Episode 3338

- [Joe] This time on Tennessee Crossroads, we take you to a hospitality haven on the Cumberland Plateau, then for a taste of Italy in the city of Paris. You'll meet the craftsmen of Glaser Instruments in Music City and discover the mission of Redemption Road Rescue in Jackson. Hello, everyone, I'm Joe Elmore. Welcome to my house and to this edition of Tennessee Crossroads. If you travel down Interstate 24 between Nashville and Chattanooga, you'll pass a lot of hotels and motels, most of which look about the same. But a few miles off exit 134, you'll find a place that's both relaxing and fairly elegant. It's the Sewanee Inn, a place where we catch up with our weary traveler Rob Wilds.

- [Rob] It's only a few miles off the highway, but the Sewanee Inn looks like it belongs somewhere else, the English countryside perhaps. The inn is owned by the University of the South, and general manager Michael Beutel says, "It was built to stand out."

- The university had a vision to build a grand hotel, something that would act as a hospitality gateway I suppose, to the university for visiting parents and prospective students to visit, started construction and we opened in May of 2014.

- [Rob] Much of the material used to build the inn actually came from university property.

- [Michael] Much like the university, it's a stone exterior, as you can see a lot of wood. The University of the South is on what they call the domain, which is 14,000 acres of woodland, and most of our hardwood floors were all harvested from the domain. The campus is very sustainable.

- [Rob] So the inn was built to have a classy feel, and to make you wanna take a breath and relax.

- [Michael] We have 43 rooms and suites. We have golf side rooms and avenue view rooms. The golf side rooms have balconies or patios overlooking the golf course, here at the course at Sewanee. Beautiful views, all of the rooms are equipped with a 42 inch flat screen TV, Keurig coffeemaker, a wet bar, a refrigerator, an iron, makeup mirror, so they're very well-equipped.

- [Rob] The kitchen is well-equipped to a full-service restaurant. The chef, George Stevenson, describes it as a casual fine dining experience. Now George is a graduate of the University of the South and some of his menu choices harken back to his school days.

- Late night, we'd head to Monteagle to the Oak Terrace Truck Stop to get chicken strips, biscuits and gravy, trucker specials and all.

- [Rob] So you figured you'd continue that tradition here.

- [George] Had to be.

- [Rob] Well, the restaurant isn't open for those post-midnight food runs, but it's open much of the rest of the time.

- [George] So we do breakfast and we do dinner service seven nights a week and then we open for lunch three days on the weekends.

- [Rob] You don't have to be staying at the inn to enjoy the restaurant and its unusual style.

- [George] Faculty and students really like that it's nice and the food is well prepared and served. It's really good food, but it's also a casual environment.

- [Rob] So you've eaten well at the restaurant, and now it's time for some exercise, right? Sure, well next door is the course at Sewanee. There's been a golf course here since 1915 but this one is right up to date. And according to David Owens, who is an assistant golf coach at the University of the South, it's a good challenge and a beautiful location for golfers who come here.

- There are several sets of tees that can present a challenge for any skilled, any level of golfer. It's also just beautiful views off of the bluff from holes three and five, the par threes have cascading greens that look like you hit it just off the top of the mountain and beautiful views especially in the spring and the fall, and all through the summer we experience good weather. Being at our altitude, we're usually a few degrees cooler than some of the areas that are in the valley.

- [Rob] Just like the inn itself, the course is open to anyone who wants to give it a try.

- [David] We are open to the public, however we do offer memberships and passes available to the general public as well as alumni and students and faculty members. And lessons, we have three PGA pros here that provide lessons Tuesday through Sunday.

- One of the best things about staying at the Sewanee Inn is where it is on the campus of the University of the South at Sewanee and from the campus you get views like this, beautiful, beautiful. The campus itself is beautiful, too and quaint and unique. You can get tours, they set them up at the inn. You should really see it.

- [Michael] The architecture throughout campus, the gothic architecture, is phenomenal and quite a sight with All Saints Chapel and all of the other buildings around campus. It presents a unique and very eye-catching facility for visitors that haven't been here before and the ones that continue to come back.

- [Rob] Come back and leave renewed.

- [George] I would like them to leave here feeling rested, rejuvenated, kind of having unplugged from the busy race of life.

- [Rob] That's pretty easy to do when you're rejuvenated at the Sewanee Inn.

- Thanks, Rob. Opening a restaurant anywhere is hard work, but why would you wanna open an Italian restaurant in a city named Paris? Well, Ken Wilshire found a family that not only gave their city a taste of Italy, the people of Paris describe it as excelente.

- [Ken] Imagine your strolling down the streets of Paris and the shadows of the Eiffel Tower and you're looking for a little French bistro. Well, forget it. You see here in Paris, Tennessee, the only thing called French are the fries that accompany the hush puppies, literally tons of catfish served up in this community every year. But if you look closely on this busy street, there's a quaint little place that used to be fast food restaurant.

- We started in here and did a little bit of remodeling on the building and cleaned it up and painted it and stuff, and then we just hired help and started to work.

- [Ken] It's now called the Olive Pit, and it's certainly not French nor is it fast food. Instead, customers will find some of the finest Italian cuisine in this part of catfish country.

- When we met, the one thing we had in common was a pasta cabinet at home. We both love pasta.

- Pancetta with chicken and a Lafayette with shrimp.

- [Ken] The Olive Pit is the creation of Mark and Carmen Wilshire. I mean, taking a risk on an Italian restaurant in a city named Paris that's also known for having the world's largest catfish fry every year? Well, it took some courage.

- [Mark] Well, it was mine and my wife's favorite type of food, and it was something that we thought we'd be good at. We didn't know anything about the restaurant business, we thought we had good food, at least.

- It seemed a little unnatural for us to do anything besides pasta, and we felt there might be a need for that kind of thing in the area because there was a lot of catfish. There weren't any French restaurants, but he can make a pretty mean French meal, he just doesn't serve it here.

- [Ken] In addition to the risk they took, Mark and Carmen also needed restaurant experience since they had none, so they brainstormed with their newly hired employees and developed a plan for success. Charlie and Jamie were here from day one.

- So the food has been really good and I like to think our customer service is really good too.

- But yeah, here in Paris, everybody loves this place cause it's something different.

- [Ken] The Olive Pit is a family owned business, and its small size just adds to the invitingly warm, cozy ambience, from the local art that decorates the walls to the soft mood-setting music.

- [Carmen] I wanted it to be warm and inviting, just a place that kids can come and feel just as comfortable and welcome as the adults.

- [Mark] It turned out to be slightly upscale, maybe for the area.

- [Ken] It's like you might find in animate Trattoria in a neighborhood in Italy. But here in Paris, they simply call it a pasta house.

- [Carmen] We started out like the traditional Italian restaurant. And we serve things that we felt like the traditional and then we just got outside that box. We serve pasta just about any way that anyone can imagine. We try to spice things up different ways.

- [Ken] But first, customers are welcome with big smiles as well as tantalizing aromas of pastas, pizzas, Pan cheddar and Parmigian. Being prepared for the daily fare. They have a huge menu, but that's just the beginning.

- [Mark] We're not what you call an Italian restaurant. It's a pasta place. We have stuff from cage in to Italian to everything else We also have another 150 dishes or so that are not on the menu that we use as specials, we rotate in and out in that so. We have some muscle dishes and some clam dishes and we brag on our . We have a lot on the menu that you won't get here in Paris you would have to go to the larger area.

- [Ken] And to complete the Olive Pit dining experience, Mark and Carmen make it simple. You'll find Tennessee cheesecake, canali, chocolates spoon cake and the traditional Italian tiramisù. Still, their family staff are proudest of the exceptional care they give their customers. From greeting and seating to serving and a friendly Ciao when they leave. But when the Olive Pit opened, they say their service really was the pit

- [Carmen] For the first little while we had to give so much food away, just to make people happy. They loved the food but our service was terrible and our systems were terrible. We didn't have any. But over a period of time, we kind of pulled ourselves up out of the heap of crisis that we were in and people came back.

- [Jamie] We all gave her feedback and we all just chose what to do and if it didn't work we went to plan B and so it went really good. The first month was a little iffy.

- I just try to keep the standards up and our policies in order and make sure everything's working all right.

- I worked here around the clock just about for the first year and of course now it's slacked off a lot where you know more about what you're doing so you don't have to spend so much time and we've always been so lucky to have really, really good staff here.

- [Ken] The Olive Pit truly is a family venture. Present and future. This a social gathering spot for the community with a taste of Italy. Just like there, food, family and friends are integral parts of the Italian culture and the key to success is quite simple.

- The key is just continuing to stay open minded. Listen to what people are saying and keep trying to do the things that make people happy.

- [Ken] And Persians here certainly are happy about their worldwide recognition for celebrating that true Southern American delicacy. Just like Mark, Carmen and the family are proud of their success, adding another international flavor, this city called Paris.

- There's a special relationship between musicians and their instruments. That's why keeping those players in tune is serious business. Cindy Carter, takes us inside the shop of Joe Glaser, where he and his team repair and restore instruments used on some of the top selling albums.

- [Cindy] Joe Glaser is not a Nashville singer or songwriter.

- [Joe] Moved to Nashville trying to break into what was a very close, held tight knit good oh boy, world.

- [Cindy] Nor does Joe Glaser sing or play backup for anyone in the music industry.

- Nashville is staffed by people who came here thinking they were going to be somebody.

- [Cindy] And he doesn't want to.

- What I do best, I'm a problem solver.

- [Cindy] But Joe's work is hurt and even felt on stages across the world.

- I don't have a steady hand. I don't have good eyes. I don't have anything as much as I have the talent of being able to look at some something figure out how to do it, even if nobody's ever done it before. If there's no solution in the world, I'm pretty good at doing that.

- [Cindy] And inside Glaser instruments, Joe figures out how to repair and restore the stringed instruments that keep local musicians humming.

- There are devils in the details side of story.

- [Cindy] And in this town there are lots of details, broken guitar necks, adjustable saddles, tail plates, tuning. It's an almost endless list. And customers are very particular about who they trust with their prized possession.

- [Team member] A lot of people will wave goodbye to them when they leave. It's something that everybody has their number one, they have their that something they've spent their money on. That's something that they've played a lot of shows with that is their baby.

- [Cindy] And this problem solver thrives on taking on the jobs no one wants to do or can do.

- That it makes more sense to figure out what a given instrument needs and for each solution with the person who's best at it.

- [Cindy] Sometimes that's Joe and sometimes it's a member of his talented team. And everyone here couldn't say enough about how extremely rewarding it is working with artists and the instruments behind the song. Like the time rocker Peter Frampton dropped off his guitar from the iconic "Frampton Comes Alive" album cover.

- [Team member] He recovered that guitar after 20 years of it being lost or something. It needed some work on it, I think Joe did most of the work and then I do a little setup work on it.

- [Cindy] But to get to strumming.

- Yeah, yeah, yes. It was awesome.

- [Cindy] But Joe originally started out building guitars, he now prefers repair and restoration because it allows him to interact with his customers more frequently. And many of those interactions are pretty mind boggling.

- When you are working with somebody on something, you hand it to him say, "Check it out. "See if that rattles gone away. "See if this is in tune." And they're sitting there playing and they are at close range 50 times better than they are from the distance.

- Here Joe, it's nice.

- [Cindy] Here's musician Ed King picking up his 56 Stratocaster and is one of the original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and co-wrote a little song called "Sweet Home Alabama."

- It looks great. That has a lot to do with Nick and Scott getting that color right and stuff.

- Yeah no, it's it's beautiful and you kept the nut. That's what's amazing.

- [Cindy] King says repair quality is very important because it dictates the sound which drives everything.

- You want to be inspired to play. And every time you're inspired, it just brings music out of you, it probably wouldn't have happened.

- [Cindy] Earning respect from players like King took some time. Joe moved to Nashville in 1979 from Silicon Valley where he was working for a company that made focusing magnets for Particle Beam accelerators. Yeah, very different work. But Joe found it interesting. Still, it was his desire to build guitars not play them, that brought him to Music City.

- For people who play I'd built. In this room there was a direct takeoff on the Fender Telecaster except. My innovation was to put a middle pickup in which gave it a certain sound and everybody happened to like it at the time.

- [Cindy] Joe's reputation for building unique guitars started to spread. However, eventually he says he grew bored with building and turned his attention to repair. Decades later, Joe and his team literally do what no one else can do and they're so good at it. You won't even see a sign in front of their Berry Hill workshop. They don't need one. The musicians know where to find them.

- Thank you, sir.

- Thank you.

- Good to see again.

- It's always good.

- [Cindy] So Joe Glaser doesn't need the spotlight. He's happier behind the scenes. Knowing his team is an important part of what makes Music City see.

- It's hard not to go into some. I'm not even religious but to go into some virtually religious experience about how great life is when truly world class art is right here in front of us and not only that, we're in a position to contribute to it.

- This is really great. Thank you.

- Adopting an animal can be one of the best things you ever do. The animal gets a new lease on life, you get a new good friend for life. But what about horses? Well, this is the story of a place called Redemption Road Rescue. That is mission of rescuing, rehabbing and rehoming horses, donkeys and even mules.

- [Melissa] A lot of them have been neglected. A lot of them have been abused actually. We have horses that are just petrified and then they're going from being completely neglected, completely starved to a situation that's unbelievable.

- [Joe] The people at Redemption Road Rescue in Jackson, Tennessee believe in unbelievable happy endings. Laurie Collins founded the group after her first rescue in 2009. That was on a visit to her ailing father's farm in Kentucky.

- He had always had horses that were in immaculate condition beautiful, healthy horses. And when I got there, nobody had been feeding his horses and so they were in terrible condition. I always consider those my first rescue and that's the reason I say that good people get in a bad situation. If had he physically been able to, he would have never even allowed that to happen.

- Soon Laurie was running a nonprofit organization, raising money from donors and reaching out to as many horses in need as possible.

- What attracted me to Redemption Road was the idea of non judgment of the people who are maybe getting in bad situations. Look at you Calvin. Look at you big guy.

- [Joe] Melissa Floyd is also a lifelong horse lover and now assistant director at the rescue. A place where the former owners are rarely cast as bad guys.

- Sometimes it's income based where they've lost their jobs. Sometimes they get sick. We've had several people who have gotten sick and are unable to maintain their horses.

- For Laurie and Melissa, it can be as much about helping people as helping animals.

- [Laurie] When people get in a short time of a financial difficulty, we will provide hay for them through a short time to help them get through that so they can keep their pet

- On any given day here, you'll see from a about 30 to 40 horses in various stages of rehab and in all sizes. Lately, a lot of many horses.

- [Laurie] People get them thinking they're like a dog. But reality they are a horse and they need to be treated like a horse. They need a pasture, they need fencing. It's not something you can put in your backyard. And so a lot of times, those situations happen and people get in over their head with them and that's why we end up with them.

- As they say all that hay has to go somewhere.

- [Laurie] Yeah, it does.

- This is where volunteers come in.

- We had the most amazing volunteers of any organization. This is not easy work. It's hard It's emotionally hard, it's physically hard, it's financially hard and every volunteer we have sacrifices so much to save these horses and help the other people that are in need.

- [Joe] Well sometimes it's not just the horses that get saved, it's their barnyard buddies as well.

- Buffalo, llamas, emus, all of that we have taken in. Sometimes we'll try to network them through another organization if possible, but a lot of times as you can see we've got a little pig running around here. She's kind of taken up residency here until her forever home comes along.

- [Joe] Ultimately, Redemption Road exists to save horses. Like Dash who went from emaciated to restored and ready for a new life.

- Dash is lucky enough that he's got this nice couple that's come to look at him today. Mary Napi and her husband drove here from Covington with hopes of adopting a horse and Dash is a good candidate.

- I brought my saddle and bridle so I would like to give him a ride just to see if I can get along with him and everything.

- [Interviewer] How do you feel about that?

- I'm excited. I have another horse that's work in progress so it's really looking for a really good trail horse and I think Dash will fit that need.

- [Joe] Volunteer trainer, David Williams has been working with Dash a lot to get him ready for this possible relocation.

- He's an older horse so I rode him maybe three times or so but now I hope he comes up to be a good pet.

- That's good.

- I really like the fact that it's a rescue horse although mistreated, they brought him back and he needs a good home so I hope I can give him that.

- How do you think is going?

- I think it's awesome. I love playing match maker. It's like a marriage, it's got to work.

- You just a little bit I can help is what makes it worthwhile to me, to see a smile on somebody's face, I know the horse is getting a good home.

- Okay, let's go home. Yeah, you are gonna be loved.

- I've loved him from the start. It's a process from the rescue to the rehabilitation and then to the adoption and the adoption is the part that we love the most.

- [Mary] Well, it's like a dream.

- My goals are to continue to rescue until rescue is no longer needed. I hope that I can see that one lifetime.

- Well before we go, in these challenging times, it's easy to feel a little stressed and anxious. So I want to share with you a little simple exercise, I learned from a friend that anyone can perform anywhere.

- [Joe] has been practicing and teaching meditation for more than 25 years. She's traveled the world sponsoring classes and retreats and a few years ago turned her national home into what's called the IB house. It's a place for private and community meditation, yoga training and even online classes. In this virtual visit Kerian walks us through the steps of an easy, but truly effective breathing exercise.

- You can close your eyes and breathe in a count of three to yourself. I don't want to count for you cause I want it to be easy for you. And then breathe out for a count of three and then breathe in for a count of four and out for a count of four and you can always speed up the count. You don't want to ever be gasping your breath and now breathe in for a count of five and breathe out for a count of five. So you're counting and connecting your breath with the count. And then finally six and you can always speed up the breath of the count if you need to. Count, inhale for six and exhale for six and then go back down again. Inhale for five and exhale for five.

- Well that's it. It works for me, I hope it works for you and I hope you'll join us next week. Meanwhile, check out our website, TennesseeCrossroads.org. Follow us on Facebook. Take care and be happy.