Nashville Public Radio recently launched a new daily update to keep Middle Tennesseans in-the-know about regional and national news, plus all the Music Discovery goodness happening over here on WNXP. In celebration of this spotlight on our fair city — and I hope you’ll sign up to receive The NashVillager here — we took a tour of other towns around the U.S., and the world, with a special cities-themed hour featuring your great requests.
Stream the April 27 #ThematicStatic ( ) and pipe up with requests for future shows on the socials @WNXPNashville!
#ThematicStatic Playlist – 4/27/23
A Tribe Called Quest – “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” – Emily on Instagram got us started with this banger.
St. Vincent – “Los Ageless” – As Anne introduced, St. Vincent went bicoastal on her Masseduction record with songs about both L.A. and New York. Lexi and Lansing also mentioned this artist.
They Might Be Giants – “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” – Leigh and Pamela agreed on this one from the classic 1990 record Flood, which TMBG just revived here in Nashville at two Brooklyn bowl shows.
R.E.M. – “Texarkana” – Early Adopter of #ThematicStatic, Danny, submitted this request. Is it about Texas? Arkansas? Like another song later in the set, we can only guess because there are often duplicated town names just across state lines. (Do you live in a “most repeats” American city? Hollering at you, Franklinites.)
Nina Simone – “Baltimore” – Well before The Wire, Nina was singing about the scenes and feels of this city:
Hard times in the city
“Baltimore”
In a hard town by the sea
Ain’t nowhere to run to
There ain’t nothin’ here for free
John Prine ft. Melba Montgomery – “Milwaukee, Here I Come” – Kevin named this song, and of course there are multiple versions of the great country duet (George and Tammy, Porter and Dolly). But in this household, when given the chance to play John Prine on the radio, you play John Prine on the radio.
Silver Jews – “Dallas” – Prine followed by Berman, and this suddenly doubles as a Nashville greats tribute show. Laura and Nathan talked about the cities theme at the dinner table and lobbed this request my way. Happy belated birthday, Laura!
The Band – “Atlantic City” – Another Emily mentioned this one and I could’ve played The Boss but The Band’s version is a classic, too.
Joni Mitchell – “Morning, Morgantown” – Here’s a lovely folk ditty about Zach’s hometown in West Virginia:
Ladies in their rainbow fashions
“Morning, Morgantown”
Colored stop and go lights flashing
We’ll wink at total strangers passing in
Morning, Morgantown
Superchunk – “Detroit Has a Skyline” – This one, to which Steve alluded, is a ripper from the indie rock legends (and Merge Records founders) out of the NC Triangle.
Fats Domino – “Kansas City” – Will, Leigh and Robert all cited this one on social media.
Glen Campbell – “Galveston” – A third Texas city and a real twangy addition to an already crunch show, this one was requested by Lee via voice memo.
LCD Soundsystem – “New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”– Nathan might be thinking about enjoying this Re:Set Festival headliner in Nashville, TBD if James Murphy will croon about his own city here in ours.
Ian Hunter – “Cleveland Rocks” – And the Drew Carey Show cast just magically appeared in-studio to finish the show. More radio magic, thank you, Jeany, for making it so.
