Summer Hiatus for Tapestry of the Times

Tapestry of the Times will take off the months of July and August. Thanks for your support of the program and we hope to return to our exploration of the Folkways label in the fall. We will continue to broadcast earlier episodes through the summer months. You can stream at wypr.org or tune in locally Saturday evenings at 8:00.

Listen (Audio and details available within 24 hours of broadcast)

Episode 36 - "So Long It's Been Good to Know You"

Songs of farewell this hour on Tapestry of the Times… goodbyes to sweethearts, families, childhood homes, and old jobs we’d maybe rather forget.  Music from Chile, Kyrgyzstan, and American legends Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Doc Watson, and cowboy poet Buck Ramsey. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 35 - "Singing in the Rain"

Ballads about legendary hurricanes and storms at sea, blues tunes about rainy days, and songs of hope that sunny days are right around the corner. Music from the likes of Maybelle Carter, Lonnie Johnson, and green-earth poetry from Langston Hughes, Sarah Webster Fabio and Virginia Bennett. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 34 - "Let's Eat"

From Kenyan harvests to Creole cuisine, and Crescent City waffles to cold pizza for breakfast...music in praise of food in all its wonderful varieties. We hear a Native American song for a buffalo feast and Josh White’s iconic down-at-the-heels anthem “One Meat Ball,” plus more. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 33 - "Ready, Aim, Fire"

For better or for worse, we live in a world stocked with guns, and whatever your opinion on the issue, there’s a song to match. Calypso master Mighty Sparrow sings of Trinidadian gun smugglers and Kentucky songster George Davis sings about staring down the barrel at a shotgun wedding plus more...Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 32 - "Homeward Bound"

Where is ‘home’ for you?  In this episode, we explore our yearnings for home, with songs of longing from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Doc Watson, and far-flung wanderers in Chile, Canada, Kenya, and The Bahamas. Radio for the homesick listener on Tapestry of the Times. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 31 - "Pass The Bottle"

In this musical pub-crawl, we explore the joys and perils of the drinking life; songs about beer, wine, whiskey and moonshine; sad drunks, mad drunks, mean drunks, and just plain stupid drunks; booze-soaked classics from Memphis Slim, Roscoe Holcomb, Lead Belly, Dock Boggs and more. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 30 - "Sounds Like Heaven"

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times, Bluesman Reverend Gary Davis sings of a golden city with pearly gates, Paul Robeson compares earthy freedom to divine deliverance, and Doc Watson asks the fundamentally profound question, ‘Was I born to die?’ Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 29 - "Ladies First:  A Showcase of Folkways’ Female Artists"

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times, North Carolina’s Elizabeth Cotton shows off how to play a guitar upside down and backwards, New Orleans chanteuse Lizzy Miles asks ‘Who’s sorry now?’ and Lucinda Williams mourns a one-night stand. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 28 - "Folk Heroes...Human and Otherwise"

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times, Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee, and Sonny Terry sing the praises of larger-than-life mythic characters like John Henry and Joe Turner. And we enjoy some distant sounds from Paraguay, Indonesia, and Gambia. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 27 - "Ola Belle Reed: An Enduring Legacy"

This special episode of Tapestry of the Times presents a series of one-of-a-kind original recordings made recently on a chilly Saturday afternoon on-site in Elkton, Maryland with the family and friends of the late great American legend, Ola Belle Reed. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 26 - A Salute to the Lone Star State

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: Cowboy songs from the revivalist group The Tex-I-An Boys, the sounds of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, cowpuncher brag talk, work-songs from a Texas prison camp, and contemporary conjunto music from Los Texmaniacs. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 25

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: We hear the soul-soaked boogie woogie piano of Champion Jack Dupree, we check out some 80-year-old original recordings of Blind Willie Johnson, and we explore music forged deep in the coal mines of Appalachia. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 24

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: Sea-faring songs from North Carolina’s Outer Banks; an Irish pirate ballad; cowboy songs from Woody Guthrie, Harry Jackson, and Cisco Houston and a spiritual from Moving Star Hall on Johns Island, South Carolina. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 23

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: The late great Piedmont blues singer and guitar master John Cephas, New Orleans’ ebullient chanteuse Lizzie Miles, slave shouts from Georgia’s McIntosh County Shouters, rock music from Indonesia and Vodou music from Port au Prince. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 22

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: We celebrate the Big Easy with the late great New Orleans street singer Snooks Eaglin, we hear New Orleans jazz from The Crescent City Serenaders, and we listen back to some vintage Cajun social music. Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen

Episode 21

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times: The mimetic sounds of mountain herders in the Siberian hinterland of Tuva, tropical music from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Trinidad, and The Dominican Republic, and a slide guitar opus from the West Coast’s “Joe Louis Walker and The Boss Talkers.” Real music, real people, and the stories behind the sounds.Listen