode, I can’t help but notice that this is a sports town. This is an SEC Football blog at its heart. Sports symbols are all over the episode, starting with a man walking out of Arnold’s with a big Vols “T” on a bright orange shirt. Nashville country artist Gabe Lee talks about how “Ol’ Smokey is losing again” in one of his great songs, and they often have over the past few years. But on this day, that man was most certainly winning. There are also a few Tennessee Titans appearances - in a flag on the wall proclaiming “Titan Up!” and a decal on the hat of one of the food servers. Nashville still clings to those roots of sports, a binding force, like glue for a city undergoing transformation.
These restaurants stand as metaphorical rocks. While change rapidly takes place around them, there are still pillars of our culture tying us to our roots. Places that make you remember what home tastes like: love, a “how you doin’ sweetie,” a smile and a laugh with someone like Khalil Arnold, and the warm aroma of some home-cooked food emanating from the kitchen.
They say the only constant in life is change. That’s true. But in the midst of great change, it’s good to remember the roots and where we came from. It can inform us of where we’re going, and how we can move together as one American people, united. And it starts right there in places like Arnold’s and Sophia Vaughn’s Silver Sands Café.
You can visit Nashville by watching this episode now on ESPN+ or set your DVR for the next airing on SEC Network. No announcement on a new episode for next week, so we’ll keep going in rewind on season one. Next Monday we’ll head to visit some Dawgs in Athens, GA. See you there next Monday Between the Hedges.