Moxietalk With Kirt Jacobs

A little “back-story” on how BLACKENED came to be as follows: BLACKENED began as a collaborative effort between Metallica & Master Distiller & Blender Dave Pickerell. Sadly, Dave passed away in late 2018, shortly after the launch of BLACKENED. In 2019, Master Distiller Rob Dietrich joined the team as Master Distiller & Blender taking the helm as Master Distiller & Blender in Dave’s passing and guardian of Dave’s legacy blend. As unapologetic masters of the craft in their respective fields, they’ve built world-renowned legacies by carving out new spaces and bringing their singular, incendiary perspectives to everything they touch. Unlikely collaborators on the surface, their shared creative fire and dedication to craft make them anything but. Together, they’ve created BLACKENED – an unconventional whiskey of uncompromising quality. Rob serves as the guardian of Dave’s original recipe and brand steward moving into the future. He’s widely known for his ability to fuse traditional distilling metho

Join Kirt Jacobs as he talks with the crowd at Railbird!

The blues is music for all time—past, present, and future—and few artists simultaneously exemplify those multiple temporal moments of the genre like North Mississippi’s Cedric Burnside. The Mississippi Hill Country blues guitarist and singer/songwriter contain the legacy and future of the region’s prescient sound stories. At once, African and American and southern and Mississippian, these stories tell about love, hurt, connection, and redemption in the South. His newest contribution to this tradition is I Be Trying, a 13-track album treatise on life’s challenges, pleasures, and beauty. “Life can go any kind of way,” Burnside says. He would know with almost 30 years of performing and living blues in him. Burnside’s blues inheritance, the North Mississippi Hill Country blues, is distinct from its Delta or Texas counterparts in its commitment to polyrhythmic percussion and its refusal of familiar blues chord progressions. Often, and especially in Burnside’s care, it leads with extended riffs that become sentence

Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Liz Cooper never dreamed she would be the Folk-Blues Singer-Songwriter she is today, with her distinctive voice — and androgynous, salty, caramel drawl — captivates one’s soul it has been said. Still, the interplay with bandmates Grant Prettyman on bass and Ryan Usher on drums fascinates. In fact, from a young age, everyone believed she was going to be a professional golfer. Golf was just a hobby for her, though; music had always been a passion. She only pondered and dreamed of it, but it wasn’t until her senior year of high school that she decided she wanted to pursue music as a career. So, leaving behind her friends, family, and college golf scholarship, Liz Cooper packed her things and moved to Nashville, TN. Known for her unique guitar picking and haunting tone, she is steadily making a name for herself in the music industry. Liz is a self-proclaimed “the happiest girl,” Liz ironically describes her lyrics as dark and soulful. Growing up on classic rock artists like The

A native of rural western Kentucky’s rolling hills and coal mining communities, Grayson Jenkins is a singer-songwriter who now calls Lexington, KY, his home. After attending the University of Kentucky and working there for four years, Grayson walked away from his salaried job in 2017 to chase his dream as a full-time musician. With his recent ‘Cowboy Dream’ EP, Grayson is poised to reach even more ears and hearts in the coming year. This release will be the first in a wave of new music recorded with an A-list band. The team included: Miles Miller (Sturgill Simpson), Jesse Wells (Tyler Childers), Nicholas Jamerson, Kenny Miles (Wayne Graham), and many more. A late-comer to the music world by most standards – Jenkins played his first show and wrote his first song at 21. Now 28, Jenkins has two albums under his belt and feels more focused and energized than ever about his music. His lyrics are inspired by the words of Mark Twain, who always said, “Write what you know.” In keeping with this motto, Grayson’s so

Samantha (Sam) Fore is a first-generation Sri Lankan-American from Lexington, Kentucky. She started her pop-up restaurant in 2016 after traditional Sri Lankan brunches in her home outgrew her dining room. Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites™ pop-up menus include Sam’s spin on Southern classics and riffs on her mother’s time-tested recipes. Tuk Tuk is one of the few representations of Sri Lankan cuisine in the United States and reflects Sam’s Sri Lankan upbringing in the American South. Her work has been featured in Food & Wine, Taste of the South, and Fine Cooking magazines. She was selected as one of Southern Living magazine’s 2020 Cooks of the Year and was named as one of Plate Magazine’s 2018 Chefs to Watch. She also serves as Director of Technology for the LEE Initiative.

Being Master Distiller is something Brent Elliott says is hard to call a job because, to him, “it’s a privilege and a passion to be a part of Four Roses.” A native of Owensboro, Kentucky, Brent became Master Distiller at Four Roses in September 2015. He is uniquely qualified for this role… after all, he’s been involved in Producing Four Roses premium Bourbons since he began with the company in 2005. As the Distillery’s Director of Quality, Brent’s years of experience with Four Roses include everything from applying his Chemistry degree in production, managing barrel inventories, production planning, to selecting barrels for special Single Barrel bottlings and Limited Edition products. Brent applies his on-the-job experience to his role of Master Distiller, ensuring that each Four Roses product has the fruity, smooth and mellow character, along with a hint of spice, that the brand has become known for around the world. Every stage of the production process is critical, and you’ll find Brent’s heart and soul in

Kirt attended the Railbird Festival in Lexington, KY. Come see who he got a chance to talk to.

Kirt talks about the history behind an iconic movie character, James Bond.

Leah graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science & minor in Nutrition from Miami Univ. in Oxford, OH. She skated on the Varsity skating team & qualified for Team USA representing her country in Croatia, Prague, & Switzerland. After graduating, Leah became a professional figure skater with Holiday on Ice touring in Europe, a make-up artist & even a medical sales rep., she even continues to skate for pleasure & gives back to her community by coaching & mentoring young skaters in Louisville. In 2018 she put her college degree to work & became a Certified Personal Trainer at Proformance. In 2019 Leah started her own online fitness business, Leah Travisano Fitness LLC.  Since inception, she has helped hundreds of women reach their goals of becoming healthier, stronger, & more confident. I really admire Leah’s training philosophy of a very individualized approach to meet her client’s needs. Through skating, she learned the importance of mental toughness, goal setting, &am

Tawanda is the System Director Business Intelligence, Clinical Value & Healthcare Analytics at Norton Healthcare, with oversight of a team of analysts that use business data, computer techniques & statistical methods to provide insight into business performance & suggested areas of & methods of improving operations. Tawanda joined Norton Healthcare in 2015. Before joining Norton healthcare, he helped implement the Epic EMR (electronic medical record) systems in consultant roles for numerous healthcare organizations, including Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, Sutter Health in Sacramento, California, the Univ. of Miami in Miami, Florida, Lahey Health System in Boston, MA, Inova Health in Virginia, Premier Health in Dayton Ohio, & San Diego Children’s Hospital in San Diego, CA. He began his career as an Implementation Specialist at Epic Systems in Madison, WI. Tawanda is a highly active member of the community. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Louisvi

Kirt discusses the events of 9/11 and his story 20 years later.

Join Kirt as he explores the history of Labor Day.

Adria embodies hope, integrity, humanity & has focused her career on lifting some of society’s most vulnerable populations & being of service to others. She is a dedicated & well-respected servant leader with more than 26 yrs. of hands-on experience in both the public/private sectors. Her proven ability to lead efforts toward reform & work collaboratively across a wide range of stakeholders has served her well in her current position of Chief Impact Officer for Metro United Way and prior roles held in KY. State Govt. & Lou. Metro Govt. Her leadership has been instrumental in bringing about expanded service provision in many areas, including neighborhood revitalization supports, preventive services for children & youth at risk of abuse or neglect, comprehensive services for children & youth with greater behavioral & developmental needs, employment opportunities for youth aging out of foster care, & dev. of workforce opportunities for social services disciplines. Also, Adria

Tom is a member of the KY. law firm of Stoll Keenon Ogden, where his legal practice focuses on mgt.-side labor & employment law.  Multiple times he has been recognized as 1 of the top 50 lawyers in the Commonwealth of KY. by Super Lawyers. Tom was a funder of Restorative Justice Louisville. He has also served as Pres. of the Louisville Bar Assoc. & Bd. Chair of Leadership Lou. being recognized by that organization as 1 of Louisville’s “Connectors.” As well as yours truly back in 2010. Tom was instrumental in having a marker dedicated to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the lincoln memorial.  He advanced a similar resolution naming Thomas Merton Square in Lou. where Merton had his famous epiphany. Tom served on the Steering Committee for the 2013 visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Lou. During that time, he served as co-host for Compassionate Lou.  For that work, Louisville was named the model compassionate city for multiple years and Tom received the Intnl. Ht. of Compassion award f

Join Kirt as he talks about the history of Friday the 13th.

Her professional & legal accomplishments are vast, BUT that is only part of her origin story.  You see, Rebecca was diagnosed, JUST WEEKS before her daughter’s 1st birthday, with a VERY rare blood cancer called Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm, better known as (BPDCN)-an acute form of Leukemia. This disease is SO RARE & SO AGGRESSIVE; there is NO standard recommended course of treatment. RARER STILL, is the fact that the OVERWHELMING majority of BPDCN patients are older men!  WHO KNEW? Understandably devastated by this prognosis, but true to form, Rebecca refused to yield, & she found hope in a brand new targeted therapy through an FDA-APPROVED clinical trial. Thus, after 4 rounds of a clinical trial drug, Rebecca received an allogeneic bone marrow transplant-the ONLY potential cure for BPDCN, & due to the selfless donation of a complete stranger, she is still alive today to tell her story! Now that is just “1/2”-if you will-of Rebecca’s backstory. She was the 2014-2015 President o

Workforce thought leader Cara Silletto, MBA, CSP, works with organizations of all sizes to reduce unnecessary employee turnover by bridging generational gaps and making managers more effective in their roles. As a Millennial herself, she knows first-hand what it is like to have a heightened sense of entitlement, very little employee loyalty and dependency upon her smartphone. However, unlike many Millennials, Cara has figured out exactly how these attributes were cultivated during her formative years, and she now shares that story with leaders across the country, including teams at Toyota, UPS, Cintas, and Humana. Cara learned early in her career, from her Baby Boomer and GenX mentors, what “professionalism” meant to them, and absorbed critical information about management expectations during her first decade in the business world. She then went on to earn her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the top-ranked University of Louisville Entrepreneurship program, lived overseas teaching German executi

As a U.S. Army Combat Veteran of Iraqi Freedom, he served honorably for 9 yrs. & was a Non-Commissioned Officer before getting out of the Army in 2008. After leaving the Army, Jeremy went to school at Mid-Continent Univ. studying Bus. Mgt. & started a career in Oper. Mgt. in the Manufacturing & the Supply Chain Logistics Industry. As a man with an Entrepreneurial heart, he wanted to do more to support the Veteran community & founded in KY. the Veteran’s Club Inc in KY. & has assisted over thousands of Veterans in a multitude of ways such as their nationally recognized Equine Therapy Program, Career Transition for Vets needing employment, Family Outreach Program, & is currently developing the Camp Restoration Community to house & heal homeless veterans. Veteran’s Club Inc also works heavily in veteran’s outreach in the community including raising money for Veteran causes & providing meals, job opportunities, & teaching leadership classes to homeless veterans throughout KY. I

Having grown up in Texas, Jarrod played many organized sports all such as football, baseball, golf, track, & tennis. He then graduated from Meridian High School in Meridian, TX., & joined the US Navy obtaining an SSBI-(which stands for Single Scope Background Investigation, for a Top Secret Clearance-serving 4 years & did a combat tour in Iraq/Persian Gulf…not TOO shabby! Jarrod then got out of the Navy & started attending McClennan Community College, while working as a Defense Contractor L-3 Communications, doing security. Part of duties included security for President George W. Bush when he would go to his Crawford, Texas Ranch.  He even worked with Secret Service & Local law enforcement agencies. He then transferred to the Univ. of North Texas, spending 2 semesters, before transferring to Tarleton State Univ., which is a part of the Texas A&M System, where he graduated in 2008,  with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Political Science. While at Tarleton he even joined the esteemed b