MyTN50 Tennessee Life, Told by Tennesseans

MyTN50

Tennessee Life, Told by Tennesseans

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Static and Soul: Inside Tennessee's Obsession With Restoring Vintage Radios
Music & Culture

Static and Soul: Inside Tennessee's Obsession With Restoring Vintage Radios

In garages and workshops across Tennessee, a dedicated community of tinkerers and collectors is coaxing life back into mid-century radios that most people would throw away. Part craft, part history lesson, and part meditation on what we've traded for convenience, vintage radio restoration is having a quiet and deeply satisfying moment in the Volunteer State.
Leaving Music Row Behind: The Tennessee Artists Who Found Their Sound by Getting Lost in Smaller Towns
Music & Culture

Leaving Music Row Behind: The Tennessee Artists Who Found Their Sound by Getting Lost in Smaller Towns

For some Tennessee musicians, the smartest career move they ever made was walking away from Nashville's relentless grind. From Cookeville to Jonesborough, a growing number of artists are discovering that smaller stages and tighter communities aren't a consolation prize — they're the whole point.
Before the Recipe Dies: The Tennessee Women Racing to Save Their Family's Food Memory
Food & Travel

Before the Recipe Dies: The Tennessee Women Racing to Save Their Family's Food Memory

Across Tennessee, a generation of older women has quietly taken on one of the most urgent preservation projects in the state — not of buildings or documents, but of the recipes that define who their families are. Armed with smartphones, notebooks, and deep wells of patience, they're making sure the food that shaped them doesn't disappear when they do.
No Label, No Problem: The Tennessee Buskers Turning Sidewalks Into Stages
Music & Culture

No Label, No Problem: The Tennessee Buskers Turning Sidewalks Into Stages

Forget the record deal. Across Tennessee, a scrappy wave of street musicians is building real, loyal fan bases one parking lot performance at a time. Their secret weapon isn't a major label — it's showing up, playing loud, and letting the community do the rest.
The Wisdom Exchange: Tennessee's Retired Trailblazers Are Investing Their Best Years in Someone Else's Future
Music & Culture

The Wisdom Exchange: Tennessee's Retired Trailblazers Are Investing Their Best Years in Someone Else's Future

Across Tennessee, a quiet but powerful movement is taking shape — one where retired doctors, business owners, artists, and civic leaders are trading golf courses for mentorship sessions with the next wave of Tennessee talent. The payoff isn't money. It's something that lasts longer.
Dust to Community: The Tennessee Neighbors Breathing Life Into Buildings Everyone Else Gave Up On
Food & Travel

Dust to Community: The Tennessee Neighbors Breathing Life Into Buildings Everyone Else Gave Up On

In towns across Tennessee, a handful of determined locals are walking into boarded-up buildings, empty storefronts, and forgotten warehouses and seeing something nobody else does — possibility. Without developer checks or corporate backing, they're turning community will into community space.
Old Hands, New Tricks: Tennessee Families Keeping Craft Traditions Alive on Their Own Terms
Food & Travel

Old Hands, New Tricks: Tennessee Families Keeping Craft Traditions Alive on Their Own Terms

Across Tennessee, a new generation is stepping into family workshops, studios, and distilleries — not to replace what came before, but to carry it somewhere it's never been. They're posting tutorials on Instagram, shipping orders to Brooklyn, and redesigning century-old patterns for modern homes. But ask them about the core of what they do, and they'll tell you some things are simply not up for debate.
Untold and Unfiltered: The Tennesseans Grabbing the Mic on History's Forgotten Stories
Music & Culture

Untold and Unfiltered: The Tennesseans Grabbing the Mic on History's Forgotten Stories

From a podcast recorded in a Chattanooga spare bedroom to TikTok videos racking up hundreds of thousands of views about a civil rights march that never made the textbooks, a new wave of Tennessee storytellers is refusing to let the overlooked stay invisible. They didn't wait for a media company to greenlight them. They just started talking. And people are listening.
Backyard Explorers: The Tennesseans Quietly Rewriting the Wildlife Record Books
Music & Culture

Backyard Explorers: The Tennesseans Quietly Rewriting the Wildlife Record Books

Armed with smartphones and a whole lot of curiosity, a growing community of amateur naturalists across Tennessee is finding species that science never knew existed in these hills. They're not researchers with lab coats — they're teachers, retirees, and weekend hikers who just couldn't stop looking closely. And what they're discovering is changing everything.
Voices from the Gaps: The Tennessee Archivists Piecing Together Lives History Left Behind
Music & Culture

Voices from the Gaps: The Tennessee Archivists Piecing Together Lives History Left Behind

Across Tennessee, a quiet but determined group of librarians, genealogists, and local historians are doing something remarkable — rescuing the stories of people history never bothered to write down. From cemetery surveys in rural Appalachia to digitized church ledgers in Memphis, they're stitching together lives that official records almost erased entirely.
When the World Sleeps, They Create: Tennessee's Night Shift Artists Living Between Two Lives
Music & Culture

When the World Sleeps, They Create: Tennessee's Night Shift Artists Living Between Two Lives

While most of Tennessee clocks out and heads home, a quiet army of nurses, bakers, factory workers, and security guards is punching in — and somewhere between the overnight hours and the early morning light, they're making art nobody asked for and everything they needed. These are the Tennesseans who found their creative voice in the margins of the traditional workday, and they're not slowing down anytime soon.
Still Playing After All These Years: The Church Organists Keeping Tennessee's Pipe Organ Tradition Breathing
Music & Culture

Still Playing After All These Years: The Church Organists Keeping Tennessee's Pipe Organ Tradition Breathing

Across Tennessee, a small but fierce group of organists and music directors are showing up every Sunday to play instruments that took decades to build and could take just one budget meeting to silence. They're teaching kids, restoring pipes, and making a case that sacred music still matters — not just spiritually, but as a living piece of Tennessee's cultural identity.
Written in the Land: The Tennesseans Hunting Down Place Names History Almost Erased
Music & Culture

Written in the Land: The Tennesseans Hunting Down Place Names History Almost Erased

Across Tennessee, a loose-knit crew of cartographers, genealogists, and community historians are doing something quietly extraordinary — pulling vanished town names, creek names, and hollow names back from the edge of oblivion. Their work isn't just academic. It's reshaping how everyday Tennesseans understand the ground beneath their feet.
Old Bones, New Purpose: The Tennessee Architects Rebuilding Rural Life Without Bulldozing the Past
Music & Culture

Old Bones, New Purpose: The Tennessee Architects Rebuilding Rural Life Without Bulldozing the Past

A new wave of Tennessee architects and designers is proving that rural revival doesn't have to mean starting from scratch. From repurposed tobacco barns to front-porch-friendly housing developments, these builders are threading the needle between honoring what's always been there and making room for what comes next.
Quit the Prestige, Kept the Vision: Tennessee Creatives Who Chose Weird Over Safe
Music & Culture

Quit the Prestige, Kept the Vision: Tennessee Creatives Who Chose Weird Over Safe

They had the résumés, the titles, and the corner offices. Then they walked away. Meet the Tennessee artists, designers, and makers who traded institutional prestige for something smaller, stranger, and entirely their own.
Homegrown and on Film: The Tennessee Documentarians Who Refuse to Wait for Hollywood's Permission
Music & Culture

Homegrown and on Film: The Tennessee Documentarians Who Refuse to Wait for Hollywood's Permission

A new generation of Tennessee-based filmmakers is turning cameras on their own communities, capturing stories that national media never bothered to tell. Armed with affordable gear, crowdfunding hustle, and a deep love for place, these storytellers are building something lasting — one hyperlocal documentary at a time.
The Quiet Keepers: How Tennessee's Small-Town Librarians Became the Heart of Main Street
Music & Culture

The Quiet Keepers: How Tennessee's Small-Town Librarians Became the Heart of Main Street

Across Tennessee, a new generation of public librarians is tearing up the old rulebook and turning their buildings into living, breathing community centers. From maker spaces to oral history projects, these unsung civic heroes are proving that the library isn't just surviving the digital age — it's leading the charge.
Late Bloomers, Big Moves: The Tennessee Entrepreneurs Who Built Their Best Thing After 50
Music & Culture

Late Bloomers, Big Moves: The Tennessee Entrepreneurs Who Built Their Best Thing After 50

Forget the myth that great ideas belong to the young. Across Tennessee, a wave of entrepreneurs in their 50s, 60s, and beyond are launching ventures that are turning heads — and turning profits. Their secret weapon? Decades of living, failing, and knowing exactly who they are.
After the Bell Rings: Tennessee Teachers Who Are Turning Forgotten Spaces Into Art Communities
Music & Culture

After the Bell Rings: Tennessee Teachers Who Are Turning Forgotten Spaces Into Art Communities

When the school day ends, a quietly growing movement of Tennessee educators trades lesson plans for paintbrushes — and empty storefronts for gallery walls. These teachers aren't waiting for the art world to invite them in. They're building something entirely their own.
First Bell, Then Spotlight: The Tennessee Educators Living Double Lives as Working Artists
Music & Culture

First Bell, Then Spotlight: The Tennessee Educators Living Double Lives as Working Artists

Across Tennessee, a quiet wave of teachers is spending their weekdays shaping young minds — and their weekends chasing something else entirely. From jazz clubs in Memphis to gallery walls in Chattanooga, these educators are proving that a life in the arts doesn't have to end when the school year begins.