Lee and Scott sit down with Becki Grace – Blount County native, born-and-raised icon of the East Tennessee music scene, and one of the most emotionally honest songwriters you'll ever hear.

Becki has music running through her whole story. She and her late husband fronted Three Mile Smile together, building a life and a series of albums around a shared love of music. When he was killed in a car accident on Alcoa Highway in January 2021, Becki – already a certified grief, loss, and trauma therapist – had to figure out how to come back to music completely solo for the first time in her life. As she puts it, nothing makes grief easier; you just get used to carrying it.

In this episode, Becki performs two songs live on ukulele:

"Cruel, Cruel Heart" – her very first solo composition and first single, released January 1st, 2026 (the first release of the year from our local music community). It came four years after her husband's death, when music and lyrics finally returned to her at the same time. And yes, it's about a certain local musician who shall remain nameless. Lesson learned: don't tick off a songwriter.

"Breathless" – a gut-wrenching love song built from the real words and moments of the last time she saw her husband alive. She didn't even realize what it was about until she finished writing it.

We also get into her fascinating recording approach (a different band, studio, and sound engineer for every single song), her online radio show "Local Honey" on Radio KCM spotlighting female and female-presenting singer-songwriters, writing songs in her sleep, and her powerful take on why emotion is the thing that bonds us all to music and each other.

This is a raw, funny, deeply moving conversation about resilience, creativity, and rolling with whatever life throws at you – jazz hands and all.

🎵 Find Becki's music on Spotify, Bandcamp, ReverbNation, and BeckiGrace.com 📻 Catch Local Honey on RadioKCM.com, Thursdays 6-8 PM Eastern 🎶 Theme song "Maryville" by Wyatt Ellis 📅 Catch us at Jay Clark's Shindig, second Tuesday of every month at TriHop Pub

#BlountCountyLive #BeckiGrace #EastTennesseeMusic #SingerSongwriter #LocalMusic #BlountCountyTN #Ukulele #LocalHoney

Lee and Scott sit down with Doug Wilhite, and if you're looking for someone who knows how to turn a rainy day into a hit song, this is your guy. This Helena, Arkansas native (that's the home of the blues, folks) moved to Tennessee in 2017 and immediately found his tribe at Brackin's Wednesday night jam sessions with Barry Swartz and Stan Giber.

Doug opens with "Too Wet to Plow," a rollicking tale of farming, moonshining, and Sheriff Crow that came about when his wife Kathy said those exact words on a day they couldn't go hiking. The song weaves in the story of Kathy's grandfather, who was sheriff in Monroe County during Prohibition and hated busting moonshine stills because he knew that's how families fed themselves. It's the kind of authentic storytelling that makes you want to grab a mason jar and head for the hills.

Then Doug performs "Meet Me in Knoxville," a heartfelt love song written when he was still living in Arkansas and Kathy was here in Tennessee. "All I could do is write a song. That's what I do when I'm helpless," he explains. The song captures that aching distance between lovers and the promise to cross any divide to get back to the mountains.

Doug's debut album "Home No More" dropped in December 2023, produced by Grammy-nominated Matt Munsey, and he's working on a new project that leans more toward the raw energy of Led Zeppelin while keeping his country-folk-blues roots. From co-writing in Nashville (where publishers said "nah" to songs that became album favorites) to playing music in Ireland and Australia, Doug's journey proves that sometimes the best stories come from the detours.

Plus, we debut our lightning round questions, where Doug somehow makes discussing ice cream flavors connect to grunge music and flannel shirts. The man knows his references, and Lee learns that maybe he should offer his wife co-writing credits before it's too late.

From the Arkansas Delta to Blount County stages, Doug Wilhite represents that perfect blend of Southern storytelling and mountain authenticity that makes East Tennessee's music scene so compelling.

Lee and Scott sit down with Perry Bonck, and if you're wondering how someone goes from singing first soprano in the Archdiocese of New Orleans Boys Choir to writing heart-wrenching songs about military sacrifice, this is your story. Perry's the kind of songwriter who'll make you walk out of a venue in tears – in the best possible way.

This New Orleans native landed in Tennessee after Katrina, but his journey to these mountains started way before 2007. We're talking 20 years in the Air Force as a crew chief, Desert Storm veteran, and a man who knows what it means to serve. His song "The Cost" – performed live in the studio – is a gut-punch tribute to the women who served alongside him, and trust us, you won't see that ending coming.

Perry also performs "Just An Old Guitar," the song that started his recording career, about an old guitar his Uncle Larry (nicknamed "Shark" because he couldn't swim) passed down to him. It's the kind of family story that becomes the backbone of authentic country music, co-written with his late mentor Karen E. Reynolds, who helped shape his songwriting voice.

But Perry's not just a performer – he's a music community builder. For nine years, he ran the Fleur de Lis Acoustic Series in his Tellico Village basement, hosting Grammy winners and packing 82 people in to see Blue Moon Rising. He teaches songwriting to kids through the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival, proving that sometimes the best way to help a child find their voice is through a three-chord progression.

From performing with Craig in their duo "Two for One" (yes, they split everything fifty-fifty) to regular gigs at The Abbey in Townsend TN, Perry represents that authentic singer-songwriter tradition that keeps East Tennessee's music scene rooted in real stories and honest emotion. His biggest streaming check was nine dollars, but his songs' impact on audiences? Priceless.

Real stories, real service, real heart – that's Perry Bonck, and that's why his music hits different.