56. Greg Harkins, a Mississippi chair maker

The cover story in the latest Country Roads magazine is a piece I wrote about Greg Harkins, a 71-year-old chair maker from the Canton, Mississippi, area who has been making old-school wooden chairs for almost 50 years.

I spent most of a Saturday at Harkins’ home earlier this year. He was a kind, gracious host willing to talk for hours, and before I left he fed me several burgers made the way his grandfather made them, which meant steamed buns and lots of chopped onions.

As the piece makes clear, I sort of did not get the story I hoped to. Maybe I got a better one, though.

Here is a link.

And here is a link to editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot’s note about the issue.