New show on DIY Network focuses on Kentucky company

LANCASTER, Ky. — A Kentucky-based company that also has stores in East Tennessee is getting its own television show on the DIY network.

The Advocate-Messenger Lancaster-based Rocky Top Log Furniture and Railing will be the sole focus of the new show called “LogHeads” that is expected to air this summer on the network, which is owned by Knoxville, Tenn.-based Scripps Networks. Media Meld Studios is producing episodes of the show, which will be a docu-series.

The first episodes will focus on how the company builds a log cabin at Rough River Lake in Breckinridge County, Ky., from scratch for a family who lost their home in a fire while keeping other aspects of the business running normally, including stores in Dollywood and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

“We will show them Kentucky craftsmanship at its best,” says Tommy Mitchell, who owns the business with his wife, Gwen.

The idea for the show came from the Mitchells’ son, Jason, who had help from a college friend, Kentucky-based director Jason Epperson. The worked together to pitch the reality-style show to Media Meld Studios and DIY Network, which kept Epperson as an executive producer.

The name of the show came from Rocky Tops daily use of logs for furniture, Gwen Mitchell said.

“It’s a name we came up with years ago,” she said, with a smile. “It’s what they call themselves.”

Mitchell said she hopes the show creates more “LogHeads” across the nation, which could expand their business and lead to more jobs.

The company started up two decades ago in Tommy’s garage. It has grown in that time to employ 50 workers and open outlets in Tennessee.

It won’t be the first national attention the company has received. Some custom-made barstools made by Mitchell and his employees were featured in a 2010 episode of HGTVs “The Antonio Project.”