In an earlier episode of the Alabama Short Stories podcast, we talked about the painter William Frye. An artist who learned the ways of the masters at Heidelberg University in Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and painted on traditional mediums such as stretched canvas. 

In this episode, we learn about Huntsville's own Anne Clopton. A self-taught painter, Clopton took a different path and chose to paint on spider webs.

Find out about her choice of medium and why she chose a spider web on this episode.

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Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

My parents have a set of portraits hanging in their living room of Ephraim H. Foster and his wife Susan A. Watkins. My third great-grandparents. Painted before the civil war, these portraits were passed down in the family to their daughter Bettie Foster. To her daughter, Susie Pointer, then to my grandmother Elizabeth Malone and finally to my father. Interest in these portraits was instrumental in me learning more about my family history. 

Portraits have always been more than a record. They have also been used to show power, wealth, social standing, or some other qualities of the sitter. It is also all we had before the invention of the camera. A medium that would eventually let everyone, no matter their class or wealth, keep a record of who they were. Portrait artists were not just in the capitals and largest cities of our nation; they were all over, even in the Antebellum South.

This episode is about the artist. A man who traveled a long way to Alabama for his profession.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

Sylacauga is known for many things. Most famously for its fine white Madre Cream marble, which has is used in buildings all over the world. In Washington D.C. alone, it has been used in some form in the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the U.S. Supreme Court building, in addition to the state of Alabama Capitol and the State Archives in Montgomery. 

And Sylacauga is known as the hometown of television star Jim Nabors, better known to all of us as “Gomer Pyle.” 

But this episode is not about one of those Sylacauga stories. This is a story about Ann Hodges and her encounter with an object from space and how it changed her life. 

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

Not only do we get radio from towers located around the state, but we can also now get it from satellites. We can also get a form of radio as podcasts which you download to your phone or electronic device to listen to at your leisure. Some may argue that podcasts are not radio at all, but we can all agree that radio has been around all our lives. In Alabama, it started almost 100 years ago.

There were very few companies in the early 1920s that had any experience with the high-powered electricity it took to build and run a radio station. If it was going to get done, Alabama Power was going to have to do it.

Here the story of how radio came to our state and why it came here, it may surprise you. Find out the story on this episode of the Alabama Short Story podcast.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

In 1974 Homewood High School and its football team were only three years old. The coach was only 26 years old. To think that a team this new, this young, could break into the Alabama State 4A football playoffs was unthinkable. But that was right where they stood after beating rival Mtn. Brook 48-6 to finish with a 9-1 record.

At the end of the regular season, Tuscaloosa High School had an identical record but was declared the Region 7 champions, with a 5-1 regional record besting Homewood's record. 

Soon after, Tuscaloosa was disqualified sending Homewood to the playoffs. Before either team made it to the field, they had to battle each other in court. Here what happened in this episode of the Alabama Short Stories podcast.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

Alabama is lucky to have its share of astronauts who were born in Alabama or while working with NASA, lived here for a time, specifically in Huntsville. There is a chance you could run into an astronaut in Alabama. It's a slim chance but still a possibility. 

If you grew up in the '70s and made the annual pilgrimage to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, you have a really good chance to meet Mrs. Baker. She made her trip into space before the Mercury astronauts and lived out her life at the center. You will hear her story on this episode of Alabama Short Stories.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

Thirty short years after the first basketball game was played in Springville, Massachusetts, Greenville High School’s basketball season was just getting started. Sports fans in Greenville knew this team was special and that they would go far. The city council appropriated money to have electric lights on the ball court. Everyone in town went to the games. The talk of the town was that these boys would do them proud.

The enthusiasm paid off when the team was invited to the 1921 state basketball tournament. The newly formed Alabama High School Athletic Association was holding its first state-wide basketball tournament in Birmingham. This episode is the story of that team and their trip to Birmingham.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was featured in many commercials during his time as a coach. None stood out more than one he was in for South Central Bell, the regional phone company. Listen in this podcast about how the commercial came about and where the iconic line about his mama came from.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.

Hi, my name is Shawn Wright, the host, and creator of Alabama Short Stories. The podcast that was created to celebrate those stories about Alabama that you don’t hear about often, if ever. They are the stories that were not shared in your fourth-grade civics class.

In the first season, we share two different stories of Alabama high school sports teams that had to overcome obstacles on their way towards a state championship. One team gets there and another doesn’t.

We tell the stories of two distinct painters in Huntsville. One trained in Europe before making his way to the American south while another spent her life in anonymity painting on spider webs.

In Birmingham, one company starts the first radio station in Alabama while another decides it can best promote its company with a replica of Lady Liberty.

We talk about sending monkeys into space and having to watch out for objects returning from space. And we talk about the windshield wiper. You can thank a woman from Birmingham for helping us see our way.

To start it off, we tell the story of University of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and a call to his mama.

Join us to hear these stories in season one of the Alabama Short Stories podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to Podcasts. You can also listen on the website at alabamashortstories.com.

Support the show

Support the Podcast

The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a few ways you can support us.

1. Tell a friend about the podcast.
2. Buy some merchandise from the Art Done Wright store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/wright-art
3. Buy Volume 1 of the Book. https://a.co/d/9VhY9cO
4. Buy the newly released Volume 2 of the Book. https://a.co/d/ef1yunC
5. Want to support your local book store? You can do that by purchasing Volume 1 and Volume 2 through Bookshop.org, which gives back to local bookstores.

You can listen to the podcast on the website or wherever you prefer to listen and subscribe to podcasts.