Biography

A nationally recognized photographer based in Nashville, Ed Rode has spent most of his career, camera in hand, chasing meaningful moments in music history and making them permanent. 

He isn’t only — or even primarily — a music photographer. Over the course of nearly four decades, Rode has captured sports legends, movie and TV stars, travel destinations, whiskey brands, and restaurant chains. But he moved to Nashville in 1990, just as country music's neo-traditionalist era was shifting into the shadow of arena fireworks, as legends were entering their golden years, and as Nashville itself was prepping for unparalleled change. 

Growing up in the Midwest, Rode thought he might become a history teacher, relaying the narratives that emerged and lessons learned. But a high school photojournalism mentoring program showed him another way to hold onto history. A Master of Arts degree in Photo Communications from Ohio University helped fine-tune his skills. And a fresh-from-grad-school job as a staff photographer for The Nashville Banner, the city’s afternoon daily, brought Rode to Music City to find and tell stories. 

In Nashville, Rode saw that history was unfolding all around him, and that meaningful moments were going undocumented. So for decades, he made sure to put himself — and his camera — where the moments were.

From that first newspaper post, Rode built a career and a reputation as a photographer with a storyteller’s eye and a historian’s instincts. His work has appeared in numerous national publications; in exhibits from the Nashville International Airport to the legendary Bluebird Cafe; and on album covers for artists including Willie Nelson, The Chicks and Peter Frampton. 

Ultimately, Rode did become a teacher, too. Along with instructing, lecturing, and advising students at Vanderbilt University, O’More College of Design, Western Kentucky University, and Northwestern University, Rode works as a full-time instructor in the Journalism and Mass Communications Department at Murray State University, teaching young artists how to find their stories, focus their storyteller’s eye, and click.