In this episode of DETOURS, James and Jordan are joined by Baton Rouge Chef Yvette Bonanno to discuss the ins and outs of Louisiana's challenging 2024 crawfish season. 

In this episode of DETOURS, Jordan, Alex, and contributor John Wirt sit down with host of NPR's nationally-syndicated American Routes Nick Spitzer to discuss his career chronicling American music, particularly Louisiana's. Nick shares his tips for cultivating intimacy and trust in interviews with the three journalists, as well as countless tales from his conversations with American music legends from the Grateful Dead and Carlos Santana to Dewey Balfa and Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin. He also fills us in on why he won't be running for governor of Louisiana anytime soon.

In this episode of DETOURS, Jordan and James are joined by Eva Szyszkoski, a wildlife technician with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries who specializes in the state's efforts to reintroduce the endangered whooping crane population to the landscape. One of the rarest birds in the world, the whooping crane's population in North America was down to only twenty-one birds in the wild in 1945. Since then, scientists have combined efforts to raise the birds in captivity while monitoring, and on occasions intervening with, populations released in specific habitats around the continent. Since 2011, Louisiana has hosted a small population—which Szyszkoski has played a major part in monitoring for years now. Over the course of our conversation, she shares the major struggles of Louisiana's reintroduction program, as well as its recent successes—and tells us what it is like to be face to face with these majestic, five-foot beauties.

In this episode of DETOURS, James is joined by contributor Chris Turner-Neal for a conversation with Maida Owens, the director of the Louisiana Folklife Program—a position she has held for nearly forty years now. The three discuss the definition of “folklife” and its iterations in Louisiana, as well as some of Owens’s biggest projects, including the ten-year culmination of folktales collected through the Louisiana Storytelling Project. Owens emphasizes the importance of investing in and preserving cultural practices, especially from the perspective of the challenges Louisianans face today as threats to life in coastal communities increase. Through projects like the Bayou Culture Collaborative and its popular workshops dedicated to bringing together artists, tradition bearers, folklorists, and scientists—Owens is working to provide solutions and infrastructure for the future of Louisiana folklife.

In this season's "Well-Read" special episode—in which contributors and local personalities read some of our favorite stories from recent issues—Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot reads aloud her story on Hitachi rice cookers from our July 2023 Cuisine issue. In the article, which has been shared far and wide across social media by Louisiana residents who have memories of the rice cooker, she explores the history of the Japanese appliance's rise to prominence in the rural towns of Acadiana.

In this episode, the DETOURS team is joined by Founder/Creator of Exit Strategy Jody Ray to discuss his experience traveling to Benin, West Africa and making gumbo's predecessor, West African okra stew, which he wrote about for our July 2023 Cuisine Issue. In the conversation he walks us through what it was like purchasing ingredients for the stew in Dantokpa Market, the largest open-air market in West Africa, with the help of his guide Jean-Paul Houndagnon and Jean-Paul's mother Augustine. We also discuss what it was like being invited into Augustine's home to learn how the dish is made, and the many differences and similarities between gumbo and okra stew.

In this episode, the DETOURS team is joined by Country Roads magazine's Creative Director, Kourtney Zimmerman, to discuss the less-than-precise process of choosing covers for our monthly print publication. James reminisces on days of cutting-and-pasting (with scissors and wax), everyone shares some of their favorite covers over the last 40 years, and we discuss the tensions of story vs. iconic image, fame vs. impact, and the old vs. the new—all of which contribute to our monthly slack channel voting sessions to choose the issue's most important image. 

For this episode, Jordan meets with three Lafayette-area creatives working in the realm of Louisiana French preservation : Jonathan Olivier, a writer ; Drake LeBlanc, a filmmaker and media artist ; and Jourdan Thibodeaux, a musician.

From the starting point of Thibodeaux's groundbreaking song "La Priere" (2023, Valcour Records)  we discuss the ways that music, art, content creation, and humor can help to foster a passion for the Louisiana way of life, a way of life that goes beyond language to the fostering of community gathering and oral storytelling. 

Kicking off Season 2 of DETOURS, Jordan and Alex meet with Country Roads contributor Nina Flournoy—author of the series "Strange True Stories of My Louisiana Ancestors"—and New Orleans genealogist Jari Honora. From the riveting launchpad of Nina's extensive investigation into her family history, we discuss the importance of researching one's own genealogy—especially here in Louisiana—and strategies to help you learn more about your own family here. 

Find the shownotes for this episode at countryroadsmagazine.com/detours. 

Each season of DETOURS, we plan to include a "Well Read" episode—where we present a reading of one of our favorites stories from our recent issues. For our first, we present Charlotte Jones and Marshall Blevins' collaborative Mississippi Delta road trip adventure, "I Believe in the Delta: A Tour Guide and an Artist Drive Up Highway 61," read by Charlotte Jones and Delta farmer David Wiliford.

For more information and related reading from this episode, visit countryroadsmagazine.com/detours-podcast.