Points South

Thanks to Adia Victoria’s mention of the show on her podcast Call and Response, I found this excellent project. Equal parts good music, enlightening topics, scholarship and always relating back to the South’s underlying thread, this podcast is masterful.

Thank you Oxford American, an amazing magazine by the way. Thanks also to the incomparable Ms. Victoria.

Since its premiere this has been my favorite podcast! I rarely sit down to read a whole issue of any magazine, so even though I’m a subscriber to OA, I tend to get interested in pieces through the podcast and then go back to the issue or topic referenced and read in the magazine. Dr. Lewis is knowledgeable on the subjects and conducts great interviews—personable but full of interesting facts! I recommend this podcast! Five stars

I look forward to each episode, and always learn something. This podcast is a wonderful companion to one of the best print magazines in publication.

As good as the magazine...and that’s a hard thing to do

Episode 5’s segment on the life of Clyde Kinnard, and his persecution by the Jim Crow institutions of 1950s Mississippi, should be mandatory education for every college freshman. Kinnard’s story is another one of the innumerable tragedies of Mississippi’s “Reconstruction” century. The despicable role that a university’s leadership played, in Kinnard’s fraudulent prosecution and imprisonment, gives a perspective on the “redneck PhD” culture at a major university. The presenter’s interview of an e... more

I really want to like this podcast. The topics certainly are interesting, and the idea to have a mini audio version of the OA - an excellent magazine that I would subscribe to if I didn’t live in Germany - is a good one.

But the production values are just not up to my expectations- at more than an hour for a non-established show, the program far exceeds the time I have to explore a few topics amid a huge array of other offerings. I am sure that Ms. Lewis is a good writer and editor, and she ha... more

Rhiannon Giddens’ insightful analysis saves this from getting only a single star. As Giddens says, the “rub” between black and white Southerners played an important role in the development of early country music. But the initial episode’s thesis that the primary impetus for the development of country music lies with African-Americans is thinly supported at best and is obviously driven by the political trends of the moment. And the argument that tries to lump together the Carter Family, Jimmie Ro... more

My first podcast and looking forward to more! Love the information and style of the podcast. Great job!

Congrats on the first epidsode! Looking forward to hearing more soon!