Small-town Selmer, told at table level.
The Town Life Podcast centers on everyday civic life around Selmer and McNary County. Conversations move from chamber work and town events to 9-1-1 dispatch, cooking, holiday events, and a cancer survivor’s organization.
PRESS PLAY
The Town Life Podcast is a local conversation show rooted in Selmer and McNary County. Its episodes follow the people, services, businesses, causes, and seasonal events that make up day-to-day town life. Brian Huff appears repeatedly in the openings, and John Smith is repeatedly introduced as the mayor for the town of Selmer. Together they speak with guests who bring specific pieces of the community into view. Jacey Rayburn talks about Jacey’s Wagon after cancer treatment at St. Jude and the children she saw moving between appointments. Dinah Swims, McNary County 9-1-1 director, explains dispatch work, ambulance call transfers, live camera technology, and the strain dispatchers carry home. Jessica Huff and Barry Bishop discuss the McNary County Chamber, tourism, membership, local talent, and what it means for the area to prosper. Chris Padilla brings cooking, family culture, recipes, photography, and mental health into the same conversation. Other excerpts point toward Christmas events, new businesses, radio appearances, and local organizations such as W.R.A.P. The show’s shape is loose but recognizable. It starts with greetings, coffee, weather, and familiar kidding before settling into the guest’s subject. That informality gives the civic material a neighborly scale. A discussion of chamber structure can sit beside memories of old pools and high dives. A conversation about emergency systems can still sound like people who know each other across town. The show does not chase national commentary. It stays close to roads, schools, storefronts, city work, county services, and the people carrying them. Serious topics appear, but the register remains plainspoken and clean. Its value is cumulative: episode by episode, it builds a practical portrait of a place through the voices already working there. For discovery, it functions as a direct line into small-town civic culture. It is local media with the chairs pulled close.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants grounded local conversation about civic work, community events, small businesses, service organizations, and local town life. It also fits anyone interested in how a town explains itself through neighbors rather than headlines.
What sets it apart: Many community shows summarize events from a distance; this one lets named local people explain the work in their own everyday context. Coffee, weather, memory, and public service all remain part of the same conversation.
The town Life is a show that brings you a slice of everyday living in rural America. We will be bringing you info about events and special guests every week.
Coffee with Selmer's mayor can turn into a look at how dispatchers see through a caller's phone.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A St. Jude survivor turns one lasting hospital memory into a local effort to help children through treatment.
The Town Life Podcast is at its best when Jacey Rayburn talks through the origin of Jacey's Wagon after treatment at St. Jude. Rayburn, a 2022 Adamsville graduate, remembers children moving between appointments in little red wagons, especially a boy whose legs hung out while his…
Chris Padilla ties cooking, family memory, photography, and emotion into a loose, local conversation about creative feeling.
Cooking works here as a way into memory, mood, and family history, as Chris Padilla argues that a recipe is never just teaspoons and tablespoons. The conversation links the taste of a dish to the person making it, the culture behind it, and what gets passed along over time.
A McNary County 9-1-1 director connects emergency technology with the steady care behind each call.
Emergency dispatch is presented as a local service shaped by technology, procedure, and the people who stay calm when help is needed. Dinah Swims, McNary County 9-1-1 director, explains how a live cell-phone link can give dispatchers access to a caller's camera and microphone,…
A post-hiatus Selmer conversation that mixes local momentum, high-dive memories, and the people keeping the town moving.
The episode treats the return from a short hiatus as a chance to settle back into Selmer's everyday rhythm. Brian Huff, John Smith, and Jessica Huff reconnect around what is happening in town now, while old memories keep tugging the conversation backward.
A clear, local-minded review of one county chamber's role, membership paths, and civic energy.
Brian Huff's conversation with Barry Bishop and Jessica Huff gives the McNary County Chamber a clearer public shape. Barry, the chamber's board president, and Jessica, its executive director, explain that the chamber is not a government office, which usefully answers the kind of…
Pancreatic cancer stories, told patiently.
Neuroendocrine cancer, explained from the pathology lab outward.
["Jacey Rayburn says a cancer diagnosis in August 2022 redirected her from UT Martin to St.
Chris Padilla ties Selmer's ice storm to the kind of damage he saw after the October 2019 hurricane, including a five-week power outage at his house.
["Dinah Swims, McNary County 9-1-1 director, says snow and ice create busy days because power outages and road hazards drive up calls.", "Brian Huff and John Smith push a practical checklist: fill the gas tank, keep a blanket, flashlight, water, and a charged phone in the car.", "Swims says McNary County handled 400-plus calls in a couple of hours during tornadoes, and her center can preload door codes, medical notes, and storm-shelter information into CAD.", "The episode also covers text-to-911, Prepared Live video links, 911-only phones, and a pending bill that would raise the phone surcharge from $1.50 to $1.86."]
Brian Huff, John Smith, and Jessica Huff reopen The Town Life Podcast for season seven, and Brian says the show had about 5,600 listens last year with more than 400 in September.
["The Town Life Podcast's 'A New Day' has Brian Huff, Barry Bishop, and Jessica Huff explaining that the McNairy County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism is a privately led 501(c)(6), not a government office.", "Barry says a chamber exists for 'economic prosperity,' while Jessica says the chamber links businesses, civic groups, tourism assets, and government partners across McNairy County.", "They describe First Friday in Selmer, a June-started event with live music, food trucks, extended hours, and shoppers coming from Memphis, Jackson, Waynesboro, and Tupelo.", "The conversation also covers Arts McNairy's cultural-asset survey, an Elvis story from Bethel Springs, the Carl Perkins recording, Big Hill Pond State Park, and youth leadership programs."]
Daryl Weatherford describes renovating Fox Chase Golf Course, including changing how its greens are cut and expanding tee boxes after a 2019 storm.
Brian Huff and John Smith open with a McNary County storm threat rated 3 on the Torcon scale, as Brian watches radar and wind shear.
Brian Huff and John Smith pair coffee talk about Peter McKinnon’s Golden Hour roast with a discussion of photography and local life.
Brian Huff and Jason Exum preview the free Superhero Day on April 30, now in its eighth year after a two-year pandemic gap.
Brian Huff and Jason Exum preview Superhero Day, a free event on April 29-30 that returns after a two-year COVID gap and will be its eighth year.
Brian Huff and John Smith start season five, episode one with no guest, covering spring-cleaning storage, Black Rifle Coffee's "Silencer" roast versus Folgers 1850, and a weather livestream that drew over 200 viewers.
The hosts of the Town Life Podcast introduce guests Chloe Finney and Shayla Russell, discussing the weather and local community.
The hosts of the Town Life Podcast welcome guests to discuss a new business coming to Selmer, with a lengthy introduction about coffee.
The hosts welcome two guests to discuss their radio appearance and the upcoming Home for Christmas event.
The hosts and guest discuss the aftermath of a storm in McNary County and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
The hosts of the Town Life podcast interview John Tobert about his new historical fiction novel 'Chasing Jack Boone' set in McNerney County.