Mississippi Arts Hour

David visits with the painter Josephine Alexander from Ashland, Mississippi. A native of Maine, Alexander runs a small vegetable farm and makes oil paintings. She received an Artist Fellowship grant from MAC this summer. They talk about her roots in the Northeast, coming back to painting after some time away, and her recommendations to would-be artists.

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Larry talks with longtime north Mississippi blues performer Eric Deaton. A native of North Carolina, Deaton moved to Mississippi in his late teens and learned the Hill Country blues style by playing with the masters of the music, including Junior Kimbrough and R.L.Burnside. Deaton has played with a “who’s who” of blues performers over the years and most recently recorded and toured with The Black Keys, the Grammy award-winning rock group.

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Kristen talks with author and visual artist Diane Williams about Fostering Love, her memoir of growing up in a troubled family. Diane talks about the challenges of telling a difficult personal story and the insights she gained through the project. Also joining the conversation is Meredith Coleman Magee, the publisher of Fostering Love.

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Larry talks with musician, bandleader and producer Jimbo Mathus. They talk about the upcoming reissue of his 1997 album Plays Songs for Rosetta and the origins of that project, as well as his recent work with the Parchman Prison Band on their upcoming recording.

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This week Leslie talks with television writer, producer, and showrunner, Laura Kittrell. Laura's work includes Insecure, High School, and The Michael J. Fox Show. Her most recent project Elle (from the world of Legally Blonde) premiered on Amazon Prime earlier this summer. Laura discusses the life of a showrunner, the nineties, and growing up in Meridian, Mississippi.

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Larry finishes his recent trip to Oxford by visiting with Bill Perry, a jazz pianist and bandleader in the city. Perry tells about his beginnings as a musician,playing in a family band. He then branched out into jazz, leading a number of different groups. Perry also talks about his work creating self-produced movies in Oxford.

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David travel to Hattiesburg to speak with singer/songwriter Elsie, who is currently competing on America's Got Talent tv show. She tells David about her years growing up in Columbia, Mississippi, the lessons she learned as a church musician, and her travels throughout the world.

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Larry talks with Oxford writer Larry Wells about his new book, Backstory: A Literary Life on the Run. Co-authored with his late wife Dean Faulkner Wells, the book highlights the couple’s years working as freelance journalists, traveling throughout the U.S. and writing stories on wing walkers, cave exploring, literary graveyards and more.

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David travels to Meridian to visit with Penny Kemp, President and CEO of the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAEX). They talk about Kemp’s roots in Meridian and her previous work in the arts. They also highlight MAC’s upcoming “Day for Artists” convening at the museum and several of the MAEX’s ongoing and planned activities.

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This week Larry travels up to Oxford to talk with singer/songwriter Arnie Brenn. Brenn is a Laurel native who creates multi-layered psychedelic influenced rock. They talk about Brenn's childhood working as a church musician, how the bass lines in his music originate from him playing sousaphone in marching band and the freedom of creating music in a tiny house.

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