Southern Storytellers

Marlowe is a dynamic collaboration between beat-maker L'Orange and MC Solemn Brigham, a 15-year friendship started in Wilmington, North Carolina, a place both still call home. Vintage sounds nod to hip-hop roots with a flair that carves a new future for the genre. Spend a while freestyling at the Brigham family barbeque, and with a rousing performance for family and friends.

S.G. Goodman’s unique blend of guitar and Appalachian vocals carves a definitive space for her in the Kentucky indie music scene. A visit to record store Terrapin Station where S.G. once slipped demo CDs into customers’ bags and an unforgettable acoustic performance at sunset let S.G. share her thoughts on everything from farm life to church choirs to revealing her family’s history of local feuds.

A chance to perform with Lyle Lovett inspired Carrie Rodriguez to leave her classical violin roots behind for an innovative songwriting approach. We hang with her in the Texas Hill Country and see a fiddle performance at Austin's Paramount Theatre.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of John Prine and Bob Dylan, but rooted in the classic Nashville sound, Asian-American Nashville native Gabe Lee gives us a front-row seat to a guitar pull with friends at Bobby's Idle Hour on legendary Music Row.

An authentic voice with bohemian flair, Valerie June emerges from Western Tennessee, daring to mix Appalachian folk music with ethereal storytelling. Come along to Tennessee’s Tina Turner Museum where an exhibit was recently installed in Valerie’s honor, and hear an impromptu performance on her family farm, as she talks history, inspiration, and the importance of glitter and big hair.

A visit to slam-poet-turned-songwriter Tank Ball's New Orleans music studio and band hangout in "Bangaville" brings talk of poetry and writing, a backyard performance, and a hot tip on where to find the best crab cakes in New Orleans.