Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Award Winning Poet, Sonia Sanchez

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.

Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Brent Warren of the Newgrass Troubadours

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.
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Alabama Arts Radio Podcast, Soul Singer Eddie Floyd

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 theGovernor's Arts Awards on May 17th, 2011.
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