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Mike Mason has been a public servant for most of his life, as a captain in the Marines and later as one of the nation’s highest-ranking FBI officials. After 23 years with the FBI, Mason left the bureau to work as an executive at Verizon. After retiring in 2020, he found himself feeling bored and unfulfilled. “I still had a mind and I still had things I was capable of doing,” the 64-year-old from Midlothian, Virginia, told Steve Hartman of CBS Evening News....

Walker Hayes has had a very eventful few years. You may have heard about a little ditty called “Fancy Like?” That song hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and it stayed there for a whopping 24 weeks! The ode to date nights at Applebees even made No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for a Grammy for best country song in 2021. Hayes has proved he’s no one-hit-wonder with follow up hits “AA,” “Y’all Life,” and “High Heels....

What do you get when you combine two music legends and one iconic tune? Chills. Thanks to Whiskey Riff for reminding us of the time Willie Nelson and Shania Twain took the stage together to create one of the most beautiful duets in country music history. Back in 2003, Twain was featured on Willie Nelson and Friends: Live and Kickin’, a live album recorded in honor of Nelson’s 70th birthday. The album also includes performances by Sheryl Crow, Kenny Chesney, Eric Clapton, and Toby Keith....

Canned pineapple is a staple for Southern cooks and bakers, which might seem curious given our abundance of fresh fruit. Turns out that our loyalty to canned, even when it’s easier than ever to find fresh pineapple in our grocery stores, is one part convenience and one part culinary chemistry, plus a big pinch of recipe tradition. Convenient, it is. Cans of peeled, pre-cut, perpetually ripe, and ready-to-use pineapple keep well in our pantries for years, as good the day we lift off the lid as the day those rings and tidbits came to rest in their time capsule cans....

In the aftermath of her mother Naomi’s death, Wynonna Judd transformed The Judds’ highly anticipated farewell tour into a star-studded “Girl’s Night Out ’’ event featuring guest appearances by some of country music’s biggest female performers. Last week, during the tour’s October 7 stop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Judd was joined by guest acts Ashley McBryde and Martina McBride. While they were together, the three country stars teamed up for a powerful tribute to Loretta Lynn, who had died just days earlier, on October 4....

Remember back in November and December after Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings debuted on Netflix (created as a Warner Bros. Television Production) when you were glued to your TV set for hours on end? Long before the Land of Sweet Magnolias made itself known to us on our screens, there was this eight-part series which chronicled the stories and inspirations behind some of Parton’s most famous songs. Now, we’re excited to learn that the “These Old Bones” episode of Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings is up for an Emmy in the “Outstanding Television Movie” category....

You may know some of our country’s most famous national parks by name–Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Shenandoah National Park, Everglades National Park–but chances are you live much closer to a national forest. These often overlooked but just as splendid public lands are far more numerous than their national park counterparts and much more accessible to most. Not only do these lands play a critical role in preserving a sustainable ecosystem for wildlife and humans alike, but they also offer some of the South’s most serene and spectacular views....

Two of our favorite Southern small towns share a name—sort of. Beaufort and Beaufort are spelled exactly the same way, which is why people mix them up all the time (much to the chagrin of the residents of each spot). However, these two towns are not the same place, and, despite the written similarity of their shared moniker, they’re not pronounced the same way either. Learn the differences, and you’ll never mix them up again....

If you’ve ever accidentally left a nonstick pan on a hot burner, you might have experienced that smell. The one that once it hits your nose, makes you dart across the kitchen and fling the pan off the flame silently vowing to never again become engrossed in a group text with your mom and sisters while simultaneously trying to get dinner started. Up until recently, I didn’t know much about the composition of the pots and pans tidily tucked into my cabinets, but I did realize that anything that smells like once it gets too hot might be worth exploring....

We have a fun column in our magazine called “My Mom, the Beauty Icon.” It’s typically written by a daughter who spills the beauty secrets that her mother has passed down to her. With each new icon we feature, one product almost always remains at the top of her must-have list: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer. It has become so prevalent that I’ve taken to telling our duos on our initial calls or emails that we can no longer feature the iconic moisturizer....

If anyone can get America’s kids through this difficult time, it’s Dolly Parton. Yesterday, Parton announced “Goodnight with Dolly,” a 10-week special series of weekly videos featuring everyone’s favorite Book Lady reading select Imagination Library books presented by Dollywood, Abramorama, and The Dollywood Foundation. Look out, Josh Gad! The country music icon hopes these bedtime stories will not only provide a welcome distraction amid the coronavirus crisis but inspire a love of reading and books in the hearts of children as well....

If you’ve noticed a steady stream of dreamy, warm-hued images of everything from flowing dresses and cozy sweaters to pies and picnics seep into your social media feeds lately, you’re not alone. These are all part of a trend called “cottagecore,” which distills the romance of a slower, simpler, self-sufficient life in the country into perfectly Instagrammable images of happily overgrown flower gardens and cozy Tudor cottages. And if these idyllic images of a quiet life in the countryside brought you momentary escape from 2020, then you’re definitely not alone....

Like many parents, Hoda Kotb undoubtedly wants her daughters to be kind. On Today, Kotb shared a very sweet story about her daughter Haley Joy showing that she has already learned that important trait. According to Kotb, the little girl came up to her with a unique request. She wanted to take Mo for ice cream. Kotb explained he’s a local who runs a couple of restaurants in town and with whom they are friendly....

While the best kind of pickle is the one made at home with your own vegetables and pickling brine (of which there are endless delectable variations), we’ll never say no to a classic spear from the grocery store. It’s a friendly addition to a burger night, outdoor barbecue, beach day, or any other occasion that favors a grilled meat or homemade sandwich. Pickles—homemade and otherwise—tend to go quick at any Southern gathering, which only makes store-bought pickles that much more appealing to save time and effort....

Has this ever happened to you? You find yourself in the mood for a delicious batch of chewy chocolate chip cookies, but when you reach into the cupboard, you discover your brown sugar has turned into a brick. Bricks obviously don’t mix well into cookie batter—or any batter for that matter. Luckily, it’s easy to soften brown sugar and return it to its natural consistency so you can bake with it again....

Let’s cut to the chase or in this case, through the craft paper: do you ever wrap your presents in a bag? Yes, putting a present or two in a cute gift bag with a sheet of tissue paper is always easy to do, but is it too much of a shortcut? According to the Gift Wrap Goddess Mia Canada, using a bag will never do. “You have to think about the connotation that comes with giving a bag,” says Canada....

Jenna Bush Hager joined the long list of celebrities paying tribute to Loretta Lynn in the aftermath of the country music icon’s passing this week. “Whenever I interviewed her, she was surrounded by children and grandchildren, and that’s who we’re thinking of today. She was also hilarious,” Hager said while looking back on Lynn’s legendary career on Today Wednesday. “Loretta was the undisputed queen of country, and like many, many others, I adored her,” she continued....

These days, we get goose bumps from Keith Urban’s romantic ballads. Our hearts melt over Keith Urban’s sweet partnership with his wife Nicole Kidman. We sigh at his dashing good looks on the red carpet. But just wait until you see an adorable teen Keith. Now, thanks to a heads up from Wide Open Country, we can all catch an early glimpse of the yet-to-be superstar in a 1983 audition video on Australia’s talent competition, New Faces....

When it comes to what’s trending in 2021, it’s no surprise homeowners are hungry for kitchens that are hard-working, easy to keep organized, and all-around joyful to be in. Home cooks are getting creative with their storage and colorful with their cabinetry. But if we’re talking flooring, durability is the name of the game. Houzz’s new 2021 Kitchen Trends Study proves it. In the report, Houzz polled homeowners about their kitchen renovation plans to determine just what’s changing in homes across the country....

Lainey Wilson is a busy lady! The country star took a break from filming season five of Yellowstone to perform at CMA Fest in Nashville over the weekend. Before hitting the stage on Saturday, Wilson spoke to Entertainment Tonight about landing a “bucket list” gig on the hit Taylor Sheridan series. The “Things a Man Oughta Know” singer shared that she developed a friendship with Sheridan after he used some of her songs in the show....