Hohenwald native Debbie Landers has been named executive director of Nashville's Big Back Yard, the new regional movement promoting rural quality of life and tourism in a dozen small communities in Middle Tennessee and The Shoals region of North Alabama. NBBY received extensive media coverage recently with the national launch by spokesman Mike Wolfe, star and creator of HISTORY's "American Pickers."

NBBY is a region anchored by 100 miles of the scenic Natchez Trace Parkway that connects communities with populations under 5,000 - from Leiper's Fork, Tenn., down to The Shoals of Alabama. Nash...