Growing up in South Carolina, hand-written “boiled peanuts” signs on the side of the road were a constant visual. The landscape is dotted with them and nearly every convenience store has a crock pot simmering with boiled peanuts. There was never a shortage, however, I never ate them as a youngster. In fact, I thought they were gross without even ever trying them. Shameful. It wasn’t until I brought my Pacific Northwestern born and bred soon-to-be husband to the south for the first time nearly fifteen years ago that I actually tried them, as I had to give him a complete southern experience. It was then that I realized how good they actually are.

When we first moved to Nashville eight years ago, we stumbled across a big bag of green peanuts at the farmer’s market and Grant was excited to make his own boiled peanuts. He did and they were delicious. But then we never saw green peanuts again until just the other day. Come to find out, you can also make these with dried peanuts in the shell which are much easier to find.

Green Peanuts

Here’s Grant’s recipe. They are so good, we ate the whole pound in one sitting!

Hot & Smoky Boiled Peanuts
1 lb Green Peanuts
2 Tbsp Smoked Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
½ tsp Cayenne

Mix spices in a pot of water. Add Peanuts. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours.

Boiling Peanuts

Boiled peanuts make me think of road trips and speaking of road trips, our friend and fellow Nashvillian, JP Harris, is one of the hardest working road dogs we know and he has a brand new album out! His music is country- I mean real honky-tonk country and very fun (I’m talking like Jerry Reed fun), and he’s one of the nicest guys around. You can pick up his new album, Home Is Where the Hurt Is, from Cow Island Music here. And you can be sure to hear JP Harris & The Tough Choices live because they are always on tour. You can see a full list of all the live dates on his website, here.

JP Harris & The Tough Choices at the Basement. March 2014.

Also, I am anxiously awaiting the new release from Margo Price. I’ve mentioned Margo before, here, back when her band Buffalo Clover’s latest cd was released. Margo has had a side country band for sometime now called Margo & The Pricetags. They were always fun but it wasn’t until she decided to make that her main musical focus that I really took notice. That’s become one of my favorite things about having lived in Nashville just as long as I have- I get to follow along and watch as many songwriters and musicians discover who they are and begin to hone in on their talents. It all starts to unfold right in front of you and it is so exciting to be a part of.

Margo Price with Mark Sloan on guitar. Basement, March 2014.

So far, Margo & The Pricetags have recorded a single titled, Since You Put Me Down, and she is currently working on a full album. Rolling Stone Country just posted her first video for that single and you can see it, below. It blew me away. I can’t wait to hear more, Margo! (And also, you can find out more about Erin Rae who lends beautiful backing vocals on this song here. You will hear much more about her on this blog and elsewhere soon, too. We love Erin!)

Fall is here. It is officially soup making weather! More recipes and music recommendations coming soon…