Episode 3248

- [Host] This time on Tennessee Crossroads we visit the 125 year old Victorian Walker Inn B and B in Bell Buckle. Then explore the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis. We will stop for some traditional Tennessee barbecue at Peg Leg Porker in Nashville, and finally stop in Ingram to meet guitar craftsman, Mark Piper. Gonna be a good one, this edition of Tennessee Crossroads. Sure glad you joined us. It's heartening to learn about the restoration of an old historic mansion, especially when the mansion's being shared with visitors. Well, the Walker Inn B and B is such a place. It's in the heart of Bell Buckle, which in itself, is like a trip back in time. The first time you visit Bell Buckle, you feel like you've come home to a charming little town you once dreamed about. A railroad town where the trains don't stop anymore but lots of visitors do and they browse the quaint craft stores and antique shops and they dine at places like the Bell Buckle Cafe known for its home-cooked hospitality. If you come to Bell Buckle for a day trip, and find yourself sayin', gee, I wish I didn't have to go home. Well, you don't. You could spend the night in true 19th century luxury. The Walker Inn B and B is an Eastlake Victorian style home built in the late 1800s by a local physician named John White. Back then patients would wait in what's now the foyer. Dr. White would see patients here in what's now a lounging area.

- And then his family had it until around 1975 and then there were four additional owners and we purchased it from a couple that ran it as a bed and breakfast called Airolette but it had been closed for two or three years and then we decided to reopen it. I have to give a lot of credit to the Airolette owners because they came in and really renovated it quite nicely.

- [Host] Mary Lynn Walker is the proud present owner.

- This home is first and foremost absolutely beautiful. It's a very calming inn. We have a library. We have four rooms which you can stay in all with private baths. And it's just a beautiful home and so it's perfect for a bed and breakfast.

- [Host] Since the ground floor room was occupied we headed upstairs.

- [Mary Lynn] There are three bedrooms upstairs. One is called the Webb Room and we put these school colors because we have a college preparatory school here called the Webb. We have a room called Covington and that's a family name and we also the Elizabeth room which is also a family name, and that's our largest room with a steam shower and a jetted tub.

- [Host] Mary Lynn also has a busy job as a nurse practitioner in nearby Wartrace so the B and B needs a constant caretaker. Caleb Head traded his job as an industrial welder for that of an innkeeper.

- Well it's not work at all. Yeah, I'm just livin' out here and I happen to get paid to greet people and cook 'em breakfast. It's really ideal, especially coming from the manufacturing world of shift work and long hours and not interacting with people. So it's not a job at all, it's a dream place.

- Thank you, Caleb.

- You're welcome.

- [Host] And part of that dream job is ensuring guests enjoy a bountiful Bell Buckle breakfast.

- [Mary Lynn] We do, of course, something called homestyle which is eggs cooked to order, omelets, we do baked french toast, we have homemade breads. We try to source locally so all of our goods here are locally sourced, many organic.

- [Caleb] So far, so good?

- Wonderful.

- This is good.

- [Host] For Caleb, part of the joy of working here is just dwelling in this enchanted Victorian home.

- I never got to live in a house this old. It's a unique way of living. The house talks back to you when you're movin' around inside of it. The craftsmanship was obviously of a higher standard back then and people love it the second they come in here. It's just a, they instantly feel like they're at home.

- [Host] And guests need not venture far from home to take in the old fashioned charms of downtown Bell Buckle.

- Bell Buckle is booming and we have multiple antique shops and we have multiple places to eat. It's just a town that's booming and a lot of shops, a lot of shops with a great variety in those shops. We're close to George Dickel, we're close to Jack Daniels, we're close to the Walking Horse industry and so, yeah, there's plenty to do.

- [Host] Taking the reins of this historic B and B was a giant step for a career nurse practitioner, but for Mary Lynn the diagnosis continues to be nothing but satisfaction.

- Because it's so fun to meet our guests and find out where they're from and it's just, yeah, it's a very positive experience. I'm very happy.

- It goes without saying that Tennessee has a rich music history and no city has a bigger part in that history than Memphis. While Sun Records was the birthplace of rock 'n roll, well, Stax Records had the soul. Danielle Allen's takin' us down memory lane with a visit to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. ♪ These arms of mine ♪ ♪ They are lonely ♪

- [Danielle] From the unmistakable voice of Otis Redding ♪ Who is the man ♪ ♪ that would risk his neck for his brother, man ♪ ♪ Shaft ♪ ♪ Can you dig it ♪

- to the undeniable funk of Isaac Hayes, Stax Records played a short but vital role in soul music. What started as a small record company ran by a brother and sister duo in the 50s grew into a distinctive sound recognized around the world. This was where unknown artists became stars and their songs defined an era. Although it's been decades since the records were recorded, their music plays on.

- This is still an active, vibrant music community. It's everywhere and so I think that's one of the things that we try to do here at the museum is not just talk about what's in the past but also what's happening now too.

- [Danielle] Jeff Kollath is the executive director of the Stax Musuem of American Soul Music. It opened in 2003 and sits at the original location of Stax Records. When visitors go inside they'll find a collection of more than 2,000 artifacts and exhibits outlining the history of soul music.

- [Jeff] Much of what we have on display is permanent, it's a part of our permanent exhibition. It's been here since the museum opened in 2003 but we do change things out occasionally. We get new, because of our staff size, we're not an active collecting organization nearly as much as we would like to be or should be. Hopefully that will change soon, but we're able to change some things out here and there and put out some new things. But really what we're doing is trying to, with the permanent exhibition anything we bring in that's new or different is really just further enhancement of the story, maybe tell the Stax story in a little bit different way. The Stax story is so broad. There's so much there and, you know, for what we do in our exhibition here, we do a great job telling, not I guess I wouldn't say, one version of the story but several stories within there, but there are many more to tell.

- [Danielle] Those stories are told through elaborate stage outfits, music awards, and pictures that take you back in time. Many of those images highlight how Stax Records broke the mold in music and society.

- Stax is unique for a lot of reasons, but of course the one that's part of our real core story is that this was an integrative workplace at a time when segregation was rampant here in Memphis, Tennessee and throughout the south. Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton created, made a very intentional decision, to create Stax Records and to run Stax Records in the way that they did and they're heroes for that.

- [Danielle] Now if you want to get a visual of the impact of Stax Records take a stroll down this hallway. This is the Hall of Fame of Records which represents all the music released from 1957 until 1975. That includes about 280 LPs and 900 singles from performers like Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, and the Staple Singers. And the many of the people on these walls combined different styles of music to create that Stax sound.

- [Jeff] Something that we're all pretty passionate about here is that Memphis music isn't a genre. There are not genres within Memphis music. Everybody knew everybody. Most everybody could play different types of music. Isaac Hayes was as inspired by the Grand Ole Opry as he was by Gospel music growing up. I mean that's a pretty remarkable thing to be able to put all of that together and to create that Memphis sound.

- [Danielle] Speaking of Isaac Hayes, he's one musician you'll see a lot of here. There are several items pertaining to the entertainer. However, one in particular drives a lot of traffic in the museum.

- [Jeff] '72 custom Cadillac peacock blue, 24 caret gold plating and accessories. White fur carpet, or faux fur, and then the interior, which, I'm from the north, that would not work in the north. It gets pretty slushy up there, but TV in the front seat, refrigerator and bar in the back. I mean it's a remarkable piece.

- [Danielle] This unforgettable car is a conversation starter among older visitors who remember seeing it around town and for students taking their first drive through Stax memory lane. It's one of the many ways the museum engages a younger generation.

- [Jeff] Really diving deep into biographies of the performers and the people that worked here, it's very impactful. So many of them are kids from throughout Memphis and we get a lot of school groups that come from the elementary schools, middle schools and high schools within, you know, five, ten miles of us. So I think those stories, you know, personal stories are, really work well. And I think just engaging them in a level that we really haven't done before. We have a new educator that started last year. She's completely revamped our school tour program. We've seen more school tours this year than we ever have before.

- [Danielle] The museum isn't the only one working to get the attention of youngsters.

- I came because I saw a lot of things that I would like for my grandchildren to see. I like to take pictures and let 'em know how it used to be, what a reel to reel is, you know, what a dial tone telephone is, the old stuff. Even those little Coke bottles over there. That's what I wanted them to see and plus I wanted to, like, reminisce .

- [Danielle] There's definitely a lot of reminiscing at the Stax Museum but this is also a historical place that embraces the future. ♪ Please her ♪ ♪ Don't tease her ♪ ♪ Never leave her ♪ ♪ You got to love her ♪ ♪ Hey, hey ♪ ♪ Try a little tenderness ♪

- [Danielle] The museum is part of Soulsville Foundation which is a nonprofit organization that enriches the lives of young people through the Stax Music Academy and the Soulsville Charter School. With the work of the museum and the schools, they're keeping the spirit of Stax Records alive one note at a time.

- [Jeff] We want to be just like the record company. We want our doors to be as open as possible and we want people to come in and experience the story and especially here in Memphis it's important, we think it's important, that Memphians know this story and be proud of this story because it's again, it only could have happened here and it only happened here. ♪ I got to tell ya and I don't wanna know ♪

- Thanks, Danielle, Other than politics and football, one of the most controversial subjects among Tennesseans has to be barbecue. Now many Q fans would argue that Carey Bringle has one of the state's best recipes. Rob Wilds paid him a visit at his Nashville restaurant Peg Leg Porker where Carey champions the Memphis version of the southern delicacy.

- [Rob] Another busy day at the Peg Leg Porker in Nashville. What else is new? Things are so busy here that the staff is busier than, ah well, a three-legged pig trying to jump on a pogo stick.

- Kay, your order is up along with a hot fry pad.

- [Rob] Owner Carey Bringle can relate to the way that three legged pig feels.

- I'm an above the knee right leg amputee. I lost my leg to bone cancer when I was 17. It was the summer before my senior year in high school. You know, you can do a couple things when that happens. You can sit around and mope about having cancer or losing your leg, or you can put up a big fight and you can move forward and do somethin' with it.

- [Rob] And what he did was create the Peg Leg Porker where he and his crew cook barbecue.

- [Steve] Oh yeah, lookin' good.

- [Rob] Good and traditionally Tennessean.

- It was originated by the Rendezvous in Memphis, Charlie Vergo's. They charbroil their ribs and then put a dry seasoning on 'em and what we do is we smoke our ribs and we put nothing on 'em except for kosher salt and then it's a dry seasoning that goes on right before that rib hits your plate, so it's not a rub, it's a seasoning, and that's a true signature Tennessee dish.

- [Rob] Tennessee's barbecue tradition does not include brisket and neither does the Peg Leg Porker's menu.

- When I was growin' up in Tennessee, nobody served brisket. They'd tell you two things. They'd say that's steak, for one, and two, go to Texas. We chose to stick with the barbecue of my youth and the barbecue that I grew up with, and that's typically everybody's favorite barbecue is what you grew up with. We chose to stay with traditional Tennessee barbecue which is pork and chicken and so our specialty is dry ribs and then we serve a half a chicken and then pulled pork. We'll leave the brisket to the Texans.

- [Rob] Another thing you won't find here is traditional kid food. To Carey, barbecue is kid food.

- Sometimes we've had people ask, well what is my child gonna eat? And we say, a smaller barbecue sandwich. If you wanna pass on your love for barbecue to your children, the way that it was passed on to me was that we ate barbecue. A rib bone's the best teether you're ever gonna get. All three of my children cut their teeth on 'em. We try and stick with the barbecue. That's what we think we do best.

- [Rob] Which suits pit master and general manager Steve Dresch just fine.

- We got a really good rub. It's got 16 different spices in it and we like to cook ours low and slow, so we get about 16 hours out of our butts which gives the fat plenty of time to render through and keeps a very moist piece of barbecue.

- [Rob] No brisket though, huh?

- [Steve] Nah, we just do Tennessee barbecue up here .

- [Rob] This is Tennessee, I guess.

- Yeah, we're not afraid to cook the brisket, but we just stickin' to our roots.

- [Rob] That Carey, he's a fun-loving guy and a bit of showman.

- [Carey] Luke, I'm not your father.

- [Rob] But he's sentimental, too, about barbecue, about family. Just look at the photos on the wall.

- There's one that's my favorite photo of me and my father in a hammock at our lake house on Pickwick Lake. We've got of our old family's old cotton gin from 1897 in Tipton County in Covington, Tennessee, the Bringle gin, and that's a part of our history and part of our family. I've got a picture of my great uncle Floyd, my grandfather's younger brother, who retired a four star admiral and was a true war hero.

- [Rob] And then there's a photo of his grandfather, Dr. Carey Bringle from World War II.

- [Carey] Yeah, right here is my grandfather who was a naval officer in World War II and this is on the Island of Luan on the Pacific Front and you can see the quonset huts in the background with troops and here in the forefront, you see some of the troops along with the natives cookin' whole hogs in banana leaves in the ground for a meal for the troops.

- That's a barbecue man that'll stop in the middle of a Japanese bombing and strafing--

- Nobody can say I didn't come from it naturally I guess, so.

- [Rob] That feeling of tradition, that's one of the things Carey wants everyone who comes to the Peg Leg Porker to feel.

- We want people to feel like they're at home. All the pictures around the restaurant are all my family, it's all our story. There's nothin' in here that's not a part of who we are. A lot of barbecue places are evolving into, you know, multiple units or buildin' out around the southeast or around the country. We've chosen to stick with one place and make it our family place, welcome you into our home, and so we feel like when you come to the Peg Leg Porker, your experience ought to be that you feel like you're part of our family. That ought to be reflected in our food, as well as the atmosphere.

- [Rob] Great atmosphere, great food, but no brisket, just traditional Tennessee barbecue, Peg Leg Porker style.

- Well finally, you don't get a moniker like Music City without great musicians to make the music. But those players can't make great music without quality crafted instruments. Here's the catch, though. It takes a special talent to stand out above the crowd of craftsmen. Tammi Arender met one of the best on a trip to Spring Hill.

- [Tammi] Mel Deal is a well known musician in Nashville circles. He's a session player and a jazz guitar instructor so when he picks up a guitar, he knows what to listen for and how it should feel to the touch.

- This is very balanced, very smooth and consistent.

- My sister got me a guitar for Christmas when I was in the 5th grade and the whole family's regretted it ever since.

- [Tammi] Mark Piper of Spring Hill jokes about his first encounter with a guitar but that introduction at Christmas when he was just 11 years old has now allowed others to experience an incredible gift, that of an angelic sound of a custom built archtop guitar.

- I came to Nashville finally thinkin', boy I'm gonna hit it big here. I realized the guy pumpin' my gas could play rings around me so I thought I'm gonna have to get a different angle, but they all need their guitars repaired.

- [Tammi] So Mark set aside his dream to become a famous musician and became a jazz guitar player's dream builder. After years of working under the tutelage of some of the country's foremost jazz guitar builders like Bob Benedetto and world renowned guitar manufacturers, he's now on his own crafting and creating his signature instrument in a shop behind his house.

- [Mark] Added onto the shop in the back and talked my wife out of the garage and started to kind of get things goin' makin' some sawdust. All of these jigs and fixtures are pretty much made by me.

- [Tammi] From start to finish, Mark's mark is left on each instrument. Nothing here is a cookie cutter creation.

- [Mark] There's something about a hand built instrument. If you're working on a line in a factory, you've got a quota each day and you really can't take the time to make everything as exactly as it, perfect. You know, they have a quality level that they go for but I just take it to probably almost a sick level .

- [Tammi] Each stage of the building process is cautiously carried out by Mark, but this exercise of what's called graduating the inside of the guitar is what he says is most critical.

- This is called graduating the top and I use a cabinet scraper because it just gives me a lot of control. I can take off very minute amounts at a time with each stroke.

- [Tammi] Another step that's extremely important is shaping the sides of the guitar. He uses stainless steel heating blankets that are between 220 and 240 degrees.

- [Mark] I don't wanna bend too quickly or the wood might crack. I don't want it to get too hot or it'll char it.

- Once Mark has the wood in this shape it only takes two or three minutes for the fibers in that wood to bend into that shape, but he lets it cool overnight so that it remembers that shape and stays that way. Mark spends anywhere from six to nine months fashioning these fabulous archtops. He enjoys the painting and staining of the wood as much as he loves the carpentry. Once the process is complete, he carves the company name on it, Redentore, which is Italian for redeemer.

- Most of the really renowned archtop builders are Italians and many of the jazz guitarists are Italian as well and it's kind of, there's a little mystique or a persona about it and so I googled a bunch of Italian words and redentore, yeah. That'll do.

- [Tammi] Mark doesn't leave the test driving of his masterpieces to himself. He likes to have other accomplished musicians take his babies for a spin. That's where Mel Deal comes in. Mark says no two guitars sound alike but all should have a rich, defined, articulate sound. If asked if his guitar is better than what's on the market at the local music store, his humility won't let him say yes but he can say that his archtop has at least one element that a guitar you pick off the shelf won't have.

- Each one is a little unique, a little different. There's just a degree of actual love involved, I guess. I love guitars, I always have, and I try to put as much of myself as I possibly can into each instrument.

- Well that's gonna do it for this edition of Tennessee Crossroads. Thanks for joining us. Hey, between now and next time, why don't you go to our website, TennesseeCrossroads.org, follow us on Facebook, and of course, join us next week. I'll see ya then.