Summary: This week, a very special episode. Ozark Highlands Radio partners with Oxford American Magazine to bring Johnson City, Tennessee based up & coming contemporary folk and Americana superstar Amythyst Kiah, recorded live at South on Main in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. Also, an interview with Oxford American Literary Project executive director Ryan Harris. In this performance, Amythyst is joined by Taylor Green on keyboard and Andrew Gibbens on drums. “The Oxford American is a nonprofit organization with a mission to explore the complexity and vitality of the American South through excellent writing, visual art, and events programming. Our quarterly print magazine was founded in 1992, and, in addition to winning four National Magazine Awards, has helped launch the writing careers of such noted authors as Jesmyn Ward and John Jeremiah Sullivan, while publishing beloved writers like Charles Portis, Nikky Finney, Peter Guralnick, and many others. “Our concert series at South on Main in Little Rock is an extension of the magazine, creating meaningful opportunities for the community to experience the most culturally significant artists in our region. “The OA has a longstanding history of curating great music. Our Winter 2018 issue is dedicated to the music of North Carolina. It is our twentieth installment of the series, which the Houston Chronicle calls "the single best music-related magazine of any given year." Each music issue comes with a sought-after CD, curated by the editors to showcase the region's hugely varied musical legacy.” More information about Oxford American programming, the magazine, and their mission can be found at https://www.oxfordamerican.org “A professed Southern Gothic songster born in Chattanooga but based in Johnson City, Tennessee, Amythyst Kiah’s commanding stage presence is only matched by her raw and powerful vocals—a deeply moving, hypnotic sound that stirs echoes of a distant and restless past. Accoutered interchangeably with banjo, acoustic guitar, or a full band (Her Chest of Glass,) Amythyst’s toolbox is augmented by her scholarship of African-American roots music. Provocative and coolly fierce, her ability to cross the boundaries of blues and old-time through reinterpretation is groundbreaking and simply unforgettable. Amythyst Kiah is forging an important path from her musical ancestry to a multi-cultural generation with contemporary sensibilities and undeniable flair.” Learn more about Amythyst Kiah at… https://amythystkiah.com/about In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator and country music legacy Mark Jones offers a 1977 archival recording of Ozark original Aunt Ollie Gilbert performing the ballad “Springtime in Alaska,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
