About - No Country For New Nashville

No Country For New Nashville was founded in 2011 by Tennessee native Matt Hall, out of a desire to shed a spotlight on local artists, and to spread awareness about shows in Nashville’s independent and underground music scene. At the time, “New Nashville” felt like a real moment of transition, and as No Country grew, we watched our town and music scene grow- for better and for worse- along with us. The artists, venues, blog culture, and perception of Nashville now is very different than when No Country started, but our mission remains the same: to bring you the best coverage of our favorite local and national artists, across this site and social media.

In 2012, Philip Obenschain– a native of Virginia- joined as a lead contributor, and took on a more significant editorial role as Matt scaled back his involvement in the late 2010s. Philip still oversees the majority of our journalistic content, concert coverage, and editorial, and has penned the more than half of the articles you’ll find on this site, serving as de facto editor-in-chief. Tennessee native Wes Davenport joined the team in 2013, and created our popular Spotify playlist not long after, which has grown into a preeminent source for curated local music over more than a decade. Wes remains a chief curative voice for No Country, and also contributes to our editorial content. Together, Philip (a music and tech freelancer) and Wes (a Sr. Director at Universal Music Group’s °1824) oversee site and social media in its current form.

Many other writers, photographers, designers, and interns are and have been part of the team over the years, and you’ll find their names in bylines, tags, and captions all throughout the site and social media. No Country remains a small, independent outlet, and we are eternally grateful to everyone who’s supported us and contributed to our mission over the years.

Find Philip on social media | Instagram | Threads | Bluesky | X

Find Wes on social media | Instagram