'The Voice' winner Jake Hoot returns to Tennessee Tech to help document Cookeville's music scene
Years before winning Season 17 of NBC's "The Voice," Tennessee Tech University alumnus Jake Hoot stepped onto a stage for the first time because of a class assignment.
As a Tech student, Hoot asked Senior Instructor of English Andrew Smith whether he could write and perform a song instead of submitting a poem. Soon afterward, he was encouraged to perform at an open mic night hosted at Tech's Backdoor Playhouse and sponsored by UNCLE (unique/underrepresented new creative live experiences), a student organization advised by Smith and Kassi Thomas, an advisor in Tech's Launchpad Student Success Center.
"The first stage I stepped onto as a musical performer was right here on campus, at Tech's Backdoor Playhouse, and it was a dare," Hoot told students during a recent panel discussion at Tech.
This year, Hoot returned to campus not as a student discovering his voice, but as one of several musicians helping current students document and preserve the story of Cookeville's music scene.
Students in Smith's English 1020 classes spent the spring semester partnering with Tech's Volpe Library, University Archives & Special Collections, local musicians and community members to catalog the history of live music in Cookeville from the 1990s to today through oral histories, interviews, memorabilia and original publications.
The project recently brought together Hoot and fellow local musicians Andrew Buckner, a staff member in Tech's Office of Communications and Marketing, Cherokee Hope and Ben Higgins, a counselor in Tech's Center for Counseling and Mental Health Wellness.
Together, they reflected on the venues, performances, creative risks and relationships
that shaped their musical journeys.
Until his first classroom performance, Hoot said he was better known around campus
as a football player than a musician. After receiving encouragement to perform publicly,
he became a regular at open mic nights and gained experience performing before live
audiences.
Buckner, who attended Tech alongside Hoot, said their musical connection continued long after graduation. The pair have collaborated for more than a decade, including sharing the stage at the Grand Ole Opry during its centennial celebration in 2025.
Hope represents the next generation of the local music community students are documenting. In addition to studying pre-physical therapy at Tech, she performs throughout Tennessee and neighboring states and is one half of the duo The Foxfires with Buckner.
Beyond the panel discussion, students have interviewed musicians, promoters and venue owners while collecting photographs, flyers, posters, setlists and other memorabilia tied to the area's music history. The collection is expected to continue growing through future interviews and donations and could eventually become part of a museum-style exhibit in the university archives.
"This project helps preserve a part of Cookeville's cultural history that might otherwise be lost," said Megan Atkinson, director of Tech's University Archives & Special Collections. "The stories, photographs and artifacts students are collecting provide a unique record of the people and places that helped shape the local music scene."
The students' final project reflected the independent spirit of that music community: a collaboratively produced fanzine researched, written, edited, designed and published by the class.
Thomas, who partnered with students on the archival effort and serves as a WTTU campus radio station DJ, said the project gives students an opportunity to contribute to the community while gaining hands-on experience.
"As a history major and as a music enthusiast, I would have loved to have access to a collection like this when I was a student," she said.
Thomas hopes students leave the project understanding they can help shape the arts community around them.
"Most of the people we interviewed don't have a day job in the music industry — they're scrappy DIY-ers with a love for the arts," she added. "I want students to know that if they see a void in the community, they can create those opportunities themselves."
In addition to preserving local history, the project gives students hands-on experience in research, interviewing, writing and publishing while connecting classroom learning with the broader community.