Nashville Lifestyles Magazine April 2020

This issue may be my favorite of the year, although that would be like picking your favorite child! Our team of food writers (award-winning food writers, at that) are giving you their list of their favorite new restaurants to try. We’ve seen roughly 100 open in the past year, so you have a long list to try. I haven’t even been to all of them yet, myself. So, loosen up your belts! It’s time to eat. In addition to the new places, we give you the Ultimate Restaurant Guide. This is my Bible of what to eat and where to go. I suggest keeping this issue on your coffee table year-round. Also, I want to let you know that we are planning some great food events. We are hosting a brand-new…

Hello, readers and friends! I’m sure you’ll notice some changes to this issue, and I want to address them up front. As you know, it’s a strange time in the world, and as I write you this on March 13, many of the events we planned to run in our calendar have been cancelled. In light of that, and with the threat of more cancellations looming, we have decided not to run our calendar in this issue for the very first time. We promise to keep you up to date on events and their cancellations, reschedulings, and triumphant returns on our website, nashvillelifestyles.com. Hopefully, by our May issue we will be back to business as usual—even if it’s a slightly different kind of business as usual. We appreciate each and every one…

These are weird and unprecedented times. As I am writing this, bars and restaurants around the country are making a tough decision: to close or keep their doors open. This includes Tailor Nashville, whose food graces our cover. Schools are closed. Events large and small are cancelled. Nashville is still cleaning up from the massive tornado that ripped through the city. And we’re not even allowed to give each other hugs. I’m still trying to decide if this issue is hitting at the very worst or very best time. I tend toward optimism, so hopefully, even if you’re not able to eat at the places listed in these pages right this moment, you’ll hold onto the magazine until you’re able to get out to support all restaurants—new, as well as the tried-and-true favorites. This…

Laura Veltz is living the Nashville dream, which is ironic since it’s one she didn’t know to have. After growing up with a musical family who moved around constantly, she moved to New York in her 20s. During her 10 years there, she says she never felt at home, but she did discover songwriting as an outlet for her emotions and childhood traumas. Once she embraced the craft, she made her way to Nashville on the advice of a mentor. Since then, she’s become one of Music City’s most sought-after songwriters, penning No. 1 hits including Maren Morris’ latest hit, “The Bones,” and Dan + Shay’s Grammy-winning “Speechless.” Age: 40 From rock bottom to chart-topper: In New York, I wrote songs purely out of desperation. I was just really unhappy, but I was…

Ashley McBryde arrived on the mainstream country radar just a few short years ago, turning heads with an uncompromising take-me-or-leave-me attitude. It was a welcome moment of substance over style in a genre struggling to prove it values female voices. But after being rewarded with a series of awards-show wins and three more nods at this month’s Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, she’s doubling down on Never Will (out April 3). … Just don’t expect her to be the face of someone else’s rebellion. “I’m nobody’s poster child, but I’ll walk up this hill with anybody,” she says of the fight to get more women on country radio. Walking her own line of country creativity, McBryde once again teamed with fellow anti-hero Jay Joyce to create her second album, turning in…

Just as the blush of 150,000 spring bulbs permeates Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, Dale Chihuly’s otherworldly glass sculptures will deliver their own stamp of vibrancy. Opening on April 25 (through Nov. 1), 10 years after the glass sculptor’s first exhibit there, the “Chihuly at Cheekwood” exhibit is poised to delight visitors with the whimsical forms and transparent hues of giant glass sculptures. Pieces such as Sapphire Star, which looks like a giant blue dandelion, and Icicle Tower, a 34-foot behemoth containing nearly 2,000 pieces of glass, were crafted in Chihuly’s Seattle studio. Such hand-blown glass sculptures will be installed throughout the estate’s 55 acres, in various ponds and within the Museum of Art and Frist Learning Center. Two sculptures were designed specifically for this exhibition. Chihuly has been hailed as the greatest…