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The Nashville Film Festival announced the full lineup Friday for a fall gathering of filmgoers in Music City that will begin with the Brandi Carlile-produced documentary “The Return of Tanya Tucker” as the gala opening on Sept. 29 and end with director Sacha Jenkins’ “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” for closing night on Oct. 5.

The 53rd annual edition of the festival will take place both in-person and virtually, with a selection of more than 150 films that includes 38 full-length features, about 30 of which will be world, North American or U.S. premieres.

Although the virtual component continues to be strong for the festival, its leaders note that of the 150 or so films in the festival, more than 50 will screen for audiences in Nashville venues, starting with the Tanya Tucker doc, which will be seen in the historic main auditorium of the city’s beloved Belcourt Theater, one of the original homes of the Grand Ole Opry.

The Steve Miller Band and Marty Stuart and the Superlatives will embark on another trek together this summer, as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and the country icon have booked another three months of dates for their 2020 Americana Tour.

The North American leg begins in Austin on June 13th — two days after Miller is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a New York gala on June 11th — and continues through the summer before concluding in Puyallup, Washington, on September 4th.

“Touring with Marty and the Superlatives is inspirational,...

This story first appeared in the Movies and Limited Series issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine. I don’t even remember exactly when this happened — sometime around 1977, I reckon, though the exact year is lost in the mists. Early in my writing career, I’d gone to a comedy club near my home in Orange County, California to see a comedian friend named Gary Mule Deer, a prop comic whose bio I’d written for his PR company. The club was nondescript, with three acts on the bill. Gary was the headliner, preceded by Soviet defector Yakov Smirnoff, who said from the stage that.

Steve Martin has been making people laugh so hard for so long that some — especially younger audiences — might not fully appreciate just how pure and fresh his early comic work was. Before the Oscars, before Father of the Bride, before Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, even before The Jerk, Martin was a total force of nature whose main platform was television, beginning with writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In his wild and crazy prime, an appearance by Martin on Johnny Carson or other primetime showcase was insane, yet so carefully crafted. When he hosted Saturday Night Live or had a stand-up special,...

The Johnny Mathis Christmas Show will put Orange County's holiday season into full swing. America's beloved singer returns to the Center for an evening decked with holiday favorites and many of his most popular hits on Saturday, December 12 in Segerstrom Hall. Since his first two hits, "Wonderful, Wonderful" and "Chances Are" hit the top of the charts in 1956, Mathis has been inducted into the Grammy Award Hall of Fame twice and the public has continued to love the singer, his music and that distinct Mathis voice ever since. Mathis will be joined by comedian/singer Gary Mule Deer for part of the evening.