MDOT Public Information Officer Barrett Wilson

MDOT Public Information Officer Barrett Wilson joined The Extra Mile Podcast to talk about her previous gig as House PIO in the Mississippi Legislature, the return of college football and MDOT's Road to Game Day campaign, the agency's massive "The Big Fix" project on I-20 and I-55, and more.




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Creators and Guests

Host

Paul Katool

Paul Katool joined the Mississippi Department of Transportation Public Affairs Division in 2016 as the agency’s first Social Media Strategist. In 2019, he was promoted to Digital Media Manager, where he led the creation of MDOT’s nationally award-winning Extra Mile Podcast. In 2022, Paul assumed the role of Deputy Director of Public Affairs, which includes helping to run the day-to-day operations of the division.

Host

Will Craft

Will Craft joined MDOT in 2018 after serving on Senator Thad Cochran’s and Senator Hyde Smith’s staffs. Beginning in the Government Affairs role at MDOT, Will assisted executive leadership in matters of policy, stakeholder engagement, legislative affairs, and external communications. Since joining the Public Affairs team in 2023, Will is most often recognized as one of the “podcast guys”. The Award Winning Extra Mile Podcast is hosted by Will and Paul Katool, and produced by Drew Hall.

Guest

Barrett Wilson

Barrett Wilson is a Public Information Officer at MDOT. Prior to joining MDOT in 2024, she was the House Information Officer for the Mississippi House of Representatives for six years. Barrett holds a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of Mississippi.

Producer

Drew Hall

Drew Hall is an award-winning media producer with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, bringing more than 15 years of experience in video production, photojournalism, podcasting, and public affairs communications. A graduate of Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and an emphasis in Broadcasting, Drew began his career in television news as a photojournalist, working for WDBD Fox 40 and WJTV News Channel 12 in Jackson. During nearly 11 years in broadcast news, he covered breaking news, feature stories, and live events throughout Mississippi while developing the ability to tell compelling visual stories under tight deadlines. Drew joined MDOT in 2019, where his work has expanded from video production and photography to strategic communications, multimedia campaigns, podcast production, and production leadership. He serves as the producer and editor of The Extra Mile, MDOT’s podcast featuring conversations with transportation leaders, engineers, policymakers, and other voices connected to Mississippi’s transportation system. His work has received recognition from organizations including the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM), and the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC). His honors include awards for The Extra Mile, “Don’t Trash Mississippi,” “I-269: Five Years of Economic Boom,” and MDOT Remembers Hurricane Katrina. In his current role, Drew oversees photographer scheduling and production logistics, helps manage the division’s digital media assets and archiving systems, and coordinates drone compliance and operations. He is an Adobe Certified Professional in Digital Video using Premiere Pro and an FAA-licensed remote pilot. Drew’s passion is using video, photography, audio, and storytelling to make complex subjects accessible, connect organizations with their audiences, and showcase the people and stories behind Mississippi’s transportation system.

What is The Extra Mile Podcast?

Tune in to The Extra Mile presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Co-hosts Paul Katool and Will Craft take listeners inside the world of transportation infrastructure in Mississippi.

MDOT presents

the Extra Mile podcast.

Welcome into another edition of the Extra

Mile podcast

presented by the Mississippi

Department of Transportation.

I'm Paul Katool

and as always, joined by my co-host

Will Craft and Will.

I am fed up of waiting for football.

It’s been too long and we are.

We are really days away

and we have the perfect guest

to break this down.

We have MDOT Public Information

Officer Barrett Wilson,

who does our Road to game day

campaign, among many other things.

And so Barrett,

her office is literally right next door.

So she walked about ten feet

to be with us.

Barrett,

thank you so much for for making

time with us this morning.

Well, thanks for having me, y'all.

I've been a big fan for a while

and been dying

to talk to you guys on the podcast

to have some fun

answers to the questions at the end.

So amazing. Well, perfect.

We aren't sure

we'll get you in next to 2% on your next

good job.

Bump her up.

Well, listen,

softball right right out of the gate.

So what's your background like?

You know, where were you born from?

Mississippi.

And where did you go to school?

All right.

So kind of an interesting background,

I guess.

I mean, I like to think so.

So I'm originally from Batesville,

so shout out to district two.

Love, y'all.

Anyway, the Mdot office was right next

to the Piggly Wiggly.

Drove by it all the time.

Anyway, grew up there,

but then my dad did

economic development for a while,

so we moved around several times.

We lived in Indianola

for a little bit

and West Point for a little bit

and for a little bit,

but I call Batesville home,

where I graduated from high school.

Shout out to North Delta.

Go Green wave.

Okay. Yeah.

And then, you know,

just had to drive the,

you know, 30 minutes to Oxford

when I decided to go to Ole Miss,

went there and

didn't really know

what I wanted to do at first.

But my dad kept telling me, you know,

there's a new major called integrated

marketing Communications.

I really think you would enjoy it.

I was kind of one of those people

that I always liked school,

so I never really knew what I wanted to

do, but, yeah, started going to

the journalism school,

and I found out that I really liked it.

And, you know, it was

I thought it was a good fit.

And then I found public relations.

Got a specialization in that

shout out to Robin Street.

I'm just going to keep shouting

out everybody.

Anyway, and,

she was

a huge mentor to me,

especially my senior year of college.

And it's

honestly the reason

I ended up in Jackson. So love her.

Love that. Anyway.

Yeah, yeah.

Keep going.

I mean, so graduated with your,

you know, high marks, all A's.

Yeah.

You know,

whatever the highest great thing

was that magna cum laude,

whatever those things are.

Yeah. It was not that.

But you know, I tried.

We all did.

We all did.

But then

so you graduate and you come to Jackson

first job.

Where? Where did you go?

Yeah. So, I'll tell this story.

So it goes back to Robin Street,

who I was talking about.

You know,

she called me over

spring break and was like, hey,

have a former student,

named Clancy Smith.

She has been at the Capitol in this role.

I've had several former students

in this role.

She is getting married

to Noah Sanford, who is a representative.

So it's a conflict of interest.

They're looking for a new person.

Would you be interested?

Would you like to call Clancy?

And so I said, sure.

Yeah, I'd love to talk to her.

So,

I talked to her

for a while about it,

and she really kind of sold me on it.

And then, Yeah, then I called

my former boss, now,

Andrew Catchings,

and he was the house clerk.

He still is,

and told him I was interested.

He got my resume,

and then

I interviewed a couple times

and got the job,

and it was a great place to work.

It really was.

It was a great, great first job.

He was a great boss. And,

you know,

it was it was a good place to work.

I always really loved

the legislative process.

I loved,

you know, how a bill gets made,

like schoolhouse Rock?

You know, I'm just a bill.

But it was really fun

to actually get to see that in,

You know, that that whole process,

I guess, take place.

And really, I,

I loved getting to see

more than anything

that these are people

that really deeply care

about their districts

and about their constituents and,

you know, really wanting

to make a difference

in their communities.

You could really feel,

I mean, they they have a lot of fun.

It was a fun place to work.

But for the most part,

you could really tell

that there were people that, you know,

they knew

that they had been sent there to

do a job and to

be the best

representatives that they could be.

But yeah, so

I was the House information officer for

I think I was one month shy of six years.

Okay.

Which it's a crazy long

time to be in that job.

I think everybody else had been there

like 2 or 3 years before me.

But,

anyway, it was I did press releases

for all the members.

I did a weekly summary

where I just kind of summarized

what was going on that week, both

kind of what bills were being passed,

but also just tried

to put the legislative process

in layman's terms

for the most part,

because it can get pretty convoluted

if you're not in the world.

So I just explained,

like right now

bills are in committee,

so all the committees are meeting

and they're discussing them.

And then once

they get passed out of committee,

you know, they'll go to the floor.

So just trying to keep

everybody informed,

most of the

representatives would have me

send it to their, like,

little hometown paper.

So, you know,

if you throw out of town,

I probably could name the paper

and maybe the editor.

I used to be really good at this, so,

Yeah,

I would send it across the state, just,

just kind of talk about what's going on.

And then I took lots

and lots of pictures.

That was a lot of fun.

I got to meet a lot of interesting people

that way, but pictures were fun.

Anyway, it was a good.

It was a good time.

Just some of the

coolest things I got to do is

I got to meet Lucy Buffett,

the sister of Jimmy Buffett. Okay?

She was awesome. They.

After he passed away,

they wanted to honor him at the Capitol

for being a Mississippian. And,

you know, all the work he had done.

And she came to the Capitol

and she was just the nicest person,

just the sweetest, most down to earth.

And I, I just

I pulled her aside and I just said,

you know,

I know you

probably hear this all the time,

but like,

thank you for sharing your brother.

Like, with all of us, honestly.

Like, what a what a wonderful gift

he was.

And, anyway, I ended up

I kept in contact with her assistant

for a while

and just to, you know,

exchange photos and stuff

that I had taken of them.

But that was a cool one.

I got to meet Robert Ballard,

the guy that found the Titanic

at the bottom of the ocean.

Oh, wow.

They honored they honored him one day.

That was really cool.

I got to meet,

I'm trying to think who else.

It was just a chapel harp

that was on America's Got Talent.

They were really fun.

Yeah, it was a

it was a fun place to work.

You never knew

who was going to walk in the door.

So that was really fun.

Well,

in parlaying that

into what you're doing now,

we certainly hate to steal you

from a place that you loved so much

and were enjoying.

And I probably am getting too far away

from the microphone here.

We certainly had to steal you,

but we have very much

so enjoyed

you being a part of our team over here

and everything you just said.

I'm sure all the things,

the different hats you had to wear there,

the different roles

that you were working in,

the different topics and portfolio areas

really prepared you for for coming here.

You could certainly

speak to that, and I think you just did,

but maybe talk about that.

What's different now?

What are you doing now?

Well, the first thing I'll say,

I'll piggyback off of this.

Nothing could have prepared me more.

I guess it was just like a little sign

that I should be at Mdot.

Was that my very first session

at the house?

Was the special session with the lottery?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And the 18.

Yeah. 2018 and the modernization project.

So roads and bridges fixing all that.

So I got it was on the wall.

Then it was on the wall

and I got a crash course

in what Mdot does.

And,

you know,

how the legislature

can help with different things.

So it was it was a

they threw me to the wolves

basically a month into that job.

But it was it was a lot of fun.

And that was a highlight too, for sure.

Now I am a Pio here at Mdot.

I guess auxiliary player would kind of

be the best way to describe that.

I mean, y'all probably have a better way,

I don't know, but basically we have a

for the North,

the central and the South,

and I'm

kind of the fourth

and I just kind of play back

up to the other three.

I handle different campaigns

like Road to Game Day,

which we're going to talk about.

We've been in the midst of summer travel,

which is under me.

I do holiday travel,

and we just started a road

to game day baseball,

which was really fun.

I grew up a huge Ole

Miss baseball fan because of my family.

So, my grandfather played at Ole Miss.

So it goes back.

Goes back pretty far. But yeah.

Anyway, yeah, I have a good time.

We're hoping so.

Yeah, absolutely.

I want to real quick to mention so

Barrett underselling just a bit here.

You know she does

do a little bit of everything for us.

She is our auxiliary Pio

I think that's a great way to put it,

but not in the sense of just a backup

all the time.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

She serves as the backup

for the other three

in their respective roles,

but she herself has a full portfolio,

not the least of which

is Road to Game day,

one that we're really proud of.

And all of you had anything

before we get into it? Yeah.

No, no, Barrett, we we couldn't do it

without you.

Like the social media machine

is is a beast in itself.

So she helps out a lot with that.

And then emergencies can be pretty crazy

here. Like the winter weather campaign.

We probably could have

used 3 or 4 more people,

but we had a kind of core team

and and we.

Yeah, definitely

couldn't have done it without you.

Rode to game day.

Super pumped.

Like I just scared

Will at the beginning of

the show was like, what was Paul

going to say?

But my mind's always thinking

about college football.

And so it's a huge thing

in the state of Mississippi.

Absolutely.

Tell us about

why this campaign is so important.

Well, like you just said,

it is a huge, huge

deal in the state of Mississippi.

You know, we've got,

gosh, like

seven colleges that, like, play,

you know, at a big level.

We've got two

SEC schools, we've got Southern Miss

that has a huge football tradition.

You know, there's fans just

we don't have an NFL team.

I mean, I guess people, you know,

could be fans of the

the Saints or the Falcons or,

you know, what have you.

But really,

this is kind of our professional sports,

especially now within I'll,

you know, it

kind of is professional, but,

you know, in the same sense,

there's just such a long history.

I mean, I think that drew correct me

if I'm wrong in Davis

Wade Stadium,

like the second oldest

stadium in the country.

I think that's right.

So Mississippi just has a huge, long

tradition of college football.

So anyway,

we want to piggyback off of that

and just have a fun way of expressing,

you know, keeping Mdot at top of mind,

talking about safe driving,

talking about what's going on.

Really, we've started

pushing the traffic app a lot

with this campaign,

and I think that's a good tool

for people,

you know, as they're driving,

you know,

from Jackson

to Oxford or Jackson to Starkville or,

you know, Meridian to Hattiesburg,

what have you.

You know, they have a good tool in there.

Well, I call it

the the ultimate playbook.

We're gonna

we're gonna trademark that anyway.

But yeah, the ultimate playbook

as people are traveling,

you know, across the state

to go see their favorite teams play.

And this is that's amazing.

We love this campaign.

It's true

that so

the traffic information

you get on the traffic app,

that is the same thing that we have here.

Like we're not hiding anything.

So if you if you want to, you know,

avoid delays, you know

stay safe out there.

Download the app. Right.

Absolutely.

I am just beyond impressed with

Mdot traffic and the TMC.

It is 24 over seven.

They they are literally watching

and taking in information all the time.

And they are putting it on the traffic.

Com and then the traffic app,

it's the same information.

And like Paul said, it's

the exact same information that we get

that we are putting out

to the public as well.

So definitely follow us on socials.

But if you really want to know, exactly

what is going on across the state,

definitely download the app.

It it'll tell you everything

you need to know about driving.

Yeah, if I can, I want to say

two quick ones on the app.

You know,

I see a lot of these ads and commercials

these days.

Lot of times it's not like Facebook

or TikTok, something,

you know, and it'll scroll through like,

I think I saw Matthew Stafford,

you know,

with like the dose

like liver support stuff.

You know, you see there's

like, I don't know,

maybe he uses it I don't know.

But it's a paid celebrity,

you know, an influencer

to make an endorsement.

We legitimately use this app

like those of us in this division.

I mean, when I'm getting ready

to leave,

at the end of the day,

I genuinely excuse me,

but to help me out there,

genuinely do check it

and see where the traffic accidents are,

where the construction zones are,

if something's popped up

during the day,

you know,

and it happens,

we're we're putting the information

out to the media too. But it's a lot.

Sometimes we'll put an alert out

and then drive right into the alert to

I know we've all done that, but yes,

I mean,

we we legitimately are using this app

for our own purposes every day.

So I mean, first

hand account, we're for it.

And then two,

just the one thing

that Barrett mentioned,

you know,

the 24 over seven

nature of it, 100% serious.

There are people

working on that 24 over seven.

If you don't believe us, go sign up.

You can

you can get the emails

sent straight to your inbox,

and you will see those things

all hours of the night and day,

no doubt about it. Yeah.

And one of the

one of the coolest things

on Mdot traffic's

website is you can make your own commute.

And so you can kind of draw the area

you'll be driving in and kind of

if you want to tailor

it to,

you know, morning or afternoon rush hour

and just have the SMS text messages

sent directly to your phone

just letting you know, like,

hey, you might be driving into this.

So it really is a cool tool.

I can't,

I can't harp on that enough

that I'm just so pleased that, you know,

we can offer that

in our state to our citizens.

So it's really, really awesome.

That's right. The ultimate playbook.

It is the ultimate playbook.

I've been telling y'all,

it is aimed at traffic,

is the ultimate playbook on the road

to game day?

I'm very that's my tagline.

I'm sticking to it.

So so give us a tease if you will.

Sort of

maybe the launch of our road

to game day football for this year.

What's our first kind of big?

What's our big action coming up here?

Okay.

Well this past weekend

we kind of had like a little soft bond.

That's right. That's right.

Several of our schools had like a week

zero game I guess you would call it.

We had all the Swac schools then

I think Delta State played too.

So it kind of

had like a first little peek

into the college football, arena.

But then this weekend is Ole Miss,

Mississippi State and Southern Miss.

Here we go.

So anyway, we're excited.

I think it'll be good.

But yeah, we'll do,

you know, a press release just kind of

what comes with that.

And then I've been working with drew

on some videos that we're excited about.

We're rolling out some ads

that'll be cool for that.

So I think it'll be good.

It's a great time

and so excited for this week.

We got some big games.

We got

yeah LSU or LSU and Clemson

Saturday night.

Yeah the battles of the Death Valley

I love it. You know yeah okay.

Yeah they're both.

Death Valley did not know that.

That's a huge one.

Then we've got I will be going.

I'll be using the Mdot traffic app

to drive from Jackson in Tennessee.

You guys see Ole Miss play

play Louisville.

That's a big one. And state starts out.

Is that a home game drew

I think so they play Ulm correct.

So do they do.

So get that traffic app

and navigate your way to the road

to game day.

Absolutely. Yeah.

No it'll be

it'll be a good weekend

I'm excited I'm

I'm excited for this season.

I you know I had a baby last year.

And so I feel like

I kind of missed the end of Ole Miss,

you know,

fantastic season

because I was in the trenches

with a newborn.

So anyway,

yeah, the week that she was born,

was I wrote down in her baby book,

it was like,

so what's in the news right now?

And I said, where Lane

Kiffin will coach next year

because it was a national news, you know.

So anyway,

then the next week was the Egg Bowl.

And then you know

everybody knows what happened.

Everything broke loose after that.

But you just mentioned that the LSU.

When is that.

Is that in September or October

since September okay.

So coming up 10th coming up quick.

It'll be a good one.

I'm I'm excited.

We're not going,

but I don't think I could drag two

children into that.

But we're going to the weekend

before to Charlotte, so that'll be good.

So Paul will be in attendance

and I'm all the hype for all of us.

I'm so excited.

Me and my friends have rented a limo

to take us

back.

I think, you know, safety first.

So yeah, safety first.

So we are we are pumped about that game.

That's it's

been it's going to be a good one.

Crazy times.

Yeah I can't remember.

The last time

I've been

this excited about Ole Miss football.

I guess I'll take that back.

When I was a

freshman, actually,

when I was a senior in high school,

when I was applying to Ole Miss,

they had a contest

that they were giving away 25 free,

like student tickets,

and I was one of the winners. Okay.

So I'm like, yes, I got my tickets.

I don't have to pay the

like $100 or whatever it was.

You know,

it wasn't expensive,

but I got free tickets

that ended up being 2014

that we did so well.

And like,

you know,

we beat Alabama and I stormed the field.

It was probably the best day of my life.

Cool.

You know, it was it was a lot of fun.

So that was probably the last time

I was like real excited.

I guess

everybody should have a have

a storm of field

opportunity in their life for sure.

I just remember I,

I was with one of my guy friends

and then a friend that

lived down the hall for me,

and I started gathering up my things

and they're like, what are you doing?

And I was like, oh,

so we're about to run on the field

and they're like, no, we're not.

And I'm like, oh yes we are.

Yes we are.

And then, I guess that was when

Cinco

Golson, you know, intercepted that ball.

That was just unreal.

And that's

when I gathered up all my stuff

and they thought I was crazy.

And I was like,

no, we're literally about to

get onto that field. And we did.

And then almost got

taken out by the goalposts.

I was about six, and the night

there was like video of like a goalpost.

Like what? Going through downtown.

Oh, correct.

So I remember now

it made it to somebody apartment.

And then they started cutting it

and the university

started selling pieces of it.

So I was like, you know what?

Make that money.

I'm just saying no.

Yeah,

they're gonna figure out how to do it.

But anyway,

that was probably like the high watermark

for me.

We also, I stormed the field with my dad

at the 2012

Egg Bowl, and when I was in high school.

Sorry, drew.

He's a state fan.

Anyway, but.

Yeah,

so I have a lot of fun memories

with Ole Miss, and.

But, yeah, I haven't been

I've been really looking forward

to this season.

You know, there's a lot of hype around,

Trinidad and in Quan and all them.

And I think it'll be good.

Did you see they were on the sphere.

On the sphere? That was nuts. Great.

Shout out to Joe

Morsi

up in the way

of the northern part of the country.

Giving us the shout out,

sending us the text of that New York

dot director.

We we love our people.

Hey, listen, state should be excited.

Really good quarterback

Mario Taylor, southern

miss has a new coach.

So really a lot of good things

going on in college

football in Mississippi.

Want to pivot a little bit.

So we mentioned all of your duties

I don't know how we

forgot to mention this.

So road to game I'm sorry.

Not road to game day.

We've got so many campaigns the big fix.

So that is something massive

that we've been planning

for months and months.

And Barrett was very,

very involved with that.

Take the floor.

What is the big fix? Who?

I don't even know if I can get in.

I mean yeah, certainly help it.

Yeah.

So the big fix is this gigantic project

that we are working on in

Hines

and Rankin counties,

and we are going to be

working on 36 bridges and

121 lane miles, if I'm not mistaken.

Somewhere right there.

Yeah, it's about 16 miles

one way and 16 miles the other way,

if you're, you know, looking at them out.

But,

anyway, I think these,

these roads and bridges just,

you know, they've done their job

and they really need to be

they kind of need to be brought

into the 21st century at this point.

And with the way that we're doing it.

I think it's going to extend their life

a good bit, which is which is needed.

We don't.

It's such a huge

I mean,

we determined it's

the busiest corridor in Mississippi,

the busiest travel every single day.

So it really needs to last a long time.

It traffic interruptions are huge

in that area.

So, anyway, the fixes needed to happen,

but we also, at the same time,

we know that that can cause a headache,

which is why we wanted to,

you know,

come out with the big fix and talk about,

you know, how,

Sorry,

just kind of prepare people for what they

what's going to happen

the next couple of years and,

you know, kind of

get everybody on the same page.

And y'all know I love how I. Mike.

So that's right.

I'm excited.

We have a mascot and how I mike my right.

Yeah.

You might see more of

you might see a lot of highway Mike

Michael Flood he's

been on a podcast co-hosted before.

So he is going to kind of

guide us through this project.

Who is the Central District

Public Information officer?

We had some fun with it.

You might have seen a little bit ready

and maybe

next episode things change,

but we'll probably have

a little more information on the big fix.

Next time. I'll say one more thing.

Go to go.

You can find everything on it.

And of course, follow us on social media.

And you know, it's a beautiful sight

if you just also want

to just look at just

what a great

looking website I'm telling you,

it is a good looking site

and you can also find out

everything you need to know about it.

Yeah, look.

And like Paul said,

we will

we'll have another podcast coming up in

probably the next,

maybe the next episode,

but maybe even a little further out

where

we're going to really get into

some of the weeds on that project.

But I did just want to one thing

you just said, and it's

because it's just it's so perfect.

It is the busiest corridor.

There's so much going on.

Any type of disruption,

there is such a problem.

So that's one of the

I think the coolest things about

this is if we were to sort of

do this project

with traditional processes

and methods phased out work,

you're talking about over ten years

worth of a project on that corridor.

I mean,

it could be significant

closures, things like that.

Two and a half years

greatly reduces that interruption window

only going to have two closure

periods, 45 days real quick.

We've done a similar closure

like that before.

Didn't have a lot of hiccups.

It went real smooth by and large.

We received a lot

of good public feedback on it,

so we're hoping to recreate that.

But I just think that that's

one of the really cool things,

taking something that would

traditionally have taken ten

plus years,

and we're going to knock that thing out

and then,

and then going back,

I mean,

we couldn't

have done that without the legislature

giving us the tools to,

you know, doing the

is it CMC know what it's called?

So we are able to do it in a shorter

time frame.

So we do appreciate that.

It'll it'll be

it'll be a hiccup for a little bit.

But in the,

in the grand scheme of things,

I think it's going to extend

the life of that whole area,

the interstate system.

So we're excited about it.

While it is an unprecedented project,

I would say

we're taking unprecedented effort as well

to make sure that everybody out there

knows what's going on all the time.

Keep keep the folks updated,

the commuters, the freight industry.

It's going to be a good one.

We're proud for it.

Absolutely.

Well, hey,

we've had a lot of a lot

of big topics today this morning,

but we still have a lot of fun to have.

Maybe the most important

topics.

Will, why don't you take it away?

Yeah, I just pick one.

Let's go. Food today.

I'll go with the food.

I think I still had that one often, but,

you know, no stranger

to how we do things around here.

We love to eat.

We also love to hear about good places

to go eat.

Anytime we hit the road

for a podcast episode,

we love trying out a new spot.

We have hit lots of these spots.

Before we get any further,

make sure you get on the on

the site on YouTube,

give us a five star review

and you get the list

sent straight to your inbox.

All the places mentioned on the podcast.

If you just cannot bring yourself

to hit us with the five star review,

just reach out. We'll get you the list.

But we would very much

appreciate the review.

I mean, I think it's a good list.

It is. It's a great list. Absolutely.

So I got enough to add.

Yes, I was about to say.

So anytime you're around the state,

a place that you don't

get to go to often, something

maybe that you just really love.

You want to swing in, go.

Okay, well, I got a shout out.

My hometown folks in Batesville.

And if you're ever in the D-2 office,

this is a great place to go.

Okay. Court Street patio.

Okay.

It is near downtown,

like right near the square in Batesville,

and it's in an old house

and it's run by some family friends,

but it's only open for lunch.

But if you want a good,

like meeting three or like a,

like a lunch place

with like some good sandwiches and stuff,

they know how to do it. And someday.

Yeah, it is a frequent,

I know Morgan

Freeman used to be a frequent visitor.

I don't know if he's still is,

but anyway, it's a good spot there.

They're good folks there,

so it's always in a house

only open for lunch.

I already know it's perfect.

Oh, yeah.

It's in this, like,

awesome craftsman house.

Like, right next to downtown that.

It's a really cool vibe. Court Street.

What? Yeah. Court Street patio.

Court Street patio.

Pretty sure they don't

even have a website.

I think they just have a Facebook group

where they post the the menu for the day.

It's one of those. It's classic good.

Then word travels by mine

and they've got this

like like strawberry

butter that you put on the biscuits.

Oh my gosh, I'm telling you all

it's so good.

Yeah. What do you get there.

What do you usually get.

Gosh, it's been so long.

Everything I've ever had there is good.

You know, it changes because of,

you know,

doing the meat in three every day.

But I love that.

I feel like I've had some really good

chicken there.

That's a great place.

My,

another great place

that was not on the list,

but another town we lived

in was Indianola and The Crown.

It's also downtown if you've ever seen,

like, the Taste of Gourmet,

like little packets in,

like a gift shop or something

that's like artichoke dip mix or what

have you, it's that restaurant stuff.

They just have it in,

like a gift shop

adjacent, out of this world.

Best beer bread I've ever had in my life.

I don't even know what that is.

It is so good.

And, you know,

they serve bread and to everybody.

And then. But my favorite.

I haven't

been there in 20 years,

but they have this dish

called the catfish.

Allison, that is out of this world.

So you fall River.

Indianola

also only open for lunch,

but it is a throwback, really cool place.

It's got like a gift shop on one side

and like the restaurant on the other,

but it's a good spot.

Barrett is big on lunch,

I'm telling you know, much.

But then, trying to think I,

you know,

I got a shout out

some of my favorites

here in Jackson, too.

Sure.

Mine and Bo's

favorite place is Walker's.

That was where our first date was.

That's where we got engaged.

Oh, wow. Okay.

Yeah, it's a good spot.

We love Walker's.

And then

he used to live at the standard life.

So we would walk down to the Mayflower

all the time.

Yeah.

So that's a good spot to revitalize. No.

Oh, yeah.

There's a bathroom.

I don't know about the standard life,

but Mayflower looks great.

Yeah, it does.

And there's a bathroom

in the on the ground floor,

which is awesome.

But anyway, love both of those places.

Big, big thing.

So those are probably

my dinner spots here in town.

And then, you know,

you can't go wrong with like, a kiefer's.

We we live in Belhaven

now, so we walk up there all the time

from our house.

And then

we also do a lot of hanging out

at the town center and,

you know, go to Poppy pies, which,

we're, we're friends

with the people that own that.

And those are probably the best pizza

I've ever had.

But we're there literally every Thursday.

So if you want to know where I am

on Thursday night, often

see Paul across the street.

I'm there every day, their lives there.

I still have not hit up

poppy pies or the wing place there,

but they're definitely on my list.

Okay.

Apparently the wing place

has a new chicken sandwich. That's fire.

Okay.

And I have not had it yet,

but everybody I've talked to

says it's delicious.

Had it twice this weekend.

We're dragging. This is incredible.

This is so good.

Is what I'm looking for

when I'm asking for food recs

to make this a great place.

But specific menu items.

That's what I'm talking about.

And also

but you've also

you've got to take the girls

to Mayday ice cream

if you have not done that.

Yeah yeah

yeah, I've said that one to

that Parent trap

ice cream is unbelievable.

It's like cookies and cream,

but peanut butter ice cream,

because that's what they eat in the movie

and it is unreal.

I'm telling you. Made a nice cream.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm, I know a lot about food

and we're going to keep talking about it.

And then my other shout out

that was not on the list

that should be

is my favorite place in Oxford Volta.

Love y'all.

Just the Greek place isn't it? Yeah.

That's where we took you Will. Yep.

And I got chicken tenders so. Yeah. So.

So Bo turned me on to the cheese fries

with sriracha and the fed addressing.

So.

Good. Okay.

I've been going there for years.

You know,

just like being adjacent to Oxford

and then going to college.

But then my husband was like,

we got to get the cheese fries, man.

And he was not wrong.

Nice. Anyway.

Hey, we're not lying

when we say love food.

We went deep into it today.

It is awesome.

I told y'all I've been thinking

about this question for two years.

I have.

Excellent answers.

And then the other,

the other part of that,

of course, we talk about music

way too much here in public affairs.

So maybe a concert

you've seen over the years

that really stuck out in your mind?

Yeah.

One time, this is probably

like one of the coolest things

I've gotten to do.

There's probably two that,

like, have been my top two. But,

my husband

is like a huge music like junkie.

He's.

We have a lot of fun, but he,

we went to the Riley Center

that Mississippi State has in Meridian,

and it's this, like,

gorgeous old building.

I don't know if either of you

have ever been there for a concert,

but it's awesome.

And I saw this, like,

I think it was like

three different groups,

but it was like North Mississippi

All Stars and, and, Cedric Burnside.

It was a really, really good concert.

That's pretty cool. It was.

And it was like

the Raleigh Center is so,

you know, ornate and beautiful

and it's still big,

but it feels intimate, I guess.

But anyway, that was a really good show.

And then I saw a Kingfish one time at,

I guess, Dueling Hall.

And so that was really fun.

Blues girly.

We love it, I love it. Blues gal love it.

You know, grew up in the Delta I guess.

So true.

Makes sense.

I'm all for it. Yeah. Amazing.

But yeah but those are

I mean and then of course you know

I love like some top 42,

but I guess I just haven't

seen him in person. Sure.

Yeah.

Hey, those are some really good answers.

Lots of good music.

Lots of good food

in Mississippi, for sure.

Barrett,

thank you so much for stopping by

and talking.

Talking shop with us this morning.

Well, thanks for having me, y'all.

I mean, like I said, I'm a.

So y'all ever need another guest?

I'm all I'm here.

We appreciate it.

At the very least,

we'll be back in the spring with you

looking at ready to game day baseball.

And we kick that off.

But I'm sure there'll

be plenty of other things

we can get you in. Oh, yeah. Awesome.

Well, thanks.

Thanks again. Barrett.

We'll go ahead and wrap things up there.

Thank you to all of our listeners

and viewers

for tuning in to the Extra Mile podcast.

You can watch

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