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The Caverns Sessions Comes Back for Season 15, and Jeff Tweedy Opens the Show

  • Writer: Ryan P. French
    Ryan P. French
  • 10 hours ago
  • 2 min read
The Caverns Sessions Season 15 concert filmed underground at The Caverns

If you've never sat inside The Caverns while a band plays sixty feet below the surface of Monteagle Mountain, it's hard to describe what that sounds like. The stone does something to the music. Guitars ring longer. Harmonies sound like they're coming from everywhere at once. It's one of the reasons The Caverns Sessions has run for 15 seasons on PBS, and why the show keeps drawing artists who could play anywhere in the country and choose a cave in Grundy County instead.


Season 15 premieres September 9, opening with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, a fitting way to kick off a season with this much range. The full lineup includes Wynonna, Warren Haynes, Punch Brothers, The Band of Heathens, Apocalyptica, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, The Wilder Blue, Taylor Hunnicutt, Kyle Tuttle, New Dangerfield, and Slay & Stinson. That's bluegrass next to classical cello, Nashville royalty next to rising songwriters, all filmed in the same underground room.


New episodes stream every Wednesday starting September 9 on PBS.org and the PBS app, with each one free to watch for 30 days after it airs. If you'd rather watch it the old-fashioned way, check your local PBS station's listings for airtimes.


What makes this season worth mentioning beyond the music is who's behind it. The Caverns Sessions is underwritten by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, known to travelers as Tennessee Vacation, along with the South Central Tennessee Tourism Association, which operates as Experience Tennessee. WCTE Central Tennessee PBS and WNPT Nashville PBS carry the series nationally in partnership with PBS.


We support this show because it does something a brochure never could. It puts the South Cumberland Plateau in front of a national audience and lets the place speak for itself. The Caverns sits close enough to Winchester that a trip down for a taping or a weekend visit can easily turn into a stop through downtown, a walk along the square, dinner somewhere local before or after the show. That connection between the cave and the town is part of why Downtown Winchester and the South Cumberland region continue to back this partnership year after year.


Ryan French with Experience Tennessee put it this way: "We are thrilled to partner with Downtown Winchester and the South Cumberland to continue our support of The Caverns Sessions on PBS. The show reaches music fans nationwide and inspires travel to one of the most beautiful areas in Tennessee. We're happy to help people plan their visit to The Caverns at ExperienceTN.com/Caverns."


If you're within a couple hours of Winchester, whether you're coming from Nashville, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Knoxville, Cookeville, or Memphis, this is a good fall to make the drive. Watch an episode, then start planning the trip that gets you there in person. The cave, the town, and the mountain around them are worth more than 30 minutes of streaming.

Start planning your visit at ExperienceTN.com/Caverns, and watch Season 15 beginning September 9 at PBS.org/Caverns.


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