Cowboy Jack was feeling blue until he saw Red.

When Cowboy Jack Clement agreed to appear on Knoxville’s Blue Plate Special radio show, he thought it was just to be interviewed. So the legendary singer-songwriter was a little confused when he walked into the WDVX studios and found an audience waiting. Luckily Red Hickey was there to put him at ease.

“Cowboy Jack’s one of my favorite performers on Blue Plate Special,” Red says. “He’s a former Sun Studios engineer and producer who recorded with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. But he didn’t know we’d have an audience, so he was a little nervous at first. Once he started playing, though, it was great.”

Blue Plate With Red
As cohosts of the one-hour Blue Plate Special show, Red and Matt Morelock are used to working with famous—and not-so-famous—musicians. In addition to Cowboy Jack, they’ve welcomed stars such as Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and David Grisman to WDVX, one of Knoxville’s publicly supported radio stations.

“We’ve been doing the show for several years, and as word has gotten out, more people want to be on,” Red explains. “We have some of the biggest names in music as well as some lesser-known people. It’s a real mix. Because we’re a live show, we never know what’s going to happen.”

One thing she’s always sure of when WDVX serves up Blue Plate Special—there will be plenty of people in the audience. Four years ago, the station moved from its studios outside of Knoxville to downtown where it shares space with the city’s visitors center in the One Vision Plaza building.

“The show’s free, so folks will come in to get information on Knoxville and stay for the music,” Red says as she prepares for the day’s broadcast. “We just move the tables out of the center’s main room and set up some folding chairs.”