Salvation South

When the great Southern chef, television host and cookbook author Nathalie Dupree passed away last week at age eighty-five, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece remembered his first discovery of her, when he was in his twenties, living in New York City, and feeling hungry for Southern food.   

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe, we're debunking the Robert Johnson myth. We'll explain how the "deal with the devil" story overshadowed a blues genius and led to exploitation of his legacy.

When President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece remembered the night when he, at age fourteen, first shook the great man’s hand. Chuck has some thoughts about the examples Carter left behind for all Southerners. 

At this time of year, carols and holiday songs surround us. They’re on the radio. They’re in the stores when we’re shopping. And this is true everywhere, all over the world. Thus, we rarely think of Christmas tunes as a Southern thing. But Salvation South editor Chuck Reece today offers four distinctly Southern holiday classics.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe : Chuck Reece talks with Peter Guralnick, acclaimed biographer and author of Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, and soul music legend William Bell, about the deep connection between soul music and the civil rights movement. Learn how this quintessential American artform was the catalyst and soundtrack for remarkable...

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB Radio in 2024. (Part 2 of 2).

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB Radio in 2024. (Part 1 of 2).

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece came from a very large family. His father was the eleventh of twelve children. So every year about this time, Chuck has always wondered how his grandmother managed that huge Thanksgiving dinner. This year, he did some calculations.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe : Chuck Reece explores the evolution of Southern fiction through conversations with acclaimed authors David Joy, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, Chris Offutt and S.A. Cosby. From Appalachian hollows to Atlanta's streets, these authors craft thrilling narratives that challenge stereotypes and confront issues of race, class and justice. 

A friend of Salvation South editor Chuck Reece had a hard year because of things that were out of his control. Chuck didn’t have any answers to the hand that life dealt his friend, but he did have a few ideas about certain uniquely Southern constants we can turn to when the rough patches come, as they inevitably do.

Next month, the bestselling novelist Percival Everett, who was born in Fort Gordon, Ga., could take home one of the most prestigious prizes in publishing, the National Book Award, for his novel James. The National Book Awards are Salvation South editor — and avid reader — Chuck Reece’s favorite awards show. Here’s how he gets ready to watch.

The birthday of legendary New Orleans trumpeter and champion of traditional jazz, Wynton Marsalis, is this week. The prospect of the occasion reminded Salvation South editor Chuck Reece of a long-ago night, when a sound from a New York City basement and changed the way he heard the music of his home.

The American South is quire familiar with hurricanes. But none has ever wreaked the widespread destruction we’ve seen over the last two weeks from Florida up into the Appalachian Mountains. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with a few stories he’s gathered in calls with friends and contributors.

Chuck Reece tells the story of the Dothan High School graduating class of 1972, the first integrated class in the history of Dothan, Alabama. Fifty years ago, Dothan High students did their best to navigate a social environment defined by segregationist Governor George Wallace, and profound racial tension. Fifty years later, two friends and alumni, a black student and a white student, came up with...

All throughout this sweltering Georgia summer, people across our state have bravely gone into their yards with dangerous implements—mowers, shears, weed whackers, and other weapons of lawn maintenance. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece did the same, until he learned this painful lesson.

In this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece details the United States's brutal program of forcibly assimilating Native American children through boarding schools in the late 19th and early 20th century. He learns the historical context of this act of warfare; the lasting trauma it created; and the Native-led efforts to heal its generational wounds. 

This weekend, DeKalb County officials will gather on the courthouse square in Decatur to dedicate a statute of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis. The statue replaces a monument installed in 1908 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with some memories of his conversations with John Lewis.  

Martin Luther—not Atlanta’s own Dr. King, but the sixteenth century priest who was his namesake—once wrote, “Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” Salvation South editor Chuck Reece believes the music we take to heart when we're young can change us forever. Here’s Chuck with some thoughts on that.

Young boys have been worried about what it means to become a man since the beginning of time. And for years, they have tried to prove they are men by imitating the so-called “manly” behaviors modeled by earlier generations.  Salvation South  editor Chuck Reece thinks that perhaps the time has come to rethink that method.

Is a story worth telling if it doesn’t have a moral or a point? Sometimes, stories without a purpose need to be told if only because the preservation of memories has a value all its own. Salvation South founder and editor Chuck Reece has just such a story for us today.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece goes deep into the complicated history of the banjo, from its origin on the shores of the Carribean and West Africa to its rise as a ubiquitous icon of Southern "hillbilly" culture and beyond. 

Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public spaces, even if the city doesn’t have enough shelter beds. With more people living unhoused than ever in America, and governments struggling to help, providing a little help often falls to people who are willing to do the work themselves. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has some thoughts...

Much of today’s political news is filled with discussion and debate about immigration. Which people are coming to America? Which should be permitted to come? And how many should be permitted? Can immigration and Southern hospitality live in the same community? Salvation South editor Chuck Reece today invites you to visit a place where it does.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece talks with "Rednecks" author Taylor Brown and scholars Gabe Schwartzman and Lloyd Tomlinson. He learns the ugly truth behind the origin of the term 'redneck' -- a shocking story of warfare carried out against American citizens by none other than their own government, which has been suppressed for nearly a century. 

This year, people in North Carolina are celebrating the hundredth birthday of one of their most beloved sons, the revolutionary and legendary bluegrass banjo player Earl Scruggs. He defined how most of us believe the banjo is supposed to sound. But the story is a little more complicated than that. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece is here with his tribute to Earl Scruggs.