Tennee Jones | Music & Stories from America's Highways and Backroads

Rooted in the mountains of Appalachia and driven by a free-spirited approach to life and music, Tennee Jones is an independent Americana singer-songwriter whose captivating blend of folk, country, blues, and roots music has earned her a growing following across the United States. Known for her soulful vocals, deeply personal songwriting, and unmistakable bohemian style, Tennee creates music that is both timeless and refreshingly authentic.

Drawing inspiration from the people she meets, the places she travels, and the experiences that have shaped her journey, Tennee writes songs that explore themes of love, redemption, freedom, resilience, and self-discovery. Her music reflects the rich storytelling tradition of Appalachian culture while embracing a modern Americana sound that resonates with audiences seeking honesty over polish.

A true independent artist, Tennee has built her career one performance at a time, connecting with listeners through intimate songwriter rounds, festivals, listening rooms, and venues throughout the Southeast and beyond. Her heartfelt performances have become known for their emotional depth, genuine audience connection, and the vulnerability she brings to every stage.

Her growing catalog of original music includes songs such as "How Love Should Be," "Wash My Sins," "Pour Yourself Into Me," and "Be Good As Gone in the Mornin'"—each showcasing her gift for pairing memorable melodies with thoughtful, introspective lyrics. Whether delivering a stripped-down acoustic performance or sharing the stories behind her songs, Tennee invites listeners into her world with warmth and authenticity.

Recently, Tennee has become a familiar face in the vibrant songwriter community of Key West, Florida, where she has continued to expand her audience while collaborating with fellow independent artists and performing for music lovers from around the world. Her willingness to forge her own path has made her an emerging voice in today's Americana movement.

Rather than chasing commercial trends, Tennee remains committed to creating music that is genuine and deeply personal. Every song she writes is a reflection of her journey, her values, and her belief that the best music tells the truth.

As her audience continues to grow, Tennee Jones is proving that authenticity, fearless songwriting, and a passion for connecting with people can still carve out a meaningful career in independent music. With new music on the horizon and miles of road still ahead, she continues to establish herself as one of Americana's most compelling emerging artists.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Musical Miles, the podcast where every mile has a melody and every song has a story. We're your hosts, Byron and Shanda Duffin, traveling the highways and backroads of America to sit down with songwriters, artists, and music makers who bring the soundtrack of our lives to life. From dive bars and listening rooms to legendary stages and music festivals, we go where the music is made because every song has a journey and every artist has a story worth telling. So climb in, buckle up, and join us for another unforgettable ride. This is Musical Miles.

SPEAKER_05 2:16

Go, go, winter. But now I'm living. Well pour yourself a shot of tequila. Go ahead and wash down those feelings besides the waiters just right. Well you don't have to worry about me. Go ahead and pull yourself up a seat. Oh it's a cold on winter, baby show, cold, go winter, but I'm doing I'm doing fine. Oh it's a cold on winter, baby suinter, but now I'm living. Oh I'm living sweet daddy living. Oh we're all living living on island island time.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Hey Tenny Jones, welcome to Musical Miles Podcast.

SPEAKER_05 4:08

Thank you, thank you. It's a pleasure, it's a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Well, it's cool. We are in Key West, so that's a very appropriate topic for the situation. We're here for the Key West Songwriter Festival, and Miss Shanda met you yesterday at the women's what was the Women's Club. Women's Club. Yeah, it's a women's club. Key West Women's Club. And uh they had an all-women's showcase. They had uh, I think nine artists. They had three sets yesterday, and we actually caught two of them. But uh uh Shanda met you and your mom over there. And is your mom part of the Key West Women's Club or um I think she is, I think she's part of it.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

If she definitely does stuff for Women's Fest when it happens. Sure. So um she she has her law office here in Key West.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Okay, yeah, your mom's an attorney here in Key West. But you, as you were appropriately named, were born in Tennessee.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

And you uh your mom moved down here in 2020, you said. So right in the middle of the pandemic, or kind of on the tail end of the pandemic, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 5:15

Yeah, you know, she and I have a lot in common. Um, more than I thought. We fight like cat and dogs, but we love each other.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Uh sure.

SPEAKER_05 5:24

Um, but she has to follow her heart and her dreams, and she chases horizons just like me. Sure. So, yeah. So she came down here, hella high water. So cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Well, we're actually on your mom's boat. So she has a houseboat here in the marina, and uh uh you invited us to come over. I said we needed a place that was quiet to do our interview. And you said, well, we got a couple options, and so this was one, and I thought this would be a cool setting. We've never done an interview on a boat, so or on a houseboat, let alone any kind of boat. But um, anyway, we appreciate the chance to sit down with you. So let's talk, Tinny, about your musical career. You just mentioned we talked a little bit before we started. You uh you didn't pick up the guitar till you were about 18, or you started with a ukulele.

SPEAKER_05 6:12

Yes. So I've been singing my entire life, came out of the hospital singing.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:18

Um, but and I grew up singing in gospel Pentecostal churches. Um, but when I was 18, I was in a car accident and I was in a coma for two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 6:29

I know crazy things happen to me. Um, and I woke up and I had to learn how to use the left side of my body again.

unknown 6:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

And uh somebody gifted me a ukulele, and from ukulele I graduated to guitar eventually.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

So cool, cool. Well, uh you play well and you and you have a beautiful voice and and uh and you have a very unique talent. So let's talk about what really got you into the music. What what inspired you musically? Who inspired you musically?

SPEAKER_05 7:00

I would say the people the women of the Delta Blues are just my biggest inspiration. Memphis Many, like uh Ma Rainey, those women, Memphis Many joined the circus when she was a teenager and was like on the road from a teenager and just she would have somebody in her band be her husband husband, okay, and he'd be in the band, but once they'd get a divorce, he was out of a job. Just really strong women in music.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Sure, sure. Well, you you uh not only did you uh uh she inspired you musically, but she she kind of inspired your gypsy nature, right? You your gypsy w your your your wonder lust, if you will.

SPEAKER_05 7:48

So oh yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

I so did her story inspire you as far as the travel part of it too?

SPEAKER_05 7:54

Yeah, most definitely that. Um I've had a longing for you know the the horizon since I don't know when.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So well, I think it's always, you know, what's on the other side of the horizon? What's on the other side of the the the highway or that mountain, right? Right, right. It's always intriguing to know. And and you've you've uh you've you've been a little bit of a gypsy. You've wandered around the country quite a bit, mentioned that you've been in our we're in Key West, as far south as you can go in the United States, 90 miles from Cuba. You just got home from Costa Rica, you say?

SPEAKER_05 8:29

I did. I solo traveled to Costa Rica, hung out in Hacko, caught a wave. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

So you solo traveled there, you didn't go with someone and you didn't did you know anyone down there?

SPEAKER_05 8:42

No, not at all. I was just you are a gypsy. Well, there's something about it being out there in the unknown and just you know, and I sometimes in my life I just have to get rid of everything and have nothing and just be out there. It's it's definitely a rush.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Um, so uh let's talk about your travels because your travels have have taken you places, obviously, it's had some influence on your music as well. So you've it's given you stories to write about and places that you've lived and places that you visited and the people you've met. Um, but you just throw all caution to the wind and pack your bags and go, huh?

SPEAKER_05 9:28

Yep. Um it's it's very powerful for me. It's empowering uh just to be able to walk away from everything completely. And it just it also changes perspective, right? Because when you're in a place you've got all of these issues or miscommunications or wonderful things, and it just gives you a second to be complete somewhere where none of that exists.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

So it just you just have to be dependent on yourself and and others as well. I'm sure you you depend on on other kindness of others and people we talk about that. You you you ended up in Idaho and uh and uh worked for some people up there and they gave you a place to hang out and some and food to eat and a place to lay your head at night.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

Yeah, yeah. I actually um I one of the trains I hopped out of Whitefish, Montana, going through the longest train tunnel in America. It rolled through Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, and I just happened into this cafe where I met this woman and her son, and they saw me and they were like, Hey, do you hop trains? And I was like, Wow, who's asking? And she was like, Well, I we we host people, we we have a wolfing farm, is what they call it.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

What is a wolfing farm?

SPEAKER_05 10:48

It stands for worldwide organic farming or something, okay, okay. And they host people, you go on the farm and you work a couple of hours on the farm pulling weeds, not anything serious, and you get to stay there and you get to eat all the food you want, and usually they bring you to cool places in the area. So it's a great way to travel on a budget.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Fun, fun, fun. And and obviously, I'm sure you you uh spent some time entertaining them as well as the the the other people there, and maybe people in town. You find some gigs while you're out there on the road like that.

SPEAKER_05 11:24

Oh, always. Sometimes I'll just roll into a town and people will I'll busk wherever I'm at, and people will be like, wow, you sound really good. You should come to my bar. So cool.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, cool. Well, we were talking earlier. You're you're getting ready to go to Canada, to Nova Scotia the summer. And so you're you're now are you gonna are you gonna work your way all the way from Key West up the up the eastern seaboard? Is that your plan?

SPEAKER_05 11:50

So I'm partial to my Appalachian mountains. So I'm probably gonna I I keep it loose when it comes to plans because if I'm really like, oh, it has to go exactly to plant, nothing ever goes as planned. So I'm going back up to Johnson City. I've got a show in Orlando, some shows in Roan Mountain, Tennessee, and then one in North Carolina. That one's by the coast, so it's it's wherever the wind takes me.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Sure, sure. But you do have a date in mind to be in Nova Scotia this summer at some point.

SPEAKER_05 12:25

Is that it's the yeah, I don't have a date specific. At some point this summer, I will be there though.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Okay, okay, cool. So so let's talk more about the music. So um uh you pick are you're all self-taught on the guitar?

SPEAKER_05 12:40

I am, I'm very self-taught. I was just at home with my computer and started teaching myself things, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Well, I tell everybody, we talked before we started, you know. I started playing again. I picked up the guitar at 15, 14 or 15, don't remember exactly. Well, I was a freshman in high school, and I decided I wanted to be I'm I'm an Idaho farm boy that always wanted to be a cowboy, right? So I picked up a guitar and a and a rope at the same time, and I I opted for the rope and I rodeoed and trained horses and lived that lifestyle for many, many years. Yeah, and and and we've lived in in uh in Arizona and California and Texas and and uh I went to horseshoeing school in Oklahoma, and I've kind of I I I'm a little bit of a gypsy myself, but not quite like you. I I've always had a plan ultimately where I was going, what I was gonna do for the most part. But we uh uh yeah, Miss Shenda and I moved 11 times the first five years we were married. So about every six months we'd pick up and move somewhere and do do something. But um we've been really, really lucky and and done a lot of cool things and learned a lot of stuff. So but but I love the I've always loved music and we've loved music. Miss Shanda grew up in a house full of music. Her mother was a songwriter in Arizona, um, and and uh we always had music in our home, but there's no musical talent in our family, in my family. Shanda's family is the other way, but she didn't get that from her mom, like her sister did, so she doesn't play any instruments, but our children all we we very musical family. We love the we love music. And so we've traveled from we've been here to Miles Zero Fest, the music festival I have here in January, and and all over the country, wherever we go, we've sought out live music. So when I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly retired in in uh July of 24, our daughter said, Dad, what are you gonna do? And I said, I don't know. And she said, Well, I think you and mom ought to start a podcast. And she wanted it to be all about travel and all these. She had this big broad idea, but tied to the music. But I said, Well, I want to be very music focused. So that's what we did. But this morning we actually made a video. We drove down around the island and shared some of the what we know about the history of Key West. We love Key West and the history. Hemingway, the Hemingway House, Truman White House, the the the Jimmy Buffett, the you know, um uh some of the great writers that lived here, besides Hemingway and and uh uh Tom McGwain. I don't know if you know who Tom is, but Tom Tom's uh wife is actually Jimmy Buffett's sister. So so so anyway, just just some really cool stuff that we know about it and some of the local iconic places to go. So when you texted me this morning, we were waiting outside Blue Heaven for breakfast. So you gotta go to Blue Heaven.

SPEAKER_05 15:30

Yeah, I've I've played Blue Heaven sometimes, it's a great place in Andy's Cabana across the street. Yep, my favorite spot.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

And they had live music in both places this morning, so so we we got to hear a little bit. In fact, the first uh first song uh the guy at Andy's Cabana played was uh LA Freeway by Guy Clark, which is one of my favorites. So but so i is is there any specific songwriters that have really influenced you?

SPEAKER_05 15:57

Yes. Um, well, there's I they're not as well known, but I love Kat Clyde. Okay, she's a Canadian musician, she's um just her soul really inspires me. She's got more of like a soulful flair, and then of course, um the wonderful Sierra Farrell is one of my gotta love Sierra Farrell.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

You remind me a little of Sierra Farrell, you have a little of the same look, and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:25

Yeah, I get that. And we we uh have both traveled in that sort of way, so a lot of people tell me that.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Have you met her?

SPEAKER_05 16:33

I have not, I've not, and it's funny because a lot of people that I know have met her, and I'm just we just sort of passed each other by. I think she's a little bit older than me.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Okay, um, so I don't know how old she'd be, but I interviewed a uh a songwriter, he's from Florida originally, but he lives in Montana now, a guy by the name of Sterling Drake, and he lived in Nashville and knew Sierra when he was there. Yeah, they got to hang and and uh actually were really good friends, and so it was kind of fun to hear those stories.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

It's funny that you say that. I actually um I have a song. I hope one day I get to play it for her. Um, there's something about Nashville boys.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:14

There's something about it, and they're all down here right now for the songwriters vest. But I've been to Nashville so many times, and every time I go, I regret hanging out with the Nashville boys.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Because they kind of steal a little piece of your heart, do they?

SPEAKER_05 17:33

Well, they steal a little piece of my heart, and then and then they vanish.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 17:39

You know, um so I I've written a song about that, and this one specific one knew Sierra Farrell and would not like he knew that I liked her, so it was just name-dropping it all over me, and then and then he just was a complete butt. Then he disappeared.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Yeah, well, Miss Shanda said that Sierra is 37. So that's what she does behind the scenes is feeds us information. So um, uh, so she's a little bit older than you because you said you got this guitar a couple years ago when you were 28 on your birthday. So that tells me you're right about 30.

SPEAKER_03 18:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Okay. I can do math.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Woo!

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Uh uh. Um well, any any other artists that uh that that you've really looked up to?

SPEAKER_05 18:30

Lost Dog Street Band, um, really anything. There's an entire culture of music um within the traveling hobo community. Okay, right? Um there's a lot, there's this stuff called folk punk, which is it's very folky, but also there's an ongoing joke, but like within the folk punk community that it sounds like garbage cans clinging together. And it's like, here, this is great, you should hear it, and it's just garbage cans.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

But I I mean it's banjos and um and of course bluegrass and folk, Joni Mitchell, oh yeah, you know, the the old ones, the Bob Dylan.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Of course, right?

SPEAKER_05 19:19

Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Well, he's had such an impact on the on the on the music world, yes, Miss Producer.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

What does that mean? Jade Marie.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Oh, yeah, Jade Marie Pottech, who's an artist we've had on the podcast, she lives in uh New Bromfels, Texas, and she does um Bobby McGee, a version of Bobby McGee that's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So but you know, yeah, I mean Janice. Janice. I mean, yeah, you gotta throw Janice in there, right? But um, well, so is there anybody that uh besides maybe Sierra Farrell? What what I like to ask these couple questions. One is um, is there a venue you have a favorite venue where you love to play? And then what venue would you dream of playing?

SPEAKER_05 20:10

So um I think if if I'm in Q West, any of the venues on Petronio Street. Okay, um, I just love Petronio Street with Blue Heaven and Andy's cabana. I I feel like that's where you're gonna find and there's a bundle upstairs above Blue Heaven. Um and my friend Jesse Cottonstone plays there a lot. He's a blues guitarist. But that street in general, I love the real music, the less commercialized music, the like, oh, this isn't the same cover that I've heard a million different times.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Right.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

You know, so I love Petronia Street because of that.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

Um, I feel like that's where the real artists go. Um, and I need to take that back. I love everybody's here as a real artist. I better watch myself. I did not mean it that way.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

But no, no, but but it's it's it's it's unprocessed, I guess. It's more yes. Everybody has their authentic, right? Their authentic self.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

Very authentic. Yeah, exactly. Um and then I think the Grey Eagle in Asheville. Um, I love Asheville, I'm partial to it.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Um Asheville Asheville, North Carolina. North Carolina, that's what I was gonna say. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

Yeah, and um there's also the down home in Johnson City. So I frequent those places a lot.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Okay. Is there a venue that you would love to play and that you would aspire to play?

SPEAKER_05 21:42

I am inspired and aspiring this year. I'm like, you know, last year I went to Big Sky Music Festival, and I saw Tyler Schilders and Wyona Jide, and I'm that I'm like that year, I was like, I'm gonna stop focusing on other people and focus on my art. Sure. And I'm I'm gonna come back and play this. So that's that's that's the goal.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

And that festival is so cool because they have a rodeo going on.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05 22:08

While the and these boots right here, these are my mama's barrel racing boots. There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Okay. Well, you know what? That that's that's really cool. Anytime you can tie. Now, I don't know if you know about this, but there's a deal called the Hondo Rodeo. And the Hondo uh started the first one they had it a year ago in two years ago in Phoenix, and then they had the second one this last year in Phoenix, but they just had one in in uh uh Nashville, or excuse me, New Orleans, and it's a rodeo and music fest to together.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

So so they and it's an invitational. We're very we've been very involved in the rodeo world. Uh Michanda works for Stetson uh clothing company during the National Finals Rodeo. She has for 18 years, and they actually sponsor one of our sponsors of the podcast, and so we're very partial to Stetson and Roper and Tin Hall, those brands of Western clothing and boots. And um uh we we have lots and lots of friends in the industry, and so uh, but we got we had the opportunity to go to the Hondo last October in Phoenix.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

In February of 27, they'll be in Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

They are gonna be in Tampa, yes. The Hondo is having so they're kind of moving around the country, but it's invitational, so they bring in the top eight in each event. So they do barrel racing, they do team roping, calf roping, steer wrestling, bull riding. Uh the bull riders they bring in 12 because I think they bring in six from the PBR and six from the NFR, and then they bring uh team roping, calf roping, steer wrestling. But anyway, and then they have music, right? So three days they have two, they have an opening concert and then a big headliner. So good. They've had uh breakaway and barrel racing. Oh, breakaway and barrel racing. Yeah, I said barrels, but I forgot about breakaway. But anyway, they so it's it's they've kind of tied it together, and it's it's really a cool deal, a cool event, so it's really turned into something. But anyway, um, but Cheyenne has live music.

SPEAKER_05 24:09

Oh, I love Cheyenne.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Cheyenne Rodeo Frontier Days is awesome. Uh Pendleton has live music. Uh so does Calgary, Stampede, all those big rodeos, uh Houston, Austin, San Antonio, they all have live music to go with them too. So anyway, there's some there's some great music, but it's always fun to tie that together, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:28

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Well, okay, so the other questions I like to ask is if you could work with anyone. Okay, this is a two-part question. Dead and then alive.

SPEAKER_05 24:44

Ooh, okay. Alive. It's a hard one. Uh there's just so many good ones. Sure. I have multiple people. I thought I were alive that I would. Um there's just so many. Uh Bonnie Ray, obviously Sierra Farrell, um, Wyona Judd, uh Tyler Schilders.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 25:10

Those are to name a few. Um dead, uh any Delta Blues artist, but I think my favorite, I would love to meet her, is Memphis Minnie.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:21

She's just something about her and her songs I just really connect with. I feel like she wrote them about me back in the 1920s.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

You know, so Okay. Well, that's cool. That's cool. This episode is brought to you by Tin Hall, Western style with an edge, bold design, fearless attitude, and boots that make a statement. Discounts available when you click our sponsor link at musical miles podcast.com. So you're you're gonna when are you headed north?

SPEAKER_05 25:53

Well, I have a show in Orlando on the 10th of May. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

So wow, so soon.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

Oh yeah, but I've been here since December.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

So So you're you about wore out your welcome in Key West, have you?

SPEAKER_05 26:06

Right? That's so funny because I always say I'm like, I gotta go before you find out.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

Yeah. Well, it's it well, it's always nice to have a place to land, right? There's always it's always a soft place to land. You can come home and be with mom. And you said now you have a brother as well.

SPEAKER_05 26:22

I do. He's up in Brooklyn. He's uh he's a playwright and an Oh wow, an actor, so he's pretty great.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

So your mom raised a couple of creative kids, huh?

SPEAKER_05 26:32

Well, she's also plays the keys, you know, was the choir director. Um I used to, you know, be up until 4 a.m. listening to her band play. Uh-huh. And that's shit. We lived in Pensacola and she had a band called Talk and Rock.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Oh wow. Okay. So cool. Well, that's cool. Well, alright. Any any other stories you want to share with us before we skin out of here?

SPEAKER_05 26:59

Well, I think I think probably my coolest story is I it's kind of funny because I told you I I like to consider myself the girl with the golden thumb.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

Um, because I I mean, when I want to put down some miles and I'm determined, there ain't nothing gonna stop me. And there's these things for hitchhiking that I like live by, it's almost spiritual for me. Where I'm like, okay, if there's somebody out there that I'm supposed to meet, and they're supposed to be me, meet me, and it's gonna be an exchange of energies. And I got so caught up into seeing this guy, and that I was not listening to my intuition. I was just, I'm gonna go meet up with him, right? And I was leaving Pittsburgh, and I was I caught a ride out of there. I hitched to Columbus, Ohio. I had a great night, met some people that had me play a show there. The next morning, I was just so gung-ho, like, gotta get to this guy that I'm in love with. And um, which is not how it should go, but younger me was like, go, go, go. So I was outside of Columbus, Ohio, just on the outskirts of the skiddy, skiddy city, and um, I started going, and my friend had just gifted me this big knife and some zip ties. And my dog here, I always try to hitchhike with her having a service vest on because it makes her look a little less threatening.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

So, but her buckle had broken on the vest. So I had it in my mind that I was gonna take that knife and I was gonna put a hole through that strap and use the zip tie to reconnect it. So I'm on the side of the interstate, and I've got this big utility knife I had no business using, and I'm just like, and I cut my thumb open on the side of the interstate, and I was just like, okay, I was like, okay, the first thing you gotta do is just not don't panic. So I I went through that process of not panicking and um wrapped up my finger and some shorts and ended up going to the gas station, finding a ride to the hospital, and you know, I got 10 stitches in my thumb. You can see my permanent, but I still managed from the hospital. I walked all the way back to the interstate and caught a ride all the way to Louisville, and in Louisville, I met my demise when um the my my crush, my the love of my life, said, Oh, I can't meet you.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Well, ain't that how it works? It makes a good story. Sometimes you just gotta do it for the plot.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yeah, well, well, you've you're you're one of these days you're gonna be able to write you a great story. You know, I I love I love the we listened to uh A Pirate Turns 50, the Jimmy Buffett um um book that he wrote. Yeah. And uh and didn't he he write another one, Joe Merchant or something was uh was another was another uh book topic that he was writing uh and I don't I think he finished that one. But anyway, um uh it takes adventures, right? To to to to have some stories to tell. Right. And and uh I will tell you this, I I don't know you how your mother handles you being on the road like that because it would drive this one over here crazy. Oh yeah, she's she mothers everyone, right? We get we get to Nashville and you know it's the woo-woo girls, you know, it's all the bachelorette parties going around town, and she's wanting to go. Now, you girls stay together, don't let anybody put anything in your drink.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

Oh, yeah, my mom's about the same way.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

And I yesterday actually, there was a bachelor party, and I was lecturing them about staying together. The bachelors? The bachelor's. Oh my goodness. Oh, what sloppy jokes. They invited me, and I said, Oh, I said I'm old enough to be maybe your grandma, and I'm going over there to my husband, and it's okay. Like you stay together, don't leave anyone behind.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

No man left behind, no girl left behind.

SPEAKER_05 31:24

Well, yeah, my mama is my she prays for me a lot. Let's just say that.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

I'm sure she does. But yeah. Have you had any scary experiences being on the road like that?

SPEAKER_05 31:35

I have had one that well, I've had a couple where I was like, I do not need to get in this bus ride, no way. And I've had to refuse a ride because you always want to refuse a ride, never get too quick. But at one point I did get really quick. I was out, I was mad at one of my friends because we were inside a restaurant and she was being mean to the server, so I was like, I don't need this. So I was like, I was in her car traveling east, but I was like, I can do this by myself, I'm leaving. So I was in the middle of Amarillo, like started walking on the interstate trying to get east, and um, I get on the interstate, and within like five minutes I get a ride. Which when you're in the middle of a city, you get a ride quickly. That's like, wow, that's crazy. Almost too good to be to be true. Right. I was I was like, yeah, this is what happens when you use the power of positive thinking. Well, I got out of that ride, and he takes me to the you know, he's like, I can only get you so far. So he takes me to this 20 minutes down the road to this gas station. I get out at this pilot, and as soon as I get out of that truck, this other this other um car pulls up to me like almost like clockwork. Right. Just like, all right, get into this ride now, out of that truck, into this truck. Should have been a big red flag.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 33:03

But I was so like, oh, this is my ride because it's like the universe is conspiring for me. Here we go. I get in the ride, and thankfully I have my big dog, right? Because I get in this ride, it's big man, like something in out of a Stephen King serial killer movie, right? And you know, me when I'm in a ride, I'm like, hi, how are you? Yeah, and he's just like, mm-hmm. And we're, you know, we're on we're on the 10 outside of Amarillo now in the middle of the desert, going, going east, and it's hot, so hot. And he, it's daytime, right? It's like 12, and he's just like, I've been driving all day. I want to get a hotel and you can stay in the room with me. And I was like, nope, no, no, no. Right? And I was there's a a rule of thumb, and nobody tell anybody my secrets, but there's when you're hitchin, sometimes it pays to be crazy. Okay, or at least be perceived as crazy.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

So I'll just start talking. Like, I'm like, oh wow, and this one time when I was in Seattle and I was on the street, I had to stab this guy because he wouldn't stop when I told him to stop, right? And that never happened. That never happened. But I'm just going on and on because I need this guy to be scared of me, right? Just the right amount to to let me out of his car.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 34:38

Right. So he ended up letting me out at the gas station. Uh, thankfully, because I was like, no, you could go to your hotel. I'm okay. And my big dog, she'll she'll protect me.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_05 34:52

Um, she's my guardian angel. But I got out of the gas at the gas station. I actually had some cops come and help me with my next ride, and they were like, look, we're really worried about you out here because there's a lot of sex trafficking going on. Wow. And I just it like the truth of what had just happened just sort of revealed itself, and I was like, Oh my gosh, okay, I have to be more aware, more intuitively responsible. I can't just be toxically optimistic all of the time. Sure, sure. Right. So that was a lesson, but I I dodged that one and I stayed protected. And you know, a lot of it is faith.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 35:35

But you know, you can have to have a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yeah, be careful out there. I know that uh yeah, your mom's got to worry about you, and we would worry about you. And so, but anyway, well, those are some cool stories. One other question I wanted to ask you is as we were talking about this, it made me think is there anyone that you have met in your travels that has just really become an influence in your life and that and an anchor for you?

SPEAKER_05 35:58

Oh, yeah. My best friend and road dog for life, Stephanie. I met her when I was 19 in Ocean Beach. We were both hitchhiking around, and uh, we were just living out, and I was sleeping on the cliffs, drinking whiskey, rambling, and this um I'm a little bit more reserved now, y'all. But she came up, I was playing my guitar, and she came up with her hoolie hoop and just started dancing with me, and we we uh traveled together um and we hitchhiked to Slab City on New Year's Eve that day together with a space bag of wine going down the interstate with her thumbs out, the sun was going down, and uh as the sun was going down, a trucker pulled over and brought us into Slab City at the very last minute. I don't know, Slab City is a really cool spot. Should look into it if you don't know.

SPEAKER_00 36:56

Where's Slab City?

SPEAKER_05 36:57

It's in uh it's by the Nyland Sea in in Southern California. Okay, um, it's where Alexander Supertramp goes and into the wild. Um, if you've ever read it or seen that movie, um it's a big art exhibit, it's like a free land kind of spot. Um, but they have a show there, and we me and Stephanie have been road dogs ever since. She lives in Oregon, but we're I'm going to see her probably soon.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

So cool, cool. Well, Tenny, thank you so much. This has been fun. You're you're a great, great gal, great personality. Love your music, uh, love your talent. Do do you have uh music out on any streaming platforms?

SPEAKER_05 37:43

I do, I do. I have four songs out right now. Um they are on Spotify under Tinny Jones. Good is gone.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Cool, cool. Do you have is is do you have social media that they can follow you on?

SPEAKER_05 37:58

Um I'm the Instagram is almost where I post most of my stuff. And I'm sure in TikTok and YouTube, Tinny, I spell at T E double N double E, um like Tennessee Jones.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

So cool. Well, Tinny, thank you so much. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_04 38:15

Yeah, of course. It has been fun.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

If you make it out our way, you have my number now, you know how to get a hold of us. If you make it back to southern Idaho, not don't call me when you're in Bonner's Ferry because I can't come rescue you. Um but if you're in Southeast Idaho, anywhere between um Bozeman, Montana, and Salt Lake City, Utah, we're not that far away.

SPEAKER_05 38:35

Oh, certainly. And well, now I've got I'm a little I'm slightly retired. I've got a van and I've got you know the setup. So sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Well cool. Well cool. Well, it's great to meet you, and thanks again for taking time to sit down with us and share your music and uh and your stories, and we look forward to following you and uh seeing you somewhere down the road.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Yeah, thank you so much for listening and coming by.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

All right. Hey, for Musical Miles Podcast, I'm your host, Byron Duffin, here with Tanya Jones. We'll see you somewhere down the road.