Higher Grounds – Details, episodes & analysis

In 1993, rock frontwoman Elle Harrison was found dead at Higher Grounds, the Nashville coffeehouse she owned with her three best friends. Authorities ruled it a suicide. Few believed that. Thirty years later, the remaining women break their silence for the first time. Told through candid interviews, Higher Grounds is an intimate oral history of lifelong friendship, ambition, and impossible choices, tracing four women’s lives from girlhood to the explosive moment everything came undone.

Higher Grounds is the debut fiction podcast series from YellaBird Media

Premiering February 2026. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.

Written and produced by Kimberly Conway,

Starring:
Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia
Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni
Janice Lynn Sykes as Roz
Katy Yoder as Elle
Kimberly Conway as Kat
Robert Fleet as Gentry
Gervais Weekes as Charles
Stacey Lightman as Randi
and a full cast

Sound Design & Mixing: YellaBird Media
Mixing & Mastering: Rick Such

Website: www.yellabird.com
Instagram:  @YellaBirdMedia  

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In the series premiere, journalist Kat Singleton arrives at Higher Grounds to speak with the women behind Nashville’s most infamous coffeehouse. Thirty years ago, the coffeehouse made international headlines when child star turned rock icon Elle Harrison was found dead in its parking lot. Six weeks later, mobster Carmine D’Orazio was gunned down in the same spot. Both cases were closed quickly, but questions have lingered for decades.

Now, for the first time, the women who built Higher Grounds are ready to speak.

Told through candid interviews, Higher Grounds traces four women’s lives across the decades—friendship, ambition, fame, and fallout—leading to the moment long-buried secrets erupted into one of Music City’s most explosive scandals.

The story begins here, in the summer of ’62.

Written and produced by Kimberly Conway.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay

Janice Lynn Sykes as Rozalyn Mitchell

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Tara Madison as Reporter

Brianne Buishas as Young Elle

Kyle Sanderson as Announcer

Rachanee Lumayno as Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

It’s 1967. Sylvia, Roz, Joni, and Elle form a singing group called The Divine Darlings. What starts on church stages quickly grows into something bigger. But as ambition begins to surface and first loves complicate loyalties, the four friends take their first real step toward the spotlight—unaware of where that step will lead.

Written and produced by Kimberly Conway.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay

Janice Lynn Sykes as Rozalyn Mitchell
Katy Yoder as Elle Harrison
Gervais Weekes as Charles Richardson

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton
Jennifer Tzoumas as Allison Andrews

Rachanee Lumayno as Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

It’s 1969. The Divine Darlings are riding high on their first studio recording when real life closes in. A humiliating scene in a school parking lot. The Vietnam War divides the nation. As the world outside grows louder and more volatile, the girls are forced to make difficult choices, and the future they once imagined begins to slip out of reach.

Written and produced by Kimberly Conway.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay

Janice Lynn Sykes as Rozalyn Mitchell
Katy Yoder as Elle Harrison
Gervais Weekes as Charles Richardson

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno as Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

It’s 1970. The girls are scattered across the country, trying to hold onto each other through letters as their lives start to split at the seams. In Louisiana, Sylvia is pushed into survival mode by a relentless series of events. In Nashville, Joni is left to navigate a new kind of loneliness, when a day of celebration turns into a night she will never forget.
Written and produced by Kimberly Conway.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay

Gervais Weekes as Charles Richardson

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno as Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

In the aftermath of a devastating year, the girls begin finding their footing in lives that look nothing like the ones they once imagined. A wedding brings Roz and Elle back to Nashville for the first time in years. Old friendships are rekindled, but the distance between their worlds is impossible to ignore. And in New Orleans, Sylvia wrestles with the growing divide between the girl she once was and the woman she is becoming.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay
Janice Lynn Sykes as Roz Mitchell
Katy Yoder as Elle Harrison
Stacey Lightman as Randi McMillan

Gervais Weekes as Charles Richardson

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno - Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

In Las Vegas, Sylvia meets a young musician named Gentry Wilder, but her attention is quickly claimed by another man. After a violent encounter leaves her shaken, her life begins to take a different path.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson
Stacey Lightman as Randi McMillan 
Robert Fleet as Gentry Wilder 
Gervais Weekes as Charles Richardson

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno as Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

*This episode contains depictions of domestic violence and may be disturbing to some listeners.
In Nashville, Joni begins to rediscover a sense of purpose amid the demands of motherhood. In Las Vegas, as Sylvia settles further into life with Carmine, the truth of who he is begins to reveal itself.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Cynthia Ergenbright as Joni McKay
Janice Lynn Sykes as Roz Mitchell
Stacey Lightman as Randi McMillan
Robert Fleet as Gentry Wilder

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno - Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

*This episode contains depictions of domestic violence and other forms of violence that may be disturbing to some listeners.

In Las Vegas, Sylvia’s life with Carmine reaches a breaking point, and the consequences are impossible to undo.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Laura Jane Jones as Sylvia Richardson

Robert Fleet as Gentry Wilder
Stacey Lightman as Randi McMillan
Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno - Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com

Gentry joins the house band on The Monte & Elle Comedy Hour. As tensions between the show’s stars mount, Elle starts pushing back against the image that made her famous.

Dive deeper into the story and explore upcoming YellaBird productions at: www.yellabird.com

Follow YellaBird Media:

Instagram: @yellabirdmedia

YouTube: YellaBird Media

Theme song: “Everything Changes” by Laura Jane Jones, available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring performances by:

Robert Fleet as Gentry Wilder
Katy Yoder as Elle Harrison
Janice Lynn Sykes as Roz Richardson
Jerry Schultz as Monte Rayburn
Alexander Sloan as Cal Porter
Timothy Stonedancer Coleman as Gordon Jenkins
Kyle Sanderson as Announcer

Kimberly Conway as Kat Singleton

Rachanee Lumayno - Opening and Closing Narration

Sound design and mixing by YellaBird Media.

Mixing and mastering by Rick Such.

Transcript and additional information available at:

www.yellabird.com