SouthBound

This week on SouthBound, we're replaying host Tommy Tomlinson's 2018 talk with Dale Earnhardt Jr. There's a new documentary produced by Dale Jr. on his dad, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt, and the conversation gets into their complicated family dynamic.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to novelist Carl Hiaasen, who has been spinning wild tales of heroes and villains in Florida for nearly 40 years. They talk about his new book, “Fever Beach,” and lots more — including his longtime friendship with Jimmy Buffett.

This week on SouthBound, we replay host Tommy Tomlinson's 2023 conversation with Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen. Keen talks about his beginnings as a musician, his decision to stop touring full time, and his Hill Country retreat where he goes to write songs.

Host Tommy Tomlinson's guest on this week's SouthBound is Tom Acitelli, who has a new book “The Golden Age of Beer,” that features a different beer style for every week of the year. Acitelli grew up in Charlotte and talks to Tommy about some of his favorite Southern beers.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Annelise Mennicke, a UNC Charlotte professor whose whose federal grant was canceled as part of the Trump administration's cost-cutting program. And also because her research involved trans people.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Jim Barger Jr., author of a new book called “Rivers and Dreams,” on former President Jimmy Carter's life as a fisherman — and how he often used fishing to cast the lines of diplomacy.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Tennessee singer and mandolin player Sierra Hull. She's got a new album, "A Tip Toe High Wire," coming out next week that continues her musical journey beyond her bluegrass roots.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Davidson-based painter Elizabeth Bradford. She paints large nature scenes with lots of things happening at once, and talks about how hearing a slam poet changed her painting style.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to author Andy Corren. Andy wrote an obit a few years ago for his self-described “redneck Jewish” mother. That obit went viral, and he has expanded it into a hilarious and touching memoir called “Dirtbag Queen.”

This week on SouthBound, we're replaying host Tommy Tomlinson's 2019 conversation with author and bird expert Drew Lanham. They talk about Lanham's childhood in South Carolina and his life as a Black birder in a culture that has not always been accepting.

This week on SouthBound, we're replaying host Tommy Tomlinson's conversation with ESPN college football writer David Hale. We're in the middle of the expanded college football playoff, and David has a lot of thoughts about that and other huge changes in the sport.

This week on SouthBound, it's our best of 2024 episode. We're playing clips from host Tommy Tomlinson's favorite guests of the year: author James Lee Burke, YouTube star Landon Bryant and many more. Come join the conversation.

This week on SouthBound, we are replaying host Tommy Tomlinson's 2023 conversation with photographer Kate Medley. Her book “Thank You Please Come Again,” about gas station food in the South, was just named one of NPR's "Books We Love" for 2024.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Michael Kruse, staff writer for POLITICO and an expert on Donald Trump. Kruse offers a lesson in having difficult conversations about politics.

It's the day after the election. While Tommy Tomlinson is summing up the initial lessons the results hold for WFAE listeners, we thought we'd give you a break with this week's SouthBound — something to listen to that has nothing to do with politics. We're replaying Tommy's conversation with Ryan Nanni, host of Shutdown Fullcast. That's a college football podcast, sort of.

Landon Bryant is a social media star who explains the South to the rest of the world in a way that gets Southerners nodding and laughing.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Patrick Davis, host of the new series “Southern Songwriters With Patrick Davis” on public TV stations nationwide. Davis brings in some of Nashville's best to share songs and stories, and mixes in history from his home state of South Carolina.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to David Hale, college football writer for ESPN and co-host of the show “Inside ACCess” on the ACC Network. They talk about the huge changes in college football this season, from conference realignment to an expanded playoff.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to author Alice Driver. She spent years talking to injured and debilitated workers at Tyson chicken plants in Arkansas, and wrote a book about it called “Life and Death of the American Worker.”

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to author Valerie Bauerlein, who has written the definitive account of the Alex Murdaugh murder case in South Carolina. Her book is called “The Devil at His Elbow,” and she traces the Murdaugh family's saga of crime and power back for more than 100 years.

Josh Burford is an expert on the LGBTQ history of the South, and at the time we talked, he was about to leave Charlotte for Alabama to co-found the Invisible Histories Project, which aims to document queer history throughout the South.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to LB Prevette, who grew up on a chicken farm in Wilkes County, North Carolina, and is now a grassroots organizer with the Aspen Institute. We talk about how she decided to do good in the world by coming back home.

This week on SouthBound, we're replaying our episode from last year with ESPN personality Ryan McGee. We talk about his work at ESPN and also about the book he wrote about his adventures in minor league baseball.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Deesha Philyaw, author of “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” and Kiese Laymon, author of books including “Heavy” and “Long Division.” They're teaming up for a new podcast on nonfiction writing, and they have lots of thoughts about it.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to North Carolina author Kristy Woodson Harvey, whose 11th novel, “A Happier Life,” comes out next week. They talk about her new book, how she stays inspired, and how her career started with a squash that looked like Elvis.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson interviews a legend: the mystery writer James Lee Burke, who has written 46 books and is still going strong at age 87. He's got a new novel out in his Dave Robicheaux series, and he talks to Tommy about that — and a lot more.

This week on SouthBound, we're re-airing host Tommy Tomlinson's 2022 interview with Stephanie Stuckey. Her family founded Stuckey's, the iconic roadside stands of the South. And after a long fallow period, she bought the company and is resurrecting the brand.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson sits in the guest's chair. Mike Collins, the host of “Charlotte Talks,” interviews Tommy about his new book, “Dogland.” It's about the Westminster Dog Show and the bond between dogs and their people.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Pete Candler. He comes from a storied Southern family—one of his ancestors founded Coca-Cola—but Pete has written a new book about the secrets in his family's history, and in the South's history as well.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson convenes a panel of three experts on Charlotte for his second SouthBound Live event about the future of the city. This time we're talking about affordable housing, equity, and what we can learn from the city's history.

This week on SouthBound, we've got a live recording of a SouthBound panel discussion on the future of Charlotte. The panelists are Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill; Sil Ganzó, the founder of ourBRIDGE, which provides after-school programs for immigrant and refugee children; and John Searby, director of the Catawba Riverkeeper organization and the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Alice Randall, who became the first Black woman with a writing credit on a #1 country song with Trisha Yearwood's 1994 hit “XXXs and OOOs.” Randall has now written a memoir called “My Black Country” and it comes with a companion album of the same name.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Kindred Motes, an Alabama native who works with nonprofits and small businesses to help them be more socially responsible. He also guides those companies to send money to places in the South that need it.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Jason Kirk, whose novel “Hell Is a World Without You” draws from his experiences as a teenager in evangelical churches. We talk about how those churches shaped him, and what his beliefs are now.

Today's SouthBound podcast is a replay of host Tommy Tomlinson's conversation from summer 2023 with Tressie McMillan Cottom, a sociologist, author, columnist for the New York Times and recipient of the MacArthur “genius grant.” Their conversation ranges from the concept of whiteness in American life to the tragedy that shaped her life.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Landon Bryant, the social media star known for his videos discussing the ways and words of the South. He used to be a Mississippi schoolteacher; now, he gets recognized at Disney World.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to author Rebecca Renner, whose new book is called “Gator Country.” It's the amazing story of a Florida wildlife agent who went undercover to bust a ring of alligator poachers.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson presents the Best of 2023 episode. We're playing clips from favorite guests: Ben and Erin Napier, Robert Earl Keen, Bomani Jones, and many more. Come celebrate with us.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Mississippi journalist Ellen Ann Fentress, who has two fascinating projects: her new memoir, called “The Steps We Take,” and her website documenting the history of segregation academies in the South.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to historian Johnny Smith, author of a new book called “Jumpman,” about Michael Jordan, and the dance he did regarding racial issues throughout his legendary NBA career and beyond.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Max Marshall, author of the new book called “Among the Bros,” a wild and true story about a massive, multistate drug ring centered around fraternity members at the College of Charleston. The party felt like it would never end … until it did.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Mike Chamberlain, a researcher at the University of Georgia who is an expert on wild turkeys. They talk about the changing landscape for wild turkeys, and how different they are from the Butterballs we have at Thanksgiving.

This week on SouthBound, we replay host Tommy Tomlinson's 2021 conversation with Ada Limón, who is a United States Poet Laureate and recent recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant.” They talk about a lot of things, but mostly about hope.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Kate Medley, a photographer who spent years roaming the South to take pictures of gas station food, and the people and places that serve it. Her photos are collected in a new book called “Thank You Please Come Again.”

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Nat Glover, who in 1995 was elected sheriff of Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first Black sheriff in Florida since Reconstruction. He's written a new memoir about how he earned his way there, and about the terrifying moment that defined his childhood.