Episode 4001

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

- 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. 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 tnvacation.com. 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. This week on Tennessee Crossroads, it's our 40th season. And to celebrate, the gang's all here. We're gonna spend the next half an hour reminiscing, and we'll get to see some of our most favorite segments and share the stories behind them. Come on; let's get going. Hey, folks; welcome to a very special season of Tennessee Crossroads. We're officially over the hill.

- Yes, we are. 40 years.

- I'm Ketch Secor, and we've got the whole Crossroads crew in the studio today. I'm joined by Miranda Cohen, Laura Faber, and Vicki Yates. Thanks, y'all, for being here, everyone.

- Sure.

- Thanks for having us

- It's special.

- It's very special. It's a pleasure to be here.

- 40 years. I can't believe it.

- I know it. And so grateful to be associated with this iconic show.

- It is. It is truly an icon.

- For true.

- You know Joe Elmore started it years and years ago, and it's just kept going and just gets better and better.

- And, folks, you are the reason we're still going strong all these years later. We love taking you to new places each week. Whether it's a restaurant in Nashville, an artist in Knoxville, or a museum in Memphis, we know all the best places to go. And this is the crew that brings you those stories. Now, we often get asked, how do we still come up with new and exciting stories after 40 years? I mean, it seems like we would have been everywhere by now, right?

- And it is a challenge right?

- Well ?

- We've been around for so long, to find a place that we've never covered.

- Right, right.

- But we do like to update, too. If something has been done years and years ago, and that place is still in business, we do like to update.

- And we have a lot of viewers who give us suggestions.

- Yes.

- The best ones.

- Gratefully, the best that we wouldn't have known

- the best story ideas come from viewers.

- About, yeah.

- And I'm always asking my audience, do you know of a great restaurant I need to go see in Clarksville or maybe in Murfreesboro? You know, we all had to get our start somewhere to be a part of this iconic show, so I'm wondering, let's start you, Vicki, how did you come to join the Crossroads community?

- Well, actually, I was working with Becky Magura, the head cheerleader and the general manager here. And we were on the Leadership Nashville team together. And she asked me, she knew I had just kind of retired, and she said, would you still be interested in doing something like this? And I'm like, for Tennessee Crossroads? Heck, yeah. So that's kinda how it started for me.

- Miranda?

- That's awesome. I remember when you started. We were so thrilled to have you.

- Thank you.

- I came to Nashville in 1997 from West Virginia, and Laura and I were working at Fox 17. I was doing weather. They called and asked me to do a pledge drive in '97. That's how long it's been. So I came to do the pledge drive. They kept calling; I kept answering because I love Nashville Public Television. Nashville PBS have always been part of the family. I was always glad to help out. So then, in 2019, they said, I was hosting a pledge drive, and they said, would you ever do stories for Crossroads? And, yes, absolutely.

- Well, we're glad you said yes, Miranda. Thrilled and honored.

- How about you, Laura?

- Well, Action Auction, anyone remember that?

- Yes.

- I came to Nashville in 1990 and was always involved with Nashville PBS through pledge drives, Action Auction, Medical Town Meaning. And in 2020, I was asked, would you ever produce a piece or would you like to? And it was the easiest yes ever. Long form stories, positive stories about our great state and people managing to make a business and make a living out of what they're passionate about. And, obviously, I've loved it ever since. But what about you, Ketch?

- Well, thanks for asking. I've been a loyal viewer of PBS ever since I was a kid and for, in fact, my first job on TV was being on a pledge drive in the sixth grade for my local affiliate up in Virginia, WVPT.

- Okay, that's great.

- And ever since then, I knew that I belonged on PBS. I moved to Nashville in '99. I started watching NPT and Crossroads, and I participated with Ken Burns, and his amazing country music documentary. And I've just loved it ever since. So when they asked me to get involved a year ago in the wake of the passing of our great fearless leader, Joe Elmore, I'm so glad they invited me to the table with you ladies.

- We are, too. We are, too.

- We are.

- Well, now that we're all acquainted, I wanna know, do you remember the first segment that you did on the show?

- Oh, I do. It was Tangled Tiles. Laurie Davis, she's a mosaic artist.

- Right.

- Absolutely incredible artist, and just the way the story sort of happened, wove together how the pieces of her life came together, that she became a mosaic artist in Nashville and does some incredible pieces. And I thought, how true that is about everything. Our lives just come together, the right place, the right time, everything comes together, and that's sort of how I like to feel like we all ended up on Tennessee Crossroads. Today, she is working on a new technique called 3D Mosaic.

- This particular technique is awesome. I have to cut tiny pieces with my nippers, and you have to cut up the side of the glass.

- And I remember my first piece. I loved it. It was when Chihuly came to Cheekwood to celebrate Cheekwood's

- I remember that.

- 60th year.

- Beautiful.

- And it was 2020. We were in the middle of COVID. It was 100 degrees. We all had masks on outside, and I watched them assemble these beautiful, massive glass pieces that they transported in six semi-trucks from Seattle. Didn't break one piece.

- Wow.

- [Laura] And it was just the color at that time in such an anxious world. It was just this beautiful, artistic outdoor place that people could still gather and go and just enjoy art, and I loved it.

- Here we go, one two

- Okay.

- three, cheese.

- Cheese. After having to close and push back the opening due to the 2020 pandemic, Cheekwood and its newest exhibition is ready for visitors. Chihuly at Cheekwood, back for the first time in 10 years. For many, 2010 was the first exposure to these mesmerizing displays of color and light.

- Vicky, you had a memory about one of your first shows.

- I do, Triple Crown Bakery.

- Oh, love it.

- Both of them have been there.

- Love it.

- Oh, the food there is just excellent. And the lady who owns it had been, basically, a baker with Julia Child.

- Oh, wow.

- So, I mean, how could she go wrong? But everything there was wonderful. Even the things that were lo-cal, because sometimes lo-cal, eh. But, no, everything there was great. And she was so nice. After all, Alena Vaughn has baked for the best, including cooking icon, Julia Child.

- [Alena] A couple times, I got to cook for Julia Child. My previous boss, Zov Karamardian, she was really good friends with Julia, and we would do a lot of benefits for the James Beard Foundation, which Julia really loved to support.

- Well, I love getting to share all these stories of our Crossroads experiences. And I wanted to, as the new person at the table, tell you about one of my most favorite ones was going back to one of my old haunts, my favorite stomping ground in Nashville, the world-famous Station Inn in The Gulch down on 12th Avenue. Brought the whole team down. We had the chance to sit down and talk and film and just feel the, and the smells and the, you know, you're surrounded by these amazing iconic posters of everybody who's played there, and it's my most favorite listening room in the world.

- [Speaker] You know you can't go anywhere that they don't know about the Station Inn. You would think the place would be bigger, but, by reputation, I mean, only. But, I mean, man, when people come in here, I feel I can see all this history on these walls. Well, I know this is probably like picking your favorite child, but do you have a favorite story you've done on the show?

- I do. It was a young lady named Amanda, who still is named Amanda Ewing, and she had been working at Opryland for years. They laid her off, but they gave her a great severance. So she said, I've got all this time, and now, I've got a little money. I'm gonna decide what I wanna do. She went to a class and saw them making violins. She said, I can do this. She used to play violin. And so she made, hand-makes, the violins, and they're just, they're exquisite. I used to play the violin badly, but I know a good violin when I see it . And she has done such a great job. She's an African American woman, and she has just sold so many of them, and she's still right here in Nashville.

- Awesome.

- It was a great story. I remember that one.

- For a minute. And as you start carving, you're getting to know the wood as woo-woo as that sounds, okay? Like, some wood loves to be carved. It's easy; it doesn't have a lot of chips out. It's not, like, super dense. And some wood is resistant to everything. It's been born to resist. It doesn't want to be carved. It is challenging to carve. You think about the journey of that tree, whether it was cut down or whether it fell. You know, the process of dried, whose hands it's touched, whose energies it has in it, and I go there; I just want it to be, the wood already has music in it, so I'm just revealing it.

- Oh, okay. So this is hard. You know, that is; it's like picking your favorite child, right? And I was looking at all these mugs, and I remember some of these wonderful places, and I tend to just love them all. But I think one story, and you will appreciate this, that really was special to me, was the Nashville Music Medics and the barbershop quartet singers, Sam, Sam English, Wayne Jackson, amazing men, and they all come together. They didn't really sing together professionally. They come together; they wear scrubs. They're not doctors. They come from all walks of life, but they come together, they wear scrubs, and they do an outreach. And they sing barbershop quartet to patients in hospitals, in hospice, and it's amazing, and you know how healing music can be, you know?

- Oh, yeah, especially in that environment.

- Yes. And in the story, they say, we meet people at the worst days of their lives. And you watch these men, and you think, you go to the story, you think it's gonna be a funny story. It's a great story; these men are dressed up right. And they walk in, and you see these faces light up, and it touches you, really, in a way, it's just, was profound. ♪ 'Cause you've ♪ ♪ Got a friend ♪ ♪ In me, doo, bah-doo, bah-doo, bah-doo ♪ ♪ Bah-Dum ♪ ♪ Shoo-Be-Doo-Wop ♪ ♪ Wop ♪

- [Miranda] On this day, we find them at the Children's Hospital at TriStar Centennial Medical Center, where they are working their magic. ♪ Doom-Bah, doom-bah, doom-bah, doom-bah ♪ ♪ Doom-Bah, doom-bah, doom-bah, doom-bah, doom-bah ♪

- Well, one of my favorite stories, ladies, was when we went to the A. Botts Willis Hat Company in East Nashville, my neighborhood. Just walked right down the street, and there she was. A. Botts Willis. She is an amazing hatmaker. She comes from southwestern North Carolina in an Appalachian region of the state. She's got all the tools of the trade, and she's making these really whimsical hats. You get to pick out anything, an accoutrement that you want put on your hat. Ashley's hatmaking journey started almost a decade ago. Her career in corporate fashion wasn't as fulfilling as she'd hoped. And on a whim, she decided to take a millinery class at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.

- [Ashley] I absolutely fell in love with it. I had an amazing teacher. She was very inspirational for me. So it's kinda like that aha moment of like, okay, this is what I'm supposed to do. This is where I'm supposed to go.

- And then, after this segment aired, I heard from Brad Paisley who said that he loved that hat segment. So you never know who's listening and who's out there tuning in to Crossroads. What about you, Laura?

- This is hard. I love all the stories that I do for Crossroads.

- I know.

- But I picked Loretta Lynn's campground. So this is a campground in middle Tennessee in Waverly in Humphreys County that is where Mooney and Loretta lived on the big white hill, mansion on the hill. They found this place, and it was fascinating to me. And she still lived on, at this time, she still lived on the property in a different location. But to see her tour bus with three million miles on it, to walk her 18,000-square foot museum and see all of her awards and see what she accomplished as a woman artist, definition of a queen, all of her costumes, some which weighed 50 pounds because of all the jewels and rhinestones on them. But just to see this well-lived life, and afterward, of course, the floods, which damaged that property, but they rebuilt and came back stronger. Miss Loretta passed shortly after that story aired. And that piece now has 300,000 views on YouTube, not because of me, because of Loretta and the legend that she was. But I loved the story there. Now with Mooney's outfit, you see the Wranglers, the work shirt, and the cowboy hat? That's what you'd have seen that man in any given day.

- [Laura] From the avocado green bathroom to the kitchen where her old Crisco commercials were filmed, to her extensive collections.

- [Tour Guide] I'm gonna tell you real quick, y'all, she loved her Avon lady but not near as much as her Avon lady loved her.

- Well, you know, we feature a lot of restaurants on this show; in fact, we'll often get comments from viewers that they like to plan their weekend travel around these local spots. So are there any that stick out to you?

- Okay, you are asking us the hardest questions, Ketch.

- Yes, yes.

- I was debating between Elliston Place Soda Shop and OG Meat & Three in Nashville, but I decided to go with Germantown Commissary barbecue restaurant outside of Memphis. My husband grew up in Germantown and said, you oughta do a Crossroads story on this place. Been around for nearly 50 years, survived a fire, rebuilt, expanded. They claim to be the originators of barbecue nachos, and I believe it because they're so good. And you get a deviled egg with every meal. And there's this, that was an accident. But now they do it. But it is a great place, and if you're in Memphis and want some barbecue, and the two go hand in hand, I highly recommend Germantown Commissary.

- Germantown commissary. Miranda, how about you? You have a favorite?

- It is so hard for me, too. I've done so many good ones and, you know, I tend to go towards sweet things and desserts and coffee, of course. So I've got tons of those, and everywhere I go, I love meeting the owners, you know, the business owners, how they started, but probably, one of my favorite restaurants was Blake's at Southern Milling. Blake Stoker is a phenomenal young man. He's 29 years old, and you talk about people that say, oh, he's an overnight success. Yes, he said, oh, I'm an overnight success. I started cooking when I was 14 years old. He's been cooking barbecue

- Wow.

- [Miranda] since he was, for 15 years at 29. And he has a beautiful place in Martin, Tennessee,

- Oh, of course.

- Called Blake's at Southern Milling. The building is special because it's in an old milling building but really beautiful. Now, he sort of tends more toward Texas barbecue. He loves to go to Austin and bring back all the briskets and all that. But when you think about barbecue, everybody's got a favorite sauce or a favorite way to cook it. But do you know what's the best at Blake's at Southern Milling?

- What's that?

- [Miranda] The pimento cheese.

- Ooh.

- Yes, it's not something you would think of getting at a barbecue restaurant. It's top-notch, highly recommend it. So there's so many, but for some reason, that one sticks out.

- [Ketch] Well, I'm getting hungry now. How about you, Vicki?

- Well, it's similar to yours; off of Percy Priest Lake, there is a wonderful restaurant called Papa Turney's.

- Yes.

- Oh, sure.

- Oh, my goodness. It's owned by Papa Turney and his wife. And, when you go in, it's just, it just kinda hits you with, it's kind of an old-fashioned but an updated, the way I say that is because when you look in, you'll see posters of all the old soul singers, but then, when you look this way, you see people coming in with long hair, and they've got their guitars, but the food is wonderful. They've got brisket; they've got everything there. So I just, everybody there is just so nice, so it's not only the food, it's the camaraderie.

- Yes.

- I've been there. It's great.

- It is.

- A great story.

- There you go.

- This season, we wanna recognize all the hard work that's been done for the show over the years. So in every new episode, we're going to feature a retro Crossroads story. This is the first episode of the season, so it's only fitting that we go all the way back to season one and the first segment ever to air on Tennessee Crossroads. We'll let Joe Elmore kick it off.

- [Joe] These are Nashvillians happily leaving home on a dreary, rainy day, and a few hours later, arriving in paradise. Yeah, we'll be out there in the Caribbean in less than four hours when we do the PTeam open water certification. I believe that something like 15 or 20 people in our group will be doing their certification along with us.

- Radio station KDF sponsored this charter trip and also brought along its morning show with Carl P. Mayfield. The radio studio in Cayman was the open air lobby of Treasure Island Resort. And thanks to all sorts of modern technology, it was broadcast from this tiny island all the way back home.

- I got up and jogged this morning. I jogged all the way over to the window and looked out over the ocean.

- I was about to say, he's lying like a dog .

- I did, and I saw, I think, I'm not sure, but I think I saw Remar Sutton running down the beach. It wasn't all fun and games. There was the official Sister City initiation, whatever that means, between Nashville and Grand Cayman.

- Mr. Bowden, I'd like to present this to you on behalf of Mayor of Fulton.

- We are looking forward to the formalization of a Sister City Program between the City of Nashville and the Cayman Islands.

- All right. Thank you.

- The Cayman Islands, including Grand Cayman here, were originally settled by shipwrecked sailors and buccaneers many centuries ago. Now, as a British colony, it remained one of the best kept secrets of the Caribbean until several years ago, that is. Nowadays, middle Tennesseeans and thousands of other Americans are flocking here. It's a vacation retreat that they say is the best. Why? Well, one of the best reasons is right over here. The blue water. They say it's nice to be near and nice to get into. And the challenge of the water was part of the real mission of Carl Mayfield and some of his fellow travelers. They were here to become certified divers.

- They're doing their certification dives right now. They'll be doing that today and tomorrow. And once they finish up tomorrow, they'll be a certified diver.

- What about Carl Mayfield? Do you think he has a chance of really getting certified?

- Well, we're gonna see if he can slide through here. He's looking real good, though.

- [Joe] So one by one, the anxious novices dived into the clear blue water. About 30 minutes later, they returned. But something was missing. The leader of this diving pack, Carl P. Mayfield, himself.

- How's Carl doing?

- Sick as a dog.

- [Joe] Yes, disgraced by seasickness, Carl P. had dropped out.

- I'm a little apprehensive, you know, a little anxious again today, but I feel better in that I've had a visit from the Nashville Scuba Center's dive nurse,

- That's what I heard.

- Joan. And I'm medicated. I'm ready; I feel good

- So you'll

- about it.

- be diving on drugs today, right?

- That's right, on medication.

- So in went Carl, and in went yours truly, this time armed with an underwater camera to capture the adventure below. So, we looking at a happy, successful driver?

- Oh, yeah. I think I'm about to become certified.

- Good job, Carl.

- Thank you.

- Such a happy day.

- I'm ready to go back. Get me a new tank .

- Certified . Boy, we're gonna have a party tonight. ♪ I've still got sand in my shoes ♪ ♪ Got some rhythm and blues ♪ ♪ To remind me where I'm from ♪

- [Joe] We discovered another Tennessee connection in Cayman in the nightclub at Treasure Island Resort. The house band, Sons of the Beach, is from Nashville, now residing here in Paradise. Well, being former Tennessee boys and still, at heart, what do you miss about back home being landlocked in good old Nashville?

- All night banking machines.

- Kmart.

- Kroger.

- Taco Bell.

- Krystal.

- McDonald's, there's no McDonald's on this island.

- Driving on the right side of the road.

- The Tennesseean restaurants.

- Hey, I miss the Opry.

- Oh, Mallard's. I miss Mallard's restaurant.

- Hills, I miss hills.

- I think that's enough.

- [Joe] This new resort is owned by another group of Tennesseans. Several country music artists and Nashville businessmen.

- [Randy] I was looking for the most perfect place on Earth. I was looking for a place where there was no crime, no poverty, where that there was a stable government, where the weather was always perfect, close to Nashville, and great scuba diving.

- [Joe] Randy Davidson is one of the owners and one of the first to predict the onslaught of Tennessee tourists to tiny Grand Cayman. And although it's famous worldwide for its diving and snorkeling, it's also a great place to just hang out and catch some rays, or take a leisurely boat ride. You know, you have to wonder how many tourists and how much development will it take to spoil this little island paradise? A number of native Caymanians I've talked to since being here are wondering the same thing. Now, the local officials say they'll do their best to keep Nashville's proposed Sister City a safe, well-preserved, distant relative. Meanwhile, if you have some vacation bucks you'd like to spend and a place where the water's really nice and the pace is really slow, this might be your idea of paradise. Or maybe the next best thing.

- Well, we're getting to the end of our time here, but before we go, we need to recognize the contributions of our part-time producers, Cindy Carter and Tammi Arender. Hey, guys; how are you?

- Well, you guys have been here for a long time doing this show; tell us about it, Tammi.

- I have actually been contributing to Crossroads for 29 years, yes.

- Amazing.

- Impressive, very good.

- Yes.

- How about you, Cindy?

- 11 years for me with a stint in 2007 as well.

- Wow; well, we appreciate all the work you've done through the years and now, let the party begin. HomeStyle Bakery in Nashville, who we featured on the show in season 27, was kind enough to make this beautiful cake.

- [Miranda] And, Ketch, they are still family owned, still right there in Antioch, and they can do anything.

- Yeah.

- This is beautiful.

- Well, we appreciate you all continuing to come on this journey with us every year. And we promise to keep bringing you the best of the best stories from around the state. So here's to another 40 years of Tennessee Crossroads.

- [Narrator] Tennessee Crossroads is brought to you in part by: Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven-and-a-half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than two million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun. 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 tnvacation.com.