Read (short form)
- Project Stella: How Nashville scored its new Alliance (Nashville Business Journal) (PDF)
- Nashville is Haslam’s Business Now (Nashville Business Journal) (PDF)
Read (long form)
- Fortunes, fiddles & fried chicken: a Nashville business history (Library)
A business history that is both accurate and interesting is a rare find. In this comprehensive volume, Bill Carey tells the inside stories of the most important businesses in Nashville history, mixing fascinating anecdotes with bottom-line analyses to give a perspective of Nashville that has never been captured before. It’s a complete history of Genesco, an apparel giant led by Maxey Jarman that fell on hard times in the 1970s. Carey chronicles the National Life & Accident Insurance Co., a business so important that it helped Nashville become the home of country music and a major tourist destination. He also tells the bizarre saga of Minnie Pearl’s Fried Chicken, a company founded by brothers John Jay and Henry Hooker that went from stock market darling to legendary failure in only a few months.
- Hot, hot chicken: a Nashville story (Library)
These days, hot chicken is a “must-try” Southern food. Restaurants in New York, Detroit, Cambridge, and even Australia advertise that they fry their chicken “Nashville-style.” Thousands of people attend the Music City Hot Chicken Festival each year. The James Beard Foundation has given Prince’s Chicken Shack an American Classic Award for inventing the dish. But for almost seventy years, hot chicken was made and sold primarily in Nashville’s Black neighborhoods–and the story of hot chicken says something powerful about race relations in Nashville, especially as the city tries to figure out what it will be in the future. Hot, Hot Chicken recounts the history of Nashville’s Black communities through the story of its hot chicken scene from the Civil War, when Nashville became a segregated city, through the tornado that ripped through North Nashville in March 2020.
Analyze
- Nashville Health Care Council Family Tree (link)
The Nashville Healthcare Industry Family Tree, produced by the Council, is a unique illustration of Nashville’s solution as an unparalleled healthcare industry capital. Through the continued success of market leaders and flourishing startups and the support of Council members, community partners, and the region’s positive business climate, the industry has grown to a global footprint of more than 500,000 jobs and $97 billion in annual revenue. More than 750 companies are listed on the Family Tree, chronicling the history of Nashville’s healthcare industry, and serving as a symbol of the interconnectivity and innovation that defines Nashville’s healthcare expertise.
- Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce 2022 Vital Signs Report (link)
The Chamber’s leadership team published the first Nashville Region’s Vital Signs in 2013, following a visit to Toronto for an annual Leadership Study Mission where delegates observed the program in action. Initially developed by Community Foundations of Canada in 2001, the Vital Signs program uses a comprehensive approach to identify and resolve key community issues while providing a detailed look at quality-of-life indicators that impact the region.
- Nashville Databook Report (PDF)
Watch
- For The Love Of Music: The Story Of Nashville (YouTube)
For over 130 years, Nashville has evolved into the world’s premier Music City. From the 1800s when the Fisk Jubilee Singers travelled across continents spreading their music, to Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and so many others building the foundation of America’s most vibrant music scene. Today, the evolution continues as artists like The Black Keys, Eric Church and Kings of Leon break new ground in the city they all call home. We’ve created a one-hour documentary that tells this story in its entirety through the eyes of the musicians, songwriters, producers and artists who live and breathe the inspiration of this great city.
Listen – Circle Back Podcast Series
Circle Back Podcast is produced by the Nashville Entrepreneur Center where we listen to Entrepreneurial success stories from big ideas to big success. Nashville’s brightest are invited to recount defining moments in their journeys, while offering inspiration and tips towards success. They are circling back to pay it forward for the next generation of founders and innovation.
- Suggested Episodes