A free Nashville newsletter for people who plan ahead
Sundays at 6 PM: the week ahead, because weeknights matter. Thursday mornings: the weekend, decided. No fixed count — some weekends it's four things, some it's ten — always the best, not just the biggest, plus a Plan A and a Plan B. And the rare heads-up when a ticket window can't wait. No 200-event listings. Just the call.
Free. Sundays and Thursdays, plus the rare heads-up. Unsubscribe in one click, no hard feelings.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026). Read the whole thing →
What you get
Listings are everywhere. What's rare is someone who has already read all of them, checked the dates, and is willing to tell you what to do.
Sundays · 6 PM
The week, decided — including the weeknights, which matter as much as the weekend. What's worth leaving the house for, what to book, and what can wait.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026): Monell's Victorian Christmas Dinner, Dec 3–5, 10–13 and 16–24 — reservations by phone only. This is the week to pick your date, not the week after Thanksgiving.
Thursday mornings
Friday through Sunday, decided. No fixed count. Some weekends it's four things, some it's ten — always the best, not just the biggest. Plus a Plan A and a Plan B for the weather, so the plan survives a forecast.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026): Christmas by Lamplight at The Hermitage, Friday 6:00 PM — $50, and it has to be booked ahead.
Rare · when it can't wait
Presale and on-sale times in Central time, each one confirmed on the venue's or artist's official page before we print it. If a ticket window or must-book item can't wait for Sunday or Thursday, we'll send a short Heads Up. If registration already closed, we say so, so you don't waste a lunch hour.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026): Noah Kahan public on-sale, Thu Nov 12, 12:00 PM CT, via SeatGeek — not Ticketmaster. Be logged in before noon.
Why it's different
The week decided, the right number for the weekend — always the best, not just the biggest — and a Plan B when it rains. The hard part of going out isn't finding options. It's choosing, and we do that part.
Book-soon and last-chance alerts, presale windows in Central time, and a verified-vs-reported label on every sale time. We only print what an official page confirms.
Expired events roll off the board every day. When we get one wrong, we fix it at the top of the next issue: Punk Wok is back was a correction, printed at the top, not quietly deleted.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026). The seller caveat is the whole point: Nashville is the exception on this tour, and Ticketmaster won't get you in.
Built on a working planner, not a blank page
This newsletter grew out of a planning workbook one Nashville family has been keeping for itself. It already covers the next nine months, so the picks come from a system, not a scramble.
days already planned, through next August
event mentions gathered, deduplicated and sorted
Best Bets flagged and ready to be argued over
standing lenses, from Rain Plan to Resale Watch
Figures as of November 2026, from a planner that already covers the next nine months.
Straight from the sample issue
The Good Call
The candlelit mansion tour is the weekend's best single ticket: $50, Friday or Saturday at 6:00 PM, and it has to be booked ahead.
Hear Them First
Record-release celebration, Thursday 4:00 PM, free and all ages. A young duo on the way up, in the smallest room they'll play all year.
One last table
Saturday is the last day, with a farewell celebration from 5 PM. Twenty-plus years of brisket ends this weekend; expect a line and go early.
From a sample issue (Nov 12, 2026). Read the full sample →
Who's writing this
"We built the planner for ourselves first. The newsletter is just us showing our work."
We're Jeff and Leigh. Jeff's a native Nashvillian, and we go out a lot together — shows at the Ryman, dinners we had to book three weeks ahead, Saturday mornings that need a kid-friendly plan and a rain plan. Somewhere along the way the spreadsheet we kept for our family got good enough that friends started asking for it.
So this is that spreadsheet, with the decisions already made. We'll tell you when we went and how it was. If we send you somewhere and it's not worth it, you'll hear that from us first.
Join before the Nov 19 launch
Good things. A little advance notice. Free, Sundays and Thursdays, plus the rare heads-up.
We'll never sell your address. Unsubscribe anytime.