Good Folk Podcast

Happy Wednesday Folks, First, a few admin things: today’s episode marks the end of “season one” of the Good Folk Podcast. Our team will be taking the rest of the month off in an attempt to spend less time online. We will be back with the podcast in January, with lots of exciting things up our sleeve. In the meantime, I will still be sending out regular newsletter posts as the year wraps up. I want...

Folks, today I am thrilled to introduce you to the wonderful humans of band Palmyra , joining me in conversation. Established in the Shenandoah Valley, Palmyra’s set explores the fusion of traditional folk string instruments, three part harmonies and foot percussion. The trio captures the collective spirit of three Virginia natives, Teddy (he/him), Manoa (he/him), and Sasha (they/them), often desc...

Before you even begin to listen to today’s podcast episode, I need you to know one thing: 723 is so talented at what they do that not only can guitarist Tramaine Bowman play with his teeth, he can absolutely shred with them. I had the privilege of seeing 723 play live just last night, and it only confirmed for me what I knew to be true the very first time I spoke to them: this band is doing someth...

Folks: if we think of ourselves as flowers, what does it look like to bloom? Does a flower grow on its own? Or does it need love and light and care to truly blossom? And what comes after the bloom?  Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Liz Maker, a full-time landscaper and part-time florist living in coastal North Carolina, in conversation with myself and Victoria Landers, our podcast producer. Liz...

I would like to begin today’s episode with a question: when you think of puppetry, where does your mind go? If you, like me, conjure up images of the muppets or ventriloquists or the hand puppets you might have made in elementary school, then I am very excited for you to meet our guest today, who will broaden your horizons of what puppetry can be far beyond what you might know it as. For Sol Ramir...

“You are an artist. No matter what it is you create or how you create, as long as you're creating something worthwhile and that you enjoy doing and appreciate and it has some sort of significance in this world, that's meaningful.” — Skylar Simmons Today on the Good Folk Podcast we have the wonderful Skylar Simmons , an artist and zine creator from Clinton, North Carolina. Throughout high school an...

“But for all of the madness and microaggressions and disrespect and just utter madness that I deal with, some of the things that these children say are vastly profound, and they have very large hearts. And I am scared but very optimistic of the next generation of kids. My seniors that are graduating this year— if they heard me say this, they would never let me live it down— but they are very good...

A disclaimer that my audio quality is less-than-stellar for a good portion of this episode. I’m testing a new microphone, and clearly, the audio settings here were not working. My apologies, and thank you for bearing with us on this podcast journey. “We all derive importance from the people and the things around us, and that extends to what we make. What we make will become more important to us an...

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Nia J moved to NC at a young age and has been living there ever since. She attended UNC Charlotte, where she began making music with a producer and friend— Ike Byers. Together, the pair have collaborated to release several singles and a debut EP comprised of 7 songs, “ Rabbit Hole .” Singer-songwriter, Nia J's melodic music infuses sultry vocals and rich harmonies into con...

Dacia Green is a multimedia artist, performer, Floridian, and child of the African diaspora. As a graduate from Williams College with an Honors B.A. in Women's, Gender, and Sexualities Studies and Africana Studies, Dacia relies heavily on the audio-visual form to  repair and disrupt the intricate intersections of identity. At Williams, Dacia published an audio-visual zine entitled Our Home Will Be...

Alexis Lawson is a poet, storyteller, and author of the poetry collection The Beauty in my Bare Bones (2019). She is passionate about making arts more accessible to youth, while writing through the black voice, incorporating her culture into narratives that some otherwise may not see representation. She is currently a lifestyle and culture writer based in Raleigh, North Carolina, specializing in b...

Victoria Landers graduated with a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Photography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in July 2020. She is currently based in Moore County, North Carolina, working in local non-profits by day and expanding their art by night. Photographers Andy Deluca and Lu Hui influenced Victoria to focus on the theme of the relationship one has with themselves...