Alabama State Council on the Arts

Alabama Arts Radio Series Archive

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PROGRAM	DATE AIRED	AUDIO STREAM	COMMENTS All Programs 28'30"

Christophe Jacskon	04-25-2017	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts, Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley talks with Christophe Jackson about his career as a pianist and his research involving medicine and the arts.

The Elba Theater	05-23-2017	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts, Deputy Director Barbara Edwards visits Elba to learn about the restoration of the Elba Theater. Lori Chapman and Justin Maddox of Foundation 154 share their vision for the renovated theater.

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Jenny Fine	01-17-2017	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts, Elliot Knight talks with photographer and visual artist Jenny Fine. Jenny is a 2017 ASCA Media/Photography Fellowship recipient who grew up in Enterprise and is currently based in Birmingham. We discuss the evolution of Jenny’s career as an artist and her most recent installation and exhibition, Flat Granny: A Procession in My Mind. Learn more about Jenny and view her artwork at www.JennyFine.com (more)

Jesseca Cornelson	01-10-2017	MP3	Anne Kimzey interviews poet Dr. Jesseca Cornelson, Associate Professor of English at Alabama State University and recipient of a 2016 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. During the program Cornelson discusses her recent work and reads a few of her poems. (more)

Earl Peanutt Montgomery	01-03-2017	MP3	This week, songwriter, musician, and performer Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery talks with Community Arts Program manager Deb Boykin. Mr. Montgomery shares his memories of growing up in a musical family, recalling that he learned to write songs because his mother challenged him to emulate one of his older brothers. Like a number of musicians in the area, he got his start at the studio founded by Tom Stafford, Billy Sherrril, and Rick Hall. He wrote dozens of songs for George Jones, who became a close friend. (more)

William Christenberry	12-27-2016	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C in 2007. William Christenberry died Monday, November 28, 2016 in Washington, DC at the age of 80. This is the second of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life’s work as an artist that includes his acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama, his unique dream house sculptures, the Klan Tableau, and ongoing mixed-media work. (more)

William Christenberry	12-20-2016	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C in 2007. William Christenberry died Monday, November 28, 2016 in Washington, DC at the age of 80. (more)

Alabama visual artist Chintia Kirana	12-06-2016	MP3	ASCA Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Alabama visual artist Chintia Kirana about her artistic inspirations and career as well as her role as Editor in Chief for Expose Art Magazine. Chintia was born in Indonesia, but grew up in Montgomery and recently returned to Alabama’s Capitol City after moving away to earn her Masters of Fine Arts in Illinois. (more)

Good Hope High School Poetry Out Loud	11-22-2016	MP3	Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green, visits Good Hope High School, where English Teacher, Anita Richter, coordinates a school wide poetry recitation competition. (more)

Cast King and Matt Downer	11-01-2016	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2005 interview by Anne Kimzey with musicians Cast King and Matt Downer from Sand Mountain. Guitarist and songwriter Cast King and his former band The Country Drifters recorded with Sun Records of Memphis in the 1950s. Matt Downer, a young musician, worked with Mr. King for a few years to learn his guitar style and to record his music and life history. During the program Mr. King performed three of the approximately 500 songs he wrote in his lifetime. Cast King died in 2007.(more)

Elias Katsaros of Huntsville	10-25-2016	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Byzantine-style iconographer Elias Katsaros of Huntsville about his long career decorating the sanctuaries of more than 40 Orthodox churches across the country. Mr. Katsaros is a master artist with the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program and is passing on his art to three students in his Greek Orthodox community. (more)

Curtis Benzle	10-18-2016	MP3	This program is a repeat from 2015 of Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight interviewing ASCA Visual Arts Fellowship Recipient Curtis Benzle about his work as a porcelain artist and teacher. (more)

Al Head, ASCA and Nick Spitzer	10-11-2016	MP3	Deborah Boykin talks with Al Head, ASCA Executive Director and Nick Spitzer, host and producer of American Routes, heard on Saturday nights on Troy Public Radio. They discuss working together in Louisiana when Al, as Executive Director of the Louisiana State Council on the Arts, hired Nick as the agency’s folklorist. Other topics include the growth of public folklore in the Southeast and the rich musical traditions found in the region.(more)

Pianist John Davis	09-20-2016	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of pianist John Davis talking with Community Arts program manager Deborah Boykin about his interest in the music of Blind Tom, a 19th Century composer who was born a slave in Columbus, Georgia and who went on to tour the country playing his compositions in opera houses, concert halls, and other performance venues. In 2015 Mr. Davis visited Alabama on a tour arranged by the Southern Literary Trail in partnership with the Mobile Arts Council. He played from Blind Tom’s repertoire in Mobile, Tuskegee, and Demopolis and gave a multi-media presentation about Blind Tom’s life. (more)

Peter Prinz	09-13-2016	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Peter Prinz, ASCA’s 2016 Arts Administration Fellowship recipient. Peter talks about his work at Space One Eleven and Space One Eleven’s participation in the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s Change Capital in the Arts program. This program helps arts organizations adapt their programming, operations and finances to thrive in a changed and changing economic and cultural landscape. (more)

David Davis	09-06-2016	MP3	This program is a repeat of a 2009 interview with Bluegrass musician David Davis talking to Deborah Boykin about his musical influences, including shapenote singing, Charlie Louvin, and his uncle, Cleo Davis, one of Bill Monroe's original Bluegrass Boys. He also discusses his experiences as leader of the Warrior River Boys, one of Alabama's most prominent bluegrass bands. The program includes music from their CD, Two Dimes and a Nickle. (more)

Aaron Head,	08-30-2016	MP3	Deb Boykin talks with Aaron Head, Gallery Manager at Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville. Aaron describes the on-going activities at Lowe Mill, including the studios where working artists demonstrate their techniques and sell their work, the Concerts on the Dock, and the exhibitions and gallery talks he curates. (more)

Buddy Palmer,	08-23-2016	MP3	This program is a repeat from 2015 of Buddy Palmer, President and CEO of Create Birmingham, talking to Community Arts Program Manager Deb Boykin about the ways in which his organization has become more responsive to opportunities presented by the city’s growing creative economy. (more)

Sidney Hoover	08-16-2016	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Sidney Hoover, executive director of Alabama Communities of Excellence about their program which assists small communities strengthen their long-term economic success and how the arts can be involved in the process. (more)

Carroline Shines Edwards	08-09-2016	MP3	Blues performer Carroline Shines Edwards joins Deb Boykin to talk about her songwriting, singing, and her work teaching children to sing and play blues music. She discusses growing up with her father, the legendary Johnny Shines and the upcoming Johnny Shines Festival she produces each year in his honor. (more)

Chris Holmes and Alabama Center for Traditonal Culture Director Joey Brackner	08-02-2016	MP3	Alabama Public Television (APT) Executive Producer Chris Holmes and Alabama Center for Traditonal Culture Director Joey Brackner about their television project called Journey Proud. The third season of Journey Proud is currently playing on APT. Chris and Joey talk about their program and elements of production in this unique project that features Folklorist Joey Brackner in pursuit of interesting folk culture in Alabama. (more)

WAUD Auburn Radio Station announcer Bob Sanders program 2	07-12-2016	MP3	This program is an interview Folklife Specialist Steve Grauberger did in 2005 with WAUD Auburn Radio Station announcer Bob Sanders. Bob recently retired after 60 years on the air. The show is the second of two programs that feature Bob Sanders reading stories from his book Friends, Family and Frontier Country: Growing Up in West Alabama. The book is a compilation of stories taken from a weekly newspaper column called Esoterica for Everyone that he wrote for 35 years, first for the now out of service Auburn Bulletin. (more)

WAUD Auburn Radio Station announcer Bob Sanders. program 1	07-05-2016	MP3	This program is a repeat of a 2005 interview Folklife Specialist Steve Grauberger did with WAUD Auburn Radio Station announcer Bob Sanders. Bob recently retired after 60 years on the air. This program is one of two shows that features Bob reading stories from his book Friends, Family and Frontier Country: Growing Up in West Alabama. The book is a compilation of stories taken from a weekly newspaper column called Esoterica for Everyone that he wrote for 35 years, first for the now out of service Auburn Bulletin. (more)

Bruce Andrews Executive Director of the Shelby County Arts Council	06-28-2016	MP3	Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin talks with Bruce Andrews, executive director of the Shelby County Arts Council. They discuss the role of SCAC in creating a vibrant presence for the arts in the county, including art classes, exhibits, a performance series, and a partnership with the Alabama Writer’s Forum to sponsor a creative writing program in the Montevallo Middle School. (more)

Capital City Four-Book Shapenote Singing,	06-21-2016	MP3	This program gives a short history of the Sacred Harp and includes music from four Alabama based shape-note singing books, the Denson and Cooper revisions of The Sacred Harp, The Christian Harmony and The Colored Sacred Harp. On July 21st, 2016 the 30th Annual Capital City Four-Book Shapenote Singing, located at the Loeb Center in Old Alabama Town (corner of south McDonough and Columbus streets) Montgomery, will take place starting at 9:30 am and continue until 3 pm. The event is open to the public. (more)

Michael Medcalf, Director of the BFA/Dance Program	06-14-2016	MP3	Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Michael Medcalf who presently serves as the Director of the BFA/Dance Program and an Assistant Professor of Dance at Alabama State University in Montgomery, AL. With over thirty years of experience in the field of dance, Mr. Medcalf continues to actively seek out challenging and engaging artistic and educational opportunities that expand his range as an educator, arts administrator, choreographer, and performing artist. (more)

Dr. Wayne Flynt	06-07-2016	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of ACTC director Joey Brackner interviewing preeminent Alabama historian Dr. Wayne Flynt about his book Alabama in the Twentieth Century. In the interview Dr. Flynt outlines the significant cultural contributions of Alabamians during the late century. Wayne Flynt is the Distinguished University Professor of History at Auburn University. (more)

Sarah Walker Thornton	05-31-2016	MP3	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley talks to Sarah Walker Thornton, Artistic Director for the Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery, Alabama. They discuss Thornton's background as an actor and director and various programs and projects currently at the Cloverdale Playhouse. (more)

Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in Eutaw, Alabama	05-24-2016	MP3	When Joey Brackner visited the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in Eutaw, Alabama he talked to festival organizers, craft artists and a Fayette County step group that performed at the event. This re-aired progam is to help promote the 2016 festival to be held Aug 27-28 on the Old Courthouse Square in Eutaw, Alabama. (more)

Diana Green	05-17-2016	MP3	In this program, Diana Green, Arts in Education (AIE) program manager at ASCA, talks with Deb Boykin about her work. In addition to the AIE grants program, they discuss Poetry Out Loud, the Visual Arts Achievement Program, and the Collaborating Artist Program, which brings artists into the school to work with children and teachers, integrating the arts into other subjects. (more)

Kevin Nutt	05-10-2016	MP3	This week's program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Kevin Nutt of CaseQuarter Records talking about his research on early blues recording artist Ed Bell from Greenville, Alabama. His Tributaries article on the subject can be obtained at Alabamafolklife.org Kevin can be heard weekly, online, at WFMU with his radio program Sinners Crossroads. (more)

Christopher Maloney and Claire Willson	05-03-2016	MP3	This program is a repeat of Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner talking to Christopher Maloney and Claire Willson, content editors for the web based Encyclopedia of Alabama. (more)

Gary Nichols	04-26-2016	MP3	For this program Deb Boykin talks to musician, singer/songwriter Gary Nichols of the 2016 Grammy Award winning band The SteelDrivers. (more)

Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio	04-19-2016	MP3	This Program is a repeat from 2009 of Deborah Boykin interviewing Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio, a project of Auburn University's School of Architecture. He discusses how this community-based program enables students to learn through projects that ultimately provide affordable homes and public spaces in rural West Alabama. (watch a video here) This year, Andrew Freear received the 2016 American Arts and Letters Award in Architecture. (more)

Dr. Kirk Curnutt	04-12-2016	MP3	In this program Anne Kimzey interviews Dr. Kirk Curnutt, chair of the English Department at Troy University, about the 11th annual Alabama Book Festival to be held Saturday, April 23rd in Montgomery’s Old Alabama Town. Dr. Curnutt will give a preview of the more than 40 authors appearing at the Book Festival plus special features such as the poetry tent and children’s area, as well as free workshops for writers. Alabamabookfestival.org (more)

Rodney Clark	04-05-2016	MP3	In this program Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley talks to Rodney Clark, ASCA Fellowship recipient, about his life as an actor. (more)

Jerry Brown	03-29-2016	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of a 2003 interview of Jerry Brown about the process of pottery making at his shop in Hamilton Alabama. In the program, interviewer Joey Brackner and Jerry discuss the history of the Brown family and their roll in southern folk pottery. Jerry describes his departure from pottery making as a young adult and his reentry into the tradition in 1982. Jerry Brown was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in 1992. He won the Alabama Folk Heritage in 2003. A documentary about Jerry and his pottery called “Unbroken Tradition” can be seen at www.folkstreams.net Jerry Brown passed away on March 4, 2016. (more)

Alicia Williams	03-22-2016	MP3	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews ASCA fellowship recipient Alicia Johnson-Williams founder of Make It Happen Theater Company with its mission to bridge the gap among the cultures, promote literacy and provide positive, productive performing arts experiences for adults and children in the greater Birmingham area, as one of the Southeastern region's premiere multi-cultural theatre companies. (more)

John Savage	03-15-2016	MP3	This program features Folklorist Steve Grauberger interviewing John Savage of Crossville Alabama about his art of making Damascus style steel knives and other tools. He discusses how he developed his skills as a professional knife sharpener in the poultry industry and then meeting well-known Alabama Damascus steel maker Brad Vice who helped him in his blade making endeavors. (more)

Cathy Gilmore	03-08-2016	MP3	This program features Cathy Gilmore, President of the Virginia Samford Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Ms. Gilmore about the history and various iterations of this unique neighborhood theater and its current projects and events. (more)

Diedra Ruff	02-23-2016	MP3	This program features Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Diedra Ruff, The Blues Diva, from Birmingham Alabama about her background and career as a singer and performer. (more)

Johnny Shines	02-09-2016	MP3	In this program we feature an edited version of a great Radiovisions production done in the 1990s by Russell Gulley and the Bill Wills Arts Council of Fort Payne, AL. This program features biographical interviews and blues music of Johnny Shines. Shines received the Alabama Folk Heritage Award in 1989 by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. This award was established to recognize master folk artists who have made outstanding contributions to their particular artistic tradition. The award is intended to honor long-term achievement within art forms that are rooted in the traditional or ethnic culture of Alabama (more)

Folk Arts Apprenticeship grantee and Sacred Harp singing teacher Bill Hogan	02-02-2016	MP3	Folklife Program Manager Anne Kimzey talks to 2016 Folk Arts Apprenticeship grantee and Sacred Harp singing teacher Bill Hogan. Folk Arts Apprenticeship grants go to master artists to teach their traditional skills to students. Hogan discusses his participation in shape-note music and the teaching of a new class on the Sacred Harp singing tradition that is free and available to the general public every 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Jubilee Center, 432 S Goldthwaite St. in Montgomery at 5:30 to 7 PM. (more)

Gina Clifford, Cathy Gerachis, Cheryl Morgan and Jay Lamar	01-26-2016	MP3	In this program DesignAlabama Executive Director Gina Clifford talks to Cathy Gerachis DesignAlabama board member, Cheryl Morgan retired professor of architecture at Auburn University, and Jay Lamar Director of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission, about Connect-Livity. onnect-Livity is a series of six regional design charrettes to take place across Alabama in 2016 in association with Southern Makers' events. Southern Makers is a curated group of artisans working in various fields such as fiber arts, food, wood crafts, fashion and other focus areas. (more)

Arts Revive In Selma, Alabama	01-19-2016	MP3	Deputy Director Barbara Edwards talks to Martha Lockett, Executive Director of Arts Revive In Selma, Alabama. They discuss projects that Arts Revive is in the process of implementing and their success in the adaptive reuse of the old Carneal Auto Parts property on the Alabama River as their new center for arts in Selma. They talk about the ongoing phases of development of adapting other adjacent buildings into a larger arts complex. (more)

Herschel Sizemore	01-05-2016	MP3	Community Arts Program Manager Deb Boykin talks to Alabama Native musician and song writer Herschel Sizemore. (more)

Marian Furman	12-29-2015	MP3	In this program Anne Kimzey talks to author and photographer Marian Furman of Camden, Alabama about her new book, Through a Woman's Eye: The Early 20th Century Photography of Alabama's Edith Morgan. (more)

Alabama Christmas Musi Program 2	12-22-2015	MP3	This program is the second of two radio shows that feature Alabama Musicians performing seasonal Christmas songs for your enjoyment. Included in the show are recordings from the Large and Amorphous Group of Christmas CDs produced each year by Herb Trottman of Fretted Instruments in Homewood, featuring a wide variety of Alabama musicians and singers. Also included are selections from the instrumental group Act of Congress, the bluegrass band Iron Horse, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Bobbly Horton, Gospel Quartet the Swan Silvertones with Claude Jeter and Birmingham a cappela quartet the Fairfield Four. (more)

Alabama Christmas Musi Program 1	12-08-2015	MP3	This program is the first of two radio shows that feature Alabama Musicians performing seasonal Christmas songs for your enjoyment. Included in the show are recordings from the Large and Amorphous Group of Christmas CDs produced each year by Herb Trottman of Fretted Instruments in Homewood, featuring a wide variety of Alabama musicians and singers. Also included are selections from the bluegrass band Iron Horse, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Bobbly Horton, Birmingham a cappela quartet the Four Eagles, and the Reverend Gatemouth Moore. (more)

Spooner Oldham	11-24-2015	MP3	Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin talks with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Spooner Oldham. Spooner discussing growing up in Center Star, his work as a teenaged session musician at FAME studios, songwriting, and his experiences performing with a diverse group of artists including Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, the Drive-By Truckers, and the Everly Brothers. (more)

Bobby Horton	11-17-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Alabama's curator of historic song - Bobby Horton. Best known for his CDs of Civil War era music and membership in the popular band Three On a String, Mr. Horton also discusses his family's musical heritage and his work composing songs for numerous Ken Burns' documentary films. Bobby Horton was a recipient of a 2005 Governor's Arts Award. (more)

Robin Wade	11-10-2015	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with wood craftsman Robin Wade about his inspirations and processes. Wade lives in the Shoals area of north Alabama and produces a wide range of one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture and sculpture using ethically-sourced native Alabama hardwoods. Learn more about Robin and his work here: http://robinwadefurniture.com/ (more)

Eric Essix	11-03-2015	MP3	This program originally aired in 2004. It is a repeat of ASCA Deputy Director Barbara Edwards interviewing Jazz musician Eric Essix about his work with the rural schools touring program (now called Alabama Touring Artist Program) and his work as a producer, songwriter and musician. The show includes his musical arrangements and composition. (more)

Jim Connor	10-27-2015	MP3	Folklorist Steve Grauberger talks to songwriter and musician Jim Connor during the annual Boom Days Festival in Ft Payne, Alabama. Connor is probably best known for creating the song "Grandma's Feather Bed" recorded my many singers but best known for its popularization by John Denver. In the interview Jim tells how he learned to play in an old-time banjo style from Arthur Kuykendall on Sand Mountain and playing at dances and events with Authur and well-known North Alabama fiddle player Monk Daniels. (more)

Bethanne Hill	10-20-2015	MP3	This program is a repeat of visual artist Bethanne Hill of Birmingham talking about her work with Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin. Hill discusses influences that range from her parents’ stories of growing up in rural communities, lush-growing Southern landscapes, and tales of tornados and UFO abductions. She describes the evolution of her distinctive style and talks about her creative process. (more)

Jerry Foster, Facilitator of Fine Arts for the Florence Academy of Fine Arts (FAFA)	10-13-2015	MP3	In this program Education Program Manager Diana Green interviews Jerry Foster, Facilitator of Fine Arts for the Florence Academy of Fine Arts (FAFA) at Florence High School. Diana also interviews two talented students, guitarist Emmet Redding and playwright/poet Anna Robertson. They discuss the quality programming available at FAFA and describe their new state of the art recording facility available to the students. (more)

Cast King and Matt Downer from Sand Mountain.	10-06-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2005 interview by Anne Kimzey with musicians Cast King and Matt Downer from Sand Mountain. Guitarist and songwriter Cast King and his former band The Country Drifters recorded with Sun Records of Memphis in the 1950s. Matt Downer, a young musician, worked with Mr. King for a few years to learn his guitar style and to record his music and life history. During the program Mr. King performed three of the approximately 500 songs he wrote in his lifetime. Cast King died in 2007. (more)

Barbara Broach	09-29-2015	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Barbara Broach, Director of the Kennedy-Douglas Center for the Arts in Florence, AL. Barbara is retiring from her role at the end of September 2015 after nearly forty years of service in Florence. Barbara and Elliot reflect back on her time in Florence and discuss the current flourishing of arts in the Shoals area. (more)

Iron Horse Bluegrass Band	09-21-2015	MP3	This week, Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin talks with members of Iron Horse, a progressive bluegrass band based in Rogersville, AL. While their repertoire includes bluegrass standards and original tunes, they have also recorded songs by Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Led Zepplin, and other rock artists in a distinctly bluegrass style. Band members talk about their musical roots and describe the challenges and rewards of interpreting songs a variety of genres. (more)

Alabama Theatre Executive Director Brant Beene	09-15-2015	MP3	In this program ASCA Deputy Director Barbara Edwards interviews Birmingham's Alabama Theatre Executive Director Brant Beene about the revitalization and upcoming grand opening of the historic Lyric Theatre January 14th, 2016. They discuss the Lyric's history and the steps taken to make it into a modern marquee venue for the future of Birmingham's theater district. (more)

Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain	09-08-2015	MP3	This program is a broadcast of a 1989 Radiovisions production. It features Russell Gulley Executive Director of the Big Wills Arts Council interviewing Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain. The program includes a narrative history of the Louvins as well as various recordings made by them. Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama produced the Radiovisions series that were released originally on cassette tape. (more)

Jason McCall	08-25-2015	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey interviews poet Jason McCall, instructor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Alabama and a recipient of a 2015 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He has published two full-length poetry collections, titled Silver and Dear Hero and is working on his next manuscript. McCall discusses his writing, his background in Classics and reads some of his latest work. (more)

Claire Lynch	08-25-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Claire Lynch, member of the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame and IBMA award-winning vocalist, talking with Deborah Boykin about her experiences as a bluegrass singer, songwriter and bandleader. The program features songs from her recording project, Dear Sister. The title song, which Lynch co-wrote with Louise Branscomb, is based on a collection of letters from a Confederate soldier to his sister in Alabama. (more)

Filmmaker Margaret Brown	08-18-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast with Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talking to filmmaker Margaret Brown about her Alabama based film Order of Myths about Mobile Mardi Gras, and her newest film The Great Invisible. (more)

William Ferris	08-11-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2006 program of Joey Brackner interviewing folklorist William Ferris of the University of North Carolina about southern culture and his experiences as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. (more)

Betty Moon Sampson	08-04-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Betty Moon Sampson, bluegrass musician and Master Artist in the Arts Council's Folk Arts Apprentice Program. Betty tells stories about various aspects of her life growing up in Holly Pond, Alabama and learning to play and sing music with her father, banjo maker and musician Arlin Moon. She talks about her family band Dixie Bluegrass and shares examples of her music (more)

Joe Watts and Colette Boehm	07-21-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Joe Watts of the Alabama Scenic Byways Program and Colette Boehm of Alabama's Coastal Connection. Alabama's Coastal Connection has been named a national byway by the National Scenic Byways Program. (more)

"Gandy Dance Caller" John Henry Mealing	07-14-2015	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of folklore researcher and history professor Jim Brown of Samford University narrating an interview with "Gandy Dance Caller" John Henry Mealing (1908-2007), a 1996 National Heritage Fellowship Recipient. The ASCA show is edited from the original Samford University WVSU Radio Production done the 1980s. (more)

Lucy Mingo	07-07-2015	MP3	In this program, Master Quilter Lucy Mingo and her daughter Polly talk to Program Manager Anne Kimzey. This is a rebroadcast of a 2006 interview now relevant because Lucy Mingo with two other Gee's Bend master quilters, Mary Lee Bendolph and Loretta Pettway will be awarded a National Heritage Fellowship this October in Washington DC. The Arts Council is happy to include these wonderful artists in our roster of past Heritage recipients from Alabama. (more)

Rick Hall	06-30-2015	MP3	In this program Community Arts Program Manager Deb Boykin interviews 2015 Alabama Governor's Arts Award recipient Rick Hall about his new book The Man from Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame and about various aspects of Hall's career as a record producer. (more)

Henry Glassie	06-23-2015	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing renowned folklorist Henry Glassie. In this program Glassie discusses his life and research of vernacular architecture in the Southern United States, and particularly in Alabama. (more)

Danny Davis	06-16-2015	MP3	Deborah Boykin, Community Arts Program manager, interviews Danny Davis, luthier and proprietor of Tangled String Studios at Lowe Mill in Huntsville. He describes the process of instrument making and working with customers to insure that their instruments meet their specific needs. He also talks about how the studio grew to include performance and recording spaces. (more)

Bryn Chancellor	06-09-2015	MP3	Anne Kimzey interviews author Bryn Chancellor, a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Montevallo and a recipient of a 2015 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Chancellor reads from her new award-winning, short-fiction collection When Are You Coming Home? and discusses her writing and how receiving the ASCA Fellowship and the 2014 Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award has affected her career. (more)

Visual Artist, Don Stewart	06-02-2015	MP3	Visual Art Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Birmingham-based artist Don Stewart about his ballpoint pen drawings. We will discuss how Stewart makes one large drawing out of many smaller drawings, his artistic process and how he is able to give back to his community through his artwork. (more)

Dan Sheehey	05-26-2015	MP3	Dan Sheehy, Director and Curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, talks with Deb Boykin about the label’s vast catalog of traditional music from around the world and its “commitment to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound. He highlights the Alabama recordings in the collection and explains how an innovative print-by-order process makes songs from the catalog highly accessible. (more)

Curtis Benzle	05-12-2015	MP3	In this program Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight interviews ASCA Visual Arts Fellowship Recipient Curtis Benzle about his work as a porcelain artist and as a teacher. (more)

Kern Jackson	05-05-2015	MP3	This program is a repeat of a 2012 interview with Kern Jackson, Director of the African American Studies program and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Alabama, talking with folklorist Deborah Boykin about Mardi Gras in Mobile and its related traditions. (more)

Noemi Oeding, Executive Director of the Montgomery Music Project	04-28-2015	MP3	Noemi Oeding, Executive Director of the Montgomery Music Project talks with Deb Boykin about the after-school and summer activities for students in the region. The Montgomery Music Project provides instruction in violin, viola, and cello for elementary and middle-school aged children. Students from these classes meet on Saturdays with students who take private lessons to provide the opportunity to play together. A two-week summer camp provides more intensive instruction. more

Herb Trotman	04-21-2015	MP3	This week we are repeating a 2009 program with Deborah Boykin interviewing Birmingham musician Herb Trotman, who talks about banjo playing and tells stories from three decades of performing old time and bluegrass music in Alabama. more

Montgomery Symphony Executive Director Kimberly Wolfe	04-14-2015	MP3	In this program Steve Grauberger talks to Montgomery Symphony Executive Director Kimberly Wolfe about the symphony's history, educational outreach projects, annual events and volunteers involved in the organization. more

Mike Cooley, co-founder of the Drive-By Trucker	04-07-2015	MP3	This program is a repeat interview with Mike Cooley, co-founder of the Drive-By Truckers, talking to Deborah Boykin about his songwriting, his career with DBT, and recent solo performances. more

Christopher Maloney and Claire Willson	03-31-2015	MP3	For this program Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner talks to Christopher Maloney and Claire Willson, content editors for the web based Encyclopedia of Alabama. more

William Cobb	03-24-2015	MP3	This is a repeat of a 2009 program with Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers' Forum, interviewing William Cobb, recipient of the 2007 Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer. Thompson and Cobb discuss his novels and plays, and his book The Hermit King (from Livingston Press). more

Pianist John Davis	03-17-2015	MP3	This week, pianist John Davis talks with Community Arts program manager Deborah Boykin about his interest in the music of Blind Tom, a 19th Century composer who was born a slave in Columbus, Georgia and who went on to tour the country playing his compositions in opera houses, concert halls, and other performance venues. Mr. Davis recently visited Alabama on a tour arranged by the Southern Literary Trail in partnership with the Mobile Arts Council. He played from Blind Tom’s repertoire in Mobile, Tuskegee, and Demopolis and gave a multi-media presentation about Blind Tom’s life. more

David Davis	03-10-2015	MP3	This program is a repeat of a 2009 interivew with Bluegrass musician David Davis talking to Deborah Boykin about his musical influences, including shapenote singing, Charlie Louvin, and his uncle, Cleo Davis, one of Bill Monroe's original Bluegrass Boys. He also discusses his experiences as leader of the Warrior River Boys, one of Alabama's most prominent bluegrass bands. The program includes music from their CD, Two Dimes and a Nickle. more

Donica Knight	03-03-2015	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio Donna Russell interviews Singer and Entertainer Donica Knight. more

Bettye Kimbrell and author Joyce Cauthen	02-17-2015	MP3	Literature Program Manager Anne Kimzey interviews National Heritage Fellow Bettye Kimbrell and author Joyce Cauthen about the book titled Out of Whole Cloth: The Life of Bettye Kimbrell written by Joyce Cauthen more

Traditional Musics of Alabama Volume 5 New Book Gospel Shapenote Singing	02-10-2015	MP3	This program is a repeat of Community Arts Program Manager Deb Boykin interviewing Steve Grauberger about the folklife CD project Traditional Musics of Alabama Volume 5 New Book Gospel Shapenote Singing produced by the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture and the Alabama Folklife Association. (To read extended liner notes about this tradition click here.)more

2014 ASCA Literary Arts Fellow. Kyes Stevens	02-03-2015	MP3	Anne Kimzey interviews poet Kyes Stevens, director of the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project and a 2014 ASCA Literary Arts Fellow. Stevens reads a few poems and discusses her fellowship year and the rewards of teaching poetry-writing and visual arts classes in Alabama’s prisons. more

Kesa Johnston Dunn	01-27-2015	MP3	Deputy Director Barbara Edwards visits Roanoke to talk with Kesa Johnston Dunn, who led the efforts to transform the site of a burned-out movie theater into an open air performance space with the help a Cultural Facilities grant from ASCA. Ms. Dunn explains the theater’s importance to several generations of community members who recall it as a gathering place as well as a movie house. Ms. Dunn and other members of the Roanoke Rotary Club took on the project so that the site of the old theater will once again be a gathering place for people in Roanoke to enjoy the arts. more

David Ivey and Tim Eriksen	01-20-2015	MP3	To help promote our annual Saturday before the First Sunday in February Shape-Note Singing at the Alabama Archives in Montgomery, we are repeating a 2003 interview of Joey Brackner with singers David Ivey and Tim Eriksen about Sacred Harp Singing in the Movie Cold Mountain. Musical examples are included in the program more

Buddy Palmer, president and CEO of Create Birmingham	01-13-2015	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts, Buddy Palmer, president and CEO of Create Birmingham, talks about the ways in which his organization has become more responsive to opportunities presented by the city’s growing creative economy. more

Andy Meadows, Arts Education Specialist for the Alabama State Department of Education	01-06-2015	MP3	In this program Arts Education Program manager Diana Green interviews Andy Meadows, Arts Education Specialist for the Alabama State Department of Education, about the administration of Alabama Arts Education Initiative grants (AAEI) and his background as a photographer and educator of photography. more

Kyle Abraham	12-30-2014	MP3	Alabama Dance Council's Executive Director Rosemary Johnson interviews Kyle Abraham of artistic director of Abraham.In.Motion Dance Company about the Alabama Dance Festival that will take place January 9 - 18, 2015. The Festival offers a variety of performances and classes for all ages and levels. more

Herb Trotman and the Large and Amorphous Group program 2	12-23-2014	MP3	Herb Trotman of Birmingham is well known as a banjo player, bandleader, Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame member and proprietor of Fretted Instruments, a music store and gathering place for acoustic musicians in the area. Each year, Herb and what he refers to as a “Large and Amorphous Group” of performers produce a CD of Christmas music. This is the second of two consecutive programs that includes musical examples of holiday standards and original songs. The selections range from sacred to sentimental to downright funny. For many people in Alabama the appearance of the new Christmas CD at Fretted Instruments means the holidays have begun. This week’s program features selected music from the four most recent holiday CDs from Herb Trotman and the Large and Amorphous Group. more

Herb Trotman and the Large and Amorphous Group program 1	12-16-2014	MP3	Herb Trotman of Birmingham is well known as a banjo player, bandleader, Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame member and proprietor of Fretted Instruments, a music store and gathering place for acoustic musicians in the area. Each year, Herb and what he refers to as a “Large and Amorphous Group” of performers produce a CD of Christmas music. The music includes holiday standards and original songs. The selections range from sacred to sentimental to downright funny. For many people in Alabama the appearance of the new Christmas CD at Fretted Instruments means the holidays have begun. This week’s program features selected music from the four most recent holiday CDs from Herb Trotman and the Large and Amorphous Group. more

Johnny Veres, Joe Birdwell, Winfred Hawkins and Kellie Newsome	12-02-2014	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight discusses the New South Maker’s Emporium Holiday pop Up Shop in Montgomery. The pop up shop, presented by Helicity MGM, will feature the work of 25 river region artists and makers. The holiday pop-up shop will be open from Dec. 1-Dec. 19 at New South Books, which is located at 105 S. Court Street in Montgomery. Elliot talks with Helicity Executive Director Johnny Veres, Foomatic maker Space founding member Joe Birdwell, and local artists Winfred Hawkins and Kellie Newsome about the shop and the art that will be on sale. more

Andrew Nelson	11-25-2014	MP3	To promote the ongoing exhibit of Shackelford photo exhibit at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery we are rebroadcasting Kevin Nutt, Folklife archivist for the Alabama Department of Archives and History, interviewing Birmingham native Andrew Nelson, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland at College Park, about an historic collection of glass plate negatives housed at the Birmingham Library. This photographic collection was produced by the Shackelfords, an African American family from the Covin community near Fayette in western Alabama in the early 20th century. The Shackelfords offered photographic services to railway travelers as well as their neighbors. more

Glenn House Sr. (1931-2014)	11-18-2014	MP3	Steve Miller MFA Program Coordinator, Associate professor, letterpress printing & hand papermaking, interviewed the late Glenn House Sr. (1931-2014), a founder of the BookArts Program at University of Alabama School of Library Information Studies. The program is edited from a StoryCorps project interview made at the Kentuck Arts Center, Northport, AL in 2005. Glenn House Sr. spent a lifetime making art. From his studio in Gordo, Alabama, he produced clay objects, handmade paper, and printing projects. Miller questioned House about these subjects as well as his work with the MFA program in Book Arts at the University of Alabama. more

Huntsville Arts Council Inc. Executive Director Allison Dillon-Jauken	11-11-2014	MP3	This week Community Arts Program Manager Deborah Boykin talks to Huntsville Arts Council Inc. Executive Director Allison Dillon-Jauken about the Huntsville arts scene and the many opportunities for people to experience art in this area. more

ASCA Fellowship recipient Jasper Lee	11-02-2014	MP3	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley talks to ASCA Fellowship recipient Jasper Lee a composer working in Birmingham, AL. He has written, recorded and mixed score music for films such as You're Next, 24 Exposures and Pop Skull. He also performs with music group Them Natives. Their new album called Alabama Bound can be sampled online at http://cuckoonest.bandcamp.com/releases more

Mobile Museum of Art Executive Director Deborah Velders	10-26-2014	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Mobile Museum of Art Executive Director Deborah Velders. They discuss the educational offerings and permanent collection at the museum as well as the 50th anniversary celebration of the museum, which will culminate the weekend of November 8-9 with the opening of a new exhibition highlighting the art and design of Mardi Gras and activities for the whole family in and around the museum. more

Kentuck Executive Director Amy Echols	10-12-2014	MP3	On this episode of Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Kentuck Executive Director Amy Echols about the upcoming 43rd annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts. The festival will be held in Kentuck park in Northport Alabama on October 18-19, 2014. Elliot and Amy also talk about the year-round programming Kentuck offers through its art center in downtown Northport. more

Filmmaker Margaret Brown	10-05-2014	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks to Filmmaker Margaret Brown about her Alabama based film Order of Myths about Mobile Mardi Gras, and her new film The Great Invisible. more

Lonnie Holley	09-28-2014	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks to visionary visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley. more

Randy and Deborah Beason	09-21-2014	MP3	Randy and Deborah Beason are native musicians from rural Alabama, with a passion to provide arts learning to Alabamians of all ages. In Oneonta, AL they have taken an historical theatre and transformed it to the Neely Arts Center, where they are reaching hundreds of students, young and old. Diana Green, arts in education program manager, speaks with them about why they remain so busy giving to others and how they are planning to do more. more

Bethanne Hill of Birmingham	09-14-2014	MP3	This week, visual artist Bethanne Hill of Birmingham talks about her work with Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin. Hill discusses influences that range from her parents’ stories of growing up in rural communities, lush-growing Southern landscapes, and tales of tornados and UFO abductions. She describes the evolution of her distinctive style and talks about her creative process. more

Stanley Smith, John Etheridge, and Bill Aplin	09-07-2014	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Stanley Smith, John Etheridge, and Bill Aplin, elected officers of the Sacred Harp Book Company (Cooper revision), includes Sacred Harp singing examples. In memory of John Etheridge who passed in 2008 and Bill Aplin who passed in May of this year. more

Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rodgers	08-31-2014	MP3	This program is a repeat from a 2012 interview with the Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rodgers. They have, in the past, secured record deals, released an album produced by noted producer T-Bone Burnett, toured much of the United States, Europe, and Australia, and opened for Paul Simon. Folklorist Deborah Boykin talked with the sisters before a November appearance at Decatur's Princess Theater. They discussed their early influences, the audition that led them into the music business, their recent songwriting efforts, and their touring and performing experiences. more

Brooke Bullman	08-24-2014	MP3	Anne Kimzey interviews writer Brooke Bullman of Huntsville, recipient of a 2014 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. During the program Bullman discusses her daily writing discipline and reads an excerpt from her novel in progress. more

School of Fine Arts, Artistic Director in Theatre Arts, Jonathan Fuller	08-17-2014	MP3	In this program Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Alabama School of Fine Arts, Artistic Director in Theatre Arts, Jonathan Fuller about his acting background and of recieving his Individual Arts Fellowship in Theatre for 2015 from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. more

Ralph "Soul Jackson	08-10-2014	MP3	Ralph “Soul” Jackson is a singer and song writer whose career began when he was still in high school in Phenix City. He talks with Deborah Boykin about his first recording session at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, where he got his nickname from producer Rick Hall and teamed up with legendary keyboard player Spooner Oldham. Jackson also discusses his songwriting technique and performance style, as well as his recent CD. This program is a repeat from 2012. more

Winifred Cobb, Greensboro Opera House	08-03-2014	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Mrs. Winifred Cobb, President of the Greensboro Opera House, Inc. In the interview Mrs. Cobb talks about the restoration of the opera house, which was built in 1903 and what it means to have a cultural facility in this small black belt town. more

William Bailey	07-27-2014	MP3	This show in a repeat from 2006 of William Bailey talking to ACTC Director Joey Brackner. The Poarch community of Creek Indians near Atmore is Alabama’s only federally recognized Native American tribe. For more than a decade, William Bailey has been instrumental in bringing Creek elders from Oklahoma to teach the language and to help reintroduce traditions that were no longer practiced in Alabama. The Creek language, a foundation of tribal culture, was the focus of early apprenticeship projects. William built on this effort, working with other tribal members to reestablish the stomp dance and traditional ceremonies in his community. He visited Oklahoma to work with Creek elders such as George Bunny and Sam Proctor, learning about medicinal herbs, making ball sticks and blow guns, and other traditional practices and teaching these skills through the Apprenticeship Program. more

Susie Bowman	07-20-2014	MP3	In this program Arts Education Program Manager Diana Green talks to ceramic artist and gallery owner Susie Bowman of The Kiln Studio and Gallery in Farihope, Alabama. They discuss the collaborative, curriculum based, arts education project that Bowman produced with a local Fairhope elementary school teacher using ceramic tiles decorated by students that were made into a mosaic now displayed at the school. more

Claire Lynch	07-13-2014	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Claire Lynch, member of the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame and IBMA award-winning vocalist, talking with Deborah Boykin about her experiences as a bluegrass singer, songwriter and bandleader. The program features songs from her recording project, Dear Sister. The title song, which Lynch co-wrote with Louise Branscomb, is based on a collection of letters from a Confederate soldier to his sister in Alabama. more

Chris Holmes and Joey Brackner	07-06-2014	MP3	In this program Steve Grauberger talks with Alabama Public Television (APT) Executive Producer Chris Holmes and Alabama Center for Traditonal Culture Director Joey Brackner about their television project called Journey Proud. The second season of Journey Proud on APT will air in the fall. Chris and Joey talk about their program and elements of production in this unique project that features Folklorist Joey Brackner in pursuit of interesting folk culture in Alabama. more

Alan and Karen Jabbour	06-29-2014	MP3	This week's program is a rebroadcast of Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviewing Alan and Karen Jabbour about their book published in 2010, Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decorations in the Southern Appalachians. more

Deb Boykin	06-22-2014	MP3	Folklorist Anne Kimzey talks with program manager Deb Boykin, who discusses her work with ASCA's Community Arts program and her experiences with the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. more

Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in Eutaw, Alabama	06-15-2014	MP3	When Joey Brackner visited the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in Eutaw, Alabama he talked to festival organizers, craft artists and a Fayette County step group that performed at the event. This re-aired progam is to help promote the 2014 festival to be held Aug 23-24 on the Old Courthouse Square in Eutaw, Alabama. more

Gil Anthony and Dr. Jeneve Brooks	06-08-2014	MP3	In this program Steve Grauberger interviews Gil Anthony and Dr. Jeneve Brooks about the annual Wiregrass Blues Fest held in Dothan, Alabama. Gil Anthony is a well know local blues promoter and radio personality, located in Enterprise, Alabama, who produces a weekly Blues Power program airing on WWNT radio in Dothan. Dr. Jeneve Brooks is Assistant Professor in Sociology at Troy University, Dothan campus. Together with the Wiregrass Blues Society they are essential to the continuation of the Wiregrass Blues Fest that just finished its 3rd annual event on May 3rd, 2014. more

Ted Rosengarten	06-01-2014	MP3	This show is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Ted Rosengarten about his award winning book All God's Dangers: The Life of Nat Shaw and his book A Portion of the People: 300 Years of Southern Jewish Life. more

Birmingham native Randall Horton	05-25-2014	MP3	This week Birmingham native Randall Horton talks with Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum about his week-long residency in Alabama that included visits to schools in Birmingham and Montgomery, and a featured appearance at the Alabama Book Festival in April. Horton’s visit was supported in part by a grant from South Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. An award-winning poet, educator, editor, and organizer of literary events in Connecticut where he teaches at the University of New Haven, Horton has published three collections of poems, the most recent of which is Pitch Dark Anarchy. He and Thompson discuss the current interest in historical poetry, his appreciation of working with youth in traditional and incarcerated settings such as the Forum’s Writing Our Stories program which he visited during his residency, and matching audiences and poets in successful literary events. Horton reads two selections from his latest book. more

Dick Cooper, curator at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame	05-18-2014	MP3	This week Dick Cooper, curator at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, talks with Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin about the 2014 class of inductees, the history of the Hall of Fame, and the artifacts on display there. A journalist, photographer, and respected member of the Muscle Shoals music community, Cooper discusses Alabama musicians who were seminal figures in genres including country, soul, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, jazz, and rock as well as the state’s newer artists who continue to influence popular music. more

Geoffrey Sherman, Producing Artistic Director for the Alabama Shakespeare Festiva	05-11-2014	MP3	This week Executive Director Al Head interviews Geoffrey Sherman, Producing Artistic Director for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, about the current production Timmon of Athens in performance until May 24th. This special translation by Kenneth Cavender written in contemporary English voice was originally commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and funded by the Hitz Foundation is receiving its world premiere at ASF. more

Anne Kimzey interviews Elliot Knight	05-04-2014	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey interviews Dr. Elliot Knight, Visual Arts Program Manager at the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Director of the Georgine Clarke Alabama Artists Gallery. They discuss his work prior to joining the council staff, including The Black Belt 100 Lenses Project, and his current responsibilities at ASCA and grant opportunities through the Council for visual arts organizations and artists in Alabama. more

Andrea Jean and Tyler Jones	04-27-2014	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio Series visual arts program manager Elliot Knight interviews Andrea Jean of Goodwin, Mills, and Cawood and film maker Tyler Jones of 1504 Pictures about the upcoming Southern Makers event to be held at the Union Station Train Shed in Montgomery Alabama on May 3rd, 2014. more

Muscle Shoals Bass Player David Hood	04-20-2014	MP3	This week David Hood, bass player and original member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers, talks with Community Arts Program manager Deb Boykin. He recalls his early years as a musician and his work as a session player at FAME. Hood also describes the recording process at the Muscle Shoal Sounds Studio and talks about what it was like to work with the wide range of musicians who recorded there. more

Jeanie Thompson, and the 9th annual Alabama Book Festival	04-06-2014	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey interviews Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, about the 9th annual Alabama Book Festival to be held Saturday, April 19th in Montgomery’s Old Alabama Town. Jeanie will give a preview of the more than 40 authors appearing at the Book Festival plus special features such as the poetry tent and children’s area, as well as outreach activities for students and teachers. more

Gene Ivey	03-30-2014	MP3	Sand Mountain fiddler Gene Ivey is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey talks to Mr. Ivey and his apprentice Joseph Coleman about playing music and making handcrafted fiddles at Ivey’s workshop in Ider. more

Jimmy Johnson	03-23-2014	MP3	This week, Jimmy Johnson, one of the original Swampers, talks with Deborah Boykin about his work in Muscle Shoals music. He recalls the early days of the recording industry in the Shoals, describes the Swampers’s approach to recording and talks about working with artists ranging from Percy Sledge to Aretha Franklin, to Paul Simon. more

Fellowship Recipient Jess Marie Walker	03-16-2014	MP3	This program is a repeat of a 2012 show with ASCA intern Summer Upchurch interviewing Individual Fellowship Recipient Jess Marie Walker about her life as an artist and an educator. Inspired by nature, music, and the art of public installation pieces, Jess Marie's background varies as much as her interests. Her work is highly collaborative and has been brought to fruition by HoWaYaDa, an artist collective, and by Pretty Much Collective. Her pieces range from a large-scale collaborative and interactive musical piece (where artists play kettles, rocks, and whatever is on-hand) to a smaller-scale collaborative piece celebrating the beauty of line-drawing and mountains. more

Darren Butler and Mary Settle Cooney	03-09-2014	MP3	This week Community Arts Program manager Deb Boykin interviews Darren Butler, director of Time Out for Theater. This program, developed by the Tennessee Valley Art Association, introduces elementary students in area schools to live theater through performances at the Ritz, an art deco movie house that has been converted to a performance venue. In the second half of the program, TVAA director Mary Settle Cooney discusses the organization’s commitment to bringing theater to the Shoals area. more

Weston Stewart	03-02-2014	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews banjo champion Weston Stewart. Weston, an Alabama native from Anderson, Alabama, holds 14 state titles on banjo, as well as the 2011 National Bluegrass Banjo Title. In 2013, he was the Tennessee state champion on both banjo and dobro. Stewart is a master artist with the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program and is passing on his musical knowledge to students in North Alabama. more

Xan Morrow, and Midge Putnam	02-23-2014	MP3	In this show Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin interviews Xan Morrow, chairman of the committee for the Red Door Theatre for the Tourism Council of Bullock County and Midge Putnam, executive director of the Tourism Council of Bullock County. The Red Door Theatre, housed in a former Episcopal church, presented Conecuh People, its initial production, in 2004. Morrow and Putnam discuss the theatre’s emergence as a regional tourism destination and a showcase for plays about the South. more

Elliot Knight interviews Alabama artist Ethan Sawyer	02-16-2014	MP3	In this program Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight interviews Alabama artist Ethan Sawyer about his past work and current exhibit at Kentuck Art Center in Northport, AL. more

Joseph D. Trimble	02-02-2014	MP3	Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews storyteller Joseph D. Trimble. Joseph, a 2013 recipient of a Theatre Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, recounts a short tale of many from his repertory about Anansi the Spider, and shares tips to budding storytellers. more

Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing	01-26-2014	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Alabama shapenote music and its history, in preparation for this year's Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing that will be held February 1st at the Alabama Department of Archives and History off of Union St between Adams and Washington in Montgomery. The singing will start at 9:30 am and end at 3pm. The public is welcome to come and listen or sing. For more information call 334-242-4076, x-225. more

Burgin Mathews and Frank “Doc” Adams	01-12-2014	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Burgin Mathews and Frank “Doc” Adams about their book titled Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man. Mathews is a writer and teacher at Spain Park High School in Hoover and Adams is a jazz musician, educator and the director of music at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham. The two discuss their collaboration on the book that covers the life and career of Adams, including his education with John T. “Fess” Whatley and his experience playing with jazz legends Sun Ra and Duke Ellington. more

Radiovisions Production, J R. "Pap" Baxter	01-05-2014	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of the 1991 Radiovisions program produced by Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council. The program features the songs of J. R. "Pap" Baxter and an extended interview by Al Malone, Baxter's nephew, about the life and time of this well-known Southern Gospel singer/songwriter and publisher. more

Andrew Nelson	12-29-2013	MP3	This week on Alabama Arts Radio Kevin Nutt, Folklife archivist for the Alabama Department of Archives and History, interviews Birmingham native Andrew Nelson, a doctoral student at the University of Maryland at College Park about an historic collection of glass plate negatives housed at the Birmingham Library. more

Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio	12-15-2013	MP3	This program is a repeat from 2009 of Deborah Boykin interviewing , Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio a project of Auburn University's School of Architecture. He discusses how this community-based program enables students to learn through projects that ultimately provide affordable homes and public spaces in rural West Alabama. (watch a video here) (picture)

Sandra Wolfe, Executive Director of the Tuscaloosa Arts and Humanities Council	12-08-2013	MP3	Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin talks with Sandra Wolfe, Executive Director of the Tuscaloosa Arts and Humanities Council, about the recently-opened Dinah Washington Cultural Center. The Center is a hub for the arts in Tuscaloosa and houses a black box theatre/workshop space which is perfect for family programming, educational opportunities and rehearsal space or community meeting space for rent. In addition, the CAC houses offices for local arts groups and a gallery space for The University of Alabama. (more)

Robert Haygens White Oak Basket Maker	12-01-2013	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviewing Robert Haygens of Opp about making white oak baskets and teaching his traditional craft through the support of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Mr. Haygens walks listeners through the entire basket making process from selecting the right tree, to weaving the oak splits, to attaching the rim and handles. (more)

David Hope, Artistic Director of Summer Stock at the Ritz	11-24-2013	MP3	David Hope, artistic director of Summer Stock at the Ritz talks with Community Arts Program manager Deborah Boykin. Sponsored by the Tennessee Valley Arts Association, Summer Stock at the Ritz provides training in musical theater for young people throughout the state of Alabama and neighboring states. (more)

Kevin Nutt, of CaseQuarter Records	11-17-2013	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Kevin Nutt, of CaseQuarter Records talking about his research on early blues recording artist Ed Bell from Greenville, Alabama. His Tributaries article on the subject can be obtained at Alabamafolklife.org Kevin can be heard weekly, online, at WFMU with his radio program Sinners Crossroads. (more)

Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Jake Landers	11-10-2013	MP3	This week, Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Jake Landers talks with Community Arts program manager Deb Boykin about his long career as a bluegrass musician and songwriter. Landers discusses his work with fellow bluegrass pioneers Rual Yarbrough, Al Lester, and Herschel Sizemore and recalls touring with Bill Monroe. He describes the songwriting process including the writing of his best-known song, “Walk Softly on this Heart of Mine.”(more)

Joe Wilson	11-03-2013	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Executive Director Joey Brackner interviews Joe Wilson. Wilson, a folklorist and journalist, served as the executive director of the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) from 1976 to 2004. In 2001, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Wilson a National Heritage Fellowship for his dedication to the field. In this interview he recollects living in Alabama in the 1960s and some of the interesting people he met along the way.(more)

Julius Pryor III	10-27-2013	MP3	This week, Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews motivational speaker and Montgomery, Alabama native, Julius Pryor III. Pryor was the keynote speaker at this year's Bill Bates Leadership Conference for Alabama Arts Administrators held at Cheaha State Park. (more)

Priscilla Crommelin Ball, director of the newly formed River Region Ballet School and Youth Company; and Adria Ferrali	10-20-2013	MP3	Diana Green interviews Priscilla Crommelin Ball, director of the newly formed River Region Ballet School and Youth Company; and Adria Ferrali, previously a Martha Graham Company dancer and choreographer from Florence, Italy. Priscilla and Adria are working on a new production about Alabama ghosts, inspired by Kathryn Tucker Windham’s ghost stories. Adria talks about her inspiration and her friendship with Bobby Horton, who has arranged music for the production. This entire collaboration stems from the Cultural Exchange program instigated by the Council during an initial trip to Pietrasanta, Italy in 2008.(more)

Shana Berger and Nathan Purath, Co-Directors of the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Alabama.	10-06-2013	MP3	This week Community Arts Program Manager Deborah Boykin interviews Shana Berger and Nathan Purath, Co-Directors of the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Alabama. They discuss the history of the Center and various artistic projects produced through the years in their artists- in- residence program. This includes the well received Open House Project created by former artist-in-residence, Matthew Mazzotta. (more)

Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center Executive Director Morgan Drinkard	09-29-2013	MP3	Visual Arts program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center Executive Director Morgan Drinkard. Drinkard talks about the history of TPCAC, their facilities in downtown Troy, current programming and partnerships throughout the community. (more)

David Ivey Sacred Harp singer	09-22-2013	MP3	Deborah Boykin interviews David Ivey, a Sacred Harp singer and one of nine recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to the fellowship, he discusses his participation in the Cold Mountain soundtrack, establishing Camp Fa Sol La, and sacred harp singing as a long-standing tradition in his family. (more)

Martha Pullen	09-15-2013	MP3	Heirloom sewing is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey interviews Martha Pullen of Huntsville, an internationally-known sewing teacher, author, publisher and host of public television’s popular show Martha’s Sewing Room. (more)

Jonathan Katz, long-time director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies	09-01-2013	MP3 audio	Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Al Head, talks with Jonathan Katz, long-time director of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies about issues of national interest and relevance including congressional funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Other topics include the public value of the arts, the impact of the emerging digital revolution on the arts and the current emphasis on arts education. Katz was in Alabama recently speaking at a statewide leadership institute for directors of arts organizations. (more)

Isaiah "Ike" Zimmerman, an Alabama native originally from Grady	08-25-2013	MP3 audio	In June of 2011 a group of relatives came together in Alabama to commemorate a common bond, the late Isaiah "Ike" Zimmerman, an Alabama native originally from Grady. After making his home in Beauregard, Mississippi in the 1930s, he became a mentor to bluesman guitarist Robert Johnson. An accomplished blues guitarist and performer himself, Ike Zimmerman and his wife Ruth took Johnson into their home for over a year where Ike generously taught Johnson, then known as R.L., what he knew about the blues. In this program Grey Brennan, Marketing Manager at the Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism and Steve Grauberger of ASCA interview two daughters of Ike Zimmerman, Loretha Z. Smith and Nelly Ruth Brown with their sons James Smith and Oscar Brown, to try and find more information about this interesting Alabamian and his relationship to Robert Johnson. (more)

Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain	08-18-2013	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of a 1989 Radiovisions production. It features Russell Gulley Executive Director of the Big Wills Arts Council interviewing Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain. The program includes a narrative history of the Louvins as well as various recordings made by them. Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama produced the Radiovisions series that were released originally on cassette tape. (more)

Alabama Blues Project Program Director Cara Lynn Teague and musician Bruce Andrews	08-11-2013	MP3 audio	I this program Summer Upchurch interviews Alabama Blues Project Program Director Cara Lynn Teague and musician Bruce Andrews about the Alabama Blues Project's annual summer blues camp. (more)

Performing Arts/Dance Fellowship Recipient Sudha Raghuram	08-04-2013	MP3 audio	This week Summer Upchurch interviews Performing Arts/Dance Fellowship Recipient Sudha Raghuram, a performer and teacher of Bharatanatyam the most ancient of all classical dance forms of India. The main features of Bharatanatyam are "Abhinaya" (expression), "Rasa" (emotion), and "Mudras" (hand gestures). Sudha talks about how she learned to dance in India as a child, her performances, aspects of costuming, and techniques of instruction for her students in Montgomery. (more)

Jessica Peterson, proprietor of the Southern Letterpress shop in downtown Northport	07-28-2013	MP3 audio	This week on Alabama Arts radio, Visual Arts program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Jessica Peterson. Jessica is the proprietor of the Southern Letterpress shop in downtown Northport and is recipient of a 2014 ASCA Visual Arts Fellowship. Listen to Jessica talk about the process of letterpress printing, her own creative philosophy, and what projects she will be working on over the next year. (more)

Chloe Collins, the Executive Director of the Sidewalk Film Festival	07-21-2013	MP3 audio	This week, Summer Upchurch talks with Chloe Collins, the Executive Director of the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Al and a recent ASCA fellowship recipient. Chloe talks about the process of producing the Sidewalk Film Festival every year and what it means for the Birmingham community as well as the independent film industry.(more)

Mark Leputa	07-14-2013	MP3 audio	This week on Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with hot glass artist Mark Leputa. Mark works at Orbix Hot Glass in Little River Canyon and is a 2013 ASCA Fellowship recipient. Mark discusses how he got started working with glass, his recent solo exhibition in the Netherlands and talks about his artistic inspirations and process. Learn more about mark and view his art at www.markleupta.com (more)

Craig Wedderspoon, a 2013 Visual Arts Fellowship Recipient	07-07-2013	MP3 audio	Summer Upchurch, an ASCA intern, interviews Craig Wedderspoon, a 2013 Visual Arts Fellowship Recipient, in his studio in Tuscaloosa about his philosophies on teaching and art-making. Craig is an Associate Professor of Sculpture and 3D Design at the University of Alabama. His large metal and wooden installations are featured in Woods Quad at the UA Campus, and he is frequently commissioned to design permanent outdoor installations in locations around the United States. His upcoming exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art will begin on December 15th. (more)

Kristi Tingle Higginbotham	06-30-2013	MP3 audio	Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews 2013 ASCA Music Fellowship Recipient Kristi Tingle Higginbotham. Kristi, who has a distinguished stage career in Birmingham and is a frequent soloist with symphony orchestras in the U.S. and Canada, shares some age old wisdom for having longevity as a vocal artist in the Millennial Generation of Music. (more)

Claire Lynch	06-23-2013	MP3 audio	Claire Lynch, member of the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame and IBMA award-winning vocalist, talks with Deborah Boykin about her experiences as a bluegrass singer, songwriter and bandleader. The program features songs from her most recent project, Dear Sister. The title song, which Lynch co-wrote with Louise Branscomb, is based on a collection of letters from a Confederate soldier to his sister in Alabama. (more)

Mary Allison Haynie	06-16-2013	MP3 audio	This week Joey Brackner, director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, talks with Mary Allison Haynie, director of the Alabama Folklife Association. They discuss the AFA's traveling exhibit "Alabama in the Making" as well as upcoming workshops for researchers and teachers. (more)

Chantel Acevedo	06-09-2013	MP3 audio	Anne Kimzey interviews author Chantel Acevedo, recipient of a 2013 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. During the program Ms. Acevedo reads from her recent work and discusses the influence of her Cuban-American heritage on her writing. Acevedo is a professor of Creative Writing at Auburn University. Her book Love and Ghost Letters won the 2006 Latino International Book Award for Best Historical Fiction. (more)

Quinton Cockrell	06-02-2013	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of Yvette Jones-Smedley, Performing Arts Program Manager, interviewing Quinton Cockrell, ASCA’s 2006-2007 Theatre Fellowship recipient. Discussed are his plans to develop new works for the American stage and about his career as a professional actor in New York and in regional theatres across the country. (more)

Bob Sain and Daryn Glassbrook of the Centre for the Living Arts in Mobile	05-26-2013	MP3 audio	This week on Alabama Arts Radio, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Bob Sain and Daryn Glassbrook of the Centre for the Living Arts in Mobile. The Centre for the Living Arts recently unveiled the Futures Project, which features new artwork from a variety of international artists, as well as community programming throughout the Mobile area. The Futures Project is on display at Space 301 through January 2014. (more)

Braxton Schuffert	05-19-2013	MP3 audio	Alabama musician Braxton Schuffert, a country singer and songwriter who was one of Hank Williams’s original Drifting Cowboys, died on April 26 at the age of 97. This program is a rebroadcast of his 2011 interview with folkorist Deborah Boykin. Mr. Schuffert talks about his early life, his experience performing on WSFA radio and his long friendship with Williams, which began when Schuffert made a delivery to the boarding house run by Hank's mother. He also describes the experience of co-writing a song with Williams and talks about his own compositions. (more)

Alan and Karen Jabbour	05-12-2013	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Alan and Karen Jabbour about their book published in 2010, Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decorations in the Southern Appalachians. (more)

Marcus Johnson of the Bay City Brass Band	05-05-2013	MP3 audio	This week's program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey interviewing Marcus Johnson of the Bay City Brass Band of Mobile. They discuss brass band history and music in the Mobile Mardi Gras tradition. (more)

Southern Makers	04-28-2013	MP3 audio	Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight discusses the 2013 Southern Makers event. Southern Makers is a one day event celebrating Alabama creativity and innovation by bringing together highly curated, handpicked top talent - artists, chefs, breweries, craftsmen, designers - for one fantastic gathering to explore the contemporary side of Alabama's heritage of textiles, music, craftsmanship, and food. Elliot talks with event organizers Andrea Jean (Goodwyn Mills and Cawood) and Edwin Marty (E.A.T. South) about the event and what will be offered on May 4. Elliot also talks with fashion designer Natalie Chanin and woodworker Ethan Sawyer, who will both be at the event. (more)

Alabama Dance Theatre Artistic Director Kitty Seale	04-21-2013	MP3 audio	In this program performing arts program manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Alabama Dance Theatre Artistic Director Kitty Seale. (more)

David Ivey and Jeff Sheppard; Camp Fasola	04-14-2013	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing David Ivey and Jeff Sheppard about the annual Camp Fasola held each year at Camp Lee near Anniston and Camp McDowell near Jasper, Alabama. (more)

Alabama Book Festival 2013	04-07-2013	MP3 audio	This week Anne Kimzey interviews Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, about the 8th annual Alabama Book Festival to be held Saturday, April 20th in Montgomery’s Old Alabama Town. Jeanie will give a preview of the more than 40 authors appearing at the Book Festival plus special features such as the poetry tent and children’s area, as well as outreach activities for students and teachers. (more)

Ernestine Hill Robinson	03-31-2013	MP3 audio	This show is a repeat of Steve Grauberger interviewing Auburn native Ernestine Hill Robinson about her life as a singer and the artistic director of the a cappella Negro Spiritual singing group, The Plantation Heirs. Musical examples are included in the program. (more)

Shweta Gamble, Executive Director of the Kentuck Arts Center	03-24-2013	MP3 audio	This week, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight interviews Shweta Gamble, Executive Director of the Kentuck Arts Center in Northport, Ala. Shweta discusses what the first six months on the job have been like for her at Kentuck and how her previous experience as a designer at a newspaper prepared her to take the lead in her new role. The annual Kentuck Arts Festival is well-known throughout the region and is held the third weekend every October, but Shweta shares about the numerous and ongoing events, projects, and opportunities happening throughout the year at the Kentuck Art Center. (more)

Leah Tucker	03-17-2013	MP3 audio	Steve Grauberger interviews Leah Tucker, Executive Director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Carver Theatre in Birmingham. They discuss the history of the Carver Theatre and the Hall of Fame as well as various events and services provided by the organization. (more)

Adam Vines	03-10-2013	MP3 audio	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews poet Adam Vines, 2013 ASCA Literature Fellowship recipient. Thompson talks with Vines about his latest collection of poems, The Coal Life, which was a 2012 finalist for the Miller William, Arkansas Poetry Prize. Exploring the rich metaphors of several generations of his coal-mining family, Vines uncovers his personal connection to Alabama’s landscape. Vines also talks with Thompson about his recent trip to New York City to visit museums and pursue his interest in ekphrastic poems (poems about works of art). He and Thompson also discuss how poems are made, what makes poetry “poetry,” and how poets contribute to the community of writers. Originally from Birmingham, Vines is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alabama Birmingham, where he co-edits The Birmingham Poetry Review. (more)

Carole King, 2013 Festival of Alabama Fiber Arts.	03-03-2013	MP3 audio	Elliot Knight, Visual Arts Program Manager, talks with Carole King about the 2013 Festival of Alabama Fiber Arts. The festival, now in its second year, will be held March 22nd and 23rd at Old Alabama Town in downtown Montgomery and will feature an exhibition of diverse fiber arts, demonstrating artists, workshops, and activities for the whole family to enjoy. (more)

Visual Arts Fellowship recipients, John Douglas Powers and Sarah Cusimano Miles	02-24-2013	MP3 audio	This week Visual Arts Fellowship recipients, John Douglas Powers and Sarah Cusimano Miles, talk with Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight about their artistic inspirations and processes, and the relationship between their personal work and teaching practice. Powers, Miles, and three other recent ASCA Fellowship recipients have work on display until March 29, 2013 in the Alabama Artists Gallery in Montgomery. (more)

Diana Van Fossen of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival	02-17-2013	MP3 audio	Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green, interviews Diana Van Fossen of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Diana is the wife of artistic director, Geoffrey Sherman and is an accomplished actor and director in her own right. In this interview she discusses her process in the direction of Much Ado About Nothing, The Trojan Women and her current direction of To Kill a Mockingbird. (more)

Poetry Out Loud 2013	02-10-2013	MP3 audio	In this program Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green, interviews students and teachers who attended the Finding Your Voice Workshop hosted by the Tuscaloosa Arts Council for Region 4. Some of these students were selected to participate in the State Poetry Out Loud finals February 18th. Green also interviews Diana Van Fossen, of the Alabama Shakespeare about the Shakespeare Festival partnership. (more)

Scott Bennett talks about the 2013 Alabama Clay Conference.	02-03-2013	MP3 audio	Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight interviews Alabama Craft Council director Scott Bennett about the 28th annual Alabama Clay Conference. The conference will be held February 21-24 in Birmingham. Bennett talks about the history of the Clay Conference, the new collaboration between the Clay Conference and the Birmingham Museum of Art’s Ceramic Symposium, and gives an overview of what attendees can expect from this year’s conference. (more)

Michael Richardson creator of the Red String Wayang Theatre.	01-27-2013	MP3 audio	Education Program Specialist Diana Green interviews Michael Richardson creator of the Red String Wayang Theatre. After receiving a Fulbright Fellowship to Indonesia in 1985, Richardson began working on new shadow puppet designs for western stories. From 1985-92, Richardson gave over 2000 performances in the Mid-Atlantic region. Diana talks to Michael about his participation in ASCA's Alabama Touring Artists in the Schools program. (more)

Mike Cooley, co-founder of the Drive-By Truckers	01-20-2013	MP3 audio	Mike Cooley, co-founder of the Drive-By Truckers, talks with Deborah Boykin about his songwriting, his career with DBT, and recent solo performances. (more)

Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts Al Head	01-13-2013	MP3 audio	This program Anne Kimzey interviews Al Head, executive director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Head was recently honored in Washington, D.C. as a recipient of the 2012 Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his role as a traditional arts advocate during his 40-year career directing cultural agencies in three states. (more)

Kyle Abraham director of the Abraham.In.Motion Dance Company	01-06-2013	MP3 audio	Rosemary Johnson, Executive Director for the Alabama Dance Council, and Leah Tucker, Director of the Carver Theater and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, talk to Kyle Abraham director of the Abraham.In.Motion Dance Company about his background that influenced his choreography of two productions, The Radio Show and Pavement that will be performed in Birmingham in January 2013. (more)

Richard Lee Young	12-30-2012	MP3 audio	Richard Lee Young with the Alabama Roots Music Society talks to Steve Grauberger about the various musical artists presented by the Society. (more)

Seasons Greetings from the Alabama State Council on the Arts	12-23-2012	MP3 audio	This program features musical artists in Alabama who have performed for the Alabama State Council on the Arts in past Sounds of the Seasons programs presented at the State Capitol. The Mariachi Garibaldi, soprano Bessie Sheldon, The Tribe of Judah gospel singers and instrumentalist Bobby Horton are presented this week for your listening pleasure. (more)

Rick Bragg	12-16-2012	MP3 audio	This program, is a rebroadcast that originally aired in 2009. It features Alabama State Council on the Arts Executive Director Al Head interviewing renowned Alabama author Rick Bragg about his upbringing in Alabama and his writing career. They discuss Bragg's books, All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, The Prince of Frogtown, and his newest book The Most They Ever Had which is a group of essays built around stories of mill workers at the now defunct Union Yarn Mill in Jacksonville Alabama. (more)

Scott Ward	12-09-2012	MP3 audio	Musician and bandleader Scott Ward talks with Deborah Boykin about the musicians who have influenced him, beginning with members of his family and extending to include David Hood, Spooner Oldham and other Muscle Shoals writers and muscians. His first CD, Muscle Shoals Down Through Decatur is a tribute to songwriters from that area. He also talks about his most recent CD project, A Heaping Helping. This recording, which features contributions from Christine Ohlman, Bekka Bramlett, Jay Gonzalez, and the Decoys, among others.(more)

Dr. Virginia Gilbert	12-02-2012	MP3 audio	This is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey, literary arts program manager with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviewing poet Dr. Virginia Gilbert of Madison about her work and her time serving in the Peace Corps in Korea. Gilbert received a Literary Arts Fellowship award from the State Arts Council in 2010 and has recently retired from the English faculty of Alabama A & M University.(more)

Ralph “Soul” Jackson	11-25-2012	MP3 audio	Ralph “Soul” Jackson is a singer and song writer whose career began when he was still in high school in Phenix City. He talks with Deborah Boykin about his first recording session at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, where he got his nickname from producer Rick Hall and teamed up with legendary keyboard player Spooner Oldham. Jackson also discusses his songwriting technique and performance style, as well as his recent CD.(more)

Sonia Sanchez	11-18-2012	MP3 audio	This is a rebroadcast of Alabama Writer's Forum Director Jeanie Thompson interviewing poet, playwright, educator and activist Sonia Sanchez. Sanchez talks about her belief in the power of poetry to help people survive their circumstances, including alienation and incarceration. She also speaks about her early life in Alabama, her father Wilson L. Driver, a 1980 Inductee in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and her formative experiences with the Black Arts Movement and the development of Black Studies programs around the country. (more)

Jason Russell	11-11-2012	MP3 audio	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jason Russell of Gadsden an award-winning maker of traditional hunting decoys. Mr. Russell is teaching his craft to student Kevin Asbury through the support of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Mr. Russell and Mr. Asbury talk about their interest in duck hunting and take listeners through the process of making realistic and functional decoys.(more)

Steve Grauberger	11-04-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a repeat of Community Arts Program Manager Deb Boykin interviewing Steve Grauberger about the folklife CD project Traditional Musics of Alabama Volume 5 New Book Gospel Shapenote Singing produced by the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture and the Alabama Folklife Association. (To read extended liner notes about this tradition click here.) (more)

Thomas Birch	10-28-2012	MP3 audio	Executive Director Al Head interviews Thomas L. Birch, former National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) legislative counsel, recipient of NASAA's 2012 President's Award for Outstanding Advocacy. From 1981 to 2012, Birch served as NASAA's legislative counsel, representing the interests of state arts agencies on Capitol Hill. For the past 10 years, Birch chaired the Cultural Advocacy Group's national coalition of arts and humanities allies carrying a unified message to Congress about the value of the arts in federal policy.(more)

Folklore Scholar William Ferris	10-21-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2006 program of Joey Brackner interviewing folklorist William Ferris of the University of North Carolina about southern culture and his experiences as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. (more)

Bob Friedman	10-14-2012	MP3 audio	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Bob Friedman, bass singer for The Pillars gospel quartet of Birmingham. During the program Friedman discusses his musical roots in New York City, the political activism that brought him to Alabama, his work with WJLD radio and his interest in African American gospel quartet singing. Friedman and the Pillars participate in the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship program, teaching their traditional a capella singing style to a younger generation. (more)

John Oneal	10-07-2012	MP3 audio	This is a repeat of a 2011 program of Alabama State Arts Council Director Al Head interviewing John O'Neal, actor, playwright, founder and now retired artistic director of Junebug Productions based in New Orleans. As a civil rights activist beginning in the early 1960s he co-founded the Free Southern Theater. He is probably best know for his widely toured character Junebug Jabbo Jones, a mythic figure who symbolizes the wisdom of common people. O’Neal has written eighteen plays, a musical comedy, poetry and several essays. He is a winner of a Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award (2005), the Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (2010) and the United States Artists Award. (more)

Howard Bankhead	09-30-2012	MP3 audio	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director of the Council, interviews Howard Bankhead, executive director of Tennessee Valley Jazz Society, Inc. and the 2013 recipient of the Council Arts Administration Fellowship Award. Under Howard’s leadership, Tennessee Valley Jazz Society has presented “Jazz Education-in-the Schools” programs since 1998. Approximately, 26,500 young people living in the metro Huntsville area have been exposed to jazz artists and jazz music. Additionally, the organization sponsors the annual Jazz-N-June Festival. (more)

Cast King and Matt Downer	09-23-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2005 interview by Anne Kimzey with musicians Cast King and Matt Downer from Sand Mountain. Guitarist and songwriter Cast King and his former band The Country Drifters recorded with Sun Records of Memphis in the 1950s. Matt Downer, a young musician, worked with Mr. King for a few years to learn his guitar style and to record his music and life history. During the program Mr. King performed three of the approximately 500 songs he wrote in his lifetime. Cast King died in 2007. (more)

Bettie Champion, Gumbo Academy	09-16-2012	MP3 audio	In this program folklorist Anne Kimzey and Bettie Champion of Mobile discuss the art of making traditional seafood gumbo, an important part of the culinary heritage of the Gulf Coast. Ms. Champion, who learned her recipe from her mother, created the Gumbo Academy to teach interested cooks everything they need to know to make this complicated dish, from cleaning the crabs, to preparing the roux, to serving the finished gumbo over rice. (more)

Beth Nielsen Chapman	09-09-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast from 2008 of Executive Director Al Head interviewing 2009 Distinguished Artist Award winner Beth Nielsen Chapman about her life as a popular singer/songwriter and as an educator. They also discuss Chapman's inspirations and her unique process of songwriting. (more)

Jess Marie Walker	09-02-2012	MP3 audio	ASCA intern Summer Upchurch interviews Individual Fellowship Recipient Jess Marie Walker about her life as an artist and an educator. Inspired by nature, music, and the art of public installation pieces, Jess Marie's background varies as much as her interests. Her work is highly collaborative and has been brought to fruition by HoWaYaDa, an artist collective, and by Pretty Much Collective. Her pieces range from a large-scale collaborative and interactive musical piece (where artists play kettles, rocks, and whatever is on-hand) to a smaller-scale collaborative piece celebrating the beauty of line-drawing and mountains. Her experiments with sound, form, and public exposure have been hosted in museums in Birmingham, Minneapolis, Long Island, Brooklyn, and Fairhope, among others. She currently lives in Montevallo with her youngest son. (more)

Donna Walker-Kuhne	08-26-2012	MP3 audio	This week's program is a rebroadcast of a 2006 show with Barbara Edwards interviewing Donna Walker-Kuhne. Walker-Kuhne, recognized as the nation's foremost expert on Audience Diversification by the Arts and Business Council, was a presenter at the 2007 Bill Bates Leadership Institute. In the interview Walker-Kuhne discusses practical strategies and methods to engage diverse communities in the arts and the importance of marketing to diverse audiences. (more)

Leah Stephens, Executive Director of ClefWorks, Inc.	08-19-2012	MP3 audio	Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Leah Stephens, Executive Director of ClefWorks, Inc., of Montgomery, Alabama. ClefWorks, founded in 2006 has presented headliners in the classical chamber music industry including Jack Quartet, Fireworks Ensemble, and in 2012, Ethel String Quartet. Leah shares her passion for the genre of music and her enthusiasm for introducing chamber music to young audiences. ClefWorks also sponsors an annual Composition Competition. For more information visit the website at www.clefworks.org. (more)

Greg Thornton and Emily Dauber Flowers with the Cloverdale Playhouse	08-12-2012	MP3 audio	ASCA intern Diedre Graham interviews Greg Thornton about his many years performing with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and now as the Artistic Director of the Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery. In the second half of the program Diedre talks to Emily Dauber Flowers, Managing Director for the Cloverdale Playhouse. Discussed are the various programs and events presented at the Playhouse. (more)

Patricia White, Slash Pine Press	08-05-2012	MP3 audio	Summer Upchurch, an intern at the Arts Council, interviews Patricia White, co-founder of Slash Pine Press, an organization housed at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Slash Pine Press started as an independent printing press, the brain child of Patti White and Joseph Wood. Now, the program is run by four staff members: Patti White, Joseph Wood, Lucas Southworth, and Brian Oliu. Now in its fourth year, Slash Pine achieves its goals through a community-centered internship program that can be taken as a class at the University of Alabama. Each semester two instructors and ten interns stitch one to three poetry chapbooks (handmade books sent to the program as manuscripts), plan several community events such as poetry hikes (art installations in which readers and listeners walk over several miles together, stopping at intervals to read poetry outdoors), and participate in creative exchanges with other universities’ creative writing students. The program functions as an English or Writing class, but dedicates itself to community engagement and poetic education. (more)

Mozell Benson	07-29-2012	MP3 audio	On July 16th Alabama lost one of its most celebrated quilters. Mozell Benson was 78 years old when she died at her home last week in Waverly. Mrs. Benson’s quilts first gained national attention in the exhibit “Signs and Symbols: African American Quilts from the Rural South.” Her work has also been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and the American Folklife Museum. In 2001 Mrs. Benson was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, our nation’s highest award for the folk and traditional arts. The following program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey’s 2007 interview with Mozell Benson and her daughter Sylvia Stephens in which they discuss their participation in the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program and also the experience of having a home and quilt studio built for Mrs. Benson by students in the Design/Build Master’s program at Auburn University’s School of Architecture. (more)

Russell Gulley	07-22-2012	MP3 audio	Russell Gulley, musician, songwriter, and co-founder of the band Jackson way, recalls his early days in Muscle Shoals, his work with producer Jimmy Johnson, and his return to roots music in current performances in an interview with Deborah Boykin, community arts program manager. (more)

Mark Driscoll, director of Historic Sites for the Alabama Historical Commission	07-15-2012	MP3 audio	Joey Brackner, director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Mark Driscoll, director of Historic Sites for the Alabama Historical Commission, about the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery Alabama. (more)

Brant Beene the General Manager of The Historic Alabama Theatre	07-08-2012	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Brant Beene the General Manager of The Historic Alabama Theatre and Development Director for the Lyric Theatre for Birmingham Landmarks, Inc. (more)

Singer-songwriter Maxwell Russell	07-01-2012	MP3 audio	Singer-songwriter Maxwell Russell talks with Deborah Boykin about his career, his writing, and his efforts to promote other songwriters. A well-known North Alabama performer, Russell sponsors a songwriters’ showcase each week at a Sheffield restaurant. His son Kirk, also a musician, writer and vocalist, also appears to talk about his band, Abstract Theory. (more)

Thomas Sisters Singers from Alexander City	06-24-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2006 show of Steve Grauberger interviewing the Thomas Sister Singers from Alexander City, Phyllis, Margie and Bernice. Both Margie and Bernice have since passed but at the time Margie and Bernice Thomas had been singing gospel music for over 60 years in and around Alexander City, performing on radio and TV as early as the 1950s with three other of their sisters all known collectively as the Thomas Sister Singers. Included in the program are songs sung by Margie and Bernice Thomas, and Margie's daughter Phyllis, recorded at their home in 2005. Watch a video clip of the Thomas Sisters singing "Not Made With Hands", click here. (more)

Alabama Folk Pottery author Joey Brackner	06-17-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey interviewing Joey Brackner Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture about his book, Alabama Folk Pottery, released in 2006 by the University of Alabama Press. Brackner discusses various aspects detailed in the publication. You can hear a podcast of the 2006 symposium on southern pottery held at the Birmingham Museum of Art. (more)

David Norwood and the Thompsons	06-10-2012	MP3 audio	This week, David Norwood, general manager of WAWL radio in Moulton, discusses Downtown Live! This four-week series brought performers from the surrounding area to Moulton’s courthouse square for Friday evening concerts. Community Arts program manager Deborah Boykin talks with Norwood and the Thompsons, a Lawrence County duo who also perform one of their original songs. (more)

Alabama State Poetry Out Loud Winner for 2012	06-03-2012	MP3 audio	Arts in Education Program Manager Diana Green interviews the 2012 Winners of Alabama’s Poetry Out Loud Program. First place in Original poetry recitation went to Doris-Anne Darbouze from Auburn High School. Bonnie Chen, also from Auburn High School, received an Honorable Mention for her original poetry recitation. The Poetry Out Loud State Championship was awarded to Peggy Payne from Mooresville, Alabama. Peggy traveled to Washington DC to compete nationally with 52 other state champions, a Washington DC champion, and a champion from the Virgin Islands. Poetry Out Loud is a National Poetry Recitation Contest supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The State Finals for the program are held in partnership with the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where students perform on the Festival Stage in Montgomery. (more)

Patti Hendrix Lovoy	05-27-2012	MP3 audio	Deputy Director, Barbara Edwards, interviews Patti Hendrix Lovoy, the Council’s 2011 Arts Administration Fellowship recipient. The Council makes available each year a $5,000 Arts Administration Fellowship award. This award is given to an arts administrator to improve his/her skills and ability to better serve his/her organization and the community. Patti is the executive director of VSA Alabama. In the interview, Patti talks about the impact of the professional opportunities afford her though the Arts Administration Fellowship award. (more)

Eldon Bryson	05-20-2012	MP3 audio	Community Arts Program manager Deb Boykin interviews Eldon Bryson, a musician and instrument maker from Mobile. Bryson, now 82, recalls his childhood in South Carolina, where he and his older brother often sang with Bill Monroe in the early days of bluegrass music. He recounts how a luthier there taught him to repair old fiddles and shares some of his knowledge about fiddle-making. He plays an original fiddle tune which he often performs when he and his band play each weekend at a Mississippi restaurant. (more)

Mary Ann Pettway, director of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective	05-13-2012	MP3 audio	Community Arts program manager, Deb Boykin talks with Mary Ann Pettway, director of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective. Ms. Pettway discusses the rich quilting tradition in her community and her experiences in learning from her elders and teaching a new generation through ASCA’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship program. Also a fine singer, Ms. Pettway is joined by Mary Lee Bendolph and Nancy Pettway to sing traditional gospel songs from Gee’s Bend. (more)

University of Alabama film maker Andrew Grace	05-06-2012	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews University of Alabama film maker Andrew Grace about his new film, "Eating Alabama." (more)

Folklife Author Jack Solomon	04-29-2012	MP3 audio	This week Steve Grauberger interviews, Alabama folklore scholar, teacher and writer Jack Solomon at his home in Tallassee, Alabama. He discusses various books he produced with his late wife Olivia and talks about his life with her and his long career as a teacher and college professor. Their books include Cracklin Bread and Asfidity, Zickary Zan, Ghosts and Goosebumps, Sweet Bunch of Daisies, and Honey in the Rock. (more)

Joe Dand Boyd author of Judge Jackson and the Colored Sacred Harp	04-22-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a repeat of a 2003 interview by Joey Brackner with Joe Dan Boyd about his book on Judge Jackson, the Ozark, Alabama man who published the "Colored Sacred Harp" tunebook in the 1930's. Included in the show are historic musical examples of African American songsters. (more)

Abraham Smith	04-15-2012	MP3 audio	This week Anne Kimzey interviews poet Abraham Smith of Tuscaloosa, recipient of a 2012 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. A 2004 graduate of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama, Smith is an instructor of English at the University and the assistant editor at Slash Pine Press. During the program he reads a few of his poems and talks about the influences of his rural Wisconsin childhood on his writing. He will be giving public readings of his poetry on April 21st at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery and April 27th at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville. (more)

Alabama Playwright Barry Bradford	04-08-2012	MP3 audio	This week, Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Alabama native Barry Bradford, a Southern playwright who writes often about small towns, racial conflict and the vanishing South. Bradford discusses how he was commissioned to write The Face in The Courthouse Window, a theatrical work produced annually in Carrolton, Alabama detailing the legendary story of Henry Wells whose face was indelibly etched in the Pickens County courthouse window. Bradford is known for his fearless portrayal of delicate subjects - like slavery and racism - and for his ability to bring to light the unique struggles of the human condition. Currently residing in Hammond, LA, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama and has been writing plays for over nineteen years. Some of Barry's works include Rugs, Chairs, Tables; Conquistadors; Was; and Hit and Miss. In 2003 his play Dead Towns of Alabama was work-shopped at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and scenes from it were read as part of ASF's Festival of New Plays. Since that time he has won the Southern Playwrights Competition three times (2005, 2009, and 2011). (more)

Heritage Hall Museum director Tommy Moorehead and guest curator Sarah Wright	04-01-2012	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Heritage Hall Museum director Tommy Moorehead and guest curator Sarah Wright about the exhibit "Our Quilted Past." The exhibit explores the quilt art of Leola Heard and daughter Elizabeth Heard Bean who used the cloth from feed sacks to make beautiful quilts in the mid-20th Century. (more)

Jeanie Thompson recipient of a 2012 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts	03-25-2012	MP3 audio	Anne Kimzey interviews Jeanie Thompson, poet and director of the Alabama Writers' Forum and recipient of a 2012 Literary Arts Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Thompson, who is completing a book length persona poem sequence on the adult life of Helen Keller, reads poems from this latest work and discusses her research and the creative process involved in revealing the depth and passion of the famous Alabama author and activist. (more)

Greta Lambert, Actress and Director of Education & Outreach at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival	03-18-2012	MP3 audio	Yvette Jones-Smedley Performing Arts Program Manager interviews Greta Lambert, nationally recognized actor of stage and screen and recipient of the ASCA Fellowship award in Theatre. Ms. Lambert, a native of Alabama and noted leading lady frequenty seen on stage at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival reflects on characters she has portrayed from far off places including Cleopatra of the Nile to Lady Macbeth from the highlands of Scotland to the “fair and tender lady” Ivy Rowe from the Appalachian mounts. Greta shares her love of theatre and reveals her passion for the one of the six Aristotelian Elements of Drama, language, along with all the distinctive dialects involved in the performance of her craft.(more)

Russell Everett and Brad Morton	03-11-2012	MP3 audio	This is repeat of a 2004 program of Georgine Clarke interviewing artists Russell Everett and Brad Morton about their backgrounds and art works..(more)

Gary Moore	03-04-2012	MP3 audio	Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews award winning choreographer and educator Gary Moore. Moore, former Artistic Director of the Montgomery Ballet is currently the Director of Dance at Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery, AL. Gary holds, among others, a Master of Education degree in Dance Anthropology and Performance from Lesley University, Cambridge , MA, is an ASCA Fellowship recipient and was recently chosen as an Unsung Hero in Education by the ING,Co for an original ballet, "Ever After'ING" celebrating the work of American graphic artist Maxfield Parrish performed Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.(more)

Kern Jackson	02-26-2012	MP3 audio	Kern Jackson, Director of the African American Studies program and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Alabama, talks with folklorist Deborah Boykin about Mardi Gras in Mobile and its related traditions. (more)

"Tommie" Tonea Stewart	02-19-2012	MP3 audio	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley talks with actress, director and educator Dr. "Tommie" Tonea Stewart about the recent national and local recognitions she has received for her lifelong service in Theatre. Stewart, presently serving as Dean of the Visual and Performing Arts Department of Alabama State University has appeared in several feature films, such as "A Time to Kill" and "Mississippi Burning," as well as the television series, "In the Heat of the Night." The widely recognized actress shares childhood memories of her formative years as a budding performing artist as well as success stories of the many she has impacted through her craft. (more)

Jacqueline Crenshaw Lockhart	02-12-2012	MP3 audio	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Jacqueline Crenshaw Lockhart. Mrs Lockhart, founder and director of the J. Lockhart Performing Arts Institute is also Director of Dance and Adjunct Professor of Dance Jazz/Dance History/Pedagogy at Birmingham Southern College. In this interview she talks about her experience as a Fellowship recipient in Dance from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and shares how the award impacted here career as a dancer a choreography and a teaching artist. Ms. Lockhart serves on the board of the Alabama Dance Council and has received numerous accolades, awards, and proclamations for her contributions to the community and tireless work in the arts. (more)

Sulynn Creswell, director of Black Belt Treasures in Camden	02-05-2012	MP3 audio	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Sulynn Creswell, director of Black Belt Treasures in Camden, Alabama. Creswell discusses the efforts of Black Belt Treasures to showcase and promote the arts of the Black Belt Region. (more)

The Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rodgers	01-29-2012	MP3 audio	The Secret Sisters, Laura and Lydia Rodgers, have, in the past year and a half, secured a record deal, released an album produced by noted producer T-Bone Burnett, toured much of the United States, Europe, and Australia, and opened for Paul Simon. Folklorist Deborah Boykin talked with the sisters before a November appearance at Decatur's Princess Theater. They discussed their early influences, the audition that led them into the music business, their recent songwriting efforts, and their touring and performing experiences. (more)

Linda Vice, director of the Southwest Alabama Tourism and Film Office.	01-22-2012	MP3 audio	The Southwest Alabama Culinary Trail is the topic of this week’s program as Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, travels to Thomasville to interview Linda Vice, director of the Southwest Alabama Tourism and Film Office. Ms. Vice takes listeners on a county-by-county tour highlighting the traditional cuisine and hospitality offered along the trail, which includes everything from Conecuh and Monroe sausages to the Black Bottom Pie served at Gaines Ridge Supper Club in Camden. (more)

Jessica Lacher-Feldman	01-15-2012	MP3 audio	The importance of community cookbooks as cultural documents is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jessica Lacher-Feldman, curator of rare books and special collections at the University of Alabama’s Hoole Library. Lacher-Feldman discusses a number of cookbooks, recipes, and illustrations included in their Alabama Collection and the Lupton African American Cookbook Collection. (more)

Augusto Soledade, artistic director of Brazz Dance Theatre	01-08-2012	MP3 audio	Augusto Soledade, artistic director of Brazz Dance Theatre talks about his life, philosophy and choreographic process with arts in education program manager, Diana Green. Brazz Dance Theatre kicks off the second weekend of events as part of the Alabama Dance Festival 2012, with a brand new work, Cordel. This new work blends the styles and social implications of the Argentine Tango with American Hip-hop culture. Mr. Soledade's intent is to bring a discussion on marginalization and social tensions around the globe, using the literary tradition of Cordel (popular Brazilian folk poetry) as inspirations for the creation of this abstract contemporary dance, to be presented on Friday, January 27, at Samford University's Wright Fine Arts Center. (more)

Tom Davenport Founding director of Folkstreams.net	01-01-2012	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviewing Tom Davenport an independent filmmaker and founding director of Folkstreams.net. During the program Davenport discusses how Folkstreams preserves and gives new life to documentary films about American folklore and roots cultures by streaming them on the internet. He talks about several important Alabama films featured on the website, as well as his own work making folklore documentaries and dramatic adaptations of Grimm’s fairy tales. (more)

Homespun Songs of the Christmas Season	12-25-2011		For this program we want to thank Bobby Horton for graciously allowing us to play selections from his personally arranged and performed Homespun Songs of the Christmas Season CD for our Christmas Day radio program. We at the Alabama State Council on the Arts want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings and a Happy New Year. A seasoned performer, Horton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and music historian. He has performed with the musical- comedy trio Three On a String, throughout the United States and Canada for 35 plus years. He has also produced and performed music scores for thirteen PBS films by Ken Burns including “The Civil War”, and “Baseball,” two films for The A&E network, and sixteen films for The National Park Service. His series of recordings of authentic period music has been acclaimed by historical organization and publications through America and Europe.

Ronald K. Brown, artistic director of Evidence, A Dance Company	12-18-2011	MP3 audio	Arts in Education program manager Diana Green talks with Ronald K. Brown, artistic director of Evidence, A Dance Company before his performance at the Samford University Wright Center during the 2012 Alabama Dance Festival. The interview is a sneak preview into the process of this well-known choreographer from Brooklyn, New York. His work is a seamless fusion of traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word. It provides a unique view of human struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. Brown uses movement as a way to reinforce the importance of community in African American culture and to acquaint audiences with the beauty of traditional African forms and rhythms. The depth of human experience that has become the inspiration for his work is evident as he speaks about why he creates. (more)

Betty Moon Sampson, Dixie Bluegrass Band	12-11-2011	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Betty Moon Sampson, bluegrass musician and Master Artist in the Arts Council's Folk Arts Apprentice Program. Betty tells stories about various aspects of her life growing up in Holly Pond, Alabama and learning to play and sing music with her father, banjo maker and musician Arlin Moon. She talks about her family band Dixie Bluegrass and shares examples of her music (more)

Gospel Quartet Scholar Doug Seroff	12-04-2011	MP3 audio	Doug Seroff has been researching and writing about African-American vernacular music for over 30 years. Much of his research concerns the gospel singing traditions of the Jefferson County area of Alabama. Archivist Kevin Nutt discusses this gospel singing traditions with Mr. Seroff. A strong public school music program during the 1920s and 1930s and the presence of talented, community “quartet trainers” are two of the characteristics Mr. Seroff discusses that contributed to what became known as the Birmingham Sound. (more)

John Henry Mealing	11-27-2011	MP3 audio	This program is a rebroadcast of folklore researcher and history professor Jim Brown of Samford University narrating an interview with "Gandy Dance Caller" John Henry Mealing (1908-2007) who was a National Heritage Recipient. The ASCA show is edited from the original Samford University WVSU Radio Production done the 1980s. For more on Gandy Dancers. Gandy Dancers film on folkstreams.net Click here for Gandy Presentation by Maggie Holtzberg. (more)

Jim Hilgartner received a Literary Arts Fellowship Award from the State Arts Council in 2011	11-20-2011	MP3 audio	This week Anne Kimzey, literary arts program manager with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, talks with Jim Hilgartner of Montgomery as he reads and discusses selections from his current works of short fiction. Hilgartner received a Literary Arts Fellowship Award from the State Arts Council in 2011. He serves on the English faculty of Huntingdon College where he also directs the Staton Center for Learning Enrichment.. (more)

Archivist Cheylon Woods	11-13-2011	MP3 audio	Kevin Nutt interviews Archivist Cheylon Woods who is currently working at the Alabama Department of Archives and History on a fellowship from the HistoryMakers foundation. Cheylon discusses The HistoryMakers organization and how it seeks to further the presence of African-Americans in the archiving field. Woods talks about her current projects at Archives and History and discusses her upbringing, family and education and how these influenced her life and career choice. (more)

Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention Program 2	11-06-2011	MP3 audio	This rebroadcast is the second of two programs that Steve Grauberger interviews participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, piano playing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This and the previous program is to help promote the 81st Annual Convention held November 11th & 12th, 2011 at the Cottondale United Methodist Church Cottondale, Al (Tuscaloosa County), Friday night: 6:30p.m. – 8:30p.m. to Saturday: 10:00a.m. – 3:00p.m. (more)

Mary Allison Haynie Executive Director of the Alabama Folklife Association	10-30-2011	MP3 audio	Mary Allison Haynie Executive Director of the Alabama Folklife Association (AFA) discusses various events that the AFA has presented throughout the year promoting this Year of Alabama Music. Such as, the tribute to the traditional fiddling of the Stripling family, the Sacred Harp Singing School held at Tannehill State Park, and the free upcoming event In Harmony: Gospel Quartet Tradition, Teaching, and Training to be held November 5th starting 1 PM at Discovery Alabama Event Center, 4500 Alabama Adventure Parkway; Bessemer, Alabama. (more)

Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention Program 1	10-23-2011	MP3 audio	This rebroadcast is the first of two programs of Steve Grauberger interviewing participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This program is to help promote the 81st Annual Convention held November 11th & 12th, 2011 at the Cottondale United Methodist Church Cottondale, Al (Tuscaloosa County), Friday night: 6:30p.m. – 8:30p.m. to Saturday: 10:00a.m. – 3:00p.m. (more)

Robert Clem and Auguster Maul	10-16-2011	MP3 audio	To help promote the Alabama Folklife Association event In Harmony: The Gospel Quartet Music Tradition of Jefferson County on Nov 5th 2011, this radio program is a rebroadcast with Joey Brackner interviewing film maker Robert Clem about his project the Gospel way. In the second half of the program Joey interviews Auguster Maul, lead singer for the Delta Aires Quartet. (more)

Chris Homes, Sucarnochee: A Revue of Alabama Music	10-09-2011	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Alabama Public Television (APT) producer Chris Holmes about his new film "Sucarnochee: A Revue of Alabama Music." The film profiles several Alabama musicians who participated in a special concert this year at the University of West Alabama in Livingston as part of the Sucarnochee Revue series. The film will premiere October 24th at 9pm on APT. (more)

The Birmingham Sunlights	10-02-2011	MP3 audio	This program is a repeat of Steve Grauberger interviewing James Alex Taylor and Barry Taylor, two of the six members of the gospel a cappella group the Birmingham Sunlights. In 2009 the Birmingham Sunlights received a National Heritage Fellowship for master folk and traditional artists in a ceremony in Washington D. C. from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In this interview James and Barry Taylor describe the history of their group, its members and the travels they have experienced singing and representing Alabama in Africa, France, Italy and the United States. Musical examples of their singing are presented as well. (more)

Mary Foshee and Charla Cochran	09-25-2011	MP3 audio	Arts in Education program manager Diana Green interviews Mary Foshee and Charla Cochran from the Children’s Dance Foundation, in Homewood, Alabama. The Children’s Dance Foundation offers classes in dance, drumming and dramatics for all ages, and tours performances and workshops to schools and community organizations. More detailed information about their programs and their contribution to arts education in our state is included in this interview. (more)

John O'Neal	09-18-2011	MP3 audio	Alabama State Arts Council Director Al Head interviews John O'Neal, actor, playwright, founder and now retired artistic director of Junebug Productions based in New Orleans. As a civil rights activist beginning in the early 1960s he co-founded the Free Southern Theater. He is probably best know for his widely toured character Junebug Jabbo Jones, a mythic figure who symbolizes the wisdom of common people. O’Neal has written eighteen plays, a musical comedy, poetry and several essays. He is a winner of a Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World award (2005), the Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (2010) and the United States Artists Award. He was in Alabama demonstrating elements of the Story Circle Project to Arts leaders here. The Story Circle concept allows individuals to share intimate stories about themselves to help bridge understanding between races. (more)

Sue Jensen and Jamey Grimes	09-11-2011	MP3 audio	Georgine Clarke discusses the Outdoor Sculpture Project at Auburn University Montgomery with project director Sue Jensen and participating artist Jamey Grimes. Jensen explains how the three artists were selected and describes their various approaches to sculpture. Grimes talks about the nature of his work, especially as it relates to his study of the environment. He also talks about teaching in the Prison Arts in Education program operated from Auburn University. (more)

Dr. Robert Halli	09-04-2011	MP3 audio	This program is a 2004 rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing University of Alabama professor Robert Halli about his book, An Alabama Songbook: Ballads, Folksongs, and Spirituals. The book is based upon the research of Byron Arnold who collected folk songs throughout Alabama during the late 1940s. Actual field recordings made by Byron Arnold are featured during the program.

Kim Mitchell, Interim Director of the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur	08-28-2011	MP3 audio	In this week's program Georgine Clarke interviews Kim Mitchell, Interim Director of the Carnegie Visual Arts Center in Decatur, Alabama. The discussion includes the exhibition schedule and description of classes for children. The Center has sponsored public art icons painted by artists and located throughout the community for the past three years. The images have included butterflies and dragon flies as well as roosters. Kim explains the popularity of this program and also discusses how the roosters have been done in conjunction with the Moulton Chicken and Egg Festival.

Joyce Cauthen	08-21-2011	MP3 audio	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Joyce Cauthen, recently retired as the director of the Alabama Folkife Association. In this conversation Joyce discusses her many years as director of the AFA and how she developed the organization and the folklife research she accomplished over three decades as director. She also describes her work with the Birmingham Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance and her performance group, Red Mountain.

Youssef Biaz	08-14-2011	MP3 audio	In this program Diana Green, Arts in Education Program Manager interviews the 2011 Poetry Out Loud National Champion, Youssef Biaz from Auburn High School, along with his English teacher and mentor, Davis Thompson and Youssef's father and sister. more

Tommy Moorehead	08-07-2011	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Tommy Moorehead, director and artist-in-residence at Jemison-Carnegie Heritage Hall in Talladega. He discusses the museum's educational programming for both adults and children as well as the exhibition schedule. The conversation includes discussion of his artwork and his background as an artist and artist-in-residence throughout Alabama. He describes the development of a new museum of the Creek Indian in Talladega as well as activities of the Sarah Carlisle Towery art colony in Alex City.

Poet Dr. Virginia Gilbert	07-31-2011	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, literary arts program manager with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews poet Dr. Virginia Gilbert of Madison about her work and her time serving in the Peace Corps in Korea. Gilbert received a Literary Arts Fellowship award from the State Arts Council in 2010 and has recently retired from the English faculty of Alabama A & M University.

Alabama Bluesman Ike Zimmerman	07-24-2011	MP3	In June of 2011 a group of relatives came together in Alabama to commemorate a common bond, the late Isaiah "Ike" Zimmerman, an Alabama native originally from Grady. After making his home in Beauregard, Mississippi in the 1930s, he became a mentor to bluesman guitarist Robert Johnson. An acomplished blues guitarist and performer himself, Ike Zimmerman and his wife Ruth took Johnson into their home for over a year where Ike generously taught Johnson, then known as R.L., what he knew about the blues. In this program Grey Brennan, Marketing Manager at the Alabama Department of Travel and Tourism and Steve Grauberger of ASCA interview two daughters of Ike Zimmerman, Loretha Z. Smith and Nelly Ruth Brown with their two sons James Smith and Oscar Brown, to try and find more information about this interesting Alabamian and his relationship to Robert Johnson. more

Jake Adam York	07-17-2011	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum. interviews Jake Adam York, featured poet at the 6th Annual Alabama Book Festival. Thompson talks with York about his “open project” of poems memorializing murdered civil rights workers, inspired when he visited the newly installed Civil Rights Memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery. more

Patterson Hood	07-10-2011	MP3	Folklorist Deborah Boykin interviews musician Patterson Hood about the Drive-By Truckers' (DBT) upcoming appearance at the W.C. Handy Festival sponsored by the Alabama Folklife Association. A native of Florence, Hood talks about the influence of the area on his songwriting and discusses growing up as a second generation musician in Muscle Shoals. He describes the evolution of the DBT and his long partnership with fellow Trucker Mike Cooley and gives his thoughts on the future of music in the Shoals. more

Artist Ben Ward	07-03-2011	MP3	Program Manager Geogine Clarke interviews Visual Artist and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) professor of foundation studies Benjamin Ward. In this radio interview Ward details various aspects of the SCAD academic program and gives insight into his early influences and his contemporary approach to teaching foundation studies. Ward's current professional work and past exhibits are also discussed.

Alabama State Poetry Out Loud Winners Peggy Payne and Youssef Biaz	06-26-2011	MP3	Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, interviews two high school student winners of our Poetry Out Loud Program. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. Students select poems from an anthology provided at poetryoutloud.org. Alabama adds to this program an opportunity for students to write original poems and to recite them at the State competition. Peggy Payne was the Original Poetry Recitation winner for 2011. Youssef Biaz became Alabama’s State Champion in 2011 for the second year in a row and traveled to Washington D.C. to compete in the national competition. Both students recite poetry during this interview.

Bill Jehle	06-19-2011	MP3	Folklorist Deborah Boykin interviews musician and author Bill Jehle about his interest in cigarbox guitars. Jehle, who plays the guitars he makes from cigar boxes and a variety of found objects, is the author of One Man's Trash: A History of the Cigarbox Guitar and curator of his own Cigar Box Musuem. One of his guitars is part of the exhibit Music Makers: A Celebration for the Year of Alabama Music on display in the Alabama Artists Gallery in the RSA Tower in Montgomery.

James Burkett and Warren Shirley	06-12-2011	MP3	To highlight this Year of Alabama Music, the Alabama Artist Gallery features an exhibit called, Music Makers: A Celebration for the Year of Alabama Music (pdf of exhibit program). Included in the exhibit are various musical instruments made by Alabamians. Two craftsmen featured in this program are James Burkett, a guitar maker from Dothan and Warren Shirley a cigar-box guitar maker from Davenport. Both describe the process of making their instruments.

Robena Perry	06-05-2011	MP3	To highlight this Year of Alabama Music, the Alabama Artist Gallery features the exhibit, Music Makers: A Celebration for the Year of Alabama Music (pdf of exhibit program)..In this radio program, Visual Arts Program Manager and Gallery Director Georgine Clarke interviews self-taught artist Robena Perry. Perry has contributed her unusual sculpture "The World's Smallest Band" made of over a hundred Barbie, Ken, G. I. Joe, and other similar dolls that serves as a centerpiece for the exhibit. Robena talks about her ideas behind the making of "The World's Smallest Band" and other smaller vignettes that she calls rooms.

Michael Graham Allen	05-29-2011	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews musician and flute maker Michael Graham Allen of Walker County. Allen constructs wooden flutes inspired by American Indian designs. He also decorates the instruments based on historic Indian pottery designs. Photos of his flutes as well as his music CDs can be found at: coyoteoldman.com.

Poet, Playwright, Educator and Activist Sonia Sanchez	05-22-2011	MP3	This week Jeanie Thompson interviews poet, playwright, educator and activist Sonia Sanchez. Sanchez talks about her belief in the power of poetry to help people survive their circumstances, including alienation and incarceration. She also speaks about her early life in Alabama, her father Wilson L. Driver, a 1980 Inductee in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and her formative experiences with the Black Arts Movement and the development of Black Studies programs around the country.

Brent Warren of the Newgrass Troubadours	05-15-2011	MP3	Deborah Boykin, folklorist with the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Brent Warren of The Newgrass Troubadours. This Birmingham band performs bluegrass standards as well as their own arrangements of songs by artists rarely covered by bluegrass bands, such as Jimi Hendrix. Warren, who is also president of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Association, talks about the band's musical influences and their experiences performing at festivals around the region. He also discusses learning to play with other musicians in jam sessions at festivals and encourages up and coming pickers to seek out these opportunities when they can. Examples of their eclectic style can be heard as well.

Eddie Floyd	05-08-2011	MP3	Deborah Boykin talks with soul music great Eddie Floyd. Floyd, who wrote hits including "Knock on Wood" and "634-5789," describes his songwriting techniques, his early career in Detroit as part of The Falcons, a group that also included Prattville native Wilson Pickett, and his experiences touring in Europe. He also talks about growing up in Alabama, his early musical influences, and his performance at the Governor's Arts Awards on May 17th, 2011.

Braxton Schuffert	04-24-2011	MP3	Folkorist Deborah Boykin talks with 94 year old Braxton Schuffert, a country singer and songwriter who was one of Hank Williams's original Drifting Cowboys. Mr. Schuffert talks about his early life, his experience performing on WSFA radio and his long friendship with Williams, which began when Schuffert made a delivery to the boarding house run by Hank's mother. He also describes the experience of co-writing a song with Williams and talks about his own compositions.

Valerie Pope Burnes and Dr. Tina Naremore Jones	04-24-2011	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews two University of West Alabama faculty members who are working to promote the Black Belt region of Alabama. In the first half of the show Valerie Pope Burnes, Director of the Center for the Study of the Black Belt and Assistant Professor of History at UWA discusses the activities of the Center and its role in creating appreciation of the culture and natural history of the 19-county region. In the second half of the show, Dr. Tina Naremore Jones, Dean of Educational Outreach at UWA and president of the board of the Alabama Black Belt Heritage Area describes efforts to develop tourism in the region.

Lee Sentell and Grey Brennan	04-17-2011	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Alabama Tourism Department Director Lee Sentell about the tourism industry in Alabama and his Department's themed campaigns such as the "Year of Alabama Food" and "Year of Alabama Arts". In the second half Grey Brennan, Marketing and Regional Director for the Alabama Tourism Department, talks about this year's innovative campaign "The Year of Alabama Music" and its importance to the state's local economy. Also included is a discussion about the Year of Alabama Music Songwriting Contest.

Dr. Wayne Anthony Barr	04-09-2011	MP3	Steve Grauberger interviews Dr. Wayne Anthony Barr, director of the Tuskegee University's Golden Voices Concert Choir, about his work and some of the choir's history regarding Tuskegee University founder Booker T. Washington and well known choral arranger and director Dr, William Levi Dawson.

James Lamb and Dr. Ashley Dumas	04-03-2011	MP3	Joey Brackner, director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture interviews paleontologist James Lamb and Dr. Ashley Dumas of the Black Belt Museum, a division of the Center for the Study of the Black Belt at the University of West Alabama in Livingston.

Alabama Book Festival	03-27-2011	MP3	Deborah Boykin interviews Gail Waller, co-chair of the 6th annual Alabama Book Festival , and Jeannie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writer's Forum, about the upcoming festival on April 16 in Montgomery's Old Alabama Town. They discuss the authors who will appear at the festival and the activities planned for visitors of all ages, including readings, book signings, and children's activities.

Musicians Cast King and Matt Downer	03-20-2011	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2005 interview by Anne Kimzey with musicians Cast King and Matt Downer from Sand Mountain. Guitarist and songwriter Cast King and his former band The Country Drifters recorded with Sun Records of Memphis in the 1950s. Matt Downer, a young musician, has been working with Mr. King for a few years to learn his guitar style and to record his music and life history. During the program Mr. King performs three of the approximately 500 songs he has written in his lifetime. Cast King died in 2007.

Donna Russell, director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education.	03-13-2011	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey of the Alabama State Council on the Arts interviews Donna Russell, director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education. During the program Russell discusses the Alliance's work as an advocate for arts in the schools, training opportunities for teachers and communities, and fruitful partnerships both nationally with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and statewide with the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Enoch and Margie Sullivan of the Sullivan Family Bluegrass Gospel Band	03-06-2011	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of a 2003 interview with Enoch and Margie Sullivan in memory of Enoch Sullivan, who recently passed on Feb 23^rd 2011 in Mobile. The Sullivan Family of St. Stephens, Alabama has been stalwart in the presentation of Bluegrass Gospel music throughout the world. Among their many awards are the Alabama State Council on the Arts’ Folk Heritage Fellowship and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

Marc Smirnoff, editor of the Oxford American	02-27-2011	MP3	This week Joey Brackner, director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture interviews Marc Smirnoff, editor of the Oxford American. They discuss the current issue of the Oxford American dedicated to the music of Alabama and upcoming music events for the year of Alabama Music.

Mary Allison Haynie	02-20-2011	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, talks with Mary Allison Haynie, director of the Alabama Folklife Association. They discuss the AFA's mission to document, preserve and present the traditional arts and culture of the state, the organization's upcoming music events for the year of Alabama Music, and plans for the future.

Cheryl E. Davis Playwright	02-13-2011	MP3	Literature Program Manager Anne Kimzey interviews Cheryl Davis, an award winning writer and playwright. Her work has been read and performed nationally and internationally. She is in Alabama for the premier of her play at the Birmingham Children's Theatre (BCT), "Tuxedo Junction," a story of Erskine Hawkins. It’s Davis’ second time premiering a work in Birmingham, the first being last season’s Red Mountain Theatre Company production of “Barnstormer,” Davis’ musical look at black aviatrix Bessie Coleman. In the interview Davis tells of her education and background that led her to become a playwright of historic American characters as well as a talented lyricist.

William Ferris	02-06-2011	MP3	This program is a 2006 rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing folklorist William Ferris of the University of North Carolina about southern culture and his experiences as director of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss.

Christophe E. Jackson	01-29-2011	MP3	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Christophe Jackson. In this program Jackson talks about his research project involving an innovative sound booth that is used to record and analyze physical stresses that a singer encounters during and after a vocal performance or practice. Growing up in the heart of Montgomery, Jackson studied both classical and jazz music. With a double major in biology and music, Jackson blends his love of music and his fascination with science with his goal of becoming a doctor.

Bettye Kimbrell	01-23-2011	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jefferson County quilter Bettye Kimbrell about her work with 4-H Club students and their quilt exhibit at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Kimbrell is a 2008 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Inspired by Diane Bentley's interest in quilting the Alabama State Council on the Arts has organized an exhibition of quilts titled Alabama Quilts: Stitched for Warmth and Beauty. The exhibition is on display until March 18th, 2011 at the Alabama Artists Gallery, 201 Monroe Street in Montgomery. There are works by 28 quilters, including the Cathedral Window quilt panel made by Dianne Bentley while traveling with her husband during his campaign.

David Ivey and Tim Eriksen	01-16-2011	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing David Ivey and Tim Eriksen about Sacred Harp Singing in the Movie, Cold Mountain. Sacred Harp musical examples are included in the program

Photographer Mark Gooch	01-09-2011	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Birmingham photographer Mark Gooch about his career and an important publication documenting Alabama folk artists for the exhibition called; *Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program*. (click here for PDF) This program is a rebroadcast from 2008.

Priscilla Hancock Cooper, coordinator for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute	01-02-2011	MP3	This program is a 2006 rebroadcast of Randy Shoults, Community Arts, Literature and Design Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviewing Priscilla Hancock Cooper about her literary works. Cooper is the coordinator for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and she is also a teaching writer with the Writing Our Stories Project (Chalkville Campus), an anti-violence creative writing program for incarcerated youth. Writing Our Stories takes place through a cooperative arrangement between the Alabama Writers' Forum and the Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS). Cooper is the Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature recipient for 2005. She reads samples from her literary works.

Randy Foster Program Manager for Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts	12-25-2010	MP3	Arts in Education Program Manager Diana Green interviews Randy Foster, Program Manager for Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts

Alabama Christmas Music	12-18-2010	MP3	This program features Christmas songs selected from the Fretted Instruments Christmas CDs. In years past Herb Trotman, Wayne Anderson, and numerous Alabama musicians have put together CDs of Christmas music which are distributed each year at Fretted Instruments, Trotman's music store in Homewood. The project involves what Herb calls "the Large and Amorphous Group", made up of area bands and musicians who record Christmas music especially for each year's CD.

Robert Haygens White Oak Basketry	12-11-2010	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Robert Haygens of Opp about making white oak baskets and teaching his traditional craft through the support of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Mr. Haygens walks listeners through the entire basketmaking process from selecting the right tree, to weaving the oak splits, to attaching the rim and handles.

2011 Alabama Dance Festival Director Rosemary Johnson	12-04-2010	MP3	Yvette Jones-Smedley, Performing Arts Program Manager interviews Alabama Dance Council Executive Director Rosemary Johnson about the 2011 Dance Festival.

William Christenberry	11-28-2010	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C in 2007. This is the second of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life’s work as an artist that includes his acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama, his unique dream house sculptures, the Klan Tableau, and ongoing mixed-media work.

William Christenberry	11-21-2010	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C in 2007. This is the first of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life's work as an artist that includes drawing and painting as well as his unique dream house sculptures and acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama.

Bruce Larsen	11-14-2010	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Bruce Larsen, Fairhope sculptor known for his use of a wide variety of found objects. He discusses the range of his sculpture, from pieces used in popular films to commissions for the Mobile Museum of Fine Art and the City of Decatur. Larsen's sculptures of athletes are collected by the United States Sports Academy in Daphne.

Randy Shoults	11-07-2010	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture interviewing Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Shoults describes various aspects of the grant programs that he manages.

Robert Stripling	10-31-2010	MP3	In this program Joyce Cauthen, author of With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow: The History of Old-Time Fiddling in Alabama, interviews Robert Stripling, the oldest son of Charlie Stripling (1896-1963). Charlie Stripling was a master fiddler who, with his brother Ira on guitar, recorded 42 fiddle tunes for Brunswick and Decca Records between 1928 and 1936. He was a popular performer in his hometown of Kennedy and surrounding communities in Lamar, Fayette, Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties, where he played for hundreds of fiddlers’ conventions and dances. When his recordings were reissued in the 1980s, his music found new fans across the nation. For more information on Charlie Stripling, visit the Encyclopedia of Alabama Online. For information about the event in Belk visit www.alabamafolklife.org.

Rick Bragg	10-24-2010	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast featuring Alabama State Council on the Arts Executive Director Al Head interviewing renowned Alabama author Rick Bragg about his upbringing in Alabama and his writing career. They discuss Bragg's books, All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, The Prince of Frogtown, and his newest book The Most They Ever Had which is a group of essays built around stories of mill workers at the now defunct Union Yarn Mill in Jacksonville Alabama.

Stacey Bryan and Linda Swann of Alabama Communities of Excellence	10-17-2010	MP3	Design Alabama Executive Director Gina Clifford interviews Stacey Bryan, Director of the Alabama Communities of Excellence and Linda Swann from the Alabama development Office and current President of ACE. ACE is an organization which works closely with Design Alabama to create quality communities in Alabama. Founded in 2002, The Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) program is a comprehensive three-phase approach to economic and community development for cities with populations between 2,000 and 18,000. With the mission of helping Alabama’s smaller communities to plan, grow and prosper, ACE partners from the private sector, governmental agencies, and universities work with each community to successfully achieve the vision and goals created during the ACE program.

Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama	10-10-2010	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of a 2007 program in which Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, continues a conversation with professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This is the second of a two-part series where Miller describes hand papermaking and discusses two recent book projects featured in the Southern Arts Federation exhibit conceived through American Masterpieces, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama	10-03-2010	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of a 2007 program in which Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This radio show is the first in a two-part series, where Miller discusses the art of making books by hand, including letterpress printing and hand papermaking. Hear how the faculty and students of Alabama’s Book Arts Program use ancient technology to produce cutting edge work. The second part of this interview will take place next week.

Dr. Henry Panion, III	09-26-2010	MP3	Yvette Jones-Smedley, Performing Arts Program Manager interviews internationally known producer, composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, and educator, Dr. Henry Panion, III. ASCA Music Fellowship recipient, Dr. Panion, shares his wealth of experiences in the music industry from Gospel to Classical, and everything in between. Hear reflections of his professional affiliations with superstars such as Stevie Wonder, jazz luminaries such as Jonathan Butler and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra as well as Gospel legends the Winans and Juanita Bynum.

Thomas Hylton, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns	09-19-2010	MP3	To help promote Thomas Hylton's upcoming keynote presentation at the Alabama Communities of Exellence (ACE) organization's kickoff event, Completing the Puzzle to Build a Successful Community on September 23, 2010; this is a rebroadcast of an earlier program. DesignAlabama was honored to have Thomas Hylton, of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns as a speaker at their 2008 DesignAlabama Mayors Design Summit. As a former newspaper, man, this Pennsylvania native and resident has turned a passion for a walkable world into a successful non-profit organization promoting walkable communities, downtown redevelopment and historic preservation. Join us during this radio program as we learn more about what individuals and communities can do to save our land and save our towns.

Hannah Leatherbury, co-manager of ArtsReady	09-12-2010	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director for ASCA, interviews Hannah Leatherbury, co-manager of ArtsReady, an initiative of South Arts. South Arts, in partnership with its nine member state arts agencies, urges the arts community to engage in continuity planning through their Be ArtsReady campaign. Being ArtsReady means preparedness, readiness and business continuity for arts organizations.

Betty Moon Sampson	09-05-2010	MP3	Steve Grauberger interviews Betty Moon Sampson, bluegrass musician and Master Artist in the Arts Council's Folk Arts Apprentice Program. Betty tells stories about various aspects of her life growing up in Holly Pond, Alabama and learning to play and sing music with her father, banjo maker and musician Arlin Moon. She talks about her family band Dixie Bluegrass and shares examples of her music.

Tom Davenport founding director of Folkstreams.net.	08-29-2010	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Tom Davenport an independent filmmaker and founding director of Folkstreams.net. During the program Davenport discusses how Folkstreams preserves and gives new life to documentary films about American folklore and roots cultures by streaming them on the internet. He talks about several important Alabama films featured on the website, as well as his own work making folklore documentaries and dramatic adaptations of Grimm’s fairy tales.

Belinda George Peoples	08-22-2010	MP3	Yvette Jones-Smedley, Performing Arts Program Manger interviews Birmingham’s own, Belinda George-Peoples, a recipient of the Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship Award in Music. Belinda shares the inspiring tale of her journey which began at the age of six, singing from the church pews and led her to center stage in a musical written especially to showcase her immense talent in the Red Mountain Theatre’s world premier of “Respect.”

Teresa Hollingsworth Senior Program Director and Gerri Combs Executive Director of South Arts	08-15-2010	MP3	In this program, Deborah Boykin talks with South Arts Senior Program Director Teresa Hollingsworth about the programs and services offered through this regional arts organization. In the second half of the program Gerri Combs, Executive Director of South Arts discusses the organization's role in helping to shape arts policy and advocacy in the Southeast.

Deborah Rankins, Assistant Director of Library Services at Alabama Southern Community College and the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum	08-08-2010	MP3	Folklife Specialist Anne Kimzey interviews Deborah Rankins, Assistant Director of Library Services at Alabama Southern Community College and the Kathryn Tucker Windham Museum in Thomasville. Rankins furnishes information about the Windham Museum and discusses a calendar of events that feature various regional storytelling groups that are part of the Kathryn Tucker Windam Storytelling Club in Southwest Alabama.

Robin Wade Furniture Maker	08-01-2010	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Florence, Alabama furniture builder Robin Wade. He discusses the techniques used in making his large slab tables and benches and describes cutting trees up to 60" in diameter using a special Austrailian saw mill. The slabs are then both air-dried and kiln dried before the construction begins. Wade talks about his philosophy in working with wood and the aesthetics of the pieces. He describes the finishing process, care of the furniture in a business or home and also his interest in finding and using large historic trees when they have been taken down.

Elie Lazar, Artistic Director of Montgomery Ballet	07-25-2010	MP3	Performing Arts Program Manager Yvette Jones-Smedley interviews Elie Lazar, Artistic Director of Montgomery Ballet and recipient of a Fellowship Award in Dance from the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA). Elie talks about his journey as a dancer and choreographer from Israel to New York to Alabama and his professional accomplishments that led to statewide recognition with the ASCA Fellowship Award. Mr. Lazar also discusses the upcoming season at the Montgomery Ballet and about the exciting collaboration with the Montgomery Choral and other performing arts organizations.

Chris Holmes and Paige Wainwright	07-18-2010	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Chris Holmes, Executive Producer at Alabama Public Television (APT) and Paige Wainwright, Curator of the Metal Arts Program at Sloss Furances about the new APT production Sloss: Industry to Art having its public premiere July 23rd at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark at 7 P. M. The television premiere is on July 25th at 7 P. M. on APT.

New Book Gospel Shapenote Singing CD	07-10-2010	MP3	Folklife Specialist Deb Boykin interviews Steve Grauberger about the new CD project Traditional Musics of Alabama Volume 5 New Book Gospel Shapenote Singing produced by the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture and the Alabama Folklife Association.

Joseph Wujcik of Calera	07-03-2010	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews wood turner Joseph Wujcik of Calera. Wujcik is a recipient of the Council's Individual Artist's Fellowship in Craft. He describes his source of the natural wood burls and the process of creating hollow formed vessels. He also talks about the finishing and care of the pieces as well as marketing his work at Art Festivals throughout the United States.

Susan Robertson and Alison Beeson	06-27-2010	MP3	In this program Joey Brackner interviews Susan Robertson and Alison Beeson of Dothan's Wiregrass Museum of Art, The Wiregrass Museum of Art is the result of a community’s genuine desire for the arts in the city of Dothan, Alabama and surrounding communities of the Wiregrass Region. Begun in 1991, WMA has grown to be the flagship of the arts in the Wiregrass with a mission to bring the fine arts and art education to Dothan and the Wiregrass Region.

Jan Pruitt, Executive Director of the Kentuck in Northport, Alabama	06-20-2010	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Jan Pruitt, recently appointed Executive Director of the Kentuck program in Northport, Alabama. They discuss the nationally recognized Kentuck Festival of the Arts, celebrating its 39th year in October 2010. The Kentuck art center facilities are located in historic downtown Northport and include resident artists, exhibition spaces, and a shop. Other Kentuck activities including the December celebration "Dickens Downtown" are covered in the program.

Larry Register and Don Fabiani	06-13-2010	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Larry Register and Don Fabiani about the Wiregrass Festival Of Murals project in downtown Dothan. As proclaimed by the Governor, Dothan is a Mural City. Murals painted on many downtown buildings by nationally and internationally known muralists showcase early scenes of local and state history.

Ted Rosengarten	06-06-2010	MP3	This show is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Ted Rosengarten about his award winning book All God's Dangers: The Life of Nat Shaw and his book A Portion of the People: 300 Years of Southern Jewish Life

David Dionne and Mike Mahon	05-30-2010	MP3	For this week's program, Joey Brackner interviews David Dionne of the Red Mountain Park and Mike Mahon of the Friends of Red Mountain Park. Red Mountain Park is a new urban park in Birmingham featuring both the natural and cultural history of the area.

Bettie Fikes	05-23-2010	MP3	This week Deborah Boykin interviews singer and civil rights activist Bettie Fikes, who discusses her experiences as a Freedom Singer and the performers who influenced her style as blues singer. Ms. Fikes recently performed in Tuscaloosa with the Alabama Blues Project and talks about returning to her home state to sing with these students.

Poetry Out Loud National Finalist, Youssef Biaz	05-16-2010	MP3	Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry - recitation and performance. The program, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, provides opportunities for high school students to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Diana Green, Arts in Education Program Manager interviews the 2010 Alabama State Champion, Youssef Biaz from Auburn High School, along with his English teacher and mentor, Davis Thompson. Following this interview, Youssef competed in Washington D.C. in the National semifinals and finals, placing as one of the top 9 finalists (out of 53 champions nationwide) receiving an additional $1000 scholarship and $500 for his school.

Sue Brannan Walker, Alabama's Poet Laureate	05-09-2010	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Alabama poet laureate Sue Brannan Walker about her work and Negative Capability Press.

Kenny Brown	05-02-2010	MP3	This week Deborah Boykin interviews bluesman Kenny Brown, who recently appeared at the Chicken and Egg Festival in Moulton. Brown talks about R. L. Burnside and the other musicians who were his influences. He also discusses his North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic. The event pays tribute to Brown's musical roots by presenting most of the performers currently playing in the distinctive hill country blues style he learned as a child.

Guadalupe Lanning Robinson	04-25-2010	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke talks with Guadalupe Lanning Robinson, Huntsville ceramic artist and recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship in Craft from ASCA. Robinson, native of Mexico City, has brought her cultural traditions into her contemporary work. She discusses ways in which she markets her pottery as well as the important role of the Alabama Clay Conference to potters of the region. She provides information about art activity in Huntsville, particularly studio spaces of Lowe Mill, a recently developed center which helps create an artist community in the area.

Author, John Sledge	04-18-2010	MP3	In this week's program, Joey Brackner interviews Mobile preservationist, historian, book reviewer and author John Sledge about his career and his latest book The Pillared City available from the University of Georgia Press.

Kevin Nutt, Archive of Alabama Folk Culture	04-11-2010	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews archivist Kevin Nutt about his work at the Archive of Alabama Folk Culture located in the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery. During the program Nutt shares samples of traditional music selected from the archive including old-string band music, a capella gospel and Sacred Harp singing.

Poet Mary Kaiser	04-04-2010	MP3	In this interview, executive director Jeanie Thompson of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, talks with Mary Kaiser, one of two recipients of a fellowship from the Alabama State Council of the Arts and a featured poet at the 5th Alabama Book Festival, April 17 in Montgomery, Ala. Kaiser, a faculty member at Jefferson State Community College, talks about the genesis of her chapbook, Falling into Velazquez, which won the 2006 Slapering Hol Chapbook Award from the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center.

Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum	03-28-2010	MP3	Randy Shoults, program manager for literature at ASCA, talks with Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum and producer of two events for the 5th Annual Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery, Alabama on April 17 in Old Alabama Town. Thompson produces the Festival’s Poetry Tent and directs the Teacher Workshops associated with the Book Festival. Thompson tells about the range of poets highlighting generations of writers in the state, from up and coming young poets through the state’s poet laureate, and reads selections of poets’ works. For a complete list of poets and other authors at the Alabama Book Festival, go to www.alabamabookfestival.org.

Alabama Music Hall of Fame director David Johnson	03-21-2010	MP3	In this program Joey Brackner interviews Alabama Music Hall of Fame director David Johnson about the 13^th Induction Banquet and Awards Show to be held in the Convention Center in Montgomery, Ala., Thursday, March 25. The inductees and their categories are: Performing artist/group category- The Blind Boys of Alabama and Eddie Levert, (the lead singer of the O’Jays); Music creator- Dothan songwriter/record producer Buddy Buie and Florence session musician Jerry Carrigan; Entertainment industry-Elba native, record producer/musician Paul Hornsby; John Herbert Orr Pioneer Award- The late Muscle Shoals musician Terry Thompson and singer/Colbert-Lauderdale County State Senator Bobby Denton.

Bob McClain, Executive Director of Old Alabama Town and Ashley Gordon, Alabama Book Festival.	03-14-2010	MP3	For this program Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager, interviews Bob McClain, Executive Director of Old Alabama Town and Ashley Gordon about the 5th Annual Alabama Book Festival. The Festival will be held again in downtown Montgomery at Old Alabama Town on April, 17 and will feature over 50 Alabama authors. This event is free and open to the public.

David Boley, Executive Director of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame	03-07-2010	MP3	In this program Deborah Boykin interviews David Boley, Executive Director of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, about the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees and other activities of the Alabama Bluegrass Music Association. He also discusses the state's rich tradition of bluegrass festivals.

Molly Gamble and Fran Pierce of Arts Revive	02-28-2010	MP3	In this program Community Arts Program Manager Randy Shoults interviews Molly Gamble and Fran Pierce about Selma's Arts Revive and the conversion of the Carneal Auto Service building into their organization's arts center.

Marcus Johnson of the Bay City Brass Band	02-21-2010	MP3	Rebroadcast of Anne Kimzey interviewing Marcus Johnson of the Bay City Brass Band of Mobile. They discuss brass band history and music in the Mobile Mardi Gras tradition.

Randy Gachet, Individual Artist Fellowship recipient in sculpture from the Alabama State Council on the Arts	02-14-2010	MP3	This week's program features Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviewing artist Randy Gachet, Individual Artist Fellowship recipient in sculpture from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and art faculty member at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. Gachet discusses themes of his work, much of which is constructed with wire and tire material he picks up along roadways. He talks about the process of teaching art to high school students and directions of contemporary art using non-traditional materials.

Henry Gipson and Lenny Madden of Gip's Juke Joint	02-07-2010	MP3	In this program Joey Brackner interviews Henry Gipson and Lenny Madden of Gip's Juke Joint in Bessemer.

Individual Artist Fellowship Recipient Gary Chapman	01-31-2010	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Gary Chapman, Professor of Art at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Chapman's paintings are in the collections of all of Alabama's Art Museums. He was included in ASCA's 2008 publication "Alabama Masters: Artists and Their Work" and is a two time recipient of the Council's Individual Artist Fellowship. During the program, Chapman discusses his painting and teaching philosophy as well as the use of symbolism in his paintings.

Bullfrog Jumped	01-24-2010	MP3	Rebroadcast of ACTC Director Joey Brackner inteviewing Alabama Folklife Association Director Joyce Cauthen about the new CD release called Bullfrog Jumped, culled from original recordings made in Alabama by Byron Arnold in the late 1940s.

American Gospel Quartet Convention	01-17-2010	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing George Stewart, producer of the American Gospel Quartet Convention. Also included are interviews from the convention in 2005 with veteran gospel singer Roscoe Robinson and Ricky McKinney of the Blind Boys of Alabama. Gospel quartet musical examples are included.

Felecia Jones Executive Director of the Black Belt Community Foundation	01-10-2010	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Felecia Jones, Executive Director of the Black Belt Community Foundation. The Council began working in partnership three years ago with the Black Belt Community Foundation to identify, celebrate and support the arts and culture of the black belt region of Alabama.

Jacky Jack White of the Sucarnochee Revue	01-03-2010	MP3	In honor of musician Jacky Jack White receiving a 2010 Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship award, this program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Jacky Jack White of the Sucarnochee Revue. The Revue, a performance series of southern music is performed at Bibb Graves Auditorium on the campus of the Universityof West Alabama and broadcast throughout the region via radio.

Dr. Henry Glassie	12-27-2009	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing renowned folklorist Henry Glassie in honor of Dr Glassie winning the prestigious Haskins Prize for lifetime achievement. In this program Glassie discusses his life and research of vernacular architecture in the Southern United States, and particularly in Alabama.

Christmas Music from Alabama Musicians	12-20-2009	MP3	This week's program features Christmas songs selected from the Fretted Instruments Christmas CDs. For the past six years Herb Trotman, Wayne Anderson, and numerous Alabama musicians have put together CDs of Christmas music which are distributed each year at Fretted Instruments, Trotman's music store in Homewood. The project involves what Herb calls "the Large and Amorphous Group", made up of area bands and musicians who record Christmas music especially for each year's CD.

Birmingham musician Herb Trotman	12-13-2009	MP3	This week Deborah Boykin interviews Birmingham musician Herb Trotman, who talks about banjo playing and tells stories from three decades of performing old time and bluegrass music in Alabama.

Joe Watts and Colette Boehm	12-06-2009	MP3	In this program Joey Brackner interviews Joe Watts of the Alabama Scenic Byways Program and Colette Boehm of Alabama's Coastal Connection. Alabama's Coastal Connection has just been named a national byway by the National Scenic Byways Program.

Charlie Lucas and Chip Cooper	11-29-2009	MP3	For this week's program Joey Brackner interviews Charlie Lucas and Chip Cooper about the new book Tinman published by the University of Alabama Press. Tinman features a narrative by Charlie Lucas, edited by Ben Windham, and beautiful photography of Lucas' work by Chip Cooper.

Ernestine Hill Robinson Director of the Plantation Heirs	11-22-2009	MP3	Steve Grauberger interviews Auburn native Ernestine Hill Robinson about her life as a singer and the director of the a cappella Negro spiritual singing group, The Plantation Heirs. Musical examples are included in the program.

Susan Perry of the Alabama Humanities and Folklife Researcher Fred Fussell	11-15-2009	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Susan Perry of the Alabama Humanities Foundation and researcher Fred Fussell about the exhibit New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.

Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio	11-08-2009	MP3	Deborah Boykin interviews Andrew Freear, director of The Rural Studio, a project of Auburn University's School of Architecture. He discusses how this community-based program enables students to learn through projects that ultimately provide affordable homes and public spaces in rural West Alabama.

Ezra "Buddy" Knight	11-01-2009	MP3	Steve Grauberger interviews gospel songwriter and music teacher Ezra "Buddy" Knight about his career as a singing school and piano teacher, gospel songwriter, editor and distributor for the Stamp/Baxter Music Company, a major publisher of shapenote convention songbooks.

Ralph "Buddy" Palmer, President and CEO of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham	10-25-2009	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Buddy Palmer, President and CEO of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.

Bobby Horton	10-18-2009	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Alabama's curator of historic song - Bobby Horton. Best known for his CDs of Civil War era music and membership in the popular band Three On a String, Mr. Horton also discusses his family's musical heritage and his work composing songs for numerous Ken Burns' documentary films. Bobby Horton was a recipient of a 2005 Governor's Arts Award.

Dr. Thomas Bice State Deputy Superintendent of Education	10-11-2009	MP3	For this week’s program, Diana Green interviews our Deputy State Superintendent of Education Instructional Services, Dr. Thomas Bice. Dr. Bice talks about the need for school reform and how the arts may play a role. Evident in the discussion is Dr. Bice’s passion for reaching all of Alabama’s students by asking adults to start thinking outside the box. His premise: “Adults can fix this problem!”

Curt Long and Meaghan Heinrich of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra	10-04-2009	MP3	For this week's program Joey Brackner interviews Curtis Long, Executive Director and Meaghan Heinrich, Education Manager of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

Author Rick Bragg	9-27-2009	MP3	Council Executive Director Al Head interviews renowned Alabama author Rick Bragg about his upbringing in Alabama and his writing career. They discuss Bragg's books, All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, The Prince of Frogtown, and his yet unnamed, upcoming novel of essays built around stories of mill workers at the now defunct Union Yarn Mill in Jacksonville Alabama.

Richard Metzger, Executive Director of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Complex	9-20-2009	MP3	Georgine Clarke, Visual Arts Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Richard Metzger, Executive Director of the Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Complex in Troy, Alabama. He explains how the exhibition space was created in a historic Post Office and describes the programs. The discussion features the current exhibition "Celebrating Contemporary Art in Alabama: The Importance of Being Southern." This presentation includes works by forty-one artists who have received Individual Artist Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Works range from photography, painting, sculpture and printmaking to hot glass, ironwork, ceramics and quilts. The exhibition marks the first time such an exhibition has been mounted in Alabama.

James Alex Taylor and Barry Taylor, Birmingham Sunlights	9-13-2009	MP3	In this program Steve Grauberger interviews James Alex Taylor and Barry Taylor, two of the five members of the gospel a cappella group the Birmingham Sunlights. This September 22nd the Birmingham Sunlights will receive a National Heritage Fellowship for master folk and traditional artists in a ceremony in Washington D. C. from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). On the 24th of September they will preform at the 2009 NEA National Heritage Fellowships Concert. In this interview James and Barry describe the history of their group, its members and the travels they have experienced singing and representing Alabama in Africa, France, Italy and the United States. Musical examples of their singing are presented as well.

Kelly Barsdate, Chief Program and Planning Officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies	9-06-2009	MP3	In this program Barbara Edwards interviews Kelly Barsdate. Ms. Barsdate is the Chief Program and Planning Officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in Washingon, DC. She was a presenter at the Council’s 2009 Bill Bates Leadership Institute and discusses some of the topics she advanced at the Institute concerning Arts Participation.

Robert Stewart, Director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation	8-30-2009	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Robert Stewart, Director of the Alabama Humanities Foundation, about the AHF mission and their programs including SUPER, the speakers bureau and grants to organizations.

David Davis of the Warrior River Boys	8-23-2009	MP3	Bluegrass musician David Davis talks with Deborah Boykin about his musical influences, including shapenote singing, Charlie Louvin, and his uncle, Cleo Davis, one of Bill Monroe's original Bluegrass Boys. He also discusses his experiences as leader of the Warrior River Boys, one of Alabama's most prominent bluegrass bands. The program includes music from their latest CD, Two Dimes and a Nickle.

Wanda Robertson	8-16-2009	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews quilter Wanda Robertson of Florence about teaching quilt making in the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. Two of her students also discuss their experiences during the program.

Bill Ivey	8-09-2009	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviewing Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. Subjects discussed are Ivey's background as past head of the National Endowment for the Arts, his involvement with the Curb Center and issues concerning Ivey's book published last year, arts, inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.

Theodore Arthur, Jr.	8-02-2009	MP3	This week Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews jazz and blues musician and bandleader Theodore Arthur, Jr., of Mobile about his music career and his recent tour of Europe and the Middle East. Several of his music students join him during the program.

George Devours	7-26-2009	MP3	George Devours, musician and promoter talks with Deborah Boykin about the Blackwater Bluegrass Festival and his experiences in bluegrass music, including the Brushy Creek festivals of the 1970's and his friendship with bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs.

Foster Dixon	7-19-2009	MP3	Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green interviews Foster Dixon, creative writing instructor at Booker T. Washington Magnet High School in Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Dixon was named a 2009 Surdna Foundation Arts Teaching Fellow. During this interview he explains his proposed project for which he won the fellowship.

Martha Pullen	7-12-2009	MP3	Heirloom sewing is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey interviews Martha Pullen of Huntsville, an internationally-known sewing teacher, author, publisher and host of public television’s popular show Martha’s Sewing Room.

Kathryn Tucker Windham	7-05-2009	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Kathryn Tucker Windham at her home in Selma about homecomings, unique graveyards and unusual grave stones.

Sebastian Matthews	6-30-2009	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews poet and editor Sebastian Matthews, who appeared at the April 18 Alabama Book Festival. Matthews is the author of the poetry collection We Generous (Red Hen Press) and a memoir about his poet father, the late William Matthews, In My Father’s Footsteps. He co-edited, with Stanley Plumly, Search Party: Collected Poems of William Matthews. Matthews teaches at Warren Wilson College and serves on the faculty at Queens College Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing. His poetry and prose has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, and on The Writer’s Almanac, among others. Matthews co-edits Rivendell, a place-based literary journal, and serves as poetry consultant for Ecotone: Re-Imagining Place.

Blue Note Five	6-23-2009	MP3	Steve Grauberger interviews Eric Newby, Thomas Kelly, Gerald Johnson, Charles Draper and Willie Jordan of the Huntsville Police Department's Blue Note Five a cappella quartet (quintet) group. Selections from their CD are included.

Fred Kuwornu Filmmaker	6-16-2009	MP3	The Alabama State Council on the Arts sponsored a cultural exchange program with the City of Pietrasanta, Italy April 16-May 2. Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Fred Kuwornu, an Italian filmmaker. Mr. Kuwornu wrote and directed a historical documentary entitled "Inside Buffalo." This documentary uncovers the historical and human events of the 92nd Division of the American Army, nicknamed Buffalo Soldiers. During the cultural exchange this documentary had its premiere screening at the Capri Theatre in Montgomery.

New Dance Drama, from Pietrasanta, Italy	6-09-2009	MP3	As part of the Council’s International Exchange in April 2009, Diana Green interviews members of the New Dance Drama, from Pietrasanta, Italy. This Graham based modern dance company, with artistic director Adria Ferrali, spent three weeks in residency, rehearsing at the Montgomery Ballet studios, teaching and performing at Alabama State University, and performing as part of the sculpture Festival in Sylacauga. Adria Ferrali is joined in the interview by her dancers Thomas Johansen, Angelica Stella, and Sabrina Davini.

Bruce Walker and Joseph Trimble of the Alabama Storytelling Association.	6-02-2009	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture director Joey Brackner interviews Bruce Walker and Joseph Trimble of the Alabama Storytelling Association.

Betsy Irwin and Jay McGirt	5-26-2009	MP3	Alabama Center for Traditional Culture director Joey Brackner interviews Betsy Irwin of Moundville Archaeological Park and Creek Indian weaver Jay McGirt about Indian art and the creation of new exhibits for the Moundville Museum.

Terry Norris	5-19-2009	MP3	In this program Community Arts Program Manager Randy Shoults interviews Terry Norris, founding President of the Grove Hill Arts Council (GHAC). They discuss the various programs, events and town mural project sponsored by the GHAC.

2009 Alabama Folk Heritage Award Winner the late Willie King	5-12-2009	MP3	To honor the late Willie King as the 2009 Alabama Folk Heritage Award winner this program is a rebroadcast of Rebecca Ryals interviewing Willie King at the 2003 Freedom Creek Blues Festival in Old Memphis near Aliceville, includes musical examples.

Arts Award winner Beth Nielson Chapman	5-05-2009	MP3	2009 Distinguished Artist Award winner Beth Nielsen Chapman is interviewed by Arts Council Executive Director Al Head about her life as a popular singer/songwriter and as an educator. They also discuss Chapman's inspirations and her unique process of songwriting.

Scooter Muse	4-28-2009	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Scooter Muse, the virtuoso banjo and guitar player from Florence, Alabama. Muse discusses his musical development and his continuing fascination with Celtic music.

Pietrasanta	4-21-2009	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Valentina Fogher, Collaborator of Cultural Activities for the City of Pietrasanta, Italy, about the Cultural Exchange Exchange between the State of Alabama and Italy. The program began in the summer of 2008 when Alabama took artists, musicians, exhibitions, film, and literature to Pietrasanta. From April 16-May 2, 2009, Italian artists, dancers, musicians, and film will be in Alabama. The focus of activities will be in Montgomery, with additional programs in Birmingham and Sylacauga. The City of Montgomery will sign a Sister City agreement with Pietrasanta. The theme of the Exchange this year is Michelangelo and His Heirs.

Jim Murphy	4-14-2009	MP3	Poet Jim Murphy is interviewed by Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers' Forum. Murphy is the author of Heaven Overland, published this year by Kennesaw State University Press. He is associate professor of English at the University of Montevallo, and his poems have appeared in The Southern Review, Southern Humanities Review, Brooklyn Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Cimarron Review, Fine Madness, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, and in other journals, as well as in The Memphis Sun (Kent State University Press, 2000). He serves as Director of the Montevallo Literary Festival, held on campus each spring, and as an editor in poetry for Red Mountain Review, a Birmingham-based literary journal.

Author Mary Ward Brown	4-07-2009	MP3	Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager, travels to Selma to attend the public library's 'Lunch at the Library' program series and record their guest writer, Mary Ward Brown as she discusses her just published memoir, Fanning the Spark. After Ms. Ward’s presentation, long time friend and Instructor of English at University of North Alabama, Pam Kingsbury conducts a short interview.

Old-Time Banjo Champion Robert Montgomery	3-31-2009	MP3	Alabama native and National Old-Time Banjo Champion Robert Montgomery talks with Deborah Boykin about his musical influences and the upcoming Chicken and Egg Festival in Moulton on April 18-19, 2009. In the program he demonstrates old-time banjo styles and discusses his recordings.

Cassie Allen and Emily Creel, Christian Harmony Singing School	3-17-2009	MP3 History of 1958 edition by Cassie Allen	Steve Grauberger visits County Line Church in Corner Alabama to interview Cassie Allen and Emily Creel about their Christian Harmony singing school and next day singing held February 7th and 8th, 2009. Discussed in this program is the history of the 1958 Alabama edition of William Walker's Christian Harmony and the necessity of holding singing schools to teach shape-note singing. Also included in the program are songs recorded during this year's event.

Paddy Bowman, Director, Local Learning. The National Network for Folk Arts in Education	3-10-2009	MP3	Deborah Boykin interviews folklorist Paddy Bowman, Director, for Local Learning. The National Network for Folk Arts in Education about her recent workshop for Alabama educators at the statewide Arts Education Summit. Bowman, who moved to north Alabama as a teenager, uses this experience to explain the importance of community and culture in the classroom.

24th annual Alabama Clay Conference	3-03-2009	MP3	In honor of the 24th annual Alabama Clay Conference sponsored by the Alabama Craft Council and planned for Huntsville March 13-15, Georgine Clarke interviews Chris Greenman and Steve Loucks. Greenman is on the art faculty of Alabama State University and Loucks teaches at Jacksonville State University. Both are art professors as well as professional craft artists working in clay. The discussion covers the process of producing ceramic pieces, marketing, and the importance of the annual conference.

Jerry Brown	2-24-2009	MP3	To help promote the upcoming Jerry Brown Arts Festival , this program is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Jerry Brown about the process of pottery making at his shop in Hamilton Alabama. This year the Jerry Brown Arts Festival is located at the Old WalMart Building at 1500 Military Street South, in Hamilton on March 7-8, 2009.

Blackbelt Tour CD	2-17-2009	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Cinque Cullar. Mr. Cullar is founder and artistic director for the Tribe of Judah, a youth gospel group of students from Alabama State University and the Montgomery community. Mr. Cullar and Ms. Edwards talk about the newly released Black Belt Gospel Tour CD featuring students from Tuskegee Booker T.Washington School, Greensboro East School, Selma School, Francis Marion School and Judson College Voices of Praise.

Kathleen Driskell	2-10-2009	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews poet and teacher Kathleen Driskell, author of Seed Across Snow and Laughing Sickness. Driskell’s poems have appeared in leading literary journals and she teaches in the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY. Driskell will be in Alabama April 17-18, 2009, to participate in an Alabama School Teacher Workshop on Friday and the Alabama Book Festival Poetry Tent on Saturday. Driskell reads from Seed Across Snow and talks about her subjects in poems – domestic emergencies, motherhood, and everyday life that resonates with lush language and a deeply held sense of the world’s value. She also discusses teaching creative writing, and the value of the arts in our schools. Thompson interviewed Driskell in the studios of WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky, and extends thanks to the staff for assistance.

Alabama Arts Education Summit 2 ”Speaking with One Voice"	2-03-2009	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of our 2nd program on the Alabama Arts Education Summit 2008 held in Troy, Alabama. This year the Summit will take place, in Troy, Alabama February 18-20, 2009. Our second show focuses on the essential link needed between higher education and K-12 schools. Diana Green, arts in education program manager interviews Professor and arts educator Larry Percy, who hosted the Summit at Troy University last year. Mr. Percy discusses the potential for higher education to take a leading role in providing quality arts education in K-12 schools.

Alabama Arts Education Summit 1 ”Speaking with One Voice"	1-27-2009	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of our program on the Alabama Arts Education Summit 2008. This year the Summit will take place in Troy, Alabama February 18-20, 2009. The theme for this year's statewide conference is ”Speaking with One Voice." In this radio show, performing arts program manager Yvette Daniel interviews the four partners that were instrumental in the planning and implementation of the 2008 Summit: Diana Green, arts in education program manager at the Council, Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, Martha Lockett, executive director of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, and Sara Wright, director of academic innovative initiatives at the Alabama State Department of Education.

Shapenote singing in Alabama	1-20-2009	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Alabama shapenote music and its history, in preparation for this year's Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing that will be held January 31st at the Alabama Department of Archives and History off of Union St between Adams and Washington in Montgomery. The singing will start at 9:30 am and end at 3pm. The public is welcome to come and listen or sing. For more information call 334-242-4076, x-225.

Film maker Robert Clem and Auguster Maul of the Delta Aires Quartet	1-13-2009	MP3	In the first half of the program Joey Brackner interviews Film maker Robert Clem about his new film Gospel way. In the second half Joey interviews Auguster Maul, lead singer for the Delta Aires Quartet.

Dr. Wayne Flynt	1-6-2009	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of ASCA folklorist Joey Brackner interviewing preeminent Alabama historian Dr. Wayne Flynt about his book Alabama in the Twentieth Century. In the interview Dr. Flynt outlines the significant cultural contributions of Alabamians during the late century. Wayne Flynt is the Distinguished University Professor of History at Auburn University.

Henri's Notions	12-30-2008	MP3	Henri's Notion creates a musical mix of traditional Celtic and American music as well as their own compositions that have a rhythm and voice reflective of their Southern heritage, which lends a pleasing familiarity to the music.

Heim Duo	12-23-2008	MP3	Seasonal music from husband and wife duo, Annette and Bret Heim, who combine the flute and classical guitar in an exquisite, intimate experience. Their ability to bring their audience into their performances ensures repeat request and performances. They present compositions by living American and British composers of note in an audience-friendly way. Their performance at the National Czech and Slovak Museum was described as "absolutely astonishing."

Four Eagles a cappella Gospel Quartet	12-16-2008	MP3	A full program of music of The Four Eagles Quartet a capella gospel group is presented from a program originally recorded during the "Sounds of the Seasons" performance series held at the Alabama State Capitol building in 2002.

Dr. Henry Glassie	12-09-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews renowned folklorist Henry Glassie about his life and research of vernacular architecture in the Southern United States, and particularly in Alabama.

Alabama Linguists Tom Nunnally and Catherine Evans Davies	12-02-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews linguists Dr. Thomas Nunnally and Dr. Catherine Davies about the new Tributaries: Journal of the Alabama Foliklife Association Vol X that deals entirely with the dialects of Alabamians and southern speech.

Banjoist Doug Back	11-25-2008	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Doug Back on the history of Classic Banjo. The program includes musical examples from Back's CD releases, The Banjo Goes brow and The Big Trio Reprise on the Belmando label.

Ella Joyce	11-18-2008	MP3	Yvette Daniel interviews actress and playwright Ella Joyce about her one woman play A Rose Among Thorns: A Dramatic Tribute to Rosa Parks. Also discussed is Joyce's career on the stage, silver screen and in television.

Jennifer Horne	11-11-2008	MP3	ASCA Literature Fellowship Recipient in Poetry, Jennifer Horne talks with Jeanie Thompson, Executive Director of the Alabama Writers' Forum, about Horne's love of Southern farming and gardening, her work as an anthologist, and her forthcoming poetry collection Bottle Tree (WordTech, 2010). Horne's anthologies include Working the Dirt: An Anthology of Southern Poets, published in 2003 by New South Books, and All Out of Faith: Southern Women Writers on Spirituality, edited with Wendy Reed and published by the University of Alabama Press. Horne holds an MFA from the University of Alabama, has published poems online in StorySouth.com and other literary journals, and is poetry book reviews editor for the Forum's Book Reviews on line.

Kathryn Tucker Windham	10-28-2008	MP3	Betty Ann Lloyd interviews Kathryn Tucker Windham about the John Reese photo exhibit featuring the people of Gees Bend, now on display at Gees Bend Quilt Collective. Kathryn also discusses her time as a newspaper reporter and amateur photographer.

Jannetta Whitt-Mitchell	10-21-2008	MP3	Randy Shoults interviews Jannetta Whitt-Mitchell about various aspects of the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival that takes place during the first weekend in August each year in Mobile.

Beth Nielsen Chapman	10-14-2008	MP3	Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Beth Nielsen Chapman about her life as a popular singer/songwriter and as an educator. They also discuss Chapman's inspirations and her unique process of songwriting.

George Culver	10-07-2008	MP3	Yvette Daniel, Performing Arts Program Manager interviews George Culver the Executive Director of the Historic Ritz Theatre of Talladega, Alabama. On October 31st and November 1st 2008. the Ritz will be hosting Hal Holbrook in MARK TWAIN TONIGHT. These performances are billed as among the final few of this historic production's run. Culver also discusses educational programs connected to Ritz Theatre presentations and the interesting history of this historic theater in Talladega.

National Heritage Fellow Bettye Kimbrell	09-30-2008	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jefferson County quilter Bettye Kimbrell about her work with 4-H Club students and their quilt exhibit at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Kimbrell is a 2008 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibition The Quilts of Bettye Kimbrell: Celebrating the National Heritage Fellowship is on display at the Alabama Artists' Gallery in the RSA Tower, 201 Monroe Street, Montgomery from September 19 - October 31, 2008. A reception honoring Mrs. Kimbrell is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7, 2008, from 4-6 p.m.

Robert J. (Jeff) Jakeman, Clair Wilson and Ben Berntson	09-23-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews editors Jeff Jakeman, Claire Wilson and Ben Berntson about the new online Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Yvonne Wells	09-16-2008	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Tuscaloosa quilt artist Yvonne Wells, whose quilts are known as story or picture quilts. Her hand-stitched fabric constructions use rich symbolism and vivid colors, with themes ranging from religion to social and political issues. She also frequently produces whimsical and humorous pieces. Of particular note are her portrayals of the Civil Rights movement, with quilts depicting the history of slavery as well as icons Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. She has represented the State of Alabama in international cultural programs in France and Italy. In the interview, Yvonne talks about her choice of materials and also discusses two projects: twelve quilts she describes as "a book" titled On the Move and a group depicting the Seven Deadly Sins.

Bill Ivey	09-09-2008	MP3	Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University. Subjects discussed are Ivey's background as past head of the National Endowment for the Arts, his involvement with the Curb Center and issues concerning Ivey's recently published book, arts, inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.

Dekalb Fiddling Convention, Eric McKinney and Russell Gulley	09-02-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Eric McKinney and Russell Gulley about the Annual Dekalb Fiddling Convention held in Ft Payne.

Birmingham Rhapsody Project	08-26-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Sally Smith and Jamie Lawrence of Alabama Contemporary Theater. They discuss "Birmingham Rhapsody" a play being developed from oral histories that the theater has been collecting about Birmingham's Civil Rights era.

Photographer Stephen Savage	08-19-2008	MP3	Georgine Clarke interviews Alabama artist Stephen Savage of Daphne. Savage received the 2002 Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship in photography in 2002. He teaches and also produces both commercial and fine art photography. The discussion covers elements of the art form and the uses of digital photography as well as current approaches to teaching. Savage describes the Alabama Photo Book project which he is producing with print maker and art book designer Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. In this project participating Alabama photographers provide a photograph which is used with limited text to produce a simple eight page book.

Gene Ivey	08-12-2008	MP3	Sand Mountain fiddler Gene Ivey is the subject of this week’s program on Alabama Arts Radio. Folklorist Anne Kimzey talks to Mr. Ivey and his apprentice Joseph Coleman about playing music and making handcrafted fiddles at Ivey’s workshop in Ider.

Dr. Billie Jean Young	08-05-2008	MP3	This show is a repeat of an earlier broadcast in acknowledgment of playwright and educator Billie Jean Young as a recipient of the 2008 Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship in the area of theater. Fellowships are the most prestigious of grants awarded to individuals by the Council. In this program, Steve Grauberger interviews actor and playwright Dr. Billie Jean Young, in Yantley Alabama, about her play Oh Mary Don't you Weep: The Margaret Ann Knott Legacy. Also interviewed is Choctaw, County educator and civil rights activist Carrie Mae Johnson.

Folk School at Camp McDowell	07-29-2008	MP3	In this program, Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, travels to the Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell near Jasper. She talks with Folk School director Megan Huston and potter Sandra Heaven about pottery making and other craft and music classes offered in this natural retreat setting.

Kevin Nutt	07-22-2008	MP3	Rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Kevin Nutt, of CaseQuarter Records talking about his research on early blues recording artist Ed Bell from Greenville, Alabama. His Tributaries article on the subject can be obtained at Alabamafolklife.org Kevin can be heard weekly, online, at WFMU with his radio program Sinners Crossroads.

Sacred Harp Book Company (Cooper revision)	07-15-2008	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Steve Grauberger interviewing Stanley Smith, John Etheridge, and Bill Aplin, elected officers of the Sacred Harp Book Company (Cooper revision), includes Sacred Harp singing examples.

VSA Arts of Alabama Arts in Heathcare Program	07-08-2008	MP3	Meagan Vucovich, summer intern for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Patti Hendrix Lovoy, director of VSA Arts of Alabama, along with Ali DeCamillis, art therapist, Dr. Rodney Tucker, director of the UAB Palliative Care Unit, Dr. Avi Madan-Swain, a Pediatric Psychologist/Neuropsychologist at UAB. The discussion focuses on VSA Arts of Alabama’s Arts in Healthcare program.

Your Town Alabama Workshop	07-01-2008	MP3	This is a repeat of Gina Clifford, director of Design Alabama, interviewing Cheryl Morgan, Professor at Auburn University and Director of the Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, about Your Town Alabama Workshop. Your Town Workshop is an intensive two-and-half day event that includes: lectures, case-study presentations, and interactive group problem solving scenarios involving community planning and design work in a hypothetical small town.

Bobby Horton	06-24-2008	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of Joey Brackner interviewing Alabama's curator of historic song - Bobby Horton. Best known for his CDs of Civil War era music and membership in the popular band Three On a String, Mr. Horton also discusses his family's musical heritage and his work composing songs for numerous Ken Burns' documentary films. Bobby Horton was a recipient of a 2005 Governor's Arts Award.

Thomas Hylton, Save Our Land Save Our Towns	06-17-2008	MP3	DesignAlabama was honored to have Thomas Hylton, of Save Our Land, Save Our Towns as a speaker at their 2008 DesignAlabama Mayors Design Summit. As a former newspaper, man, this Pennsylvania native and resident has turned a passion for a walkable world into a successful non-profit organization promoting walkable communities, downtown redevelopment and historic preservation. Join us during this radio program as we learn more about what individuals and communities can do to save our land and save our towns.

Mark Gooch	06-10-2008	MP3	Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Birmingham photographer Mark Gooch about his career and his recent project documenting Alabama folk artists for the exhibition Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. (click here for PDF)

Poet Jake Adam York	06-03-2008	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers' Forum, interviews poet and Gadsden, Alabama native Jake Adam York, whose collection A Murmuration of Starlings was recently published by Southern Illinois University Press. The book won the Crab Orchard Review Open Poetry Competition in 2007. Thompson talks with York about the elegies for slain civil rights workers and other individuals, including Emmit Till who was killed in Money, Mississippi, that comprise the collection. York's previous book, Murder Ballads, contains the first of these elegies, and he plans to continue the sequence through several more poetry collections. He teaches at the University of Colorado in Denver where he directs the undergraduate creative writing program.

National Heritage Fellowship Recipient Bettye Kimbrell	05-27-2008	MP3	In this program Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Jefferson County quilter Bettye Kimbrell about her work with 4-H Club students and their quilt exhibit at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Kimbrell is a 2008 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Kate Gale and Richard Goodman	05-20-2008	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews two writers who participated in the 3rd Annual Alabama Book Festival on April 19. Kate Gale, founding editor of Red Hen Press of Los Angeles, California, and Richard Goodman, author of French Dirt and The Soul of Creative Writing, also taught writing techniques and discussed publishing on April 18 at the inaugural creative writing workshop open to the general public as part of the Festival outreach. Dr. Gale is a poet (Fishers of Men, Selling the Hammock, Mating Season) novelist, and librettist. She maintains a busy teaching schedule in the Los Angeles area, manages Red Hen Press – one of the top selling poetry/prose independent presses in California – and pursues her own writing. Mr. Goodman teaches in the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY. He lives in New York, NY. Dr. Gale read in the poetry venue, dubbed Poetry SouthWest, for the cross fertilization of Southern and Western writers. Richard Goodman read from his two books and discussed writing with festival-goers.

Michael Vigilant and Elyzabeth Wilder	05-13-2008	MP3	Yvette Daniel interviews Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Chief Operating Officer Michael Vigilant about upcoming events and his new play Bear Country. Also on this program is an interview with Elyzabeth Wilder about her new play Furniture of Home. Both plays were developed through the Southern Writers Project at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Mary and Bill Smith, basket makers	05-06-2008	MP3	Deborah Boykin interviews basket makers Mary and Bill Smith about their participation in the Folk Arts Apprenticeship program, their work with local Alabama craftsmen, and their observations about the basket making process.

Alabama Arts Education Summit part 3	04-29-2008	MP3	Part III of our Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. Focusing on the essential link of communities and K-12 schools, Diana Green interview Dr. Lisa Stamps, principal at Gordo Elementary in Pickens County, about the partnerships she has developed to enhance the arts in her school, and how the Summit supported her efforts.

Alabama Arts Education Summit part 2	04-22-2008	MP3	Part II of the our Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. Focusing on the essential link needed between higher education and K-12 schools, Diana Green, arts in education program manager interviews Professor and arts educator Larry Percy, who hosted the Summit at Troy University in Troy Alabama. Mr. Percy discusses the potential for higher education to take a leading role in providing quality arts education in K-12 schools.

Alabama Arts Education Summit part 1	04-15-2008	MP3	Part I of our Series on the Alabama Arts Education Summit held in Troy, Alabama February 21-23, 2008. The theme for this statewide conference was “Creating partnerships to ensure quality arts education in Alabama.” As an introduction to this series, performing arts program manager Yvette Daniel interviews the four partners that were instrumental in the planning and implementation of the Summit: Diana Green, arts in education program manager at the Council, Donna Russell, executive director of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education, Martha Lockett, executive director of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, and Sara Wright, director of academic innovative initiatives at the Alabama State Department of Education.

Rheta Grimsley and Ace Adkins	04-08-2008	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews Ace Atkins and Rheta Grimsley Johnson, two authors who will be joining 70 others at the 3^rd Annual Alabama Book Festival, April 19 in Montgomery’ Old Alabama Town from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Rheta Grimsley Johnson’s latest book Poor Man’s Provence, chronicles her home away from home in Cajun Louisiana. Grimsley, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, is an award-winning reporter and columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and has earned numerous awards for her writing, including the National Headliner Award for commentary in and Scripps Howard's Ernie Pyle Memorial Award. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and is also author of Good Grief, the authorized biography of Charles Schulz. Currently she writes a syndicated column for Kings Features Syndicate. Ace Atkins, a native of Troy, Alabama, is the author of critically acclaimed Nick Travers crime novels, including Crossroad Blues, Leavin’ Trunk Blues, Dark End of the Street, Dirty South, and White Shadow. Atkins talks with Thompson about his new novel Wicked City, a fictionalized account of Phenix City, Alabama in the 1950s.

Dan Halcomb	04-01-2008	MP3	This weeks program features Georgine Clarke interviewing Dan Halcomb, Deputy Director of the Huntsville Arts Council. Subjects discussed deal with issues of Huntsville area arts organizations, educational programs and various attributes of this year's Panoply Festival, to be held April 25th the 27th, 2008.

Author Kirk Curnutt	03-25-2008	MP3	Jeanie Thompson, executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, interviews Montgomery author Kirk Curnutt. Curnutt is a 2007 Literature Fellowship recipient from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. His novel called Breathing Out the Ghost has just been released from River City Publishing in Montgomery. Kirk Curnutt is the author of several scholarly works, most recently The Cambridge Introduction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Coffee with Hemingway (an entry in Duncan Baird Publishers’ series of imaginary conversations with leading historical figures). He is also the author of a collection of short stories, Baby, Let’s Make a Baby, also from River City Publishing. He is a former finalist for both the Tennessee Book Award/Peter Taylor Prize and the Dana Literary Awards. Curnutt is a three-time consecutive winner of the Hackney Literary Award for short stories. Thompson speaks with him about the craft of writing, shaping the structure of a novel, and the relationship of an author’s mythic landscape to his work.

Anne Kimzey	03-18-2008	MP3	This week, Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Anne Kimzey, folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts. They discuss the state’s master artists whose craft and music traditions are featured in an exhibit titled Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Vassie Welbeck-Browne and Malik Browne	03-11-2008	MP3	Diana F. Green, arts in education program manager, visits with Vassie Welbeck-Browne and Malik Browne, after a performance of Langston Hughes: Emperor of the Muse, which was held for students at Demopolis School on Friday, February 28^th. Vassie & Malik are teaching artists from StoryTree Company, participating with the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, as part of a Dana Foundation project. This project trains artists in the Black Belt region to partner with local schools to implement arts integration programs. Vassie and Malik work primarily in Greene County, where they have developed an anti-violence/conflict resolution drama program for high school students.

Sena Jeter Naslund	03-04-2008	MP3	This is a rebroadcast of executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Forum Jeanie Thompson interviewing Sena Jeter Naslund, 2000 Harper Lee Award Winner, Hall-Waters Award Winner and recent participant in last year's 2nd Annual Alabama Book Festival. Sena Jeter Naslund is the author of five novels, Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette , Four Spirits, Ahab's Wife; Or, the Star-Gazer, Sherlock in Love, and The Animal Way to Love, also two short story collections, The Disobedience of Water and Ice Skating at the North Pole. Naslund founded and directs the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program in Louisville, KY and is Writer in Residence at the University of Louisville. She is currently the Kentucky Poet Laureate.

Sudha Raghuram	02-26-2008	MP3	This is a rebroadcast Anne Kimzey, Folklife Specialist for the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviewing Sudha Raghuram a dancer in the Indian classical tradition of Bharatanatyam (Bah-rah-tah Nah-tee-yahm). She is a master artist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts' folk arts apprenticeship program. In the interview, Sudha describes this ancient dance form and tells about teaching it here in Alabama.

David Johnson, director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame	02-19-2008	MP3	In this week's program, Joey Brackner interviews David Johnson, director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, about the 2008 Induction Banquet and Awards Show presented February 22nd at the new Marriott Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery. Johnson discusses this year's award recipients and the talent to perform during the event. Musical examples are included.

Tommy McPherson Director of the Mobile Museum of Art	02-12-2008	MP3	In this program, Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Mobile Museum of Art director Tommy McPherson. McPherson discusses the various collections and educational programs his museum has to offer the public. Also discussed are future exhibits and the museum's connection to the immediate community of contemporary artists in the Gulf Coast area.

Playwright Dr. Billie Jean Young and educator Carrie Mae Johnson	02-05-2008	MP3	In this program, highlighting Black History Month, Steve Grauberger interviews actor and playwright Dr. Billie Jean Young, in Yantley Alabama, about her play Oh Mary Don't you Weep: The Margaret Ann Knott Legacy. Also interviewed is Choctaw, County educator and civil rights activist Carrie Mae Johnson.

Ceramic artists Larry Percy and Scott Bennett	01-29-2008	MP3	To help promote the 23rd Alabama Clay Conference, to be held this year at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on February 8-10, this program is a rebroadcast of Georgine Clarke interviewing two Alabama ceramic artists who taught at the 21st Alabama Clay Conference. Larry Percy is on the Art faculty at Troy University. His work has been inspired by the time he has spent in the Southwest, particularly New Mexico. He talks about that influence of the land in his sculptural, vessel forms. He also discusses his ways of teaching at a college level. Scott Bennett owns Red Dot Gallery in Birmingham, where he produces his work and also teaches classes. As a relatively new Alabama resident, Scott talks about the strong clay community of artists in the state and also describes approaches to his own work.

11th Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing	01-22-2008	MP3	This program is a rebroadcast of Alabama shapenote music and its history in preparation for this year's Annual Capitol Rotunda Four-Book Shapenote Singing that will be held on Saturday, February 2nd. Due to a scheduling conflict, the singing will not be in the Capitol Rotunda but at the Alabama Department of Archives and History off of Union St between Adams and Washington in Montgomery. The singing will start at 9:30 am and end at 3Pm. The public is welcome to come and listen or sing. Afterwards, at 3pm, there will be reception for the exhibition "Carry On: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Alabama Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program" at the Alabama Artists Gallery located on the first floor of the RSA Tower at 201 Monroe Street. For more information call 334-242-4076, x-225.

Piddler's Storytelling Festival	01-15-2008	MP3	In this program Joey Brackner interviews storyteller Donald Davis and the Brundidge Historical Society's Johnny Steed about this year's Piddler's Storytellin' Festival that will feature Sheila Kay Adams, Kathryn Tucker Windham, Donald Davis and Andy Offutt Irwin. Included in the program are stories told by Donald Davis, Kathryn Tucker Windham and Andy Irwin.

Johnny Shines 1991 Radiovisions	01-08-2008	MP3 Original Program MP3	This program is a broadcast of a 1991 Radiovisions series that features bluesman Johhy Shines. Radiovisions is a production of Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama. The Radiovisions series of programs were initially released as audio cassettes. This particular program is a brief biography of the late Johnny Shines and his music.

DeKalb County Veterans Oral History Project	01-01-2008	MP3	Joey Brackner interviews Robert Moehr, Julia Brown and Jordan Phillips about documenting the personal narratives of WWII Veterans in DeKalb County, Alabama.

Sounds of the Christmas Season 2007	12-25-2007	MP3	This program features Christmas Holiday music of the Mariachi Garibaldi storytelling of Kathryn Tucker Windham and the music of The Tribe of Judah, Bobby Horton and soprano Bessie Hunter-Shelton.

Hannah Leatherbury	12-18-2007	MP3	Randy Shoults, Community Arts and Literature Program Manager for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Hannah Leatherbury, E-Services Manager for the Southern Arts Federation. Ms Leatherbury talks about the Southern Artistry program and other programs and projects offered by Southern Arts Federation to assist artist and arts organizations in the South.

Rosemary Johnson, Executive Director of the Alabama Dance Council	12-11-2007	MP3	Arts in Education Program Manager, Diana Green, interviews Rosemary Johnson, executive Director of the Alabama Dance Council, about the Alabama Dance Festival which takes place over President’s weekend each January in Birmingham. This January, the Festival includes tracks for many age groups, a new community program entitled “Dance Across Birmingham” and performances by Bridgeman Packer Dance.

Cinque Cullar, Tribe of Judah	12-4-2007	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director, interviews Cinque Cullar, Artistic Director for the Tribe of Judah. As a part of the Black Belt Arts Initiative, the Council sponsored a contemporary Gospel tour featuring the Tribe of Judah in Selma and Union Springs. The tour included an education component and a public performance. During this interview, Mr. Cullar offers his definition of Gospel music, talks about his work with the Tribe of Judah, and comments on the Black Belt Gospel Tour.

Winky Hicks, Musician and Instrument Maker	11-27-2007	MP3	In this program Steve Grauberger interviews musician and instrument maker Winky Hicks from Grove Hill, Alabama. Mr. Hicks received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts to teach the art of bluegrass banjo to interested students. He discusses his method of teaching and performs a few musical examples on his banjo. Hicks also describes his craft of mandolin, guitar and banjo construction.

Cathey Hendricks, Brenda Lindsey, Deborah Clark, and Grace Quantock	11-20-2007	MP3	Arts 4 Excellence is a school arts initiative sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. An Arts 4 Excellence school is committed to strong comprehensive arts programs across the curriculum. Arts classes spend equal amounts of time creating, performing and responding to art in order to develop the greatest understanding possible. Every member of the school community uses the arts in some way to enhance their own unique contribution to the learning community. Three schools in Montgomery County have begun the planning and professional development required for the program. Diana Green interviews Cathey Hendricks, Brenda Lindsey, and Deborah Clark who are principals at Carver Elementary, Vaughn Road Elementary and Brewbaker Intermediate schools, respectively. She also interviews Grace Quantock, a 5th grade teacher at Vaughn Road Elementary.

Congressman Artur Davis	11-13-2007	MP3	Arts Council Executive Director Al Head interviews Representative Artur Davis at Cheaha State Park after Congressman Davis spoke to participants of the annual Bill Bates Leadership Institute. Davis discusses his fondness for reading and writing as well as his interest in community revitalization and the role of the arts in public education.

Woodcraft sculptors Dale Lewis and Bobby Michelson	11-06-2007	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Dale Lewis from Oneonta and Bobby Michelson from Birmingham, two artist fellowship recipients from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Fellowships are given annually for excellence of work and to assist with career development. These professional, full-time artists work with wood and are furniture builders. Discussions range from uses and types of wood to marketing, design, and ways of commissioning work.

Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention, 2 of 2	10-30-2007	MP3	This rebroadcast is the second of two programs that Steve Grauberger interviews participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, piano playing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This and the previous program is to help promote the 77th Annual Convention held November 9th and 10th, 2007 at Trinity Baptist Church in Oxford Alabama. For more information contact Lonnie Hilley at 256-237-5761 or email

Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention, 1 of 2	10-23-2007	MP3	This rebroadcast is the first of two programs of Steve Grauberger interviewing participants of the 2004 Alabama State Gospel Singing Convention about convention history, song writing and publishing, and singing schools. Music examples are also included. This program is to help promote the 77th Annual Convention held November 9th and 10th, 2007 at Trinity Baptist Church in Oxford Alabama. For more information contact Lonnie Hilley at 256-237-5761 or email

Mozell Benson and Sylvia Stephens of Opelika	10-16-2007	MP3	In this program Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews mother and daughter quilters Mozell Benson and Sylvia Stephens of Opelika. They discuss their participation in the State Arts Council’s Folk Arts Apprenticeship program and share family memories of quilting and farm life in Lee County. Mrs. Benson also talks about her experience of being selected by Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction to have a quilt studio designed and built for her by college students. Mozell Benson is a nationally recognized quilter, having received a National Heritage Fellowship in 2001 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Cary McQueen Morrow, Executive Director of the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University	10-09-2007	MP3	Each summer the Council sponsors the Bill Bates Leadership Institute, a retreat for arts professionals in the state. This gathering provides an opportunity for arts professionals to meet and to discuss broad issues and common interests. Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director of the Council, interviews Cary McQueen Morrow, a featured speaker for the 2007 Bill Bates Leadership Institute. Ms. Morrow is the Executive Director of the Center for Arts Management and Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. In the interview, Ms. Morrow shares information on the work of the Center for Arts Management and Technology and discusses trends in software applications and social networking technology.

Claire Robitaille and Christopher McNulty	10-02-2007	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews Claire Robitaille from Magnolia Springs and Christopher McNulty from Auburn, two artist fellowship recipients from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Fellowships are given annually for excellence of work and to assist with career development. Claire is a mixed media sculptor, using fiber techniques, metal and seed beads in her constructions. Christopher is on the faculty at Auburn University and produces drawings as well as wood sculpture. Discussions range from international exhibitions to concepts in creating art to ways of teaching.

Keith Cromwell, Director, Red Mountain Theatre	09-25-2007	MP3	Barbara Edwards, Deputy Director of the Council, interviews Keith Cromwell. Mr. Cromwell is the Executive Director of Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham and the Council’s 2008 Arts Administration Fellowship recipient. In the interview, Mr. Cromwell talks about his career as a professional theatre artist and the impact of the Arts Administration Fellowship on his career and Red Mountain Theatre.

Visual Arts Achievement Awards	09-18-2007	MP3	Visual Arts Program Manager Georgine Clarke interviews six student participants in the Council's annual Visual Arts Achievement Program. The Program provides a statewide exhibition competition in six districts statewide, culminating in an exhibition in the Alabama Artists Gallery in Montgomery. It also provides a portfolio jury review resulting in $500 college scholarships. Students interviewed on the program include three scholarship recipients as well as the best in show winner and the teacher of the year, all from Bob Jones High School in Madison. Also on the program are two scholarship recipients from BTW Magnet High School in Montgomery. The Council considers Arts in Education Projects to be a highest priority.

Amita Bhakta	09-11-2007	MP3	In this program Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews Amita Bhakta a rangoli artist in Florence. An art that comes from India, rangoli are temporary designs drawn in rice flour and other materials to decorate the floors and courtyards of the homes in India. Ms. Bhakta, who is originally from India, received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant from the State Arts Council to teach rangoli to children in the Indian community in Florence as a way of passing on this tradition and connecting them with their cultural heritage.

Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers on Radiovision	09-04-2007	MP3	This program is the broadcast of a 1989 Radiovisions production. It features Charlie Louvin of the legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain. The program includes a narrative history of the Louvins as well as various recordings made by them. Russell Gulley and the Big Wills Arts Council of Ft. Payne Alabama produced the Radiovisions series that were released originally on cassette tape.

Peggy Denniston and Shelia Hagler	08-28-2007	MP3 Stream	This program is a rebroadcast with Diana Green interviewing writer Peggy Denniston and photographer, Shelia Hagler, and two middle school students. Sheila Hagler is the Alabama State Council on the Arts 2007 Fellowship recipient for photography. An incredible photographer in her own right, Sheila partners with Peggy to encourage new photographers in Bayou La Batre, a shrimping community once ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. A selection of student work created after the storm traveled to Chicago as part of a project called Eyes of the Storm – a Katrina Hurricane Relief Effort, and subsequently entered the Photography Hall of Fame in Oklahoma.

William Christenberry 2	08-21-2007	MP3	Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C. This is the second of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life’s work as an artist that includes his acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama, his unique dream house sculptures, the Klan Tableau, and ongoing mixed-media work.

William Christenberry 1	08-14-2007	MP3	Joey Brackner, Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, interviews Alabama native, and renowned artist, William Christenberry at his home in Washington D.C. This is the first of two interviews with Christenberry discussing his life's work as an artist that includes drawing and painting as well as his unique dream house sculptures and acclaimed photographic documentation of rural Alabama.

Steve Miller interview 2	08-07-2007	MP3	In this second program, Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, continues a conversation with professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This is the second of a two-part series where Miller describes hand papermaking and discusses two recent book projects featured in the Southern Arts Federation exhibit conceived through American Masterpieces, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Steve Miller interview 1	07-31-2007	MP3	In this program, Anne Kimzey, Folklorist with the Alabama State Council on the Arts, interviews professor Steve Miller, coordinator of the Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. This radio show is the first in a two-part series, where Miller discusses the art of making books by hand, including letterpress printing and hand papermaking. Hear how the faculty and students of Alabama’s Book Arts Program use ancient technology to produce cutting edge work.