A series of musical performances, panel discussions, the release of a double CD of religious music and a conference to sum it all up will mark a semester-long investigation of “God in Music City” at Vanderbilt University.
“We’re trying to explore and break down boundaries that have often kept people from having meaningful dialogue across  differences,” said Allison Pingree, director of Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching and co-leader of the Music, Religion and the South study group of the university’s Center for the Study of Religion and Culture. 
The series will include discussions of gay Christian music, God in country music videos and a daylong bus tour of Nashville houses of worship. Performances will be staged at the Bluebird Café, the Basement, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Vanderbilt. For a full listing of events, click here.
Singer-songwriters Tom Kimmel and Julie Lee are serving as artists-in-residence for the “God in Music City” series.
Most events are open to the public. Tickets are required for some. An undergraduate course open to Vanderbilt students, “Music and Religion: God in Music City,” also will run during the semester.
The Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at Vanderbilt is devoted to interdisciplinary scholarship to create new knowledge and a richer understanding of religion and culture. Its Music and Religion and the South study group is entering its third year of work, and its first of public presentations.
The “God in Music City” series opens with a CD release party 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at The Commons Center at Vanderbilt. The CD on Lime Pulp Records includes 35 songs from performers including Kimmel, Lee, Pierce Pettis, the Corinthian Baptist Church Mass Choir, Music City Shabbat, Jewly Hight, Christian Teal, The Harpeth Valley Sacred Harp Singers, Nashville in Harmony, and the St. Ann Catholic Church Folk Group.
For more information on the CD, click here.
Selected events from the God in Music City series will be podcast at VUCast, the Web site of Vanderbilt News Service, here.