The Big Shed Podcast

(Producer: Shea Shackelford + Jennifer Deer) We hope you enjoy our second piece from the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia. This piece was a fun experiment for Jennifer and me. We basically wanted to take you on a walk through the campground, because it's a trip (like "that's trippy, man"). One of the amazing things about Clifftop is that once the music starts, it keeps going 24-7. And it's not just one or two bands, it's 5, 10, ... 30 small jams playing all over the place. There's a constant hum of music. You kind of tune in a band when you walk up on them. And when they stop playing or you walk away, you suddenly start to distinguish some new song from another group 20 feet away in the dark (well, it was pretty dark when we did this, anyway). This little tour starts at 2AM ... and that was still early at Clifftop.

(Producer: Paul Overton) Producer Paul Overton sent us this inspired audio shout out. We loved it and had to share it with you. Keep on rockin', Paul. We're giving you the devil horns right back, man. Paul also produced Subway Symphony, one of the first pieces aired on Big Shed. ["Pole" painting by Paul Overton]

(Producer: Laura Kwerel) When I heard that Steve, one of my supervisors at the coffee shop I work at, was leaving, I knew I had to do something. So I went around recording everyone I could find to talk about himâemployees, customers, friendsârandom people sitting outside on the porch. This is what I came up with. See ya, Steve.

(Producer: Jennifer Deer) HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAPNICK!!! This piece is a birthday shout out to my brother ... here's a musical snapshot from Clifftop, home of this year's Appalachian String Band Festival. More music from Clifftop on Big Shed in the next few weeks ...

(Producer: Jennifer Deer*) *This original tape came to us from Melanie Hammet. It was recorded by her sister Marcy. âFound Tape.â A family recording: Marcy valiantly attempts to record her parents Joan and Martin singing hymns. She sends a CD to her sister, musician and songwriter Melanie Hammet. Melanie shares the love â and the hilarity - with Big Shed! ["shed sketch" by Sampson]

(Producer: Sarah Elzas) Cathy is 16. She loves listening to Outkast. She thinks she wants to be an accountant. Cathy is also still a freshman in high school because she is the mother of two little boys, the oldest, James, is two years old. She attends a high school for teen moms, which is where she gets the most support from anyone all day. This is a non-narrated, first-person glimpse into the chaotic life of a very young mother. Cathy reflects on her need to be grown-up, as a mother to her two boys, while also wanting to be just a teenager. This piece was produced at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. [photo by: Allison Wightman, Courtesy Salt Archive]

(Producer: Thomas Hausen) A soundscape made entirely from tweeked sounds made by a clothes washing machine.

(Producer: Jennifer Deer) Experimental Personal Narrative. Special thanks to Jim Lee. This piece was produced as a final project for his class at Duke in 2003.

(Producer: Scott Gurian) This piece is a montage of participants--including my father--at karaoke night at Nicola's Italian Restaurant in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After a version of this aired on NPR, my father started getting calls and visits from random friends and neighbors saying they heard him on the radio and congratulating him on his singing ability. This all caught him completely off-guard, since he didn't think anyone was actually listening. He also got a call from a woman who looked him up in the phone book. The conversation apparently went something like this: "You don't know me, but I heard you on the radio, and I thought you were really good! Say, are you single?" He politely thanked her for calling but said he wasn't interested.

(Producer: Emma Raynes) Artist Notes: While I was doing research in Gurung villages, I had go back and forth between Pokhara (a hill town) and Kathmandu (the capital of Nepal). The seven hour bus route began in the bustling city, dodging and swerving around other cars and bullock carts. Eventually the route took the wide bus along a narrow, precarious dirt road that snaked through the mountains. I often took photographs or recorded sound to distract myself from my fear of getting in an accident or falling off a cliff into a raging river. The terrifying bus rides were accompanied by jolly Nepali music.