651. Skye Jackson

651. This week we talk to Skye Jackson about her poetry. Skye was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She writes about love, femininity and the challenges of navigating our modern world as a young Black woman. Her work has appeared in Palette Poetry, The Southern Review, RHINO, RATTLE and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbook A Faster Grave (2019) and her debut collection of poetry, Libre, which was recently published by Regalo Press and distributed nationally by Simon & Schuster.

650. Nathalie Dessens.

650. Nathalie Dessens is returning to her work on Gentilly and Creole New Orleans through the recent publication of Gentilly: A New Orleans Plantation in the French Atlantic World, 1818-1851 (a book she co-edited and translated with Virginia Meacham Gould. It features letters from the manager of the Gentilly plantation, providing insight into 19th-century plantation life and its connection to the city. Dessens is a historian who has previously written on the topic in her book Creole City: A Chronicle of Early American New Orleans. Nathalie Dessens is professor of history at the University of Toulouse.

649. Leah Payne

649. This week we chat with Leah Payne about her book, God Gave Rock and Roll To You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music. We focus especially on the role of the family of Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Mickey Gilley in the history of Rock and Roll. Her book chronicles the confluence of evangelical, Pentecostal, and charismatic networks through the lens of Contemporary Christian Music, or CCM.

648. Mike and Mark Mangham. Twin Blends.

648. This week, we talk with Mike and Mark Mangum about their creative venture, Twin Blends. They research local Shreveport and Bossier history The brothers join us to discuss the project’s origins, how they combine their individual styles into a unified final piece, and what it takes to manage a shared brand. Learn more about the Mangums’ work and the inspiration behind Twin Blends.

647. Brad Dison. "The Trap."

647. We talk to Brad Dison about his book, The Trap, about the death of Bonnie and Clyde. "For far too long, Sheriff Henderson Jordan's role in ending the crime spree of Bonnie and Clyde has been overlooked or ignored. On the rare occasion that he is portrayed in films or documentaries, he is depicted as an insignificant character. Since 1934, we have accepted the notion that Frank Hamer located the outlaws and led the ambush against them. Henderson Jordan was the sheriff in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, when he learned that Bonnie and Clyde were hiding somewhere within the jurisdiction that he had sworn to protect. It was he who tracked the gang to their hideouts, who set the trap to capture them, and who led the ambush posse that ended their crime spree in a hail of gunfire.

646. Thomas Smith

646. We talk to Dr. Thomas Smith about his series of Red String novels, set in 19^th century Mississippi River and Central Louisiana. His first novel in the series is Just a Piece of Red String: Antebellum Voodoo and Vengeance. In antebellum Natchez, Mississippi, and the bustling city of New Orleans, cousins Sawyer Dundee and Solomon Witcher come into manhood, each charting a dramatically different course. While Sawyer remains in Natchez to run the family business, the charismatic Solomon seeks his fortune, chasing legendary buried treasure and trying his luck at cards in New Orleans.

645 David Ballantyne, Part 2.

645. Part 2 of our interview with David Ballantyne about post Civil-War Reconstruction of the Red River Valley. He has given the history on the area in his book, Fractured Freedoms: Reconstruction in Central Louisiana. “Fractured Freedoms is a riveting history of central Louisiana from the 1860s to the 1890s, focusing on majority-Black Rapides Parish during Reconstruction.