There’s nothing like a good bedtime story. You loved hearing them when you were a kid, and if you’re a parent now you probably love telling them to your own kids. A bedtime story is good for the listener and it’s good for the teller—a well-told tale fires the imagination and helps you relax and forget the troubles of the day.

Especially when there are so many troubles out there. Today we’re staying at home as much as possible and we’re looking for ways to stay entertained—and to stay sane. One way to do that is to dive deep into the true-life stories of the people and places around you. Texas Monthly has been telling stories for 47 years now, about heroes and villains, cops and criminals, singers and swingers. We thought we’d pull some from our archive and read them to you—actually have the writers of the stories read them to you.

Tune in each weeknight at 8 p.m. CT on Instagram TV or Facebook for a bedtime story from of our writers or editors. Christian Wallace kicked the series off with “The Jackie Robinson of Rodeo,” a profile of the great Myrtis Dightman, who broke the color barrier in professional rodeo five decades ago and became one of the best bull riders who ever lived. Katy Vine followed up with “I Believe I Can Fry,” about a database analyst who became the king of deep-frying.

J.K. Nickell started out this week reading S. C. Gwynne’s story “The Old Man and the River,” recounting the story of John Graves and the writer who followed in his waterlogged footsteps. David Courtney follows up tonight sharing Gary Cartwright’s “I Am the Greatest Cook in the World”  from our February 1983 issue.

Whether these stories keep you up and bring welcome distraction, or whether you literally use them to get to sleep, we think you’re going to enjoy spending some time with our writers and editors and the incredible stories they’ve put out into the world.

Enjoy, stay safe, and stay home—and feel free to send story requests to us at !