ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keel Hunt is a columnist for The Tennessean in Nashville, part of the USA Today Tennessee network, and the author of four books…

• Coup: The Day the Democrats Ousted Their Governor (2013, Vanderbilt University Press)

• Crossing the Aisle: How Bipartisanship Brought Tennessee to the 21st Century and Could Save America (2018, Vanderbilt University Press)

• The Family Business: How Ingram Transformed the World of Books (2021, West Margin Press)

• A Sense of Justice: Judge Gilbert S. Merritt and His Times (2023, West Margin Press)

He is completing a new work, forthcoming from the University of Tennessee Press, about the uncommon friendship of two important Tennesseans of the 20th Century — Republican Senator Howard H. Baker Jr. and the Democratic journalist John L. Seigenthaler.

Keel was a 1971 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, where he majored in English and history. (In 2025, he was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus at MTSU.)

He earned his master’s degree in 1975 from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He has been a reporter, editorial writer, city editor, and Washington correspondent for The Tennesseean. His “Field Notes” blog on Substack offers commentary on politics, government, and culture.

In 1979, Keel became Special Assistant to Governor Alexander of Tennessee. He later served as staff director of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. He is a Trustee of the Country Music Foundation, which operates Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and has served on the Board of Visitors of MTSU’s Honors College.

Keel and his wife Marsha have two adult children and three grandchildren. They live in Nashville.