The Most-Read Arts and Culture Posts of 2020

Ay-oh! This year is over. We don’t know what horrible news, acts of God and heinous deeds are in store for 2021. But let’s enjoy today, New Year’s Eve. Here are the 10 most-read posts and stories of the year in our Arts and Culture section, which comprises books, classical, film, performance art, theater, TV, comedy, visual art, and our personal essay column Vodka Yonic.

1. International Treasure Dolly Parton Will Now Read Us Bedtime Stories, March 30, 2020

The Good Night With Dolly web series announcement hit readers hard in the first weeks of the pandemic — in a good way. This post fills the No. 1 slot on the Scene’s website overall, with over 300,000 views. Dolly forever.

2. Caroline Randall Williams to Read Her Brilliant New York Times Op-Ed Live, June 29, 2020

Williams is among Nashville’s most talented writers, and the rest of the world finally caught on in June when The New York Times published her essay “You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument.” 

3. Tennessee's McKamey Manor: Torture on Demand, Feb. 22, 2018

Megan Seling’s cover story on the notorious haunt has topped the charts ever since it was published in early 2018 — and for good reason. 

4. Jimmy Hoffa, a Nashville Courtroom, and an Assassination Attempt, Nov. 22, 2019

When The Irishman came out late last year, editor-in-chief and Scorsese fanatic D. Patrick Rodgers fired off a post to boost a two-part cover story penned by our beloved late editor Jim Ridley in 2002. Ridley tells the story of the attempt on Jimmy Hoffa’s life that took place in a Nashville courtroom in 1962. It’s absolutely riveting. Part one is here; part two is here. 

5. Watch Suspended Gravity’s In the Eye, Dec. 14, 2020

Not all of our most-read posts are about famous people and creepy entrepreneurs. This recent plug for movement group Suspended Gravity garnered plenty of clicks when Kindling Arts Festival premiered the vid earlier this month. 

6. End of Story, March 5, 1998

The country-music gossip mill was turning in 1998, when Beverly Keel wrote this story about a breakup between Alan and Denise Jackson. The couple got back together, but their dramatic story is still attracting readers. If you know why, let us know in the comments. 

7. Calling All Artists: Out of Work? Work for Free!, May 18, 2020 

A chief benefit of my job is being able to complain in public. I try not to abuse it. But when a huge developer announced a “contest” that would “allow” artists to paint a mural on the developer’s property for free, it gave me agita, and you liked it. xo 

8. Don't want to go to college, eh? Here's a dirty secret — you don't have to. Aug. 28, 2014

The economic crisis has left young people floundering, and Megan Seling’s 2014 personal essay hit home for many. 

9. Music Docs Rock the Nashville Film Festival, Oct. 8, 2020

The Nashville Film Festival went virtual this year, and Joe Nolan praised films about The Bee Gees, José Feliciano, The Pozo Seco Singers and the late Nashville singer-songwriter David Olney. 

10. Everything You (N)ever Wanted to Know About Very Cavallari, March 20, 2019

You also like trash TV, and that’s fine by us. You read Ashley Brantley’s take on Very Cavallari a lot. 

Thank you for reading! And Happy New Year.