Southern Songs and Stories is a documentary series about the music of the South and the artists who make it. Hear their performances and discover the stories behind their songs with a look at their lives on stage, in the studio and at home as well as the family, friends, fans and music professionals around them. The series is based in western North Carolina and the surrounding Appalachian and foothill regions, covering an incredible array of musicians and bands. Podcast episodes are produced in partnership with public radio station WNCW as well as the Osiris podcast network, and are also carried on Bluegrass Planet Radio. Host Joe Kendrick produces Southern Songs and Stories, documenting the current music of the South and the story of how it came to be, from styles that are centuries old to genres that are just emerging. Episodes typically spotlight individual artists and bands, and occasionally focus on historical topics, issues surrounding musicians and the music industry, and even a song itself, like in the podcast on “Wagon Wheel”. It is a show for everyone who loves music and for anyone who wants to explore the South.
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Despite bearing a title that might seem to point back to the old world, Nora Jane Struthers’ latest collection Back To Cast Iron finds the Nashville-based artist striding confidently into a more electric, rock and roll kind of territory. In this episode, she addresses this evolution in her sound; she describes having gone from telling other women’s stories to telling her own; husband and bandmate Joe Overton talks about his love of rock bands like Wednesday and Slow Pulp; we hear how both Nora and Joe balance work and life now that they have two children, and much more. Recorded in October 2023 at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC, this episode also features music from their set.
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A special presentation featuring a recent podcast episode of The Broadside from public radio WUNC In today’s episode of The Broadside, co-host and producer Charlie Shelton-Ormond looks at the influential, exploitative and evolving world of music in Southern prisons. You’ll hear from a historian and incarcerated musicians, one of which is rapper Deon Thomas. As a person incarcerated in the state of Virginia, Deon doesn’t have access to a recording studio. Instead, he’s part of a small group of artists who record songs through phone calls and distribute them through a prison-only digital music service. It's a modern twist on a long and complicated tradition
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We caught up with No Depression editor Stacy Chandler at this fall's International Bluegrass Music Association conference and festival, and she is our guest on this episode which includes conversation, commentary and music excerpts from artists featured in the journal's fall edition.
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Shinyribs is a shindig, and a large one at that, but it is also a vehicle for band leader Kev Russell’s unique brand of poetry, which can point to deeper, darker issues at times, especially on his latest album Transit Damage. We spoke with Kev in early October 2023 ahead of Shinyribs’ performance as headliner at The Albino Skunk Music Festival, where we talked about the secret sauce that went into his new album, about making good records in the studio and being equally good live, how starting Shinyribs felt like a "Hail Mary" to him at first, plus we discuss James Brown and an Albino Skunk Fest memory which parallels one of The Godfather of Soul’s signature parts of his shows. There is a lot more, including more live music from Shinyribs’ performance that night.
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Featuring episodes of the music talk show feature What It Is, which aired weekday mornings on WNCW beginning in September 2007 and running until April 2012. Starting with music writers/editors Jeff Eason and Fred Mills, we added writer, musician and WNCW old-time music host Carol Rifkin to the music roundtable before bringing in many more voices over the series’ nearly five year run. Here, we present two episodes with that original crew of panelists.