Southern Songs and Stories is a documentary series about the music of the South and the artists who make it. We showcase 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.
When Praise and Worship Is Also a Really Good Time: Trombone Shout Bands
Jun 04, 2024
Show notes
Hymns and gospel songs have flowed into, and very often, back out of out of every style of music with roots in the American South. From the music itself to its context in worship through choirs, instruments ranging from piano to organ to praise bands, and communal singing, the gospel tradition is, if not front and center in one’s life experience, then at the very least somewhere along the spectrum of influence for everyone native to the region. We touch on this often in episodes of Southern Songs and Stories, with guest artists who lean heavily on the gospel tradition (like The War & Treatyand Darin and Brooke Aldridge), and others who were brought up in church settings and whose music is often informed by gospel music (like Paul Thorn). Gospel music has tremendous depth and width, and here, we focus on one of its many branches, a little known tradition thriving in places like Washington D.C. and Charlotte, NC: the trombone shout band.
According to historian Tom Hanchett, no one seems to know when the trombone shout band tradition began. In the Pentecostal Holiness churches such as the House of Prayer For All People, which is central to our story here, brass bands go back at least a century, but in the early twentieth century, featured a full range of instruments rather than massed trombones. It was a time when brass band music was big everywhere in America, among blacks and whites alike. The House of Prayer took the praise band template and transformed it, with a new and unique instrumental configuration and style, around the 1940s. The history gets murky as to exactly where this happened and who gets credit, but by 1960, trombone shout bands had become synonymous with the United House of Prayer for All People.
Trombone shout band at the United House of Prayer For All People, Charlotte NC (photo: Daniel Coston)
Fast forward to 2024, when Henry Louis Gates Jr. became the face of the PBS documentary series, Gospel. In a series of events described in this episode, the impact of that series reverberated throughout the public television and radio world, eventually making its way to public radio station WNCW. From there, host and producer Kevin Washington and I produced a radio special on gospel music in this region of North and South Carolina especially; I would then, reluctantly at first, go on to help produce a live event at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC that showcased and delved into even more of the region’s gospel music past and present. That event led to my discovery of trombone shout bands, courtesy of Tom Hanchett. From there, it was only a hop, skip and a jump over to producing this podcast. I think you will enjoy finding out about where we landed.
When Praise and Worship Is Also a Really Good Time: Trombone Shout Bands
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
Cunningham Spiritual Return, live at The United House Of Prayer in Charlotte, 04/09/24, excerpt
“He’s Still Alive” by Golden Angels Choir, live at The United House Of Prayer in Charlotte, 04/09/24, excerpt
“Keep Oil In Your Vessels” by Clouds of Heaven, from Saint’s Paradise: Trombone Shout Bands from The United House of Prayer, excerpt
“Spiritual Conversation” by Clouds of Heaven, from Saint’s Paradise: Trombone Shout Bands from The United House of Prayer
I hope you enjoy your time here, and that you will follow this series on your podcast platform of choice, and also give it a rating and a review. When you take a moment to give great ratings and reviews, Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles become much more visible on those platforms to more music, history and culture fans just like you. You can find us on Apple here, and Spotify here. 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 Corrie Askew 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. Thanks for listening! - Joe Kendrick
Striking the Eternal Chord of Cosmic Country With Daniel Donato
May 21, 2024
Show notes
It was the last gig of a late winter tour, and Daniel Donato was ready to exhale. His band was, too, having had the rare treat of seeing their wives the night before, as they prepared for one more show, a late night performance in Asheville, NC. As Daniel told me, they were all in high spirits, and I knew this bode well for their performance, which dovetailed with the Billy Strings concert in town earlier that evening. Thanks to my friend Greg Gerald, I got to take in Billy Strings’ show before we scooted from downtown to west Asheville for Donato’s set.
Earlier that evening, I spoke with Daniel in the green room at Salvage Station, named for the site’s former use as a salvage yard, in February 2024, where he spoke in depth about his conviction that his life’s work is a service to listeners, his ever-present muse, playing with Bob Weir, and surprisingly to me at least, being an angry kid who was an avid wrestler not all that long ago. Still in his 20s, Daniel Donato has quickly made a name for himself as a kind of musical mystic, a master of the telecaster and a favorite in the burgeoning cosmic country scene.
Joe Kendrick (L) interviews Daniel Donato (R) at Salvage Station in Asheville NC ahead of his show 02-18-24. Photo: Greg Gerald
Striking the Eternal Chord Of Cosmic Country With Daniel Donato
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“Dance In the Desert” by Daniel Donato, from Reflector
“Lose Your Mind” by Daniel Donato, from Reflector, excerpt
“Darlin’ Corey” by Daniel Donato, live at The Grey Eagle 03/12/2022, excerpt
“Sugar Leg Rag” by Daniel Donato, from Reflector
Thank you for stopping by! We are glad that you took time to listen, and hope you can help us by spreading awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating and 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 find musical kinship with artists like Daniel Donato. I would love to hear your comments about that sort of thing and all things Southern Songs and Stories -- you can drop me a line at southernsongsandstories@gmail.com, or hit me up on our Facebook or Instagram pages, and I will be glad to reply.
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 Jason Guadagnino at The Salvage Station for helping make this interview possible, to Greg Gerald for hosting me after the show and for taking photos of our interview. Thanks also 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
From Beethoven to Emily Dickinson and Earl Scruggs: The Musical Archaeology of Tony Trischka
Apr 23, 2024
Show notes
It is natural that a second generation bluegrass banjo player would have soaked up as much of Earl Scruggs’ style on the five string as possible when starting out; it is just as natural that they would push outside of those boundaries of the territory staked out by their pioneering forebears. In Tony Trischka’s case, part of this instinct to turn bluegrass on its head early on in his career involved doing things like adding saxophone to an instrumental version of “Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”, which began with a cacophonous drum solo. Now, we find the habitual trailblazer discovering and reinterpreting never before heard jams from none other than Earl Scruggs himself. It is a bit of a full circle moment, although that is not to say that Tony Trischka ever left the traditional bluegrass fold, either. He is and always was a banjo renaissance man, respected by fans of the roots music avant-garde and the three finger roll alike.
In the past couple of years in his now nearly sixty year career, Tony Trischka has been excitedly traveling down an even deeper Earl Scruggs rabbit hole than even he could ever have imagined. Already at work on another book of re-transcriptions of Earl Scruggs' music, which had previously been transcribed by guitar players, a friend named Bob Piekel sent Tony over 200 home recordings of Earl made by John Hartford, which included other greats like Tony Rice, Mac Wiseman and Del McCoury playing for fun over many years in the 1980s and 1990s. These tapes revealed a side of Earl’s playing, both in style and repertoire, that no one outside of those small circles of musicians ever heard, including multiple versions of songs like "Gentle on My Mind" and "Here Comes the Bride"; Earl playing blues licks on “Cripple Creek”; syncopations that he used only in those private settings. Brimming with inspiration, Tony Trischka crafted an album based on the John Hartford tapes, bringing in players like Sam Bush, Molly Tuttle, Michael Cleveland, Billy Strings and Mark Schatz, to record his new collection titled Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs.
Tony Trischka plays banjo alongside Darol Anger on fiddle
Just after Earl Scruggs’ 100th birth anniversary, and just ahead of his own 75th trip around the sun, I sat with Tony Trischka at the Earl Scruggs Center following his performance at the Remembering Earl concert, which included the Travelin’ McCourys and Jerry Douglas. This episode contains the bulk of that conversation, which was also partially excerpted in our earlier episode titled “An Update, and Two Quick Takes With Tony Trischka and Travis Book”, which includes a portion of Tony’s interview that does not appear here.
From Beethoven to Emily Dickinson and Earl Scruggs - The Musical Archaeology of Tony Trischka
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“John Henry Medley: John Henry/Bonaparte’s Retreat/Twists and Turns” by Tony Trischka, from Territory
“Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms” by Tony Trischka, from Heartlands, excerpt
“Quite Early Morning” by Pete Seeger, from Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, excerpt
“Dooley” by Tony Trischka, featuring Molly Tuttle and Sam Bush”, from Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs
Thank you so much for visiting! We are grateful that you took time to listen, and hope you can help us by spreading awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice. From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating and 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 find musical kinship with artists like Tony Trishcka, and legends like Earl Scruggs and Pete Seeger. I would love to hear your comments about that sort of thing and all things Southern Songs and Stories -- you can drop me a line at southernsongsandstories@gmail.com, and I will be glad to reply. Speaking of Earl Scruggs, check out our episode titled The Humble Genius of Earl Scruggs, which is chock full of interviews with bluegrass artists sharing their memories of Earl and how he impacted their lives.
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 Mary Beth Martin and Zach Dressel at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina for all their help in setting up my interview with Tony Trischka, and 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
Revisiting a North Carolina Massacre: Shelton Laurel, Part One
Apr 11, 2024
Show notes
There is a decidedly darker mood in the United States than ever in our lifetimes, it seems. In just one example poll recently, one in five Americans agreed that violence is necessary to get the country back on track. With that in mind, it seems like a good time to remember what happened the last time the country acted on this, when we fought the Civil War. Between 1861 and 1865,at least 1,030,000 people were killed, including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease—and 50,000 civilians. No major battles were fought in the North Carolina mountains, although there was one particularly dark Appalachian chapter of the bloody nationwide saga, the Shelton Laurel Massacre, which took place in Madison County NC.
Here, we revisit the first of a two-part series that originally published in 2021. The original article, with much more back story, is on our page here, and you can find these and 150 other episodes of Southern Songs and Stories on your podcast app of choice.
Historical marker in Madison County, NC
The Shelton Laurel Massacre pt 1 - The Past That Would Not Die
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“Bonaparte’s Retreat” by Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners
“Beautiful Dreamer” by Hesperus from A Civil War Scrapbook
“8th of January/Cumberland Gap/8th Day of January” by Sheila Kay Adams, from All The Other Fine Things
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 Carol Rifkin for pointing me to much of the music here, to Sean Rubin for converting tapes of the show Over Home to digital format, and 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.
Going Solo, With Soul: Travis Book
Mar 26, 2024
Show notes
It was one of the first cold days of the fall in the western NC mountains when I trekked up from Spindale to Brevard to talk with Travis Book ahead of his show in town that night. Spindale is perhaps 60 miles away, where I work at WNCW, and with special shortcut directions from a trusted source who travels that route regularly, I figured it would take about an hour to get there. Only that travel time forecast was wildly optimistic, compounded by the fact that I wound up with most of the directions but did not have the last bit, which I figured I would somehow intuit, but could not. So instead of taking about an hour and a half, which was more like normal, I had to stop, then call Travis and ask for directions, and was pushing up against his practice time once I rolled in to his driveway a good two hours after leaving work.
After a quick hello, we sat at Travis’ kitchen table and dove into conversation. The hectic and anxious lead-up to this could have derailed other interviews, but Travis took it in stride, and I seemed to be able to focus some of that nervous energy into a free flowing series of questions and commentary that became the foundation for this episode, which includes music from his solo debut album Love and Other Strange Emotions.
Travis Book plays upright bass along with Jon Stickley on guitar at his Travis Book Happy Hour show at 185 King St. in Brevard NC 11-28-23
Going Solo, With Soul: Travis Book
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“A Little Too Much” by Travis Book, from Love and Other Strange Emotions
“Leavin’” by Travis Book, from Love and Other Strange Emotions, excerpt
“The Truth Is Out There” by Travis Book, from Love and Other Emotions
Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! 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 185 King Street for their hospitality. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio 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
Teaching the Art of the Bluegrass Jam: Pete Wernick
Mar 12, 2024
Show notes
What connects you to the year 1946? Think of the time immediately following World War II, and perhaps black and white images of men in fedoras and women in long dresses come to mind. Maybe you have parents or grandparents who were born around that time, or maybe you know someone who lived then and has past on. It is an era that now seems quite distant for most of us, a kind of abstraction that can be read about but which remains present only in its dusty tomes and mono records. But like all eras of our past, the time when bluegrass music was born remains with us in tangible, even impactful ways. In 1946, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys recorded their first songs with new members Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, and a new genre of music was born. Born that same year in New York City was Pete Wernick, who came to know all of the Blue Grass Boys as well as most if not all of the other first-generation stars, and played with many of them eventually as well. He remains one of the few people today who embodies a direct link to this era, making it leap from the pages of history across the decades and get us tapping our feet to bluegrass music that is still being born.
Pete Wernick
Teaching the Art of the Bluegrass Jam - Pete Wernick
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“Waiting For Daylight” by Pete Wernick & Flexigrass, from What The
“Powwow the Indian Boy” by Hot Rize, from Hot Rize, excerpt
“Untold Stories” by Hot Rize, from Untold Stories, excerpt
“Spring Break” by Pete Wernick, from On A Roll
Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! 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 their role in making this episode possible, and you can listen to more episodes on this series on artists interviewed at previous IBMA conferences, like Sierra Hull, Bela Fleck, Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright (Sam Bush Band and Henhouse Prowlers respectively), and C.J. Lewandowski (Po’ Ramblin’ Boys), to name a few. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio 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
Blurring Lines and Packing a Punch With Stillhouse Junkies
Feb 23, 2024
Show notes
Here at Southern Songs and Stories, we take some liberties from time to time with what we put forward as songs and stories that fall under the umbrella of the American South. After all, we have featured a band from England (The Ruen Brothers), an artist from Idaho (Eilen Jewell), and several artists out of the sui generis state of Texas (Shinyribs, Joshua Ray Walker, The Deer), for starters. Add to that list the second group from Colorado profiled here (Yonder Mountain String Band being the first), as we bring Durango trio Stillhouse Junkies to the series.
Although all these artists are not from or living in the South (Texas notwithstanding), they all share a musical heritage that has direct connections to the region and its outsized music culture. Stillhouse Junkies is right in line here, with their members playing a style of music taking directly from forms so closely associated with the South, namely bluegrass, blues and country. With that in mind, and knowing that Southern hospitality is a hallmark of the region, we welcome Alissa Wolf, Fred Kozak and Cody Tinnin with open arms to this episode, which features conversation touching on topics ranging from uncommon trio configuration to how that trio format can sound as full as it does on record and at their live performance at the Albino Skunk Music Festival, where we spoke after their set. The band points out the advantages of being from a relatively small city in Colorado and hints at future collaborations, as well as giving us insight into life on the road, and we feature excerpts of music from their Albino Skunk set, which includes new songs that are slated for release later in 2024.
Stillhouse Junkies perform at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC 10/06/23
Photo: John Gillespie Photography
Blurring Lines and Packing a Punch With Stillhouse Junkies
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“Up River” by Stillhouse Junkies, from Albino Skunk Music Festival
“Colorado Bound” by Stillhouse Junkies at Albino Skunk Music Festival 10-06-23, excerpt
“Johnny Mac” by Stillhouse Junkies at Albino Skunk Music Festival 10-06-23
“Whiskey Prison” by Stillhouse Junkies at Albino Skunk Festival 10-06-23
Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! 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 Albino Skunk Music Festival; many of the great people at Albino Skunk made this episode possible, and you can listen to more episodes on this series on artists who played there, like Shinyribs, Darrell Scott, Miko Marks and Eilen Jewell. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio 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
Diversifying and Exporting Bluegrass With Dark Shadow Recording’s Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright
Feb 08, 2024
Show notes
It was day five of the IBMAs and I had been up until four that morning, but Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright might have even seen the sun come up that day after they hosted yet another late night music showcase. Technically their showcases shut down around two or three in the morning, but there was always the chance that artists such as Sierra Ferrell might show up and want to jam after folks like myself called it a night, like she did a couple nights before. Such was the atmosphere in Raleigh, NC for the marathon annual fall event — business conference by day, with shows and jam sessions all night. You can probably hear it in our voices that we lacked sleep, but our level of excitement about all of what we had seen and heard remained undiminished.
Stephen Mougin is probably best known for playing guitar in the Sam Bush Band (he is also a producer, engineer, music instructor and band coach), while Ben Wright is the banjo player and a founding member of Henhouse Prowlers (as well as the nonprofit organization Bluegrass Ambassadors); they are also partners in the music label, Dark Shadow Recording. Our conversation touches on the business of bluegrass as well as its culture and history, their insights on the future of the genre, and their work to spread awareness of that music worldwide. Included in this episode is music from the Henhouse Prowlers’ latest album Lead and Iron as well as Stephen Mougin’s solo album Ordinary Soul.
Henhouse Prowlers with producer Stephen Mougin at Dark Shadow Recording studio. (L-R: Jon Goldfine, Jake Howard, Chris Dollar, Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright.) Photo by Madison Thorn.
Diversifying and Exporting Bluegrass With Dark Shadow Recording’s Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
Songs heard in this episode:
“Lead and Iron” by Henhouse Prowlers, from Lead and Iron
“New Beginnings” by Stephen Mougin, from Ordinary Soul, excerpt
“It’s Not What You Think” by Sam Bush, from Storyman
Thank you for visiting us and giving us a listen! 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 Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed out theme songs. Thanks also to the staff of IBMA for their help in making our interview possible.
This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick
An Update, and Two Quick Takes With Tony Trischka and Travis Book
Jan 23, 2024
Show notes
Here at Southern Songs and Stories, there is never a shortage of stories to draw from a seemingly bottomless well of music artists; we only scratch the surface of what we would love for you to hear on this series. But even with that, we have a parallel problem, a good problem if you will, of having a whole lot of material on hand waiting to make it into a podcast episode. I have been anticipating, waiting for the right time to publish episodes featuring a number of artists going back to fall 2023 (and I have to admit that the urge to scratch that itch is strong), and with this mini, hybrid episode, a little bit of that pressure will be released.
Beginning with our most recent interview first, we bring you an excerpt of the conversation with Tony Trischka, recorded in mid-January 2024, following his performance at the Remembering Earl concert to benefit the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, NC. Previewing his forthcoming full episode, Tony tells us here about how the public perception of the banjo has improved over the decades since he began playing the instrument, as well as his unique approach to playing it, and other players who push the envelope that he admires.
Tony Trischka’s new album Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs is one of the most innovative yet unlikely tribute albums in bluegrass music: it began with Tony receiving recordings of Earl Scruggs jamming at his Nashville home in scores of sessions which saw friends John Hartford and a slew of other greats picking and experimenting with traditional and original songs alike. Note for note, Tony meticulously recreated Earl’s banjo work on songs from these jam sessions and, with a full band, brought them to life in an impactful, new context.
Tony Trischka (photo: John Cohen)
An Update, and Two Quick Takes With Tony Trischka and Travis Book
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
After hearing some of Tony Trischka’s conversation, we preview our episode on Travis Book as he tells us about stepping out on his own for a decidedly rock and soul vibe on his first solo album, Love and Other Strange Emotions. And beyond that, we cannot wait to bring you interviews going back to IBMA week, with another legendary artist and banjo player Peter Wernick as well as both Stephen Mougin and Ben Wright, known first as musicians with the Sam Bush Band and Henhouse Prowlers, respectively, but also for their partnership in Dark Shadow Recording. Speaking of that music label, a band on their roster named Stillhouse Junkies played at last fall’s Albino Skunk Music Festival, where we had the chance to hear from all of its members in a lively late night conversation.
Travis Book looks to stage right in Infamous Stringdusters’ set at Carolina In The Fall in 2016
Songs heard in this episode:
“Brown’s Ferry Blues” by Tony Trischka, with Billy Strings, from Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs
“The Truth Is Out There” by Travis Book, from Love and Other Strange Emotions
Thank you for visiting us and giving us a listen! 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 Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed out theme songs. Thanks also to the staff at the Earl Scruggs Center and for their team that put together their Remembering Earl event for all their help in making our interview with Tony Trischka possible.
This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick
Gravy: King Biscuit Time
Jan 12, 2024
Show notes
Delta blues found its voice and audience on the airwaves of KFFA’s King Biscuit Time, a daily broadcast out of Helena, Arkansas. Bluesmen like Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Lockwood Jr., who would go on to become legends, interspersed their own songs with advertising jingles. King Biscuit Time, which launched in 1941, gave unprecedented exposure to African American musicians while selling everyday grocery staples like flour and cornmeal. And it’s still on the air. Reporter-producer Betsy Shepherd travels to Helena to tell the story for Gravy.
Today, we’re sharing a special episode from Gravy, produced by our friends over at Southern Foodways Alliance and distributed by APT Podcast Studios. Gravy showcases a South that is constantly evolving, using food as a means to dig into lesser-known corners of the region, to complicate stereotypes, to document new dynamics, and to give voice to the unsung folk who grow, cook, and serve our daily meals.
Gravy: King Biscuit Time
Joe Kendrick/Osiris Media/WNCW
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