17 episodes
Song Stories American Roots Music, UVa Fall 2019
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- Music
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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Podcasts & interviews created by first-year students in their first semester of coursework, from two sections of Dr. Sophie Abramowitz’s fall 2019 “American Roots Music” Writing & Rhetoric course at the University of Virginia (UVa). In the fall and winter of 2019, students in the Writing & Rhetoric course “American Roots Music” spent weeks researching, writing, narrating, producing, editing, and publishing original podcasts that told a story about a 20th century song of their choice. The parameters of the project were loose: any kind of song, and any kind of story. In response, students produced a diverse and brilliant array of stories about the sounds and histories of different kinds of songs. Each podcast is searching and exploratory, putting deft sonic descriptions into conversation with analyses that are creative and careful, historical and cultural, political and personal. Appended to the end of ten of these ten to fifteen-minute podcasts are interviews with each podcaster, conducted by Dr. Abramowitz. Interviews were recorded in February 2020, in-studio, by Mary Garner McGehee, the Project & Communications Coordinator at WTJU 91.1 FM Charlottesville. In these interviews, podcasters discuss their processes, dig deeper into their research and conclusions, and propose future directions for their skills in research, writing, and production. In alphabetical order, the podcasters are: Sharon Ahn, Carina Anderson, Grace Bassett, Jasmine Cao, Ana Cordova, Lukas Esser, Zoë Fields, Riley Fitzmaurice, Megan Hack, Danyele Heier, Rebecca Herzog, Daeja Hopkins, Bogdan Ion, Payton Jager, Maia Kantorowski, Miriam Mindel, and Ahana Rosha. The “Song Stories” podcast project is indebted to former UVa Music Research Librarian Abby Flanigan’s interactive research demonstrations; to WTJU 91.1 FM Station Manager Nathan Moore’s guest lecture on “writing for the ear”; and to UVa Multimedia Teaching & Learning Librarian Josh Thorud and UVa Educational Technologist Fang Yi, for their collaboration and their guidance with production technology. Sophie Abramowitz adapted the podcast assignment from a prompt written by Dr. Annie Galvin. The ten accompanying interviews with student podcasters were produced by Sophie Abramowitz, Aaryan Balu, Sarah Howorth, Mary Garner McGehee, and WTJU 91.1 FM. Mary Garner McGehee produced the on-air radio promos for the project. Sophie Abramowitz introduced the program in the recordings and wrote the individual podcast descriptions. Our logo was designed by the talented Zoë Fields, whose podcast is also a part of this project.
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Miriam Mindel on “Red Hill Mining Town” by U2 (1987)
In focusing on U2’s “Red Hill Mining Town,” Miriam Mindel’s rigorous and exploratory podcast integrates two mutually-informing analysis: in it, Miriam builds the history of labor abuse in Appalachia alongside her granular sonic and lyrical analysis of the song itself. Listening to what she calls “U2’s America,” Miriam expands the possibilities of the song and questions the possibilities of our future.
At the end of this podcast, you'll be able to hear an interview with its creator, where she digs deeper into her podcast research, conclusions, and production process. -
Grace Bassett on “Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones (1969)
In her podcast, Grace Bassett places “Gimme Shelter” at the center of the anti-war and Civil Rights movements as a song that, in her words, “somehow captured the feelings of impending doom felt by many Americans” in 1969. Using the lens of apocalypse to analyze the song’s lyrical and sonic chaos, the anxiety and righteous anger of the moment, and the biography of Merry Clayton (whose fiery vocals elevate the song’s power), Grace delves deeply into the song’s social overtones and brings them into the present.
At the end of this podcast, you'll be able to hear an interview with its creator, where she digs deeper into her podcast research, conclusions, and production process. -
Ana Cordova on “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton (1992)
Ana Cordova is interested in the relationship between music and emotions, and spends the duration of her podcast discussing these connections through the intersecting and diverging lenses of listener and artist. Strikingly, she does this through a mix of personal anecdote, close-listening, and scientific research, focusing on Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven”; his song about the death of his four-year-old son.
At the end of this podcast, you'll be able to hear an interview with its creator, where she digs deeper into her podcast research, conclusions, and production process. -
Payton Jager on “We Shall Overcome” by Pete Seeger (1963)
In her podcast, Payton Jager gives a brilliant and encompassing listen not just to Pete Seeger’s version of “We Shall Overcome,” but to the folk song in its myriad versions from slavery through labor strikes, the Highlander Folk School, the Civil Rights Era, and into the present. Asking what made the song so conspicuous and prevalent in the 1960s, Payton analyzes its musical qualities, its lyrics, and its cultural moment, situating it among other “freedom songs” and exploring the song’s political resonance today.
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Daeja Hopkins on “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey (1994)
Daeja Hopkins’s podcast on Mariah Carey’s mega-hit “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is generous and upbeat, honing in on the sounds of Carey’s “Christmas-y chords” and “cozy core sequence” as well as on her masterful vocal style. Beginning by asking why the song has had such enduring success, Daeja’s podcast is a paean to its music, to the holiday season, and to Mariah Carey herself.
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Carina Anderson on “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson (1982)
Where biographical writing often follows a chronological progression, Carina Anderson’s brilliant podcast approaches the question of how Jackson expresses himself through his music by focusing closely on specific lyrics, sounds, and instruments as vehicles for her complex and engaging discussions of the frenetic line that Jackson walks in his relationship to his race, gender, childhood, and sociality.