SouthBound

This week on SouthBound, we air our final episode. WFAE’s Ely Portillo interviews host Tommy Tomlinson about Tommy's favorite SouthBound moment, the future of journalism and what still gives him hope. Please join us.

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to author Georgann Eubanks, who traveled the wild South to visit everything from frogs to swans for her new book, “The Fabulous Ordinary.”

This week on SouthBound, host Tommy Tomlinson talks to Jeremy Markovich, whose newsletter, the North Carolina Rabbit Hole, covers all manner of strange and wonderful little stories about the Tar Heel state.

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 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.