It is always heartwarming to witness the spirit of generosity that is central to so many music artists. When you come across musicians who are not only kind but also are incredibly talented and well spoken, magic can happen. All of these things came together when Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell came to WNCW’s Studio B in early November, 2021, where they played a live session and then stayed for extra innings to record a conversation for this episode. Their generous spirit was on display once again when they played an impromptu cover of the Doc and Rosa Lee Watson classic “Your Long Journey”.

Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell play a live session for WNCW in Spindale, NC 11/3/21. Photo: Brenda Craig

This episode is the first of a series called The Three Song Set, which brings two artists together to talk about songs each other wrote, and then pick a mutual favorite song and give us their thoughts on that song as well. Alexa Rose moved from the Allegheny Mountains of her native Virginia to western North Carolina when she went to college, and has remained in The Old North State ever since. Her new release Headwaters follows her 2019 album Medicine For Living, and finds Rose bridging her earlier love for pop and alternative with her rootsier, Americana sound that earned praise from the likes of No Depression, Rolling Stone and NPR, to name just a few. Joining Alexa in the studio is guitarist and vocalist Joseph Terrell, of the Chapel Hill NC quartet Mipso. This is the second time Joseph has been on the show, the first being a couple of years ago when we profiled Mipso on their episode The Unlikely Story of a Band With A Lot To Like.

Songs heard in this episode:

“Clearwater Park” by Alexa Rose, from Headwaters, excerpt

“Never Knew You Were Gone” by Mipso, from Mipso, excerpt

“Pale Golden Flowers” by Alexa Rose from Headwaters, excerpt

“Your Long Journey” by Alexa Rose and Joseph Terrell, live on WNCW

Thank you for visiting, and we hope you enjoy this episode. There are more Three Song Sets in the works, and please let us know what you think of the concept. You can contact us on our social media via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and you can also drop a comment below this article. You can follow the series on podcast platforms everywhere, where it greatly helps when you give us a top rating and even more so with a good review, because the show’s visibility to everyone using those platforms depends largely on followers, ratings and reviews. Southern Songs and Stories is a part of the podcast lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here . You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio at here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, and to WNCW’s audio engineer Sean Rubin for recording this session. And thanks to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick