Shelton Brown is Determined to Prove There’s More to the Twelve Tribes Than You Know
Like many residents of Chattanooga, Tennessee, I’ve eaten at the Yellow Deli, the beautifully rustic restaurant on McCallie Avenue that serves delicious sandwiches and salads, sumptuous desserts and refreshing fruit juices, smoothies, teas and matés. And like many Chattanoogans, I’ve heard about its association with the Twelve Tribes, a mysterious group of hippies that was started here by Gene and Marsha Spriggs in the 1970s. The rumors for years have been that it’s a cult.
Like a lot of people who have a Yellow Deli in their town (there are nine in the United States and six others scattered across the world, as well as one bakery in Plymouth, Massachusetts), I’ve just enjoyed the food and not worried much about what I’ve heard.
But that’s not the case for Shelton Brown.
After eating dinner at the Yellow Deli about a year and half ago, the independent photojournalist had a lot of questions about the Twelve Tribes. And what began as a small photojournalism project has spawned his recently-announced podcast, The Twelve, which will make its debut this December.
