About this season
TrueSouth is an SEC Network/ ESPN television show, conceived by executive producer Wright Thompson and host John T Edge, directed by Tim Horgan of Bluefoot Entertainment. We tell honest stories about the past, present, and future of the South. In each city, we focus on two restaurants that talk to each other in interesting ways. From barbecue joints to gas station ceviche cafes, we share the origins of these restaurants, the forces threatening them, and the belief systems that support them.
Episodes (5)
1. Hot Springs
Aired 10 October 2023 • 30 min
Season six begins in a bathhouse in Hot Springs, Ark., an odd and endearing resort town tucked in the Ouachita Mountains, west of Little Rock. Mobsters once caroused here. Major league teams traveled here for spring training. Hot Springs began as a spa. Scalding hot water, pushing up through those mountains, still draws pilgrims.
2. The Black Belt
Aired 24 October 2023 • 30 min
TrueSouth travels The Black Belt of Alabama, southwest of Tuscaloosa, to eat barbecue and witness what art makes possible. Visiting York, Gainesville, and Gee's Bend, we eat pig tails and pork ribs with pitmasters who bridge the gap between craft and art.
3. St. Augustine
Aired 6 November 2023
In search of Old Florida, walk the ice boxes at Kyle's Seafood to survey the catch and eat smoked mullet on the bed of a pickup; drink beer and talk about home at a beach bar with local author C.H. Hooks; and line up for a table at O'Steen's Restaurant to dunk fried shrimp in a datil pepper sauce that burns bright like a beach sunset.
4. Dublin, GA
Aired 21 November 2023 • 30 min
TrueSouth drives into Dublin, Ga., a postcard small town off the interstate between Savannah and Macon, with a courthouse square hot dog joint, a seven-decade-old soul food café, and a big story to tell about what it takes to face down the toughest of foes.
5. Season Six, Episode Five
Aired 5 December 2023 • 30 min
Host and writer John T Edge teaches a class on "Writing Place" for the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Mississippi. To students, he says things like: Pretend your head is a camera. Capture the scenes that add up to the story. Our crew works to stay in scene, to let our viewers see and hear the South and its people, so that we can all better know the story of our region. This time out, we captured 13 scenes from our never-ending road trip.