Shootin' the Breeze with Tom McGuane

A very approachable, authentic, and intellectual Andy Griffith-esque man.

©2013, Andy Anderson Photography

Jan. 2, 2025

Thomas “Tom” McGuane. His name conjures up visions of Jimmy Buffet (his brother in law), “literary lion” Jim Harrison, Tom himself, and hedonistic Key West in the 70s. There’s even a documentary about that time, All That is Sacred. Or you may have heard larger than life Hollywood tales about him and Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, and Jeff Bridges. His finger prints are on 92 in the Shade, Rancho Deluxe, The Missouri Breaks, and others.

These days though, in his eighties, he’s a revered Montana writer with whom the New Yorker Magazine has first right of refusal on his fiction, who lives on a big ranch on the banks of the West Boulder River with his wife Laurie and a bunch of dogs and horse, and who counts his family and friends, fly fishing, preserving the land, and once, even riding into the National Cutting Horse Hall of Fame, among his greatest passions.

Teri’s Doing It! is honored to feature Tom in our first-year anniversary podcast. Instead of the stuff of rumor and legends, I found him to be a very approachable, authentic, and intellectual Andy Griffith-esque man. You will too.

It’s not so much of an interview really. Talking with Tom is more like sitting on the old front porch with a beverage, watching the river flow by, and shootin’ the breeze with an old friend. So, hook your boots over my metaphorical porch rail, and get to know Tom McGuane. You’ll be richer for it, as am I.