THE HOBO CODE: THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF AMERICA’S WORKING CLASS
Featured ·
Ask anyone who lived during the Great Depression, and they’ll share the toll it took on the health and heart. The sudden halt of the economy, which struck on October 19, 1929, — forever known …
DAVID NAIL: FROM SMALL TOWN TO CENTER STAGE
What do an American picker and a country music star have in common? They’re both backroad buffs and amazing storytellers. When the cameras aren’t rolling, but the miles of highway are, Mike likes to blast good ol’ …
Continue reading
MAKE A MEMORY JUG
What is a Memory Jug? Memory jugs are 19th-20th century artifacts that were commonly made to commemorate someone’s life, a memento mori of sorts, that could be used to mark a loved one’s grave. They …
Continue reading
THE EAGLES ARE HERE: EAGLE FESTIVAL IN LECLAIRE, IA
If you didn’t know before, you’ll know now! LeClaire, Iowa is one of the best spots in the entire country to view and photograph Bald Eagles. This section of the cold, icy, Mississippi River attracts …
Continue reading
GIVE THE GIFT OF USA MADE! TWO LANES DOG BOWLS AND BRASS TAGS BY FOUND MY ANIMAL
Found My Animal in New York makes beautiful artisan pet accessories with a meaningful purpose and message If you’re already following Mike Wolfe on social media, you know how much he loves sharing photos …
Continue reading
160 YEARS OF TRADITIONAL WOODEN OAR AND PADDLE MAKING: SHAW & TENNEY
Small team of craftsman in Orono, Maine continue to make heirloom products trusted by the US Coast Guard, Carnival Cruises and canoers alike The year is 1858. Minnesota has just been …
Continue reading
AMERICAN IRON: FORGED IN AKRON, OHIO
After leaving a job in the Ohio oil fields, 26-year-old Andrew Wasnac blazed his own path as a bladesmith Inside the detached garage off his house in Akron, Ohio, you can smell the burning coal. …
Continue reading
INSIDE THE SHED WHERE TWO LANES BANDANAS ARE MADE
In a suburban Nashville shed, One Feather Press creates small batch travel essentials exclusively for Mike Wolfe’s American-made adventure brand Two Lanes. Tennessee in August can be hotter than a Harley pipe after a 100-mile ride. …
Continue reading
BEING NEIGHBORLY: BOOK IT TO A LITTLE FREE LIBRARY
Across America, little handmade libraries are connecting neighbors and renewing their interest in books. While walking the dog or picking up your kids’ at school, or perhaps on your Two Lane travels out of town, have you, by …
Continue reading
MOTOTINTYPE: DOCUMENTING BIKER CULTURE IN AMERICA
Paul d’Orléans and Susan McLaughlin travel on Two Lanes, using a Sprinter van as a mobile darkroom, as they capture wet plate-style photos of motorcycles and their owners. Wet plate photography is an art that’s as old as the state …
Continue reading
THROWING CLAY: SUNSET HILL STONEWARE
This tiny pottery business in Neenah, Wisconsin creates half a million custom handmade stoneware pieces a year! There once was a time when everything in America was handmade. So in these days of cheap, mass …
Continue reading
DECADES PRESERVED IN PRINT OUT OF FORGOTTEN BOXES
Small town gallery transforming film into fully developed local history at W7thCo Gallery, Columbia TN For the first time in eight decades, Lee Burt, 87, is seeing photos, long thought to be lost, taken by her husband …
Continue reading
TAYLOR MCGUIRE — A NEW GENERATION OF PICKER
Born in the digital age on a mission to connect with the past The average number of people creating a social media account increases every day. As you read this, 2.46 billion people …
Continue reading
BLACKOUT SIGNS: THE ART OF OLD-FASHIONED ADVERTISING
Small town metal man Jay Gordon illuminates main streets and music festivals with his hand-made neon signs created in a 1930s barn near Austin, Texas. Do you know those YouTube videos of people cooking eggs …
Continue reading
JUNKSTOCK: 7 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
We love helping you plan your weekend adventures, Two Lanes road trips, and introducing you to people creating American made products. Every once in a while, we meet someone who is a combination of all three. Sara Alexander is …
Continue reading
HOBBIT-STYLE GULLY HUTS: FOREST GULLY FARMS
A tasty Tennessee hideaway where you can hang your hat when you hop off the Two Lanes. Fly Hollow Road is incredibly narrow as it cuts through a two-mile stretch of Tennessee back country about an hour …
Continue reading
CANNED PINEAPPLE: GOOD AS GOLD
Buddy Norton + Shelby Lowe live a Two Lanes lifestyle traveling in their van and painting gold leaf signs across America Nothing shines like gold. It is irreplaceable, matchless. We have always been drawn to it, believed it is …
Continue reading
JACOB WITZLING: HAND-MADE HOMES
These hand-built Washington cabins are livable sculptures made of moss and salvaged materials Pacific coast mornings are second to none. Sunbeams pierce the canopies of towering fir and hemlock just as that famous fog rolls down the mountains swallowing everything …
Continue reading
COBRACULT: HARNESSING THE WILD INTO HEIRLOOMS
Jessica Ilalaole left Hawaii at just 16 years old. Life on a little island in the middle of the Pacific can only hold so much adventure for a growing girl. Never having known anything but island …
Continue reading
WALLDOGS — THE ARTISTS BEHIND GHOST SIGNS
The comeback of nostalgic advertising in small town USA Have you ever caught yourself trying to decipher a ghost sign? You know — those extra large, faded advertisements for brands like Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco and Coca-Cola you …
Continue reading
MARATHON VILLAGE: MEET OUR NEIGHBORS
While you’re visiting our Nashville shop, be sure to check out our neighbors also located within Marathon Village – locally owned and all unique. Bang Candy Company The Bang Candy Company is a Nashville-based sugar-peddler specializing …
Continue reading
LINDSEY ROSS: DOCUMENTING MINE REMAINS USING CIVIL WAR-ERA METHOD
Twelve hundred feet up on the side of a mountain in Telluride, Colorado, hail has begun to fall on the head of photographer Lindsey Ross. She retreats as fast as her heavy oil-stained overalls will allow, back to her Ford pickup …
Continue reading
REBECCA CORREIA: WRITING IN THE WOODS
New Englander moves into a music legend’s hunting cabin where she unlocks inspiration to pen her best songs. Take Hillsboro Road out of Nashville and it will lead you south to Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, a town …
Continue reading
SOUTHERN FIREFLY COMPANY: LIGHTING UP TWO LANES
My Two Lanes brand is all about authenticating small town USA, and the best way to do that is to offer products made by the crafty, resourceful people who live there. It didn’t take me long …
Continue reading
GIFT GUIDES: 7 MUST HAVE PIECES FOR THE HOME
The countdown to the holidays has begun. That means lots travel time, family meals, and plenty of shopping. Instead of beating the crowds to the sales, fighting with someone over who had the leather gloves …
Continue reading
LONG HOLLOW: LOCAL LEATHER
If you’ve ever visited either Antique Archaeology shop, you know Mike is a guy who is all about details and stories. Combine that eye for detail with an appreciation for American artisans and you’ve got …
Continue reading
COMMUNITY IN COMMERCE: EAST NASHVILLE’S IDEA HATCHERY
What Southern Living magazine calls one of the South’s best comeback neighborhoods was not long ago referred to, with a hint of side glance, as “the other side of the river”. Neighborhood visionaries Bret and Meg MacFayden met …
Continue reading
REINVENTING THE WHEEL: HELIO ASCARI
Helio Ascari is no newbie to the bike world. If you’re into specifics, the last name is familiar to the racing world. Alberto Ascari, Helio’s uncle’s father, was a two-time Formula One World Champion. Also Antonio Ascari, …
Continue reading
THE LOST ART OF WRITING A LETTER
Letter writing is one of the oldest forms of communication. In fact, sending a letter was still the most relevant form of communication until 1965 until the very first email was sent at MIT. After email, we quickly …
Continue reading
VINTAGE ELECTRIC BIKES: SANTA CLARA, CA
Founder and Lead Designer Andrew Davidge of Vintage Electric Bicycles and his team go far beyond building bikes. They are establishing a brand that creates beautiful products that are built to last while putting smiles on the faces …
Continue reading
FAMILY OWNED SOUTHERN SALVAGE
If you’re traveling down South, just before you hit Birmingham, is the small town of Cullman, Alabama. It’s clear by the gigantic billboards advertising alongside the interstate that Southern Accents Architectural Antiques is quite an attraction that …
Continue reading
BISHOP GUNN: ROCK N’ ROLL REVITALIZED
Mike is all about discovering new music, and there is no better place to do that than in Music City. In Nashville, live music can be heard in every single honky-tonk, restaurant, and even out …
Continue reading
GOIN’ DUTCH
Ever wanted to know all the details and then some about Mike’s Holy Grail of Picks, the Von Dutch XAVW? Read the article below, originally published in Volksworld, 2013. — Goin’ Dutch by Chadly Johnson A VW-powered …
Continue reading
TIME TRAVEL: GALENA, ILLINOIS
Ask any local why they live in Galena, Illinois and chances are they’ll respond much like store owner Joe (a.k.a. Buzz the Drifter) Sprengelmeyer did on a recent trip we took to this picturesque town. …
Continue reading
TWO LANE TRAVEL: COLUMBIA, TN
Small Town Two Lane Travel: Columbia, Tennessee – Part Two Welcome to Part Two of Mike’s favorite spots in Columbia, Tennessee. (Did you catch Part One?) Proceed to read with an empty belly and an …
Continue reading
TWO LANE TRAVEL: MULETOWN COFFEE, COLUMBIA TN
Small Town Two Lane Travel: Columbia, TN Part One Muletown Coffee: Downtown With a Global View This week we want to share with you one of Mike’s favorite towns in Tennessee. Located about 40 minutes …
Continue reading
RUTHIE LINDSEY: BEAUTY IN BROKENNESS
Ruthie Lindsey- Beauty in Brokenness In her senior year of high school, St. Francisville, La. native Ruthie Lindsey pulled out in front of an ambulance which hit her driver side at 65 miles-per-hour. She suffered …
Continue reading