01 | Crime Reporting, Sit-in Protests, Newspaper Competition | Fisk Jubilee Quartet | April 2018 Issue

Nashville Retrospect

The Stringbean killings. The Marcia Trimble murder. The civil rights sit-protests. These are just a few of the big news stories covered by Larry Brinton, an award-winning reporter who worked for the Nashville Banner in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.Host Allen Forkum (editor of The Nashville Retrospect newspaper) interviews Brinton, who also discusses the Bill Powell trial, competition with The Nashville Tennessean, the samurai sword case, and more (segment begins at 07:30).

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Be sure to also listen to Episode 13 for the second part of this interview with Larry Brinton, who died on July 25, 2019.]

Larry Brinton being interviewed in his home in March 2018.

From the November 2010 issue of The Nashville Retrospect: On July 22, 1974, Dist. Atty. Gen. Tom Shriver (left), Banner reporter Larry Brinton (middle) and Metro Detective Davie Roberts wait as police divers search a nearby pond for the Stringbean’s satchel, which Brinton and some confederates had secretly recovered earlier in the day in order to scoop The Nashville Tennessean on the story. In the background, John Brown, who had shot and killed Grand Ole Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman the previous November, is seen walking, handcuffed and under escort. (Image: Nashville Public Library, Nashville Room, photo by Jack Gunter)

Also in Episode 01, hear the story of “Golden Slippers,” a slave song recorded by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet in 1909 (segment begins at 33:10).

And finally, Allen Forkum reviews old newspaper articles reprinted in the April 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect, including original 1968 coverage of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination and the resulting violence in Nashville (segment begins at 01:30).

SHOW NOTES

A list of stories relating to this episode contained in archive issues of The Nashville Retrospect (archive issues can be ordered by clicking here or on the issue links below):

• “75 Students Arrested,” Nashville Tennessean, Feb. 28, 1960 (The Nashville Retrospect, February 2010)

• “Nashville Banner & The Sit-Ins” by Larry Brinton (The Nashville Retrospect, February 2010)

• “Slain Girl Found in Woodbine Lot,” Nashville Banner, Dec. 2, 1969 (Kathy Jones murder, The Nashville Retrospect, November 2009)

• “Before Marcia Trimble” by Larry Brinton (The Nashville Retrospect, August 2011)

• “Police Push For Killers Of Stringbean, Wife,” Nashville Banner, Nov. 12, 1973 (The Nashville Retrospect, November 2010)

• “The Stringbean Murders” by Larry Brinton (The Nashville Retrospect, November 2010)

• “Samurai Sword” by Larry Brinton (The Nashville Retrospect, April 2010)

• See the April 2018 issue of The Nashville Retrospect for other stories referenced on this episode.

Other related articles:

"At the Hippodrome," Nashville Tennessean, Nov. 15, 1915

"Slave Music," Daily American, May 18, 1885

"The Gallows In Georgia," Daily American, May 31, 1883

"Fisk Quartette At Home," Nashville American, Jan. 1, 1910

Links relating to this episode:

“At Fisk University, A Tradition Of Spirituals,” an NPR article about the Fisk Jubilee Quartet

“There Breathes a Hope” Fisk Jubiless Quartet CD with extensive liner notes

Fisk Jubilee Quartet recordings online

Lyrics for “Golden Slippers”

Fisk Jubilee Singers

Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge

Fido Restuarant

Belcourt Theatre

“Marty” (1955)

Music: “Golden Slippers” by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet (Victor Talking Machine Co., 1909); “Near You” by Francis Craig and His Orchestra (Bullet, 1947); “Quiet Outro” by ROZKOL (2018); “Covered Wagon Days” by Ted Weems and His Orchestra; and “The Buffalo Rag” by Vess L. Ossman