Some time ago, I found myself sitting in my doctor’s office for a routine annual test. It was the first time I noticed that the waiting room had been divided into two sections: one clearly marked “Well Side” and the other “Sick Side.” I figured I belonged on the Well Side. But before long, I […]
Ripples float endlessly across the lake as a large frog croaks in the distance. The line running from the end of my pole drifts slightly with the light current, pulling away to my left as the red-and-white float bobs along with the ripples. Much of my first fishing adventure had been spent simply trying to […]
Retreating on foot through the smoke and chaos, young Sergeant Giles Parman pulled his musket close and slipped into an overgrown thicket, using a fallen oak log as cover. Three Iroquois warriors passed within yards of him, their war cries echoing as they hunted stragglers. That desperate moment of survival would haunt him for the […]
A Zippedy Doodle Day : American Folk Songs 2026 Vocal Event of the Year Nominee – The Josie Music Awards AirPlay Direct Global Americana Single Charts April #6 & May #13! Down Yonder Too A Skillet Licker Centennial Preserving the “Soul” of Appalachia The arrangement is a dizzying, delightful mix of fiddle, harmonica, banjo, jug, […]
John Donne wrote, centuries ago, “No man is an island.” Sometimes I catch myself living as though I were one anyway. If we are lucky we surround ourselves with family, friends, and acquaintances. Yet how often do we truly belong to one another? Some of us seldom leave the self-imposed exile of our personal islands […]
ORDER TODAY! Step onto a sunlit Southern porch and settle into a rocking chair overlooking misty Georgia mountains at golden sunrise. In Frankly Speaking: Thoughts on This and That, Randall Franks — one of America’s favorite TV cops (“Officer Randy Goode” from In the Heat of the Night) and beloved country entertainer — shares warm, […]
I can still remember standing in the doorway of the kitchen as a young boy, watching my mother tackle one business project after another from the kitchen table which served as he desk. She moved with purpose and quiet intensity—papers spread across the table, phone pressed to her ear, always thinking several steps ahead. The […]
There are seasons in life when worries, sorrows, fears, and quiet depressions gather like autumn leaves drifting from the branches. One by one they fall— a health scare, a strained relationship, financial strain, the ache of loneliness, or simply the relentless news of the world—until they form a thick, damp blanket over the ground. The […]
There are many times in my life when I have searched for the reason someone I care about becomes ill or suffers through a series of events. I have sat by the bedside, watching tubes connected to a loved one’s body, and seen people struggle to find a new normal after a health crisis. I […]
In the quiet hills of Ottway, Greene County, Tennessee, the small Malone Cemetery guards a powerful story of generational sacrifice. Here lie two Revolutionary-era veterans: John Joseph Malone Sr. (1724–1783) and his son, John Malone Jr. (1752–1823). Father and son, buried side by side, their graves mark not just a family plot, but a testament […]
