Southern Songs and Stories

One of the best things about conversations are the pleasant surprises they can reveal. Taking from previous experience with Sarah Shook — being familiar with their aesthetic, having listened to all o…

For someone who is admittedly not a fan of reading books, Joshua Ray Walker conveys emotion and portrays characters so well that his songwriting presents what at first would seem like a kind of strik…

Let me compare apples and oranges for a moment.

For a long while now, I have been producing episodes of Southern Songs and Stories every two weeks. To make each roughly half an hour long episode take…

Even though they have bragging rights, The dB’s will probably not go there. They could, though, because their band accomplished something that very few have done: make great music that sounded like …

We take a trip south and west to the Lone Star State for this episode on two great songwriters comparing notes on each other’s latest music, and reaching for a mutual favorite from western North Caro…

It might seem like an unusual choice for a show named Southern Songs and Stories to focus on a group with all of its members being from Canada save for one American. But the roots of The Band go back…

Every episode of Southern Songs and Stories finds its way onto public radio WNCW, albeit in a condensed form. Corrie Askew produces a radio version of each show to fit within the eight minutes that i…

There may never be an episode of Southern Songs and Stories featuring music as far flung as this one, and at the same time there may never be an episode with a storyline that is so unexpectedly close…

It is always heartwarming to witness the spirit of generosity that is central to so many music artists. When you come across musicians who are not only kind but also are incredibly talented and well …

There are few people working in the music business today that can say that they have worked in several of its eras. Rick Miller, Mary Huff and Dave Hartman are three who can, having started out in a …

The concept of utopia is as old as civilization itself, but we are not getting there any faster than we ever were. Every attempt has failed, sooner or later. The writing has been on the wall for utop…

Have you ever thought about what motivated George Mallory, the early 20th century mountaineer? He was either the first or almost the first person to climb Mount Everest (he died up there, so we do no…

Procrastination is often the yin to the yang of creativity, a kind of stumbling block that can at times derail the work of making art. Artists can procrastinate just like you and I do when it comes t…

Shay Martin Lovette lives on Goshen Creek in Boone, in one of the most picturesque regions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The place every artist calls home has a great bearing on their work, …

It is a joy talking with guests on this podcast, but I have to say that my interview with these gentlemen was especially rewarding. They are some of the most genuine, forthright and dedicated artists…

Someday, as the song says, the sun’s gonna shine on your backdoor. For us, an unexpected and most welcome ray of sunshine came when we got word that the band Watchhouse wanted to play a live session …

Meeting Sierra Ferrell was nothing like I expected. The scene was somewhere backstage at the Albino Skunk Music Festival this spring, and in her orbit were several new faces, one of whom was holding …

Jerry Douglas was effusive and ebullient all afternoon. He and his band approached their soundcheck session with a mixture of patience, focus and glee; it was the warmup for their first performance i…

In the conclusion of this two podcast series, you get to hear some surprising facts about the Shelton Laurel Massacre and related events, which by themselves are still surprising to many people just …

There are stories where the characters and events are so extraordinary and gripping that one can miss their overall meaning. It can be easy to take stories like the one you are about to hear at face …