Scenic Roots

(Give Way to the Wind) Anna Carll makes collages with fine art papers. Claire Vassort paints on silk. Together, the artists collaborate as 2CREATE. With help from Michael Brandt, they are now building a colorful 3D mobile - titled “Give Way to the Wind,” symbolizing the mulberry tree - to be installed this summer at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

Anna Carll & Claire Vassort on “Give Way to the Wind.” UTC’s Irene Hillman on student success and the arts. At The MACC on Signal Mountain: The Irish Brothers, Part I. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(Honeymoon) Richard Winham shares a session by Honeymoon - a band from Etowah, TN - recorded live downtown at The Chattanooga Public Library.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly (City of Chattanooga) Live here on WUTC, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly joined us for our monthly conversation. Most of our conversation centered on the goals and priorities of One Chattanooga - a strategy for the city’s future, outlined this month during a reformatted State of the City held at the Tivoli Theatre. We bring you that part of our conversation.

(Obvious Dad) Last year, Obvious Dad brought its first performances to the stage here in Chattanooga. On Friday, the theatre company opens its second season with the premiere of the play “Gruesome Playground Injuries” - at the Fine Arts Center on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Gaye Jeffers is the director.

Darkhorse Entertainment The pirates are coming! - the pirates are coming! - to East Tennessee. This weekend and next, the Tennessee Pirate Fest will be held in Harriman - near Kingston, west of Knoxville. Want to see people dress up as pirates from two hundred years ago - or want to get your pirate on? Barrie Paulson of Darkhorse Entertainment tells us how.

Bagpipers at the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games. (Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games) This weekend, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, a taste of Scotland. On Saturday and Sunday, the Smoky Mountain Scottish Festival and Games takes place in Townsend, down the road from Maryville. East Tennessee’s celebration of Scottish history and culture - around for more than forty ye...

Inside the Standard Coosa Thatcher Mill site. (Kerry Hayes / Coeo Public Affairs) It’s a piece of Chattanooga’s industrial past - where the yarn that was spun from cotton spanned generations of families. Once upon a time in the last century, the Standard Coosa Thatcher Mill - a textile factory - employed thousands at 1800 South Watkins St. in the Oak Grove neighborhood. The Mill site covers 350,00...

If these walls could talk at Standard Coosa Thatcher Mill. A Smoky Mountain taste of Scotland in East Tennessee. Tennessee Pirate Fest - and Season 2 for Obvious Dad. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Alicia Gail - “Nightingail” (nightingale.com) Richard Winham shares a session from Alicia Gail - the Nashville-based songwriter who blends classic blues with indie folk as Nightingail - performing live at The Woodshop on St. Elmo Avenue in Chattanooga. (First aired January 2022)

Fawn Weaver (Uncle Nearest) In 2016, the New York Times published a story uncovering the "secret ingredient" behind renowned whiskey brand, Jack Daniel's: the help from an enslaved man by the name of Nearest Green. At that time, the brand was beginning to embrace the complicated ties between whiskey-making and slavery - a history that notoriously excluded Black laborers from the discussion for gen...

(United Way of Greater Chattanooga) A century ago this fall, what we now call the United Way of Greater Chattanooga was born. Today, the nonprofit facilitates giving through 14,000 donors and nearly 300 companies across six counties in the Tennessee Valley. United Way partners with more than 40 nonprofits to meet needs here in the Greater Chattanooga area - and its impact can be felt on our own ca...

Smoky Mountains, North Carolina, 1920’s - 30’s. (George Masa / North Carolina Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library) George Masa emigrated to this country from his native Japan in the early 1900’s - and eventually, he settled in Asheville, North Carolina. A self-taught photographer, he mapped uncleared trails in the Southern Appalachian Mountains - much of what is today the Appalachian Trail. M...

Brent Martin on his book “George Masa’s Wild Vision.” The United Way of Greater Chattanooga turns 100. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Katrina Barclay (reverbnation.com) Richard Winham shares a performance by singer / songwriter Katrina Barclay from November 2021 live in The Woodshop on St. Elmo Ave. in Chattanooga.

(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association) Here in the Chattanooga area, the Speech and Hearing Center helps people with speech or hearing impairments - regardless of ability to pay. Taylor Bostwick is the Center’s president and CEO - and we spoke with her during this Better Speech and Hearing Month, which is nationwide all through May.

Sekou Cooke (sekoucooke.com) Sekou Cooke is an architect and urban designer now based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the director of the urban design program at UNC Charlotte - and author of the book “Hip-Hop Architecture,” which examines the movement that channels the energies of hip-hop culture into urban architecture with meaningful input and impact from marginalized and underrepresented v...

Sekou Cooke and Josiah Golson on “Hip-Hop Architecture.” Taylor Bostwick of Chattanooga’s Speech and Hearing Center. From The Woodshop: A rewind session with Katrina Barclay. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

Daizy Skies (Daizy Skies / Facebook) Mal O’Connell shares a session by Daizy Skies - the prog psychedelic rock band from Ringgold, GA - recorded live downtown at The Chattanooga Public Library.

(Nessa Parrish / WUTC) On this special edition of "Scenic Roots," listen to the student storytellers of Rising Rock from the Spring 2022 semester here on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

(all that improbable blue / Creative Commons) Richard Winham shares a conversation with singer-songwriter Charlotte Simon, who has just released her first album. (First aired Weds 3/16/22)

From Dance Alive (The Pop-up Project) This summer, a dance program for children returns to Chattanooga. Dance Alive - founded by Barry and Anna Van Cura in 1997, a partnership between Ballet Tennessee and the City of Chattanooga - provided dance instruction to thousands of children who would not have received it otherwise before the pandemic. Today, many alumni of Dance Alive have professional car...

(The University Press of Kentucky) In the forests of Appalachia, you’ll find ginseng. In the 1800’s, the cultivation of the wild herb - known for its medicinal properties - built a global trade. Luke Manget is assistant professor of history at Dalton State College in Dalton, Georgia. He dug into all this - and more - in his recent book: “Ginseng Diggers: A History of Root and Herb Gathering in App...

John Muir (Library of Congress) What would it be like to walk across the South today - as John Muir did from Kentucky to Florida in 1867 to observe its natural wonders? (Island Press) Dan Chapman - a veteran reporter in Atlanta - retraced the path of the naturalist and conservationist for his new book, out this month: “A Road Running Southward: Following John Muir’s Journey Through An Endangered L...

Dan Chapman retraces John Muir’s journey through the South. Luke Manget of Dalton State on his book “Ginseng Diggers.” Jenison Eduave & Anna Van Cura on Dance Alive’s relaunch. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”