In an interview from 2003 that has never been aired before, the late Frederick “Pal” Barger, founder of the regional restaurant chain Pal’s Sudden Service, talks about his business philosophy. With stores throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, Pal’s became the first restaurant company in America to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Pal Barger died in October of 2020. August 23, 2025, would have been his 95th birthday.

We visit the tiny community of Broylesville, in Washington County, Tennessee, to talk with Cheryl Bennett. She and her husband Dwight own and live in the old Broylesville Mill, and they are documenting the history of mills throughout the region.

Dr. John Shelton Reed, an authority on all things Southern and a retired University of North Carolina sociology professor, returns to “Vital Voices.” This time his subject is a classic New Orleans cocktail, created in the 1890s. Dr. Reed’s book, The Ramos Gin Fizz, was recently published by the Louisiana State University Press as part of its Iconic New Orleans Cocktails series.

His chairs are in use at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia, and around the breakfast table in the Governor’s Mansion in Nashville, Tennessee. Meet Curtis Buchanan, who has been making Windsor chairs in Jonesborough, Tennessee, for over 40 years.

We delve more deeply into the life and times of the late Chet Atkins, in part two of our interview with Don Cusic, author of the new biography, Chet Atkins: Mr. Guitar, published in 2025 by the University of Georgia Press.

We look at the life and work of the late guitarist Chet Atkins, originally from Luttrell, Tennessee. Our guest is Belmont University professor Don Cusic, author of a new biography entitled Chet Atkins: Mr. Guitar.

In part two of our discussion about prostate cancer, Dr. Kristen Scarpato, a urologic oncologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, talks about various treatment options.

In the first of two programs on the subject, we discuss prostate cancer, the most common cancer among men. Our guest is Dr. Kristen Scarpato, Associate Professor of Urology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Peter O’Leary, Mayor of Chimney Rock Village in Western North Carolina, talks with us about restoration and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction. O’Leary’s business sustained heavy damage during the storm, but like many others in his community, he is rebuilding and reopening.

In part two of our interview with Marshall University’s Dr. Chris White, we look at how epidemics have affected the Appalachian region, including a comparison between the so-called “Spanish “ flu pandemic of 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. White is co-editor of the new book Appalachian Epidemics: From Smallpox to COVID-19, published by the University Press of Kentucky. The photo here comes from what became known as the “Summer Without Children,” in 1950, when Wytheville, Virginia, had the highest per capita rate of polio in the nation.