By Charlotte Fontaine
NASHVILLE, TN — I recently sat down over eggs and coffee at The Pancake Pantry with distinguished author Paula Blackman to discuss the recent release of her book “Night Train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City.” Despite the ever-growing comparison culture we live in, it is very rare to meet someone who is truly fulfilled, in the right place at the right time, and living out their purpose. Paula exuded these qualities as she discussed her work, which is based on gripping stories her revolutionary radio executive grandfather shared with her when she was a teenager and which she believes she was destined to write.
“Night Train to Nashville” takes place in three tumultuous decades, beginning with the 1940s, with a focus on the era of segregation and Civil Rights. It follows the story of E Gab. Blackman (Paula’s grandfather) and William Sousa “Sou” Bridgeforth who lived parallel lives professionally, each fighting against the separation of society through their roles in the burgeoning R&B music scene in Nashville but were separated in lifestyle by the color of their skin.
As a sixth generation Nashvillian herself, fully aware of our city’s history and culture, Blackman says, “I’m old enough to remember a lot of these events personally, and the ones I don’t remember are my grandfather’s stories. My father and his sister also helped fill in the blanks.” The opposite of sharing one’s families’ dirty little secrets, Paula was able to portray her deep family pride in her writing of this book. Her goal was to “get the [book] to read authentic and in the same tradition” as the stories told by her grandfather.
Blackman’s research spanned over the course of 15 years as she grappled with how best to format this striking story, eventually landing on producing a creative nonfiction novel. “It was questionable if we should write this as historic fiction… but if I had, some of the most unbelievable parts would be mistaken as fictional.” She is referring to how her work is refreshingly honest in how it did not mist over the ugly and disturbing nature of day-to-day living at the time.
Blackman’s dedication and sincerity in getting the untold truth out there is what separates her writing from other works covering the same eras, as she added “there was a time I wondered if this story would ever see the light of day”.
She says, “It was not a coincidence that music city became the first to desegregate. This city was the most receptive and music played a very significant part of that, by the time James Lawson came here, the WLAC broadcast [the same broadcast her grandfather ran], had already been on the air for 14 years. The city was ripe”.
Paula’s passion for these stories radiated as she spoke. “It’s hard to be ignorant and empathetic at the same time. By the end of the book, I hope that readers come away with a better understanding of how we got here, and the way the world is today, how we have overcome but still how far we have to go to have a truly fair, integrated, open and ethical society”.
Get a copy of “Night train to Nashville: The Greatest Untold Story of Music City” at your local bookstore or check out the audio version on Audible today!