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The stage is set for an exciting new season at one of the most intimate art venues in West Tennessee.

Hello, I'm Peter Noll.

Straight ahead on Tennessee is Talking, we're getting the inside scoop on the 20th season at the Dixie Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, including Priscilla Presley.

Let's get talking.

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West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee is Talking.

Let the conversation begin.

Thanks for joining this edition of Tennessee is Talking.

I'm Peter Noll.

From country to gospel, theater to.. and Priscilla Presley, today, we're finding all about the 20th season of shows and more at the Dixie Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon.

We welcome Krista Martin, President of the Friends of the Dixie.

Welcome to Tennessee is Talking.

Your first time on the show?

It is.

Thank you for having me.

Well, thank you for joining 20th season.

Did I read right?

Priscilla Presley's coming?

Priscilla Presley.

Tell us about that.

It's amazing.

We really wanted to do something special for our 20th season.

She is coming to the Dixie, straight from Beverly Hills, and we're hoping maybe she stops in Graceland a little bit on her way over here.

She's going to come and share some intimate stories of her time with Elv.. share some photos and videos, home movies, and things like that that you cannot see anywhere el.. Oh, how exciting.

It's a great time to be at the Dixie and a wonderful way to start off our season.

How did that happen?

Connections of connections, and it seemed like just we weren't getting anywhere.

See, it's all who you know.

[laughs] It did seem like we were.. We had requested an appearance through her website a few times, and then we had some connections on the state level that helped us to get with the agent.

He called and said, "Well, let's see if we can make this happen."

We got everything worked out, and she is on her way.

Oh, how exciting.

Yes, very exciting.

We have so many new people moving into Tennessee and West Tennessee because it is one of the best places to live.

Absolutely.

A lot of people have never heard of the Dixie.

Sure.

How do you explain it to.. that have maybe never heard or never been to the Dixie?

How do you explain?

Sure.

We are just a very intimate arts v.. in West Tennessee, in Huntingdon.

We're located right on the Court Square.

Our former mayor, Mayor Kelley, had this vision of having this performing arts center.

You'll notice that you don't hear about performing arts centers very often.

When you do, you think of big cities, Knoxville, Nashville, with TPAC, and then you have the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center.

We've been really blessed by having the Carter and Holbrook families gift us not only their time but with some financial support, too, over the years to keep the venue going.

This is just a wonderful way to even revamp the 20th season with the lineup that we have, too.

If I understand correctly, Dixie Carter of Designing Women, they were very a part of the design because it looks like an old building from the outside, but when you go inside, it's like a state-of-the-art, the lighting, the chairs, everything, because both Hal and Dixie have performed at stages across the country and knew exactly how to have it designed.

Yes.

That was amazing because we would never have had that .. without their help and support.

I even believe that when they started to renovate the building to start with, they actually had to start all the way over.

There are some things that we're doing this season to revamp the spaces downstairs, too, to make it more functional, more as a venue where people can really come and have a pre- and post-show get-together.

The facility can be rented out, too.

Just some really exciting things with the Dixie.

There's like an artisan residence apartment as part of the facility.

Yes, there's that, too.

We have a ballroom gallery that's always showcasing art.

Here, coming up, there'll be the summer camp.

Arts will be in there.

All the children who came over the summer, making their pottery and drawings.

I think they even did quill art.

All kinds of other artistic things will be showcased in the ballroom gallery also.

It's like a hidden gem [crosstalk].

Yes, it really is.

It really is.

You draw people that come to the shows from all over Tennessee, Kentucky.

Even other states.

When we set about Priscilla Presley, I had some people from Chicago contacting us and say.. "Maybe we'll just come down and catch this show, and we'll go to Graceland while we're at it, and then we'll head to Nashville."

I thought, "How great."

We're here in the middle of Memphis and Nashville.

As one of our board members likes to say, "We're halfway between the blues, all the way to country music."

Instead of halfway between Nashville and Memphis, we're halfway between the blues and country music.

We're just a hop, skip from Tupelo, Elvis' birthplace.

That's right.

We're in the center of it .. That's right.

A perfect location for Priscilla.

Let's get back to this 20th season.

Can you believe it's been 20 years of wonderful shows?

I cannot.

I've been in Huntingdon myse.. and have seen shows there.

It's hard to believe how fast time flies and just how much the facility has grown to.

Well, tell us about-- we're kicking things off with Priscilla.

Yes.

Then, who else do we have ..

Right after that, we move into some gospel music with After Gra..

They're a brother-in-law duo out of Arkansas.

They've got a hit on the radio right now that is called I Still Need Jesus.

That'll be a good way to start off the gospel season.

Then we turn around, and we have David Nail.

He's from Kennett, Missouri, originally, but he's had some really great hits throughout the 2010s, Sound of a Million Dream, Red Light, and then Turning Home was his really big one.

An interesting fact is that Carroll Bank, who is sponsoring the show, has actually had that song, Turning Home, on their slideshow at the movie theater for the better part of the last decade.

That's a really cool connection.

We're really excited to have him.

The next day after that, we turn around, and we have the Queen Tribute Band - Majesty.

They are the number one Queen tribute band in the UK.

They're coming across the pond for a little tour, and so we got to pick them up, too, while they're across the pond.

-Oh, how fun.

-That is really cool.

Everybody loves a Queen cover band.

This is the top one in the country they're from.

Yes, exactly.

That's a really great pickup.

We're excited to have them over here.

Then we turn around and we have the Huntingdon Heritage Day Festival.

This year, we're doing something a little different, where we're moving the shows to the afternoon, and then we're going to have a headliner for the evening show.

For those that have never been to the Huntingdon Heritage Days, tell us about those.

It is a free event.

We have food trucks on the Court Square.

There's lots of vendors, so you can do a lot of shopping.

Then we also have a stage set up.

This year, we're going to move it down by Mallard's and have it.

It's almost like an amphitheater going up to the Court Square.

Our headliner for that is Taylor Hicks from American Idol.

Oh, wow.

He's going to be the headliner for that.

He not only sings his songs, but he also sings Bob Seger songs.

How cool to have Taylor Hicks from American Idol on a night concert out underneath the stars singing about night moves.

That's just meant to be.

Then we have the Chi-Town was rescheduled to October 3rd.

That's from last season.

It was a weather delay?

It was a weather delay.

We had all that severe weather in April.

The next most exciting thing that I think is happening this fall-- well, everything's exciting.

However, on October 5th, we have Richard Thomas, John-Boy from The Waltons, coming to do Mark Twain Tonight- Oh, wow.

at the Hal Holbrook Theater.

He's the only person who's authorized to do Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight.

We are incredibly honored to have him joining us.

What a great way to remember Hal Holbrook also in our 20th season.

That's going to be a really great night.

That's a Sunday evening.

We've typically only done Saturday shows, so a Sunday evening is going to be different, but it's going to be wonderful.

I think it'll really bring back a lot of memories of Hal when he did it back in the day.

There's a book out that just came out about Mark Twain and his influence, so I think this would be just great for the 20th season.

Yes.

What a great way to t.. Great.

Up next, we have Deana Carter.

Strawberry Wine, everybody's favorite from the '90s.

I was listening to a lot of her songs of the day, and I thought, "Oh my gosh, I had forgotten about some of these.

Did I shave my legs for this?"

and that sort of thing.

I think that, if nothing else, is going to .. who aren't going to go the Friday night football games come out to the Dixie for sure, or drop your husband off at the football game and come to the Dixie.

Ladies' night out, if you will.

The next evening, we have Dan Tyminski.

He is famous for singing the song O Brother, Where Art Thou?, A Man of Constant Sorrow, and he used to be in Alison Krauss' band.

Now he's bridged out and doing his own thing with bluegrass.

He's going to be at the Ryman.

He's been at the Ryman this summer.

Then he'll be at our venue, so that's wonderful.

We're excited to have him, too.

Bethel is back this year also with their renaissance performance of Newsies.

Oh, fun.

Everyone loves that show.

Yes, and that's even going to cater to more of the young adults, too, even teenagers.

I think that'll be a really great one to add, too.

That was a great one that lined up really well.

Keeping it with the '90s theme, after Bethel leaves, we have Lisa Loeb and Joan Osborne coming.

What are they doing?

They're not together.

It's like two separate acts.

Lisa Loeb is famous for You Say and some other songs, too.

She has gotten more into nursery rhymes, so I don't believe she's going to be singing those while she's there, but she's going to focus on some of her older songs that people kn.. Then Joan Osborne, she's famous for What If God Was One of Us back in the day, but she also covers Bob Dylan songs now.

It's going to be a great night of just some really vintage songs.

It's going to be really cool.

We're excited to have that, too, in November.

Then in December, we have Christmas at the Dixie.

You did it last year.

You can watch streaming on Channel 11.

We were there, and we're going to be there this year.

I'm so excited that you guys are coming back.

That's going to be awesome and wonderful.

What a great way to showcase for both of us.

That'll be great.

We're so excited.

That'll be a great evening of just Christmas songs.

Who knows?

We have a new LED wall in the ba.. Maybe we'll get crafty with some snow in the background, too.

Just a really great night.

It's community-supported as far as Christmas at the Dixie goes, but really a wonderful time, and we're excited to have that.

Almost, it harkens back to the variety Christmas programs.

Yes.

It'll be wonderful.

It'll be a great time.

It's one of everybody's favorites from everybody in the community and the staff of the Dixie.

They all love Christmas at the Dixie, and of course, everybody here at West Tennessee PBS also, right?

We do.

[laughs] The next day, we have something really fun coming in and I'm really excited.

I think this will be a fun family event, but this is the Wizards of Winter.

They are sort of like the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

It's a rock orchestra.

They will be jamming out, doing their songs, and it's just that really rock with the lights.

I think they even make it snow.

Is it instrumental?

It is.

Sort of Mannheim steamroller-esque?

Possibly.

I'm not sure, but they've got the guitars.

I think there's a piccolo and a flute.

It's seasonal music.

Yes, and it's all about the Christmas and the holiday.

They do lights and everything.

Again, we've got that awesome LED wall installed now.

That's just going to look really amazing.

We're really excited for that, too.

I think that'll be a really fun one for even kids to come and see.

A rock orchestra, you just can't go wrong with.

That's something that we have not had before, and so that was a really exciting one for us to add.

Then we take a break for the holidays.

When we come back in the new year, we're bringing in Shawn Mullins.

He sang the song Lullaby in the '90s.

That was a really great hit for him, and so he's going to come.

He just does a little acoustic evening with some of his other songs that he has also.

Then we turn around and we start with some comedy with Jeff Allen, who headlined the Kentucky Comedy Festival.

He'll be visiting the Dixie in January.

He's a very good and clean comedian.

-You've probably seen him.

-That's family-friendly?

-That's right.

-Okay, good.

Well, I think so.

[laughs] It's when you don't anticipate that.

At least I don't think he's cussing and those sort of things, I believe.

Good.

I think that's what we mean by c..

I'm sure there are some things that can be entertaining that we should say.

We turn around Valentine's Day, and we have The Doo Wop Project.

They're that very much the '50s and '60s vibe coming.

I think it's five men, and they do a really great job.

We had them a few years ago.

It was a fan favorite, so we wanted to bring them back, too.

Following that, in February, we also have Will Hoge.

He is from Nashville.

He wrote the song Strong that was on those Chevy commercials a few years ago.

He got famous for that.

Then he also has written a song for the Eli Young Band called Even If It Breaks Your Heart.

You probably heard that out a few years ago.

He's got several other great songs that I think a lot of people will be like, "I've heard that song."

He's a really great one to come and see also.

We turn around in March, and we have the Beatles versus the Stones.

Oh, that sounds fun.

It's going to be a really cool musical ..

I think that they duel back and forth a little bit between the two.

I think that's been the great debate, right, is like who's better, the Beatles or the Stones?

I suppose the only way you can find out is to come to the show.

What's your favorite?

Oh, you're not going to pick sides.

I've always been a Beatles person, but I love all the Rolling Stones songs, too.

I even got my son to even love the Beatles.

I don't know.

We'll see.

I think you forget about how many of the songs the Rolling Stones actually have, too.

You just can't beat any of them.

It's going to be a great night.

I'm excited to see that one, too.

We've got the Band of Heathens coming back also.

It's funny, when we were putting out some offers to different groups, they had seen ours come across and were like, "We want to come back."

They're coming back.

They're really famous for the song Hurricane.

That's been covered by a few different people, but they're the most famous ones for that.

I've heard that after bands, musicians, performers use your wonderful facilities at the Dixie, they're amazed.

It's always one of their favorite places to perform because of the acoustics, the way it's designed.

Is that true?

It really is.

I'll be honest with you.

We have so many artists that request to .. We don't even really have to hunt out so much.

It's just so easy because it is very intimate with just 471 people.

You're not playing to this giant arena.

The acoustics of the place are incredible.

People do call us the Little Ryman of West Tennessee.

I think our production manager would tell you, "I think we would beat the Ryman as far as the acoustics go."

He's been with you guys a long time.

What's his name?

Frank Dodd.

He's been with us a very long ..

He's wonderful, sets up everything for us.

He and Rosemary, our brand manager, they do a great job of coming up with some ideas of some of the shows that we should get.

We've all worked together really well this year to figure out what a really great lineup is, and they do a great job.

We're really happy to have them.

We also have the Designing Women's Curated Market every March, and that's a fun time where we have every women-owned shop or vendor come in if they want to.

Women come inside of the Dixie and shop inside the Dixie.

Because it's cool.

Right.

Yes, it's sort of in the low.. You'll get lost down there.

I think we use every square inch.

We've got some different things we're working on this year, maybe some vendor spots like on the stage sort of thing, and a few other neat things to go along with the day.

We just really want to promote women-owned businesses.

Do people come dressed up as Designing Women characters?

They don't, but we should do that.

We've mentioned that.

We thought that would be fun to do at s..

I don't know, we might throw that in there this year.

We haven't got that far yet, but that would be really neat.

Speaking of Designing Women, Mary Dixie Carter is coming.

Her daughter.

Her daughter.

Dixie's daughter.

She just wrote a book that cam.. Well, she's written several books, but she has Marguerite by the Lake that just came out very recently.

She's going to come and share just a little bit about that book.

We're going to do our best to get with the local book clubs to get that book out, just as our outreach to her, but she was just really excited to be able to come back and just share a little bit about her book in general.

Then we're hoping she'll maybe share a little bit about Dixie Carter and Hal together, and just her life in general, because you don't really get that insight very often.

I think with us having Priscilla and how she's going to do that, I think we'll try to mock that a little bit with Mary Dixie's evening with us.

-Oh, that'll be fun.

-It is.

That's a great way to end the Designing Women's Market.

Just a fun little night together.

Just to remember Dixie, too, would be great.

Because I think in Dixie's autobiography, she just talks so much about how her upbringing in McLemoresville in West Tennessee has really grounded her for her success in life.

Yes.

I think when Mary Dixie's coming back, we were talking about her travel and where she would stay and that sort of thing.

She said, "Oh, I'll just stay."

I think she's going to stay there in Mackley, maybe, is what she mentioned.

I think some of the other family members, hopefully, will still get to have a little bit of a reunion.

We're excited for that.

Just a way to honor Ms. Dixie while we're having the season, too.

In April, we have something really fun, and this was almost like a fan-favorite demand that I felt like we just needed to really go after.

This is Twitty and Lynn.

This is a salute to Conway and Loretta.

Now, I didn't know it at the time, but this is Conway Twitty's grandson and Loretta Lynn's granddaughter are a duo together.

Wow.

They come and they sing some of their own songs that they have, but then they also are singing, obviously, the Conway and Loretta favorites.

Oh, that'll be fun.

It will be really cool.

That was one that we had posted a teaser.

We had a lot of people say, "Twitty and Lynn?

I hope it's Twitty and Lynn."

I thought, "Who's Twitty and Lynn?"

[laughs] I didn't know at the time.

I was a little bit sheltered with the baby at home.

When I looked them up, I thought, "This is great.

I can't believe that we've not seen them before."

They're going to come, and they're really excited.

I'm hoping that maybe we can have them come twice in that weekend, honestly.

That's when?

That's Friday, April 10th.

I think they said, "You know what, if that's a great show and there's more of a demand, maybe we'll come back on that Sunday."

-Twitty and Lynn in April.

-You just never know.

Yes.

Then we have Mark Lowr.. Mark Lowry wrote Mary, Did You Know?

He gets together with Endless Highway, who's also here in West Tennessee, and I think a few others.

They're going to do just an evening of gospel.

Somebody told me the other day how funny Mark Lowry is.

I think that'll be a really great family-friendly event, too.

What another way to spread some gospel, too.

That'll be a great one.

Then we top it off in June with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the ever-famous.

They're back out on tour, too.

We're excited to have them close that out.

I think in between all of that, we'll have several fun pop-ups.

I know I've got a few in my mind that I want to share, but I'll wait until the time is closer.

We've got some fun pop-up shows coming, too, and that sort of thing.

Just a lot of [?].

Hopefully, we've piqued people's interest.

Yes.

I hope so.

They're switching the stage quickly.

There's just a lot of great shows coming in.

If people want to attend, what's the best way?

There are several different ways.

The easiest way is to go to the website.

That's www.dixiepac.net.

You can purchase your tickets directly off of there.

If you're familiar with the Bandsintown website, all these artists, they will link to the tickets also.

You can also call the box office, 986-2100, and definitely, they can help you with anything.

-Any of those methods.

-The box office is in Huntingdon.

You're not calling some call center out of country.

That's right.

It's right here in West Tennessee.

They will all answer with their very hospitable minds, too.

Yes, they'll sound local.

Very much so.

They are actually our local city folks, too.

We're happy to have them.

Can't do without them.

The tickets for all these shows are on sale right now.

Yes.

Is it best to do the season tickets?

Because I've talked to several people from Humboldt, here in Jackson, all over.

They and their wife, they get season tickets.

All the shows, it's like big show.

That's their night.

That's their date.

That's mom and dad's date ni.. We knew this season is a little bit larger than some of the other seasons that we've had.

We wanted to come up with a few creative ideas on some ways to do the seasons this year.

We have a few different options.

We have what we're calling the Sugar Baker Sampler.

Again, a nod to Dixie Carter.

It is a sampling of 10 shows.

It's a little bit of gospel, comedy, a little bit of everything in there.

Then we have what we're calling the Holbrook Headliner Package, where it's basically everything.

You can purchase either option.

If you just want to purchase a single show, you can do that, too.

There's discounts for each level of those, too.

You get a few perks with each one, also, as far as future shows go.

Just a few different options this year, some different things to make it fun and exciting.

Oh, fun.

Again, go to the website.

Dixiepac.net.

Dixiepac.net.

You can pick individual shows, or get the Sugar Baker Sampler, or the Holbrook-- Holbrook Headliner.

That's it.

For the best deals.

That's right.

Something for everyone.

That's right.

If you forgot when these shows are airing, it..

Yes, absolutely.

Call the box office.

Call the box office.

They'll help you out with anything.

Thank you, Krista, for coming on- Thank you so much.

-and telling us Priscilla Pr..

I know.

I cannot wait.

That's big.

I can't wait.

It's a whole season of exciting shows.

Yes, it really is.

We're excited.

Thank you for coming in and giving us the inside scoop.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

We do want to thank Krista from the Friends of the Dixie for giving us a look at all the exciting things coming up on the 20th season, starting in August.

To re-watch this program or share it with a friend or family member, it's easy to do, as you can stream this program and all local Channel 11 programs anytime for free on the PBS app, our YouTube channel, or at our website, westtnpbs.org.

You can keep this conversation going by following WLJT Channel 11 on all of our social media platforms.

I'm Peter Noll, thanking you for joining us.

Until next time, keep on talking, Tennessee.

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