Author Odie Lindsey to Lead Panel Discussion at Americana Music Fest on Sept. 22

         NASHVILLE -- Author/professor/veteran of both the Iraq war and the music business Odie Lindsey has been tapped to lead a panel discussion titled "Songwriters and Scribes: Storytelling in Song and Fiction" at Americana Fest in Nashville at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Sheraton Nashville.  

         Lindsey's startling debut short story collection published by W.W. Norton, "We Come To Our Senses," was inspired by a Willie Nelson song, and he is uniquely suited to guide fellow writers Bonnie Bishop, Billy Bragg, Mary Gauthier, and Alice Randall in a discussion on the intersection of literature and song.

         Lindsey is a Gulf War combat veteran and former hardcore kid who teaches literature at Vanderbilt University. "We Come To Our Senses" has earned praise everywhere from The Nashville Scene (“voice for a generation”) to The New York Times (“The book captures our culture now, its pop references flaring, familiar and embarrassing: a counterpunch to every ad you watch.”).

         Lindsey’s writing explores facets of the American veteran experience that stories like "American Sniper" or "The Hurt Locker" don’t touch. "We Come To Our Senses" shines a light on individuals already marginalized by society – often female and/or LGBT – who must come to grips with returning home from far-off war zones, into situations that often seem just as bad.

         For more information on this year's AmericanaFest, visit http://americanamusic.org/.

         For more information on Odie Lindsey, visit http://oalindsey.com/.