Nashville song laments gentrification, 'Displacement Blues'

Nell Levin didn't travel far to find the material to write Nashville's latest social justice anthem.

Her "Displacement Blues" — an old-fashioned ditty about how housing gentrification prices out locals from their neighborhoods — grew out of what she said she sees every day.

"This was written about what happened on this block," Levin said. "I just looked out the window."

Levin, who has lived in a 1910 craftsman-style home in East Nashville since 1996, said she saw neighboring musicians displaced by a home demolition that brought down a home priced at about $150,000 for a pricier replacement at more than $500,000. Two nearby families were forced to relocate to rural Whites Creek when their lease ran out. And one of the neighborhood's highest-priced homes, with an asking price over $700,000, is being built now, next door.

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"We're the 'It City' and all this, but what happens to people when they get pushed out of a neighborhood they've always lived in?" she asked.

Those are the stories she tried to capture. The Shelby Bottom String Band — Levin is the fiddler — recorded the song this year and then showed its music video on Sunday in front of almost 1,500 people at a community rally and mayoral forum.

The song also is one of the city's first art projects to get a grant from the THRIVE arts fund, which backs ideas that unite artists with neighborhoods. The band got $3,050 to produce the song and video, to perform it regularly and to lead discussions about affordable housing in Council District 5 in East Nashville.

"What we're saying is somewhat controversial, and we're really pleased that Metro Arts gave us a grant," Levin said. "It's the voice of the underdog here."

The song, which riffs off the work of roots bluesman Leadbelly, rhymes its way through one of the issues looming large in the city and the mayor's race.

"Eviction notice on my door / There's a wrecking crew I can't ignore," sings Levin's husband, Michael August. "They build skinny ugly houses, cookie cutter style / You can't fix that with granite tile."

Jen Cole, Metro Arts Commission executive director, said the project is a "classic Nashville example" of socially conscious art and song.

"This country has a long tradition of the intersection between art and social justice and community change," she said.

Levin said she thinks up-and-coming musicians feel the pinch of Nashville's rising home prices. So her project turns the table, putting music to work to raise awareness.

"Music," she said, "is a very effective tool for social change."

Reach Tony Gonzalez at 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @tgonzalez.

THRIVE funds neighborhood-centric art

For more information about THRIVE arts grants, contact Kana Gaines at kana.gaines@nashville.gov or 615-862-6314, or visit www.nashville.gov/Arts-Commission/THRIVE.aspx.