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Stories

Sweet Tea With Emily Dickinson

How a small crew in tiny Whitesburg, Georgia, turned the work of a 19th century New England poet into a touring fundraiser for small-town public libraries in the South.

Hungry Ghosts: A Film About Charles McNair

A film about the lauded Southern novelist — and Salvation South contributor — Charles McNair.

In Moments of Need and Crisis

Religious affiliation is falling, even in the God-haunted South. But chaplaincy is booming in hospitals, schools, prisons and other institutions. And it’s teaching us how to reach across barriers of faith.

Where No One is a Stranger

In Arkansas’ Salem Cemetery, everyone you meet is a friend, a neighbor, or maybe even one of your people.

“Georgia on My Mind” and Other Poems

Five Southern poems that smell like honeysuckle, mountain laurel, moss and tomatoes.

A Taste of the Divine Nectar

Zoh Amba is a rarity — a white woman saxophonist, from Appalachia, no less — playing “free jazz” in New York and around the world. But to pigeonhole her into a “hillbilly exotica” tale would be to devalue the hard work of a woman whose music fearlessly chases the divine.

Dolly Parton: The Salvation South Interview

Legendary music writer Holly Gleason talks to the South’s most beloved star about love, forgiveness and how to live life with an open mind and an open heart.

The Deep Wisdom of Dolly

It just may be that everything we need to know about living life, we can learn from Dolly Parton.

The Act of Being Human

Tennessee’s Adeem the Artist sounds country — truly and deeply country — but every sharp lyric and wicked guitar twang challenges our notions of what “country” really means.

Appalachian Action Verb

A poem about how a single word, in the mouths of Appalachians, can tell the world a great deal about how mountain folks see things.

The Book of Abraham

Alabama musician, painter, and podcaster Abe Partridge talks about snake-handling — and faith, forgiveness, and how to reach an understanding with people you’ve written off.

Five Poems by Chris Wood

A Tennessee poet brings us five works. All of them speak to small matters that every Southerner holds dear.

How to Understand the Folks You Hate

Abe Partridge’s “Alabama Astronauts” adventure taught him a lot about loving his neighbors. It’s got lessons to teach us, too.