On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece talks with Peter Guralnick, acclaimed biographer and author of Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, and soul music legend William Bell, about the deep connection between soul music and the civil rights movement. Learn how this quintessential American artform was the catalyst and soundtrack for remarkable social change. 

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB Radio in 2024. (Part 2 of 2).

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece came from a very large family. His father was the eleventh of twelve children. So every year about this time, Chuck has always wondered how his grandmother managed that huge Thanksgiving dinner. This year, he did some calculations.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece explores the evolution of Southern fiction through conversations with acclaimed authors David Joy, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, Chris Offutt and S.A. Cosby. From Appalachian hollows to Atlanta's streets, these authors craft thrilling narratives that challenge stereotypes and confront issues of race, class and justice. 

A friend of Salvation South editor Chuck Reece had a hard year because of things that were out of his control. Chuck didn’t have any answers to the hand that life dealt his friend, but he did have a few ideas about certain uniquely Southern constants we can turn to when the rough patches come, as they inevitably do.

Next month, the bestselling novelist Percival Everett, who was born in Fort Gordon, Ga., could take home one of the most prestigious prizes in publishing, the National Book Award, for his novel James. The National Book Awards are Salvation South editor — and avid reader — Chuck Reece’s favorite awards show. Here’s how he gets ready to watch.

The birthday of legendary New Orleans trumpeter and champion of traditional jazz, Wynton Marsalis, is this week. The prospect of the occasion reminded Salvation South editor Chuck Reece of a long-ago night, when a sound from a New York City basement and changed the way he heard the music of his home.

The American South is quire familiar with hurricanes. But none has ever wreaked the widespread destruction we’ve seen over the last two weeks from Florida up into the Appalachian Mountains. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with a few stories he’s gathered in calls with friends and contributors.

All throughout this sweltering Georgia summer, people across our state have bravely gone into their yards with dangerous implements—mowers, shears, weed whackers, and other weapons of lawn maintenance. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece did the same, until he learned this painful lesson.