The Greg Brownderville Dimension

In this episode, I'm joined by Nicole Morris for a discussion of my recent trip to Wales and the strange and fascinating experience I had there.

In this episode I introduce a new series called Let's Talk Lyrics, beginning with "Love in Vain," a great blues song by Robert Johnson. As a native of the Delta region, I have been listening to, and playing, blues songs all my life. This song by Robert Johnson has been a big inspiration to me. In this new series, Let's Talk Lyrics, I discuss songs that have influenced me as a l...

#ritaguerrero #sergioloo #mexicanpoetry #mexicanrock #mexicocity #cdmx #santasabina  In this episode I explore the poignant story of how Mexican rock star Rita Guerrero's life intersected with that of Mexican poet Sergio Loo. Have a look at _Southwest Review_: https://southwestreview.com/ Subscribe to _Southwest Review_ here: https://southwestreview.com/subscribe/

In this episode I am interviewed by Robert Ehlert of the SMU Perspectives podcast.

In this episode I discuss the connection between ecstatic worship practices in twelfth-century Wales and those of twentieth-century Wales. I show how Pentecostal worship in the early twentieth century brought Welsh worshippers closer to their own ancestral language and its rich literary history. Later in the video, I link Welsh and Lebanese Pentecostal worship practices and discuss how speaking an...

In this episode I offer a new way of interpreting the fascinating and mysterious bread imagery in folktales about marriages between Welsh faery women and mortal men.

A number of people in nineteenth-century Wales claimed faery ancestry. Specifically, they said a woman of the tylwyth teg (the "beautiful family," or Welsh faeries) had married a mortal Welshman, and that they were her descendants. In this episode I point up some parallels between these nineteenth-century oral histories and much earlier Welsh stories about the origins of the British peop...

In this episode my poetry students at SMU invite you into the experience of 2024's total eclipse in Dallas, Texas, which occurred last month. The students talk about what it was like to see the eclipse, and then they read poems they wrote only fifteen minutes after totality. 

In this episode I respond to questions from viewers, discussing (1) the faery blood running in Welsh veins, (2) the magical pigs in The Four Branches of the Mabinogi and the connection between dreams and myths, and (3), just for fun, the upcoming Mike Tyson / Jake Paul fight and how it relates to Beowulf, Toby Keith, and the Spoon River Anthology. I also tell the story of my days as a member of a...

In this episode I discuss the meaning of the magical force of awen in Welsh culture and interpret a few stories about the tylwyth teg (the Welsh faeries).

In this episode I talk with renowned British historian Ronald Hutton about May Eve and May Day. Ronald offers tips as to how we might celebrate this wondrous holiday and weave it into our lives.

In this episode I tell about my recent experience celebrating a West Wales holiday called Hen Galan ("the Old New Year"). The centerpiece of the episode is my conversation with a young man named Carwyn, for whom Hen Galan and the historic pub where it is celebrated are of deep emotional and cultural importance. Bessie Davies, the woman and pub owner who did so much to keep Hen Galen aliv...

For this special Christmas edition of GBD, I set up in my dad's shop in Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas, and talked with him about what Christmas has meant to him through the different stages of his life. 

In this episode I discuss the personalities of professional fighters Alexander Volkanovski and Tyson Fury in connection with three songs by Robert Johnson, Merle Haggard, and Bob Dylan. Purchase Beekeeper Spaceman here: https://shop.bandwear.com/products/be... "Workin’ Man Blues" by Merle Haggard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EwK0... "Workingman's Blues #2" by Bob Dyla...

In this episode I describe the forgotten fall holiday called Michaelmas, give my thoughts on its meaning, and offer some ideas about how to celebrate it.

The scorching triple-digit heat in Texas (where I live) certainly isn't giving anyone a fall feeling, so I'm turning to autumnal poetry to change the emotional weather. In this episode I read and discuss seven poems that convey the enchantment of autumn. I recorded the video for this episode with my phone in a hotel room; forgive the less-than-amazing video quality. Links to the poems I...

This episode kicks off a special series on poetics, built around the idea of “wordhood.” I discuss a Dakota myth called "The Killing of Bead-Spitter" and why it matters to me.

On March 12, 2015, I gave this interview and lecture on Welsh poet Dylan Thomas at the Allen Public Library (TX) for its Celtic Month.

In this episode I speak with Professor Ronald Hutton in his office at the University of Bristol, discussing the value of participatory, experiential folklore scholarship: living the lore rather than studying it aloofly. Afterward, by way of example, I tell how my own direct experience of the May this year has deepened my understanding of the holiday and my sense of its enchantment. I also answer q...

In this episode I talk about a largely forgotten holiday called the May: May Eve (30 April) and May Day (1 May). I also discuss the mysterious May carols, which were traditionally sung this time of year.

This episode is a conversation with the eminent historian Ronald Hutton. I wanted to talk with him partly because I’m fascinated by obscure British holidays and how they add color, meaning, enchantment, and fun to the calendar, a topic on which Professor Hutton is the world’s leading authority. If you happen to share this interest, I highly recommend his 1996 book, The Stations of the Sun: A Histo...

This is my second audio episode featuring the English biologist Rupert Sheldrake, recorded during Christmastime in London. If you watched the short version of this episode (titled “The Logos and the Calendar”) on my YouTube channel, I still recommend listening to this audio episode. The video version is only twenty-three minutes long, whereas this long-form audio version contains over an hour of c...

In this episode I return to my undergraduate alma mater, Ouachita Baptist University, to sit a spell with Johnny Wink and Eric Brownderville (my brother). This is one of the most joyous conversations I've ever been a part of. —Greg and Eric reminisce about their first experiences as college students (4:56) —Eric runs into his former English professor somewhere he never would have expected to...

In this episode I pay a visit to the London home of the brilliant English biologist Rupert Sheldrake. Trust me, you don't want to miss this one: Rupert says one profound, fascinating thing after another. Also, he is at times downright hilarious, especially when he’s exposing the fundamentalism of the crotchety materialist Richard Dawkins and others like him. —pilgrimage (3:17) —the centrality...

In this episode recorded a few days before Christmas, I sit down with filmmaker Bart Weiss to talk about our experimental online project, Fire Bones (www.firebones.org). We also discuss imitation and originality, the relationship between head injuries and dysregulation of sleep, synesthesia and poetry, the art of filmmaking, Robert Frost's ideas about poetry writing, my upcoming trip to the U...