I consider Asheville, N.C., the most peaceful city in the Southeast. As soon as I get there, I feel a calmness fall over me, and I immediately embrace it. As someone who travels often for work, it’s a welcome change to visit a city and do absolutely nothing.

Still, even the laziest tourist needs breakfast. For grits and hot coffee, you can’t miss Early Girl Eatery on Wall Street. The waitresses are always friendly and the food is so satisfying. With minimal presentation and fresh ingredients, the local flavors really pop. Near the Farmer’s Market, the Moose Caf‚ reminds me of the home-cooking family restaurants my grandparents took me to, when I was a kid. If you’ve never had apple butter, generously slather it on the biscuits here and you’ll dream about it later. If I feel particularly indulgent, I’ll order the hearty chicken fried steak.

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Jo Dee Messina is known for her energetic performances as well as her high-energy life offstage. The exuberant redhead runs six to seven miles a day and competes in marathons — that is, when she’s not in the middle of one of her marathon tour schedules.
 
But no matter how busy she gets, Messina makes time for one job she holds especially dear. As an ambassador for the Special Olympics since 2005, she travels the country to attend fundraising events, perform concerts at opening and closing ceremonies, and use her fame to spread the word about everything the organization does to provide opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to realize their potential.
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Neal McCoy is known for giving 100 percent at every show. The energetic entertainer is on the road 200 days a year, dancing, jumping, running, and climbing onstage, turning his show into a giant party. Add to that his charity work, and he’s giving 110 percent, at least. McCoy is a regular on USO tours and has performed for troops in Bosnia, Italy, Hungary, Afghanistan and Iraq (six times). He’s also part of the Spirit of America tour, which organizes shows at military bases across the U.S.

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For years, she was known to the general public primarily as Alan Jackson’s wife, but with It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life, Denise Jackson made a name for herself as a New York Times bestselling author. Now, Jackson has written a new inspirational book, The Road Home, which relates how faith helped her deal with tough situations.

Her publisher wanted to pull out the core messages from her autobiography and put them in more of a short-story form. “It could be more like a devotional-type thing, where you could read two or three pages at a time,” Jackson says. “I think this will really appeal to women graphically, because it’s got beautiful pictures. I added scriptures and some inspirational quotes from people I’ve been encouraged by.”

Jackson says her favorite nugget of wisdom in the book involves the power of prayer.

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A few weeks ago, with dreary skies looming over Nashville, a friend of mine introduced me to Crema, the newest coffee shop in town. Since it was mid-afternoon, I ordered a cup of decaf, but wound up with a decaf Americano - espresso and hot water. It was hot, bold and black, and by the time I finished it, I wanted more.

Rachel Lehman opened Crema earlier this year, and now that I’ve been back several times, I have to say that she’s always friendly in the mornings. (That’s a rarity in coffee shops.) She proudly follows the traditional Italian standards for preparing the espresso - ground one drink at a time, tamped with 30 lbs of pressure and extracted between 20-30 seconds. She also uses “naked” group heads, which means that the espresso touches less metal and results in a rich, creamy, foamy texture. “I’m a purist, and I believe that if the base of the drink isn’t phenomenal the rest of the drink will not taste good,” she says.

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Josh Turner loves playing basketball on the road with his band and crew – but not as much as he used to. “We try to play as much as we can,” he says, “but here lately, everybody’s been getting hurt, so it’s slowing us down.”

Turner sprained his ankle in early April, but he’s ready for another try, now that he’s able to walk without lingering pain. “I was on defense and my lead guitar player had the ball,” he says. “I was guarding him, and I went to try to steal the ball, and when I did, he went to drive past me. I tried to change direction really quick, and my ankle gave way. I just flipped over and laid there on the floor for a little while. But luckily I walked it off and played three or four more games.”

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A lot of people get a new dog and just assume he’s going to know how to behave — like staying in the yard and coming when called are natural behaviors. The most important training to most people is teaching the dog that the house is not his own giant, nicely furnished urinal. But professional trainers say it’s important to teach your dog to obey, especially to come when called. It’s a potentially life-saving behavior: Stories abound of dogs preoccupied with the thrill of chasing each other, ignoring their owners’ calls and running in front of cars.

Taking time to train your dog doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be an enjoyable bonding process. Luke Bryan works with his dog Maggie to keep her hunting skills sharp. “I’ve worked with her in the yard a bit trying to teach her a couple of things,” Bryan says. “She’s got all the sit and heel down, but if I’m dove hunting and there are some birds coming in, I don’t want her running all over the field. I just have to work with her to make sure she doesn’t break. She’s one of the sharpest dogs I’ve ever seen.”

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Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede is surely the most unusual dinner experience I’ve ever had. Civil War? Yes. Silverware? Nope. With huge animals and constant audience participation, it’s an awful lot to wrap your head around. Still even someone like me, who is rarely willing to suspend his disbelief, was completely won over eventually. 

When I called the Dixie Stampede offices for dinner reservations, the woman found a good pair of tickets… but they were on the north side. Was that all right? ”I suppose that’s fine,” I said. “I’ve never been there.” She immediately perked up and told me about the plot – deciding who wins the Civil War, with unlimited Pepsi. In that case, OK!

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Most country singers move to Nashville to chase their dream. However, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott is the exception, because she was born and raised there.

“So many people move here from somewhere else, so that brings a whole other energy to the town,” she says. “I’m rare. I tell people where I’m from and they are like, ‘No way! Nobody is from here!’ Everybody moves here from somewhere else and I think that adds to the uniqueness of Nashville.”

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After years of touring with her bandmates in Little Big Town, Kimberly Schlapman has life on the road down to a science. But last summer she made a big adjustment in her travel style.

Make that a small adjustment. The birth of Daisy Pearl in July 2007 has changed Schlapman’s tour experience forever. “It’s even more fun than before,” she says. “We’ve always had a great time on the road, but life is even sweeter now. Daisy makes my day over and over.

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