Granville Henley McGhee was born in Knoxville on March 23, 1918 (some sources say 1917, but available government records favor the later date). His older brother, Brownie McGhee, who became a famous blues singer and guitarist, was unable to walk […]
Immigrants fleeing difficult or dangerous circumstances in their home countries have always been part of Knoxville’s history. A few Irish political exiles settled here in the 1790s. Right about 170 years ago, Knoxville began receiving hundreds of refugees. Many […]
A researcher happened across some clues to an old mystery that’s been nagging at me for a quarter century. In the mix is a pretty incredible coincidence. For a column in Metro Pulse back in the ’90s, I outlined the […]
The Beck Cultural Exchange Center was founded in honor of James and Ethel Beck, at what had been their comfortable home on Dandridge, just east of downtown. The Becks were one of the most interesting couples in Knoxville history. Although […]
This winter several have noticed a bit of oddity in a surgical demolition project on the corner of Gay and Church. The greenish cube known as “the old KUB Building,” has been losing its skin for the last several weeks. […]
Don and Phil Everly were known for their perfect brother harmonies, but made a global impact on popular music by taking chances with combining their old-time harmonies with a new form called rock ’n’ roll. Their influence on later bands […]
Just after the Civil War, when what was then known as East Tennessee University was partly military in its focus. The college sponsored a tiny “cadet band,” perhaps not a very good one. When the university needed a band for […]
If you were to step back 100 years, a lot of things would be familiar. Christmas trees, both the big public one near Market Street and the one at home, glowed with electric lights. Downtown stores were brightly lit, often […]
As several friends have remembered since his death in 2016, Avon Rollins was a key figure in local civil-rights history. The Knoxville native was one of the University of Tennessee’s first generation of black students. In 1962, the engineering major […]
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