Mountain Article Archives
The Bloom of Underhill Rose
By James Calemine "I've been told I've got a restless soul How much dirt do I need to dig through Before I hit the gold I tried to be read more...
Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin': The Quintessential Southern Cookbook
If you love to cook or just love to collect cookbooks, start making space on your bookshelf now because there's a new cookbook in town. This delightful compendium of all things culinary, Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin' by Mississippian Laurance Daltroff Triplette, is true piece read more...
The Shoals Area Heats Up for the 31st Annual W. C. Handy Music Festival
It's almost that time again when the hills of North Alabama are alive with the sound of music. The 31st annual W. C. Handy Music Festival, which runs July read more...
Swampland's Top 25 Albums of 2011
As March fades and the first quarter of 2012 comes to a close, Swampland has used this moment to look back on 2011 putting together our list of last year's best music releases from the South. Although we've named 25 records on our Top 25 Albums of 2011, each one serves as read more...
"What Does the Lord Require of You But to do Justice...?"
By Patsy Glenn, Guest Writer
American Roots Music: "The Jefferson County Sound: Alabama's Black Gospel Quartets"
The new documentary film, "The Jefferson County Sound: Alabama's Black Gospel Quartets," (One State Films, Stone Ridge, NY, 2012) is a tribute to and an affectionate preservation of roots music, in particular black gospel a capella quartet music. The read more...
Michelle Malone Works It Out
Michelle Malone Works It Out By Jerry Grillo Watch Michelle Malone on stage, feel the rhythmic wave wash over the crowd, the tangible electric surge of rock and badass blues and sensual, sweaty soul, and it’s difficult to read more...
Going Up The Country: The Sixth Annual Sautee Jamboree
Going Up the Country: It’s Music for the Little Masses as the Sixth Annual Sautee Jamboree Rocks the Hhillsides By Jerry Grillo “I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away; All this fussing and fighting, read more...
HOMEGROWN: An Exhibit of Regionally Influenced Designs in Nashville, TN
HOMEGROWN is a special exhibition of regionally influenced, culturally significant, contemporary design, bringing the designs to an underexposed market outside of the major design centers. The exhibit will take place from place from June 1 through June
Matthew Nolan: Crumpled Paper Dolls and Exhuming Juliet.
"My pen sustains me, " writes poet Matthew Nolan in his poem "Muddy Hearts" from his first volume of poetry and prose Crumpled Paper Dolls (2004). Nolan, through his read more...
Rock and Roll in the Rocket City: Rocking The Army
by Jane DeNeefe First among Alabama cities to integrate public facilities relatively peacefully, Huntsville could thank musicians and read more...
Meeting the Icons: Flo Kennedy and Rosa Parks
by Patsy Glenn So many of the high points in my life are framed and on the walls in my computer room. One of those is the program from the 1985 State Conference of the Alabama National Organization for Women. We met in October that year at the Econo Lodge on Battleship read more...
Alabama's Artisanal Goat Cheese Belle Chevre:"You Can Taste the Love!"
Belle Chevre Fromagerie, a tiny creamery nestled in the countryside of rural north Alabama, is a small business that packs a big punch. Just pick up any food related magazine this month and you may see
Rock and Roll in the Rocket City Part 2: Rock and Roll Boomtown
by Jane DeNeefe Last month in
The Roots of Rock and Roll in the Rocket City by Jane DeNeefe
Huntsville's rock and roll scene got its start in a racially segregated world. Black and white neighborhoods and business districts coexisted side-by-side downtown, with separate record stores, churches and night clubs. When Sun Record tours came through read more...
Young Man With A Horn: Ken Watters, Jazz Trumpeter Extraordinaire
"Ken Watters is one of the finest young trumpet players to come along in a very long while. His is a unique trumpet voice that utilizes the read more...
Meet David Lummis, Author of The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans
In April of this year I had the opportunity to spend four glorious days in that queen of cities, New Orleans. One of the highlights of the trip, as recorded in my
Athens Cobbler Practices "Dying Art" by Holly Hollman
ATHENS, Ala. (AP) — Dust particles dance in the dim light at Dobbs Shoe Shop as Mike Latimer grinds a custom sneaker sole for an orthopedic patient. Grit and black polish outline his calloused fingertips. The smells of beeswax, used for
New Orleans Journal Episode Three: Culture, Cuisine, and "Coffee Shop Chronicles"
Randy and I arrived in NOLA on April 9 by way of Hattiesburg, MS. We elected to spend the first night of the trip in Mississippi because we had heard of a superb restaurant in downtown Hattiesburg read more...
"Ain't No City Like New Orleans"--New Orleans Journal Episode One
April in Paris? How about April in one of the most incredible cities in the world--a city rich with history, redolent with aromas of exotic cuisine, and resounding with jazz-- New Orleans, Louisiana. New read more...
UA Press Releases Alabama's Civil RIghts Trail: An Illustrated Guide
This amazing 350 page volume, Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom, is every person's guide to the last 150 years of the civil read more...
SEC, Big 12, & ACC Bowl Primer: Post-January 1 Edition
SEC 01/01 –.Auburn vs. Northwestern - Outback Bowl (11 am EST – ESPN) 01/01 – LSU vs. Penn State - Independence Bowl (1 pm EST – read more...
SEC, Big 12, & ACC Bowl Primer: Pre-January 1 Edition
SEC 12/27 – Kentucky vs. Clemson - Music City Bowl (8:30pm EST – read more...
A Real Christmas Letter: Writer Counts Blessings
The following is a real Christmas letter that I received last year. It was too late to publish it on Swampland so I saved it for this year because I found it not only inspirational but very funny. During 2009 I read it over and over in order to remember to count read more...
Johnny Mercer: A Georgia Peach of a Songwriter
by Billy C. Farlow Elk River November 2009 Johnny Mercer is not your usual Southern music icon. In the genre of down-home music greats most life stories are all too read more...
First Annual Southern Shorts Film Festival by Guest Writer Kelly Kazek
Organizers of the Southern Shorts Film Festival, the first of its kind in Athens, Ala, will be screening three feature-length films read more...
Weekly Fever Review #5: The ACC Still Not Progressing Quickly Enough
As we head into October, we've learned quite a few things about this current college football season. SEC - This conference remains on top, not only for our Footprint, but also nationally. There are still 3 SEC teams in the top 5, and there are two teams read more...
Weekly Fever Review #4: NYC Bowl Hypocrisy, Etc.
It's going to be a briefer than normal weekly fever. We will take a look at some key games coming up and how they affect our teams and conferences as a whole, but first let's start with a subject that really has us a bit miffed.
Weekly Fever Review #3: The South "Officially" Becomes the Home of College Football
We would be remiss if we didn't start our Weekly Fever with some big news - the College Football Hall of Fame will relocate from South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame) to Atlanta by read more...
Weekly Fever Review: College Football's Week Two - Big 12/ACC Struggles, etc
Now that week two of the college football season is behind us, we've learned a little more about our teams and what the season might have in store.
Weekly Fever Review: Reflections on College Football's Week One
We thought we'd provide a few thoughts after the first week of the college football season just before tonight's Clemson - Georgia Tech game. In the months that pass between each football season, certain things are put under the microscope by the media and the fans. Here read more...
Pat Conroy: An Affair to Remember
by Penne J. Laubenthal When I read my first Pat Conroy book, it was love at first paragraph. I have just finished reading the prologue to
Cornbread Chronicles: Excerpts
by Jerry read more...
Alabama Filmmaker Robert Clem, Atticus Finch, and Big Jim Folsom
by Penne J. Laubenthal The New Yorker magazine, renowned for its esoteric analyses as well as its eclectic literary pieces recently published a provocative article entitled
Going Green in New Orleans--Worn Again Art in NOLA
by Penne J. Laubenthal Having had its share of trouble over the years but forever out there on the cutting edge, New Orleans is a city whose name has always evoked history, music, literature, and art. Now read more...
Folk Music Legend Mike Seeger Dies at 75
The New Lost City Ramblers Last Ever Concert at Clifftop 2009 By Derek Halsey It is the night of July 30th, 2009 at the Appalachian String Band Festival, an annual musical gathering also referred to as simply “Clifftop” held read more...
Celebrating Juneteenth and the End of Slavery in the US
by Penne J. Laubenthal "This is the use of memory/ For liberation -- not less of love but expanding/ Of love beyond desire and so liberation/ From the future as well as the past." T. S read more...
Rags to Riches: From Anderson Books to Books-A-Million
By Penne J. Laubenthal The old Anderson Bookland store in downtown Florence, Alabama, will soon house the elegant corporate headquarters and retail store for internationally known clothing designer read more...
Rick Bragg Receives Harper Lee Award
By Penne J. Laubenthal At the 12th Annual Alabama Writers Symposium held earlier this month in
Ordinary Heroes: A Series---Nell Smith Lutz and the World War II Honor Flights
by Penne J. Laubenthal This feature is the first in a series about ordinary heroes—those persons who live next door or just across town, people we see every day who have, in their own quiet and special way, made the world a better place to live in. Last month read more...
Merlefest 2009 - April 23-26: A Preview, and The Influence of Duane Allman On Newgrass
Gritz interviews James Nash of the Waybacks and New Grass Revival legend John Cowan on being a part of the now infamous Hillside Album Hour ‘Led Zep’ jam at last year’s Merlefest, on what is in store for Merlefest 2009, and how groups like the Allman Brothers read more...
Let's Have a Party: Wanda Jackson Still Rocking at 71
by Penne J. Laubenthal When I was young, I did not even know Wanda Jackson by name but there was no mistaking that distinctive voice. She could rock the rafters with
George Washington Harris' Cemetery Party by Special Guest Dr. Sheila Byrd
As I stood on the hillside of this compact, well-kept cemetery in a place I had known for a few short months, I was struck by the beauty of the spring day: the blooming dogwoods, the bright green grass, the fresh air, and brilliant sunshine. It was as if he had ordered it read more...
Power Rankings: College Football Tradition By State
by Patrick Snow With the football season fast approaching, we thought it was time to take a State-by-State look at the schools and traditions that make up the religion that is college football in our Swampland footprint. Gold read more...
Art and the South: Paxton--Out of This World
By Penne J. Laubenthal When Midrealist artist Paxton opened his recent show at the
Rooting Out Kudzu the Spartanburg Way
by Dianne Smith Fergusson “Far Eastern vines. . . . prospered until rooted out.” James Dickey –
Suicide and the South
by Penne J. Laubenthal When he was only 31 years old, the brilliant and talented John Kennedy Toole killed himself by using a garden hose to asphyxiate himself with exhaust fumes from his car. His read more...
Wynton and Willie and the Blues
by Penne J. Laubenthal The Marsalis family and Willie Nelson and I go way back. I have been a fan read more...
NASCAR: Driving in Different Directions?
by Patrick Snow Some recent events in the world of NASCAR have made us here at Swampland ask the question: In what direction is this sport going? I’ve expressed frustration before about how NASCAR seems to want to forget its Southern roots as they try to put read more...
Guest blog by Bebe Gish Shaw: Magical Mississippi Tour
There are magical moments in teaching which remind us that we do not teach to live but rather live to teach, and Saturday, April 19, 2008, was one of those halcyon days of academic heaven in which one goes into third person, watching himself watching the wonderment sparkle in read more...
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS
Natasha Trethewey: Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
by Penne J. Laubenthal Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey is a poet who gives voice to the voiceless, names to the nameless, and who creates read more...
Merlefest at 21, Doc Watson at 85: Festival Notes
A Great American Music Festival And Its Host At The Crossroads by Derek Halsey "In 1934, Dad made me a little home-made banjo,” remembers Doc Watson, on the historic three-CD album of performances and read more...
Darius Goes West: Twelve Guys and a Dream
Once in a great while, just when you think there is no reason to get up in the morning and that there is no hope for humanity, and that people will just go on killing one another forever, and that tomorrow will be probably be even worse than today, then something happens to turn read more...
Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival (OFF) will open Wednesday evening, read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate read more...
Huge Hires for the SEC Old Guard
By Patrick Snow It has already been quite the postseason in the SEC coaching ranks, and it’s only going to get more interesting. With the recent additions of Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino along with Houston Nutt and Les Miles staying in the conference, read more...
The Appalachian Sounds of Fonotone Records
The Appalachian Sounds of Fonotone Records By James Calemine “I went out in the open field/Black snake bit me on the read more...
Billy C Farlow is Having Too Much Fun
by Penne J. Laubenthal Billy C Farlow, blues musician, song writer, and harmonica player who skyrocketed to fame in the early ‘70s with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, is a force to be reckoned with read more...
Goodbye, Babylon: A Patchwork Quilt of American Music
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
SEC Coaching - None Better
In the end, it was a surprise. But the surprise came in the school chosen, no the destination - the SEC West. Bobby Petrino finally made it to the coaching promised land when he was named the head coach of Arkansas late last night. Fresh off of a Monday Night read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic read more...
A Celebration of The Life & Work of Paul Hemphill
A Celebration of The Life & Work of Paul Hemphill By James Calemine "I was ridin' number nine Headin' south from Caroline
Confessions of an Auburn Fan or It's Not Easy Being Orange (and Blue)
by Penne Jones Laubenthal The state of Alabama is a red state. It has been slowly turning red politically since 1960. In the past twenty-seven years, Alabama voters read more...
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante read more...
Kelly Perdue Memorial
KELLY PERDUE - REST IN PEACE Leader Of The Mando Mafia Band Dead At 45 by Derek Halsey December 2005 On the morning of December 15 the music community lost yet another musician with the read more...
The World Comes Out To Merlefest
THE WORLD COMES OUT TO MERLEFEST By Derek Halsey June 2004 Merlefest Music Festival April 29-May 2, 2004