This year's Nourish dinner will be held at the Nashville Farmers' Market on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 6 p.m. Out-of-town chefs Hugh Acheson from Five and Ten in Athens, Ga., and Empire State South in Atlanta (and Top Chef judging fame) and Rob Newton of Seersucker in Brooklyn will be joined by a host of Nashville favorites. The home team includes Phil Krajeck (Rolf and Daughters), Matt Bolus (some new venture that we haven't been able to pry out of him yet despite liberal application of pressure and whiskey), Megan Williams (Etch), Hal Holden-Bache (Lockeland Table) and Karl Worley (Biscuit Love Truck). Together they will plan and execute a fantastic evening of food and wine that should be a whole lot of fun. One of the highlights from last year came when several of the visiting chefs chowed down on Nashville hot chicken after the dinner service, much to chagrin of several of them.

If you're interested in attending, more information (including a special patrons' event at the Bluebird Cafe) and tickets are available here. Don't dawdle because this will sell out!

Also part of the team is chef Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto restaurant in New York (and Season 2 of Top Chef Masters), who became friends with the Followills. He helped hatch the plan to make the festival a showcase both local chefs and nationally known culinary figures (his buddies, as he puts it). It adds up to a couple dozen chefs, a pretty impressive lineup.

Locals include Erik Anderson and Josh Habiger of The Catbird Seat; Carey Bringle of The Peg Leg Porker; Matt Farley of The Southern; Sarah Gavigan of Otaku South; Joseph Lenn of The Barn at Blackberry Farm; Pat Martin of Martin’s Bar-B-Que; Deb Paquette of Etch; Giovanni Pinato of Giovanni Ristorante; Barclay Stratton of Merchants; and Tandy Wilson of City House, who hosted yesterday's festival announcement.

Besides Waxman, the out-of-town guns include John Besh; Tom Colicchio; Giada De Laurentiis; Mike Lata; Edward Lee; Tim Love; Aaron Sanchez; Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo; Nancy Silverton; Michael Symon; and Trisha Yearwood (who in addition to being a country star has authored best-selling cookbooks and has a show on Food Network).

Check out the video above, in which Waxman talks about how impressed he is by Nashville's restaurants and food community: "The current scene is just blossoming like crazy. And it's not repetitive, which is really nice. You don't have everybody doing the same menu." He adds that the Nashville scene keeps getting better, "and I think the festival will help with that expansion, create more of a broader platform."

Tickets go on sale here at 10 a.m. this Friday, May 17. The festival is set for Sept. 21-22 in downtown Nashville.

One of the celebrity chefs involved is Jonathan Waxman of Barbuto in New York, who is a friend of the Followills. He's quoted in today's press release:

“Nashville, long admired for its music and hospitality, has had an enormous explosion of culinary talent in recent years,” said Jonathan Waxman. “A few years ago Caleb Followill quietly slipped into my restaurant Barbuto in New York, and we bonded over food and music, and throughout our many conversations, he kept asking why there wasn't a Food & Wine festival in his hometown of Nashville. So this year, we are doing it, and we are inviting some truly amazing chefs from around the country, and most importantly the best chefs and restaurants in Nashville. I am extremely excited by our shindig, and the Kings and I can't wait until September rolls around.”

The festival will take over Public Square Park with "cooking demos, panel discussions, book signings, and the Flavors of Nashville, where the city’s top chefs and restaurants will serve their Southern dishes and fabled Nashville favorites, along with distinguished wine, beer and spirits purveyors on Saturday, and a new batch of chefs and restaurants dishing up a Revival Brunch on Sunday."

Saturday night will bring Harvest Night, a food event, and Petty Fest, a musical tribute to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "hosted by the Kings of Leon and the Cabin Down Below Band, along with many other very special guests." The venue for those events is War Memorial Plaza and Auditorium.

Flavors of Nashville features local chefs including Erik Anderson and Josh Habiger (The Catbird Seat); Carey Bringle (The Peg Leg Porker); Matt Farley (The Southern); Sarah Gavigan (Otaku South); Joseph Lenn (The Barn at Blackberry Farm); Pat Martin (Martin’s Bar-B-Que); Deb Paquette (Etch); Giovanni Pinato (Giovanni Ristorante); Barclay Stratton (Merchants); and Tandy Wilson (City House).

Harvest Night will feature Waxman and a dozen or so other nationally known chefs.

After the jump, see the press release with the full list of chefs and details on ticket options, which include festival passes ranging from $275 to $500.

• Photo: Eric England
• Alice Randall

Oliver’s Nashville ambassador, author Alice Randall, will mark the day locally with the inaugural Garden Glove Field Lunch. Randall, whose 2012 novel Ada’s Rules chronicles a woman’s effort to reclaim her life by reforming her patterns of nutrition and exercise, is teaming up with Green Door Gourmet owner Sylvia Ganier for an alfresco feast in the fields. Guests will tour Ganier’s Hidden Valley Farm and sit down to a meal overflowing with vegetables picked fresh in the morning and prepared with the creativity and flair that made Ganier’s restaurant Cibo a longtime downtown landmark.

Garden Glove Field Lunch takes place 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday at 7011 River Road. The event is open to the public; admission is $30. You can register online here.

The Music City chapter of Girls' Pint Out will be dropping by {PUB}licity out in Bellevue at 7073 Highway 70S to enjoy specially priced beers and giveaways. If you're a beer fan and happen to be femaile, Tuesday night be a good time to drop by starting at about 7 and find out what the informal group is all about. I'm sure they won't kick any boys out of the clubhouse either. (Dudes, that's what Maverick would call a "target-rich environment.")

Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery will be offering specials all week in honor of ACBW, including $3 pints/$2-10 oz; $8 growler fills; and $5 samplers. (High-gravity beers excluded.) This Thursday night, May 16, Blackstone will participate in a nationwide toast at 7 p.m. Blackstone co-owner Kent Taylor will be at the brewpub that evening and invites beer lovers from all over to join him and also "raise a glass" to celebrate American craft beer.

For more information and to find out about even more events this week, check out the official website at CraftBeer.com.

I'm a big fan of the arts, but I must admit that one thing I have never tried is opera. Apparently, we have a pretty good one in town, but it's just never risen to the top of my to-do list. But they are trying to excite folks like me with some new grassroots marketing efforts, and now they've gone and hit my sweet spot.

From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. this Tuesday, May 14, the Nashville Opera is throwing a "Beers and Baritones" flash mob at Fat Bottom Brewery at 909 Main St. Members of the Nashville Opera Chorus will scatter themselves among civilian drinking patrons to lead sing-alongs of some of opera's most famous drinking songs.

Is it really a flash mob if everybody knows about it in advance because information is posted on Facebook and Bites? Maybe not, but it still sounds like fun, and $1 of every beer purchased that evening will go to Nashville Opera. Warm up your pipes and get ready to join in the fun. If you want some advance practice, you can check out this list of "The Top 10 Operatic Drinking Songs" from The Operavore.

Casa Azafrán is a project of Conexión Américas. It is a collaborative nonprofit community center, with seven nonprofits working in one 17,000-square-foot building to provide services to local families They have a commercial kitchen and provide a licensed, affordable space for small food businesses to launch and develop.

This Sunday, May 12, Casa Azafrán will host chef Carlos Davis of Riffs Fine Street Food as he creates a locally sourced buffet brunch complete with Bleu Cheese Biscuits with Sorghum Butter, Porter Road Butcher Sausage and Shrimp and Grits. Thirty percent of the ticket price will be donated to Conexión Américas to support their efforts to help Latino families realize their aspirations for social and economic advancement by promoting their integration into all aspects of life in Middle Tennessee.

Tickets are $26.50 for adults and $12.50 for children and are available here. The brunch will be served from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Sunday. You can make reservations for a specific time block when you pre-purchase your tickets, so Mom shouldn't have to wait too long for those good eats.

• Sam Tucker

They have fixed that problem in a big way by hiring Sam Tucker, former sous chef at Watermark who you remember cooking alongside Laura Wilson at The Turnip Truck and at the Scene Iron Fork competition. Tucker has created a menu that he describes as "Southern with a European accent." The list of dishes focuses on local and seasonal ingredients, and one item has already begun to make quite a splash with Eighth and Roast regulars, a breakfast sandwich featuring Tennessee bacon, gruyere, and local eggs served on a fresh baked ciabatta bread. Tucker acquired his baking chops early in his culinary career when he worked at Great Harvest Bread Co. and other spots, so his selections of breads, scones and assorted pastries are notable. He also makes many gluten-free options for the celiacs who are looking for a sweet treat.

Food service hours are 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday (coffee available until 6 p.m.); Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday (coffee is available until 6 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday).

If you want to sample some of Tucker's cuisine, the store is holding a “Try Our Food” open house this Saturday, May 11. Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., patrons can enjoy a hearty sampler plate for just $5, which will include four large samples of Eighth and Roast’s new menu items. You don't even have to wake up early on a Saturday!

This year's slate of restaurants and food purveyors is again impressive:

55 South
Amerigo Italian Restaurant
Bella Nashville
Caffe Nonna
Chappy’s Seafood Restaurant
Cork & Cow
Fido
Goo Goo Clusters
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Kickin' Coffee and Tea
Kohana Japanese Restaurant
Kroger Chef Shoppes
Legato Gelato
Marché Artisan Foods
Margot Café & Bar
Mason's
McConnell House
Midtown Café
Miel Restaurant
Mirko Pasta
Nashville State Community College
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Perl
Pied Piper Creamery
Porta Via Italian Kitchen
Porter Road Butcher
Provence Breads & Café
{PUB}licity
Red Pony
Riff’s Fine Street Food
Riviera Provincial Grill
Second Harvest Food Bank Culinary Arts Center
Something Special
Soy Bistro
Sunset Grill
The Bloomy Rind
The Mad Platter
The Turnip Truck
Urban Grub
Yellow Porch

The brews will come from Yazoo's new Embrace the Funk series, plus a great selection of other funky/wild beers selected by Yazoo staff. Yazoo honcho Linus Hall describes the new roster of beers thusly:

Late last year, we started brewing a series of sour ales based on the Belgian tradition of inoculating beers with souring “bugs” and fermenting the beers in used wine barrels with other “wild” yeasts. The beers take a long time to develop in the barrels, but we have several beers that are finally ready. One is “Wild Child,” a smoky sour ale aged in wine barrels with brettanomyces and cherries. Another is “Rufus,” a collaboration blend we did with New Belgium Brewery — a beer we brewed with two different brettanomyces strains, blackberries and black currants, and blended with “Oscar,” New Belgium’s base sour beer for blends like their “La Folie.”

The Bloomy Rind's cheesemonger Kathleen Cotter has promised to bring the funk with some cheeses that will reward the intrepid eater with tremendous flavors.

DJs John Brassil and Doyle Davis (the co-owner of Grimey’s) will be spinning their favorite funk tunes to keep the party hopping. If you remember Doyle's famous "D-Funk" sets from his WRVU days, you know that he'll be digging into the deep tracks to free yo' mind. Your ass will most certainly follow.

Tickets for a day of funky fun are $50 and are available at the event website. As my musical senpai Regi Wooten frequently told me, "What's'n ever it is, it's gots to be funky!"