Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Nashville
settlement type	Consolidated city–county
image seal	Nashvilleseal.png
nickname	Music City, Athens of the South
map caption	Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee.
pushpin map	USA Tennessee
coordinates region	US-TN
coordinates display	inline,title
subdivision type	Country
subdivision name	United States
subdivision type1	State
subdivision name1	Tennessee
subdivision type2	County
subdivision name2	Davidson
established title	Founded
established date	1779
established title2	Incorporated
established date2	1806
named for	Francis Nash
leader party	D
leader title	Mayor
leader name	Karl Dean
unit pref	US
total type	Consolidated
area footnotes
area total sq mi	527.9
area land sq mi	504.0
area water sq mi	23.9
elevation ft	597
population total	635,710
population metro	1,582,264
population blank1 title	Balance
population blank1	605,473
population as of	2009
population density sq mi	auto
population demonym	Nashvillians
timezone1	CST
utc offset1	-6
timezone1 dst	CDT
utc offset1 dst	-5
postal code type	ZIP codes
postal code	37201-37250
area code	615
blank1 name sec1	Interstates
blank1 info sec1	I-40, I-24, I-65, and I-440
blank2 name sec1	Waterways
blank2 info sec1	Cumberland River
blank3 name sec1	Airports
blank3 info sec1	Nashville International Airport
blank4 name sec1	Public transit
blank4 info sec1	Nashville MTA
blank5 name sec1	Regional rail
blank5 info sec1	Music City Star
website
footnotes	}}

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home to a large number of colleges and universities. It is most notably known as a center of the music industry, earning it the nickname "Music City".

Nashville has a consolidated city–county government which includes seven smaller municipalities in a two-tier system. The population of Nashville-Davidson County stood at 635,710 as of the 2009 census estimates, according to United States Census Bureau. This makes it the second largest city in Tennessee, after Memphis. This also makes Nashville the fourth largest city in the Southeastern United States. The 2009 population of the entire 13-county Nashville metropolitan area was 1,582,264, making it the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state. The 2009 population of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Columbia combined statistical area, a larger trade area, was estimated at 1,666,210.

History

Nashville was founded by James Robertson, John Donelson, and a party of Wataugans in 1779, and was originally called Fort Nashborough, after the American Revolutionary War hero Francis Nash. Nashville quickly grew because of its strategic location, accessibility as a river port, and its later status as a major railroad center. In 1806, Nashville was incorporated as a city and became the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. In 1843, the city was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee.

By 1860, when the first rumblings of secession began to be heard across the South, antebellum Nashville was a very prosperous city. The city's significance as a shipping port made it a desirable prize as a means of controlling important river and railroad transportation routes. In February 1862, Nashville became the first state capital to fall to Union troops. The Battle of Nashville (December 15–16, 1864) was a significant Union victory and perhaps the most decisive tactical victory gained by either side in the war.

Within a few years after the Civil War the city had reclaimed its important shipping and trading position and also developed a solid manufacturing base. The post-Civil War years of the late 19th century brought a newfound prosperity to Nashville. These healthy economic times left the city with a legacy of grand classical-style buildings, which can still be seen around the downtown area.

Since the 1970s, the city has experienced tremendous growth, particularly during the economic boom of the 1990s under the leadership of then-Mayor and later-Tennessee Governor, Phil Bredesen, who made urban renewal a priority, and fostered the construction or renovation of several city landmarks, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the downtown Nashville Public Library, the Bridgestone Arena, and LP Field.

In 1997 Nashville was awarded an NHL expansion team which was subsequently named the Nashville Predators. LP Field (formerly Adelphia Coliseum) was built after the National Football League's (NFL) Houston Oilers agreed to move to the city in 1995. The NFL team debuted in Nashville in 1998 at Vanderbilt Stadium, and LP Field opened in the summer of 1999. The Oilers changed their name to the Tennessee Titans and saw a season culminate in the Music City Miracle and a close Super Bowl game that came down to the last play.

Today, the city along the Cumberland River is a crossroads of American culture, and one of the fastest-growing areas of the Upland South.

Geography

Topography

Nashville lies on the Cumberland River in the northwestern portion of the Nashville Basin. Nashville's topography ranges from above sea level at the Cumberland River to above sea level at its highest point.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which of it is land and of it (4.53%) is water.

Climate

Nashville has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa''), with generally mild to cool winters, and hot, humid summers. Monthly averages range from in January to in July, with a diurnal temperature variation of . In the winter months, snowfall does occur in Nashville but is usually not heavy. Average annual snowfall is about , falling mostly in January and February and occasionally March and December. The largest snow event since 2000 was on January 16, 2003, when Nashville received of snow in a single storm; the largest on record was , received on March 17, 1892. Rainfall is typically greater in winter and spring while autumn is the driest. Spring and fall are generally pleasantly warm but prone to severe thunderstorms, which occasionally bring tornadoes — with recent major events on April 16, 1998; April 7, 2006; February 5, 2008; April 10, 2009; and May 1–2, 2010. Relative humidity in Nashville averages 83% in the mornings and 60% in the afternoons, which is considered moderate for the Southeastern United States. In recent decades, due to urban development, Nashville has developed an urban heat island (UHI); especially on cool, clear nights, temperatures are up to warmer in the heart of the city than in rural outlying areas.

Nashville's long springs and autumns combined with a diverse array of trees and grasses can often make it uncomfortable for allergy sufferers. In 2008, Nashville was ranked as the 18th-worst spring allergy city in the U.S. by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in Nashville was on January 21, 1985, and the highest was on July 28, 1952.

Cityscape

The downtown area of Nashville features a diverse assortment of entertainment, dining, cultural and architectural attractions. The Broadway and 2nd Avenue areas feature entertainment venues, night clubs and an assortment of restaurants. North of Broadway lies Nashville's central business district, Legislative Plaza, Capitol Hill and the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall. Cultural and architectural attractions can be found throughout the city.

The downtown area of Nashville is easily accessible. Three major interstate highways (I-40, I-65 and I-24) converge near the core area of downtown, and many regional cities are within a day's driving distance.

Nashville's first skyscraper, the Life & Casualty Tower, was completed in 1957 and started the construction of high rises in downtown Nashville. After the construction of the AT&T; Building (commonly known to locals as the "Batman Building") in 1994, the downtown area saw little construction until the mid-2000s. Many new residential developments have been constructed or are planned for the various neighborhoods of downtown and midtown. A new high rise office building, The Pinnacle, was recently opened in 2010.

Many civic and infrastructure projects are either being planned, in progress, or recently completed. A new MTA bus hub was recently completed in downtown Nashville, as was the Music City Star pilot project. Several public parks have been constructed, such as the Public Square. Riverfront Park is scheduled to be extensively updated. The Music City Center, a convention center project, has been approved for the downtown area and is currently under construction.

Parks and gardens

Metro Board of Parks and Recreation owns and manages of land and 99 parks and greenways (comprising more than 3% of the total area of the county).

Warner Parks, situated on of land, consists of a learning center, of scenic roads, of hiking trails, and of horse trails. It is also the home of the annual Iroquois Steeplechase.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains parks on Old Hickory Lake and Percy Priest Lake. These parks are used for activities such as fishing, waterskiing, sailing and boating. Percy Priest Lake is also home to the Vanderbilt Sailing Club.

Other notable parks in Nashville include Centennial Park, Shelby Park, and Radnor Lake State Natural Area.

Metropolitan area

Nashville has the largest metropolitan area in the state of Tennessee, spanning 13 counties and, , had a population of 1,582,264. The Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses the Middle Tennessee counties of Cannon, Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Macon, Robertson, Rutherford, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Williamson, and Wilson. The 2009 population of the Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro—Columbia combined statistical area was estimated at 1,666,210.

Culture

Much of the city's cultural life has revolved around its large university community. Particularly significant in this respect were two groups of critics and writers who were associated with Vanderbilt University in the early twentieth century: the Fugitives and the Agrarians.

Popular destinations include Fort Nashborough and Fort Negley, the former being a reconstruction of the original settlement, the latter being a semi-restored Civil War battle fort; the Tennessee State Museum; and The Parthenon, a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. The Tennessee State Capitol is one of the oldest working state capitol buildings in the nation, while The Hermitage is one of the older presidential homes open to the public.

Dining

Although best known for its music, Nashville is a city filled with countless dining destinations. Some of the more popular types of local cuisine include hot chicken, hot fish, barbecue, and meat and three.

Entertainment and performing arts

Nashville has a vibrant music and entertainment scene spanning a variety of genres. The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is the major performing arts center of the city. It is the home of the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, the Nashville Opera, the Music City Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Nashville Ballet. In September 2006, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center opened as the home of the Nashville Symphony.

As the city's name itself is a metonym for the country music industry, many popular tourist sites involve country music, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Belcourt Theatre, and Ryman Auditorium. Ryman was home to the ''Grand Ole Opry'' until 1974 when the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House, east of downtown. The ''Opry'' plays there several times a week, except for an annual winter run at the Ryman.

Numerous music clubs and honky-tonk bars can be found in downtown Nashville, especially the area encompassing Lower Broadway, Second Avenue, and Printer's Alley, which is often referred to as "the District".

Each year, the CMA Music Festival (formerly known as Fan Fair) brings thousands of country fans to the city. The Tennessee State Fair is also held annually in September.

Nashville was once home of television shows such as ''Hee Haw'' and ''Pop! Goes the Country'', and to the Opryland USA theme park, which operated from 1972 to 1997 before being closed by its owners Gaylord Entertainment, and soon after demolished to make room for the Opry Mills mega-shopping mall.

The Christian pop and rock music industry is based along Nashville's Music Row, with a great influence in neighboring Williamson County. The Christian record companies include EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Label Group and Word Records.

Although Nashville was never known as a jazz town, it did have many great jazz bands, including The Nashville Jazz Machine led by Dave Converse and its current version, the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, led by Jim Williamson, as well as The Establishment, led by Billy Adair. The Francis Craig Orchestra entertained Nashvillians from 1929 to 1945 from the Oak Bar and Grille Room in the Hermitage Hotel. Craig's orchestra was also the first to broadcast over local radio station WSM-AM and enjoyed phenomenal success with a 12-year show on the NBC Radio Network. In the late 1930s, he introduced a newcomer, Dinah Shore, a local graduate of Hume Fogg High School and Vanderbilt University.

Radio station WMOT-FM in nearby Murfreesboro has aided significantly in the recent revival of the city's jazz scene, as has the non-profit Nashville Jazz Workshop, which holds concerts and classes in a renovated building in the north Nashville neighborhood of Germantown. Fisk University also maintains a jazz station.

Nashville has an active theatre scene, having several professional and community theatre companies. Most notable of the professional companies are Nashville Children's Theatre, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, and the Tennessee Women's Theater Project. Of the community theatres, Circle Players has been in operation for over 60 years.

Tourism

Perhaps the biggest factor in drawing visitors to Nashville is its association with country music. Many visitors to Nashville attend live performances of the Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running live radio show. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is another major attraction relating to the popularity of country music. The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, the Opry Mills regional shopping mall and the ''General Jackson'' showboat, are all located in what is known as Music Valley.

Civil War history is important to the city's tourism industry. Sites pertaining to the Battle of Nashville and the nearby Battle of Franklin and Battle of Stones River can be seen, along with several well-preserved antebellum plantation houses such as Belle Meade Plantation, Carnton plantation in Franklin, and Belmont Mansion.

Nashville has several arts centers and museums, including the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, the Tennessee State Museum, Fisk University's Van Vechten and Aaron Douglas Galleries, Vanderbilt University's Fine Art Gallery and Sarratt Gallery, and the Parthenon. The Nashville Zoo is one of the city's newer attractions.

Major annual events

Event	Month Held and Location
Nashville Film Festival	Weeklong festival in April. It features hundreds of independent films and is one of the biggest film festivals in the Southern United States.
Country Music Marathon	Marathon and half marathon which normally include over 25,000 runners from around the world in April.
Iroquois Steeplechase	Annual steeplechase horse racing event which takes place in May at Percy Warner Park.
CMA Music Festival	A four day event in June featuring performances by country music stars, autograph signings, artist/fan interaction, and other activities for country music fans.
Tomato Art Festival
African Street Festival	Takes place on the campus of Tennessee State University in September.
Tennessee State Fair
Country Music Association Awards	Usually held in November at the Bridgestone Arena and televised nationally to millions of viewers.

Sports

Professional

Nashville has many professional sports teams, most notably the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League and the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. Several other pro sports teams also call Nashville home, as does the NCAA college football Music City Bowl. Nashville is also home to the Fairgrounds Speedway, a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racetrack.

! Club !! Sport !! League !! Venue !! Established
Tennessee Titans	Football	National Football League	LP Field	1960
Nashville Predators	Hockey	National Hockey League	Bridgestone Arena	1997
Nashville Sounds	Baseball	Pacific Coast League	Herschel Greer Stadium	1978
Nashville Metros	Soccer		Ezell Park	1989
Nashville Soul	Basketball	American Basketball Association (2000–present)	Nashville Municipal Auditorium	2011

College

Nashville is also home to four Division I athletic programs.

! Program !! Division !! Conference !! Major venues
Vanderbilt Commodores	Division I (NCAA)	[[Southeastern Conference
	Division I (NCAA)	[[Ohio Valley Conference	LP Field (football)Gentry Center (basketball)
	Division I (NCAA)	[[Atlantic Sun Conference	Curb Event Center
	Division I (NCAA)	[[Atlantic Sun Conference	Allen Arena

Media

The daily newspaper in Nashville is ''The Tennessean'', which, until 1998, competed fiercely with the ''Nashville Banner'', another daily paper that was housed in the same building under a joint-operating agreement. ''The Tennessean'' is the city's most widely circulated newspaper, while a smaller free daily called ''The City Paper'' shares the Nashville market. Online news service ''NashvillePost.com'' competes with the printed dailies to break local and state news. Several weekly papers are also published in Nashville, including ''The Nashville Pride'', ''Nashville Business Journal'', ''Nashville Scene'' and ''The Tennessee Tribune''. Historically, ''The Tennessean'' was associated with a broadly liberal editorial policy, while ''The Banner'' carried staunchly conservative views in its editorial pages; ''The Banner''s heritage is carried on these days by ''The City Paper''. The ''Nashville Scene'' is the area's alternative weekly broadsheet. ''The Nashville Pride'' is aimed towards community development and serves Nashville's entrepreneurial population.

Nashville is home to eleven broadcast television stations, although most households are served by direct cable network connections. Comcast Cable has a monopoly on terrestrial cable service in Davidson County (but not throughout the entire media market). Nashville is ranked as the 29th largest television market in the United States.

Nashville is also home to cable networks Country Music Television (CMT), Great American Country (GAC), and RFD-TV, among others. CMT's master control facilities are located in New York City with the other Viacom properties. The Top 20 Countdown and CMT Insider are taped in their Nashville studios. Nashville is also the home and namesake of the NBC country music singing competition ''Nashville Star'', which broadcasts from the Opryland complex. Shop at Home Network was once based in Nashville, but the channel signed off in 2008.

Several dozen FM and AM radio stations broadcast in the Nashville area, including five college stations and one LPFM community radio station. Nashville is ranked as the 44th largest radio market in the United States. WSM-FM is owned by Cumulus Media and is 95.5 FM. WSM-AM, owned by Gaylord Entertainment Company, can be heard nationally on 650 AM or online at WSM Online from its studios located inside the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. WSM is famous for carrying live broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, through which it helped spread the popularity of country music in America, and continues to broadcast country music throughout its broadcast day. WLAC, whose over-the-air signal is heard at 1510 AM, is a Clear Channel-owned talk station which was originally sponsored by the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Tennessee, and its competitor WWTN is owned by Cumulus.

Several major motion pictures have been filmed in Nashville, including ''The Green Mile'', ''The Last Castle'', ''Gummo'', ''The Thing Called Love'', ''Two Weeks'', ''Coal Miner's Daughter'', ''Nashville'', and ''Country Strong''.

Economy

As the "home of country music", Nashville has become a major music recording and production center. All of the Big Four record labels, as well as numerous independent labels, have offices in Nashville, mostly in the Music Row area. Since the 1960s, Nashville has been the second biggest music production center (after New York) in the U.S. As of 2006, Nashville's music industry is estimated to have a total economic impact of per year and to contribute 19,000 jobs to the Nashville area.

Although Nashville is renowned as a music recording center and tourist destination, its largest industry is actually health care. Nashville is home to more than 250 health care companies, including Hospital Corporation of America, the largest private operator of hospitals in the world. As of 2006, it is estimated that the health care industry contributes per year and 94,000 jobs to the Nashville-area economy. The automotive industry is also becoming increasingly important for the entire Middle Tennessee region. Nissan North America moved its corporate headquarters in 2006 from Gardena, California (Los Angeles County) to Franklin. Nissan also has its largest North American manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. Largely as a result of the increased development of Nissan and other Japanese economic interests in the region, Japan moved its New Orleans Consulate-general to Nashville's Palmer Plaza.

Other major industries in Nashville include insurance, finance, and publishing (especially religious publishing). The city hosts headquarters operations for several Protestant denominations, including the United Methodist Church, Southern Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention USA, and the National Association of Free Will Baptists.

Fortune 500 companies within Nashville include Dell, HCA and Dollar General.

Top employers

According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

! #	! Employer	! # of Employees
1		20,968
2	Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee	20,162
3		20,000
4		11,496
5	[[Saint Thomas Health Services	6,500
6		5,850
7		5,447
	Walmart	4,500
Gaylord Entertainment	4,500
9	Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	4,189
10	Dell	3,200

Demographics

The data below is for all of Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, including other incorporated cities within the consolidated city–county (such as Belle Meade and Berry Hill). See Nashville-Davidson (balance) for demographic data on Nashville-Davidson County excluding separately incorporated cities.

According to the 2009 American Community Survey, there were 628,434 people residing in the city. The population density was 1,204.2 people per square mile (465/km²). There were 282,452 housing units at an average density of 560.4 per square mile (216.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 60.1% White, 26.8% African American, 8.4% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 3.1% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 0.1% from one other race, and 1.2% from two or more races.

There were 254,651 households and 141,469 families (55.6% of households). Of households with families, 37.2% had married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present. 27.9% of all households had children under the age of 18, and 18.8% had at least one member 65 years of age or older. Of the 44.4% of households that are non-families, 36.2% were individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.16.

The age distribution was 22% under 18, 10% from 18 to 24, 33% from 25 to 44, 24% from 45 to 64, and 11% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34.2 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $46,280, and the median income for a family was $56,923. Males with a year-round, full-time job had a median income of $40,037 versus $34,269 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,056. About 12.2% of families and 16.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.0% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Because of its relatively low cost of living and large job market, Nashville has become a popular city for immigrants. Nashville's foreign-born population more than tripled in size between 1990 and 2000, increasing from 12,662 to 39,596. Large groups of Mexicans, Kurds, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Arabs, and Bantus call Nashville home, among other groups. Nashville has the largest Kurdish community in the United States, numbering approximately 11,000. About 60,000 Bhutanese refugees are being admitted to the U.S. and some of them will resettle in Nashville. During the Iraqi election of 2005, Nashville was one of the few international locations where Iraqi expatriates could vote. The American Jewish community in Nashville dates back over 150 years, and numbered about 6,500 in 2001.

Law and government

The city of Nashville and Davidson County merged in 1963 as a way for Nashville to combat the problems of urban sprawl. The combined entity is officially known as "the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County", and is popularly known as "Metro Nashville" or simply "Metro". It offers services such as police, fire, electricity, water and sewage treatment. When the Metro government was formed in 1963, the government was split into two service districts—the "urban services district" and the "general services district." The urban services district encompasses the 1963 boundaries of the former City of Nashville, and the general services district includes the remainder of Davidson County. There are seven smaller municipalities within the consolidated city-county: Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Lakewood, Oak Hill, Goodlettsville (partially), and Ridgetop (partially). These municipalities use a two-tier system of government, with the smaller municipality typically providing police services and the Metro Nashville government providing most other services. Lakewood residents voted in 2010 and 2011 to dissolve its city charter and join the metropolitan government, with both votes passing.

Nashville is governed by a mayor, vice-mayor, and 40-member Metropolitan Council. It uses the strong-mayor form of the mayor–council system. The current mayor of Nashville is Karl Dean. The Metropolitan Council is the legislative body of government for Nashville and Davidson County. There are five council members who are elected at large and 35 council members that represent individual districts. The Metro Council has regular meetings that are presided over by the vice-mayor, who is currently Diane Neighbors. The Metro Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm, according to the Metropolitan Charter.

Politics

Nashville has been a Democratic stronghold since at least the end of Reconstruction. While local elections are officially nonpartisan, nearly all of the city's elected officials are known to be Democrats. At the state level, Democrats hold all but one of the city's state house districts and all but one of the city's state senate districts.

Democrats are no less dominant at the federal level. Over the past 100 years, Democratic presidential candidates have carried Nashville/Davidson County in four out of five elections. Normally, Democrats carry Nashville at the presidential level with relatively little difficulty. In the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore carried Nashville with over 59% of the vote even as he narrowly lost his home state. In the 2004 election, John Kerry carried Nashville with 55% of the vote even as George W. Bush won the state by 14 points. In 2008, Barack Obama carried Nashville with 60% of the vote even as John McCain won Tennessee by 15 points.

At the federal level, Nashville is split between two congressional districts. Nearly all of the city is in the 5th District, currently represented by Democrat Jim Cooper. A Republican has not represented a significant portion of Nashville since 1874. While Republicans made a few spirited challenges in the mid-1960s and early 1970s, they have not made a serious bid for the district since 1972, when the Republican candidate gained only 38% of the vote even as Nixon carried the district in the presidential election by a large margin. The district's best-known congressman was probably Jo Byrns, who represented the district from 1909 to 1936 and was Speaker of the House for much of Franklin Roosevelt's first term as President. Another nationally prominent congressman from Nashville was Percy Priest, who represented the district from 1941 to 1956 and was House Majority Whip from 1949 to 1953. Former mayors Richard Fulton and Bill Boner also sat in the U.S. House before assuming the Metro mayoral office.

All of Nashville was located in a single district for most of the time from Reconstruction until the 2000 Census, when a small portion of southwestern Nashville was drawn into the heavily Republican 7th District. That district is currently represented by Marsha Blackburn of neighboring Williamson County; Blackburn represented much of the Nashville share of the 7th in the state senate from 1998 to 2002.

Education

Public schools

The city is served by the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

Private schools

David Lipscomb Campus School

Davidson Academy

Donelson Christian Academy

Christ Presbyterian Academy

Ensworth School

Ezell-Harding Christian School

Franklin Road Academy

Father Ryan

Goodpasture Christian School

Harpeth Hall School

Madison Academy

Montgomery Bell Academy

Nashville Christian School

Nashville International Academy

St. Cecilia Academy

University School of Nashville

Colleges and universities

Nashville is often labeled the "Athens of the South" due to the many colleges and universities in the city and metropolitan area. The colleges and universities in Nashville include American Baptist College, Aquinas College, The Art Institute of Tennessee – Nashville, Belmont University, Daymar Institute, Fisk University, Free Will Baptist Bible College, John A. Gupton College, International Academy of Design and Technology, Lipscomb University, Meharry Medical College, Nossi College, Nashville School of Law, Nashville Auto Diesel College (a NAFTC Training Center), Nashville State Community College, Strayer University, Tennessee State University, Trevecca Nazarene University, University of Phoenix, Vanderbilt University, and Watkins College of Art, Design & Film.

Within of Nashville in Murfreesboro is Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), a full-sized public university with Tennessee's largest undergraduate population. Enrollment in post-secondary education in Nashville is around 43,000. Within the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area—which includes MTSU, Cumberland University (Lebanon), Volunteer State Community College (Gallatin), Daymar Institute, and O'More College of Design (Franklin)—total enrollment exceeds 74,000. Within a radius are Austin Peay State University (Clarksville) and Columbia State Community College (Columbia), enrolling an additional 13,600.

Transportation

Nashville is centrally located at the crossroads of three Interstate Highways: I-40, I-24, and I-65. Interstate 440 is a bypass route connecting I-40, I-65, and I-24 south of downtown Nashville. Briley Parkway connects the north side of the city and its interstates. A number of arterial surface roads called "pikes" radiate from the city center; many carry the names of nearby towns to which they lead. Among these are Clarksville Pike, Gallatin Pike, Lebanon Pike, Murfreesboro Pike, Nolensville Pike, and Franklin Pike.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority provides bus transit within the city, out of a newly built hub station downtown. Routes utilize a hub and spoke method. Expansion plans include use of Bus rapid transit for new routes, with the possibility for local rail service at some point in the future.

Nashville is considered a gateway city for rail and air traffic for the Piedmont Atlantic MegaRegion.

The city is served by Nashville International Airport, which was a hub for American Airlines between 1986 and 1995 and is now a mini-hub for Southwest Airlines.

Although it is a major rail hub, with a large CSX Transportation freight rail yard, Nashville is one of the largest cities in the U.S. not served by Amtrak.

Nashville launched a passenger commuter rail system called the Music City Star on September 18, 2006. The only currently operational leg of the system connects the city of Lebanon to downtown Nashville at the Nashville Riverfront. Legs to Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Gallatin are currently in the feasibility study stage. The system plan includes seven legs connecting Nashville to surrounding suburbs.

Notable bridges in the city are:

! Official Name !! Other Names !! Length !! Date Opened
Gateway Bridge	Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge		May 19, 2004
Kelly Miller Smith Bridge	Jefferson Street Bridge		March 2, 1994
Old Hickory Bridge			1929
Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge	Bordeaux Bridge		September 18, 1980
Shelby Street Bridge	Shelby Avenue Bridge		July 5, 1909
Silliman Evans Bridge			1963
Victory Memorial Bridge			July 2, 1956
William Goodwin Bridge	Hobson Pike Bridge
Woodland Street Bridge

Nicknames

Nashville is a colorful, well-known city in several different arenas. As such, it has earned various sobriquets, including: Music City, USA: WSM-AM announcer David Cobb first used this name during a 1950 broadcast and it stuck. It is now the official nickname used by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Nashville is the home of the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and many major record labels. This name also dates back to 1874, where after receiving and hearing a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Queen Victoria of England is reported as saying that "These young people must surely come from a musical city." Athens of the South: Home to twenty-four post-secondary educational institutions, Nashville has long been compared to the ancient city of learning, site of Plato's Academy. Since 1897, a full-scale replica of the Athenian Parthenon has stood in Nashville, and many examples of classical and neoclassical architecture can be found in the city. The Protestant Vatican or The Buckle of the Bible Belt: Nashville has over 700 churches, several seminaries, a number of Christian music companies, and is the headquarters for the publishing arms of the Southern Baptist Convention (LifeWay Christian Resources), the United Methodist Church (United Methodist Publishing House) and the National Baptist Convention (Sunday School Publishing Board). It is also the seat of the National Baptist Convention, the National Association of Free Will Baptists, the Gideons International, the Gospel Music Association, and Thomas Nelson, the world's largest producer of Bibles. Cashville: Nashville native Young Buck released a successful rap album called ''Straight Outta Cashville'' that has popularized the nickname among a new generation. Little Kurdistan: Nashville has the United States' largest population of Kurdish people, estimated to be around 11,000. Nash Vegas or Nashvegas

Sister cities

Nashville is an active participant in the Sister Cities program and has relationships with the following towns:

Belfast, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom) Caen (France) Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) Magdeburg (Germany) Mendoza (Argentina) Taiyuan, Shanxi (People's Republic of China)

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Davidson County, Tennessee

References

Further reading

External links

;Government

Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County

;Other

Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau

Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

Nashville historical timeline

Metropolitan Archives of Nashville and Davidson County

Category:Cities in Tennessee Category:County seats in Tennessee Category:Davidson County, Tennessee Category:Populated places established in 1779 Category:Consolidated city–counties in the United States

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Tennessee
flag	Flag of Tennessee.svg
seal	Tennesseestateseallrg.png
nickname	The Volunteer State
motto	Agriculture and Commerce
capital	Nashville
amphibian	Salamander
bird	Mockingbird
fish	Channel Catfish Bass
flower	Iris
folkdance	Square dance
rock	Agate
gemstone	Tennessee River Pearl
insect	Honeybee
quarter	2002 TN Proof.png
quarterreleasedate	2002
reptile	Eastern Box Turtle
tree	Tulip Poplar
wildflower	Passion Flower
staterock	Limestone
song	7 Songs
tartan	Tennessee State Tartan }}

Tennessee () () is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area. Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west.

The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, and the Mississippi River forms the state's western border. Tennessee's capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 626,144. Memphis is the state's largest city, with a population of 670,902. Nashville has the state's largest metropolitan area, at 1,589,934 people.

The state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later part of the Southwest Territory. Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. In the early 19th century, Tennessee was home to some of American history's most colorful political figures, among them Davy Crockett, Andrew Jackson, and Sam Houston. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, and the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war.

Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state, and more soldiers for the Union Army than any other Southern state. Tennessee has seen some of the nation's worst racial strife, from the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski in 1866 to the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis in 1968. In the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from an agrarian economy to a more diversified economy, aided at times by federal entities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority. In the early 1940s, Oak Ridge, Tennessee was established to house the Manhattan Project's uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the world's first atomic bomb.

Tennessee has played a critical role in the development of rock and roll and early blues music. Beale Street in Memphis is considered by many to be the birthplace of the blues, with musicians such as W.C. Handy performing in its clubs as early as 1909. Memphis was also home to Sun Records, where musicians such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Charlie Rich began their recording careers, and where rock and roll took shape in the 1950s. The 1927 Victor recording sessions in Bristol generally mark the beginning of the country music genre, and the rise of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s helped make Nashville the center of the country music recording industry.

Tennessee's major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the state's primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment, and electrical equipment. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the nation's most visited national park, is headquartered in the eastern part of the state, and a section of the Appalachian Trail roughly follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Other major tourist attractions include Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.

Geography

Tennessee borders eight other states: Kentucky and Virginia to the north; North Carolina to the east; Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi on the south; Arkansas and Missouri on the Mississippi River to the west. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states. The state is trisected by the Tennessee River.

The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet (2,025 m). Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessee's eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. The state line between Tennessee and North Carolina crosses the summit. The lowest point is the Mississippi River at the Mississippi state line. The geographical center of the state is located in Murfreesboro.

The state of Tennessee is geographically and constitutionally divided into three Grand Divisions: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. Tennessee features six principal physiographic regions: the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, the Nashville Basin, and the Gulf Coastal Plain. Tennessee is home to the most caves in the United States, with over 8,350 caves registered to date.

East Tennessee

The Blue Ridge area lies on the eastern edge of Tennessee, bordering North Carolina. This region of Tennessee is characterized by the high mountains and rugged terrain of the western Blue Ridge Mountains, which are subdivided into several subranges, namely the Great Smoky Mountains, the Bald Mountains, the Unicoi Mountains, the Unaka Mountains and Roan Highlands, and the Iron Mountains.

The average elevation of the Blue Ridge area is 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. Clingmans Dome, the state's highest point, is located in this region. The Blue Ridge area was never more than sparsely populated, and today much of it is protected by the Cherokee National Forest, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and several federal wilderness areas and state parks.

Stretching west from the Blue Ridge for approximately 55 miles (88 km) is the Ridge and Valley region, in which numerous tributaries join to form the Tennessee River in the Tennessee Valley. This area of Tennessee is covered by fertile valleys separated by wooded ridges, such as Bays Mountain and Clinch Mountain. The western section of the Tennessee valley, where the depressions become broader and the ridges become lower, is called the Great Valley. In this valley are numerous towns and two of the region's three urban areas, Knoxville, the 3rd largest city in the state, and Chattanooga, the 4th largest city in the state.

The Cumberland Plateau rises to the west of the Tennessee Valley; this area is covered with flat-topped mountains separated by sharp valleys. The elevation of the Cumberland Plateau ranges from 1,500 to over 2,000 feet (450 to over 600 m) above sea level.

Middle Tennessee

West of the Cumberland Plateau is the Highland Rim, an elevated plain that surrounds the Nashville Basin. The northern section of the Highland Rim, known for its high tobacco production, is sometimes called the Pennyroyal Plateau; it is located primarily in Southwestern Kentucky. The Nashville Basin is characterized by rich, fertile farm country and great diversity of natural wildlife.

Middle Tennessee was a common destination of settlers' crossing the Appalachians from Virginia in the late 18th century and early 19th century. An important trading route called the Natchez Trace, created and used for many generations by Native Americans, connected Middle Tennessee to the lower Mississippi River town of Natchez. The route of the Natchez Trace was used as the basis for a scenic highway called the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Some of the last remaining large American Chestnut trees grow in this region. They are being used to help breed blight-resistant trees.

Middle Tennessee is one of the primary state population and transportation centers along with the heart of State government. Nashville (the capitol), Clarksville and Murfreesboro are its largest cities. Fifty percent of the US population is within 600 miles of Nashville. US Interstate Highways I-24, I-40 and I-65 trisect the Division.

West Tennessee

West of the Highland Rim and Nashville Basin is the Gulf Coastal Plain, which includes the Mississippi embayment. The Gulf Coastal Plain is, in terms of area, the predominant land region in Tennessee. It is part of the large geographic land area that begins at the Gulf of Mexico and extends north into southern Illinois. In Tennessee, the Gulf Coastal Plain is divided into three sections that extend from the Tennessee River in the east to the Mississippi River in the west.

The easternmost section, about 10 miles (16 km) in width, consists of hilly land that runs along the western bank of the Tennessee River. To the west of this narrow strip of land is a wide area of rolling hills and streams that stretches all the way to Memphis; this area is called the Tennessee Bottoms or bottom land. In Memphis, the Tennessee Bottoms end in steep bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. To the west of the Tennessee Bottoms is the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, less than 300 feet (90 m) above sea level. This area of lowlands, flood plains, and swamp land is sometimes referred to as the Delta region.

Most of West Tennessee remained Indian land until the Chickasaw Cession of 1818, when the Chickasaw ceded their land between the Tennessee River and the Mississippi River. The portion of the Chickasaw Cession that lies in Kentucky is known today as the Jackson Purchase.

Public lands

Areas under the control and management of the National Park Service include:

Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville

Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

Foothills Parkway

Fort Donelson National Battlefield and Fort Donelson National Cemetery near Dover

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Natchez Trace Parkway

Obed Wild and Scenic River near Wartburg

Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

Shiloh National Cemetery and Shiloh National Military Park near Shiloh

Stones River National Battlefield and Stones River National Cemetery near Murfreesboro

Trail of Tears National Historic Trail

Fifty-four state parks, covering some 132,000 acres (534 km²) as well as parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park are in Tennessee. Sportsmen and visitors are attracted to Reelfoot Lake, originally formed by the New Madrid earthquake; stumps and other remains of a once dense forest, together with the lotus bed covering the shallow waters, give the lake an eerie beauty.

Climate

Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate, with the exception of some of the higher elevations in the Appalachians, which are classified as having a mountain temperate climate or a humid continental climate due to cooler temperatures. The Gulf of Mexico is the dominant factor in the climate of Tennessee, with winds from the south being responsible for most of the state's annual precipitation. Generally, the state has hot summers and mild to cool winters with generous precipitation throughout the year. On average the state receives 50 inches (130 cm) of precipitation annually. Snowfall ranges from 5 inches (13 cm) in West Tennessee to over 16 inches (41 cm) in the higher mountains in East Tennessee.

Summers in the state are generally hot and humid, with most of the state averaging a high of around 90 °F (32 °C) during the summer months. Winters tend to be mild to cool, increasing in coolness at higher elevations. Generally, for areas outside the highest mountains, the average overnight lows are near freezing for most of the state. The highest recorded temperature is at Perryville on August 9, 1930 while the lowest recorded temperature is at Mountain City on December 30, 1917.

While the state is far enough from the coast to avoid any direct impact from a hurricane, the location of the state makes it likely to be impacted from the remnants of tropical cyclones which weaken over land and can cause significant rainfall, such as Tropical Storm Chris in 1982. The state averages around 50 days of thunderstorms per year, some of which can be quite severe. Tornadoes are possible throughout the state, with West and Middle Tennessee the most vulnerable. On average, the state has 15 tornadoes per year. Tornadoes in Tennessee can be severe, and Tennessee leads the nation in the percentage of total tornadoes which have fatalities. Winter storms are an occasional problem, although ice storms are a more likely occurrence. Fog is a persistent problem in parts of the state, especially in much of the Smoky Mountains.

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History

Early history

The area now known as Tennessee was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians nearly 12,000 years ago. The names of the cultural groups that inhabited the area between first settlement and the time of European contact are unknown, but several distinct cultural phases have been named by archaeologists, including Archaic (8000–1000 BC), Woodland (1000 BC–1000 AD), and Mississippian (1000–1600 AD), whose chiefdoms were the cultural predecessors of the Muscogee people who inhabited the Tennessee River Valley prior to Cherokee migration into the river's headwaters.

The first recorded European excursions into what is now called Tennessee were three expeditions led by Spanish explorers, namely Hernando de Soto in 1540, Tristan de Luna in 1559, and Juan Pardo in 1567. Pardo recorded the name "Tanasqui" from a local Indian village, which may have evolved to the state's current name. At that time, Tennessee was inhabited by tribes of Muscogee and Yuchi people. Possibly because of European diseases devastating the Native tribes, which would have left a population vacuum, and also from expanding European settlement in the north, the Cherokee moved south from the area now called Virginia. As European colonists spread into the area, the native populations were forcibly displaced to the south and west, including all Muscogee and Yuchi peoples, the Chickasaw, and Choctaw.

The first British settlement in what is now Tennessee was Fort Loudoun, near present-day Vonore. Fort Loudoun became the westernmost British outpost to that date. The fort was designed by John William Gerard de Brahm and constructed by forces under British Captain Raymond Demeré. After its completion, Captain Raymond Demeré relinquished command on August 14, 1757 to his brother, Captain Paul Demeré. Hostilities erupted between the British and the neighboring Overhill Cherokees, and a siege of Fort Loudoun ended with its surrender on August 7, 1760. The following morning, Captain Paul Demeré and a number of his men were killed in an ambush nearby, and the most of the rest of the garrison was taken prisoner.

In the 1760s, long hunters from Virginia explored much of East and Middle Tennessee, and the first permanent European settlers began arriving late in the decade. The vast majority of 18th century settlers were English or of primarily English descent but nearly 20% of them were also Scotch-Irish. These settlers formed the Watauga Association, a community built on lands leased from the Cherokee peoples.

During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals (in present-day Elizabethton) was attacked (1776) by Dragging Canoe and his warring faction of Cherokee who were aligned with the British Loyalists. These renegade Cherokee were referred to by settlers as the Chickamauga. They opposed North Carolina's annexation of the Washington District and the concurrent settling of the Transylvania Colony further north and west. The lives of many settlers were spared from the initial warrior attacks through the warnings of Dragging Canoe's cousin, Nancy Ward. The frontier fort on the banks of the Watauga River later served as a 1780 staging area for the Overmountain Men in preparation to trek over the Appalachian Mountains, to engage, and to later defeat the British Army at the Battle of Kings Mountain in North Carolina.

Three counties of the Washington District (now part of Tennessee) broke off from North Carolina in 1784 and formed the State of Franklin. Efforts to obtain admission to the Union failed, and the counties (now numbering eight) had re-joined North Carolina by 1789. North Carolina ceded the area to the federal government in 1790, after which it was organized into the Southwest Territory. In an effort to encourage settlers to move west into the new territory, in 1787 the mother state of North Carolina ordered a road to be cut to take settlers into the Cumberland Settlements—from the south end of Clinch Mountain (in East Tennessee) to French Lick (Nashville). The Trace was called the “North Carolina Road” or “Avery’s Trace,” and sometimes “The Wilderness Road (although it should not be confused with Daniel Boone's "Wilderness Road" through the Cumberland Gap).

Statehood (1796)

Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state. It was the first state created from territory under the jurisdiction of the United States federal government. Apart from the former Thirteen Colonies only Vermont and Kentucky predate Tennessee's statehood, and neither were ever federal territories. The state boundaries, according to the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, Article I, Section 31, stated that the beginning point for identifying the boundary was the extreme height of the Stone Mountain, at the place where the line of Virginia intersects it, and basically ran the extreme heights of mountain chains through the Appalachian Mountains separating North Carolina from Tennessee past the Indian towns of Cowee and Old Chota, thence along the main ridge of the said mountain (Unicoi Mountain) to the southern boundary of the state; all the territory, lands and waters lying west of said line are included in the boundaries and limits of the newly formed state of Tennessee. Part of the provision also stated that the limits and jurisdiction of the state would include future land acquisition, referencing possible land trade with other states, or the acquisition of territory from west of the Mississippi River.

During the administration of U.S. President Martin Van Buren, nearly 17,000 Cherokees—along with approximately 2,000 black slaves owned by Cherokees—were uprooted from their homes between 1838 and 1839 and were forced by the U.S. military to march from "emigration depots" in Eastern Tennessee (such as Fort Cass) toward the more distant Indian Territory west of Arkansas. During this relocation an estimated 4,000 Cherokees died along the way west. In the Cherokee language, the event is called ''Nunna daul Isunyi''—"the Trail Where We Cried." The Cherokees were not the only Native Americans forced to emigrate as a result of the Indian removal efforts of the United States, and so the phrase "Trail of Tears" is sometimes used to refer to similar events endured by other Native American peoples, especially among the "Five Civilized Tribes". The phrase originated as a description of the earlier emigration of the Choctaw nation.

Civil War and Reconstruction

In February 1861, secessionists in Tennessee's state government—led by Governor Isham Harris—sought voter approval for a convention to sever ties with the United States, but Tennessee voters rejected the referendum by a 54–46% margin. The strongest opposition to secession came from East Tennessee (which later tried to form a separate Union-aligned state). Following the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter in April and Lincoln's call for troops from Tennessee and other states in response, Governor Isham Harris began military mobilization, submitted an ordinance of secession to the General Assembly, and made direct overtures to the Confederate government. The Tennessee legislature ratified an agreement to enter a military league with the Confederate States on May 7, 1861. On June 8, 1861, with people in Middle Tennessee having significantly changed their position, voters approved a second referendum calling for secession, becoming the last state to do so.

Many major battles of the American Civil War were fought in Tennessee—most of them Union victories. Ulysses S. Grant and the U.S. Navy captured control of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers in February 1862. They held off the Confederate counterattack at Shiloh in April. Memphis fell to the Union in June, following a naval battle on the Mississippi River in front of the city The Capture of Memphis and Nashville gave the Union control of the western and middle sections; this control was confirmed at the Battle of Murfreesboro in early January 1863 and by the subsequent Tullahoma Campaign.

Confederates held East Tennessee despite the strength of Unionist sentiment there, with the exception of extremely pro-Confederate Sullivan County. The Confederates besieged Chattanooga during the Chattanooga Campaign in early fall 1863, but were driven off by Grant in November. Many of the Confederate defeats can be attributed to the poor strategic vision of General Braxton Bragg, who led the Army of Tennessee from Perryville, Kentucky to Confederate defeat at Chattanooga.

The last major battles came when the Confederates invaded Middle Tennessee in November 1864 and were checked at Franklin, then completely diminished by George Thomas at Nashville in December. Meanwhile the civilian Andrew Johnson was appointed military governor of the state by President Abraham Lincoln.

When the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, Tennessee was mostly held by Union forces. Thus, Tennessee was not among the states enumerated in the Proclamation, and the Proclamation did not free any slaves there. Nonetheless, enslaved African Americans escaped to Union lines to gain freedom without waiting for official action. Old and young, men, women and children camped near Union troops. Thousands of former slaves ended up fighting on the Union side, nearly 200,000 in total across the South, and some 30,000 blacks fought for the Confederates.

Tennessee's legislature approved an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting slavery on February 22, 1865. Voters in the state approved the amendment in March. It also ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (abolishing slavery in every state) on April 7, 1865.

In 1864, Andrew Johnson (a War Democrat from Tennessee) was elected Vice President under Abraham Lincoln. He became President after Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Under Johnson's lenient re-admission policy, Tennessee was the first of the seceding states to have its elected members readmitted to the U.S. Congress, on July 24, 1866. Because Tennessee had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, it was the only one of the formerly secessionist states that did not have a military governor during the Reconstruction period.

After the formal end of Reconstruction, the struggle over power in Southern society continued. Through violence and intimidation against freedmen and their allies, White Democrats regained political power in Tennessee and other states across the South in the late 1870s and 1880s. Over the next decade, the state legislature passed increasingly restrictive laws to control African Americans. In 1889 the General Assembly passed four laws described as electoral reform, with the cumulative effect of essentially disfranchising most African Americans in rural areas and small towns, as well as many poor Whites. Legislation included implementation of a poll tax, timing of registration, and recording requirements. Tens of thousands of taxpaying citizens were without representation for decades into the 20th century. Disfranchising legislation accompanied Jim Crow laws passed in the late 19th century, which imposed segregation in the state. In 1900, African Americans made up nearly 24% of the state's population, and numbered 480,430 citizens who lived mostly in the central and western parts of the state.

In 1897, Tennessee celebrated its centennial of statehood (though one year late of the 1896 anniversary) with a great exposition in Nashville. A full scale replica of the Parthenon was constructed for the celebration, located in what is now Nashville's Centennial Park.

20th century

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the thirty-sixth and final state necessary to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provided women the right to vote. Disfranchising voter registration requirements continued to keep most African Americans and many poor whites, both men and women, off the voter rolls.

The need to create work for the unemployed during the Great Depression, a desire for rural electrification, the need to control annual spring flooding and improve shipping capacity on the Tennessee River were all factors that drove the Federal creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. Through the power of the TVA projects, Tennessee quickly became the nation's largest public utility supplier.

During World War II, the availability of abundant TVA electrical power led the Manhattan Project to locate one of the principal sites for production and isolation of weapons-grade fissile material in East Tennessee. The planned community of Oak Ridge was built from scratch to provide accommodations for the facilities and workers. These sites are now Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, and the East Tennessee Technology Park.

Despite recognized effects of limiting voting by poor whites, successive legislatures expanded the reach of the disfranchising laws until they covered the state. In 1949 political scientist V. O. Key Jr. argued that "the size of the poll tax did not inhibit voting as much as the inconvenience of paying it. County officers regulated the vote by providing opportunities to pay the tax (as they did in Knoxville), or conversely by making payment as difficult as possible. Such manipulation of the tax, and therefore the vote, created an opportunity for the rise of urban bosses and political machines. Urban politicians bought large blocks of poll tax receipts and distributed them to blacks and whites, who then voted as instructed."

In 1953 state legislators amended the state constitution, removing the poll tax. In many areas both blacks and poor whites still faced subjectively applied barriers to voter registration that did not end until after passage of national civil rights legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Tennessee celebrated its bicentennial in 1996. With a yearlong statewide celebration entitled "Tennessee 200", it opened a new state park (Bicentennial Mall) at the foot of Capitol Hill in Nashville.

Demographics

The center of population of Tennessee is located in Rutherford County, in the city of Murfreesboro.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2006, Tennessee had an estimated population of 6,038,803, which is an increase of 83,058, or 1.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 349,541, or 6.1%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 142,266 people (that is 493,881 births minus 351,615 deaths), and an increase from net migration of 219,551 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 59,385 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 160,166 people. 20% of Tennesseans were born outside the South, compared to a figure of 13.5% in 1990.

In recent years, Tennessee has received an influx of people relocating from several northern states, California, and Florida, for the low cost of living, and the booming healthcare and automobile industries. Metropolitan Nashville is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country due in part to these factors.

In 2000, the five most common self-reported ethnic groups in the state were: American (17.3%), African American (16.4%), Irish (9.3%), English (9.1%), and German (8.3%). Most Tennesseans who self-identify as having American ancestry are of English and Scotch-Irish stock. An estimated 21–24% of Tennesseans are of predominantly English ancestry.

6.6% of Tennessee's population were reported as under 5 years of age, 24.6% under 18, and 12.4% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.3% of the population.

On June 19, 2010, the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs granted state recognition to six Indian tribes which was later repealed by the state's Attorney General because the action by the commission was illegal. The tribes were as follows:

The Cherokee Wolf Clan in western Tennessee, with members in Carroll County, Benton, Decatur, Henderson, Henry, Weakley, Gibson and Madison counties.

The Chikamaka Band based historically on the South Cumberland Plateau, said to have members in Franklin, Grundy, Marion, Sequatchie, Warren and Coffee counties.

Central Band of Cherokee, also known as the Cherokee of Lawrence County, Tennessee.

United Eastern Lenapee Nation of Winfield, Tennessee.

The Tanasi Council, said to have members in Shelby, Dyer, Gibson, Humphreys and Perry counties; and

Remnant Yuchi Nation, with members in Sullivan, Carter, Greene, Hawkins, Unicoi, Johnson and Washington counties.

Religion

The religious affiliations of the people of Tennessee are:

Christian: 82%

*Baptist: 39%

*Methodist: 10%

*Church of Christ: 6%

*Roman Catholic: 6%

*Presbyterian: 3%

*Church of God: 2%

*Lutheran: 2%

*Pentecostal: 2%

*Other Christian (includes unspecified "Christian" and "Protestant"): 12%

Islam: 1%

Other religions: 2%

Non-religious: 9%

The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Southern Baptist Convention with 1,414,199; the United Methodist Church with 393,994; the Churches of Christ with 216,648; and the Roman Catholic Church with 183,161.

Tennessee is home to several Protestant denominations, such as the National Baptist Convention (headquartered in Nashville), the Church of God in Christ and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (both headquartered in Memphis), the Church of God and The Church of God of Prophecy (headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee). The Free Will Baptist denomination is headquartered in Antioch, and its main Bible college is in Nashville. The Southern Baptist Convention maintains its general headquarters in Nashville. Publishing houses of several denominations are located in Nashville.

Economy

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2005 Tennessee's gross state product was $226.502 billion, making Tennessee the 18th largest economy in the nation. In 2003, the per capita personal income was $28,641, 36th in the nation, and 91% of the national per capita personal income of $31,472. In 2004, the median household income was $38,550, 41st in the nation, and 87% of the national median of $44,472.

Major outputs for the state include textiles, cotton, cattle, and electrical power. Tennessee has over 82,000 farms, roughly 59 percent of which accommodate beef cattle. Although cotton was an early crop in Tennessee, large-scale cultivation of the fiber did not begin until the 1820s with the opening of the land between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. The upper wedge of the Mississippi Delta extends into southwestern Tennessee, and it was in this fertile section that cotton took hold. Currently West Tennessee is also heavily planted in soybeans, focusing on the northwest corner of the state.

Major corporations with headquarters in Tennessee include FedEx Corporation, AutoZone Incorporated and International Paper, all based in Memphis; Pilot Corporation and Regal Entertainment Group, based in Knoxville; Eastman Chemical Company, based in Kingsport, the North American headquarters of Nissan, based in Franklin; and the head-quarters of Caterpillar Financial (the finance division of the well known mining company Caterpillar) based in Nashville. Tennessee is also the location of the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant and a 1.2 Billion dollar polysilicon production facility by Hemlock Semiconductor Group in Clarksville.

Tennessee is a right to work state, as are most of its Southern neighbors. Unionization has historically been low and continues to decline as in most of the U.S. generally. As of January 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 10.7%.

Tax

The Tennessee income tax does not apply to salaries and wages, but most income from stocks, bonds and notes receivable is taxable. All taxable dividends and interest which exceed the $1,250 single exemption or the $2,500 joint exemption are taxable at the rate of 6%. The state's sales and use tax rate for most items is 7%. Food is taxed at a lower rate of 5.5%, but candy, dietary supplements and prepared food are taxed at the full 7% rate. Local sales taxes are collected in most jurisdictions, at rates varying from 1.5% to 2.75%, bringing the total sales tax to between 8.5% and 9.75%, one of the highest levels in the nation. Intangible property is assessed on the shares of stock of stockholders of any loan company, investment company, insurance company or for-profit cemetery companies. The assessment ratio is 40% of the value multiplied by the tax rate for the jurisdiction. Tennessee imposes an inheritance tax on decedents' estates that exceed maximum single exemption limits ($1,000,000 for deaths 2006 and after.)

Transportation

Interstate highways

Interstate 40 crosses the state in a west-east orientation. Its branch interstate highways include I-240 in Memphis; I-440 in Nashville; and I-140 and I-640 in Knoxville. I-26, although technically an east-west interstate, runs from the North Carolina border below Johnson City to its terminus at Kingsport. I-24 is an east-west interstate that runs cross-state from Chattanooga to Clarksville.

In a north-south orientation are highways I-55, I-65, I-75, and I-81. Interstate 65 crosses the state through Nashville, while Interstate 75 serves Chattanooga and Knoxville and Interstate 55 serves Memphis. Interstate 81 enters the state at Bristol and terminates at its junction with I-40 near Dandridge. I-155 is a branch highway from I-55. The only spur highway of I-75 in Tennessee is I-275, which is in Knoxville.

Airports

Major airports within the state include Nashville International Airport (BNA), Memphis International Airport (MEM), McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) in Knoxville, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA), Tri-Cities Regional Airport (TRI), and McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport (MKL), in Jackson. Because Memphis International Airport is the major hub for FedEx Corporation, it is the world's largest air cargo operation.

Railroads

Memphis and Newbern, Tennessee, are served by the Amtrak City of New Orleans line on its run between Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Nashville is served by the Music City Star commuter rail service.

Governance

Tennessee's governor holds office for a four-year term and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The governor is the only official who is elected statewide. Unlike most states, the state does not elect the lieutenant governor directly; the Tennessee Senate elects its Speaker, who serves as lieutenant governor.

The Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature, consists of the 33-member Senate and the 99-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms, and House members serve two-year terms. Each chamber chooses its own speaker. The speaker of the state Senate also holds the title of lieutenant-governor. Constitutional officials in the legislative branch are elected by a joint session of the legislature.

The highest court in Tennessee is the state Supreme Court. It has a chief justice and four associate justices. No more than two justices can be from the same Grand Division. The Supreme Court of Tennessee also appoints the Attorney General, a practice that is not found in any of the other 49 states in the Union. Both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals have 12 judges. A number of local, circuit, and federal courts provide judicial services.

Tennessee's current state constitution was adopted in 1870. The state had two earlier constitutions. The first was adopted in 1796, the year Tennessee joined the union, and the second was adopted in 1834. The Tennessee Constitution outlaws martial law within its jurisdiction. This may be a result of the experience of Tennessee residents and other Southerners during the period of military control by Union (Northern) forces of the U.S. government after the American Civil War.

Politics

+ Presidential elections results
! Year	Republican Party (United States)>Republican	Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic
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Tennessee politics, like that of most U.S. states, is dominated by the Republican and the Democratic Parties. Except for in two nationwide Republican landslides of the 1920s (in 1920, when Tennessee narrowly supported Warren G. Harding over Ohio Governor James Cos, and in 1928, when it more decisively voted for Herbert Hoover over New York Governor Al Smith), the state was part of the Democratic Solid South until the 1950s, when it twice voted for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. Tennessee has since voted for Republicans in most presidential elections, though it tends to be somewhat more moderate than its staunchly conservative neighbors to the south.

While the Republicans control slightly more than half of the state, Democrats have moderate support in parts of rural Middle Tennessee and northern West Tennessee and have strong support in the cities of Nashville and Memphis. The latter area includes a large African-American population. Historically, Republicans had their greatest strength in East Tennessee prior to the 1960s. Tennessee's 1st / 2nd congressional districts based in East Tennessee are one of the few historically Republican districts in the South; the 1st has been in Republican hands continuously since 1881, and the 2nd district has been held continuously by Republicans since 1873.

In contrast, long disfranchisement of African Americans and their proportion as a minority (16.45% in 1960) meant that white Democrats generally dominated politics in the rest of the state until the 1960s. The GOP in Tennessee was essentially a sectional party. Former Gov. Winfield Dunn and former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock wins in 1970 built the Republican Party into a competitive party for the statewide victory. Tennessee has selected governors from different parties since 1970.

In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, a former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, failed to carry his home state, an unusual occurrence. Support for Republican George W. Bush increased in 2004, with his margin of victory in the state increasing from 4% in 2000 to 14% in 2004. Democratic presidential nominees from Southern states (such as Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton) usually fare better than their Northern counterparts do in Tennessee, especially among split-ticket voters outside the metropolitan areas.

Tennessee sends nine members to the US House of Representatives, of whom there are seven Republicans and two Democrats. Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey is the first Republican speaker of the state Senate in 140 years. In 2008 elections, the Republican party gained control of both houses of the Tennessee state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Now considered as 30% of the state's electorate are independents.

The ''Baker v. Carr'' (1962) decision of the US Supreme Court, which established the principle of one man, one vote, was based on a lawsuit over rural-biased apportionment of seats in the Tennessee legislature. This significant ruling led to an increased (and proportional) prominence in state politics by urban and, eventually, suburban, legislators and statewide officeholders in relation to their population within the state. The ruling also applied to numerous other states long controlled by rural minorities, such as Alabama.

Law enforcement

State agencies

The state of Tennessee maintains four dedicated law enforcement entities: the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and the Tennessee State Parks Department.

The Highway Patrol is the primary law enforcement entity that concentrates on highway safety regulations and general non-wildlife state law enforcement and is under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Department of Safety. The TWRA is an independent agency tasked with enforcing all wildlife, boating, and fisheries regulations outside of state parks. The TBI maintains state-of-the-art investigative facilities and is the primary state-level criminal investigative department. Tennessee State Park Rangers are responsible for all activities and law enforcement inside the Tennessee State Parks system.

Local government

Local law enforcement is divided between County Sheriff's Offices and Municipal Police Departments. Tennessee's Constitution requires that each County have an elected Sheriff. In 94 of the 95 Counties the Sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the County and has jurisdiction over the county as a whole. Each Sheriff's Office is responsible for warrant service, court security, jail operations and primary law enforcement in the unincorporated areas of a county as well as providing support to the Municipal Police Departments. Incorporated municipalities are required to maintain a Police Department to provide police services within their corporate limits.

The three Counties in Tennessee to adopt Metropolitan governments have taken different approaches to resolving the conflict that a Metro government presents to the requirement to have an elected Sheriff.

Nashville/Davidson County split law enforcement duties and authority between the Metro Sheriff and the Metro Police Chief. In this instance the Sheriff is no longer the chief law enforcement officer for Davidson County. The Davidson County Sheriff's duties focus on warrant service and jail operations. The Metropolitan Police Chief is the chief law enforcement officer and the Metropolitan Police Department provides primary law enforcement for the entire county.

Lynchburg/Moore County took a much simpler approach and abolished the Lynchburg Police Department when it consolidated and placed all law enforcement responsibility under the Sheriff's Office.

Hartsville/Trousdale County, although the smallest county in Tennessee, adopted a system similar to Nashville's that retains the Sheriff's Office but also has a Metropolitan Police Department.

Important cities and towns

The capital is Nashville, though Knoxville, Kingston, and Murfreesboro have all served as state capitals in the past. Memphis has the largest population of any city in the state. Nashville's 13-county metropolitan area has been the state's largest since c. 1990. Chattanooga and Knoxville, both in the eastern part of the state near the Great Smoky Mountains, each has approximately one-third of the population of Memphis or Nashville. The city of Clarksville is a fifth significant population center, some 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Nashville. Murfreesboro is the sixth-largest city in Tennessee, consisting of some 108,755 residents. {| |- |valign="top"| Major cities

Chattanooga

Clarksville

Knoxville

Memphis

Murfreesboro

Nashville

Secondary cities

Bartlett

Brentwood

Bristol

Cleveland

Collierville

Columbia

Cookeville

Franklin

Germantown

Hendersonville

Jackson

Johnson City

Kingsport

Morristown

Oak Ridge

|valign="top"| |}

Education

Tennessee has a rich variety of public, private, charter, and specialized education facilities ranging from pre-school through university education.

Colleges and universities

Public Higher education is under the oversight of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission which provides guidance to two public university systems – the University of Tennessee system and the Tennessee Board of Regents. In addition a number of private colleges and universities are located throughout the state.

American Baptist College Aquinas College (Tennessee) The Art Institute of Tennessee- Nashville Austin Peay State University Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences Belmont University Bethel College Bryan College Carson-Newman College Chattanooga State Technical Community College Christian Brothers University Columbia State Community College Crichton College Cumberland University Dyersburg State Community College East Tennessee State University Emmanuel School of Religion Fisk University Free Will Baptist Bible College Freed-Hardeman University Jackson State Community College Johnson University King College Knoxville College Lambuth University Lane College Lee University LeMoyne-Owen College Lincoln Memorial University Lipscomb University Martin Methodist College Maryville College Meharry Medical College Memphis College of Art Memphis Theological Seminary

Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary Middle Tennessee State University Milligan College Motlow State Community College Nashville School of Law Nashville State Community College Northeast State Technical Community College Nossi College of Art O'More College of Design Pellissippi State Technical Community College Rhodes College Roane State Community College Southern Adventist University Southern College of Optometry Southwest Tennessee Community College Tennessee State University Tennessee Technological University Tennessee Temple University Tennessee Wesleyan College The University of the South Trevecca Nazarene University Tusculum College Union University University of Memphis University of Tennessee System *University of Tennessee (Knoxville) **University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Memphis) **University of Tennessee Space Institute *University of Tennessee at Chattanooga *University of Tennessee at Martin Vanderbilt University Volunteer State Community College Walters State Community College Watkins College of Art and Design

Local school districts

Public primary and secondary education systems are operated by county, city, or special school districts to provide education at the local level. These school districts operate under the direction of the Tennessee Department of Education. Private schools are found in a many counties.

Sports

Professional teams

!Club	!Sport	!League
Memphis Redbirds	Baseball
Nashville Sounds	Baseball
Chattanooga Lookouts	Baseball
Tennessee Smokies	Baseball
Jackson Generals	Baseball
Elizabethton Twins	Baseball
Greeneville Astros	Baseball
Johnson City Cardinals	Baseball
Kingsport Mets	Baseball
Memphis Grizzlies	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Franklin Knights	Basketball	WBA
Tennessee Titans		National Football League
Nashville Predators	Ice hockey	National Hockey League
Knoxville Ice Bears	Ice hockey	Southern Professional Hockey League
Nashville Metros		USL Premier Development League
Chattanooga FC	Soccer	USL Premier Development League

Tennessee is also home to Bristol Motor Speedway which features NASCAR Sprint Cup racing two weekends a year, routinely selling out more than 160,000 seats on each date as well as Nashville Superspeedway.

Name origin

The earliest variant of the name that became ''Tennessee'' was recorded by Captain Juan Pardo, the Spanish explorer, when he and his men passed through a Native American village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while traveling inland from South Carolina. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi (or "Tanase") in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. The town was located on a river of the same name (now known as the Little Tennessee River), and appears on maps as early as 1725. It is not known whether this was the same town as the one encountered by Juan Pardo, although recent research suggests that Pardo's "Tanasqui" was located at the confluence of the Pigeon River and the French Broad River, near modern Newport.

The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend". According to James Mooney, the name "can not be analyzed" and its meaning is lost.

The modern spelling, ''Tennessee'', is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. The spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlake's "Draught of the Cherokee Country" in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created "Tennessee County", the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. (Tennessee County was the predecessor to current-day Montgomery County and Robertson County). When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state.

Nickname

Tennessee is known as the "Volunteer State," a nickname earned during the War of 1812 because of the prominent role played by volunteer soldiers from Tennessee, especially during the Battle of New Orleans.

State symbols

State symbols include:

State bird – "Northern Mockingbird"

State game bird – "Bobwhite Quail"

State wild animal – "Raccoon"

State sport fish – "Largemouth Bass"

State commercial fish – "Channel Catfish"

State horse – "Tennessee Walking Horse"

State insect – "Lightning Bug and the Lady Bug"

State cultivated flower – "Purple Iris"

State wild flower – "Passion Flower"

State tree – "Tulip Poplar"

State fruit – "Tomato"

State reptile – "Box turtle"

See also

List of National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee

List of people from Tennessee

U.S. state

References

Further reading

External links

State Government Website

Tennessee Department of Tourist Development

Tennessee State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Tennessee state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.

Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture

Tennessee State Library and Archives

Energy Profile for Tennessee

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Tennessee

U.S. Census Bureau

Tennessee Blue Book – All things Tennessee

Timeline of Modern Tennessee Politics

Tennessee State Facts

Tennessee landforms

The Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century – a history by J. G. M. Ramsey, 1853

Category:States of the Confederate States of America Category:States of the United States Category:States and territories established in 1796 Category:States of the Southern United States

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Frank Turner
background	solo_singer
birth name	Francis E. Turner
alias	Frank 'Dave' Turner
born	December 28, 1981Manama, Bahrain
origin	Meonstoke, England
height	6'4''
occupation	Singer-songwriter
instrument	Guitar, Vocals
genre	Folk, folk-punk, hardcore punk, alternative rock
years active	2001–present
label	Xtra Mile Recordings (UK), Epitaph, Paper + Plastick
associated acts	Million Dead, Reuben, The Record Buying Public, Kneejerk, Badger Doritos, Dive Dive
website	}}

Frank Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, a rarities compilation album and four EPs. Turner began recording for his new album ''England Keep My Bones'', in January 2011. It was released on 6 June 2011 in the UK, and 7 June 2011 worldwide.

Early life

Turner was educated on a scholarship at Eton College, where he studied alongside Prince William, and later went on to attend the London School of Economics where he read History. His father Roger Turner, is the son of Sir Mark Turner, formerly chairman of high street retailer BHS, and had himself also attended Eton before becoming a City investment banker, while his mother, Jane, the daughter of a bishop, is a primary school headmistress.

Musical career

Beginnings and Million Dead (Up to 2005)

Turner's musical career began at school, with the short-lived alternative band Kneejerk. The band self-released three albums and played several shows around the UK (including a support slot for Boysetsfire), before disbanding in November 2001.

In 2001, Turner joined London post-hardcore band Million Dead at the invitation of former Kneejerk drummer Ben Dawson. In 2005, after four years and two albums, the band announced that they were parting ways, as “irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue.”

''Sleep is for the Week'' and ''Love Ire & Song'' (2005-2008)

Turner's first solo shows took place prior to the break-up of Million Dead, with a set at the Smalltown America all-dayer at 93 Feet East in London. After the band's split, Turner felt that “it seemed like the logical thing to do to try my hand at playing these songs more publicly and more concertedly than before”. Turner states that "when Million Dead finished, I wanted to stay on tour, but I didn’t want the hassle of putting a band together."

After a split EP with rock band Reuben, Turner's first solo EP, ''Campfire Punkrock'', was released in May 2006 on Xtra Mile Recordings, with him being recorded and backed by Oxford band Dive Dive who he had met while out on tour with Reuben. Band members Tarrant Anderson, Ben Lloyd and Nigel Powell would become his backing band from this point on, with most of his subsequent UK headline tours being full band shows. After touring in support of American singer-songwriter Jonah Matranga, the two released a split EP in August 2006. In September, he was the last act to appear on Steve Lamacq's “Lamacq Live” show on BBC Radio 1. Turner's debut full-length studio album, ''Sleep Is for the Week'' was released in January 2007, again recorded at Dive Dive's studio, produced by their guitarist Ben Lloyd and featuring drummer Nigel Powell.

After an extensive tour, including dates supporting yourcodenameis:milo and Biffy Clyro, and an appearance at SXSW, Turner released an EP, ''The Real Damage'', in May 2007. After a further tour with Jonah Matranga and Jacob Golden, the “All About The Destination” DVD was released in October, before returning to the studio in Hampshire to record his second album. The album, ''Love Ire & Song'' again saw Ben Lloyd from Dive Dive in the producer's seat, and was released on 31 March 2008, followed by an extensive UK tour with Andy Yorke and Chris T-T. T-T also joined the live lineup on keyboards through summer 2008.

During summer 2008, Turner made several festival appearances, including sets at Y Not Festival, Two Thousand Trees Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck, Glastonbury, Jam By The Lake (in Durham) and the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

In October/November, during his 2008 UK Tour for the Love, Ire and Song album, he became ill with gastroenteritis, and was forced to leave the stage in Nottingham halfway through his set. All remaining shows, which included Nottingham, Liverpool and Ireland, were cancelled - the first time that Turner had cancelled any show in ten years. He went on to reschedule all cancelled shows in January 2009.

''Poetry of the Deed'' (2008-2010)

In December 2008 Turner released ''The First Three Years'', a compilation of demos, b-sides and covers that are not featured on either of his studio albums. In January 2009, he released a combined package of ''The First Three Years'' and ''Love Ire & Song'', and supported The Gaslight Anthem on their tour of the UK and Europe, demoing several new songs and announcing his plans to record a new album in May. The album was produced by Alex Newport, as previously suggested in interview by Turner. His band at the time still consisted of Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson and Nigel Powell from Dive Dive, with keyboardist Matt Nasir having been added on the Love, Ire and Song tour.

Prior to recording ''Poetry of the Deed'', Turner stated that:

Turner was announced as the support act on The Offspring's summer tour, during which he documented his travels with a blog on British music website NME. Regarding the support slot, Turner stated: "''Smash'' was one of the first punk records I ever bought, and I’m blown away to even be considered for the shows. From a “career” point of view, it’s also great - playing to many thousands of people a night across the States is an opportunity not to be sniffed at."

On 28 April, Turner signed with Epitaph Records for releases outside the UK.

Preceded by the single "The Road", Turner's third studio album, ''Poetry of the Deed'', was released on 7 September 2009 and reached #36 in the UK album chart. The following month he embarked upon a UK tour with his band in support of the album (with singer/songwriter Beans On Toast and US band "Fake Problems" as support acts), culminating in a sell-out show at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 October 2009. A live DVD/CD, entitled ''Take to the Road'', documenting two shows from the tour - Shepherds Bush Empire and the Union Chapel - was released in the UK in March 2010. In November 2009, Turner began a tour of the US which moved to Europe from 28 November and returned to the UK on 19 December. He completed the year with a New Year's Eve show at The Spiegeltent in Gloucester.

In early 2010, Turner played several more UK gigs, with Chuck Ragan and Crazy Arm supporting. He also accompanied Flogging Molly and the The Architects on the 2010 Green 17 Tour, and announced via his Twitter that he was working on new songs.

In June, he supported Green Day on their stadium shows, and also featured as the cover star of Kerrang! magazine for the first time, with an article inside documenting his solo career up to that point.

''Rock & Roll EP'' and ''England Keep My Bones'' (2010-present)

Turner played at many festivals throughout the summer, including his headlining appearance at the Two Thousand Trees Festival, playing his new song ''I Still Believe''. The song was released first as a single and then appeared on his Rock and Roll EP. ''I Still Believe'' appeared on Turner's most recent album, England Keep my Bones, released on 6 June 2011. Turner also contributed one song, a cover of Build Me Up Buttercup, to Centrepoint's 2010 Charity cover album ''1969 Key to Change''. On 25 January 2011 Frank was nominated for two Shockwaves NME Awards, for best Solo Artist and best Band Blog or Twitter.

Frank announced on his Twitter on 24 February 2011 that his fourth studio album would be called ''England Keep My Bones'' and that it would be released in the UK on 6 June 2011 and worldwide on 7 June 2011. He also announced details of solo tours in Australia, Germany, UK, and the USA & Canada. Frank started recording of this album on 10 January 2011 and finished recording on 20 January 2011, with mixing completed in February 2011. In March 2011, Turner stated that: acappella tune on there. But then there's a pretty full-on hardcore song as well.}}

On 21 March 2011, it was announced that Turner would be making the step up to the main stage at Reading an Leeds in August 2011. He spoke about the "perks" of playing Reading in a recent interview with 6 Towns Radio. He will also be playing Download, Blissfields and Cambridge Folk festivals, as well as many other festivals across Europe.

Several songs from England Keep My Bones were debuted at Playfest (a new music festival in Norfolk) on 28 May.

Frank Turner leaked new song 'I Am Disappeared' on to YouTube on 29 March 2011 later making it available for free download through Xtra Mile. He also announced on the 29th that he would soon be releasing 'Peggy Sang The Blues' as the first single from the album.

In early 2011, Frank Turner was booked to play as a headliner at Blissfields Festival. http://www.blissfields.co.uk/

During his May 2011 tour, Frank played a new song, tentatively titled "Rod Stewart." This song later became retitled as "Sailors Boots" and features as the B-side to "If Ever I Stray"

"England Keep My Bones" entered the UK chart at number 12 on its week of release, Franks highest charting album to date.

Frank has also announced plans to release a rarities compilation titled "The Second Three Years."

1000th Solo show

On 21 April 2011 Frank played his 1000th solo show at the Strummerville festival in Shoreditch, London.

Backing band

''Turner's band, 'The Sleeping Souls', both live and in the studio, consists of:''

Ben Lloyd - guitar, harmonica, mandolin

Tarrant Anderson - bass

Matt Nasir - piano, organ, guitar, backing vocals

Nigel Powell - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography

Studio albums

''Sleep Is for the Week'' (2007)

''Love Ire & Song'' (2008)

''Poetry of the Deed'' (2009)

''England Keep My Bones'' (2011)

EPs

''Campfire Punkrock'' (2006)

''The Real Damage'' (2007)

''Rock & Roll'' (2010)

Compilations

''The First Three Years'' (2008)

Demos

Frank Turner Demo (2005)

Singles

{|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"| Year !rowspan="2"| Single !| Peak chart positions !rowspan="2"| Album |- style=font-size:smaller !width=45| UK |- |2006 |"Vital Signs" | style="text-align:center;"|– |rowspan="2"|''Sleep Is For The Week'' |- |2007 |"The Real Damage" | style="text-align:center;"|– |- |rowspan="3"|2008 |"Photosynthesis" | style="text-align:center;"|– |rowspan="3"|''Love Ire & Song'' |- |"Reasons Not to Be an Idiot" | style="text-align:center;"|124 |- |"Long Live the Queen" | style="text-align:center;"|65 |- |rowspan="2"|2009 |"The Road" | style="text-align:center;"|62 |rowspan="4"|''Poetry of the Deed'' |- |"Poetry of the Deed" | style="text-align:center;"|– |- |rowspan="3"|2010 |"Isabel" | style="text-align:center;"|– |- |"Try This At Home" | style="text-align:center;"|– |- |"I Still Believe" | style="text-align:center;"|163 |''Rock & Roll'' |- |rowspan="2"|2011 |"Peggy Sang the Blues" | style="text-align:center;"|– |rowspan="2"|''England Keep My Bones'' |- |"If Ever I Stray" | style="text-align:center;"|– |- | colspan="4" style="text-align:center; font-size:8pt;"| "—" denotes a release that did not chart or has not been released |}

Guest appearances

The Automatic - "Steve McQueen" from ''This Is a Fix'' - vocals, percussion (2008)

Reuben - "Deadly Leathal Ninja Assassin" from ''In Nothing We Trust'' - vocals

Amongst the pigeons - "Larkin About" from ''Music to brush your teeth to'' - vocals (2009)

The Dawn Chorus - Guest on backing vocals on various tracks on their 'The Carnival leaves town' album.

Splits and collaborations

Reuben / Frank Turner - ''Xtra Mile Single Sessions #4'' (30 January 2006)

Jonah Matranga / Frank Turner - ''Split EP'' (17 July 2006)

Austin Lucas / Frank Turner - ''Under The Influence: Volume 7'' (17 April 2009)

Frank Turner / Tim Barry - ''Split EP'' (13 October 2009)

Frank Turner / Jon Snodgrass - ''Buddies'' (22 November 2010)

Compilation appearances

Public Service Broadcast #8 (17 April 2006)

"Photosynthesis" - "2000 Trees - Cider Smiles Vol.1", (Hide and Seek Records, June 2008)

Xtra Mile High Club (Xtra Mile Recordings, 2008)

"The Quiet One" - "Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy" (September 2009)

"Sally" (Kerbdog cover) - Memoria : A Tribute To The Alternative 90s (Yr Letter Records, October 2009)

"Rock & Roll Romance" - "Take Action: Volume 9" (April (April 2010)

"Sons of Liberty" - "2000 Trees - Cider Smiles Vol.3", (Hide and Seek Records, July 2010)

"My Poor Friend Me" (Bad Religion cover) - from Germs Of Perfection: A Tribute To Bad Religion (free download, 19 October 2010)

"Build Me Up Buttercup" - "1969 Key to Change", (Centrepoint, 2010)

"Poetry of the Deed" - "New Noise" (Epitaph Records, 2010)

Videography

Casanova Lament (unaired)

Vital Signs (2006)

The Real Damage (2007)

Photosynthesis (2008)

Reasons Not to Be an Idiot (2008)

I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (2008)

Long Live the Queen (2008)

The Road (2009)

Poetry of the Deed (2009)

Isabel (2010)

Try This at Home (2010)

I Still Believe (2010)

Peggy Sang the Blues (2011)

If Ever I Stray (2011)

DVDs

All About the Destination (22 October 2007)

Take to the Road (22 March 2010)

Awards and nominations

name	Frank Turner
awards	1
nominations	4
nmew	0
nmen	2
award1	Kerrang! Awards
award1w	1
award1n	1
award2	Bandit Rock Awards
award2w	0
award2n	1 }}

!	! Category	! Result
	No Half Measures Award
rowspan="2"	Best Solo Artist
Best Band Blog or Twitter
Bandit Rock Awards 2011	Best International Breakthrough

References

External links

Interviews

Frank Turner on England Keep My Bones, libertarianism, Brian May and more

Frank Turner invites Virgin Red Room to his gorgeous garden for an interview on England Keep My Bones.

YuppiePunk Q&A; on pop songwriting, punk rock capitalism and social media

26 Sept. 2009 Interview with ThePunkSite.com

Stereokill Interview: 29 October 2008

Stereokill Interview: 4 April 2009

GiggingNI.com talks to Frank Turner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfT0b2INxO4&feature;=avmsc2

Frank Turner Photo Interview

Stereoboard Interview: March 2011

Frank Turner on 6 Towns Radio with Terry Bossons: 20 May 2011

A snapshot into the mind and musings of Frank Turner

Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Living people Category:English folk musicians Category:1981 births Category:Folk punk musicians Category:Old Etonians Category:British libertarians Category:British atheists

de:Frank Turner

Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named ''Artist of the Year'' by ''Billboard'' Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album ''Speak Now'' on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''Forbes'' ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the ''Taylor Swift'' album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released ''Beautiful Eyes'', an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on ''Fearless'' were charted on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on ''Fearless'', 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on ''Romeo and Juliet''. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from ''Fearless'', "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is ''Billboard'''s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, ''Fearless'', she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for ''Fearless''. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM ''Album of the Year'' award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of ''The Jay Leno Show''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album ''Fearless'' namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. ''Fearless'' was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, ''Billboard'' revealed that Swift's new album is called ''Speak Now''. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." ''The New York Times'' described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

>

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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Coordinates	37°46′45.48″N122°25′9.12″N
name	Matt Nathanson
background	solo_singer
birth date	March 28, 1973
origin	Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	Folk, rock, country
occupation	Musician
years active	1993–present
label	Acrobat, Vanguard
website	www.mattnathanson.com
notable instruments	}}

Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (usually a twelve-string) and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with a full band. His work includes the platinum-selling song "Come On Get Higher".

Early life and college years

Matt Nathanson attended Pitzer College in Claremont, California (majoring in English and world literature) where he met longtime collaborator Mark Weinberg (of the bands Crumb and Gratitude).

Music

The members of his band have included Aben Eubanks on guitar, keys and vocals, later replaced by Aaron Tap. John Thomasson has been his bassist since 2004. Jason McKenzie was on drums until Fall 2006; Nick Amoroso on two tours from Fall 2007 through Winter 2008. Konrad Meissner is the drummer. Before 2005, Nathanson was often accompanied by cellist Matt Fish.

Television

His album ''Some Mad Hope'' was released on August 14, 2007. The song "All We Are" was featured on the television series ''NCIS'' in the fifth season episode "Family," the first season ''Private Practice'' episode "In Which Charlotte Goes Down the Rabbit Hole," the ''One Tree Hill'' episodes "My Way Home is Through You" and "Forever and Almost Always". He was also featured on ''Women's Murder Club''.

The ABC show ''Big Shots'' featured his song "Come On Get Higher," and the song "I Saw" was featured on ''Scrubs'' in the sixth season episode "My Best Friend's Baby's Baby and My Baby's Baby." Nathanson's song "Little Victories" was used on the Season 7 episode of ''Scrubs'', "My Dumb Luck." On January 30, 2008, Nathanson and his band performed "Car Crash" on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. His song "Sooner Surrender" was used on the May 28, 2008 episode of ''Men in Trees'', "New Dog, Old Tricks". Nathanson and his band performed "Come On Get Higher" on the "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" on December 22, 2008. The CW show ''The Vampire Diaries'' featured his song "All We Are" in the first season episode, ''"Family Ties"'' and ''Life Unexpected'' in second season episode titled ''"Parents Unemployed"''. The song was also on the fifth season episode ("Family", episode 2) of the CBS show "NCIS" His song "Bulletproof Weeks" appeared in the episode "Another Second Chance" of the TV series Private Practice on January 14, 2010.

On February 13, 2009, Nathanson and his band performed "Come On Get Higher" on the ''Late Show with David Letterman''. On March 3, 2009, he performed on ''Ellen'', singing "Come On Get Higher".

In March 2009, Nathanson was the special guest for Episode 17 of "Live From Daryl's House", Daryl Hall's monthly Internet concert. They, along with Hall's house band, performed (among other songs) "Car Crash", "Come On Get Higher", "Still" and "All We Are", as well as Hall & Oates classics "Did It In A Minute" and "One On One". Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher" is featured on the CD Circle of Friends - Dave FM: Volume 2, an Atlanta based radio station.

Covers

Matt Nathanson's cover of "Laid" by Manchester band James was featured on the ''American Wedding'' soundtrack, as well as ''American Pie Presents Band Camp''. Matt also covered the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee" for the children's album "For The Kids Too". Matt also performed a cover of Cat Steven's "The Wind" for the album "Wake Up Everybody".

Albums

Please

Recorded and mixed in February/March 1993 in a house in Van Nuys, CA. Most of the songs were written while Nathanson was in high school and a freshman at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Before this, Nathanson had recorded only demos. This was his first collection of songs ever put on CD. Please was released in the spring of 1993.

Ernst

Recorded in Nathanson's new hometown of San Francisco in the winter of 1997. An entirely acoustic record, the instrumentation is mostly acoustic guitar with some accordion, cellos and percussion . This record was mixed at Toast Studios in San Francisco, by Jaquire King.

Not Colored Too Perfect

This record is a compilation of unreleased material, the bulk of which was recorded in San Rafael, CA in the fall of 1997. Two other songs on this compilation, “You're Smiling” and “Wait Up” were recorded in Santa Barbara, CA in the summer of 1995. The final two songs, “Trace of a Cat's Eye” and “Vandalized” were taken from the unreleased record by Nathanson's college band Here Comes Everybody. The HCE album was recorded in Claremont, CA, in the spring of 1995 but was never released. Both these songs were written by the drummer in the band, Bill Foreman.

Still Waiting for Spring

Recorded December 1998 in Cotati, CA. and January 1999 at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, with Mark Weinberg. This record features David Immergluck & Charlie Gillingham of Counting Crows on tracks including the song "Loud," which was featured on the television show Dawson's Creek. The record was mixed at Different Fur in San Francisco and released spring of 1999.

When Everything Meant Everything

Recorded in the Winter of 2002, at Trakworx in South San Francisco. An entire album of songs was recorded but the release was shortened to an EP when Nathanson signed to Universal Records halfway through the mixing process. Studio versions of “Princess” and “Fall to Pieces” appear only on this EP. It was produced by Mark Weinberg and Nathanson and released in the fall of 2002.

Beneath These Fireworks

Recorded in Los Angeles in the winter of 2003, the team included drummer Matt Chamberlain, guitar player David Garza, and Glen Phillips, of the band Toad The Wet Sprocket, for background vocals. "Lucky Boy," from ''Still Waiting for Spring'' was re-recorded for this record, as were most of the songs from the ''When Everything Meant Everything'' EP/sessions. It was mixed by Mark Endert in Los Angeles and released in October 2003. "Suspended" and "I Saw" were released as singles and more than half the record was licensed to television shows like Scrubs, Tarzan, One Tree Hill, Joan of Arcadia and Men in Trees.

At the Point

Upon deciding that the major label world was not for him, Nathanson got out of his contract with universal records and released "At the Point." Recorded live over the course of 2 nights at The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA in June 2005, this is Nathanson's only live album. This record was released in April 2006 and debuted at #29 on the Billboard Heat Seekers chart the week of its release.

Some Mad Hope

‘Some Mad Hope’ was recorded between August 2005 and March 2007 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cotati, CA. The album was made independently, and Nathanson partnered with Vanguard Records for its release in August 2007. It debuted #60 on the Billboard Top 200 and was on the charts for 34 weeks. Various songs on the record were placed on television shows including CSI, One Tree Hill, Private Practive, Melrose Place, 90210, Vampire Diaries, American Idol among others.

Singles included “Come On Get Higher (peaked at #2 at Triple A, #9 at Hot AC, #3 at Mainstream AC and #19 at Pop) “Car Crash” (peaked at #12 at Triple A, and #29 at Hot AC), “Falling Apart (peaked #29 at Hot AC) and “All We Are” (peaked at #26 at Triple A).

Some Mad Hope has sold over 300,000 copies and “Come On Get Higher” went platinum selling over 1.8 million in single sales.

Modern Love

Nathanson's album ''Modern Love'' was released in June 21, 2011. The first single, "Faster", was released in March. The song, "Run" was recorded with the group Sugarland, but are credited individually as "feat. Jennifer Nettles & Kristian Bush."

Personal life

In the early 1990s Nathanson relocated from Boston, Massachusetts to San Francisco, California. He and his wife, Bridget, who he met while in college, currently live there together.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
! scope="row"		* Release date: July 1993	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: ''[[ERNST">Compact disc	—	—	—	—
''[[ERNST''		* Release date: February 1997	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—	—	—	—
''Not Colored Too Perfect''		* Release date: April 1998	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—	—	—	—
''Still Waiting for Spring''		* Release date: March 1999	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—	—	—	—
''Beneath These Fireworks''		* Release date: October 14, 2003	Universal Records>Universal/Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, music download	—	—	44	—
''Some Mad Hope''		* Release date: August 14, 2007	* Label: Vanguard Records	* Formats: CD, music download	60	16	—	3
! scope="row"		* Release date: June 21, 2011	* Label: Vanguard Records	* Formats: CD, Vinyl, music download	17	4	—	4

Live albums

Title	Details	Peak chartpositions
		! width="40"	! width="40"
''At the Point''		* Release date: April 4, 2006	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, music download	29	28

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak positions
		! width="50"
! scope="row"		* Release date: November 2002	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, cassette	—
! scope="row"		* Release date: October 14, 2003	* Label: Acrobat Records	* Formats: CD, music download	—
''iTunes: Live Session EP''		* Release date: 2009	* Label: iTunes Store	* Formats: Music download	185

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions					Album
		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
2003	"Sad Songs"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Suspended"	—	—	—	—	—
"I Saw"	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"Car Crash"	—	—	30	—	—
2008	"[[Come On Get Higher">Music recording sales certification	Album
! width="35"	! width="35"		! width="35"	! width="35"	! width="35"
2003	"Sad Songs"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Suspended"	—	—	—	—	—
"I Saw"	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"Car Crash"	—	—	30	—	—
2008	"[[Come On Get Higher"	59	3	9	20	30		Recording Industry Association of America>US: Platinum
	"All We Are"	—	—	—	—	—
"Falling Apart"	—	—	28	—	—
2011	"Faster"	74	29	15	36	88

References

External links

Official site

Matt Nathanson collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Category:1973 births Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Musicians from California Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:Pitzer College alumni Category:Vanguard Records artists Category:Live Music Archive artists

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