Episode 4002

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- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads," we'll go in search of the best burger in Shelbyville. We'll see how the grandson of a Nashville music titan is carrying on the family legacy. We'll see another artistic side of a country music star and we'll go way back fishing with Jerry Thompson. Well, thanks everyone for joining. I'm Ketch Secor welcoming you to another episode of "Tennessee Crossroads." Well, is there such a thing as the perfect hamburger? Some believe it exists right on the town square of Shelbyville. Pope's Cafe is steeped in history and has a reputation for exceptional burgers. Laura Faber took our hungry crossroads crew south of Nashville to see if the rumors are true.

- Back in 1810, the town square of Shelbyville, Tennessee was born and ever since it's had an impact on town squares all over America. The layout is actually called the block pattern, also known as the Shelbyville Plan, a square of roads intersecting at four corners with the courthouse in the middle. Many historians believe it is the first American style square. Fast-forward to 1941 and as businesses were setting up shop on that square, Mr. and Mrs. Pope opened up Pope's Cafe. For 85 years, good food has been coming out of Pope's Cafe right off the square in Shelbyville. This is actually Mr. Pope and not much has changed since 1941. In fact, this bar was original to the restaurant and it still stands today. Even as other businesses have come and gone, this place has remained, though the owners have changed.

- Been here on the square ever since. Of course, Mr. And Mrs. Pope, I mean, they owned it for years and years and years. I've been coming here basically since I was three.

- [Laura] Kim and Kevin Green run the place now. Did you have restaurant experience before?

- Absolutely nothing.

- None.

- [Laura] Kim and Kevin's goal when they bought Pope's Cafe was nostalgia.

- I think we just really wanted it to be what we remembered like when we used to come here. Like how... And even the Sudbury's, we want it to be like what it was then. Everybody enjoyed it then. It was always full, you know, of people and fun and laughter and neighbors.

- Our clientele are... They've been coming here for years and they get to know the staff and next thing you know it, you know their whole family history. And I mean, it's just when they come in and in the door, you know what they're going to order before they even sit at the table.

- [Laura] The food is classic Southern. Cornbread and veggies for days, mashed potatoes and fries, beans and the carrot souffle is incredible. Plus fried catfish, open face roast beef, fried chicken livers, smothered pork chops.

- [Kevin] If you can think of a Southern dish, at one time or another during that week, we're probably going to have it.

- [Laura] You can find Kevin in the kitchen almost daily along with head chef Isaac Williams, whipping up traditional meat and three dishes. But it is the burgers that put Pope's on the map.

- [Kevin] Our cheeseburgers are half pound burgers, so you better be hungry. I mean, you bite into it and it just melts.

- [Laura] Customers agree, like Faye Nobles who drives in at least once a week.

- When we come for breakfast, a lot of times I get a veggie omelet. It's very good. And then if we come for lunch, I like the cheeseburgers. Then on Sundays I get whatever's the special. Today I got a good special. People keep coming back and they like the food and they like the people that work here.

- [Laura] Nancy June Brandon owns three buildings on the square and has been a regular for decades.

- Of course, I like their hamburger. They've always had the best hamburger and they have good catfish and open roast beef sandwich. And they have wonderful selection of desserts.

- [Laura] Ah, yes. Those desserts homemade daily by Kim and Kevin's daughter, Lexi.

- Our daughter does every dessert that comes out of this building. Every dessert. Nobody else makes them at all. Different meringues with chocolate meringue, coconut meringue, coconut cream. Of course, fudge pies, chess pies.

- Every cheesecake you can think of.

- And then some.

- [Laura] Pro tip, don't miss a little something called the Charlie Pride.

- A Charlie Pride is a staple of Pope's. It's a Pope's dessert. Been there forever. I mean, absolutely forever.

- [Laura] And what is it?

- Oh, that's... It's really good.

- It's a secret.

- You'll have to get it to try.

- [Laura] Is it a cheesecake or...

- No, no, no, it's a pudding-based dessert, but it's very, very good.

- [Laura] With its charming checkerboard tile floors and old-fashioned table and chairs, Pope's Cafe is a symbol of Shelbyville's history that endures today. Kim and Kevin Green are proud to be stewards of something that's been a part of this town for decades.

- [Kim] He likes to talk. He likes to talk.

- [Kevin] So, to me, it is definitely the people. The people that come in.

- [Kim] I love the square. Like I feel like we're here from the time we get up until the time we leave. And I mean, if we're not at Pope's, then we're eating at Bocelli's or, you know, we're shopping at one of these shops. The ones that have been coming here for so long and you know, we see a lot that used to even work here and they're just like, it's so great to get to come in here and still be open and just, you know.

- [Kevin] I washed dishes in here when I was 13 years old.

- [Kim] Yes, we hear that a lot. Or yes, I was 12, you know, I was 12 when I worked here.

- [Kevin] Yeah, I know it.

- [Laura] They just keep feeding locals and visitors alike with timeless Southern cuisine and those famous burgers. The plan is to keep serving up good food and nostalgia for another 85 years.

- Well, thanks, Laura. Looks like a lot of people were enjoying those burgers. Owen Bradley was a well-known producer in Nashville helping to create what is now known as the Nashville Sound. In our next story today, I'll travel to Mt. Juliet and to the site of Bradley's Barn where the Bradley family is still making music. By the 1960s, Owen Bradley and his brother Harold loomed large in the world of country music, both in Nashville and around the country. And as an executive with Decca Records, Owen's pursuit of a hit record helped them create a whole new sound.

- Owen wanted to make records that were more middle of the road. He wanted to make records that everybody would play because remember, they were trying to sell records and make a living. And so I think that destiny finally came in with Brenda Lee and with Patsy Cline. He was finally able to create music that was in his mind. Things that he thought would be played that he thought would be popular. And that, you know, they referred to it as the Nashville Sound. It had lush background singers. The arrangements were beautiful, right? It finally got Owen and Harold got to make what they envisioned popular music coming out of Nashville to be.

- [Ketch] And as Owen's grandson Clay tells it, the Bradleys were also pioneers in building independent recording studios in Nashville, including the famous Quonset Hut on Music Row. So when Owen's son and Clay's dad, Jerry, completed his military service, the next step for him seemed logical.

- Right out of the army. Yeah, trying to figure out what to do, you know? And so Owen I think had a, like, "Hey, I've learned all this. I need to teach my son how to do this." So really this place was a place for my dad to train, you know, trial and error.

- [Ketch] And it all started with a trip to the market.

- In 1964, Owen was going to get hot dogs for a hot dog cookout. He drove by a horse barn, he drove up in here and he bought it at an auction. And he bought it and designed it and made a studio so that his son Jerry could learn how to engineer, produce records and work in the music.

- [Ketch] And over the years, Jerry and his dad produced record after record out of what became known as The Barn.

- You know, that's what the Bradleys always did. It was studio business was always, let's try to, you know, figure out what we have. And so that studio, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, I mean, B.B. King, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, The Who. I mean, everybody, this place was rocking.

- [Ketch] One person with firsthand experience of the glory days at Bradley's Barn is Owen's nephew, Bobby.

- Well, I started working for Owen in October of '71 at The Barn. I just started from there and I wasn't the chief engineer then. I was a second engineer.

- [Ketch] Unfortunately, in 1980, Bradley's Barn burnt to the ground.

- Electrical fire. And back then, you know, there was no fire department close by. And I think by the time Owen and Jerry got here, Bobby was probably around the corner. It was ashes. Devastating. But then Owen, in 1982, built back what we're standing in.

- [Ketch] And while Bobby went out on his own after the fire, he eventually found his way back to the new barn.

- When the barn burned in October of 1980, I went freelance engineering. Then I started coming back here and worked for Owen for Katie Lang stuff and all that kind of thing. And we did a lot of great records out here. Anyway, we did the Coal Miner's Daughters soundtrack with Sissy Spacek out here. We had her and Loretta Lynn in this little room back in here, swapping lines back and forth. And I mean, Sissy sounded just like Loretta at that point. She really did.

- [Ketch] And so the rebuilt studio on the site of the original Bradley Barn began to make its own history, which Clay and Bobby continue to this day.

- And a lot of people ask, you know, what happened? You know, is the old barn that records, you know? We've done plenty of recording in this facility, including Katie Lane Shadowland. In 1994 I brought Brian A. Hearn out here and George Jones, Bradley Barnes sessions were recorded here who had plenty of guests, including Dolly Parton, Keith Richards, Waylon Jennings in the room we're sitting in now. We've had Kenny Chesney out here. We've had George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic in this room. I mean -

- [Ketch] And who did you just have out?

- Oh, we had Post Malone out here. Yes, we did. We had Post Malone and we actually had a party for Lainey Wilson out here recently. So we're back in business.

- Back in business as of 2025 and hoping to keep making an impact in the world of country music as the Bradleys always have. Am I hearing that right? There are four generations of Bradleys who have been contributing to Nashville's music community?

- Fourth generation and Jerry. Well, and John. Well, Clay. John, yes, four generations. I'm in there somewhere. And my father was a Bobby Bradley Sr. He was only the sane one in the family. He didn't get the music business. The rest of us did.

- And lucky for all of us, Clay and his family are using the space built by his grandfather and father to continue the story, historical artifacts included. Now, Clay, it looks like we got quite a piece of music history right here. Can we take a look?

- Sure. This is the Bradley ledger book of all the sessions that were done at the Bradley Studio and the famous Quonset Hut.

- [Ketch] Wow.

- [Clay] And we can start with the letter A. And we have Roy Acuff.

- [Ketch] Oh, Mr. Acuff.

- Yeah. 1955 and '56. But I think for your viewers, maybe Patsy Cline would probably be the most historic. And I don't have all the sessions here, but these look like four-star sessions. What we're in now is basically the big room that Owen built. Off to the right is the recording studio. Okay, that's still back from, that actually didn't burn down in the fire. So that studio's still there. And as you kind of circle the room here my father built these interesting little like motifs here, you know? One of them is like, I call it the poker room. One of them is the wood shed and one of them is, you know, grandma's old front porch there. And we're looking to do live entertainment here. We've had a few, you know, songwriter shows in this room and we look to do more of it.

- [Ketch] So they'll keep making music on the site of the old Bradley Barn, because sometimes there's no doubtin' what you were meant to do. Just ask Bobby.

- You know, when I was in first grade, you know, teachers asked kids, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Kids, "I'll be a fireman, I'll be a policeman. I want to be a nurse." I said, "I want to make records." And he looked at me like, "Huh?" That's what I wanted to do. And Uncle Harold would bring me to sessions when I was a little kid and I thought, "This is really what I want."

- It's still going strong out there. Great to see Bradley's Barn still rocking. Well, we don't profile many country artists on this show, but Steve Wariner was an exception a while back for a good reason. Tammi Arender discovered the Grammy Award winner's best kept secret. The fact that he's almost as handy and proficient with a paintbrush as he is a guitar pick.

- [Tammi] Steve Wariner is a celebrated singer, songwriter, and guitar player. He still makes music from his home studio in Franklin. He's a Grand Ole Opry member, on the Music City Walk of Fame, and he's a recipient of multiple music awards, not to mention The Guardian of three Grammys. By now, Steve is blushing because he's also an extremely humble and modest man and always gives credit to those he works with in the music industry.

- I'm lucky to get to play on some of my friends' projects. I just recently played with my buddy, Brad Paisley. And thank you, Brad. We won a Grammy. But you know, working on the music stuff and I love it.

- After being hired by his mentor in the '70s, the late great guitar legend, Chet Atkins, Steve had become a mainstay in Music City. The subsequent record deal and the number one songs to follow confirmed Steve's decision to leave Indiana and move to Nashville at the tender age of 17. Steve's definitely at home in that studio and his musical achievements are no secret, but there's another studio where Steve lets his creative juices flow. Steve's second studio is devoid of musical instruments. Tools of the trade in this poolside playroom are paintbrushes and pallets.

- [Steve] When I was a little kid, I remember my dad would doodle and draw and it would just amaze me that he could draw these little cartoons. And so I mean, I think I probably just started doing it because of him, I guess, and my brother.

- [Tammi] Over the years, Steve has created some wonderful watercolors and oil paintings. But Steve has a new favorite medium, one which dates back to the early Egyptian days.

- The last few years, I've kind of stumbled onto an old ancient medium called encaustic. It's a way to paint using paints that you make out of wax and heat. It's a lot of abstract, more textures. And it's totally opposite of the real tight type of drawings that I love and paintings with watercolors. It's like the other end of it. Basically just getting this clayboard real warm so it'll bond to it real well.

- [Tammi] This encaustic medium requires Steve to use something akin to an industrial strength blow dryer to warm up the wood for the beeswax. The tins of wax are melted on a griddle, which heats it to 220 degrees. Now the abstract creating begins.

- [Steve] It's challenging because you're working with heat and the minute it's off heat, it starts to set up. You can always start over, but you have to have a heat gun, you have to have heat. It's very challenging. So I really like it for that reason.

- [Tammi] Steve's art skills, like his music, are God-given and self-taught. Although he did have an art teacher in high school, a Mr. Morrison, who told him he could have a bright future using his creativity. And so he has.

- [Steve] It's a creative outlet, but it's a different kind of outlet. It's almost like songwriting in a way. It's a kind of a release that's... I mean sometimes you just go, "I've got to write this song." It's just something that has to be done. And it's almost like that. Sometimes I just want to go paint. Even if it's horrible, I just want to throw some paint on a piece of board or a canvas or whatever. And a lot of times it works out pretty cool and I'll give it away or I'll just put it in my stack and never see it again or whatever. Just, but it's just, you just want to do it. It's a craving almost.

- [Tammi] Whether it's a painted guitar, an extraordinary oil painting, or an encaustic creation, Steve's artistic ability is as beautiful as his music. But for him, the artwork is more of an escape. The music is where the magic is made. He spent his most recent creative time making a musical tribute to Chet Atkins, something he's wanted to do since Chet passed in 2001. And though his modesty won't let him admit that his licks on the guitar are as good as his mentor, or his art could be very well hanging in a gallery. He's just as happy that someone will stop just long enough to look or listen. Because for Steve, it's as much about the process as it is the final product.

- [Steve] It's all about just learning and never wanting to get past that, you know, it's fun.

- Thanks, Tammi. That was a throwback, but Steve still does art shows today. In fact, he just wrapped up a show at the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville. So keep an eye out for the next one and don't miss it. Well, this season we're celebrating our 40th anniversary by going back into the archives and watching one old episode from each of our past 39 seasons. This week we feature a story from the second season, a touching tribute by Jerry Thompson to one of his great loves, fishing, as only Jerry could tell it on this week's retro crossroads.

- [Jerry] First thing you have to do on any fishing trip is get some bait. And every young boy knows the very best fishing bait is fishing worms. But just like little boys, worms are special. Matt looked at this one so long he wanted to name it, then keep it for a pet. The closer you get to the lake, the more the excitement builds. Even the dog acts anxious. Of course, even dogs know little boys will stop fishing long enough for a friendly tussle. Let's go back out there, Matt. I know there's a big fat bass waiting for you to come right back there to it. Joe's got his first fish on. And is he putting up a fight? That's a pretty good fish. But before he releases a small bass, he gives him a farewell kiss. Or almost. Joe contends if you kiss a live fish every day , nothing else can go wrong. Matt doesn't get too excited about fishing. For him, it sometimes seems pretty boring. Matt doesn't waste much energy fishing either. As soon as his line hits the water, his bottom hits the ground. Fishing trips are made for tangled lines, but then accidents will happen. In fact, sometimes you have to catch the fisherman. Matt tried a new spot, but sadly it wasn't productive. Maybe Joe's spot's better. When two brothers do anything together, it always develops into a contest. The lead in the fishing contest seesawed back and forth.

- Where was he?

- [Brother] He went off and there's mine guys. Boy did he go with it too. And I believe that the same one you just caught.

- [Brother] Sure and the heck is. Stay with the free ain't done.

- [Brother] I'm baiting boys.

- [Brother] Uh uh.

- [Jerry] Matt's got one on. He could take the lead. Oh no. He got off. Oh yeah. Joe's happy.

- Yes.

- Some wise person once said that the good Lord doesn't subtract from your allotted time, the time you spend fishing. And that's a good thought and I'd like to believe it. All fishermen would. I am convinced however, that the Lord does not subtract the time a father spends fishing with his children. There are a few things more rewarding than to see that knowing smile sweep across the face of one of my sons when they know there's a fish on the end of their line. It doesn't make any difference what kind of fish it is or how big it is or how small. There's just something about a young boy catching a fish that's very special to a father and to the boy too. While we catch more fish in the spring, some of our very best trips have been in the fall. Maybe it's because catching a fish on a fall fishing trip isn't all that important. What is important is spending the time together when the whole world seems to be changing into a brightly colored brilliance that makes us stand in awe at the beauty. The dapple sunlight seems to change before your very eyes as it makes its way down through the trees to glisten on the waters of lakes and streams. Sometimes we hear the croak of a wayward frog that is yet to be silenced by the cold of the song of a bird. We see bugs and worms and sometimes squirrel and deer. All these things are interesting to curious young minds and curious older minds too. But the beauty of the fall foliage is center stage this time of the year. It's almost as if a vagabond painter shuffling down a dusty road splattered some of the brightest colors of red and orange and yellow throughout the whole countryside. If we catch a fish on one of these fall trips, that's fine. But if we don't, then we still enjoy the time we spend with each other and the beauty that surrounds us. So whether the Lord really subtracts any fishing time from a person with a lot of time makes a little difference because when a father can get out on a pond bank with his sons, that time is so special. He doesn't really care.

- Well, it's great to see Jerry again, one of the best storytellers to grace our humble show. Well, that's about all the time we have for you this week, but we want to let you know something special that we're doing for our 40th season. We want to hear from you. So go to our website at tennesseecrossroads.org to leave us a video message and you might be featured on our show. Just follow the instructions there and we may see you in an upcoming episode. In the meantime, join us back here next time and here are some of our friends who've messaged us already.

- Hey everybody. I'm singer/songwriter Terry McBride, and I want to say happy 40th anniversary to "Tennessee Crossroads."

- I'm author Jeff Zentner. Happy 40th anniversary, "Tennessee Crossroads."

- I'm Lisa Harless. Happy 40th anniversary, "Tennessee Crossroads."

- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by...

- [Narrator] 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.

- [Narrator] 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.