Tennessee Trail: Faith, Crisis, and Bill Lee's Journey to Lead the Volunteer State

An insider’s account of how political outsider Bill Lee rose to the Tennessee governor’s office—and faced an extraordinary succession of crises that tested his faith, convictions, and leadership.

What happens when a businessman who has never run for office wins a major election, only to face one crisis after another, and with the well-being of seven million people hanging in the balance?

When businessman Bill Lee became Tennessee’s fiftieth governor, no one could have predicted the challenges that the state would face. Devastating tornadoes, a global pandemic, civil unrest, and a school shooting that rocked the nation would test his leadership, his convictions, and his team, yet his faith would remain steadfast.

Author Butch Eley had a front-row seat to it all. Having grown up playing on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol, he returned decades later as the state’s chief operating officer and later deputy governor, serving beside a first-time candidate almost no one expected to win.

Part character profile, part memoir, part political history, The Tennessee Trail refuses to sanitize Governor Bill Lee’s years at the helm of the Volunteer State. Eley writes candidly about the mistakes, the critics, the unfinished business, and the accomplishments that will shape Tennessee for generations. He takes readers inside the decisions behind the state’s tornado and COVID responses, the tension between protecting lives and preserving livelihoods, and the policies, partnerships, and legislative fights that defined an administration. Along the way, Eley reveals how the Lee’s personal losses shaped his leadership and how he and the First Lady navigated personal crises while facing public ones.

Never perfect but always present, Governor Bill Lee and those who worked alongside him served Tennesseans through eight tumultuous years. Butch Eley puts readers in the room with the men and women whose decisions shaped the state and led the nation.