The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development and Armchair Productions recently teamed up recently to launch a six-episode podcast series entitled Tennessee Music Pathways. Available to listeners starting this week, presenter and award-winning journalist Aaron Millar traveled across the state to capture unique musical stories, performances and interviews with musicians, historians and fans, highlighting each distinct region’s musical heritage.

Produced in a documentary style, the series takes listeners on a more than 1,000-mile road trip, from Bristol and the birth of country music to Memphis and the start of rock n’ roll. Along the way, listeners will hear bluegrass played fast as lightning and traditional Appalachian music performed live in the Great Smoky Mountains. Follow along as Millar shops in Elvis’ favorite clothing store, bangs drums in the studio that made Uptown Funk, learns to play the spoons and drinks whiskey in a distillery housed in a more than 100-year-old former prison.

The podcast also includes separate behind-the-scenes live session episodes, including songwriter Ed Snodderly in his iconic venue The Down Home in Johnson City, Chattanooga blues player Rick Rushing and The Boogertown Gap band playing traditional old time Appalachian music just as it would have been heard more than a century ago.

“This is the story of America,” said Aaron Millar, presenter of the Tennessee Music Pathways podcast. “From its roots in traditional fiddle music brought over by immigrants to the New World and enslaved individuals stolen in Africa, to the spark of rock n’ roll and soul that started here, united a nation, and spread across the world, Tennessee is the soundtrack to the evolution of America itself.”

“There’s a lot of people here with a lot of poetry in their hearts and souls. It comes from this sense of place, a strong sense of place, and a lot of people feel it,” said Ed Snodderly, Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter and owner of The Down Home in Johnson City.

New episodes will debut bi-weekly on Mondays, available on streaming platforms including Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and more.

Episode 1 (airs Aug. 24, 2022) – The Birth of Country Music (Bristol, Johnson City and the Smokies)

• Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol
• Dollywood in Pigeon Forge
• Historic Downtown Sevierville (Dolly Parton’s Hometown)
• The Down Home in Johnson City
• Boogertown Gap’s home in the Great Smoky Mountains

Episode 2 (airs Sept. 5, 2022) – Bluegrass and Beyond (Knoxville and Granville)

• WDVX in Knoxville
• Cradle of Country Music Walking Tour in Knoxville
• Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville
• East Tennessee History Center
• Sutton Ole Time Music Hour in Granville

Episode 3 (airs Sept. 19, 2022) – The Blues and the Big Nine (Chattanooga, Nashville, Jackson and Brownsville)

• Cabin of Sleepy John Estes, Tina Turner Museum at West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville
• Grave of Sonny Boy Williamson in Jackson
• Tennessee Legends of Music Museum at the Carnegie at the Carnegie in Jackson
• Sidewalk Stages SoundCorps in Chattanooga
• Songbirds Guitar & Pop Culture Museum in Chattanooga
• Tennessee Music Pathways’ Interactive Tour in Chattanooga
• National Museum of African American Music in Nashville

Episode 4 (airs Oct. 3, 2022) – The Country Music Capital of the World (Nashville)

• Ryman Auditorium
• Broadway Historic District: Honky Tonk Highway
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• Country Music Association (CMA)
• 3^rd & Lindsey

Episode 5 (airs Oct. 17, 2022) – Funk, Soul and the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Memphis)

• Royal Studios
• Stax Museum of American Soul Music (Stax Records)
• Sun Studio
• Lanksy’s Bros.
• Beale Street Historic District

​​​​​​​Episode 6 (airs Oct. 31, 2022) – Exploring the Tennessee Whiskey Trail

• Featuring Old Dominick Distillery in Memphis, Company Distilling in Thompson’s Station, End of the Line Distillery at Historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, Gate 11 Distillery in Chattanooga, Post Modern Spirits in Knoxville and Lost State Distillery in Bristol

{The Lynchburg Times is an independently-owned, community newspaper located in Lynchburg, Tennessee the home of The Jack Daniel Distillery. We focus on public service, non-partisan, rural journalism. We cover the Metro Moore County government, local tourism, Moore County schools, high school sports, Motlow State Community College, as well as whiskey industry news and regional and state stories that affect our readers.}