To say "Southern Rock" is a "Southern" musical genre is a truism--but what, exactly, is it? How does the groovy, swaggering Southern Rock of the 1970s connect to the emergence of jangly College Rock in the 1980s and 90s? How does this music tell the story of Southern identity, and how has that music evolved over the last 50 years as Southern identity itself has evolved? And finally, how has the rise of Spotify and other streaming platforms changed the possibilities for creating and engaging the "Southern" in rock music?

Joining Matt Simmons in this lively discussion are Todd Hagstette of the University of South Carolina-Aiken, Jeff Rogers of Gordon State College, and music journalist and critic Robert Dean Lurie, author of the acclaimed Begin the Begin: R.E.M.'s Early Years.

An Englishman, a New Englander, and a Southerner walk into a podcast studio and have...a simply incredible conversation about the South, what ideas we bring to the region, and what we have to unlearn about it to make sense of it and ourselves within it. 

Matt Simmons is joined by Mark Smith and Andrew Berns, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, for an electric conversation. We could have gone on for three times as long!

[This is the first of a series of repeats of some of our best episodes during the summer. We will be back with all new episodes with the new academic year!]

Professional Wrestling has a rich history in the South, a history that arguably reaches its apogee in the last 25 years of the 20th century. During that time, many of the major wrestling 'territories' of the region came together to form Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling; throughout the 1980s and 90s, WCW functioned as the #2 wrestling promotion worldwide. Further, with the post-Jim Crow landscape of the South leading to integration of both performers and audiences and WCW's introduction of Mexican-style lucha libre wrestling into the American context, Southern wrasslin' emerged in the 1980s and 90s as a way to tell the story of a changing South to the nation and the world. How was this story told?

We are joined by Andre Key and Robert Greene, II of Claflin University and Miles Smith, IV of Hillsdale College to discuss the topic.

Mark Smith sits down with Stephanie Melora, owner of Southern Cypress

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Mark Smith is joined by Matt Childs, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, to discuss the longstanding connections between the South, Latin America, and the Caribbean. They discuss shared cultural practices, economic realities, and histories and the idea that, in some ways, the South has always been akin to the more southerly parts of the Americas than the US North. Childs argues that, in order to understand the South as more than simply "the place that is not the North," we need to place the region into hemispheric and global contexts, looking for places of interconnection that transcend national borders.

Mark Smith talks to Southern Studies alumna Emily Ames (University of South Carolina class of '23) about her senior thesis: an examination of nearly 50 years of recipes in Southern Living magazine. How do these recipes, and their evolution over time, speak to how the South's ideas of itself and the region's place in America?

Mark Smith talks to Southern Studies alumna Emily Ames (University of South Carolina class of '23) about her senior thesis: an examination of nearly 50 years of recipes in Southern Living magazine. How do these recipes, and their evolution over time, speak to how the South's ideas of itself and the region's place in America?

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Jennifer Gunter spoke with the poet, Christian J. Collier. He is a Black, Southern writer, arts organizer, and teaching artist who resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His works have appeared in several journals and poetry reviews. A 2015 Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellow, he is also the winner of the 2020 ProForma Contest and the 2019-2020 Seven Hills Review Poetry Contest. His most recent work The Gleaming of the Blade,  was named the 2021 Frost Place Competition Editors’ Selection.

They discussed the parameters of spoken word and the power of language.  Collier also talked about ways he uses race as a way at getting at a number of other issues such as intimacy and vulnerability. His take on the South is that we exist in a multitude of Souths, some not necessarily evident to all residents.

What does a South Carolina-born child understand about the South and Southern identity? Mark Smith is joined by his eight year old daughter, Rose, for an intriguing (and adorable) short interview that reveals much about how ideas such as "South" are put into larger social, pop cultural, and familial contexts as children begin the process of understanding their place in the world.

We're back with another conversation!

Just in time for the Kentucky Derby, Mark Smith is joined by Dr. Gabi Kuenzli of the USC history department for a discussion of the role of horse racing in the South. What's the historical background of the sport in the region? How does horse racing point to the ways in which the South has long been a global phenomenon, particularly in its connections with Latin America?

Video version of this conversation:

https://youtu.be/CFMYmk1u_Gk