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Photo Essay, August 2023
Our readers share their images of summertime adventures Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Makin's from Melons
An enduring, endearing memory from my boyhood is a vision of Grandpa Joe trudging, bent with his burden, up a well-beaten path along the highway as he made his way from the little town of Bryson City homeward to his tiny farm. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Choices and Changes
At just 31 years old, Sierra Hull is already a legend in the bluegrass world. With her signature songbird vocals and mandolin virtuosity, the Tennessee native has also taken home “Mandolin Player of the Year” at the IMBA awards five times. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
On the Trail in the Smokies
Many people may not realize that when Congress authorized Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1926, a whopping 85 percent of the 400,000 acres originally proposed for the park were owned by industrial logging companies. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
A Conversation With the Smokies’ Philanthropic Leader
After 34 years working for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Dana Soehn has a new position—president and chief executive officer of Friends of the Smokies, the park’s official fundraising partner. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Pine Mountain State Resort Park
More than 300,000 people passed through Pineville, Kentucky, at the northern end of the Cumberland Gap, during westward expansion in the 19th century. Two centuries later, the area still attracts thousands of visitors. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
A Musical Journey for a Banjo Champ
When Gary Davis was 10, his father Alvin took him to a Friday night bluegrass gathering at a local Masonic Lodge in Red Bank, Tennessee. It was there he first saw and heard the live sounds and the hand actions of musicians playing five-string banjo. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Hands from Around the World Toss East Tennessee Pizza
Cooks at Greg’s Pizza in Johnson City, Tennessee, do their work behind a fortress of cardboard boxes. It’s a carry-out business and always has been. The only seats in the place are for waiting. There are no tables. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Review of The Trackers by Charles Frazier
At once sweeping and intimate, The Trackers is a vivid portrait of the American West during the latter years of the Great Depression, penned by Asheville’s Charles Frazier, the author of Cold Mountain. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
A Good Pair of Shoes
In the 1960s, on Sunday mornings, I polished my father’s dress shoes. Rubbing the paste on with a rag, brushing then buffing them with a soft cloth, I made the leather shine like glass. Read more
Jul 30, 2023
12:00 AM
Riddlefest Past and Present
RiddleFest is produced annually by Traditional Voices Group as a tribute to Lesley Riddle, an African-American musician from Yancey County NC, who influenced the development of early country music. Read more
Jul 10, 2023
12:00 AM
On Losing A Tree
As Mother Nature and Alberta waged their seasonal war, the force of their dispute exceeded 60 miles per hour. The hemlock, which had survived decades of their drama, couldn’t take it another day and so she released the hold she had on this earth. Read more
Jul 1, 2023
12:00 AM