Tradition and Diversity: A New Appalachia with Dori Freeman

Time travel is real. Not in the science fiction sense of the term, but you really can travel back in time by simply going to Galax, Virginia and seeing Dori Freeman play music with her husband Nicholas Falk and her father and grandfather. Three generations of musicians in a family is extraordinary today, but in centuries past in the South, it was practically normal. Listen to Dori Freeman’s music and you will hear the echoes of an outlook and a way of life that is centuries old at the same time that it is grounded in a new, diverse Appalachia that her ancestors would likely be surprised to see.

It was a gorgeous spring day in May at the Albino Skunk Farm as I walked the festival grounds and thought about my upcoming interview with Dori, and on the spur of the moment I invited Sloane Spencer to join us. If I did have an real time machine and could go back to that day, I would not do it any differently because Sloane is a pro, and added a lot to our conversation. We spoke ahead of Dori’s performance with her husband Nicholas as well as guest bandmates Rachel Baiman and Daniel Kimbrough, talking about Dori’s deep Appalachian roots, recording her family album in Nick’s newly constructed studio in their backyard, how she draws inspiration and ideas from listening to rap artists, and even her love of Topo Chico brand seltzer. All of that and more awaits you in this episode, which includes some of the band’s set at the festival plus an excerpt of Dori Freeman’s duet with Logan Ledger from her latest album Ten Thousand Roses.

Nicholas Falk and Dori Freeman perform at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC 05-14-22

Songs heard in this episode:

“Appalachian” by Dori Freeman, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/14/22

“You Say” by Dori Freeman, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/14/22, excerpt

“I Am” by Dori Freeman, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/14/22, excerpt

“Ern and Zorie’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog” by Dori Freeman, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/14/22

“Walk Away” by Dori Freeman featuring Logan Ledger, from Ten Thousand Roses

We are glad to have you visit us, and would be even more so were you to share this with someone. It is super easy to follow us on your podcast platform of choice, and then it will only take a minute to give it a good rating and a review. Great ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you.

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Painting a Portrait of 23 Years With Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show

How long is the average lifespan for a band? That could be hard to pin down, but it is surely a lot shorter than the time we have witnessed Old Crow Medicine Show do their thing. Starting out as strict revivalists of old-time string band traditions, they did not even believe in writing original songs. To Ketch Secor’s thinking back at Old Crow’s inception, all the great songs had already been written, so any attempts to add to that canon would be futile. Fortunately for all of us, Ketch and the band changed their minds on that point, and almost immediately discovered how much impact they could have with originals (and one whale of a co-write). Like any group starting out, they had no way of knowing how far they would go or how much they would change in time. If you had told them that they were going to sell millions of records and win multiple Grammy awards back in 1999, they would likely have laughed. If you had pointed out that a future member of their group (Mason Via) had just been born, my bet is that they would have looked at you as if you had come from another planet. But all of this would come to pass.

Fast forward to spring 2022, when Old Crow Medicine Show returned to the place that a generation before had served, as Ketch said in our interview, a lily pad, a springboard for their success. There at MerleFest, I sat with Ketch in the library at Wilkes Community College ahead of their two shows that day — the first a surprise acoustic performance off stage on the festival grounds, the second their main stage performance hours later. A documentary crew was on hand filming our conversation, which covered a wide range of topics, including the current lineup of Old Crow Medicine Show, his time living off the land in Avery County, North Carolina when the band first formed, his recent fascination with music from Equatorial Africa and Texas border country, how he always wants to be, as he puts it, a mockingbird, and more. There is plenty of music from their latest album Paint This Town featured as well.

Old Crow Medicine Show plays a surprise acoustic set on the Wilkes Community College campus ahead of their main stage performance 05-30-22

Photo: Martin Anderson

Songs heard in this episode:

“DeFord Rides Again” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town

“New Mississippi Flag” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Used To Be A Mountain” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Gloryland” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town, excerpt

“Paint This Town” by Old Crow Medicine Show from Paint This Town

We are glad to have you visit us, and would be even more so were you to share this with someone. It is super easy to follow us on your podcast platform of choice, and then it will only take a minute to give it a good rating and a review. Great ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you.

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

It's Not Always About the Jam: Justin Golden

Music is a lot like a blueberry bush. Especially blues music, since blueberries are among a handful of fruits native to North America, just as blues is a native art form. With a blueberry bush, you get fruit off the newer branches -- once they get old enough to form a lot of bark, they do not yield many blueberries, and you need to start pruning so that you can get new growth, and more of those delicious berries. In the same way, music blossoms in its newest forms, forms which tend to become rigid over time. Everyone likes to focus on the fruit but they can easily lose sight of where those new, fruit bearing branches came from, which is always an older, more rigid branch. And those oldest, most foundational branches, like blues music, tend to invite more preconceptions. 

Enter Justin Golden. Justin is here to expand the tent of what we think of as blues music by both pointing back to the Piedmont blues, fingerstyle guitar tradition of his native Virginia, and by charting a new direction of his own. As he said in our interview, one thing people tend to get wrong about blues music is thinking that it is all about electric guitar jams: “acoustic blues was about expression, you know, especially the country blues. It's not really jammable music if you don't know the song. Because it's not a set form for a lot of it. It's just, you know, the recording is how they played it that one time. And if you ever hear … recordings of some of the older people like Blind Boy Fuller and stuff, and there's multiple takes, it's played wildly differently every time. So that's the biggest misconception is that it's lots of leads, or they assume I play lots of lead guitar. And I'm more of a rhythm guitar player that can finger fake leads on top of it.”

Justin Golden

Songs heard in this episode:

“Can’t Get Right” by Justin Golden from Hard Times and a Woman

“Dog Days of August” by Cephas & Wiggins from Dog Days of August, excerpt

“Lightning When She Smiles” by Justin Golden from Hard Times and a Woman, excerpt

“The Gator” by Justin Golden from Hard Times and a Woman, excerpt

“Moon Far Away” by Justin Golden from Hard Times and a Woman

Thanks for visiting Southern Songs and Stories, and I hope you might tell someone you know about the series in person or on social media (feel free to tag us in your posts!). Please follow us on any podcast platform you prefer. After that, it helps a lot when you give us a good rating and a review. Top ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. 

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

The Power of Quiet Harmony: Leaning In With Jamestown Revival

Discovering something unusual or unexpected is one of the constant rewards of conversation with artists. In the case of Jamestown Revival, there was the revelation that Jonathan Clay is a real deal rancher, and that both Jonathan and Zach Chance are avid fans of Tiki culture. Add to that something in common: both Jonathan and I have run away from an enraged steer and have been thrown off of a horse (in my case, a pony). Neither of us are fans of charging bovines, and Jonathan still does not relish riding horses.

Discovering the music of Jamestown Revival’s fourth album Young Man is a pleasant surprise as well: having brought in an outside for the first time (fellow Texan Robert Ellis) and opting for an all acoustic setting for its ten songs, the duo brought their already potent harmonies to a new level. Their songs are as good as ever, too, reflecting a period of isolation and contemplation, lending the collection a feel of exquisite melancholy. Zachary and Jonathan talk about their new album and working with “guitar scientist” Robert Ellis, about how their harmonies are augmented by going acoustic, the horrifying experience and resulting injury from Jonathan’s incident with the steer, why now is such a great time to be a creative, and much more, including music from Young Man.

Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance are Jamestown Revival

Songs heard in this episode:

“Slow It Down” by Jamestown Revival from Young Man

“Coyote” by Jamestown Revival from Young Man, excerpt

“Old Man Looking Back” by Jamestown Revival from Young Man, excerpt

“Young Man” by Jamestown Revival from Young Man

Thanks for visiting Southern Songs and Stories, and I hope you might tell someone you know about the series in person or on social media (feel free to tag us in your posts!). Please follow us on any podcast platform you prefer. After that, it helps a lot when you give us a good rating and a review. Top ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. 

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Becoming a Better Version of Themselves: Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

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 of their music and having been an emcee at a Disarmers show — I was not expecting some of what came up in our interview. On the surface, one sees tattoos, steely gaze and a nose ring, hears a swagger and sneer in songs like “Stranger”, “If It’s Poison” and “Heartache In Hell”, and could get the impression that these portray the whole story. But there is much more to Sarah Shook than their veneer. There is a complexity, subtlety and vulnerability to Sarah that is, well, a bit disarming.

Album art for Nightroamer by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers

In this episode, Sarah Shook talks about everything from the evolution of sound in their new album Nightroamer, their road to sobriety, how Southern culture is reflected in their music, how things we might think that negatively affect just the LGBTQ+ community also extend to everyone else, and more. Plus we drop in on songs from Nightroamer, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers’ third collection, which maintains their trademark sound while also bringing it forward into some new territory with producer Pete Anderson at the helm. 

Songs heard in this episode:

“Been Lovin’ You Too Long” by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, from Nightroamer

“Nightroamer” by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, from Nightroamer, excerpt

“I Got This” by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, from Nightroamer, excerpt

“Believer” by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, from Nightroamer, excerpt

“Please Be A Stranger” by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, from Nightroamer

Thanks for visiting Southern Songs and Stories, and I hope you might tell someone you know about the series in person or on social media (feel free to tag us in your posts!). Please follow us on any podcast platform you prefer. After that, it helps a lot when you give us a good rating and a review. Top ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. 

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Reinvigorating Country With Joshua Ray Walker

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 striking incongruity. Add to that the fact that he did not begin writing lyrics until he was already a number of years into his career, and the hint of inconsistency with habit and result grows louder. It is answered, however, in the fact that Walker is a keen observer of everyone in his orbit, and is gifted with an incredibly rare ability to create striking scenes with characters whom you might want to alternately embrace or avoid at all cost, but will surely not forget. And that is to say nothing of the expansive and innovative instrumentation, arrangement and good old fashioned hooks that he employs at every turn. Plus, his voice ranges from clear as crystal to nearly a snarl, always garnished with a delicious Texas twang. Simply put, Joshua Ray Walker is setting the bar for what country music can and should be: a home for immediately relatable songs packed with the full range of human emotions that take from the template set down by its pantheon of iconic artists, and make it new again with every riff and turn of phrase.

Joshua Ray Walker on guitar and Billy Law on bass during their live session on WNCW 02-21-22 (photo: Brenda Craig)

In this episode, Joshua Ray Walker talks about how his family influenced his career and his songs, how he approaches writing lyrics, the rich music scene of his East Dallas home (with an aside about this study which gave it a surprisingly very poor rating), and a lot more. Woven throughout is music from his live session on public radio WNCW where he played several songs from his third solo album See You Next Time. We also bring in a member of Joshua’s other longstanding project Ottoman Turks with a conversation with their bassist and vocalist Billy Law, who has an impressive new solo album of his own titled Alone Somewhere.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Sexy After Dark” by Joshua Ray Walker, live on WNCW

“Cowboy” by Joshua Ray Walker, live on WNCW, excerpt

“Flash Paper” by Joshua Ray Walker, from See You Next Time, excerpt

“Vaquero” by Ottoman Turks, from Ottoman Turks II, excerpt

“Dallas Lights” by Joshua Ray Walker, from See You Next Time, excerpt

“Three Strikes” by Joshua Ray Walker, live on WNCW

Thanks for dropping in on us here at Southern Songs and Stories, and I hope you might tell someone you know about the series, whether that is in person or on social media. Please follow us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or any podcast platform you prefer. After that, it helps a lot when you give us a good rating and a review. Top ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. 

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to WNCW audio engineer Sean Rubin for recording our session with Joshua and his band, and to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Singing Along With Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz

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 takes something along the lines of three workdays to complete. This could be underestimating how much time (and certainly mental space) each episode takes up, because there is always a lot of time spent contemplating each episode and doing all manner of other things about the series itself, time and energy which is outside of the actual preparation, interviewing, writing, editing and other work directly related to the half hour shows you hear. While that is significant, it pales in comparison to the work that Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz put into their new collection Surely Will Be Singing. Having written the songs over a period of five or six years, they wound up with 140 songs before whittling them down to the twelve they recorded. It is a bluegrass record that any artist from any era would be proud of.

Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz

Tammy Rogers has had a career filled with superlatives, from her early days in Patty Loveless’ band, then working with Trisha Yearwood, Kieran Kane, plus cutting her own solo albums, as well as being a founding member of The Steeldrivers and a co-founder of the record label Dead Reckoning. Now, she joins Thomm Jutz, who has had a magnificent career too, having toured and recorded with a who’s who of roots music, from Nanci Griffith to Mary Gauthier to Maura O’Connell. Thomm has written or co-written innumerable hit bluegrass songs, recorded by artists like John Prine, Balsam Range, and the aforementioned Steeldrivers. In their episode here, they talk about everything from the making of Surely Will Be Singing to the unique nature of the music of the South to how they were inspired as young children to take the musical path they have pursued all their lives, as well as perform songs from their new album.

Songs heard in this episode:

“I Surely Will Be Singing” by Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz, performed live on WNCW

“The Tree Of Life” by Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz, performed live on WNCW, excerpt

“There Ain’t Enough Time” by Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz, performed live on WNCW, excerpt

“Speakeasy Blues” by Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz, performed live on WNCW

Thanks for listening to this episode of Southern Songs and Stories, and I hope you might tell someone you know about the series. You can follow us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, you name it. And once you do that, it really helps when you give it a good rating and a review. Top ratings and reviews especially make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to WNCW audio engineer Sean Rubin for recording our session with Tammy and Thomm, and to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

We Thought You Wanted To Know, Too: Peter Holsapple and The dB's

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 no one before or after them. Sure, there are similarities with their heroes, how could there not be? The Beatles and Big Star were guiding lights for the Winston Salem by way of New York City quartet (whose core songwriters Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple worked with Big Star’s Alex Chilton and Richard Rosebrough along the way), but The dB’s played music that forged a new path. They were New Wave in the sense that they came on the scene at the same time that Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and Blondie were getting started, but their sound was different enough that the moniker did not quite fit. Power Pop? Kinda sorta, but then again not really. Make a Venn diagram of The dB’s and you will find them at the intersection of British Invasion bands, New Wave, Power Pop, and the following wave of Southern pop and rock epitomized by R.E.M. (whom Peter would work with later on). The dB’s were never a household name, but were hugely influential. And they arrived fully formed, having played together and written songs for years before leaving North Carolina. Now, decades later, we get to hear just how good they were from the jump with the release of I Thought You Wanted To Know: 1978 - 1981, a compilation of their early demos, outtakes and live performances.

Album art for I Thought You Wanted To Know: 1978 - 1981 by The dB’s

In this episode Peter Holsapple talks with us about the dB’s new retrospective, how his musical upbringing in the hyper local scene in Winston Salem North Carolina served him well as an adult, his lifelong musical friendships, the seemingly unlikely influence of Mott the Hoople and much more. We feature music from I Thought You Wanted To Know as well, a collection that sounds as fresh and innovative now as it did when it was first put on tape.

Songs heard in this episode:

“I Thought You Wanted To Know” by The dB’s, from I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978–1981

“Soul Kiss” by The dB’s, from I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978–1981, excerpt

“Rock and Roll Queen” by Mott the Hoople, from Mott the Hoople, excerpt

“Nothing Is Wrong” by The dB’s, from I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978–1981, excerpt

“Time Has Come Today” by The dB’s, from I Thought You Wanted to Know: 1978–1981

Thanks for visiting, we hope you enjoyed your time with us! Please take a moment and follow the series on the podcast platforms you are using; it will help even more when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Three Song Set with Tony Kamel and Kelley Mickwee

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 Carolina to talk about in our Three Song Set with Tony Kamel and Kelley Mickwee.

You may remember Tony from our previous episode with his Austin band, Wood & Wire. You can find their episode Grass That Goes Against the Grain here. Kelley was a Shiny Soul Sister in Shinyribs until recently, when she went back to releasing music under her own name for the first time in seven years. She also sang on Tony’s song “Who Am I Kidding?” which she profiles here. Tony picked up on her new single “Boomtown To Bust”, while they both talk about their love for the band Town Mountain’s song “Texas/New Mexico Line” going all the way back to their 2008 album Heroes & Heretics (they were profiled on this series in a 2019 episode here).

Tony Kamel in the recording studio

Kelley Mickwee

Songs heard in this episode:

“Who Am I Kidding?” by Tony Kamel from Back Down Home, excerpt

“Boomtown To Bust” by Kelley Mickwee, excerpt

“Texas/New Mexico Line” by Town Mountain from Heroes & Heretics, excerpt

Thanks to our guests Kelley and Tony, and thank you for listening. What did you think? You can contact us on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook (all linked in the banner here) and you can also drop a line by emailing southernsongsandstories@gmail.com. Please take a moment and follow the series on the podcast platforms you are using; it will help even more when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. I’m your host and producer Joe Kendrick, and this is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.

The Mystery of "Chest Fever" by The Band

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 to a roster of musicians from Arkansas, which included their drummer who hailed from the tiny town of Marvell, Levon Helm. The story of how all the Southerners in Levon’s first band Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks evolved into The Band is a story in itself, and is summarized in this episode.

Beyond the Arkansas connection, The Band’s music was firmly rooted in forms that originated in the South, like blues and country. In a parallel with The British Invasion, The Band held up a mirror to the spirit of music of artists who preceded them from another place, reinvigorating those traditions through their own success.

In this episode, we welcome Armando Bellmas of the music newsletter Eclectico and public radio WNCW, and Rob Turner, a fellow Osiris Media colleague who co-hosts Inside Out with Turner and Seth, both of whom dig deep into The Band and their song “Chest Fever”, an enigmatic song that will come into at least a little bit better focus once your hear their takes on it here on Southern Songs and Stories.

Pictured above (L to R): album artwork for The Band’s album Music From Big Pink, Rob Turner, Armando Bellmas, Joe Kendrick

Songs heard in this episode:

“The Genetic Method” by The Band, Live at Academy of Music 12-31-70, from Rock Of Ages, excerpt

“Da Doo Ron Ron” by The Crystals, excerpt

“Pretty Persuasion” by R.E.M. from Reckoning, excerpt

“Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again” by Bob Dylan, from Blonde On Blonde, excerpt

“The Genetic Method”>”Chest Fever” by The Band, Live at Academy of Music 12-31-70, from Rock Of Ages, excerpt

“Chest Fever” by The Band from Music From Big Pink, excerpt

This is the second Southern Songs and Stories episode focusing on a song, with the first being Wagon Wheel: Anatomy of a Hit. Thanks to our guests Armando and Rob, and even though we did not get to the bottom of all the mystery surrounding this song, we had a great time shedding light on its riddles.

Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed this episode. What did you think? You can contact us on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook (all linked in the banner here) and you can also drop a line by emailing southernsongsandstories@gmail.com. Please take a moment and follow the series on the podcast platforms you are using; it will help even more when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. I’m your host and producer Joe Kendrick, and this is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.

Favorite Outtakes of 2021: Corrie Askew

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 it reaches FM listeners on alternating Tuesday mornings (Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails and American Songcatcher air on the other Tuesdays). Because there is so much material that cannot fit into either version of the show, many great moments have to be left behind. Corrie Askew, who also produces and hosts WNCW’s bluegrass and old-time show Mountain Mornings 6-7AM Sunday through Friday, proposed that it would be a great idea to feature some of her favorite moments of the series from last year which never made it onto the podcast or WNCW. In this special episode, Corrie goes to unheard portions of interviews with Amanda Anne Platt, Amythyst Kiah, Dom Flemons and Esther Rose for this mini-retrospective of 2021.

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you enjoy this series! Feel free to give us feedback on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and you can also drop a comment below this article. Please do follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it greatly helps when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here . You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio at here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing this special episode, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Three Song Set with Kim Ware and Scott Newell

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 knit. It started out by bringing together two artists I knew but who did not know each other, and who have differing styles of music. Then came a serendipitous revelation that set the stage for a great conversation, and concluded with another surprise when both artists picked a mutual favorite song to talk about in this Three Song Set, one from Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, whom you probably know better as George Michael.

Welcome to our Three Song Set with Kim Ware and Scott Newell, where Kim picks one of Scott’s songs, Scott picks one of Kim’s, and they both pick a mutual favorite of another artist to talk about. I have known of Kim’s work for far longer than I have known her -- we were in some of the same musical circles when we lived in Wilmington, North Carolina in the 1990s -- but it was only in recent years when she moved from Atlanta back to where she grew up in nearby Kings Mountain, North Carolina that I made a connection. Back in Wilmington, Kim was a drummer in bands like Tex Svengali, she also ran the record label Eskimo Kiss, and she remained in the background for years before picking up a guitar in 2006 and starting her own singing and songwriting journey as the Good Graces. Like Kim, Scott Newell chose a different instrument early on, as he played trumpet before picking up the guitar as his mainstay. While he lives just two counties over in Charlotte, Scott had never crossed paths with Kim until now. But their paths were always intertwined, because as they got to know each other before we recorded this episode, Scott and Kim found out that on Kim’s father’s side of her family, and Scott’s mother’s side of his family have ancestors who were brother and sister.

Songs heard in this episode:

“So What” by Miles Davis from Kind of Blue, excerpt

“Scam Likely” by Scott Newell from Psycho Electric, excerpt

“Mar Vista Point” by Kim Ware and the Good Graces from Prose and Consciousness, excerpt

“Praying For Time” by George Michael from Listen Without Prejudice, excerpt

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you enjoy your stay! There are more Three Song Sets in the works, and we would like to know what you think of the concept. You can contact us on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and you can also drop a comment below this article. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it greatly helps when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here . You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio at here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Three Song Set with Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell

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 spoken, magic can happen. All of these things came together when Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell came to WNCW’s Studio B in early November, 2021, where they played a live session and then stayed for extra innings to record a conversation for this episode. Their generous spirit was on display once again when they played an impromptu cover of the Doc and Rosa Lee Watson classic “Your Long Journey”.

Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell play a live session for WNCW in Spindale, NC 11/3/21. Photo: Brenda Craig

This episode is the first of a series called The Three Song Set, which brings two artists together to talk about songs each other wrote, and then pick a mutual favorite song and give us their thoughts on that song as well. Alexa Rose moved from the Allegheny Mountains of her native Virginia to western North Carolina when she went to college, and has remained in The Old North State ever since. Her new release Headwaters follows her 2019 album Medicine For Living, and finds Rose bridging her earlier love for pop and alternative with her rootsier, Americana sound that earned praise from the likes of No Depression, Rolling Stone and NPR, to name just a few. Joining Alexa in the studio is guitarist and vocalist Joseph Terrell, of the Chapel Hill NC quartet Mipso. This is the second time Joseph has been on the show, the first being a couple of years ago when we profiled Mipso on their episode The Unlikely Story of a Band With A Lot To Like.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Clearwater Park” by Alexa Rose, from Headwaters, excerpt

“Never Knew You Were Gone” by Mipso, from Mipso, excerpt

“Pale Golden Flowers” by Alexa Rose from Headwaters, excerpt

“Your Long Journey” by Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell, live on WNCW

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you enjoy this episode. There are more Three Song Sets in the works, and please let us know what you think of the concept. You can contact us on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and you can also drop a comment below this article. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it greatly helps when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here . You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio at here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to WNCW’s audio engineer Sean Rubin for recording this session. And thanks to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

A Brief History of Southern Culture on the Skids

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 time when radio airplay was the first step in becoming known outside of their home town of Chapel Hill, NC. Back then, in the mid to late 1980s, getting your music in the hands of your fans meant you would make cassettes, 45s or LPs. At first you would make them via the DIY route, sending those out to small regional record labels and select radio stations, usually radio stations in towns where you had some foothold by having played shows there and already being on that music scene’s radar. Once your band got airplay on radio (typically college radio), you would leverage that along with your successful shows to get picked up by an indie label, and keep going from there. Essentially, this is how Southern Culture on the Skids began. Many others did not make it past this era, but they did.

Fast forward to the early 1990s, and the CD era had firmly taken root. The success of bands like R.E.M., Pixies and Nirvana spurred the major labels into a buying frenzy for all things alternative, and acts from college towns and locales that were formerly an afterthought at best (hello, Flaming Lips) were being courted like they never imagined just a short time earlier. By mid-decade, Geffen came calling and scooped up SCOTS, too.

The major label ride did not last all that long (most were equally short), but Rick, Mary, Dave and the occasional fourth member of Southern Culture on the Skids leveraged that momentum into the next era, continuing to tour constantly and make records for a core audience that remained intact once the internet changed everything for the business. And now that streaming has become the music industry’s MO, our trio remains, as happy to make music as they ever were. If they exist, it would be interesting to see the statistics of how many artists have pulled off this particular hat trick. My bet is that there is a only tiny fraction who have done so.

Southern Culture on the Skids perform in Spindale, NC 09-11-21

I go way back with Southern Culture on the Skids, from when I was in college at UNC-Chapel Hill and they were still working day jobs in town, and gigging clubs by night. The first time I got to interview them, however, was September 2021, when they played a drive-in show produced by WNCW where they talked with me after sound check. They tell much of their history and some hilarious stories in this episode, where we bring in Ed Bumgardner to the conversation as well. Ed is the producer and bass player for an ambitious new benefit album called Be Good To Yourself, a double disc of North Carolina artists including Rick and Mary on one of its tracks. All that, and of course, plenty of their music awaits. Enjoy!

Songs heard in this episode:

“Tuna Fish Everyday” by Southern Culture on the Skids from Dig This: Ditch Diggin’ Vol. 2

“Cicada Rock” by Southern Culture on the Skids from Doublewide and Live, excerpt

“40 Miles To Vegas” by Southern Culture on the Skids, from Plastic Seat Sweat, excerpt

“Thunderbird” by Rick Miller, Mary Huff, Gino Grandinetti, Tim Gordon, Brad Wilcox, and Steve Stoeckel from Be Good To Yourself, excerpt

“Camel Walk” by Southern Culture on the Skids from Dirt Track Date, excerpt

“Billy’s Board” by Southern Culture on the Skids, from At Home With Southern Culture on the Skids

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the podcast. I also hope you might tell someone about Southern Songs and Stories in person or on social media. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it helps greatly when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Don't Call It Utopia: Imagining A World Made Better For Music

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 utopia since the beginning, it seems -- we lasted only a hot minute in the Garden Of Eden before messing that one up, for example. So let us not try for utopia here, but at least try to envision something that is a step above where we are. Let us make a map of the future that is not unrealistically devoid of potholes, but shows at least a bit smoother of a ride for all of us on our musical journey. 

While attending the Albino Skunk Music Festival in October 2021, I had this in mind. And so I went about asking people one question. Or rather, a choice between two questions: given the chance to improve one aspect of your musical journey, or the chance to get rid of one thing that stands in its way, what would that be? I asked artists who played at the festival as well as festival goers the same question, and got a lot of great answers. No two answers were the same, and all of them got me thinking about how we might make our lives in music a little richer, or a little less difficult. From the practical to the whimsical to the ideal, it’s all here in this episode. And along the way, you will hear some of the latest music from artists who spoke with me, including Aaron Burdett, LIzzie No, The Contenders, Riley Downing, The Two Tracks and The Pink Stones.

Lizzie No plays harp during her set at The Albino Skunk Music Festival on October 2, 2021

Songs heard in this episode:

“Rockefeller” by Aaron Burdett, from Dream Rich, Dirt Poor

“Deep Breath” by Riley Downing, from Start It Over, excerpt

“Love Me Hardly” by The Pink Stones, from Introducing…The Pink Stones, excerpt

“Finer Weather” by The Contenders, from Laughing With The Reckless, excerpt

“Deep Well Song” by Lizzie No, from Vanity, excerpt

“Beautiful” by The Two Tracks, from Cheers To Solitude

Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here . Thanks to Glynn Zeigler and everyone at the Albino Skunk Music Festival for their abundant hospitality,  and thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW. I’m your host and producer Joe Kendrick thanking you for listening, and I hope you can spread awareness of this endeavor by telling a friend in person or on social media. Giving Southern Songs and Stories a follow, a top rating and a good review will go far in helping us to continue this project and to aid the artists we cover in their musical endeavors, too!   

The Challenge of a Life Beyond Outlaw Country: Jeremy Pinnell

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 not know), and is the person to answer to the question of why he wanted to do it with the famous reply, “Because it’s there”. Mallory is a real life example of a personality type shared with popular characters like The Mandalorian and Sherlock Holmes, both of whom despise being idle, and who regularly take on what may seem like impossible tasks. The answer to the question of the root of their motivation partly lies in the personality of our guest in this episode, Jeremy Pinnell. Like Mallory, Holmes and The Mandalorian, Pinnell needs a suitable challenge to get up out of bed every morning. Whether that is practicing mixed martial arts, being a husband and father or carving out a career in the unforgiving landscape of the modern music industry, he seems to find himself most comfortable in settings filled with high degrees of difficulty. Find out about his life story and his remarkable third album in this episode of Southern Songs and Stories.

Jeremy Pinnell

Songs heard in this episode:

“Fightin’ Man” by Jeremy Pinnell, from Goodby L.A., excerpt

“Joey” by Jeremy Pinnell, excerpt

“Want To Do Something” by Jeremy Pinnell, from Goodbye L.A., excerpt

“Cryin’” by Jeremy Pinnell, from Goodbye L.A., excerpt

“Goodbye L.A.” by Jeremy Pinnell, from Goodbye L.A

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy this podcast. I also hope you might tell someone about Southern Songs and Stories directly or on social media. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it helps more than you may realize when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists that make it.

Happy In Disguise: Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters

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 to getting on with whatever hard things are in front of us, which is kind of comforting. Knowing that Jim Lauderdale, for example, has often finished writing songs while in a recording session should give all of us some room to forgive ourselves for not studying for that final exam or for not doing our taxes until the last minute.

Writing songs is seldom easy. But for Amanda Anne Platt, writing songs seems free of anxiety. In fact, keeping a journal and writing songs is her way of processing life. Whereas we might take a walk or talk to a friend to decompress after long hours of doing the hard things, Amanda would likely take those hard things and put them into melodies, melodies which we can in turn crank up on the ride home to loosen up from our static filled day.

Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters perform at Albino Skunk Music Festival on May 14, 2021. Photo: John Gillespie

Amanda Anne Platt has appeared on Southern Songs and Stories as a guest in a roundtable of women artists from western NC in 2018 as well as a video documentary version of the show back in 2015, when her band was newly signed to their first record deal with Organic Records, which she still calls home. It was a time when she had called western North Carolina home for less than a decade, having moved from her native New York to Asheville, North Carolina to start her musical career. I spoke with Amanda once again at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, South Carolina when she and the Honeycutters performed in the late spring of 2021. Included here is our conversation as well as excerpts from the new collection titled Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea as well as a live performance from Skunk Fest.

Songs heard in this episode:

“New York” by Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters from The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, excerpt

“Open Up Your Door” by Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, live at Albino Skunk 05-14-21

“St. Sebastian” by Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters from The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, excerpt

“The Devil” by Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters from The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

We hope you enjoy the podcast, and also hope you might tell someone about it either in person or on social media. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it helps greatly when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. - Joe Kendrick

If Hatred Builds It Up, Surely Love Will Break It Down: Shay Martin Lovette

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, but in Shay’s case, that effect seems more profound than most. As he told me, “The creek flows under the porch behind my home and hearing the constant sound of moving water when writing is something that I’ve grown accustomed to. My music video for the tune, “Never Felt So New” was filmed on Goshen Creek on and around the Mountains to Sea Trail. If you’re not familiar, this is North Carolina’s longest trail and it runs from Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge at the Outer Banks. I’ve hiked/backpacked about 400 miles of the 1175 mile trail and hope to eventually get to hiking the rest of this trail segment by segment. I guess you could say that I’m in for the long haul. The same can be said about my songwriting as I remain dedicated to the craft and recently went back into the studio to record a few new songs.”

Shay Martin Lovette in studio at WNCW 05/05/21

Shay’s new album Scatter & Gather is the result of countless hours of meditation and contemplation hiking on the many nearby trails and sitting by Goshen Creek. It is an album that in part answers the question of where the metaphorical Appalachia really is. As he said in our interview, Shay feels most present when playing music, and his hope is for that feeling to transfer into his songs, songs which speak to the beauty and miracle of life without ignoring the pain that comes with it.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Sourwood Honey Rag” by Shay Martin Lovette from Scatter & Gather

“For Rose Marie” by Shay Martin Lovette from Scatter & Gather, excerpt

“Parkway Bound” by Shay Martin Lovette, live in Studio B on WNCW

“Never Felt So New” by Shay Martin Lovette from Scatter & Gather

I hope you enjoy the podcast, and might tell someone you know about it. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere. And once you do that, could you help by giving us a top rating, and a review? In just moments, you will help make all of the topics and artists covered on this series more likely to be found by more people just like you. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Speaking All Things Bluegrass With Unspoken Tradition

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 you will ever meet, and this holds for whenever they are in a studio, on stage or simply talking with anyone who wants to take a few minutes of their time. They put all of themselves into what they do, and it shows.

This is the second of three episodes to originate from one of my all-time favorite festivals, The Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, South Carolina. The podcast on Sierra Ferrell preceded this one and still to come is our episode on Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, who also played at the Skunk Farm in May 2021. Here, I spoke with brothers Audie and Zane McGinnis, Ty Gilpin, Tim Gardner and Sav Sankaran of Unspoken Tradition just ahead of their performance, and we had a lively and far ranging conversation about their musical philosophies, how they got their start in bluegrass (and in the case of fiddle player Tim Gardner, old time music), what silver linings they discovered from not getting to tour due to COVID-19, and much more. And as always, there is music, from a sampling of their live performance at Skunk to excerpts of several of their newest songs which will be part of their forthcoming album, their fourth since their 2013 debut.

(l to r) Zane McGinnis, Ty Gilpin, Sav Sankaran, Audie McGinnis and Tim Gardner of Unspoken Tradition perform at Albino Skunk Music Festival on May 14, 2021

Songs heard in this episode:

“Monroe’s Hornpipe” by Unspoken Tradition, live at Albino Skunk Festival 05-14-21

“California” by Unspoken Tradition, excerpt

“Irons In the Fire” by Unspoken Tradition, excerpt

“At the Bottom Again” by Unspoken Tradition

I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and might tell someone you know about it. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere. And once you do that, could you help by giving us a top rating, and a review? In just moments, you will help make all of the topics and artists covered on this series more likely to be found by more people just like you. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. I’m your host and producer Joe Kendrick, and this is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists that make it.    

What's In A Name? Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz Begin Their New Chapter As Watchhouse

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 on WNCW and they went all in with a request for another, separate interview for this podcast. Having just minted their new handle, husband and wife Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz were only recently getting back into circulation with live shows, playing a fresh collection of songs to boot (from a serendipitous new album at that, as you will hear). Oh my yes, we said. A longtime favorite North Carolina band that wants to come to our place and play? And we don’t have to pay for this? Sign us up!

(L to R) Clint Mullican, Josh Oliver, Sean Rubin, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz in WNCW’s Studio B. Photo: Brenda Craig

Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz on the cover of their self-titled album Watchhouse

Andrew and Emily talk about their new album and making music the most honest way they know how, the Venn diagram of Watchhouse music which overlaps with both The Stanley Brothers and Pantera, how they have yet to cross the event horizon that could pull them into Nashville, and much more. We spoke at their session recorded at WNCW which was engineered and recorded by Studio B engineer Sean Rubin, and included are excerpts from that performance which includes their bandmates Josh Oliver and Clint Mullican.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Better Way” by Watchhouse from Watchhouse, excerpt

“Better Way” by Watchhouse, live on WNCW, excerpt

“New Star” by Watchhouse, live on WNCW, excerpt

“Upside Down” by Watchhouse, live on WNCW

I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and might tell someone you know about it. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere. And once you do that, could you take a minute and give us a top rating, and a review? In almost no time you will help make all of the topics and artists covered on this series more likely to be found by more people just like you. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Sean Rubin for engineering our session and to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where our former intern Joshua Meng wrote and performed our theme songs. - Joe Kendrick