okra. Issue 11, 2020 Preview

o k r a.

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R E A L

S O U T H E R N

ISSUE NO. 11T

2020

C U L T U R E

EXPLORING

Southern Food Display until November 29, 2020

FILLING EMPTY TABLES in Mississippi, Robert St. John Finds a Way To Feed the Hungry NOBLE DIRT Brunch on the Farm in Asheville, NC

BREAKING BOUNDARIES Wally Joe of Memphis’ Acre Sees Food Globally FINDING NIRVANA Bradford Blues Club supplies Good Times On a Florida Backroad

TASTEFULLY CULTIVATED...

NATURALLY. THE SEED WE SOW – THE GRAIN YOU EAT

TWO BROOKS

rice ecologically grown for our world

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR FOOD? Surely the best! Our goal is to grow the finest, tastiest, and most thoughtfully grown long grain rice available, while helping to improve our planet. Rooted in conservation, we are a single estate rice ecologically grown in the Mississippi Delta. Our family believes you should not have to choose between the needs of nature and those of mankind. We farm with nature’s rhythm, lending to and taking from in order to put whole, healthy, non GMO food on your table.

Sumner, MS

twobrooksfarm.com Follow us on

abbey@twobrooksfarm.com @twobrooksrice

44: BREAKING BOUNDARIES

Wally Joe shows us how food, like life, is best when it breaks through categories

52: EXPLORING SOUTHERN FOOD

The South is broad and deep, and like its people, its food is full of diversity and richness

STORIES

60: EXTRA TABLE

Robert St. John finds ways to ease the empty tables of Mississippi’s hungry

Sharing the love of cast iron cooking from some of Louisiana’s kitchens

Photography by Rory Doyle

68: CAST IRON LEGACY

CHAPTERS EDITORIAL

TO DINE SOUTHERN

PG 8: EDITOR’S LETTER

PG 28: THE SOUTHERN TABLE

Finding our way to living normally during these trying times

Recreating a grandmother’s mac and cheese

PG 31: GATHERINGS

PG 07: OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Gaining Ground Farm hosts a noble brunch

The people who make our stories come to life

PG 36: COOKING WITH

Buttermilk Kitchen’s Suzanne Vizethann

PG 96: MAGEE’S SOUTHERN ACCENT

PG 38: ON OUR PL ATE

In search of the perfect tomato sandwich with Matthew Magee in the Sound Kitchen.

Chef Alex McPhail serves creamy corn custard

PG 40: IN OUR GL ASS

At Lucky in Roanoke, VA, you won’t find this drink on the menu

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22 SOUTHERN COMFORTS

A ROAD LESS TRAVELED

PG 12: OLIVER FARM

PG 90: WANDERING

Going for the gold

Riding the rails from New Orleans to Charlottesville, VA

PG 16: BY SOUTHERN HANDS You’ll want these finds made by locals

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PG 20: PAGES

A Louisiana artist brings her paintings to life in a new novel

PG 22: LISTEN UP

Mac McAnally counts every day as a blessing

SOUTHERN SNAPSHOTS

PG 24: LOOK FOR

Sam Doores heralds a rebrith in his adopted hometown of New Orleans

PG 98: WHERE WE WENT

Sweethaven Lavender Farm, Williamsburg, VA

FRONT COVER

What’s more Southern than okra?

Photography by Scott Speakes

PG 76: ALONG THE ROAD

Bradfordville Blues Club is Nirvana at the end of a Florida dirt road

PG 82: L AY OF THE L AND

Our readers submit photos of their special Southern places and people

5

STAFF Scott Speakes Publisher Genie Gaither Jones Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Cashwell Design Director Steve Ransom Digital Imaging Specialist Matthew Magee J. M. McSpadden Liesel Schmidt Contributing Editors Richard L. Jones Copy Editor

Advertising Sales Specialists Kris Schultz North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia kschultz@cherokeemediagroup.com Brittany Sanders Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas brmcdonald45@gmail.com All other requests Scott Speakes scott@okramagazine.com

CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/okramagazine @okramag contact@okramagazine.com

Published by Southbound Publishing, Inc.

okramagazine.com

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ISSUE NO. 11

CONTRIBUTORS

JENNIFER STEWART KORNEGAY is a freelance writer and editor based in Montgomery, AL. Her work has appeared in Garden & Gun, Southern Living, The Bitter Southerner, The Local Palate, thekitchn. com, Bake From Scratch, Paste, Travel&Leisure.com, Nashville Lifestyles, Birmingham magazine, Alabama magazine, Georgia Magazine, Alabama Living magazine and more. She’s interested in everything, will write about almost anything but most often reports on Southern culture, food and travel. jenniferkornegay.com

RORY DOYLE is a working photographer based in Cleveland, Mississippi — the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Doyle is a recipient of a 2018 Visual Artist Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission, and the 2019 South Arts State Fellowship for Mississippi, both for his ongoing project on African American cowboys and cowgirls in the Delta. The project was featured in the Half King Photo Series in New York City in June 2018, along with a concurrent show in Harlem. Doyle unveiled the exhibit in London for the first time Feb. 28, 2019. Additionally, Doyle was accepted for the 2019 New York Times Portfolio Review. His publication list includes The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, ESPN, Getty Images, and more. Born and raised in Maine, Doyle has lived in Mississippi since 2009. rorydoylephoto.com

BOYCE UPHOLT is a freelance writer based in New Orleans. Originally from Connecticut, he lived in the Mississippit Delta for eight years before moving to New Orleans. He frequently writes about landscapes and regions, and how we alter and imagine them. His work, which has appeared in The Atlantic and The New Republic, often examines how we shape places and how places shape us. He won the 2019 James Beard Award in investigative journalism for a story about a controversial farm chemical. He’s currently researching a book on the Mississippi River. boyceupholt.com

JULIAN GLENN BRUNT has been writing about the culinary ways of the Deep South for over ten years. He has resided in Biloxi, Mississippi since 1992, but coming from a military family was infected with wanderlust at an early age. He spent many years in Europe, moved eight times before finishing high school, traveled and lived widely in the American southeast and west, and spent several months in South East Asia. At every stop along the way, he investigated the local food traditions, and has remained passionate about cooking all his life. He is the twelfth generation of his family to hail from the South.

DEBORAH BURST is a New Orleans native, author, and award winning writer/photographer with a portfolio of more than a thousand articles and photos including national covers.

She has written five travel/photo books featuring the South, its people, critters, landscapes, mystical legends and historic architecture. From hidden graveyards and sacred temples to the shrouded bayous and forests, Deb gives a voice to all the spirits. deborahburst.com

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EDITOR’S LETTER

What a strange time we are living in–a pandemic and shortages of all kinds.

And yet, we feel strangely grateful for the added time to spend at home with our families.

Many days are lived in a haze – what day is this? But overall, the extra time to spend with our loved ones and doing the things we normally have no time, or energy, for was a blessing. Trying to hold on to that feeling of blessedness is hard sometimes, but at the end of the day, the feeling remains.

Like the rest of the country we found ourselves cooking and baking like never before.

We even jumped on the sourdough band wagon and made a few loaves, once we found the flour, that is. And yeast? That’s another story unto itself. But with enough perseverance, we found that, too. How many breads did you make? We made a lot. Biscuits (a Southern staple, of course), cornbread, sourdough bread, banana bread, yeast rolls, and so many more. Who knew

MEMORIES OF MY SOUTHERN UPBRINGING I N R I C H M O N D , V I R G I N I A , A L WA Y S I N C L U D E THE SMELL OF GOOD SOUTHERN FOOD: FRIED CHICKEN, CHEESE GRITS, SMITHFIELD HAM, AND BUTTERMILK BISCUITS. Tinsley Mortimer

there were so many kinds of bread?

We

even made our own sandwich bread. Once.

Gardening has been another way to pass the days. Not only flowers but vegetables.

We’ve been able to have the beautiful weedfree vegetable gardens we always wanted but were too busy to maintain. And okra

and tomatoes! Our crops have been plentiful! For many of us in the South, these things are all part of our daily lives, but for those of us who work eight to five jobs each and every day, these things became a special joy. We venture to say there is a whole new group of backyard farmers out there.

Like many businesses experiencing difficulties, we found ourselves having to delay our May issue due to travel bans. But we couldn’t stay still, so while we couldn’t travel, we could produce a cookbook. We reached out to the many PR firms we work with and asked for recipes from the Southern chefs and restaurants they represent. These were combined into a digital-only cookbook. You can download it for free from our website. It did make us long for the day when we can visit these restaurants again in person, but for now, we’re enjoying making these recipes at home.

As we maneuver through masks, social distancing and trying to make sense of our new world, we are thankful for our health, our family and you, our readers. It’s a trying time but holding onto our positive attitudes will help us get through this. Stay safe y’all!

Scott Speakes // Publisher

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ISSUE NO. 11

Genie Gaither Jones // Editor-in-Chief

“making culinary memories with those you love! ”

Entering its 9th season in 30 metropolitan markets, The VeryVera show combines Vera Stewart’s natural teaching ability and etiquette insight with modern twists to your grandmother’s favorite recipes.

M A R KE T S AL : Mobile • Huntsville • Dothan • FL : Tampa • Pensacola • GA : Albany • Augusta • Columbus • Cordele Macon • Savannah • IN : Indianapolis • LA : Lake Charles • MD : Hagerstown • MS : Jackson • Hattiesburg SC : Myrtle Beach • Charleston • Greenville • NY : Watertown • OK : Oklahoma City • TX : Austin • Dallas • Harlingen Houston • Victoria • Waco • VA : Richmond • Roanoke

veryvera.com

Photography: Rory Doyle

a place to celebrate the pleasures of the table Memphis, TN

acrememphis.com

CHAPTER 1

SOUTHERN COMFORTS

11

F O O D

CRUSHING IT OLIVER FARM STRIKES OIL OF A DIFFERENT KIND IN SOUTH GEORGIA Written by Virginia Willis / Photography courtesy of Oliver Farms & Virginia Willis The rolling hills around Atlanta flattened out and wet tires beat in rhythm on

area. We were meeting Clay Oliver, a fifth-generation farmer in Wilcox County

the seams of the grey concrete below. Thunder rumbled as we crossed the

– and producer of artisan, cold-pressed oils. Early spring rains had washed out

fall line, the geological boundary about twenty miles wide that runs slightly

the red dirt roads — to the extent that the schools were closed — and he was

northeast from Columbus across the middle of the state. We clipped along at

worried about us getting out to the farm. Instead, Clay suggested we meet in

a steady pace in a tight pack of cars down I-75, a silvered raceway to Florida

downtown Pitts at what would be their future retail and event space. The tiny

that runs parallel to the Ocmulgee River for a bit as it flows to the Atlan-

town was founded in the late 1800s and was once part of a vibrant agricul-

tic Ocean. The windshield wipers slapped as we passed swollen bottomland

tural community. It now primarily consists of boarded up buildings. Turning

swamps of knobby cypress forest and sped

on to the main street with torrents of rain

across aging concrete bridges stamped

sheeting down we struggled to find street

with mid-century dates.

numbers. We circled the block, passing ag-

I was traveling with my friend, fellow

ing doublewide mobile homes and a couple

curious chef and culinary producer Tamie

of houses with sagging porches. I noticed a

Cook. South of Perry, we took a left off the

framework of fresh pine board attached to

interstate. As the rain increased intensity,

an empty, run-down gas station, “That’s got

life instantly slowed. Familiar bright green

to be it, it’s the only new wood in town.”

and yellow farm equipment sat idle in the

At that very moment, a pickup truck pulls

drizzle. Rusted tin and buildings leaned

in and Clay jumps out to introduce himself.

into the wet flatland. Ridged fields with

He then motions to a store across the road

rows of nubby plants and tufts of drenched

with a shed, “Let’s get out of the rain and

cotton lay fallow. The cows gathered under

I’ll take y’all to the farm.” We whip across

pecan trees with crooked, twisting branch-

and make the swap. As I climb up and

es reaching towards the bleak, blue-grey sky and hogs languished in the wet red

settle into the front seat I’m careful not to

Photo: Virginia Willis

Georgia mud.

knock the shotgun next to the gearshift. As he drives over the bumpy wet road he explains, “When fuel prices went up in

There’s nothing like the quietude and stillness of farm country in the rain.

2008, I began researching the possibility of on-farm biofuel production.” His

Wilcox County, a mere two hours and some change south of Atlanta, is rural

intention was to make oil to fuel his farm machinery. A series of events includ-

and remote; all 377 square miles are home to a mere three traffic lights. I

ing what he refers to sheepishly as “messing around on Facebook” changed

grew up not too far from here, less than an hour away. The largest industry in

that path. He explained that he met people that made him realize that culinary

the region is agriculture, mostly the commodity crops of cotton and peanuts,

oils were what he wanted to pursue. “By 2012, I had decided to try making

with some cattle and pig farming in the mix. Farming is the heart and soul of

cold pressed culinary oils from seeds and nuts either grown on the farm or

the region.

sourced locally.”

As a former local, it’s exciting to know there’s a good food movement in the

We soon arrive at the offices at the farm. As we enter, Clay points over at

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SOUTHERN COMFORTS

“CL AY IS WHAT FOLKS IN THE COUNTRY CALL A “GOa small shed and says, “That’s where we started.” We enter the building

Oliver Farm produces cold pressed non-GMO sunflower, green peanut,

where Valerie, the other half of Oliver Farm greets us. She handles the

benne seed, pecan, pumpkin, and okra. Sunflower is also available infused

office, works the markets, and bottles the oil. Their oils have won several

with a blend of herbs and spices. Green peanut oil is available infused with

prestigious Good Food Awards. Grinning, Clay says, “The first time we won,

a little sweet heat — cinnamon, brown sugar, red pepper, and chili powder.

we didn’t really know it was a big deal.” Valerie shares that when they won

The cold-pressed method of oil extraction is exactly what it sounds like –

the family drove out in a car together to San Francisco. The second award

chemical and heat free – allowing the oil to retain its pure natural flavor,

led to Clay’s very first plane ride.

color, and nutrients. The peanut oil comes from local peanuts, the pecan

Clay is boyishly handsome with sparkly eyes. He loves his land and his

oil is made from the farm’s own pecan crop and supplemented by nuts

family. And, he really loves talking about what he does because he really

from neighboring farms, and the benne seed oil is obtained from heirloom

loves what he does. I can also imagine him being the type of kid that took

Sea Island sesame seeds grown by Anson Mills in South Carolina.

things apart and spent plenty of time exploring the countryside. He is what

I happened to write a book on the green vegetable, Okra, and was there

folks in the country call “a go-getter.” He likes to make things happen. He’s

at Oliver Farm to write this story for okra magazine. It seemed destiny that

testified in Washington in front of the House of Representatives Committee

I was there to press okra oil. As Clay pours okra seed into the press, I learn

on Agriculture and there’s an open letter on the farm website advocating

that it takes 50 pounds of okra seed to produce one gallon of oil. The loud

“America’s food and agriculture industry will benefit from federal policy

machine whirs and spins. Gritty plugs of pressed okra seed rhythmically

that helps farmers help themselves.”

fall into a bucket below. Clay slips a small clear plastic cup under the foam-

This page left: The cold-pressed method of pressing oil is heat and chemical-free allowing it to maintain it’s natural color, flavor and nutrients. Photo: OF This page right: Fields of okra 50 pounds of okra seed to make one gallon of oil. Photo: OF Bottom left: Bottles of pecan oil waiting for labels. Each label is applied by hand so they are tidy and straight. Photo: VW Bottom

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ISSUE NO. 11

GETTER.” HE LIKES TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.” ing, frothy trickle of oil. The tiny vessel reminds me of the ones we used

Water.” As an avid fisherman, it instantly caught my eye. I asked Clay,

for communion (grape juice, of course) at the Methodist church where I

“What does that mean?” He explained, that it was his idea list, not his

attended as a little girl. The freshly pressed dark golden oil is barely warm.

to do list, and consisted of things he wanted to explore. Smiling he said,

I take a sip. Its silky thickness is tactile. The oil is slightly spicy, assertively

“Sometimes you have to put a hook in the water to see if anything will

vegetal, but buttery, smooth, and rich.

bite.” You can’t catch a fish if you don’t have a hook in the water.

Oliver Farm okra oil production also started due to Clay “messing around.”

Clay and Valerie are both humble and modest, but very aware that what

We discuss his wholesale and restaurant business. Each label is pressed

they are doing is different. Oliver Farm was discovered by the PBS series

on the bottles by hand so they are assured to be tidy and straight. He

TASTEmakers and featured in the New York Times. In addition to the Good

shares he’s also just pressed a special batch of nigella seed oil for James

Food awards, they have also won a coveted “Garden & Gun Made in the

Beard award-winning chef Vishwesh Bhatt; other chef-customers include

South” award. The reality is that many people in South Georgia would be

Sean Brock and Steven Satterfield. Oliver Farm oils are truly phenomenal

pretty surprised by a $3 bottle of oil, much less $30. However, the town of

and have lit up the culinary community. As a cook and food writer, I feel

Pitts is supportive of Oliver Farm and have even approved a liquor license

that the Oliver Farm oils are literally the distillation of pure Southern flavor.

for the future retail shop. It’s all hard work and slow progress, but the very

After packing us up with oils and flour Clay and Valerie escort us to the

seed Oliver Farm is crushing for oil is also the seed that will help the com-

door. On the way out, a common white board hangs on the wall scribbled

munity grow. It’s striking oil of a whole different sort.

with a packing schedule. I also see a section titled, “Put a Hook in the

oliverfarm.com

dot the South where it grows, tenaciously loving the heat of summer. Photo: Sirirak This page left: Clay pours okra seed into the hopper of the press. Photo: OF This page top: It takes right: Freshly pressed okra oil has a silky texture and a flavor that is slightly spicy but buttery and smooth. It is perfect for a finishing oil and adding a true Southern flavor to your dish. Photo: VW

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Photography by Katie Provenza

D R I N K

C A M P C R A F T C O C K TA I L S Anyone with an appreciation for craft cocktails knows the incredshow a love of the unexpected. Unscrew the lid, and you’ll find an ible power that infusions have on the end result, the way their aromatic, colorful blend of this and that, all culminating to create essences permeate and lend depth to whatever they’ve been added the perfect cocktail—just add spirits and chill for three days. “As to. There’s a purity to it—not to mention an art to soon as we created test jars, they were so beautiful. determining which fruits, herbs, and spices will creWe were confident that if they were as tasty as they ate the most balanced flavors and blend to achieve looked, we were on to something. Now, we read evsomething truly magical. erything we can find about cocktails and scour books Interestingly enough, it wasn’t making craft cocktails for sweet and savory recipes to crack the code of our that first started the entrepreneurial wheels grinding next blend,” says Stringfellow, who—much like Raffor Suzanah Raffield and Rhonda Stringfellow when field—spent a great deal of time working at summer they went into business in 2014. Their first idea was camps, both in her youth as well as an adult…which making fruit and veggie ice pops, using fresh, locally is where the name Camp Craft Cocktails got its insourced produce. Two years later, they had their true spiration.

“Aha!” moment. “In October of 2016, we took our Offering 16-ounce regular jars, four-ounce mini bot1969 vintage Scotty camper full of our ice pops to tles creatively called “Day Camp,” and a crowd-pleasSuzanah Raffield & Desert Trip Music Festival. Each night, our toddler, ing gallon-sized jar called “Summer Camp” that Rhonda Stringfellow Henry, fell asleep listening to Mick Jagger, Paul Mcholds 64 shots, the Jacksonville, Florida-based comCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Waters, and pany has certainly cracked the code on knowing their The Who,” recalls Raffield. “The festival organizers invited us to market. While their undeniable ease of use is certainly part of the leave our camper and return for Coachella; and on the long cross appeal, so, too, is the quality of their ingredients. “We got our country trip home, we made a plan to try deconstructing our fafirst ingredients from a friend’s fabulous private citrus grove in our vorite ice pop recipes and drying the ingredients for what would hometown; and access to fresh produce like sour oranges, blood become Camp Craft Cocktails.” oranges, tangerines, pink grapefruits, Meyer lemons, and clemenPackaged in canning jars much like those used by the resourceful tines activated our brains to endless options.” Camp Craft Cockgrandmothers they each watched extend the harvest by freezing, tails can be purchased online at campcraftcocktails.com as well as drying, and canning, the ingredients are flavor combinations that independent shops, museums, distilleries, and art galleries.

LS

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Photography by Holly Knight

FOOD

PROPER PEPPER For anyone raised south of the Mason Dixon Line, pimento cheese Georgia competition, and the next she was selling her product is a familiar sight, the recipes treasured through generations and to interested tasters. “I didn’t even have anything manufactured as varied as snowflakes. And while times have greatly changed the yet!” she says with a laugh. And so it was that a hobby became a world, the taste of a good homemade pimento cheese business, and Proper Pepper was born. Inspired by is something that reminds us of our roots. her love of blending the old with the new, the packˆ It was precisely that taste—the unforgettable flavor aging has a vintage feel that incorporates a crown, of sharp cheddar cheese perfectly blended with mayand that crown has a very special meaning to Deana. onnaise and pimento—that gave Deana Bibb a new “I am a Daughter of the King. The crown on my direction after she became a stay-at-home mom to packaging can mean a variety of things, but it’s my twin girls. An “accidental entrepreneur,” she didn’t inspiration to be THAT daughter.” actually start her business until 2015—20 years after Being THAT daughter means being a gracious and she made her first batches and perfected her recipe. giving host, and Proper Pepper is the perfect prod“A random move to Waycross, Georgia, in 1995 is uct for doing just that. Made with Cabot cheese, when my love for the recipe I use for my brand of piDuke’s mayonnaise, roasted red peppers, and cotmento cheese began,” Deana says. “As I was settling tage cheese, the result is unique and delicious. “Our into my new home, a neighbor visited to welcome me product is 75% cheese and 25% dressing, so it’s Deana Bibb with a container of homemade pimento cheese. I had rich in flavor and is considered a destination item never experienced such a rich pimento cheese. This in the grocery market,” Deana says proudly. Offering neighbor became a dear friend and shared her recipe. I made both Classic—a rich, creamy blend of white sharp cheddars—as a few changes and began gifting it to friends and family, and it well as Get Back Jack—a cheddar/pepper jack blend that has a litbecame my signature dish for any event. I had no idea that being tle kick in the after-bite, Proper Pepper is perfect for pairing with a business owner was in my future and that my previous career in fruits and crackers as well as spreading on sandwiches. Add Prophealthcare marketing and public relations would teach me a skill er Pepper Raspberry Pepper Preserves, and you’ve got the perfect set that I could later use for my own business.” hint of sweetness. You can find Proper Pepper products online at Launching that business was somewhat of a whirlwind, as one properpepper.com as well as grocery stores, independent markets, minute she was winning the dairy division of the 2015 Flavor of and restaurants throughout Georgia and North Carolina.

LS

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GIFT

YELLOWHAMMER CANDLE CO. Scent is one of the most powerful triggers of memories and emotions, known candles on the market. Add to that the fact that they use sending us back in time to moments in our lives to relive simply with soy because of its long burn time, natural ingredients, and renewa smell. For that reason, scented candles have an incredible appeal, able properties, and you have the recipe for a product that people and lighting them not only dispels less pleasant aroare proud to use—especially those who love the idea mas but also recreates the scents of something—or of supporting small U.S.-based business owners who somewhere—we love. are making something by hand. “We joke about AmWhile scented candles themselves aren’t a novel conber being the Quality Assurance manager because she cept, the idea of creating them by hand and using soy hates for one to look ‘ugly,’ but isn’t that what’s speinstead of paraffin was one that appealed to Amber cial about something handmade?” Kevin posits. “The and Kyle Dunkling—especially as the basis for a small label may be slightly off-center or there may be a tiny business. And while they may have started small when drop of wax on the inside of the jar, but you know that they first began making their very own candles in the our hands have touched and made every single one of summer of 2019, the Dunklings soon found that their our products, not a machine.” homegrown venture had become a full-blown compaThose products have become numerous over the past ny that was really lighting things up. “We have hopes year, as Yellowhammer’s scents have multiplied and of opening a store one day, but we knew we would the various sizes they offer now range to suit different have to start small,” says Amber. “Kyle did the reneeds. Whatever they make, however, their dedication Kyle & Amber Dunkling search on how to make candles (there’s more math into detail is one that makes the process something of volved than you’d think), bought a small kit, and made an art, requiring the use of the right ratio of wax to a homemade three-pound wax melter; and we started making candles fragrance oils and determining the right wick sizes to use for the sizes in our kitchen in the summer of 2019. By the end of September, we of the candles. Days after the once-melted wax has cooled and cured, had purchased a 95-pound melter! The business had taken over the the candle is complete and ready to be sold and enjoyed by their dining room and garage at that point.” customers, their name and their fragrances bringing Sweet Home Named Yellowhammer Candle Co. as an homage to the state of AlaAlabama to mind. Candles made by Yellowhammer Candle Co. can be bama where the Northport-based company creates its wares, a simple purchased online at yellowhammercandle.com as well as various shops sniff test of the candles leaves little wonder that they have become throughout the Tuscaloosa/Northport, Alabama area. so popular, as the quality of the scent is one that rivals the bestWritten by Liesel J. Schmidt

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ISSUE NO. 11

S T Y L E

NORTH END BAG CO. While the bearded face and tatted-up arms could easily bring to customer. “Each piece we design and create serves a specific need,” mind occupations more in-line with the commonly-held ideals of says McLellan. “We take into account the functionality of each proda “guy’s guy” or something perhaps hipster-ish, Aaron McLellan’s uct and make sure that each rivet and each bar tack is in the right happy place isn’t tooling around with motorcycles or place to ensure a long life for that particular product. tending bar or even wielding a buzzing needle over a Every detail, no matter how minute, is a decision; and fresh patch of skin awaiting ink. Incredibly enough, it’s the materials we use are chosen for a purpose based sitting at a sewing machine, hunched over as the lighton beauty and functionality,” he goes on. “All of our ing-fast sewing needle makes its stitches through whatproducts are made from start to finish in our shop. ever material is in his grasp, his foot pushing steadily We cut the leather and the waxed canvas, and even on the pedal—all in pursuit of making the perfect bag. the copper rivets are snipped and hand hammered. We “My love for bag making began when I was a kid,” says literally handle every piece of every item we make. It’s McClellan. “My mom was a seamstress, so I grew up like carefully constructing a puzzle. This allows us to in a household where making things was the norm. I maintain a high level of quality with our products and a started having an interest around the age of 14, and my high level of craftsmanship with our skills, and having mom showed me how to make some simple bags with our shop attached to our showroom gives our customdrawstring tops. I used them to store my belongings ers the unique experience of watching our process of like fishing equipment and books, and I dreamed of making their bag. We have a special relationship and Sarah & Aaron McLellan making a product and getting paid to do it.” 18 years trust with the customer that wouldn’t be found in a and multiple careers later, he made his dream a reality, large factory setting.” purchasing his first industrial sewing machine in 2012 to begin his Small though the actual company might be, they manage to produce journey of bag making. an incredible array of goods, including a variety of handbags and Nearly a decade later, McLellan has built quite the bag business, totes, aprons, small bags, and other leather goods. Whatever they as the Virginia Beach-based North End Bag Co. now numbers six put their hands to, the end result is high quality and high design— employees—among them, McLellan’s wife Sarah, who joined him and certainly everything that 14 year-old Aaron McLellan could have in 2014, adding her own to the number of tattoos in the shop. And dreamed of. North End Bag Co. products can be purchased in their while their offerings span a wide range, the brand is dedicated to showroom in Virginia Beach or online at northendbagcompany.com LS hand craftsmanship and maintaining a close relationship with the

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Q&A A U T H O R

:

J A X

F R E Y

A Louisiana artist brings to life the adventures of the colorful women based on her successful paintings Written by Liesel J. Schmidt A riot of lively color and movement that is incredibly expressive and

A : In my coaching practice years ago, I was fortunate to work with

undeniably representative of the culture of Louisiana, The Gum-

many strong, determined, ambitious, confident women who sup-

beaux Sistahs line of paintings by Covington native Jax Frey have

ported each other and weren’t afraid to be alive and happy. Some

gained wide acclaim over the past decade. Each work conveys the

of them were amazing and inspiring—enough for paintings, novels,

spirit of a group of women that springs to life to tell their stories,

and much more.

and those creatively imagined stories have now been penned in the

Q : Do you feel writing a novel is similar to painting?

A : Unlike writing novels,

first of Frey’s books, aptly called The Gumbeaux Sistahs.

I tend to

work on several large paintings at the same time, but only one book at

Q:

How did you come up with the

a time. But like writing, it takes me

idea for the book?

some time to finish a big painting. I

A:

Years ago, I started a series of

keep coming back to it, adding to it,

paintings of a group of women called

glazing it, putting in contrast, etc. The

The Gumbeaux Sistahs. One day, a

mini paintings that I do go pretty fast,

couple of years back, I realized that

but larger paintings are slow-going. So

the women in the paintings had a sto-

are novels. I’m not one of those fast,

ry. Not just a general theme but also a

wham-bam producer of novels, but I’m

real story. I started daydreaming about

consistent. I just keep at both painting

it and then realized that the women

and writing, and I eventually get there.

also reminded me of my crazy, out-of-

Creatively, they are alike in that I feel a

control women friends. That’s when

buzzed excitement over new ideas for

the book really took off. Fortunately

paintings and parts of novels. I enjoy

and unfortunately, I’ve been lucky to

doing both, and both must be done in

know many marvelous people as well

either absolute quiet or—in the case

as a few stinkers. It was not hard to

of novels—inside the white noise of a

imagine my friends getting into the

favorite coffeehouse.

kind of situations (trouble) that the

Q : What did you find to be the hardest

Gumbeaux Sistahs find themselves in the books.

Q : How long have you been a painter?

A : I’ve been making my living as an artist for about 13 years now.

part of writing the book?

A : Hands-down, the editing.

The day I put my pen down on a fin-

ished draft of a book, I feel like popping open the champagne and celebrating. It feels as if I’ve run a marathon—a totally satisfying

I was so lucky that people took to my work, and now I find myself

marathon. But the very next day, I have to start working with my

in collections around the world. I still have to pinch myself when I

editor and tearing into the book. I’m easy to work with and anxious

say something like that.

to finish the book, but I’d really rather stay in the champagne stage!

Q:

Finishing the first draft is pure joy.

What inspired you to begin your Gumbeaux Sistahs series of

paintings?

20 okramagazine.com

Q : There are so many, but do you have a favorite part of this story?

ISSUE NO. 11

A : The part where the Sistahs use a parade as a guerrilla tactic

A:

against their rival. That was different—and so much fun! I also

outlines; so while I run into a little bit of block there, it’s really

love the effect that the book has on many people. They tell me it

more of a brainstorming block in the beginning. I know where I

reminds them of friends they’ve had in either the past or present. It

want to go in the story, but I just have to figure out the best way to

evokes nostalgia, joy, good times, humor, and love. I adore hearing

get there. Later on, I don’t get a lot of writer’s block once I actually

from readers and new Gumbeaux Sistahs!

start writing because at the end of each day, I always give myself

Q : Did the Sistahs teach you anything new about yourself when you

a writing assignment to complete the following day. I already know

were writing this book?

what I have to cover before I even sit down to write, so I can just

A : It certainly made me re-evaluate the friendships in my own life

jump right in and start the scribble!

and renewed my deep love and appreciation for the women around

Q:

me who put up with my nonsense! I value friendships and encour-

choose to take this route?

age other women to cultivate their own and nourish them for the

A : I did this because, while it might not be the best solution for

sake of their health, happiness, and sanity.

everyone, it works for me just fine. I have my artwork already estab-

Q : Your writing process is unique. Can you tell us what it’s like?

A : I write with pen and ink in lined notebooks. I know, low tech;

lished in many venues: galleries, shops, bookstores, etc. The same

but it just works for me. I’m a fast writer, and this method has an

of a no-brainer for me.

added benefit. When I first type the day’s work into my comput-

Q : We would love to keep up with the adventures of the Gumbeaux

er, the writing also goes through a quick, first round of editing. It

Sistah’s, do you plan to write more books featuring them?

helps me to really see the work in progress. I also like to take my

A : Oh, yes. These women are way too much fun to give up on them

notebook to my local coffeehouse in Covington every day to write.

now! There’s a second book coming in October called Gumbeaux

Since COVID-19 started, I actually still drive to the coffeehouse,

Love. After that, an entire series is planned to release one a year

get my coffee to go, and park in a nearby lot under a tree to write.

until either I die or people beg me to stop!

It’s actually pretty pleasant.

gumbeauxsistahs.com

I plan the whole of my books out in advance with detailed

A lot of people are self-publishing these days, why did you

people who sell my artwork also now carry my book, so it was kind

Q : Do you ever face writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it?

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I I UP LISTEN

ONCE IN A LIFETIME

FOR MAC MCANALLY, EVERY DAY IS A BLESSING Written by Joseph McSpadden / Photography courtesy of Jeff Fasano Mac McAnally is on the phone and ready to talk. His rich baritone and north Mississippi drawl slides across the ether in an unhurried fashion. If he is intense it doesn’t show. McAnally holds an impressive record; he has won the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year Award ten times. Never one to seek the limelight, the limelight has found him repeatedly.

Talking to him is like a front porch chat over beers. He is incredibly humble with a gentle, self-deprecating sense of humor, and a true southerner’s gift for conversation. His 16th album, Once in a Lifetime, released at the end of July. In addition to performing as an award-winning solo artist he also plays rhythm guitar in Jimmy Buffet’s Coral Reefer Band.

McAnally grew up in Belmont, Mississippi, but he was actually born just across the state line in Red Bay, Alabama. “It was the closest doctor’s office. I claim both states, and fortunately both states still claim me after all these years.” His career in music began at an early age. The family didn’t have a TV, and Belmont was a dry county with a curfew.

“We were the last folks on our street to get a television. We used music as our own entertainment system. My mom would play piano and my father would play guitar and our neighbors would literally bring whatever they had… accordion, dulcimer, saxophone…people brought whatever they could make a racket on.”

McAnally’s family was religious, his mother played gospel in the church, but McAnally credits his parents as being opened-minded about his desire to pursue music. Much to his surprise they gave their permission for young McAnally to play piano in honkytonks. “This fella I’d never met came to our house. Someone told him I had some talent as a piano player and he had just lost his piano player. He made a pitch to my parents to have me come play in his band in a honkytonk in Iron City, Tennessee. I thought they were going to throw him off the porch. He promised to pick me up and bring me home and look after me and pay me $250.00 a week. Something in his presentation made an impression on my parents, I’m not certain it was the revenue, but I think it was. I was thirteen. That Friday night I was playing piano in a honkytonk in a lime green leisure suit as a member of Dean and the Reefers.”

Apparently the word reefer didn’t register with his parents, although McAnally claims it was lost on Dean as well. “He could never figure out why all the longhairs would give us the peace sign when we played.” Speaking of his association with Buffet and Coral Reefer Band, McAnally laughs about how things have come full circle.

That honkytonk gig would become the start of his career, but the next step would cement his training as a professional musician. At fifteen McAnally became a session musician at Muscle Shoals. “Muscle Shoals was about halfway between Belmont and Iron City.” At the time Muscle Shoals was a dry county, and as a result a lot of the session players would show up at the honkytonk. Between sets the young piano player was so scared that he wouldn’t leave the stage, choosing to

hide behind the piano and play his acoustic guitar.

The session guys liked what they heard and told him there wasn’t a dedicated rhythm guitarist at Muscle Shoals. Usually the electric guitar player would have to do the rhythm parts and then overdub his electric playing. “I was invited to sit in at the studio. I was always fascinated by arrangements and how records were made. I count that as one of the greatest blessings of my life. I got to sit at the feet of some amazing producers, musicians, and songwriters.” For a young musician there could be no finer finishing school than Muscle Shoals. “I got to work for Jerry Wexler and Rick Hall, and George Martin, great record producers.”

Early on he got to play on records with Roy Orbison and Hank Williams, Jr. McAnally still plays at Muscle Shoals to this day. He landed his first record deal at nineteen. “I’m basically a very bashful guy. I’m a farm kid from Mississippi, drawing attention to yourself is not considered a character trait.” What he lacked in self-promotion was made up in the quality of his songwriting. His first producer just happened to be the same guy that had worked on Jimmy Buffet’s debut record. He sent Buffet a copy of McAnally’s first recording and Buffet got in touch. “He sent me a note that said ‘I like what you’re doing and we’re going be friends and I’m going sing some of your songs, and we are going to figure out how to make some music together.’”

Over the years McAnally has had several hit songs. In addition to his own Top 40 Country songs he has had hits either as writer or co-writer for Kenny Chesney, Steve Wariner, Sawyer Brown, and Charley Pride to name a few. McAnally’s latest venture was producing the most recent Jimmy Buffet album.

On McAnally’s new album, Once in a Lifetime, the singing and playing is top notch and the songwriting is first class. The songs on the album were written over a long time, some of them ten years in the making. But McAnally attributes that to his low key approach.

“I’ve always said I am an example of the ‘don’ts’ of songwriting. It’s always been important to me that I’m doing it for what I consider to be the right reason. The whole idea that I need to make something up to support my family is a frightening concept. I never wanted to look at it that way. Songwriting was always a gift to me, it always came to me as a gift, and I wanted that aspect of the divine. I don’t schedule time to write songs. I wait on something to come and usurp my schedule.

Some song will come and wrestle me to the ground and say ‘no, you’re not going to do what you thought you were going to do, you are instead going to write this song.’” He adds, “It’s a blessing, like manna from heaven.” That approach seems to work just fine for the man from Muscle Shoals, and we are all the better for it. macmcanally.com

Mac McAnally can also be heard on the latest episode of The Village Night Owl podcast. villagenightowl.buzzsprout.com/

23

SOUTHERN COMFORTS

ONE OK TO LOR FO !

EASY RIDER 24

okramagazine.com

ISSUE NO. 11

SAM DOORES’ SOLO DEBUT HERALDS A PERSONAL AND ARTISTIC REBIRTH–A THEME HIS ADOPTED HOMETOWN OF NEW ORLEANS KNOWS TOO WELL. Written by Jim Beaugez / Photography courtesy of Sarrah Danziger

The evening of March 13 was supposed to a celebration for New Orleans folk traditionalist Sam Doores.

He’d scheduled a hometown show between gigs on the East Coast and the annual SXSW music convention in Austin, Texas, for the same day his self-titled solo debut would come out on New West Records. His parents were coming in from Kansas for the occasion, and his sister was making the trip from California.

Only, much of the civilized world had come to a screeching halt in the days and weeks leading up to that moment. His SXSW gig was canceled before he even made it to New Orleans. Then, on the day of the show, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an order banning gatherings of more than 250 people.

“I was ready for the release [show] to just get canceled,” says Doores from San Francisco, where he’s riding out the current coronavirus quarantine with his girlfriend.

As it turns out, the low-slung Hi-Ho Lounge in the Fauborg Marigny district only holds around 200 souls, well under the maximum allowed.

The performance ended up being the club’s last show before lockdown, and the last of Doores’s scuttled tour. And no one took it for granted—as usual, New Orleans showed up to party.

“It was a pretty powerful vibe there that night,” he says, “because I think for most of us it felt like the last chance to be a bunch of human beings in a room celebrating together, and playing music and dancing for a little while.”

After Doores’s performance, which included a guest spot from busking collective Tuba Skinny and a flamenco routine by his sister, the revelry and dancing wound into the early morning during a late set from local favorite Sunpie Barnes.

“That felt like the best way to end it all,” he adds. “End it on a high note. It ended up being one of the best nights of my life.”

The vibe of a city under siege by a viral pandemic isn’t too far removed from what New Orleans was like in 2006, when Doores arrived to find a city in the early stages of recovery from Hurricane Katrina, still largely vacant, the humid air crackling with lawless energy.

It lived up to the portrayal of New Orleans that fascinated Doores that he saw in the 1986 film “Down By Law,” a prison-break story starring Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni shot around town and in the bayous and swamps that encircle the city.

After finishing high school, he began inching his way to the city from California, stopping first in Austin, where he fell in with street musicians displaced by the storm. When he finally made it to New Orleans in spring 2006, he says the city was like the Wild West of the South.

“I got a gig in an Irish pub, and they didn’t care that I was under 21,” he says. “It gave me a gig seven nights a week for four hours a night, and a free place to live and free food and free cigarettes. There were a bunch of other musicians in town that I felt connected to and have similar influences and dreams, and it just felt like anything could happen.”

Rent was cheap, he says, and he bonded with a loose community of street performers, circus acts, musicians, artists and fellow travelers that thrived in the post-storm city. One of the musicians he befriended was Alynda Segarra, a train-hopping transplant from Brooklyn, New York. When

Segarra formed the acclaimed roots group Hurray for the Riff Raff, Doores joined up and began touring as the band’s profile rose.

During stints back home, Doores put together The Deslondes—named for the street in the Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward where the group formed—and New West put out their self-titled album in 2015, then Hurry Home in 2017. Inspired by Alan Lomax field recordings, Woody Guthrie and an intoxicating mix of New Orleans R&B, Dixieland and blues, The Deslondes established a high profile of their own in the Americana music scene.

Doores began recording what became his solo debut during tours with Hurray for the Riff Raff and The Deslondes. Every time he passed through Europe, he would take a side trip to Berlin, Germany, where he cut basic tracks with producer and collaborator Anders Christopherson. When The Deslondes went on hiatus, the songs that ended up on Sam Doores became his focus.

“The process of making the album was pretty cathartic for me, because it was made over a period of time where a major creative and romantic partnership ended,” he explains.

“Basically my main band, my main love and my home were all up in the air. A lot of these songs were just dealing with the change and being cool with it, and in a way just embracing all the changes happening and taking it as an opportunity step in a new direction and turn it into something rather than just get all bummed out and stuck and try to recreate the same old things that weren’t working before.”

Doores brought the songs back home and finished the record in his living room in the Holy Cross, surrounded by friends and collaborators like his former bandmate Segarra, who duets on the doo-wop-influenced “Other Side of Town.” The songs turned out New Orleans-flavored, filtered through post-war European dust.

“I think that is how it sounds, and how it felt making it,” he says. “It felt like a combination of a more experimental, surreal, haunted European approach, with all the New Orleans and Southern music and culture that I love.”

Back home in New Orleans, his friends and neighbors are fighting a scourge not seen here since the yellow fever epidemics of the nineteenth century. Not long after he played his last hometown show, the city notched the highest coronavirus infection rate per capita in the U.S. Like hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians after Hurricane Katrina, Doores is a refugee displaced by an act of nature, worsened by acts of man. He left in his 1991 camper van and has since relied on the kindness and couches of friends.

For Doores, this new album represents rebirth. And naturally, that brings a new perspective, new opportunities and a fresh start. When the road opens again, he’ll be ready.

“Things work in cycles,” he says. “At the beginning when I was first moving to New Orleans, it felt like the very beginning of something, and all these projects were created. And then making this album felt like the end of that cycle and the beginning of another one.

“It’s just a new chapter of life.” samdooresmusic.com

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