[gentle bluegrass music] [Billy Bob Thornton] The South is made for writers.

[Adia Victoria] I think the things that unify people in the South are the same things that unify all people.

[David Joy] Drawing a singular image of our people, that's where things get difficult or rather impossible.

[gentle music] Spend enough time here, but keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth closed and you may come to know this place.

[gentle music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [crowd cheering] - Howdy, folks!

It is so good to see y'all here tonight.

Thank you for coming to the show.

I'm Jason Isbell.

We're the 400 Unit.

We're from Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

[music "Something More Than Free"] ♪ When I get home from work ♪ ♪ I'll call up all my friends ♪ ♪ And we'll go bust up somethin' beautiful ♪ ♪ We'll have to build again ♪ ♪ When I get home from work ♪ ♪ I'll wrestle off my clothes ♪ ♪ And leave 'em right inside the front door ♪ ♪ Nobody's home to know ♪ ♪ You see that hammer finds the nail ♪ ♪ And the freight train needs a rail ♪ ♪ I guess I'm doin' what I'm on this Earth to do ♪ ♪ I don't think of why I'm here or where it hurts ♪ ♪ I'm just lucky to have the work ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle guitar music] ♪ ♪ How's your level?

Good.

[Crew Member] Yeah, we're all good.

- Okay.

This is the Tennessee River.

This is actually the Wilson Lake.

So one side of the dam is the river and the other side's the lake, you know.

[guitar music] I spent a lotta time down here growing up.

My dad would take me fishing.

We had a little flat bottom boat for a while when I was a kid.

This is also where I would come as a teenager to hang out with my friends.

I think the first time I got legitimately drunk, I was right down here on the river drinking Zimas in the '90s.

[gentle guitar music] ♪ ♪ ♪ There's a warm wind blowin' through the laundromat ♪ ♪ There's a young man cryin' in a cowboy hat ♪ ♪ We've got square toed boots so we ain't for real ♪ ♪ Wouldn't last five minutes on a bed of steel ♪ ♪ But I remember you in that place in post ♪ ♪ You're thick cut bacon on Texas toast ♪ ♪ Prairie dogs poppin' up to see ♪ ♪ Strawberry woman sittin' next to me ♪ ♪ Strawberry woman sittin' next to me ♪ ♪ Monday mornin' wake up slow ♪ ♪ It was Friday night two hours ago ♪ ♪ I'd sell the farm to see you smile ♪ ♪ Well, it might just happen if I wait awhile ♪ ♪ I may go stay out in the woods ♪ ♪ Some time apart could do us good ♪ ♪ And I've been to heaven in a 6th Street bar ♪ ♪ Strawberry woman and an old guitar ♪ ♪ Strawberry woman and an old guitar ♪ ♪ ♪ You have to try to remain vulnerable to the person that you care about the most.

At first, she didn't think it was about her 'cause I've never called her that before.

And she was like, "I'm not a strawberry blonde."

I was like, "It's not about your hair.

It's about you literally look like a strawberry."

But [chuckles]...

But, um, it's nice as a songwriter to have the technique of revisiting earlier times in your relationship, 'cause sometimes that's what you really need to do.

You need to find a way to go back to where you were, you know, at the start, and that's hard to do.

And I'll tell ya, if you can write a song that will express how you feel about your partner to your partner, then people are probably gonna like it.

This has been something that has held consistent in my career for a long time.

And I know my partner's probably harder on songs than most people are, but one of my most effective methods is write a song for my wife and then sing it to her, and if she likes it, everybody else is gonna like it, too.

That's worked pretty much every single time.

♪ Knowing that this can't go on forever ♪ ♪ Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone ♪ ♪ Maybe we'll get 40 years together ♪ ♪ But one day I'll be gone ♪ ♪ One day you'll be gone ♪ [gentle music] - There you go.

I think, like I don't wanna speak for him, but when he was newly sober and everything, it's hard to find your identity again and trust yourself and all that.

So I was good for, I think, um, telling him that he could trust himself.

[Jason sighs] [bright guitar music] - Being a guitar player first, [strumming] before I started writing any songs, it was a big advantage and something I'm very grateful for because, you know, when I go to- to compose a melody, I had a better concept of what works, what creates tension and release.

This [gentle guitar music] and this [somber guitar music] are worlds away emotionally.

I mean, you know, an A major chord [strums] and an A minor chord... [strums] Wow.

You know the difference in that, it would take full paragraphs for me to describe to you the difference between those two feelings when all I have to do is move that one note one half step.

[alternating minor and major chords] That's pretty amazing that you can manipulate, you know, human emotion that way that quickly.

♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪ ♪ Don't drink and drive you won't spill it ♪ ♪ Don't ask too many questions or you'll never get to sleep ♪ ♪ There's a hole inside you, fill it ♪ ♪ Shower up and shave ♪ ♪ Put flowers on the grave ♪ ♪ And ask the Lord to save his soul ♪ ♪ Although you know that it's too late ♪ ♪ Was it 27 times ♪ ♪ Or was it 29 ♪ ♪ I heard the blade broke off inside the man ♪ ♪ And he took a while to die ♪ ♪ How did you get so low ♪ ♪ Seems like just a week ago we were 10 and 12 years old ♪ ♪ And he was sweet and soft ♪ ♪ He shied away from the inside fast balls ♪ ♪ And died doin' life without parole ♪ ♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪ ♪ Don't wash the cast iron ♪ - That's Ramona.

[bag rustles] And this is Ricky.

Come here, Ricky.

[chicken clucking] Well, you just wanna be petted?

What I can tell you about livin' out here, you know, in the country and land and all this, like I can do whatever I want right here.

Like, I'm the boss of this whole thing.

When I step foot outside the driveway, I'm not the boss anymore.

But not that I wanna boss everybody around, just like, you know, I can control that I don't use non-organic pesticides and I can control that when I grow my own food that it's not gonna poison me, and I can control, like things I'd like to see in the world really, too.

Zach's good at helping me figure out chords though, too.

We did that recently.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I was like, "What is this chord?"

And you're like, "The same one you've been playing, genius."

[fiddle tuning] [gentle guitar music] [Amanda vocalizing] - One, two, one, two, three.

[discord fiddle music] Let's do that again.

- You didn't like that one?

[chuckles] I didn't like that one.

- It was okay, I liked that one.

- Okay.

[chuckles] Do it again.

- Okay.

- It's your song.

- No, no, I'll do what you like 'cause, you know.

[Zach] One, two, one, two, three.

[discord fiddle music] - Just kidding, one more time.

[Zach laughs] Just wanted to do it one more time.

Okay.

- All right.

One, two, one, two, three, four.

[music "Mineral Wells"] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ In '81 I was just a drink ♪ ♪ On the shelf ♪ ♪ A daiquiri ♪ ♪ Not even a thought ♪ ♪ Till sometime in July ♪ ♪ Sometime in July ♪ ♪ Somethin' happened in '84 ♪ ♪ I ended up with two places to be from ♪ ♪ The only tree with leaves in Lubbock ♪ ♪ With roots in Mineral Wells ♪ ♪ Mineral Wells ♪ ♪ And at night I dream I'm in the Brazos River ♪ ♪ Pines and cypress of the West Cross Timbers ♪ ♪ And oh, I know ♪ ♪ It shows ♪ ♪ I'm another one still thirstin' for my home ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ There's a spot under the train track trestles ♪ ♪ The water's too deep to stand in ♪ ♪ And you were there once ♪ ♪ We'd climb the sandstone and jump in ♪ ♪ Hold your breath and jump in ♪ ♪ We'd take the air boats way upstream ♪ ♪ Heat's tirin' and I'd fall asleep ♪ ♪ In my folding chair ♪ ♪ I dreamed Dad was smokin' cigarettes ♪ ♪ He always had one hangin' from his lips ♪ ♪ And at night I'd dream I'm in the Brazos River ♪ ♪ Tanks and cypress of the West Cross Timbers ♪ ♪ And oh, I know ♪ ♪ It shows ♪ ♪ I'm another one still thirstin' for my home ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Woo!

- Yeehaw.

I wrote that one when I first moved from Lubbock to Nashville.

Not first-first, but I'd moved here in end of 2003 or 2004, and I think it took leaving and missing the sense of place and connection to people to appreciate what I, I guess what I had and what's there.

Shires' songwriting process.

She leans upon the Bowflex running machine.

No.

I have a journal that I use and, uh, for my writing times, which I do write every day for anywhere from two minutes to twenty.

If I am so lucky, I'll write for a whole day at a time.

And I highlight the good parts and I put these good parts onto these little index cards.

I also collect things people say.

Just like, you can hear poetry and meter in the way people talk.

'Cause that's what it is.

You know, Dylan Thomas-esque or even Robert Frost if we get into iambic pentameter, but people speak in a rhythm anyway and I can't help but hear that type of music.

So, when I hear stuff that sounds musical then I write it down, or if it's funny or if it's sad or just if the way the couplet falls is good then I, I don't call it stealing.

I call it noticing.

[chuckles] For instance, "synaptic detours," which I feel like I have all the time.

And I got my more serious ones, like, "The life you save may be your own."

Like, you can make that be something in a song.

"A bandana is a useful handkerchief, but a handkerchief is a useless-ass bandana."

Not sure why I wrote that down, but...

This is one John Prine told me.

If you don't find a pearl, an oyster is your world.

[music "Summertime"] ♪ Summertime ♪ [Willie] ♪ Summertime ♪ - ♪ And the livin's easy ♪ ♪ Fish are jumpin' ♪ [together] ♪ And the cotton is high ♪ - ♪ Oh, your daddy's rich ♪ [together] ♪ Yeah, your mama's good lookin' ♪ - ♪ So hush, little baby ♪ [together] ♪ Don't you cry ♪ [Amanda] ♪ One of these mornin's ♪ [together] ♪ You're gonna rise up singin' ♪ [Amanda] ♪ Then you'll spread your wings ♪ [together] ♪ And you'll take to the sky ♪ ♪ But until that mornin' ♪ [Amanda] ♪ Nothin's gonna harm ya ♪ ♪ Not with your daddy ♪ ♪ And your mama standin' by ♪ - Four dollars a bunch?

Dayum!

Yeah, I like that.

You want the little ones, 'cause if you buy any bigger, it's tough.

- And I eat your okra soup and I don't like okra.

So that says something.

- That's true.

Yeah, that's what we should make.

That's easy enough, pot of okra soup.

Okra, tomatoes, and corn.

All right, get about 10 more, we good.

Perfect.

Okay, good.

[dishes clattering] A good Southern meal as my grandmother would put it in outskirts of Birmingham in Jefferson County where she was born.

And my grandmother cooked her first meals here with her mother.

And my grandmother used to be like this, "Well come here."

She'd be like this.

"Stay still to not move the okra on my head."

And that was just how we did it.

So I would have my little okra horns.

Sometimes they would just stay there for like 20, 30 minutes 'cause of stickiness.

And I realized many years later my grandmother was trying to induct me into a culture.

You know, okra is from the Kwa languages of Coastal West Africa.

In Ashanti, the word is nkru.

In Igbo the word is okro.

So, here you have this word okra, right?

And then you go down the coast a little bit and it's [speaking foreign language].

And in Louisiana, they called it [speaking foreign language].

And it just means that the women of those different ethnic groups had to at some point sit together, talk out how to make a culture in an exotic foreign place and figure out their identity.

And so we're not really used to having that discussion about the enslaved, and especially enslaved women, having this intellectual moment where they had to really determine how they were gonna preserve this very ancient civilization with the most mundane of things, food.

[oil sizzling] ♪ I wish I knew how it would feel to be free ♪ ♪ I wish I could break all the chains holding me ♪ ♪ I wish I could say all the things that I should say ♪ ♪ Say 'em loud, say 'em clear ♪ ♪ For the whole round world to hear ♪ -Mmm.

A Black man was lynched in Ohio in 1892 for standing around a white neighborhood.

I want you to think about what the last meals of these men and women were.

What does it mean to be a Black woman who cooks on a plantation who bears your slaveholder's children?

What is the kitchen at that point?

The kitchen becomes a space of trauma and turmoil.

Not just a space where you make good food.

I mean those are the narratives that get woven out of the glorification of the South as a "Moonlight and Magnolias" place.

[somber music] Oh my God.

[somber music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - I am from Mississippi, but I just got a email that I just closed on my first place in Atlanta.

So, yeah.

[audience cheers] It's a good day, good day.

And my novel is "Concrete Rose," which is a prequel to my first novel, "The Hate U Give," and it follows 17-year-old Maverick, and it takes place in 1998 and 1999, and that makes it historical fiction.

I am sorry.

[audience laughs] Oh my God!

Like, my first virtual event, a kid asked me, "So what's a beeper?"

[audience gasps and laughs] And some of you are in here right now, like, [whispers] "What's a beeper?"

[audience laughs] But yeah, so that's my book, "Concrete Rose."

It's historical fiction.

[laughs] [audience applauding] [dog barking] No, no, no, no, no.

They're cheering for me, they're not threatening me!

They're cheering!

♪ If I was a bird, I'd fly away ♪ ♪ But I ain't a bird so I've gotta stay ♪ - These are all copies of "The Hate U Give" in different languages and from different countries.

It's been published in over 30 languages now and that's incredible.

That's at our old house, yeah.

I didn't know we were poor.

I didn't know we were struggling sometimes.

I mean, I heard gunshots sometimes, but I thought everybody did.

My mom and my grandmother did a good job of protecting me from a lotta that stuff and shielding me from a lotta that stuff.

- That's the way my parents were.

- That's me, that's fifth grade Christmas party.

I dealt with a lotta bullying in middle school.

I felt like I didn't belong, and I'm tearin' up talking about that, but that's what I think about when I write books, and I write for these kids who often do feel alone is something I get because I went through it in middle school so bad.

- It was hell.

- The bullying really affected my mental health to the point that I was suicidal.

I had a day where I was ready to- - End it.

- End it all.

Take my life.

That's why I write for young people.

That's why I write for that age group, you know.

A lotta times adults are like, "Why write for kids?

Why write for teenagers?

Why do that?"

You know, "You could do something so much more meaningful by writing for adults."

No.

You write for kids now where they are now, and that's the most meaningful time in their lives when you can change their lives, you can save their lives.

So, I take it seriously.

I take it real seriously.

I feel like my entire neighborhood is in my books.

You know, there are so many people and experiences that get stereotyped a lotta times in stories, and for me, I know the real people.

And our stories deserve to be heard.

Our lives have value, our stories have value, and I wish more people realized that.

I know for Black people in Mississippi, our stories either weren't told or we were not humanized in the stories of others.

[dramatic music] [Starr] Mama and Daddy were born in Garden Heights.

Their first kiss was in the Haven Acres Projects.

Daddy says our life is here 'cause our people are here.

We got Mr. Reuben's BBQ, Mr. Lewis's barbershop, a Walmart 32 minutes away, and Daddy's store.

Carter's Grocery is where you get your milk, Newport Shorts, Hot Cheetos, hot gossip, and anything else that you might need in a hurry.

Mama thinks Daddy is scared of change.

She left The Garden when she was a little girl and she wants us to get out, too.

Either way, you gotta stay ready 'cause Garden Heights is always gonna be ready for you.

- So a lotta this inspired the locations in "The Hate U Give."

When we talk about the South and Southern experiences, it's more than just those old slavery stories.

There's so many rich histories that have not been explored, and we deserve that chance.

The literary cannon has kept us out.

When I wasn't at the library, I was here [chuckles] all the time.

I played basketball on those courts over there.

I learned how to shoot threes from the drug dealers.

A year before we moved, a guy was shot and killed right there.

Yeah, I remember.

I saw his body laying in the street, like...

So they're shooting like they don't even see us there.

So we're over there, and the other one, he takes off that way, and I rode my bike to that exit and got out of the park.

But considering how they were shooting, one was here, one was there, I could have gotten hit, so I guess you followed the- - I did.

- You just followed the path.

- I followed that path 'cause I knew that street, it would go- - It runs into Martin Luther King.

- Yeah.

- She just said, "We're going to the library."

- 'Cause I needed her to see something else, to know that that wasn't life for everybody, and that didn't have to be for her.

- No!

[Angie] You don't wanna be on camera?

- No.

- Yeah!

- What's that for?

[Angie] It's for a documentary!

- All right.

- Yeah, I used to live here.

I grew up in the house, the third house from here, and like I'm an author now.

I got movie called "The Hate U Give," they made it- - Oh!

- I watched that movie!

- That's you?

- That's you?

[Angie] Yeah, that's me.

Yeah, that's me.

- That's you?

Y'all, ain't no way!

[both laugh] - She done wrote, you know "The Hate U Give"?

She wrote it!

[Child] That's her!

- Okay.

[laughs] [gentle music] All right.

Yeah, that's me.

And I'm from here.

I grew up here.

- A little bit, but you just have to keep at it.

Don't sell yourself short because it can unlock a whole lotta opportunities, and you can do more than you think you can.

I can say right now that half the folks that are in office aren't caring about those kids at that park.

But as a writer, that's what I think about.

And I feel like that's my responsibility as an author to show who they are, that they exist.

You wrote this?

- I did.

- Yes!

I feel honored to do this.

Okay, which color you want?

- Let's stick with the gold.

- Congratulations, y'all.

I am so happy for you.

- I'm the last one- - You, too?

- Yeah.

[laughs] - Look at all this Black girl, yes!

Yes!

I love it.

All right.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

Thank you!

It was so nice meeting y'all.

[Fan] Thanks.

[gentle music] [family chattering] - I'll take one, too.

- You and Dad.

One for you.

Take one.

- I don't think Sam's is lit.

[Qui] Do you wanna talk, Mom?

- Yeah, yeah.

- You talk to Grandma?

[speaking in Vietnamese] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle music] - When I think about, like, the people in my life that brought me to becoming a storyteller, like my grandmother is without a doubt one of the first and foremost people.

My grandmother would constantly talk at me, just like would tell me story after story after story.

And I remember always saying [speaking in Vietnamese] And my grandmother, she said to me, "I keep telling you these stories because the only thing I have of value are my stories, because when I left Vietnam to come here, I was escaping.

I didn't have a chance to- to pack my bags, bring jewelry, photo albums, anything like that.

So the only thing I have to give you is stories.

This is what I have to give you."

And when she said that, it made me realize that story is the only thing any of us have of value.

It's the thing that we carry with us each and every day, it's the things we collect as we live life, it's the things we bestow onto our kids, to an audience, and it's the thing that we hold onto in our last dying days.

[gentle music] [dragon speaking in Vietnamese] [Raya speaking in Vietnamese] [Child] What's that?

- It's "Raya and the Last Dragon," but in Vietnamese.

So, Grandma can understand it 'cause her English isn't as strong, but we have it in Vietnamese now.

[dragon speaking in Vietnamese] [Qui] I think the single thing that inspires me the most is my family.

I'm either writing something to celebrate my mom and my dad, or I'm writing something to inspire my kids.

Like "Raya and the Last Dragon," I got to make an Asian superhero for my kids in Raya.

[dragon speaking in Vietnamese] - It's a story, it's of my mom, my dad, my grandmother, myself, my brothers, literally living and growing up here in El Dorado, Arkansas.

[Qui] Okay.

The spot right here that I'm about to drive by is actually the site of my mom's diner.

Right here, All About Insurance.

Used to be East Main Dairy Diner right here.

And my mom, when she decided that she didn't want to work for anyone anymore, opened this diner.

She was a waitress here.

They were selling it and she decided that this was a great opportunity for her to define her life.

Hey, mama.

- Hi, son.

I love you.

[Qui] Hi.

Hello.

And we grew up in this, this is where all our stories come from.

You know, like when I think of like Southern culture, when I think of what I love about being a Southerner is, you know, we're encircled by stories.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday dear Dad and Junior ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ - Woo!

- Who's gonna blow 'em out?

Dad!

Woo!

[Family Member] It came back on.

- You blew it back on.

Might be a talent, I guess.

[Child] Wait, it made a fire jump to- [Qui] Yeah, it's our family tree.

- Ah, family.

Yeah, very nice.

- Family tree.

Very amusing young man.

[both speaking in Vietnamese] [Qui laughs] - Good job!

- Oh my God, oh, here's like a short story I tried to write.

"Small Town Boys."

[chuckles] "Dear journal entry, it's Friday night, I'm stuck here at home staring at a terribly unentertaining television set.

The programs and commercials that continue to flash before my eyes as I channel surf have as much appeal as an elderly couple stuck in an elevator grooving to the tunes being played before them.

In other words, I'm bored."

I glued it on a piece of paper, I don't know why glued it into a notebook, but that felt like a right thing.

Oh, I tried a pen name Lehigh Tran was a thing.

Oh yeah, this is a moment when I thought, oh, it'd be clever if I could-could be a pen name 'cause I was reading a lot of like Stephen King and I remember he had like a pen name.

I was like, oh, I'll try that.

I think the world, I think a lotta people have a very probably stereotypical idea of what a Southerner looks like or feels like or sounds like, and I would say probably a lot of people probably wouldn't guess this face being part of it.

And yet I'm completely part of the Southern fabric.

[gentle music] - I love you, Mom.

- I love you, too.

Yeah.

[chuckles] - Oh, now that's recorded.

Now that's really good.

I can't wait for Huang and Junior to see that.

[both laugh] [gentle music] ♪ ♪ [buffer whirring] [sandpaper scratching] [drill whirs] [gentle music] ♪ ♪ [gentle guitar music] [guitar tuning] [guitar tuning] [gentle music] [toes tapping] ♪ All God's critters got a place in the choir ♪ ♪ Some sing low, some sing higher ♪ ♪ Some sing out loud on the telephone wire ♪ ♪ Some just clap their hands, paws, or anything they got ♪ [gentle guitar music] [toes tapping] ♪ ♪ ♪ Listen to the bass ♪ ♪ It's the one on the bottom ♪ ♪ Where the bullfrog croaks ♪ ♪ And the hippopotamus moans and groans with a big to do ♪ ♪ The milk cow just says moo ♪ ♪ All God's critters got a place in the choir ♪ ♪ Some sing low and some sing higher ♪ ♪ Some sing out loud on the telephone wire ♪ ♪ Some just clap their hands, paws, or anything they got now ♪ [gentle guitar music] [toes tapping] ♪ ♪ ♪ The dogs and the cats, they take up the middle ♪ ♪ While the hummingbird sings and the ♪ - That's not right.

♪ The dogs and the cats, they take up the middle where the ♪ ♪ The dogs and the cats they take up the middle while the ♪ Ah, I got it now.

♪ The dogs and the cats, they take up the middle ♪ ♪ While the honeybee hums ♪ ♪ The cricket fiddles ♪ ♪ The donkey brays and the pony neighs ♪ ♪ The old guy only howls ♪ ♪ All God's critters got a place in the choir ♪ ♪ Some sing low and some sing higher ♪ ♪ Some sing out loud on the telephone wire ♪ ♪ Some just clap their hands, paws, or anything they got now ♪ [gentle guitar music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Bell sings.

It's still ringing.

As a child, singing was a big part of every day.

We started every day with devotion.

We're Missouri Synod Lutheran and our congregation will be 150 years old next year.

My grandfather's grandfather, my great-great grandfather was one of the founding members in the Klein community in north Harris County down here in Texas.

♪ As we wander around in this dangerous world ♪ ♪ Thank Mother Maria ♪ ♪ There's nothing so sweet as the undying love ♪ ♪ Of a South Texas girl ♪ You know, there's something about hearing a melody that you've known since you were, well, since before you can remember that just connects you to- to your whole life.

♪ And the wind blew the echoes of long faded voices ♪ ♪ And they would sing me a song ♪ ♪ That the old cowboys sang ♪ ♪ And I didn't know ♪ I used to love the way adults spoke and how they told stories.

It was storytelling just about life and survival.

♪ Wander around in this dangerous world ♪ ♪ Thank Mother Maria ♪ ♪ There's nothing so sweet ♪ ♪ As the undying love of a South Texas girl ♪ [gentle music] [hair dryer whirring] I grew up involved with horses, always had horses on the place.

Was more involved because of my family with running quarter horses.

And I've just been so proud to be a part of this horse's life all these years.

His combined offspring have earned over a million dollars now.

[keys jangling] [camera clicks] [Photographer] And then how about, do you mind kinda interacting a little bit?

- Nope.

[Photographer] There ya go.

- Get his ears.

You don't wanna use any shots like this with them back like that.

[Photographer] Okay.

- And they do have kind of a limit.

[Cameraman] Oh, there you go.

[gentle music] [horse groans] ♪ ♪ [crowd cheering] ♪ ♪ [crowd cheering] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [crew members chattering] - You know, hey Matt, just in general, and everybody on my crew, Bob?

Everybody on my crew, you know, let's not think of this as one of our shows.

Let's think of this as our Helping "Austin City Limits" do what "Austin City Limits" needs to do to make it look like their show, okay?

[guitar tuning] So this, Gary, will be, this will be called "Her Loving Man."

[Gary] Check.

Good.

- Well, I'm not ready.

[crew member laughs] [bright guitar chord] ♪ She's the Queen of Know ♪ ♪ She is the Queen of Know ♪ ♪ She is the Queen of Know ♪ ♪ No thank you ♪ ♪ I couldn't ♪ ♪ I really don't think so ♪ ♪ Not ever ♪ ♪ Because she could find ♪ My songwriting process is one of survival.

I start off with a feeling, a feeling that I would like to write about is to not diminish that feeling through words, you know, through structure.

♪ Oh how I missed the way you looked at me ♪ The idea is to try to communicate that feeling in a transparent way, you know, without getting in the way of it.

[gentle music] Nate, could I have a little more, just a little more vocal and a little more guitar?

Can we play the first verse of that one more time?

Just to make sure.

♪ Because we never did see eye to eye ♪ ♪ Still we loved each other, God knows why ♪ ♪ Now as light fades... ♪ I used to play with, I would alternate playing with a thumb pick and a flat pick.

In 1976, '77, '78, my parents had given me a banjo for a confirmation present when I was, you know, eighth grade.

I got the Earl Scruggs banjo book and learned a couple of banjo tunes and... [bright guitar music] Nanci Griffith played with finger picks as well, and she would, I would watch her strumming technique and that was her, she would strum down with her thumb and up with her fingers.

And so, listening to Nanci, watching her all those years ago gave me the confidence to try that.

[gentle guitar music] ♪ Before spring turned into summer ♪ ♪ After night turned into day ♪ ♪ They were born a Monday morning ♪ ♪ In the days just after May ♪ ♪ In the days just after May ♪ ♪ By the branch at San Jacinto ♪ ♪ Play for me a happy tune ♪ ♪ And know of all the days I loved ♪ ♪ I loved best the 12th of June ♪ ♪ By the branch at San Jacinto ♪ ♪ When they lay me in my tomb ♪ ♪ Know of all the days I loved ♪ ♪ There are so many days I've loved ♪ ♪ Oh of all the days I loved ♪ ♪ I loved best the 12th of June ♪ ♪ I loved best the 12th of June ♪ I wasn't sure whether they would, you know, like it eventually or not that I revealed their birthday in that way, but you know, becoming a dad at the age of 59 was a revelation to me.

I always thought I wanted to be a dad, but I had absolutely no idea how much I'd enjoy it.

And I just wanted them to realize that my life changed for the better the day they were born.

♪ I loved best the 12th of June ♪ [crowd cheering] You know, I'm 65 years old.

You know, never would I have thought in that summer of 1976 when I was 18 years old that I'd still be playing and singing.

I mean, it was something I dreamed about, something that I did for fun, but I just wouldn't have, you know, didn't imagine it would work out, that it would end up being my whole life.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, "Austin City Limits."

The Large Band.

[crowd cheering] [Mildred] My father was a master storyteller.

He could tell a fine old story that made me hold my sides with rolling laughter and send happy tears down my cheeks, or a story of stark reality that made me shiver and be grateful for my own warm, secure surroundings.

By the fireside in our Northern home or in the South where I was born, I learned a history not then written in books, but one passed from generation to generation on the steps of moonlit porches, a history of great-grandparents and of slavery and of the days following slavery.

From my father the storyteller, I learned to respect the past, and he taught me the love of words.

Without his teachings, without his words, my words would not have been.

- "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry."

This book changed my life.

That story of Cassie Logan, a Black girl in Mississippi, was life-changing, eye-opening because suddenly I realized my stories were worth telling.

That's when I thought for a moment that, huh, maybe somebody like me can do this.

[dramatic music] [Qui] You know, when Saigon fell in 1975, 125,000 Vietnamese came to America to escape war.

They came to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and have become part of this Southern culture.

Grab my hands.

Like, the thing that makes us all universal, that bonds me to, like, my neighbors here in El Dorado was the fact that we all had this very, very deep relationship to each other.

- Okay, ready?

- There we go.

- These are our stories.

These stories are part of what makes this country, this land so great.

[gentle music] - "What matters is the transformative power of metaphor and the stories we tell ourselves about the arc and meaning of our lives."

- Trying to recreate your childhood that simply doesn't exist anymore.

- My dad was a helicopter pilot who was in Saigon until the last days.

- I think when we were going through covid and I was seeing so much poverty around me, that I wanted to write a love letter to Black people.

"Southern Storytellers" is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.

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