Starting Wednesday, May 3, 2017 Radio Bristol will begin airing Sound Sessions from Smithsonian Folkways each week on the broadcast station’s WBCM 100.1 FM channel. The channel is available over the air in the Bristol area, online at ListenRadioBristol.org, and through the station’s free multi-channel app. The program will air weekly on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. EST and again on Sundays at 4:00 p.m. EST.
“We are thrilled to add Sound Sessions into the Radio Bristol program schedule,” said Radio Bristol producer Kris Truelsen. “As a Smithsonian affiliate, Radio Bristol is always searching for ways to celebrate our affiliation through programming. Sound Sessions from Smithsonian Folkways could not be a better fit for the station. The program offers a unique perspective contextualizing the history, cultures, and identity that helped to shape American roots music. We look forward to this great partnership with Smithsonian Folkways and seeing how it will grow in the coming years.”
Sound Sessions is described as “an audio journey into the rich, eclectic, and sometimes eccentric Smithsonian Folkways archive. Host Sam Litzinger and curator Jeff Place comb the stacks for music and stories about this historic record label for monthly broadcasts that feature newly digitized audio, including rare outtakes, interviews, and never-before-heard recordings. Programs cover American folk icons, emerging artists who are continuing and transforming musical traditions around the world, and the sounds of our everyday lives, from the natural environment to the office desk. Interviews with Smithsonian Folkways staff and the artists bring a fresh, behind-the-scenes perspective to a record label that preserves a national musical treasure, documents ‘people’s music’ from around the world, and connects people to their own and others’ heritage.”
Radio Bristol broadcasts from the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, in Historic Downtown Bristol. At 9:30 a.m. on May 3, Kris Truelsen will preview Sound Sessions during an interview with Jeff Place on the station’s weekday morning show On the Sunny Side.
“For years I have always worried that vast quantities of amazing audio exist in the Smithsonian archives that are not being heard,” said Place. “We created Sound Sessions so we could share it with you — old interviews, field recordings, commercial albums, and interviews with some of the amazing musicians who pass through our offices. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.”
Radio Bristol’s daily programming dusts off an array of rare and diverse recordings seldom explored in the soundscape of contemporary radio. From daily shows produced in-house like Over The Waves with Lee Bidgood, Honky Tonk Hit Parade with Bailey George and Farm and Fun Time, to syndicated programming like Across the Blue Ridge with Paul Brown and Born in the Mountain with Ivy Sheppard, the station specializes in programming that carries on the musical influences of the Appalachian region and culture and continues to add more shows to its airwaves. For more information on Radio Bristol and it’s programming, or to listen to the station online, visit ListenRadioBristol.org.