Southern Americana

Bob Dyan is an icon in Americana music. Now he's hoping to place his stamp on the craft whiskey industry by opening a distillery in Nashville. Heaven's Door was created when Dylan and spirts entrepreneur Marc Bushala (Angel's Envy Bourbon co-founder) connected after Bushala learned that Dylan registered a trademark application for "Bootleg Whiskey" in 2015.

"We both wanted to create a collection of American whiskeys that, in their own way, tell a story, "says Dylan in a statement. "I've been traveling for decades, and I've been able to try some of the best spirits that the world of whiskey has to offer. This is great whiskey. I am happy to be partnering with Marc and our entire team as we bring Heaven's Door to the public."

Under Dylan's artistic guidance, Heaven's Door plans to make a massive splash in Nashville, TN when they open their distillery in Music City in 2021. Construction at the historic Fifth Avenue location near downtown Nashville not only includes a distillery, but also a restaurant and 360-seat music venue. Tasting and tours will also be available.

RELATED: Layla Tucker Blazes Her Own Musical Trail

But Dylan is simply a figurehead in his whiskey venture. He's actively engaged in the process and offers his input on package design to the tasting of the product. Not only does Heaven's Door sponsor up-and-coming musicians, each September thy donate proceeds to the Music Health Alliance, an organization devoted to helping musicians obtain healthcare services. Over two million dollars was raised in 2019.

RELATED: Steel Guitarist Bruce Bouton Talks About Playing With Country Music's Elite

I caught up with Heaven's Door representative Terry Marshall at the EP release party of Texas Rose at Moo Country fashion boutique in Leiper's Fork, TN. Listen to this podcast episode as Terry explains how Dylan became involved and how Heaven's Door is willing to invest in music-related causes.

Heaven's Door produces a Tennessee Straight Bourbon, a Double Barrel Tennessee Whiskey, and a Straight Rye Whiskey, all of which are available at most liquor stores, bars, and restaurants.

Dakota Shayne, aka Urban Cowboy USA, is a multi-dimensional artist. He writes and creates his unique brand of music he calls Ultramericana. It's also the name of a new collection of songs he produced and recorded in Nashville.

Born and raised in Michigan, Dakota's musical roots run deep. He's a descendant of Motown's Ruffin family (The Temptations), and his mom is Native American. Dakota is also a tribal member of Michigan's Bay Mills Indian Community. This Americana recording artist is making waves in MusicCity USA and beyond with his soulful rendition of original and cover songs.

RELATED: Layla Tucker Blazes Her Own Musical Trail

Before relocating to the Nashville area in 2019, Dakota worked as a curator in Detroit's West Village and studios along the shores of Lake Michigan. Dakota also worked at one of Nashville's home of traditional country music, Robert's West World.

RELATED: Steel Guitarist Bruce Bouton Talks About Playing With Country Music's Elite

Lover's Lane USA is his biggest single to date. Dakota recently performed his latest single, Summer 1999, at Puckett's Grocery in the historic village Leiper's Fork, TN. We recorded this episode on Puckett's stage before a Thursday open mic night. This weekly open mic night features some of the most incredible, up and coming talent in the Nashville area.

Dakota splits his time between Michigan and Tennesssee. After travel and performance restrictions ease, Dakota plans on spending even more time around Nashville and Leiper's Fork, where he has ingrained himself in the local artist community. One of his goals is to start a creative artist center in Leiper's Fork where artists of all types can gather and create.

You don't want to miss our discussion of Ultramericana and Dakota's plans for 2020 and beyond.

Layla Tucker's musical roots run deep. The daughter of one of Country Music's leading ladies, Tanya Tucker, and songwriter Jerry Laseter, this 20-year old firebrand, is creating her own musical path.

You might think Layla would form her career by singing her mother's songs. It's not that she doesn't love the songs her mom produces and sings, rather she has her own style and wants the world to see her individual creativity.

Layla grew up and has been around Country Music royalty her entire life, yet you wouldn't know it. She knows most everyone that works in Puckett's Grocery, especially the real cowboys who frequent the venue. After all, this is her backyard.

RELATED: Steel Guitarist Bruce Bouton Talks About Playing With Country Music's Elite

I sat down with Layla on the stage at the historic Puckett's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, TN, to record an episode of Southern Americana podcast discuss her plans to forge her path on the Country and Americana stages. Musical influences that range from Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard to Kacy Musgraves, find there way into Tucker's songwriting and vocals. Her latest song, Misery Loves Company, contains lyrics that define Layla's cocky yet down-to-earth personality that shines through in her vocals.

"Just because we have different views on the way things ought to be, I can't seem to win for losing with you. So I'm just gonna be me, cuz misery loves company."

A few hours after we recorded this episode, Layla was still there, waiting her turn to perform on Thursday nights open mic night. Her performance is only short of spectacular.

Layla's musical trajectory will take her far; not because of her family's musical heritage, but because she's so freakin' talented.

Bruce Bouton is one of Nashville's top session and touring pedal steel guitarist. He has played on all of Garth Brooks's studio albums and with many of Country Music's elite artists.

RELATED: Welcome to the Southern Americana Podcast

After moving to Nashville from his home state of Virginia in 1978, Bruce joined Dottie West's band as pedal steel guitarist and has toured and recorded with such legends as Keith Whitley, Lacy J. Dalton, Ricky Skaggs, Tracy Lawrence, Brooks & Dunn, Kathy Mattea, Tracy Bryd, Conway Twitty, LeAnn Rimes, Trace Adkins, Kenny Rogers, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, Eric Church, Keith Urban, and a host of others.

The music industry has gone through monumental changes over the past several decades. Bruce was fortunate to play a part in what he considers the "glory days" of Nashville's recording sessions. "I remember in the late 1980s and 90s on Monday mornings when there were 30 recording sessions with five to seven musicians at each one," Bouton said, reflecting on playing with so many of Nashville's top artists. "We had a blast and recorded some of Country Music's biggest hits."

A member of the Musicians Hall of Fame, Bruce spent his early years in Nashville touring with Ricky Skaggs, who when they first met, was just beginning his solo career. "Ricky is one of the most talented instrumentalists I know and I was lucky to play with him. I've never seen anyone practice as much as he does."

He still tours with major acts and recently played with Brooks in his home state of Virginia. Bruce also played with Brooks on his 2018 TV special, Garth: Live at Notre Dame!

Recorded on the stage at the original and historic Puckett's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, TN, Bruce talks about fighting for and protecting the rights and royalties of professional musicians. He discusses how the deregulation of radio stations has hurt musicians and the industry and also talks about the "glory days" of Nashville's recording sessions along Music Row and 16th Avenue. Bruce also hosts the show, "The Sidemen" on Acme Radio, where he interviews the Nashville's multi-talented session players.

RELATED: A conversation with singer/songwriter/actor J.T. Hodges

Today Bruce spends time in Nashville with his college-aged daughter who is also finding her way into the music industry. A lifelong student of music, Bruce even takes an occasional guitar lesson from some of his session buddies.

If you're a fan of Country Music and it's incredible history, you don't want to miss listening to Bruce's stories about how Nashville music is made and played.

Recorded at Puckett's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, TN, welcome to the Southern Americana Podcast: Where we will Connect the South's music, people, and places.

Our first episode with singer/songwriter Emily Elgin is up on Apple Podcast (formerly iTunes).

The South is an amazing place. It's given birth to a multitude of remarkable music and amazing personalities. And as I've heard all of my life, the entire Southeastern United States is the "garden spot of the universe."

I'm Paul Stanley, and I'll be your host for this Southern Americana podcast. For the past seven years, I've been a freelance writer and publish much of my work about the South on my website, OneSouthernMan.com. I love the South, everything about it, especially the music and people, and I want to share it with you.

I grew up in the small town of Savannah. No, not Georgia, Savannah, Tennessee, which sits on the banks of the Tennessee River, just a few miles from Shiloh battlefield and Pickwick Lake. I've spent almost my entire life in Tennessee and the South, except for my college years in Texas, another state, or should I say a country that I adore. Oh, and I spent three years in my mid-twenties on foreign soil, in what I refer to as "the tundra," or Kansas.

Yet the South has always called me home. Where I grew up, there were many sayings about the South that hung on our walls:

"A person born or living in the South; gracious, easy-going, slow-taking, friendly, devoted to front porches, oak trees, cool breezes, magnolias, peaches, and fried chicken."

Another said, "The South is a place where...tea is sweet, and accents are sweeter, summer starts in April (thank goodness), macaroni and cheese is a vegetable, those front porches are wide and our words long, pecan pie is a staple, Y'all is a proper noun, biscuits always come with gravy, even chocolate gravy, everything is "darlin', (and you're preferred to that or Honey by any respectable diner waitress) and someone's heart is always blessed."

I could add a lot more to that list, such as bourbon, barbecue, SEC football, and tailgating in The Grove at Ole Miss. We'll talk about these and many more subjects in future episodes.

From time to time, I'll bring in co-hosts who will also share their love for music, especially the genre we know as Americana.

It's a lot of things. Its roots are found in the blues that originated from the Mississippi Delta, and country music that made its way from the hills of Appalachia to Nashville.

It's from the early rock n roll sounds created by Sam Phillips and Elvis in Memphis. And what about the jazz riffs from Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Americana combines folk songs of the great depression with the sounds made famous by Rick Hall and The Swampers in Muscle Shoals.

And let's not forget about the soulful gospel sounds created in Black churches that dot the southern landscape.

Whatever it is, Americana music sounds great.

As for people, where do we begin? There's singer/songwriters, playwrights, actors, musicians, athletes, chefs, business people, and tons of other exciting people from all walks of life. Some are household names you'll easily recognize, others you probably never heard of. Many were born in the South, while others are transplants. Some even reside in other regions or across the oceans, yet all have left a footprint in the South.

And the places. The larger cities of Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, New Orleans, Charlotte, and Charleston certainly give us plenty to talk about. And let's not forget the smaller towns and communities such as Clarksdale, Oxford, and Natchez, Mississippi, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fayetteville, Arkansas, quaint towns in the bluegrass lands of Kentucky, small communities in the low country of the Carolinas, or in the hill country of Virginia. There are so many places that impact Americana.

Most of our episodes will be recorded in a small community in Middle Tennessee called Leiper's Fork. Over the past twenty years, this magical community not only is home to some exciting locals but also to some of the top Americana and recording artists such as Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, Wynonna Judd, Carrie Underwood, Vince Neil, J.T. Hodges, Will Hoge, Layla Tucker, and countless others.

Leiper's Fork is located about 10 miles southwest of Franklin, TN, which is about twenty miles south of Nashville. It's one of the places where the Americana Music Triangle was conceived, and if you haven't yet visited, it's a place you'll want to experience soon.

We'll also hit the road and record episodes all over the South where ever we can find engaging music, people and places.

The first episode of Southern Americana podcast is an interview with Country/Americana recording artist, Emily Elgin, who recently released her first EP, This Woman.

I invite you to tag along on this journey of Southern Americana. It's going to be a fun ride.

In our first episode of Southern Americana podcast, we visit with singer/songwriter and Oklahoma native, Emily Elgin. Southern Americana podcast is recorded on stage at the historic Puckett's Grocery in the heart of Leiper's Fork, TN.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcast.

This working cowgirl ventured toward Nashville a few years ago, after a disappointing performance on American Idol. Next came a heartbreak. Yet that minor setback only fueled the motivation she needed to work tirelessly on mastering her craft. Emily's positive attitude and drive to succeed are what sets her apart from so many aspiring Country and Americana artists. Last fall she released her first EP, This Woman.

RELATED: Emily Elgin Breaks New Ground With Debut EP

Stay tuned, because you'll hear a lot from Emily in the coming years!

Follow the Southern Americana podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

In our next podcast episode, we talk to a California native, and singer/songwriter, J.T. Hodges.

J.T. Hodges, a singer/songwriter/actor, and native Texan grew up in Fort Worth, spending most of his formative years in his dad's recording studio, Jim Hodges Buffalo Sound. His mom Marsha, an accomplished country singer who turned down record deals to raise her two sons, was also an inspiration to this talented artist.

RELATED: Southern Americana Podcast: A Conversation with Singer/Songwriter Emily Elgin

After graduating from college, Hodges ventured to L.A. where he met his wife, Kasey. He had some success out West but knew he needed to relocate to Nashville to continue his passion for songwriting and performing. Hodges has opened for artists such as Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, and Eric Church, among others.

His new album features songs such as Sleepy Little Town and Goodbyes Made You Mine. Hodges is also an actor, appearing in the Hallmark Films release, Finding Christmas. J.T., his wife Kasey, and their two daughters reside in Leiper's Fork, TN, where he continues to perform, write, and record his own brand of Americana and Country music.

Southern Americana host Paul Stanley gives an update on upcoming episodes and discusses how the Coronavirus has impacted not only the music and hospitality industry but the entire nation. So far, 10 episodes have been recorded with Americana and Country Music artists such as Bruce Bouton, the legendary Nashville session steel guitar player who has played on all of Garth Brooks albums. Other episodes include interviews with singer/songwriters J.T. Hodges, Layla Tucker, Angel Forrest, photographer Adam Sanner, and fashion model/actress/boutique owner, Dawn Ann Ritter of Moo Country. To keep the music flowing in Leiper's Fork, TN, Southern Americana podcast is hosting a Facebook Live Performance on Thursday, March 19 from 5-7 p.m. CDT featuring Americana artists Catfish Seminar, Ridge Banks and Trevor Finlay. Check out all of their work on all the major music streaming services. You can follow these live performances on Paul's Facebook page or on the Moo Country - Leiper's Fork Facebook Page. All performances will also be added to the OneSouthernMan YouTube Channel. Stay safe and keep listening.

Welcome to Southern Americana podcast: Where we connect the South's Music, People, and Places.

I'm Paul Stanley, and I'll be your host for this podcast. I'm a freelance writer and publish much of my work about the South on my website, OneSouthernMan.com. I love the South - everything about it - especially the music and people, and I want to share it with you. Recorded at the historic Puckett's Grocery in Leiper's Fork, TN.

Oklahoma native Emily Elgin arrived in Leiper's Fork, TN, a few years ago, after a disappointing performance on American Idol. This driven cowgirl, who is also a professional horse trainer, has embarked on a musical journey that will soon produce enormous dividends.

Emily released her first EP, This Woman, in September of 2019. Since then, she's been rehearsing and putting a band together. Not only is this feisty redhead a talented singer, but also a motivated and smart businesswoman. Tracks such as "Muddy Water" and "Don't Come Knockin'" reveal a soulful voice that resonates with the heart.

Recorded on stage at the historic Puckett's Grocery in the heart of Leiper's Fork, Emily discusses the heartbreak that ultimately led to her decision to relocate near Nashville and the many blessings the move, her friendships, and her music has brought her. You don't want to miss this episode, and we're honored that Emily is helping Southern Americana kick off our podcast.