Where Are We at With the Blues? Dirt and Funk at Albino Skunk With Eddie 9V

August 26, 2025

What do the following styles of music have in common: Ragtime, New Wave, Dubstep, and Doo-wop? This group may seem quite divergent, but they all share a common characteristic: they are mostly types of music that no one plays much anymore. Then again, you could easily argue that these are simply sub-genres of larger categories like Jazz, Rock, Reggae and R&B, and live on in some form or another in the echoes of their sound within the broader contexts, such as they are, and here and there in all manner of newer sub-genres.

And those broader contexts, those foundational genres, how are they holding up these days? Jazz has gone from ruling the airwaves, dance floors and record stores to being a mostly boutique, albeit diverse, corner of the American music map. Rock has long been declared dead, but soldiers on in bands both old and new. Reggae rose to international acclaim with Bob Marley but has not approached those heights following his untimely death. R&B may be the most robust of this small sample, with artists like The Weeknd and SZA amongst its current stars.

Blues music has gone through sea changes of its own over the decades, and today, it is facing headwinds with younger audiences. As our guest Brooks Mason (known by his stage name Eddie 9V) puts it, younger music fans especially often think they will not like the blues because of its perceived predictability and reliance on old formulas. And while he is not wrong, he is also a prime example of how Blues music can garner new audiences with a new approach to the genre. Part of Eddie 9V’s approach is to, as he put it, lead a band that is not really a Blues band anymore.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Saratoga“ by Eddie 9V, performed live at The Albino Skunk Music Festival, 05/10/25

“Check It Out” by Sean Costello, from At His Best - Live, excerpt

“Love Moves Slow” by Eddie 9V, performed live at The Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“Yella Alligator” by Eddie 9V, performed live at The Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“Driving Wheel” by Eddie 9V, performed live at The Albino Skunk Music Festival, 05/10/25

Thank you for visiting! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. You can follow us on social media: @southstories on Instagram, at Southern Songs and Stories on Facebook, and now on Substack here, where you can read the scripts of these podcasts, and get updates on what we are doing and planning in our quest to explore and celebrate the unfolding history and culture of music rooted in the American South, and going beyond to the styles and artists that it inspired and informed.

Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key: The Return of Alison Krauss & Union Station With Jerry Douglas

August 12, 2025

Jerry Douglas is never not entertaining. On stage, on record, or in conversation, Flux, as Bela Fleck famously dubbed him, is full of wit, joy and inventiveness. His talents have garnered him 16 Grammy Awards, 28 IBMA Awards, 3 Country Music Association Awards, 3 Americana Music Association Awards, an NEA National Heritage Fellowship, and an artist residency at the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum. I heard once that his style playing Dobro was so popular that practically every other player emulated it, to the point that he had to reinvent his own style to distinguish himself from the rest of the pack. This story could very well be apocryphal, but it points to the fact that his influence is everywhere in bluegrass and bluegrass-adjacent acoustic music. And Jerry Douglas has stories. Ask him about anyone in bluegrass, or even a ton of artists outside the genre, and chances are that he knows them and can spin a yarn or two about playing with them or being in their orbit. Get him going, and he may even tell you about his ancestor David Douglas, of Douglas fir fame, and the spectacular and mysterious way he met his end in Hawaii.

Here, we bring Jerry Douglas back to Southern Songs and Stories for a second time, following his 2021 episode “It’s Always Roots Music 12 O’Clock With Jerry Douglas”. Since then, Jerry has been inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame; he has served as festival host and solo performer as well as in his tribute band The Earls Of Leicester for the Earl Scruggs Music Festival, with frequent guest appearances for a number of other artists and bands there; he also fell right back in with Alison Krauss & Union Station for their first album since 2011, Arcadia.

Jerry Douglas will be the host once again at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival in late August 2025, where he will perform with the Earls of Leicester as well as Alison Krauss & Union Station, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and who knows how many artists as their on stage guest. Recently, he spoke with me on a video call while on tour with AKUS, where he gives us a preview of Scruggs Fest, plus he details a lot of what went into Arcadia. We also find out what he believes is the best key for playing bluegrass music, and learn how he approaches his instrument in Union Station differently than on his own.

Jerry Douglas plays at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival 09-01-24 (photo: Jess Maples)

Songs heard in this episode:

“When You Say Nothing At All” by Alison Krauss & Union Station, from Alison Krauss & Union Station Live

“Nashville Blues” by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, from Will the Circle Be Unbroken, excerpt

“The Hangman” by Alison Krauss & Union Station, from Arcadia, excerpt

“One Ray Of Shine” by Alison Krauss & Union Station, from Arcadia

Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. - Joe Kendrick

Wrango Bites, Ken Writes: Ken Pomeroy on Vulnerability, Faith, and Folk

July 29, 2025

What do Paul McCartney, up-and-coming singer songwriter Ken Pomeroy, and a guy I passed on the street tugging along a French bulldog have in common? They all support my theory that pets inevitably resemble their owners–sometimes in looks, sometimes in spirit, but always in energy. When Ken Pomeroy introduced her song “Wrango” opening for I’m with Her and Iron & Wine at Asheville Yards on July 12, 2025, she described how the song was inspired by the liability her new dog had become from its quick temper. After WNCW’s Joe Kendrick and I spent some time with her, we slowly got to see where the pup’s feistiness came from. We talked about what it means to carry songs from childhood into adulthood, the tension between writing for yourself and performing for others, and the unexpected ways public commentary can rattle even the most grounded artists. As Ken says, “I never thought I’d care about online comments. But wow. I didn’t know how sensitive I’d be.”

And then there’s “Flannel Cowboy”, Ken Pomeroy’s closing track at her show, that isn’t a love song, despite what you might assume. It's a quietly devastating reflection on friendship, ego, and the confusing wreckage of emotional fallout. It’s a song about looking in the mirror and realizing that, sometimes, the thing biting at you isn’t your dog, or your critics—it’s you.

Her vulnerability isn’t just evident in the lyrics of her 2025 album, Cruel Joke, but in the way she speaks about songwriting as a spiritual act—one that gives form to feelings too big to hold alone. As a writer, I can relate to the need to shed some weight onto the page. Sometimes things get a little too loud and the only way to bring back the quiet is to release.

Ken also told us about her connection to Cherokee heritage, her experience contributing to the language revitalization album ᎠᏅᏛᏁᎵᏍᎩ (Anvdvnelisgi), and what it meant to contribute to a project to empower young people to connect with their heritage.

Whether she's reflecting on faith, feeling everything too deeply, or setting boundaries on what parts of her soul she's willing to hand over to strangers, Ken Pomeroy is an artist in full bloom. She's a songwriter first, a performer reluctantly, and a truth-teller always. — Elena Dickson

Songs heard in this episode:

John Denver “Leaving On A Jet Plane”

“Wrango” by Ken Pomeroy, from Cruel Joke, excerpt

“Grey Skies” by Ken Pomeroy, from Cruel Joke, excerpt

“Flannel Cowboy” by Ken Pomeroy, from Cruel Joke, excerpt

“Galvladi” by Ken Pomeroy, from Anvdvnelisgi

Thank you for being here! We hope you enjoy this episode, and can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

The radio adaptation of this episode is part of the programming lineup during Morning Edition on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This episode was written and hosted by WNCW intern Elena Dickson, with myself as editor and Ken Pomeroy’s co-interviewer.

- Joe Kendrick

The Muse Never Worries: Making It Mellow With Seth Walker

July 17, 2025

If you can make it as a professional musician in Austin, that is saying something. And if you can make it in Nashville, New Orleans, and also New York, that is saying something in all caps. Seth Walker has made it in all of the above locales. Making it as a professional musician in all of those iconic music scenes is not only impressive, but it also requires playing a variety of styles that sync with each city’s musical tastes. With his 12th album, Why the Worry, Seth Walker shows off what he has learned (and unlearned) from all of those years gigging and recording with a who’s who of roots music luminaries.

In recent years, he has called western North Carolina home, which is not terribly far from his childhood home in a Quaker commune, a couple hundred miles to the east in Burlington. That is where his music journey began, and is the place which serves as the backdrop to his forthcoming novella, about a young girl on a tobacco farm. I imagine Seth Walker may even make some paintings to go along with that story, as he is also an accomplished visual artist.

Seth is as laid back as he is intriguing, and we enjoyed a relaxed conversation at his home in Fairview, NC, nestled in the Appalachian mountains. Joining us was WNCW intern Elena Dickson, who hosted our recent episode on fellow western NC artist Sally Anne Morgan. We spoke about Seth’s musical past and present, ranging from his love of jump blues to how an inspired take of Al Green’s “Take Me to the River” set the wheels in motion for his latest album, to how Hurricane Helene very nearly left it in a ditch. All that and more, including music from Why the Worry, awaits you in this podcast.

Seth Walker with his Waterloo acoustic guitar

Songs heard in this episode:

“Why the Worry” by Seth Walker, from Why the Worry

“Magnolia” by Seth Walker, from Why the Worry, excerpt

“Take Me to the River” by Seth Walker, from Why the Worry, excerpt

“Strollin’ With Bones” by T-Bone Walker, excerpt

“Up on the Mountain” by Seth Walker, from Why the Worry

Thank you for dropping by! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This episode features WNCW intern Elena Dickson, who co-produced the episode, and took part in Seth’s interview.

- Joe Kendrick

Old but Not Dead: Sally Anne Morgan and the Living Tradition of Old Time Music

July 1, 2025

In this episode, we welcome WNCW intern Elena Dickson to the podcast. Elena is a student at the University of Michigan, and here, she takes a turn at the helm for our episode on western North Carolina artist Sally Anne Morgan:

My favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote reads, “Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed.” It makes me think of the interconnectedness that lies beneath all our actions and that everything we do–from deciding what to eat for breakfast to moving across the country–has a deep impact on our lives in areas we don’t even realize.

Sally Anne Morgan embodies Emerson’s coda. Even as a visual artist, musician, mother, and brewery owner, she emphasized how circular life feels: we are nothing without where we came from and where we came from wouldn’t have been possible without what we have become. She embodies this through her music through her traditional techniques to create innovative elements. Rooting herself in tradition while employing new age elements, she resists the conformity and neatness that recording software, and certain genres, often demands. While she views old time and other music traditions as a living artform rather than something that belongs in the archives. Her stories have a background and history but they have nothing close to an end.

When I decided to apply to WNCW to enhance my senior thesis on Appalachian storytelling, I had to explain why I was doing what I was doing to a few more people than I would have liked. Next time someone asks, I will send them this podcast so they can see the fluidity of storytelling and how deeply enmeshed it is with all other aspects of our lives. Telling a story does not require a defined beginning, middle, and end. Instead, it requires a conversation and a dedication to honoring what the story was and what it is going to become. Sally Anne Morgan creates in a way that makes you want to participate in the conversation and keep the story alive.

Sally Anne Morgan (Photo: Charlie Boss, published by KLOF mag)

Songs heard in this episode:

“Eye Is The First” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Horizon, excerpt

“Flowers Of Shandihar” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Horizon, excerpt

“I Saw A Heron” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Eye, excerpt

“Blind Man’s Lament” by Black Twig Pickers, from Rough Carpenters, excerpt

“Dog’s Dream” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Eye, excerpt

“Callahan” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Eye, excerpt

“Night Mint” by Sally Anne Morgan, from Second Circle the Eye

So glad you visited! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This episode was written and produced by WNCW intern Elena Dickson, with editorial assistance from myself. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Notes From Country, Cajun and Bluegrass’ Far Western Bureau With Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms

June 17, 2025

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms make their home in the San Juan Islands, in Washington State, and their latest spring tour saw them make a stop at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in May 2025. This was two weeks ahead of their own festival, the inaugural East Sound Music Ramble, and part of an eastern swing that preceded other engagements including Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The duo has been very much on the go lately, which is in keeping with their recent past: sojourns to Louisiana, to celebrate the music of Cajun and country legend Jimmy C Newman; to The Last Frontier state for the Alaska Folk Festival; and to Vermont, where Caleb connected with Noam Pikelny, which led to becoming a guest member of bluegrass supergroup Mighty Poplar, to name a few.

I spoke with Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms on a picture perfect spring afternoon in Greer, SC, in between their two sets at Skunk Fest, where we touched on all of these travels, both physical and musical; their own region’s musical “rogue-ness”; the raw simplicity and danceability of their take on country music; and the importance of slowing down and being present. That and more awaits you, including their music, both live and on record, in this episode.

(L to R) Caleb Klauder, Mike Bub and Reeb Willms perform at the Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25
Photo: John Gillespie Photography & Design

This is the second time Caleb Klauder has been on the series: the first was from 2019, when he spoke about producing feature guest Town Mountain’s album New Freedom Blues in the episode Town Mountain: There’s Never a Last Ride in the Van.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Gold In Your Pocket” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25

“You Gotta Roll the Dice To Win” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“Sing Me A Sad Song To Make Me Happy” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“Alligator Man“ by Joel Savoy, Kelli Jones, Reeb Willms and Caleb Klauder, from Farewell Alligator Man, excerpt

“Key To Life” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“Church With No Walls” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25, excerpt

“He’s Gone” by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 05/10/25

Thanks for dropping by! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This June, we welcomed WNCW intern Elena Dickson to this series as a producer as well, and she will be with us through July. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

When Country Is One Color in a Grand Kaleidoscope: Wrangling Multiple Genres With Neon Cowgirl Tami Neilson

June 5, 2025

In 2024, I had the idea to produce podcasts based on interviews from MerleFest, with the theme being a focus on both first-time performers and veterans. Combining two artists who made their debuts resulted in the episode “Rural Roots That Run Deep With Nick Shoulders and Adeem The Artist”, we followed that with two of the festival’s mainstays in the episode “Jim Lauderdale, Donna the Buffalo and the Many Collaborations Of MerleFest”. It was great fun to compare and contrast artist experiences at the venerated event between newcomers and returning veterans, as well as dive into their stories and music along the way.

This year, I picked up on the approach once again, interviewing bluegrass heroes Woody Platt and Buddy Melton in the episode that immediately precedes this one, titled “A New Team For Two Heavy Hitters Of Bluegrass: Woody Platt and Buddy Melton”. Now, we celebrate another MerleFest newcomer, Tami Neilson. Although she just made her first stop at the festival, she is no novice in the roots music scene, having grown up in a family band and having made records since 2008; I was all smiles when I saw her on the MerleFest lineup for 2025. Fun fact: when I sent in the request to feature Tami on this podcast, her publicist replied, “So just to be clear here — Tami is for Southern Songs & Stories? She is originally Canadian and lives in New Zealand so just checking!” I chuckled and replied, “Yes, that’s correct. I break my own rules every so often. I’ve featured Ruen Brothers, Colin Hay and others over the years. New Zealand is south too right? ;-)”

I spoke with Tami Neilson late at night, after her rousing Dance Tent performance, where she talked about her love of wide ranging musical journeys, her own journey to her adopted country of New Zealand, growing up in a family band and now bringing her sons on stage from time to time, playing the Grand Ole Opry and making music with greats like Willie Nelson, and a whole lot more.

Tami Neilson playing her first of two sets at MerleFest on April 25, 2025. Photo: Willa Stein

Songs heard in this episode:

“Baby, You’re A Gun” by Tami Neilson, from Kingmaker

“Learn To Try Again” by The Chills, from Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs, excerpt

“Borrow My Boots” by Tami Neilson, from Neon Cowgirl, excerpt

“Beyond The Stars” by Tami Neilson, featuring Willie Nelson, from Kingmaker, excerpt

“You’re Gonna Fall” by Tami Neilson, featuring JD McPherson, from Neon Cowgirl

Thanks for reading and listening! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. WNCW intern Elena Dickson deserves a big thanks for jumping in on production work for this episode in her very first week! Thanks as well to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the unfolding history and culture of music rooted in the American South, and going beyond to the styles and artists that it inspired and informed. - Joe Kendrick

A New Team for Two Heavy Hitters of Bluegrass: Woody Platt and Buddy Melton

May 23, 2025

It was Friday at MerleFest and I had already taken in an afternoon and evening of music the day before, which threatened more rain than it delivered. The one downpour that hit the festival grounds coincided with my campsite assembly, though, which made for an especially challenging time with raising my tent. Pouring rain makes tents heavy and unwieldy, but luckily for me, not impossible to put together — just fairly comical to passersby. The inside of it was a mess after that, but it was the only weather incident I experienced all weekend. It would not be MerleFest without at least a little rain, after all.

As it would be an outlier for MerleFest to be without rain, it would be similarly unlikely for MerleFest to go without at least one of two contemporary bluegrass stars from western NC: Woody Platt and Buddy Melton. Fans have enjoyed Woody Platt’s former band Steep Canyon Rangers thirteen times at the festival since 2006, while Buddy Melton’s former group Balsam Range has made five appearances there since 2010. This year, they appeared in a new lineup: Woody Platt and the Bluegrass Gentlemen.

I had the pleasure of catching up with Woody Platt and Buddy Melton in one of the few quiet spots available on the festival grounds, in the band’s motor coach, where we talked about how this project began; how their region is recovering from Hurricane Helene and more recently, widespread wildfires; a certain Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover they played live at the festival, as well as how they love to hear other players cover their songs. That and a lot more, including excerpts of music from Woody Platt’s 2024 album Far Away With You awaits you in this episode.

Woody Platt and the Bluegrass Gentlemen perform on Creekside Stage at MerleFest in Wilkesboro NC 04-25-25

Songs heard in this episode:

“Long Time Coming” by Woody Platt, from Far Away With You

“Like The Rain Does” by Woody Platt, from Far Away With You, excerpt

“Find the Cost of Freedom” by Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, from Live At Fillmore East, 1969, excerpt

“Walk Along With Me” by Woody Platt, from Far Away With You, excerpt

“One Last Goodbye” by Woody Platt, from Far Away With You

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

Forget the Morning Crew and the Long Distance Dedications: Radio’s Original Hit Format Lives On With the Martha Bassett Show

May 7, 2025

The town of Elkin, NC, boasts only 4000 residents, but its downtown seems to resemble a town much larger than that. What looks to me like a downtown about half the size of my home town of Shelby, NC, turns out to be a good bit less populated than its footprint suggests. But making a bigger impression than expected is in keeping with everything I have experienced in this foothills town in the northwest part of the state — Elkin likes to punch above its weight.

My first trip to Elkin was for the Reevestock Music Festival, created by the band Time Sawyer, whose members largely grew up there. It is a festival that garners national artists as well as regional favorites, and every time I returned, it came up a winner: well balanced, with enough star power but also plenty of pleasant surprises and new discoveries, plus it was almost intimate with its crowd of hundreds rather than thousands in attendance. Elkin remains a favorite destination for that festival alone, and now I can add to that list, with The Martha Bassett Show producing live events at the Reeves Theater for eight years running.

Martha Bassett celebrates with guests and house band at the finale of *The Martha Bassett Show* 04/03/25
Photo: Steel String Photography

The Martha Bassett Show put on its 100th episode in April of this year, which seemed like the perfect time to trek up and take it all in. The show featured guests Liz Longley from Nashville, Hank Pattie & the Current from the Triangle region of NC, and a VA music artist who is best known for building guitars for stars like Eric Clapton, Gillian Welch, Vince Gill, Peter Rowan (and hundreds of others, famous or not), Wayne Henderson.

I spoke with both Martha Bassett and Wayne Henderson while there, where we talked with Martha about the extraordinary nature of the show with collaboration amongst its guests a built-in feature, the ever-changing and now perhaps especially challenging landscape for the arts, and with Wayne about his world famous instruments as well as memories of Doc Watson, and current Grand Ole Opry member and client Marty Stuart. All of that and a lot more is here, including musical excerpts from The Martha Bassett Show on this episode of Southern Songs and Stories.

Songs heard in this episode:

Wayne Henderson and Friends “Sweet Georgia Brown” from The Martha Bassett Show 04/03/25

Wayne Henderson and Friends intro from Martha Bassett into “Panhandle Rag” from The Martha Bassett Show 04/03/25, excerpt

“I’ll Fly Away” Martha Bassett with Liz Longley, Hank Pattie & the Current, Wayne Henderson and Friends and house band from The Martha Bassett Show 04/03/25

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

Achieving a HercuLeon Record Decades in the Making: John Cowan and Andrea Zonn

April 8, 2025

The 19th century Swedish philosopher and poet Henri Frederic Amiel wrote one of the most eloquent observations about music, saying “Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.” If Amiel is right, and I have a feeling he is, then pairing Andrea Zonn and John Cowan in a setting where they can sing some of their favorite songs both old and new, is bound to take you at least a good part of the way to heaven. With their debut collaboration, the album Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons, the Nashville legends make the harmony part sound effortless, and with a cast of all stars behind them, have set their sights skyward.

John Cowan and Andrea Zonn already had a harmonious relationship and had worked together in the decades leading up to now, but it was a quirk of having some more studio time together during the pandemic that set the stage for their first full length collaboration as band leaders. Here, Andrea and John detail that story behind their collaboration, as well as stories of their heroes like Leon Russell and Bill Monroe, and contemporaries like Tom Britt, their perspective on their own musical legacies, tales of their time in the shangri-la of western North Carolina’s musical past, Green Acres Music Hall, and more, including music excerpts of songs from their new album.

Andrea Zonn and John Cowan performing live

Songs heard in this episode:

“Face Of Appalachia“ by The HercuLeons, from Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons

“Straight Up” by The HercuLeons, from Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons, excerpt

“Resurrection Road” by The HercuLeons, from Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons, excerpt

“Barbed Wire Boys” by The HercuLeons, from Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons, excerpt

“Long Way From Home” by The HercuLeons, from Andrea Zonn & John Cowan Are The HercuLeons

Noteworthy but not mentioned in our interview is John Cowan’s recent book Hold To A Dream: A Newgrass Odyssey, which features a foreword by HercuLeons’ producer Wendy Waldman, and is built on a series of John’s interviews with heroes like Kris Kristofferson, Rodney Crowell and Loretta Lynn as well as contemporaries like John Carter Cash.

Thanks for being here! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

Reflections on Rounder Records, the IBMA and Music Journalism With David Menconi

March 25, 2025

It took a long time after I first read David Menconi’s work to finally meet him, and longer still to sit with him for an extended conversation, but fortunately, the time has finally come. And if the saying “good things come to those who wait” applies here, if I was indeed waiting years for that Tuesday afternoon interview in late September 2024, then it is doubly appropriate now that our conversation sees the light of day in this podcast nearly another half a year afterwards. Decades after first reading his work, more than a year after first meeting him, and another stretch of months after interviewing him, now is the moment for all of this to come together. It all feels a bit fortuitous, a feeling which is echoed in our conversation, especially regarding the subject of David Menconi’s latest book.

David Menconi was a staff writer at the Raleigh News & Observer for 28 years, beginning in 1991, when the music scene in the region was exploding nationwide. He has also written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, Spin and New York Times. His latest book is titled Oh, Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music. David Menconi spoke with me at the IBMA conference in his adopted hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, in a conversation which touches on the remarkable story of Rounder Records, a music label whose story, as David put it, is the kismet story. A label formed by three idealistic folkies fresh out of college, it went on to champion the music of artists ranging from Alice Gerard to Alison Krauss, from the Blake Babies to Billy Strings, and from Ted Hawkins to Tony Rice.

David talks about the Rounder Records story, the current state of the music industry, the challenges faced by writers and musicians alike, as well as the significant history of bluegrass music in the city of Raleigh and the state of North Carolina and more, including music excerpts from Rounder Records artists like Norman Blake and George Thorogood in this episode Southern Songs and Stories.

Songs heard in this episode:

Tony Rice “Monroe’s Hornpipe”, from The Bluegrass Album Band, Volume 6

“Tango Cool“ by Ted Gioia & Mark Lewis, from Tango Cool, excerpt

“Ginseng Sullivan” by Norman Blake, from Back Home In Sulphur Springs, excerpt

“Move It On Over” by George Thorogood & the Destroyers, from Move It On Over, excerpt

“Away From the Mire” by Billy Strings, from Home

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at the International Bluegrass Music Association for helping to make this interview possible, and to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

A Musical Animal That Puzzles and Delights: The Faux Paws

March 10, 2025

It is great fun to witness lines reconverge in unexpected ways on this series. When I spoke with Andrew VanNorstrand and Chris Miller of The Faux Paws back at the end of summer, I learned that they had just received the masters for their next album. Fast forward to late winter the following year, and we happen to circle back to the band directly ahead of the release of their new record with this podcast. The trio, which is often a quartet on tour, is also set to come through southern Appalachia once again this spring, on the heels of their second full length album titled No Bad Ideas.

The Faux Paws perform at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival 08/31/24
Photo: Jess Maples

It is easy to glance at The Faux Paws and mistake them for an old time string band or maybe a Celtic band, at least when they are playing banjo. But then, out comes the saxophone, and we are not in Kansas anymore.

So, what are they, exactly? We answer that question in this conversation with banjo and saxophone player Chris Miller, and guitarist Andrew VanNorstrand, as well as musical specimens from their expansive, hypnotic and melodic new record. It is a lighthearted yet revealing conversation ranging from their experience playing contra dances, how being unmarketable is part of their DNA, to their relationship with the music of Earl Scruggs and more.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Bubwa - No Bad Ideas” by The Faux Paws, from No Bad Ideas

“Rockingham” by The Faux Paws, from No Bad Ideas, excerpt

“Night” by The Faux Paws, from No Bad Ideas, excerpt

“15 Below” by The Faux Paws, from No Bad Ideas

Thanks for visiting! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, Spotify here and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival for helping to make this interview possible, and to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

Tray Wellington and the Black Stringband Symposium

February 25, 2025

It was a great week for roots music in Raleigh NC at the 2024 IBMAs in late September, with music showcases galore, practically every artist and label in bluegrass especially meeting and greeting and doing business, late night jams, and plenty of engaging and informative music panels during the day. The highlight of the business conference side of things, for me, was a two-day series of seminars titled “Roots Revival: A Black Stringband Symposium”. Much of what those panel events put forward was not only new; some of it was quite revelatory.

In recent years, roots music fans have been turning over stone after stone when it comes to the importance of Black artists in traditional music, ranging from the very dawn of string bands up to the current era of bluegrass and beyond. Knowledge of key figures like Arnold Shultz and DeFord Bailey is much more widespread now, thanks in large part to the music of Generation X stars like the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Old Crow Medicine Show, who are succeeded by younger generations of artists like Jake Blount and Kaia Kater in making their predecessors’ stories, along with the broader history and culture, much better known.

Tray Wellington took part in the Black Stringband Symposium series, and we caught up after he spoke and played at the seminar titled “Black Music In Appalachia”, which was one of the six hosted by IBMA in partnership with The Banjo Gathering and Elderly Instruments. Tray makes his second appearance on this podcast, and brings us new music as well from his 2024 collection Detour To The Moon.

Tray Wellington speaks at the “Black Music In Appalachia” seminar at IBMA 09/27/24
Photo: The Banjo Gathering

Songs heard in this episode:

“Moon In Motion 1” by Tray Wellington, from Detour To The Moon

“Till Summer Was Gone” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon, excerpt

“Lift Up Every Stone” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon, excerpt

“Spiral Staircase” by Tray Wellington, from Detour to the Moon

Thanks for dropping by! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at IBMA for helping to make this interview possible, and to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on 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

Of Wishing Wells and the Unattainable Woman With Lindsay Lou

February 11, 2025

In the music business, the words “influence” and “inspiration” get thrown around a lot. Artist Y is “influenced” by artists A, B and C, or “inspired” by their love of genres D and E, often with no elaboration of what that really might mean. Influence and inspiration are often overused to the point of meaninglessness in these contexts, or perhaps misunderstood as something akin to emulation. It is an easy shortcut for folks reading or hearing those words to insert the phrase “sounds like” into the sentence when given no more substantial footing than those hackneyed terms. But in spending time with Lindsay Lou and hearing her perspective on bluegrass as a primary influence, this opened up another way to approach this, which was to think of “influence” and “inspiration” as something akin to a key opening a door, of being a catalyst for change and growth.

The musical world heard in Lindsay Lou’s fourth album Queen Of Time begins at a door which she unlocked over the years since first experiencing bluegrass jams as a kid. On this record, it is a world which welcomes bluegrass legends like Jerry Douglas, who makes a guest appearance, as well as first-call songwriter Jon Weisberger, plus maverick superstar Billy Strings. It is full of electric guitar and drums, adding synthesizers, organ and even djembe into the mix. Its lyrics and melodies flow from both a psychedelic experience with the sacred feminine, as well as her enduring bond with her extraordinary grandmother. It is a world where self-discovery incorporates but also supersedes tradition; it is a world where bluegrass is both there and is not there, all at once.

Lindsay Lou performs at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival 08/31/24
photo: Cora Wagoner)

Songs heard in this episode:

“Queen Of Time” by Lindsay Lou, from Queen Of Time

“I Can Help” by Lindsay Lou, from Queen Of Time, excerpt

“Nothing’s Working” by Lindsay Lou, from Queen Of Time, excerpt

“On Your Side (Starman)” by Lindsay Lou, from Queen Of Time

Thanks for dropping by! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know by name, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival for helping to make this interview possible, and to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs — you can link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

Songs of Solidarity, Songs of Struggle: A Brief Introduction to Songs of Social Movements

January 28, 2025

A couple of weeks ago, I could not have predicted that I would come upon another way of crafting a Southern Songs and Stories podcast in this fashion. Regular or even casual listeners will be familiar with the go-to format of documentary style profiles of and interviews with music artists in this series; those of you who listen a lot will probably be familiar with some of the less traveled paths we have taken here as well, which include a remembrance for a friend and colleague who passed away unexpectedly, a survey of how western NC folks in the music business were coping in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, as well as an old school, comedic Christmas radio drama, among others. Add to that list this episode, which is a live podcast, at least for part of it. And we are talking about a subject that is incredibly deep and wide, a subject which could easily fill a year’s worth of episodes. It is a subject that I will revisit again in more depth in coming months — perhaps not here, but at least in person. More on that in the podcast itself, which I hope you enjoy hearing as much as I did in making it.

Album art for the compilation *Gastonia Gallop* on Old Hat Records

Here, we excerpt two parts of a presentation I gave at Queens University in Charlotte as part of their Senior Scholars series on January 17th, 2025. This episode adds to that original talk with additional commentary, music, and new avenues of exploration for the topic, which is essentially the impact from music born of social movements, especially as it relates to radio. At Queens, I gave an overview of 13 songs associated with four social movements: Labor, Civil Rights, Feminism and Environmentalism. Here, we focus on the portions of my talk on Labor and Civil Rights, with example songs ranging from hillbilly music from a 1930s cotton mill man (“Cotton Mill Colic”) to the most controversial and simultaneously most successful song in Billie Holiday’s career (“Strange Fruit”), and more.

Host Joe Kendrick on stage during his presentation to the Queens University Senior Scholars series 1/17/25. Photo: Daniel Coston

Songs heard in this episode:

“Gastonia Gallop” by David McCarn, from Gastonia Gallop: Cotton Mill Songs and Hillbilly Blues

“Which Side Are You On?” by Pete Seeger, from If I Had A Hammer, excerpt

“Which Side Are You On?” by Ani Difranco, from Which Side Are You On?, excerpt

“Cotton Mill Colic” by David McCarn, from Gastonia Gallop, excerpt

“Cotton Mill Colic” by Mike Seeger, from Classic Labor Songs, excerpt

“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, excerpt

“Blowin’ In the Wind” by Bob Dylan, from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, excerpt

“Blowin’ In the Wind” by Tangled Up In Bluegrass, from A Tribute To Bob Dylan

Thanks for joining us! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await, filled with artists you may know and love already, or musicians and bands that are ready to become your next favorites.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Tom Hanchett and to everyone at Queens University, especially Steve Lauer, for their help in making this episode possible. Thanks also to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs — you can link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

David Childers, Revisited

January 7, 2025

The new year arrived and “Auld Lang Syne” bubbled up to the top of playlists all over the land. There are so many versions of this classic, which speaks to the importance of remembering friends and happy times from years past, and it reminded me to pause and reflect on this series, which has featured a great many musical acquaintances and friends (and acquaintances who became friends) over a fairly wide span of time; Southern Songs and Stories began as a video documentary with Aaron Burdett (now in the band Steep Canyon Rangers) in 2015, and transitioned to a podcast in spring of 2017. So much has changed over this time, with both the artists profiled here as well as the podcast itself. In 2018, we partnered with the Osiris Media folks to share the series on their platform, as well as on the internet station Bluegrass Planet Radio, and later with public radio WNCW, where you can hear capsule versions of episodes on air.

Thinking back to those early episodes, it is impossible not to feel the tug of nostalgia for that time -- it was an exciting beginning, full of hope for putting some of the music I loved onto the world stage of an emerging format, and a deep and rich period to experience and take part in the music scene in and around western North Carolina. I thought about David Childers after learning about his new collaboration with Abe Partridge, in a group called The Satan, You're a Liars, on the album Build This House Together. And so, to kick off 2025, here is a listen back to one of our first episodes on a musical hero to Abe Partridge, the Avett Brothers, and many, many more.

(L to R) Joe Kendrick, David Childers and Dolph Ramseur at David’s home after taping their interview 10-17-17

David Childers is a western North Carolina singer songwriter who has been a lawyer, a poet, a man who has always made music, and is also now a visual artist. We’ll get to conversations from legendary producer Don Dixon, who worked with David again on his 2017 record Run Skeleton Run, and talk with his son, longtime band member and collaborator Robert Childers, as well as the head of Ramseur Records and Avett Brothers manager, Dolph Ramseur, plus Avett Brothers member Bob Crawford, and writer, musician and WNCW radio host Carol Rifkin. We’ll also highlight David’s music and the music that inspired him, and delve into many insights into Southern culture along the way.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Jesus Said” by Abe Partridge, from The Satan, You’re a Liars

“Johnny Got A Mohawk” by David Childers & The Mount Holly Hellcats, excerpt

“Radio Moscow” by David Childers, from Run Skeleton Run, excerpt

“Jesus Set Me Free” by David Childers, from Serpents Of Reformation, excerpt

“It’s Bad You Know” by R.L. Burnside, from Come On In, excerpt

“Femme Fatale” by The Velvet Underground, from The Velvet Underground & Nico, excerpt

“Brown Eyed Handsome Man” by Chuck Berry, from After School Session, excerpt

“Belmont Ford” by David Childers, from Run Skeleton Run, excerpt

“Collar and Bell” by David Childers, from Run Skeleton Run, excerpt

“Price I Had To Pay” by David Childers, from Room 23, excerpt

“Little Cindy” by David Childers & The Modern Don Juans , from Burning In Hell, excerpt

Thank you for listening! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, so easy! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await you.

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

The 2024 Christmas and Holiday New Music (and 2009 Radio Nostalgia) Special

December 13, 2024

After surveying all of the available new Christmas and holiday themed music that I could find, I came up with a tidy playlist of nine noteworthy songs to share here in an episode that departs from our usual artist interview format. Here, we play full songs in several sets, with some back stories on each artist and song. Ranging from the elegant, folky take on “Coventry Carol” by The Milk Carton Kids to country leaning Americana in “Layaway Momma” from Adam Chaffins, to previous Southern Songs and Stories guest The Get Right Band and other fellow western NC artists, this episode celebrates an array of styles and perspectives on the season.

With list in hand, little Joey Kendrick sits happily on Santa’s lap across from sister Leigh, who ponders the validity of the this oddly formal and forced tradition. Circa 1976.

Included here is a special from Christmas past, from my days producing the radio show What It Is on public radio WNCW, with founding panelists Jeff Eason and Fred Mills. We celebrated Jeff’s life and many contributions to music and journalism after his passing in 2018 on this podcast, in the episode “Remembering Jeff Eason”. Following the music portion of this episode, we take you back fifteen years, to a time when What It Is was just two years old. You will hear a younger version of me (with a cold) talking by phone with Jeff and Fred in two short episodes, detailing some of our favorite holiday music as well as the Christmas and holiday music we would love to do without.

Songs heard in this episode:

Dulci Ellenberger “Colorful Christmas”

Ana Egge “Silver Bells Ring”

John Doyle and Mick McAuley “Gleann na-Ean”

The Get Right Band “Christmas As A Kid”

The Pinkerton Raid, “Happy XMas (War Is Over)”, from Winter Songs By Other People

Adam Chaffins “Layaway Momma”

JD Clayton “Your Favorite Christmas Song”

The Milk Carton Kids “Coventry Carol”, from Christmas In A Minor Key

Jenn Grant “Bells Are Ringing”

Thanks for listening! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, so easy! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes and many hundreds more artists await you.

From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating, and where it is an option, a review! It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you connect with artists like The Get Right Band, Dulci Ellenberger, John Doyle, and literally hundreds more we have profiled that are at your fingertips. Speaking of Silas Durocher and The Get Right Band, their episode from 2023 stands the test of time, and you can find that by looking up “Psychedelia in the Carolinas Then and Now With The Get Right Band and Ken Friedman” on southernsongsandstories.com, as well as the search feature on your podcast platform of choice.

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

The Liminal Spaces and Myriad Phases Of Twisted Pine

November 26, 2024

On their third album, the Boston quartet pushes the roots music envelope with sass and wit, displaying harmony, hooks and chops for days. Hear about their unique approach, being at home in a liminal space, collaborating with fellow acoustic innovator Casey Driessen, and much more in this conversation from their appearance at the 2024 Earl Scruggs Music Festival.

Twisted Pine performs at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival 08-31-24

Songs heard in this episode:

“Green Flash (feat. Jerry Douglas)” by Twisted Pine, from Love Your Mind

“Peaches en Regalia” by Twisted Pine, from Love Your Mind, excerpt

“Goosebump Feeling” by Twisted Pine, from Love Your Mind, excerpt

“After Midnight (Nothing Good Happens)” by Twisted Pine, from Love Your Mind, excerpt

“Lonestar” by Twisted Pine, from Love Your Mind

Thanks for coming by! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, so easy! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here— hundreds more episodes and many hundreds more artists await you.

From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating, and where it is an option, a review! It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you connect with artists like Twisted Pine, Casey Driessen, Jerry Douglas and hundreds, literally hundreds more we have profiled that are at your fingertips. Speaking of Jerry Douglas, his episode from 2021 stands the test of time, and you can find that by looking up “It’s Always Roots Music 12 O’Clock With Jerry Douglas” on southernsongsandstories.com, as well as the search feature on your podcast platform of choice. Still to come in the series are artists interviewed at Scruggs Fest and at the last IBMA held in Raleigh, and I know you won’t want to miss those conversations with Lindsay Lou, The Faux Paws, Unspoken Tradition’s Ty Gilpin, author David Menconi and banjo innovator Tray Wellington.

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

Of Triumph, Tragedy and the Solace of Solitude With Steve Earle

November 15, 2024

At any given time, we have a number of interviews waiting for their moments on an upcoming episode of this podcast series. Late 2024 is no exception, and may be an extreme, as there are several interviews from both the Earl Scruggs Festival as well as IBMA from recent months now in our cue. Hurricane Helene disrupted the tentative schedule for those conversations with the likes of Lindsay Lou, Mountain Home and Unspoken Tradition’s Ty Gilpin and many more being put on hold, as I pivoted to covering the storm’s impact on music in the region. If you did not hear it already, I encourage you to go back one episode to “Songs Of Grief, Songs Of Hope: Helene’s Aftermath For The Western NC Music Scene” for a glimpse into what dominated (and continues to dominate in many ways) our thoughts and our experiences in early fall 2024.

It was a mild surprise, then, to steer back into a “normal” fashion here, picking out a gem of a conversation from earlier in the year only to find that tragic loss was top of mind for my guest, Steve Earle. “There’s that sorrow and loss theme again,” I thought. How weird is that?

It is not all gloom here though, not by a long shot, so please do not let that dissuade you from pressing ‘play’ here. Although Steve lost his friend and colleague Jeremy Tepper just two days before, he was in overall good spirits, as he talks about his rigorous solo tour, his relationship with his music before becoming sober, his favorite cover songs from both artists covering his music and vice versa, aspirations to record Irish music and perhaps even a jazz record, and memories of growing up in the midst of musical greats like Doug Sahm. It is a deep and insightful conversation from the Hall Of Fame songwriter, which even includes mention of his love of North Carolina trout fishing. Along the way, we hear excerpts of music from Steve Earle’s latest album, Alone Again (Live), as well as both his favorite cover songs — an Emmylou Harris cover of one of his songs, and his own version of a Bob Dylan classic.

Songs heard in this episode:

“CCKMP” by Steve Earle, from Alone Again (Live)

“I Ain’t Ever Satisfied” by Steve Earle, from Alone Again (Live), excerpt

“Goodye” by Emmylou Harris, from Wrecking Ball, excerpt

“My Back Pages” by Steve Earle, from Sidetracks, excerpt

“Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle, from Alone Again (Live)

Thanks for joining us! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, so easy! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await you.

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

Stages Of Grief, Songs Of Hope: Helene's Aftermath For the Western NC Music Scene

October 30, 2024

This week marked one month after Hurricane Helene made landfall, hammering a wide swath from Florida straight north into the heart of the southern Appalachians. Soon after the storm hit, it was obvious that doing another “normal” Southern Songs and Stories episode was simply not going to do. Although there are many artists with interviews on hand awaiting their spotlight with a podcast in this series, they will wait one more turn, as we focus now instead on the aftermath of the storm for the music scene in Asheville NC especially. Here are conversations excerpted from over two hours of interviews with The Grey Eagle Music Hall’s Russell Keith and Rachel Shea, along with music artists like Jesse Iaquinto from the band Fireside Collective, as well as Josh Blake, who also is known for the online music resource IamAvl, as well as music professionals like Jessica Tomasin of Echo Mountain Recording Studios, Liz Whalen Tallent of The Orange Peel, and Jason Guadagnino, formerly of The Salvage Station, which was destroyed in the flooding.

We spoke in separate interviews in mid October 2024, with only a few weeks' distance between our conversations and the tragedy of Helene in southern Appalachia. You will hear their accounts of the shock of the immediate aftermath as we look forward to what can be restored in the near future, and imagine some potential outcomes for the region’s music scene in the long haul ahead. All that, and a soundtrack of flood songs both historical and metaphorical in this special episode of Southern Songs and Stories.

Included in this post is a Spotify playlist I made for this episode, with flood songs both literal and metaphorical. Also included is a list of organizations helping people in the region recover from the storm.

Asheville, NC music venue The Salvage Station in the midst of flooding from Helene.
Photo: The Salvage Station

Flood Songs playlist in Spotify

Ways to help and to get help following Helene: the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund is being run through the North Carolina Arts Foundation to provide funding and assistance to artists and arts organizations

Arts AVL is a well-resourced organization based in Asheville, NC. Most resources on the page linked below have been sourced by Arts AVL as they are at the epicenter of the devastation caused by Helene and are directly connected to local aid efforts as they become available. The Arts AVL Emergency Support Resources page is updated daily.

Preserving a Picturesque America: By purchasing Western North Carolina art, 50% of the proceeds will go directly to the artist, and the other half will go to relief funds to restore the French Broad region. All other purchases, which include PAPA publications, 100% of the proceeds will go to relief.

ReString Appalachia seeks to get as many instruments back into the hands of people who lost them throughout Appalachia due to Hurricane Helene. Supporting this initiative are over 125 of the leading roots musicians, nonprofits, venues, festivals, actors, artists and media outlets. ReString Appalachia is asking for collaborators to lean on their network of musicians, instrument makers, and philanthropic followers in a way that feels authentic.

This effort is threefold: focusing on finding musicians in need, calling for quality instrument donations, and finding philanthropists to cover the costs through tax exempt donations - thanks to our 501(c)3 nonprofit fiscal sponsor Music in Common. ReString Appalachia is aiming to hand deliver instruments in early 2025.

Beloved Asheville. In 2009, Beloved Asheville began its journey to create a transformational way of life rooted in community and working to create Home, Health, Equity, and Opportunity for all. Beloved Asheville recognizes that these focus areas are fundamental to building a just and equitable society, and is committed to working with the community to find innovative and compassionate solutions to the tough challenges that Asheville, the region, and world face today.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Didn’t It Rain” by Jake Blount, from The New Faith

“Waterbound” by Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, from They’re Calling Me Home, excerpt

“Muddy Water” by The Seldom Scene, from Act 3, excerpt

“Thompson Flood” by Songs From The Road Band, from Traveling Show, excerpt

“Whippoorwill” by Fireside Collective

Thanks for joining us! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, both of which are quick, easy and free! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes await you.

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