September 2025 Edition

Howdy Friend, 

    Well, at long last the dog days are behind us and, sadly, summer’s almost in the rearview. But with it we welcome the sounds of the season like The Tempos 1959 nod to summer’s end "See You in September". And who can forget Willie Nelson’s autumnal torch ballad “September Song”. Or maybe you’re spinning a new fall classic like Old Crow’s ribald OCMS “Big Orange T”. Whatever’s cranked up on your Labor Day hit parade I’m just hopeful you had a wonderful summer full of picnics, reunions, and road trips with the windows down and you singing along. Music is the magic that puts the pep in my step and the hope in my heart any time of year, but it’s especially welcomed during my most favorite season, fall. One of the things that makes September so special is seeing that big Corn Moon come up over my home state of Tennessee. 

    Now, if you know me you probably know I’m a traveling man. But if you know me well, you’ll also know I’m a traveling man who began his travels at a very young age. Five states by the fifth grade, and all sorts or travels in between whether on Amtrak or in mom and dad’s VW Microbus. By 18 I moved to my 3rd Rockingham County (VA, NH, and NC) and the hometowns just kept piling up thereafter. Just like ol’ Hank used to sing (No not that Hank. And not that Hank either. The other Hank. The Canadian Hank.) Like Hank Snow says, "I’ve Been Everywhere”.  So, it’s funny then that for a guy who spent so much of his youth in far flung places, and so much of the rest of his life kicking up dust as a traveling music, that I've actually lived in one state longer than all the others put together. Like Dolly sings in “My Tennessee Mountain Home” the Volunteer State truly is the place I have come to reside. I first came across its long, straight state line back in the early 80’s when that blue Secor family Volkswagen (without air conditioning) bounded up the Natchez Trace to Nashville for my sisters and I to see a famous lady named Minnie Pearl perform at something called the Grand Ole Opry. I never forgot the Opry and I never forgot Minnie. A few years later, living in South Carolina, I heard a man in downtown Aiken say that Minnie Pearl had purchased her famous hat with the price tag from his shop. Years later, I learned how haberdashers across the south repeated this claim to have sold Minnie her hat. Well, if you haven’t heard Minnie’s comedy records you’ve got to check ‘em out! Try this one for size, “Looking at Fellers”.

    By the mid 90’s or so my folks moved to Knoxville and I was hot on their heels, heading to East Tennessee too, with a young Old Crow Medicine Show. We found a spot in Johnson County where we could get down to the plain affairs of living. My recent album Story The Crow Told Me recounts this chapter of the life in a song called "Ghost Train”. Back then I quickly discovered something ripe and mysterious in these hills and hollers of East Tennessee that really stuck with me long after moving down to the capitol city. The landscape of country music, for me, always had more to do with those rugged Cherokee Hills and Blue Ridge Mountains than it did in Music City’s splendor, and the characters I met in places like Elizabethton, Bristol, and Johnson City still populate the songs I write. I find Tennessee mountain folk to be among America’s most distinct, fascinating, and impressive peoples and I relish the opportunities I get to visit with friends old and new whenever I'm up the hills. Southeast Tennessee stole my heart pretty young too. I’ll never forget my first trip to Chattanooga, again back in the 80’s, and years later to visit sites like the Lost Sea and the rugged Ocoee River. Southern Middle Tennessee is a wonderful spot I’ve travelled thoroughly. Lewis County is home to the hippie commune The Farm where thousands of babies were born over 50 years of midwifery. The Cumberland Plateau is chock full of legend, lore, and song and is the home to some of my favorite pickers like Sierra Hull who’s new song “Spitfire” has been heavy in rotation on the road. Long before you get to Memphis, West Tennessee is a vast terrain where you can learn about Casey Jones, celebrate the richest agricultural land in the south, see bald eagles and battlefields, eat cathead biscuits, and pay your respects at the pet cemetery behind the International Coon Dog Hall of Fame. And of course, the legendary city of Memphis is a world unto its own. I’ll never forget as a small child on a Greyhound layover with my dad walking down to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous ducks march into the elevator then taking in a Memphis Redbirds game, hoping I might see the next Ozzie Smith or Willie McGee at batting practice. Old Crow always loved performing in the Bluff City, from the famed Orpheum to the New Daisy Theatre to Minglewood Hall. One song that always gives me chills is our tune "Motel In Memphis,“ written shortly after a visit to the Lorraine Motel, home of the National Civil Rights Museum.

    As you can see, I just love this state. From my earliest travels here to the time I first called it home back in 1999, the Volunteer State has been the premier landscape of my life. So it came as wonderfully welcome news when Nashville’s most beloved television network, Nashville PBS, called me up last winter to ask if I would be interested in taking the helm of its flagship program, Tennessee Crossroads. Of course I gave an immediate and emphatic “Yes!”. Back in 2000, if you chanced upon OCMS' Dickerson Road flophouse, if we weren't playing music you can bet were all glued to the TV set to watch the latest episode of this homey, entertaining Tennessee travel show hosted by the late great Joe Elmore. Joe’s devotion to the show for more than 30 years helped it become PBS’s most successful independently produced TV show in its vast roster. Nowadays, as threats to Public Broadcasting have reached a fever pitch, I’m proud to stand up as the newest member of this American institution, PBS. My love, appreciation, and understanding of these United States wouldn’t be nearly so brimming full were in not for PBS’s signature programming. From Ken Burns documentaries to Reading Rainbow, I am a proud PBS kid through and through. This fall, I hope you’ll turn on Tennessee Crossroads and watch my television debut. I’ll be mighty glad to let you in on a secret I've known for a long time now, that Tennessee is the most amazing place you’ll ever see, with something unique in store for everyone. So come take a visit without even leaving your living room. Tune in to Nashville PBS on your favorite local station or streaming partner and allow me the unique privilege of welcoming you to the wonders of the Volunteer State on PBS' "Tennessee Crossroads." 

Well, thanks again for reading and listening along. I hope the end of summer fills your heart with great surprises, good health, and the love of family gathered close.
AND don’t forget —you’ve got a friend in Tennessee!

Best Wishes,
Ketch