WNXP and Nashville Public Radio are proud to announce a new podcast series about the people in the music industry who make music work: Music Citizens. Each episode will explore the behind the scenes jobs of music’s working class and the folks who do them. Episode one features The End’s owner/operator Bruce Fitzpatrick, “The Lifer.”
Music Citizens launches its first episode on Thursday, June 20, on 91.ONE FM, at wnxp.org and through all podcast outlets. Subscribe to WNXP’s podcast channel here. Following the premiere, WNXP is hosting a free launch party and concert at The End (2219 Elliston Place) on Friday, June 21.
“The folks featured in Music Citizens are often well-known within their worlds but largely uncelebrated outside of them, and since Nashville has the highest percentage of music business workers of anywhere in the world, there is no better place to tell these stories,” said WNXP Program Director Jason Moon Wilkins. “While so much of the discourse around the music business focuses on bad behavior of high-profile figures or corporations, we know that the vast majority of those who dedicate their lives to music do so because they love it, and their day-to-day contributions can be easily overlooked and underappreciated.”
The celebration at The End on June 21 happens to coincide with Bruce Fitzpatrick’s 81st birthday, and the performers include acts he’s hosted at the venue over several decades (Jason Ringenberg led Jason & the Scorchers, who played their first-ever show on a bill Fitzpatrick booked in the ’80s; Pujol has been a frequent performer at The End since the 2010s; and Brennan Wedl is a rising star in Music City signed to the legendary indie label Kill Rock Stars).
Music Citizens is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts Thrive, and the First Horizon Foundation. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
