Rural Remix

What does it look like to build and sustain an LGBTQ+ affirming church in the rural South? The Rev.’d Claire Brown visited and spoke with more than a dozen such churches to find out. More LGBTQ+ people live in this region than any other part of the country, and in this first episode of a series of conversations, Rev’d Brown talks with the director of the Rural Faith Initiative, Rev’d Whitney Kimba...

In this episode of  Beyond the Clock,  Ash and Anna are joined by Tim Z. Hernandez, an award-winning author, poet, and filmmaker whose work has spent decades recovering stories that history tried to forget. Raised in California's San Joaquin Valley by migrant farmworker parents, Tim describes himself as a "shepherd of stories," someone called to follow narratives wherever they lead....

When weather-related disasters occur, communities are affected in uncountable ways. We know all too well how climate disasters physically impact communities. Events like hurricanes and wild fires can destroy property, devastate the landscape, and claim lives. What might be less obvious is how a community’s cultural practices are affected. When Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina i...

Sig Pugrud’s ranch sits on a high bench above Flatwillow Creek, in one of the least-populated counties in the U.S. Her family homesteaded in Petroleum County, MT in 1910, surviving the Dust Bowl, the '80s farm crisis, and decades of economic uncertainty with a combination of grit and creativity.

When Jake Fritz moved back home at 19, four generations were trying to make a living off the same piece of ground near Chester, Montana. This episode follows Jake and his mom Dena through an era of transition across multiple generations

Determined not to repeat the past, Ryan and Abbey Bruski paired ecological regeneration with a new approach to family planning, creating clear roles, business structures, and a succession plan designed to give future generations clarity.

Reframing Rural-Season 4, Episode 1 Reframing Rural is a documentary podcast that challenges mainstream stereotypes about rural places by introducing listeners to people, history and culture that don’t always get the spotlight.  In Season One, creator Megan Torgerson, journeyed back to her home community of Dagmar, Montana (population 10) to tell stories from the farmers, ranchers, preachers, teac...

When it came time for Gene Curry to pass his operation to the next generation, he found himself facing a challenge that demanded something ranch life had never asked of him before: softening his dominant personality and learning to let go.

In this episode of Beyond the Clock, Ash and Anna are joined by Brigid Reedy, musician, poet, storyteller, and artist from southwest Montana whose work is deeply rooted in the rural American West. In this conversation, they explore what it means to be of a place in a time of mobility, polarization, and cultural fragmentation, and how place lives not just in geography, but as something carried with...

In the United States, people have a complicated relationship with guns. For some, they’re fondly associated with family traditions, like hunting. For others, they’re reminders of pain and violence. In Western North Carolina, one organization is bringing together gun owners, faith communities and blacksmiths to turn guns into jewelry and garden tools. The goal?: Reducing gun violence. Reporter Rebe...

In this first episode of the 2026 Beyond the Clock (BTC) season, Anna and Ash are joined by Nikiko Masumoto, this year’s BTC Resident Artist, farmer, and memory keeper who invites us to explore memory as a living practice. In this episode, we reflect on the quiet rituals (personal and public) that carry culture forward and how, across rural communities, artists and cultural workers are tending som...

Weaving has a storied history in Appalachia. Indigenous groups like the Cherokee and Shawnee developed robust weaving traditions using plant fibers. When European settlers colonized Appalachia in the 18th century, they brought their own styles of weaving. These days, fiber artists in Appalachia are noticing an increased interest in weaving, and so they're making the craft more accessible to be...

All across Appalachia, communities have historically leaned on music to help get work done. Whether tending the garden or marching along the picket line, music has been a way to keep people motivated and rally them around a cause. In the small town of Lansing, North Carolina, community organizers recently hosted the first annual Fly Around Music and Arts Festival. The event was a celebration and c...

In this final episode of the 2025 season, Ash Hanson and Anna Claussen dive deep in conversation with Kyle Mesteth. Kyle is the founder of Ground Control, a skate park and community center in Pine Ridge, SD, whose mission is to provide a space where skateboarders, artists, and creators come together to dream, collaborate, and bring their visions to life. Ground Control works to inspire self-expres...

Este episodio explora los sentimientos de soledad comunes en la experiencia de los inmigrantes rurales y presenta estrategias probadas para su inclusión. Las historias que se presentan en este episodio ofrecen una vía para alejarse de las políticas y prácticas de exclusión y avanzar hacia culturas de pertenencia que fortalezcan a toda la comunidad.

Este episodio analiza las diferentes barreras lingüísticas que enfrentan los inmigrantes al adaptarse a la vida rural estadounidense. Las historias que presentamos muestran cómo, al añadir el idioma a las dificultades de acceso que enfrentan casi todos los estadounidenses rurales, los desafíos de la vida se intensifican. Estas historias también ofrecen perspectivas sobre la fortaleza que se puede...

Este episodio explora el proceso de adaptación a la vida en un nuevo lugar, conservando las costumbres que nos hacen sentir como en casa. Las historias que se presentan en este episodio abordan los desafíos de la asimilación y ofrecen ejemplos de una mejor manera de hacerlo: preservar las culturas personales, aprender de otras y encontrar oportunidades interesantes para combinar lo antiguo con lo...

Este episodio analiza la participación de los inmigrantes en la economía rural. Las historias que se presentan explican la influencia de las industrias en la determinación del lugar de asentamiento de los nuevos inmigrantes y ofrecen perspectivas sobre el costo de alcanzar el sueño americano como recién llegado.

Este episodio desmiente conceptos erróneos comunes sobre la inmigración en las zonas rurales de los Estados Unidos. Las historias presentadas en este episodio describen los patrones de inmigración a los EE.UU. a lo largo del tiempo, los factores que influyen en la difícil decisión de un inmigrante de abandonar su hogar y resaltan las contribuciones vitales que hacen los inmigrantes cuando encuentr...

On this episode, we’re taking a look at how farmers and gardeners are helping maintain the region’s biodiversity. Our first stop? A seed swap. With the summer gardening season at its end, many growers throughout Appalachia are turning their attention to seed saving. It’s a practice where gardeners select the seeds from their best crops, and then save them over winter to plant the following spring....

In this episode of Beyond the Clock, our hosts Ash Hanson from Department of Public Transformation and Anna Claussen from Voices for Rural Resilience engage in deep conversation with rural Texas-based artist, Viktor le. Ewing Givens, aka Southern Android, who weaves poetry and ritual into his place-based creative work. Through unspoken language, layered memories, exploration of death and release,...

Ginny Hawker is a singer and mentor in the Primitive Baptist tradition, an acapella style with roots in Appalachia. This style of singing inspired bluegrass legends like Ralph Stanley, along with country stars like Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs. Hawker is passing this music tradition on to a new generation.

The final episode Routes to Roots , Better Together , explores feelings of loneliness common to the rural immigrant experience and illuminates tried and true strategies for immigrant inclusion. The stories featured in this episode offer a pathway away from policies and practices of exclusion toward cultures of belonging that strengthen the whole community. Learn more here. Transcript for this epis...

Episode Four, Lost In Translation, surveys the different kinds of language barriers that immigrants encounter as they try to adapt to rural American life. The stories featured in this episode show how, when you add language to the access issues that almost all rural Americans deal with, the challenges of living intensify. These stories also provide insights around the strength that is possible in...

Episode Three, The Cultures We Carry, explores the process of adapting to life in a new place, while keeping hold of the customs that help you feel at home. The stories featured in this episode consider the challenges of assimilation, and offer examples of a better way–preserving personal cultures while also learning about others, and finding interesting opportunities to combine the old with the n...