After surveying all of the available new Christmas and holiday themed music that I could find, I came up with a tidy playlist of nine noteworthy songs to share here in an episode that departs from our usual artist interview format. Here, we play full songs in several sets, with some back stories on each artist and song. Ranging from the elegant, folky take on “Coventry Carol” by The Milk Carton Kids to country leaning Americana in “Layaway Momma” from Adam Chaffins, to previous Southern Songs and Stories guest The Get Right Band and other fellow western NC artists, this episode celebrates an array of styles and perspectives on the season.

With list in hand, little Joey Kendrick sits happily on Santa’s lap across from sister Leigh, who ponders the validity of the this oddly formal and forced tradition. Circa 1976.

Included here is a special from Christmas past, from my days producing the radio show What It Is on public radio WNCW, with founding panelists Jeff Eason and Fred Mills. We celebrated Jeff’s life and many contributions to music and journalism after his passing in 2018 on this podcast, in the episode “Remembering Jeff Eason”. Following the music portion of this episode, we take you back fifteen years, to a time when What It Is was just two years old. You will hear a younger version of me (with a cold) talking by phone with Jeff and Fred in two short episodes, detailing some of our favorite holiday music as well as the Christmas and holiday music we would love to do without.

Songs heard in this episode:

Dulci Ellenberger “Colorful Christmas”

Ana Egge “Silver Bells Ring”

John Doyle and Mick McAuley “Gleann na-Ean”

The Get Right Band “Christmas As A Kid”

The Pinkerton Raid, “Happy XMas (War Is Over)”, from Winter Songs By Other People

Adam Chaffins “Layaway Momma”

JD Clayton “Your Favorite Christmas Song”

The Milk Carton Kids “Coventry Carol”, from Christmas In A Minor Key

Jenn Grant “Bells Are Ringing”

Thanks for listening! We hope you can help spread awareness of what we are doing. It is as easy as telling a friend and following this podcast on your platform of choice, so easy! You can find us on Apple here, and YouTube here — hundreds more episodes and many hundreds more artists await you.

From there it takes just a moment to give us a top rating, and where it is an option, a review! It makes a great difference because the more top reviews and ratings we get, the more visible we become to everyone on those platforms, which means that more people just like you connect with artists like The Get Right Band, Dulci Ellenberger, John Doyle, and literally hundreds more we have profiled that are at your fingertips. Speaking of Silas Durocher and The Get Right Band, their episode from 2023 stands the test of time, and you can find that by looking up “Psychedelia in the Carolinas Then and Now With The Get Right Band and Ken Friedman” on southernsongsandstories.com, as well as the search feature on your podcast platform of choice.

This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks also to Jaclyn Anthony for producing the radio adaptations of this series on WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs — you can link to his music here. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick

To be honest, I had never considered The Get Right Band to be psychedelic, and before hearing their album iTopia, had thought of them more as a kind of power pop group. But when I started diving in, one of the first things that jumped out was their own description of themselves as a “psychedelic indie rock power trio”, which was a kind of “a-ha” moment, because I was also listening to the new compilation Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s and thinking of how to include it in an episode here. Although Psychedelic States and iTopia were separated by more than a fifty year span, and by their overall sound -- with The Get Right Band producing a far more crisp, bright and layered collection than what the scores of bands in the Psychedelic States compilation made -- the through line was undeniable: all of these songs are from North and South Carolina artists who are tagged as “psychedelic”. These were simultaneous discoveries that were just begging to be put side by side. First, we have a current band that proclaims to be psychedelic which I had not thought of in that context (iTopia certainly is), and second, we have a massive, three disc compilation of first generation psychedelic bands that were all but forgotten -- with the overall feeling of discovering an extinct species in our backyard, only to find that there is a ‘Psychedelisaurus’ alive and well in the same area.

Starting with the dawn of psychedelia in the mid 1960s, there has been a veritable rabbit hole of trippy music coming from both of the Carolinas, which Ken Friedman helped document in the new three volume set Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s. Carrying the mantle of mind bending music in 2023 is Asheville NC trio The Get Right Band, who have released the concept album iTopia, their sixth and most ambitious collection. In this episode, you will hear from The Get Right Band’s front man Silas Durocher and radio veteran and record hound Ken Friedman about the history of psychedelic music in the Carolinas, how the Psychedelic States compilation came into being against some pretty tall odds, and about The Get Right Band’s new album, its concept and creation, and musical excerpts from both collections.

Bands from Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s

Songs heard in this episode:

The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night”, excerpt

“iTopia” by The Get Right Band, from iTopia

“If I Had It” by The Wyld, from Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s, excerpt

“Black Holes of Negativity part 3 (saying no)” by The Get Right Band, from iTopia, excerpt

“I Guess That’s Why” by Teen-Beets, from Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s, excerpt

“Hell Yes, Refresh” by The Get Right Band, from iTopia

Thank you for visiting, and are even more grateful whenever you share this with someone. Please follow us on your podcast platform of choice, and then it will only take a minute to give it a good rating and, where it is an option, a review. Great ratings, and reviews especially, will make Southern Songs and Stories and the artists it profiles more likely to be found by more people just like you. This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes of this podcast on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, where we worked with Joshua Meng who wrote and performed our theme songs. Thanks also to our guests, and we encourage you to check out their work.

Want to hear more about North Carolina’s often overlooked musical legacy? In this episode Ken Friedman mentioned that Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple were among the kids who picked up on the vibe of local acts like Teen-Beets -- Stamey and Holsapple would form The dB’s, who were hugely influential and popular in the New Wave era. My hunch is that you would probably enjoy our previous episode titled We Thought You Wanted To Know, Too: Peter Holsapple and The dB’s

Also, there is much more conversation with Silas Durocher and Ken Friedman that did not make it into this episode. So if you’re wanting to hear those in full, please let me know, and you can find me on social media and by email at southernsongsandstories.com.

This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. — Joe Kendrick

Artist stereotypes do not apply

How many times have parents cringed when their children fell in love with a musician? Let's be honest, the world has looked askance at artists of all stripes (with notable exceptions) for most of our history. Musicians tend to be thought of as people who may be great at their art but who are nonetheless pretty bad at life skills like paying bills, getting to work on time, and sticking with the missus.

Aaron turns all those stereotypes on their head; he is not only a fantastic songwriter and musician, but he also runs his own construction business and is a devoted family man living a stone's throw from where he grew up in the western NC mountains. He is as meticulous and intense about his guitar and ballads as he is about his green built homes and raising his two girls.

As you'll see in our pilot episode, Aaron does both life and art exceptionally well. The folks around him are a big part of that.