Twenty years ago, the old-time string band Carolina Chocolate Drops turned heads and wowed audiences. They were young. They were Black. And with their fiddles and banjos, they launched a movement that would challenge long-standing stereotypes about traditional music in America. 

Today we’re sharing a special program called “Reclaiming the Banjo” – a collaboration between WPLN in Nashville, Tennessee and WUNC’s podcast The Broadside. 

It’s all about a Black folk music revival sweeping the country and its deep roots in North Carolina. We follow the movement to reclaim the Black roots of folk and country music we’ll travel from a festival in our backyard all the way to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

• More from The Broadside

On the North Carolina News Roundup...Today, Due South broadcasts from Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville. It has been one year since Helene caused widespread destruction in Western North Carolina. One hundred and eight people died in what was the deadliest modern storm in state history, and the total damage in the region exceeded $60 billion. Co-host Jeff Tiberii talks with reporters from BPR about what happened a year ago in Western NC, and what has happened since. Also, political updates, including the crime bill sent to Governor Josh Stein's desk.

Laura Hackett, Helene Recovery Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Lilly Knoepp, Senior Regional Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Helen Chickering, Morning Edition Host and Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio

Danielle Battaglia, Capitol Hill correspondent, The News & Observer/The Charlotte Observer/McClatchy

Mary Helen Moore, reporter, Axios Raleigh

It has been one year since Helene. We honor the first anniversary with a collection of voices and stories, from Western North Carolina. Remembering the deadliest storm in modern history and looking ahead, a year after Helene. 

This hour of Due South is a collection of voices of those who lived through the storm and includes reports on some of the lingering issues that face the region.

Featuring:

Leah Wong Ashburn, President/CEO Highland Brewing

Maureen Copelof, Mayor of Brevard

Kevin Corbin, NC state Senator

Beth Holmes, Spruce Pine Town Council

Lilly Knoepp, Senior Regional Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

Laura Hackett, Helene Recovery Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

Zachary Turner, Climate Reporter, WFAE

Amy Diaz, Education Reporter, WFDD

Katie Meyers, Reporter, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR)

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The effort to end DEI programs across the federal government is having a range of impacts, including the future of science. Due South’s Jeff Tiberii talks with Lynn Bonner and Brandon Kingdollar of NC Newsline about their recent article titled “NC’s next generation of scientists fear careers are going ‘up in smoke’ as NIH grants end.”

Lynn Bonner, Investigative Reporter,  NC Newsline
Brandon Kingdollar, Reporter, NC Newsline

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A program supporting graduate students at Duke University was recently shut down. The Chronicle’s Dylan Halper asked why. Dylan talks with Leoneda Inge about reporting the story titled “School of Medicine abruptly shutters grad support program, ‘DEI’ office without warning students or faculty”. Two people directly impacted by the closure also join the conversation.

Dylan Halper, University News Editor, The Chronicle
Jennifer Ocasio, PhD, former director of BioCoRE (Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement)
Kavya Raghunathan, PhD candidate in cell biology, Duke University

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Today, as we explore the local impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle DEI, we turn to our national parks. The National Park Service faces funding cuts while also grappling with the White House’s directive to move away from what it calls “divisive” ideology in telling the history of our country. Due South’s Leoneda Inge talks about national and regional impacts with Jeff Hunter of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Jeff Hunter, Southern Appalachian Director, National Parks Conservation Association

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What the state’s most recent job numbers say about growth, and how North Carolina’s economy is doing while much of the U.S. is in a holding pattern from the global trade war.

Michael Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at NC State University

The two previous recessions in the U.S. disproportionately affected specific economic and demographic groups. Future recessions could be even worse, according to a new study by economists with the liberal Economic Policy Institute.

Valerie Wilson, Director, Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute

Ismael Cid Martinez, economist with the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy

Jeremy Jones found the encrypted journals of his great, great, great, great grandfather, William Thomas Prestwood. After sharing some salacious stories with relatives, he dug into the journals and learned some previously unknown secrets about his ancestors.

Jeremy Jones, author of the new memoir Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries and a professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University

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In a recent New York Times op-ed, former CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen joined several other former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leaders to decry Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mass layoffs, halting of research projects and changes to vaccine and immunization guidance. She joins Jeff Tiberii to discuss the present and potential of the CDC, under the Trump administration.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, internal medicine physician, public health expert and former director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

0:33:00

An influential group of Black leaders known as the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. Current committee chair Floyd McKissick Jr. Joins Due South to discuss the history of the organization, its mission and its future.

Floyd McKissick Jr., former State Senator, chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People

On the North Carolina News Roundup... A look at Senator Thom Tillis’ remarks at an FBI oversight hearing this week. Early voting begins in several counties’ municipal elections. And Gov. Josh Stein requests additional Helene relief funding.   Due South co-host Jeff Tiberii and a panel of journalists cover the week in NC news.

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief, The News & Observer

Gary Robertson, statehouse reporter, Associated Press

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC 

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Raleigh City Council member Jonathan Lambert-Melton talks with Jeff Tiberii about fear, political violence, and rhetoric in the public sphere, following the killing of Charlie Kirk. Lambert-Melton says he has cancelled a public event out of fear.

Jonathan Lambert-Melton, At-Large City Council Member, Raleigh

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The days are getting shorter, the air is getting cooler and soon leaves across the region will change from green to brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. Due South’s Leoneda Inge and Jeff Tiberii talk with Appalachian State University biology professor Howard “Howie” Neufeld, also known as the “Fall Color Guy,” about his fall foliage forecast, and when and where North Carolina leaf peekers are likely to get the best views.

Howard “Howie” Neufeld, biology professor, Appalachian State University

0:33:00

On this edition of our “Meet the Mayors” series, Mayor Jerry McCrary of Parmele, NC talks with Due South’s Leoneda Inge about his long road back home to Martin County and his big vision for this small town. 

Jerry McCrary, Mayor of Parmele, NC 

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Political violence has reared its ugly head again in the United States. The killing of Charlie Kirk at a college campus in Utah last week is the latest in a string of politically motivated violent acts, which seem to be increasing in frequency.

North Carolina State University’s Irwin Morris talks with Due South’s Jeff Tiberii about our country's history of political violence, what’s changed (or not) in today’s political landscape, and if inflammatory rhetoric actually has a significant role in building support for political violence.

Irwin Morris, William T. Kretzer Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Executive Director, School of Public and International Affairs, NC State University

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A conversation with Andrew Kornylak, photographer, filmmaker, and author of Spare These Stones: A Journey Through Southern Climbing Culture. The images in the book capture physics-defying acts and scenes of extraordinary beauty. They also tell a story about perseverance, place, and the South.

Andrew Kornylak, photographer, filmmaker, and author of Spare These Stones: A Journey Through Southern Climbing Culture

Data centers are in the news plenty these days. The massive homes for computer servers, cloud storage and Artificial Intelligence are in high demand. A recent analysis from NC State University and Carnegie Mellon University projects the rising number of data centers is likely to increase electric bills by an average of 8% nationally by the end of the decade. Zachery Eanes of Axios Raleigh joins Jeff Tiberii to share his reporting on data centers and rising costs, as well as the environmental and community impacts, in North Carolina. Guest: Zachery Eanes, reporter, Axios Raleigh

Enticed by cheap energy and friendly zoning laws, crypto mining operations poured into Appalachia in recent years. But in many places, like Murphy, North Carolina, these incredibly invasive facilities quickly wore out their welcome. Now, communities across the region are trying to pull the plug on crypto, while grappling with a new challenge that presents many of the same problems: AI data centers. WUNC’s podcast The Broadside and host Anisa Khalifa take a closer look.

Scientists estimate between 1.15 million and 2.41 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year, much of it carried by rivers. NC State University professor Barbara Doll joins Due South to discuss a project that tracks the travel of plastic bottles from Marsh Creek into the state’s river basins and, ultimately, into the Albemarle‑Pamlico Estuary. Guest: Barbara Doll, engineer, associate extension professor of biological and agricultural engineering at North Carolina State University, water protection and restoration specialist with the North Carolina Sea Grant