This month's Business Tennessee Magazine cover story (free registration required) is an interesting article on Tennessee bloggers.

The article talks about the growing influence of blogs and the interplay between traditional media and blogs. There are also some interesting statistics. (According to the article, one in four American workers visits blogs and "on average spends 3.5 hours, or 9% of the work week, reading them.")

The article explains blogs to its readers by profiling a few of the state's prominent bloggers, including Glenn Reynolds, Brittney Gilbert, KNS's resident pro blogger Michael Silence, and others.

Then there's this sidebar with a bit of nostalgia (excerpted with permission):

In Memoriam

[R.] Neal, a bank software designer in Blount County, was once Tennessee’s most famous liberal blogger, known and respected across the national blogosphere. The author behind "SouthKnoxBubba," Neal was also anonymous, a decision he made for fear his blog’s liberal views might damage his ability to earn a living in conservative East Tennessee.

It all came crashing down last June when Neal "outed" himself on his site and summarily shut down his blog. Following the posting of some reader comments on his blog disparaging an article published in Knoxville’s alternative weekly newspaper, the Metro Pulse, Neal received an e-mail from Pulse publisher Brian Conley stating that if Conley wanted to “manipulate” Neal, he would "threaten to run a cover story on bank software designers and the blogs they create." Neal promptly posted Conley’s e-mail on his Web site, revealed his identity and didn't post again. Conley later apologized for the e-mail.

Beyond his blog’s past status as a liberal oasis, Neal’s legacy in the Tennessee blogosphere is also secure for the fact that he founded "Rocky Top Brigade," Tennessee’s association of blogs—the only statewide association of bloggers in America.

SouthKnoxBubba’s trademark wit and wisdom is not lost to the blogosphere. Neal recently launched KnoxViews, a group blog where he publishes under his own name.

Fans of Neal’s work can now also find it periodically published on Durham, North Carolina-based blog Facing South, described as a "blog for progressive Southerners."

A couple of minor inaccuracies, but overall a pretty nice tribute, I thought.

But never mind the past. I think KnoxViews is progressing nicely after less than two months on the air, and hopefully we can keep things moving forward in a positive direction. Thanks to our readers and contributors for helping make it happen!

(Thanks to SayUncle for bringing the article to our attention.)