Blake Guthrie

I’m sitting in the living room at the Fontanel Estate, country superstar Barbara Mandrell’s former home turned music destination (think Nashville’s own Graceland) with a boutique inn attached. I notice one of the world’s most famous guitars hanging on the wall—Buck Owen’s red, white and blue custom-made Mosrite, seen and heard around the globe on hit recordings and TV shows like “Hee Haw.”
After gushing at the guitar, Mandrell’s daughter, Jaime, asks if I would like to play it. Well, duh. It ...

The first thing that stands out about Americus is its remoteness. Not remote in terms of hours driven to get there — it’s only a 2.5-hour drive south of Atlanta — but how it stands like an oasis of a city surrounded by so much farmland, rolling plains and pecan groves miles away from any interstate. The other thing that stands out one spring Friday is how lively this hisoric hamlet is after normal business hours, a rare thing for a rural Deep South city of fewer than 17,000 people.
Turns out ...

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My father, normally a very gregarious man, was staying quiet and attentive. He’s always been an attentive person, too, but this was a more vigilant type of silent awareness. I suspect it was because he was trying to take in as much as possible, paying close attention to everything he saw and listening intently to everything said.
We were at Augusta National Golf Club for the Masters. So there’s that. You’re supposed to be quiet when golf is being played. But even when we were away from th...

Those were the impassioned words of Cynthia Watkins in her introductory speech to visitors at the Seacrest Wolf Preserve, located in rural Washington County, 40 miles north of Panama City Beach, in the Florida Panhandle. Watkins is co-founder of the preserve, a non-profit organization that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. For the past two decades, she’s been a woman on a mission to protect wolves, preserve their habitats and dispel the myths about these magnificent creatures.
Watkin...

A recent study by the charity group Help Musicians UK surveyed the health and well-being of working musicians at all levels of the business. According to the results of the survey, mental health issues are a major concern among professional musicians. Over 60 percent of respondents reported dealing with serious psychological issues at some point in their career. And it's worse among musicians who tour on a regular basis. Touring is especially hard on independent acts.
It's not talked about of...

BLUE RIDGE —
Cloud Nine. It’s the type of name one would expect for a mountain vacation rental home. It’s one of those places that if you try and follow GPS directions you’ll get lost. The rental agency sent a confirmation that stressed the importance of following the turn-by-turn directions provided in the email, including detail you wouldn’t get from a GPS such as “go right when you see a bunch of mailboxes.”
What it didn’t mention was the very steep and winding one-lane road. After putting...

When Hurricane Michael made landfall last October, it wreaked havoc throughout the Florida Panhandle. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration upgraded the storm to a category 5 at landfall, not a category 4 as previously believed. This new information didn’t come as a surprise to anyone living in the affected areas.
As summer vacation season beginsto get underway, the AJC checks in with those communities hardest hit to see what visitors can expect this year.
Panama Cit...

It’s a mid-April afternoon in Greensboro, Georgia, and master brewer Taylor Lamm stands on the patio outside Oconee Brewing Company breathing the fresh spring air.
A minivan pulls up and the passenger window rolls down. “Are y’all open yet?” comes a voice from inside.
“Not yet,” answers Lamm, “We’re opening on May sixth.”
“We’re so excited,” says the voice in the van, “We’ll see you then.” Lamm leans in to give the particulars of the grand opening festivities and then the van pulls away. “Tha...

If altitude affects attitude, autumn only enhances the effect with its burst of color. Keeping in mind there could be heavy traffic on winding two-lane mountain roads this time of year, and patience is a virtue, here are some of the best (and highest) places within easy driving distance of Atlanta to take in the foliage and have some fall fun.
Biltmore Estate, North Carolina
Biltmore is much more than the grand Gilded-Age mansion said to be the largest home in America, with its four acres of ...

For some, golf projects a stodgy image. It’s often expensive, requires a dress code and it can feel exclusive. But there’s an option for those looking for affordable championship-caliber courses with no membership requirements: state parks.
“No crowds, no houses, no noise.” That’s an oft-repeated mantra used to describe playing the eight courses within the Georgia State Parks system. These aren’t courses designed to sell real estate or memberships to posh clubs. It’s golfing in nature, pure a...

Whether it’s west of the Mississippi or western Europe, there’s something about heading westward that fills one with anticipation. It’s been explored, settled and re-invented, but there’s still plenty to discover at points west on the proverbial compass. Here are some things to check out, as well as fresh takes on the familiar.
Utah
Utah’s famous dry powder snow and spectacular ski resorts have long made it a favorite destination for Atlanta-based skiers and snowboarders, thanks to direct fli...

Whether traveling in the United States or the tropical climes of the Caribbean and Central America, check out what’s new and noteworthy at points south on the compass, or get a different perspective on familiar destinations.
Montgomery, Ala.
Once called “the Cradle of the Confederacy,” Montgomery has come a long way since Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era. These days, Alabama’s capital is a burgeoning hot spot, a riverside city with a strong culinary scene along with plentiful historic site...

From the Keys in the subtropical climes to the northernmost reaches of Amelia Island on the Atlantic coast, Florida has a lot of new and noteworthy reasons to visit this summer. Check out these destination ideas for your sojourns to the Sunshine State.
Amelia Island
One of the easiest ways to see the wild horses of Georgia’s Cumberland Island is to visit Florida’s Amelia Island. It may sound counter-intuitive, but the northern tip of Amelia sits across the channel and within view of the south...

Dining out on local cuisine is one of the best parts of traveling to new locales. Lucky for us, the South is home to some of the best culinary delights the world has to offer, and they can be found anywhere from James Beard Award-winning fine-dining restaurants to off-the-radar seafood dives. Here are some suggestions for planning your gastronomic journey around the South this spring, plus a couple bonus recommendations for international travelers.
Birmingham, Ala.
If you haven’t driven 2.5 h...

Tennessee is the birthplace for so much great American music and where new sounds are still being crafted. It’s hard to imagine what popular music would be without the influence of the Volunteer State. Here are a few spots where you can experience the best of the old and the new in the state’s three largest cities.
KNOXVILLE
WDVX and the Blue Plate Special
WDVX, an independent public radio station serving the Knoxville area, is the little station that could. Spotlighting regional, national an...