Neighbors

Whit Hill digs up items she finds with a metal detector — Civil War bullets, forgotten toys, old coins. Her treasures, and the songs she’s written about them, remind her that there’s always the possibility of something magical hiding in the ground beneath her feet.

Robert Person Sr. — Percy, as he’s known — has been shining shoes for 70 years. He started around age 10 and now, at 80, continues to work at Percy’s Shoe Shine Service in Nashville. He’s worn out, stressed out, but this veteran shoe shiner just can’t stop.

Prepare to be embedded into a gaggle of neighborhood kids, playing at the peak of summer. Producer Erica Heilman from the always-delightful podcast Rumblestrip brings us the story of children holding on to the last gasps of youth.

Wayne cherishes his independence. And having had ALS for 33 years, he has to fight for it everyday. But his disease is only one of the seemingly insurmountable challenges he’s faced.

When Denice Hicks has to step unexpectedly into the role of King Lear, in some ways, she’s doing what she’s always done: living life like it’s her last day. What happens when you do that everyday over the course of a life?  

Eddie and Mary Helen live in Chattanooga, Tenn. — a city, like many in the country, that still feels the effects of segregation. They started by examining their hometown through the lens of race and ended up throwing a party.

Dave Hayes is a “social media-rologist”. He has no meteorology degree, but posts dense and poetic weather updates on Facebook where he’s grown quite a following. Hear how one man uses his computer to bring western Massachusetts together and protect them from the elements.

Bethany embalmed bodies for a living, but she couldn’t help but empathize with every corpse she worked on, seeing her job as one final gift—one that was taking its toll. It turns out, some professions require a certain detachment.

Hannah has a rare genetic disorder that causes her to stop breathing when she goes to sleep. She wears a ventilator at night. How does having to constantly monitor a basic human function change how Hannah and her family approach life?

In 2011, Rinker Buck crossed the Oregon Trail — yes, that Oregon Trail — in a covered wagon pulled by a team of mules. He traveled with his brother Nick and a Jack Russell Terrier named Olive Oyl. The journey forced Rinker to confront his greatest fear.

The season 3 finale is a little different. It is a personal story of Jakob’s told by taking a musical journey all around Nashville. Together, you will experience an Irish session, an Indian jam in a Mexican restaurant, a Jewish musical Shabbat, Beer and Hymns, and sacred harp singing.

In 1969, Leroy and Gloria Griffith got married in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It would have been an ordinary event, except that they are believed to be the first interracial couple to legally wed in the county. We hear the story of why they opened up their wedding to the public, despite racial tension in the community.

Two men walk over a mile once a week just to give each other a high five. It's a seemingly meaningless act, but one that can take on a powerful meaning over time. We examine why they do this and check back in with one of them a year later.

Like Part one—this is a story of a barber who followed an unlikely path to the grooming profession. Stephen Mason's journey took him from 20 years on the road, playing guitar in a Grammy-winning Christian rock band, to a one-chair, one-man barbershop called The Handsomizer.

Most people might think it’s not worth the trouble to intervene in someone else's life. But in this episode of Neighbors, we get to know a woman who sees that obstacle—and will do everything she can to jump right over it.
 

Michael Kearney is a genius — he holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest person to graduate from college, at age 10. Now he's 32, and he's not curing cancer or solving world hunger. He's running an improv comedy company in Nashville. Why did this child prodigy decide to use his genius in such an unconventional way?