Audrey Gibbs
Audrey Gibbs covers contemporary music with a focus on how artists, venues and festivals reveal the changing shape of the industry. She blends live-event reporting, artist features and industry analysis, staying close to the performers while tracking the business and technological forces around them. Her work at The Tennessean centers on clear, accessible stories that connect major moments on stage to the broader currents in modern music.
Festival stages and live music moments
Gibbs is deeply embedded in the festival and live music circuit, with regular coverage of large-scale events and what they mean for fans and organizers.
Her reporting on Bonnaroo ranges from breaking news on a two-hour power outage to broader pieces on the festival’s hiatus and what that signals for the music festival economy, showing both immediacy and structural context. In coverage of The Strokes headlining Bonnaroo after a long absence, she ties setlists and crowd response to the festival’s history and identity, illustrating how legacy acts shape current lineups.
She also writes service and scene pieces around major concerts, such as practical guidance for attending My Chemical Romance’s Nashville show at Nissan Stadium, where parking tips and logistics are spelled out alongside the scale of the event. Her work on large civic celebrations, including Nashville’s July 4 “America 250” bash, details stages, performers and crowd experience, positioning music as a central piece of citywide festivities and documenting how programming is built across multiple locations.
Country artists and Nashville institutions
Country music and its core institutions run through Gibbs’s coverage, from marquee artists to historic venues.
She profiles and reviews country acts like Little Big Town, using new albums to explore how established groups respond to shifts in the musical landscape and the pressures on contemporary recording and touring. In reporting on a Dolly Parton tribute special for a major streaming platform, she lays out how to watch while situating the event within the broader story of Parton’s influence and continuing cultural presence.
Her work on the Grand Ole Opry’s celebration of Dolly’s 80th birthday tracks the lineup, special performances and the symbolic weight of the milestone inside country’s “Mother Church.” A history feature on the Ryman Auditorium traces its evolution as a venue and its central role in country music, using archival detail and current programming to connect past and present.
She also introduces emerging country voices like Ella Langley, explaining who they are, what they sound like and why they matter ahead of key appearances, giving readers a concise entry point into new talent.
Technology and the future of music
Gibbs covers the collision of music and technology with particular attention to artificial intelligence and its impact on artists and the industry.
Her pieces on deals between major music companies and AI firms - such as Universal Music Group’s agreement with ElevenLabs and BMG’s partnership with Suno - outline what the partnerships are, why they are significant and how they could reshape creative work and rights in Nashville and beyond. She explains technical developments in plain language, focusing on what musicians, labels and audiences stand to gain or risk, rather than on jargon. This thread continues in her analysis of the festival economy, where she examines how changing costs, technology and audience expectations intersect to put pressure on long-running events like Bonnaroo.
Across these stories, she treats technology as a practical factor in how music is made, distributed and experienced, not as a novelty.
Profiles, production and behind-the-scenes craft
Beyond the stage, Gibbs spends time with the people and systems that shape how music sounds and reaches listeners. A long-form piece on Nashville music producers documents months of immersion in studios, charting how producers work, collaborate and adapt to new tools and market demands. She writes profiles and features that draw out artists’ creative processes and career arcs, often built from interviews on and off the red carpet, capturing both performance personas and offstage perspectives.
Her author information notes regular coverage of new releases in the Nashville music scene and a focus on arts and culture reporting, underscoring her interest in the craft and context of records as they come out.
Prior work for other music and culture outlets broadens her vantage point, giving her experience with both local scenes and wider industry conversations. Across formats - features, concert reviews, historical pieces and service guides - she keeps attention on how songs, shows and stories actually come together, making the mechanics of music production and promotion understandable without losing the human element.
4 more music journalists.
Andrea Dresdale
Andrea Dresdale manages entertainment content at ABC Audio and covers music-driven pop culture for news and audio platforms. Her beat centers on chart-friendly pop, new releases, mainstream artists, awards, residencies and industry milestones. She also reports on legacy acts, anniversaries, nostalgia, remixes, live performances and music’s links to film, television, streaming and social media. Her notable coverage includes Taylor Swift, BTS, The Weeknd, Madonna, The Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Patty Smyth and Miley Cyrus. Her work has appeared through syndicated ABC Audio coverage on outlets such as WRMF, KS95 and Hot 96.7. Dresdale writes concise, timely pieces for radio audiences. She frames songs, tours, specials and career moments through cultural impact, fan appeal, commercial momentum and lasting relevance. Her stories connect current hits with music history and show how artists maintain attention through new releases, collaborations and reinterpretations.
Andrew Weber
Andrew Weber uses accountability reporting to examine who benefits from decisions shaping Austin’s music ecosystem. He reports for KUT as a government accountability reporter and works as a freelance reporter and associate editor for KUT News across the public radio network. His music coverage focuses on musicians’ pay at festivals, health care, mental health services, venue relief and working conditions. He treats SXSW as a workplace and economic system, reporting on low fees, sponsorships, boycotts and the political choices behind the festival. He also covers government and institutional issues, including KUT’s relationship with the University of Texas and the firing of general manager Debbie Hiott. His reporting ranges from nonprofit support systems to experimental sound art. He plays music on the side and brings digital storytelling experience, including an Edward R. Murrow award for social media work.
Andy Greene
Andy Greene is a senior writer at Rolling Stone who stands out for long-form interviews and narrative features that follow artists across entire careers. He focuses on music, especially classic rock performers, live shows, tours, and band dynamics. He runs the interview series Unknown Legends and King For a Day, which center on veteran musicians, sidemen, collaborators, and singers who replace legendary frontmen. He also writes cover stories and major features on high-profile figures, including Radiohead, Howard Stern, Bill Withers, Nathan Fielder, Steve Perry, Pete Townshend, and Stephen King. His reporting relies on access, detailed questioning, and a deep command of rock history. He also writes about film and television when they connect to music and culture.
Anna Grace Lee
Anna Grace Lee is a Vogue reporter who covers pop musicians and celebrities through fashion, weddings, and lifestyle culture, focusing on dresses, events, pets, and subcultures rather than industry news. She writes scene-driven features that place entertainers in vivid settings, from villas to underground food markets, and treats music-adjacent stories as fashion and craftsmanship narratives. Her Dua Lipa Sicily wedding coverage shows how she frames a wedding dress as a haute couture moment and a pop-cultural milestone, emphasizing design, making, and handwork. Her Millie Bobby Brown miniature poodle piece reflects a consistent interest in celebrity pets, fandom, and off-stage persona. She also reports lifestyle features like Brooklyn’s buzziest underground cheese sale, embedding in niche food scenes. At Vogue she contributes to weddings, celebrity, living, and Met Gala coverage, and maintains a portfolio of culture and lifestyle work built around entertainment-adjacent storytelling.