Mississippi Arts Hour

Kristen Brandt sits down with Lauren Rhoades, a writer and editor living in Jackson, Mississippi. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lauren has served with AmeriCorps, started Mississippi's first fermentation company, and helmed the Eudora Welty House & Garden. She is now the director of grants at the Mississippi Arts Commission. In 2022, Lauren founded Rooted Magazine, an online publication dedicated to telling unfiltered stories about what it means to call Mississippi home. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the Mississippi University for Women. Kristen sits down with Lauren to discuss her debut memoir, Split the Baby: A Memoir in Pieces, which will release on June 3, 2025.

Larry Morrisey visits with Hattiesburg-based painter Andrea Kostyal. She describes her process of creating the “imaginary cityscapes” featured in her paintings. Kostyal also talks about the workshops she and her partners offer at the Singing River Art Studio in downtown Hattiesburg.If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast.  

Lauren Rhoades talks with composer, conductor, and keyboardist Buck McDaniel. Originally from Columbia, MS, Buck is now based in New York City, where he has worked as Music Coordinator on the forthcoming film The History of Sound, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, and conducted a special choral collaboration with Sam Smith and Sharon Stone on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, among other projects. On the Arts Hour, Buck discusses his newest solo piano work, “Any Room is a Room to Read In,” inspired by Eudora Welty’s writings on creativity and place. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast.  

MAC Executive Director David Lewis speaks with Thabi Moyo, the local festival manager for the National Folk Festival. David and Thabi discuss her pursuit and cultivation of the local arts community that has led her to lead the upcoming National Folk Festival, November 7-9, 2025, in Jackson. The National Council on Traditional Arts produces the festival, and Jackson, Mississippi, will be the host city for the next three years. It is the first time the festival has ever been held in the Deep South. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast.  

Maria Zeringue talks with photographer Adam Shemper. Shemper is a native of Hattiesburg, where his most recent exhibition “Light in These Hills: Oxford Mississippi” was on display at Prospect Gallery. He is also this year’s recipient of the Photography Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast

Larry Morrisey visits with veteran southern soul performer and Delta native Nathaniel Kimble. They talk about Kimble's musical roots in the northern Delta, his start with a radio hit, and life on the road in the southern soul circuit. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast.  

Kristen Brandt talks with Benjamin Morris, poet and author of a newly released poetry collection, The Singing River. Benjamin holds a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh and is a two-time recipient of the Literary Artist Fellowship for poetry. He has also been honored by the Academy of American Poets and the Chancellor's Medal for Poetry from the University of Cambridge.

Lauren Rhoades talks with poet and fiction writer Olivia Clare Friedman whose most recent collection of poetry, AN ARM FIXED TO A WING, was published by LSU Press. The poems in this book seek out the spiritual elements that haunt the everyday, the divine wing fastened to an earthly arm. Elegies and poems of nostalgia appear alongside pieces celebrating the speaker’s present moment, with the underlying knowledge that such moments slip past too easily. Friedman is director of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. Listen as they discuss Olivia Clare Friedman's journey as an artist, the creation of her collection of poems, and her decision to return to her Southern roots.

Kristen Brandt talks with Chad Edwards. Chad is a photographer and wax-rubbing artist based in Laurel, MS. He is a tour manager and social media promoter for Cary Hudson of the southern rock band Blue Mountain. Chad has also been a featured artist, has done photography for HGTV’s Home Town, shared his skills through workshops at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, and has published photographs in Legends Magazine. If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, please consider contributing to MPB.  https://donate.mpbfoundation.org/mspb/podcast.