Episode 3837

- [Narrator 1] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by-

- [Narrator 2] Some of our biggest checks, have also made the biggest difference. The Tennessee Lottery. Proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education. Now that's some game changing, life changing fun.

- [Narrator 3] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways where adventure, cuisine and history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Narrator 4] The Co-Op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops. Driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Narrator 5] The Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cl.

- [Vicki] This week we'll sample great barbecue in Martin, fill your soul with rock and roll in Memphis, zip line through the Tennessee skies and meet a national artist who knows how to get the lead out. Looks like a pretty sharp show. I'm Vicki Yates. Welcome to "Tennessee Crossroads." Here in Music City, most people will tell you that behind every overnight success story is actually years and years of hard work and dedication. Well, that's true in the competitive world of barbecue as well. In our first story, Miranda Cohen introduces us to a young man in Martin, Tennessee who has spent most of his life mastering his craft.

- [Blake] We're in Martin, Tennessee at Blake's at Southern Milling.

- [Miranda] Blake Westbrook Stoker has been cooking, grilling and smoking meats for as long as he can remember. In college, he started out with the basics like chicken wings and pork, and that is when his real education started.

- Then I sort of graduated myself to pork ribs and then pork butts and just kind of started digging deeper and deeper and found a love for grilling and smoking meat.

- [Miranda] The Tennessee native became curious about barbecue from the lone star state. Texas techniques of smoking low and slow over wood, keeping the spices simple and focusing on beef and turkey as well as pork.

- [Blake] Prior to this point, I didn't know food like that existed. And really, it only existed in that very small sector of the world. There in and around Austin, Texas.

- [Miranda] Blake came back home with a new passion, a long list of pitmaster friends, and a pocket full of recipes.

- [Blake] Yeah, it was a culture shock and took a lot of convincing, but people learned pretty quickly.

- [Miranda] He started selling Texas barbecue from a trailer right here in Martin, Tennessee. And then he turned this 100-year-old grain mill into a spacious, beautiful 160 seat brick and mortar. It's called Blake's at Southern Milling. And the lines, well, they're wrapped around the building.

- [Blake] We're obviously based in Texas barbecue, sliced brisket with salt and pepper, sliced turkey breasts, pork ribs, which like I said, we do a little bit of a tendency twist with the baby backs, sausage and pulled pork. Our pulled pork is as simple as you can get. It's honestly just salt and pepper, but we just try to really take care of it, you know, and make it special.

- [Miranda] Meats will go on these custom made smokers in the wee hours of the morning. All are hand cut. The melt in your mouth brisket has the perfect bark, and of course that signature smoke ring.

- Now, and this is no secret, I've taught this class and told a million people, but the only thing that goes on our brisket is kosher salt coarse black pepper, two different grinds and Maxwell House coffee grinds just straight out of the tub.

- It's really one of a kind that, you know, you've got that fusion of Tennessee barbecue and Texas barbecue and with someone who's, you know, a homegrown young man that is such a wonderful guy.

- [Blake] We have your baked beans, potato salad, vinegar coleslaw, but we also have like deviled eggs.

- [Customer] The deviled eggs are amazing, now to be called angelic eggs because they're so wonderful. He puts so much care. You can tell that he really is concerned about the quality of every plate that comes out. And it shows.

- [Miranda] Blake is serving up the perfect combination of bold Texas flavors and the Tennessee favorites, but he just can't run low on one particular Southern classic.

- [Blake] One of our biggest sellers is pimento cheese and crackers. It's as simple as can be. You're talking about fighting words is, "we're sold out of pimento cheese," can't do it. People will have a fit. So pimento cheese is a mainstay, a side dish, an appetizer, and honestly, a great sandwich topper.

- [Miranda] Another Texas twist he learned is to keep those mile high desserts right up front by the register where they can't be missed. And one of the most popular items on the menu is a big Texas concoction called the Bubba Cole.

- [Blake] Brioche bun, sliced turkey breast, brisket, pimento cheese, and then top... You know, with a brioche. And it's just a lot of... You got the sweet and the creaminess of the pimento cheese, the richness and the salt-pepper factor that the brisket brings, the completely different texture of the turkey and then the butter and brioche. It just works all in one bite.

- [Customer 2] I had the brisket with the grilled cheese. I love his brisket. It's my favorite thing here. It's delicious. Blake is a great guy and he is just a local boy that's done well. And mainly because he has worked so hard for so long.

- [Miranda] Like many great success stories, Blake is quick to credit everyone else for his success. When you walk in the door, you see this beautiful wall of portraits. These are the barbecue legends and pitmasters who helped Blake along the way.

- [Blake] Man, I truly feel that I owe my... Any success I do to great people around me. Of course, I had to put in work and I did, but all that's for nothing without good people. And that's just the truth. And that's a good lesson to learn. A lot of times when I walk out here, no matter what day, you know, time of day or day of the week, it's hard for me to not know 90% of the tables, whether it's my middle school principal or my first grade teacher, or two or three of my original employees. So the local community support really means more to me than I could ever tell 'em. And like I said, I enjoy everybody's support. It means the world, but the locals are where it really, really counts and really matters.

- Next, we're headed to the birthplace of rock and roll. That's where you'll find the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Danielle Allen is our tour guide and she'll show us how musicians in the Bluff City made an impact around the world.

- [Danielle] These are the songs we know and love. Performed by the artists we'll never forget, and their music lives on right here at the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. Located on the legendary Beale Street, this museum takes you on a journey spanning decades from Sharecroppers singing their troubles away to the undeniable sounds of Stax records, this place covers it all.

- [John] Everybody knows Memphis because of music and it's such a diverse city from a musical standpoint. Blues, rock and roll, soul, R&B, gospel, opera. It's really part of the whole fabric of the city, of what we are and how we are and how the music came together and how it exploded here in Memphis.

- [Danielle] John Doyle is the executive director of the museum. For the past 20 years, his mission has been simple. Make sure no one forgets the rich musical history of the Bluff City. And there are a lot of stories to tell. Like the legend of Robert Johnson.

- This is one of the coolest things of the museum when you come in. This, you can see through the front window. But Robert Johnson, one of the greatest blues musicians of all time, started out as a poor blues musician. And so it created one of music's greatest legends of how he was here around Memphis. Disappeared for a year, came back and when he came back, he was truly one of the greatest blues musicians of all time. Eric Clapton has recorded an entire LP about him. Everybody knows Robert Johnson, who admires the blues. And so it created the whole legend that he sold the soul to the devil at the crossroads of Highway 61, which runs by the museum and Highway 49 and the Mississippi Delta because his talent just changed exponentially.

- [Danielle] After learning about Robert Johnson, the audio guide takes you through 300 minutes worth of history with over 100 songs. And yes, people dance their way through the museum, especially when they reach this section.

- [John] We protect some famous things here. We've had the original console from Sun Studios here, we have the guitar that Elvis serenaded Priscilla when he was in the Armed Forces in Germany that's on display here. We actually have Ike Turner's piano that he recorded "Rocket 88" here. We've got the microphone from Carl Perkins, where he recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" here. But more importantly, we have that storyline that the Smithsonian put together.

- [Danielle] That storyline from the Smithsonian started as a simple exhibition in the late 1900s. After extensive research, including interviews with legends like BB King, the Smithsonian turned their hard work into a museum, but they made sure it covered more than just music.

- [John] At the same time, Dr. King was leading the civil rights movement socially across our country and really throughout the whole world, influencing folks like Mandela, et cetera, our Memphis musicians were carrying forth a civil rights movement in the studios like High Records and Stax Records and even at Sun and more contemporary studios like Ardent, where it was just what they did. It's how we create music.

- [Danielle] People travel from all over the world to visit the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum. In fact, 40% of their daily visitors are from overseas, including Australia, China and Brazil. Proving that music has the power to speak to people of all ages, whether they're walking in Memphis, in their blue suede shoes or just a pair of sneakers.

- [John] And this is a lifestyle museum. Whether you are 64 like me, or whether you're 24, this museum and Memphis music is gonna touch you on some aspect. So you're coming through in your experience in life. Folks do not leave here disappointed. They don't leave here with bad comments on our comment sheets because my grandfather had a jukebox just like that. And when he ran a store in whatever city, or I remember growing up and my grandmother played Al Green in the kitchen when she was preparing Sunday dinner, it's lifestyle all the way through the museum.

- Imagine speeding along a steel cable held by a harness and pulley through acres of forest. Up next, Laura Faber takes us on an adventure through the trees with the help of the oldest zip lining company in Tennessee.

- [Laura] It sounds like a type of motor speedway. And if you look at the right place at the right time, about 85 feet up, you might glimpse a flash of something flying through the trees. This is zip lining, a form of transportation 2000 years old. A pulley suspended on a cable that's designed to propel someone by gravity from place to place.

- Very good, run it up, run it up. Nicely done.

- [Vicki] Brian Davis, general manager of Adventureworks says its early uses had nothing to do with fun.

- Yeah.

- Woo, yeah.

- [Laura] But practicality.

- It really started off with scientists kind of in the jungles trying to figure out how to study the treetops really well. And the easiest way to do that was to string up cables between the trees and ride, you know, old pulleys from, you know, platform to platform. I think it really kind of intrigued a lot of people and said, "Well, if they can do this kind of from a scientific research area, why not do it for fun?"

- Woo.

- [Laura] Of course you don't just hook yourself to a cable and go.

- Here, I'll get that one for you.

- [Laura] There is an in-depth orientation everyone must go through.

- First things first, we do not attach more than one trolley on the line at any given time.

- [Laura] The Rousseau and Brassel families from Paducah and the Zellers from Murfreesboro are ready to learn about safety, equipment and how to take off and land. Helmets, harnesses, and a healthy dose of bravery required.

- Take a big step off. We teach 'em how to use the gear. We're monitoring it the entire time. There's two of our staff members with all our guests the entire experience. And then, yeah, we're doing our safety checks every morning. We're we're following all the protocols and procedures set forth by the Association for Challenge Course Technologies. We're following the ANSI standards, all the state standards as well. Grab a helmet and go ahead and place that on your head. If you need any assistance, give us a holler.

- [Laura] Adventureworks is the oldest zip lining company in Tennessee, operating at two locations, one in Kingston Springs and here at Fontanel, the former home of country legend, Barbara Mandrell.

- What we have been doing with the former Fontanel and then the new property is just providing a really great experience. It's eight different zip lines. We are roughly about 20 to 30 acres of forest in the backside of where the mansion is. And it's a progressive style tour. So the first line, very low, very slow, not very intimidating to get everybody used to how things work and to really kind of break down some of those initial fears and phobias that people have.

- [Laura] But every safety precaution is taken.

- All right, double check.

- The activity is physical. Davis says anyone from about eight years old and 45 pounds up to 250 and in moderate to good health can do this. After training, the zip line starts slow and short, but the payoff is a thousand foot long zip line at which you're traveling at about 35 miles an hour. And then of course, Britt's here to catch you at the end. Today, most zip lining tours are recreational, but Adventureworks also offers custom designed corporate team building too. Physical challenges with a mental twist.

- [Davis] Back in 1987, when Anthony Curtis founded the company, it was purely team development. It was challenge course work on how to build better people, how to build stronger teams.

- [Laura] Activities with names like Nitro Crossing and Quantum Leap, clients leave empowered. The skills they learn translate on the job. Davis says some companies come back year after year and often use it as an annual retreat.

- [Davis] The reviews are super positive about just how fast we can break through barriers with their teams and get people to understand each other a lot better, different work styles a lot better, so that when they meet real challenges, they're very, very well equipped for it.

- [Laura] But the empowerment and the bonding even happen when it's just for fun too.

- Like the longest ones was really fun. You feel like you're just flying.

- Well, I screamed because it was like the first fast one. I didn't know what to expect really.

- I love the length and the speed and the family atmosphere. It was a lot of great time.

- You know, I think I actually love just the whole atmosphere, the being outside and the fun of it.

- [Laura] A perfect way to enjoy Tennessee from the treetops.

- [Davis] To see new people every day, still having that little spark, that little imagination, that little... That aha moment, and they just walk away just on cloud nine. That's truly one of the most inspirational things I see in my job.

- Woo.

- They say the pen is mightier than the sword. While that may be true, wait until you see what a talented young man can do with a simple pencil. A few years back, Joe Elmore visited the studio of Richard Bowers, a very busy, full-time pencil artist.

- [Joe] They say beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and when most people behold a bare, naked wintertime tree like this, they don't see too much beauty. However, they don't see this tree through the eyes of pencil artists Richard Bower.

- I kind of developed this affection for 'em over the years and you can kind of see their raw beauty and kind of all their curves and flaws. I think I was always drawn to that and I love the leaves as well, but there's something about it being exposed, I think that really drew me to the bare trees.

- [Joe] When Richard Bowers left Sanford University in Birmingham with a degree in business, Billy brought home something even more exciting, an ambition to pursue a career as a pencil artist. And while trees would become his calling card, it all started with landscapes and portraits.

- [Richard] That was the first thing that I sold was a portrait. So I guess I started as a portrait artist and they've still been a great source of income and I actually really enjoy kind of mixing the trees and the portraits. They're really fun. And I do a lot of portraits, mostly children and... But I'll do dogs, I'll do whatever.

- [Joe] You don't have a lot of different materials you have to buy, right?

- Nope, just pencils. And I use some brushes to shade and that's about it. An eraser.

- [Joe] While no two trees are alike, the process of capturing one with graphite and paper is the same.

- [Richard] First is pick the tree and then I'll photograph it, pick a good one or two and I'll do a rough outline. And I pretty much just start shading. And I try to make it look as close to the photo as possible in general. And about a hundred hours later, I'm done.

- [Joe] By the way, when deciduous trees like maples and oaks lose their leaves and go dormant, their metabolism and energy consumption slows down. That way they can survive the harsh winter season when water and sunlight are more scarce.

- [Richard] I think the process is part of what draws me to it. It's slow and it's hard sometimes and it kind of makes me really see every detail of the tree. And I think that's part of what I love about it.

- [Joe] Any different technique involved in doing a portrait versus a tree?

- [Richard] There is. Mostly just, I have less freedom, I think, in the portraits 'cause if you kind of go crazy on somebody's nose, everybody's gonna notice. But I can have a little more freedom with the trees. I can make up a branch or fix something easily. Portraits are much more concise.

- [Joe] Since Richard went full-time with his pencil art in 2015, his uniquely detailed work has attracted national recognition and a roster of A-list collectors, including music stars and professional athletes. He sells his works through his website. And when travel permits, at art shows throughout the southeast.

- You know, I bring a handful of art too and meet people and sell some art and make a lot of connections for commissions. And then the third avenue is through designers. A lot of interior designers will be redoing a house and they know my name and they'll show my art to the client. And you can kind of put 'em in the traditional homes or the modern homes 'cause change the frame and it changes the whole thing. It's just black and white. Future artists, I can tell.

- Uh huh.

- [Joe] In 2020, Richard and wife Jordan were blessed with a third family member, Bo. Now Bo likes to draw too. And whether or not he follows in his dad's footsteps, well, he is destined to be the subject of his favorite portrait someday.

- [Richard] What do you think about all this, Bo? You don't know? He liked that camera though.

- He does.

- [Joe] When winter changes to spring, the trees will again start blooming and flowering until the woods are full of green, warm weather beauty. While Richard will photograph and draw many in full blossom like this, he'll spend most of his spring and summertime turning old winter photos into new creations of pencil artistry, capturing trees in their raw, naked beauty.

- Huge blessing to be home and make my own schedule and kind of have to adapt to Bo and sometimes work at night. But I love doing it so I wouldn't change anything.

- Well folks, that brings us to the close of another show. Remember to catch us anytime online at tennesseecrossroads.org and meet us back here again next week. Thanks for watching.

- [Narrator 1] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by-

- [Narrator 2] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven and a half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game changing, life changing fund.

- [Narrator 3] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways where adventure, cuisine and history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Narrator 4] The Co-Op System in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Narrator 5] The Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.