Walter Anderson was one of the most prolific and visionary artists the South has produced. His drawings, paintings, sculptures and ceramics reflect his mantra: “In order to realize the beauty of humanity, we must realize our relation to nature.” Beginning at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, this episode takes viewers on a search for beauty and truth. Along the way, the team pulls oysters from the water off Eagle Point and spend an idyllic Sunday at Wat Buddhametta Mahabaramee, the Thai temple in Gautier, where monks in saffron robes wok-fry cashew chicken for weekly fundraisers and a beautiful woman named Jume Bessier welcomes all.

Rudy Cisneros still looms large on the east side of Austin, TX, a city within this rapidly-changing city. At Cisco's, open since 1950, the migas and huevos rancheros are good as ever. Also on the east side, we track Kareem El-Ghayesh of KG BBQ, a new arrival from Cairo, Egypt, who has learned to two-step and introduced Texas to pomegranate-speckled ribs.

TrueSouth travels The Black Belt of Alabama, southwest of Tuscaloosa, to eat barbecue and witness what art makes possible. Visiting York, Gainesville, and Gee's Bend, we eat pig tails and pork ribs with pitmasters who bridge the gap between craft and art.

The behind-the-scenes episode returns. Among the highlights: A rolling cocktail party, staffed by Jesse Edge, son of host John T Edge, who joined the crew this season as a production assistant. And an indulgent dinner of oysters on the half shell and royales with cheese at a new restaurant set behind an old train station, Elsie's Daughter in Chattanooga, TN.

Jasper, AL, was, for the longest time, a coal mining town. Father-and-son stories from the Johnson and Evans families help the crew see what has changed and what has remained. Two restaurants serve as the lodestars: At Brown's Deli and Package Store they bake biscuits and sells half-pints. Across town at Bayou Fresh Seafood, Zhu Jianjun and his crew serve spicy tuna rolls and fried pickles.

In Little Rock, AR, Jordan Narvaez introduces the crew to his people and places. They begin at El Super Pollo, the chicken al carbon tent he runs with his brother, set in front of their western wear store. Traveling southwestern Little Rock in Jordan's pickup, they drink micheladas, eat enchiladas in the style of San Luis Potosi, and slurp homemade watermelon ice cream.

Season 8 kicks off in Clinton, the small Georgia town where host and writer John T. Edge was born. During season 3, Edge began writing a memoir. House of Smoke, which publishes this September, brought Edge back to reconnect with the places and people that made him. The restaurants that catapult Edge back in time are Nu Way Weiners in nearby Macon, where he and his father ate chili-slaw dogs; and Fresh Air Bar-B-Que near Jackson, to which father and son traveled on pilgrimages. On this return to where he began, Edge asks honest questions about home and belonging that transcended the personal to become universal.

The team then went on to follow author George Singleton through the Upstate region of South Carolina, walking the aisles at a flea market in Pickens, eating chili dogs at Holmes Hot Dogs in Spartanburg and Saxon's Hot Dogs in Abbeville. George writes short stories for a living. He reminds them that TrueSouth shows are short stories about home, married to music and pictures.