Andrew Nelson

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 the historic Shackelford collection of glass plate negatives housed at the Birmingham Library. 

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Kevin Nutt, of CaseQuarter Records

Kevin Nutt at Alabama Dept of Archives and History

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.

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Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame member Jake Landers

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.”

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Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Executive Director Joey Brackner interviews Joe Wilson

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 his career, he has produced 42 large-scale music festivals in 11 states, 21 national tours by musicians and dancers, nine international tours that visited 33 nations, and 131 LP and CD audio recordings of various forms of folk music. In this interview he recollects living in Alabama in the 1960s and some of the interesting people he met along the way.

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Julius Pryor III

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)

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Priscilla Crommelin Ball, and Adria Ferrali, River Region Ballet School and Youth Company

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)

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Shana Berger and Nathan Purath, Co-Directors of the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Alabama

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)

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Open house project video on Vimeo

Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center Executive Director Morgan Drinkard

Morgan Drinkard

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)

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David Ivey, Sacred Harp singer

David Ivey

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, establishingCamp Fa Sol La, and sacred harp singing as a long-standing tradition in his family.  (more)

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Martha Pullen of Huntsville

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)

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National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Jonathan Katz

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Jonathan Katz

This week Executive Director of the Arts Council, 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. 

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Alabama Bluesman Isaiah "Ike" Zimmerman

Alabama Bluesman Isaiah "Ike" Zimmerman

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.

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Legendary Louvin Brothers of Sand Mountain

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.

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Alabama Blues Project Summer Camp

Alabama Blues Project Summer Camp

This week Summer Upchurch interviews Alabama Blues Project Program Director Cara Lynn Teague and musician Bruce Andrewsabout the Alabama Blues Project's annual summer blues camp.

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Performing Arts/Dance Fellowship RecipientSudha Raghuram

Sudha Raghuram

Sudha Raghuram with a student

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.

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Jessica Peterson proprietor of theSouthern Letterpress

This week on Alabama Arts radio, Visual Arts program Manager Elliot Knight talks with Jessica Peterson. Jessica is the proprietor of theSouthern 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. 

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Chloe Collins, the Executive Director of the Sidewalk Film Festival

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.

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Mark Leputa ASCA Fellowship recipient

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

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Craig Wedderspoon

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.

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ASCA Music Fellowship Recipient Kristi Tingle Higginbotham

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.

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Claire Lynch

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 acollection of letters from a Confederate soldier to his sister in Alabama. (more)

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Mary Allison Haynie, director of the Alabama Folklife Association

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.

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Chantel Acevedo

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)

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http://arts.state.al.us/actc/1/radioimages/chantelacevedo.jpg

Quinton Cockrell

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)

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Bob Sain and Daryn Glassbrook

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)

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Braxton Schuffert, Original Drifting Cowboy

Braxton Schuffert

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.

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Alan and KarenJabbou

Karen Singer Jabbour and Alan Jabbour

Photo by Philip E. Coyle

This week Alabama Center for Traditional Culture Director Joey Brackner interviews Alan and KarenJabbour about their book published in 2010, Decoration Day in the Mountains: Traditions of Cemetery Decorations in the Southern Appalachians.

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Marcus Johnson and the Bay City Brass Band

Marcus Johnson and the Bay City Brass Band

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.

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2013 Southern Makers Event Montgomery Alabama

This week, Visual Arts Program Manager Elliot Knight discusses the Southern Makers event, which will be held Saturday, May 4 from 2-7pm in the Union Station Train shed in downtown Montgomery. 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 Chaninand woodworker Ethan Sawyer, who will both be at the event. 

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Alabama Dance Theatre Artistic Director Kitty Seale

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

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David Ivey and Jeff Sheppard Camp Fasola 2013

 David Ivey and Jeff Sheppard
Camp Fasola

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 Alabama.

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8th annual Alabama Book Festival 2013

2013 Alabama Book Festival

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.

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Artistic Director of the Plantation Heirs, Ernestine Robinson

Artistic Director of the Plantation Heirs, Ernestine Robinson

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.

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Shweta Gamble, Executive Director of the Kentuck Arts Center in Northport, Ala

Shweta Gamble Executive Director of Kentuck Arts Center

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. 

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Leah Tucker, Executive Director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and theCarver Theatre in Birmingham

Steve Grauberger interviews Leah Tucker, Executive Director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and theCarver 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)

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Adam Vines, 2013 ASCA Literature Fellowship recipient.

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)

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Old Alabama Town Curator Carole King

This week 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 atOld 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. 

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ASCA Visual Arts Fellowship recipients, John Douglas Powers and Sarah Cusimano Miles

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)

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Diana Van Fossen of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival

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 Womenand her current direction of To Kill a Mockingbird.  (more)

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Alabama Poetry Out Loud finals February 18th 2013

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)

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Alabama Craft Council director Scott Bennett

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)

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Michael Richardson creator of the Red String Wayang Theatre.

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)


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Mike Cooley, co-founder of the Drive-By Truckers

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)

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Al Head, executive director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts

This week 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.
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Kyle Abraham director of the Abraham.In.Motion Dance Company

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)