
Smoky Mountain Air
Smoky Mountain Air brings you the science, stories, and sounds of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hosts Valerie Polk and Karen Key interview authors, scientists, and park experts about life in the Smokies past and present. A production by Smokies Life.
Episodes
13 episodes
Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E6: Hip-hop in the Heart of Appalachia
Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson talk to Geonoah Davis and Kelly Thompson, two artists whose hip-hop sounds are expanding traditional ideas about music in Appalachia. Borrowing from a generations-old African American heritage of spoken word...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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35:46

Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E5: Amythyst Kiah with Jack Tottle
Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson talk to Amythyst Kiah, an acclaimed musician and songwriter whose work is redefining genre boundaries and has established her as a distinctive new voice of Appalachia. Reconnecting with Amythyst in this epis...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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50:08

Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E4: Dom Flemons, The American Songster
On this episode of our mini-series Sepia Tones, Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson welcome Dom Flemons, a renowned performer of American folk music and a founding member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. Citing a variety of musical in...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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58:25

Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E3: Sacred and Spiritual Music in the Mountains
On this episode of our mini-series Sepia Tones, Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson welcome a spirited conversation with special guests Dr. Kathy Bullock and Rev. Dr. Virgil Wood. Our guests discuss the African American traditions of ...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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59:58

Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E2: Driving (and Fiddling) While Black, Appalachian Music at Home and on the Road
On this episode of our mini-series Sepia Tones, Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson examine music within rural communities with guests Earl White, Larry Kirksey, and Kip Lornell. Each of our guests has been on their own quest, whether...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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58:59

Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music—E1: Bagpipes, banjos, ngonis, and gourds
On this special episode of Smoky Mountain Air, guest hosts Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson kick off an exciting new mini-series called Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music. Guests Loyal Jones, Sparky Rucker, and...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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51:13

Introducing Sepia Tones: Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson explore Black Appalachian music
Our guests Dr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson talk about an exciting new podcast mini-series they'll be co-hosting as part of Smoky Mountain Air called Sepia Tones: Exploring Black Appalachian Music. This mini-series can be ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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33:03

Singing Creek: Meet author Morgan Simmons and Illustrator Don Wood, talents behind GSMA's newest children's book
On this episode, we talk to Morgan Simmons and Don Wood, the author and illustrator of Singing Creek—a new book published by GSMA that takes young readers on an adventure of music and survival in the world of a Smoky Mountain stream.
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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29:57

Mishaps and Mayhem: David Brill talks about his GSMA title Into the Mist and writing for Smokies Life magazine
On this episode of Smoky Mountain Air, we look back at an interview we recorded a few months ago with David Brill, author of the book Into the Mist, a collection of real-life stories depicting people caught in extreme situations...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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51:01

Vesna Plakanis of A Walk in the Woods Talks about Wild Foods Foraging
On this episode of Smoky Mountain Air, we look back at an interview we recorded this summer with Vesna Plakanis, owner of A Walk in the Woods, a tour guide service specializing in knowledge of edible and medicinal wild plants, backpacking, and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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25:32

Janet McCue and Paul Bonesteel Explore Photographer George Masa's Fascinating Life: A Smokies Life ‘Missing Issues’ Feature
“Early 20th century hikers in the Great Smokies were likely to encounter a small Japanese man on the trail. He was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed a little more than 100 pounds. He might have been burdened with a pack containing a heavy camera...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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48:43

Stephen Lyn Bales Talks Birds: A Smokies Life ‘Missing Issues’ Feature
Stephen Lyn Bales is the former senior naturalist at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville and the author of Ephemeral by Nature: Exploring the Exceptional with a Tennessee Naturalist, Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valle...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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41:41

“Life in the Canopy” by Rose Houk: A Smokies Life ‘Missing Issues’ Feature
What goes on in the uppermost layers of a Smoky Mountain forest? Does anything live up there? And who's going to climb up there to find out? “From charismatic microfauna to megafauna—from water bears to black bears—the forest canopy harbors so ...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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21:53
