Friends & Neighbors

In her new book, “The Last Letter,” author Karen Baum Gordon explores the events that shaped the lives of her father and his parents — two Holocaust victims that he tried in vain to save in the early years of World War II. In this painstakingly researched, heartbreaking and inspiring page-turner, Karen reminds us that we often need to dig deeper into our pain in order to manage it, and let go of it in order to move on.

How one Hell's Kitchen public school custodian helped me understand the weight of sadness, and turn it into one of my most beloved songs.

This week, a nor'easter blows through the Brandywine Valley, downing limbs, shattering crockery, and prompting a reckoning.

This week, Trenchtown Rock via Waterloo, Iowa.

Economies are scaffolded around the institution of marriage to build the mystery and protect the fantasy. In the sermon of Abbigail and my wedding ceremony (fourteen years ago today), our officiant, Fred Rogers' ally, Bo Lozoff, tempered our idealized, golden-hour, white-chiffon fantasies with reasoned, practical, even difficult wisdom.

This week, a story about everyday heroes, Wissahickon Schist, and The Wisdom of Fred.

What do you do when your real life exceeds your wildest dreams? You don't keep it to yourself.

Through tsunamis, drought, insurgencies, pandemics, heartbreak, worry and regret, one deep, simple and essential truth provides sanctuary.

From Nashville to Memphis and Muscle Shoals, join "Friends & Neighbors" host Benjamin Wagner as he travels deep into the south to walk the floor at The Ryman Auditorium, meet Elvis' ghost, and record with The World Famous Swampers.

In which we descend into the verdant Tennessee Valley, meet The Swampers, and record at the world famous House That Aretha Built, Fame Studios.