We've really enjoyed bringing you new commentaries on the culture of the American South every Friday this year. 

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special two-part episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB radio in 2023. (Part 2 of 2)

We've really enjoyed bringing you new commentaries on the culture of the American South every Friday this year. 

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special two-part episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB radio in 2023. 

Have you ever been to a “pounding"? Salvation South editor Chuck Reece was taken to one when he was a child, but he never knew where that name came from. That is, until a writer submitted a story to his magazine about the fading Southern tradition where those who have, help those who don’t. Chuck explains in this week's commentary. 

Salvation South Deluxe is a series of extended episodes of the Salvation South podcast that unravel the untold stories of the Southern experience, narrated by the authentic voices that make this region truly unique. In our first episode, host Chuck Reece takes you to Old Fort, North Carolina, where the power of unity has rebuilt a thriving economy for this small Southern town.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece and his family had much to be thankful for as they celebrated Thanksgiving. But he couldn’t get through the day without adding someone outside his family circle, the former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, to the list of people for whom he was grateful. Chuck explains in this week's commentary. 

When our ancestors pass away, we reckon with what they leave us. That can be objects, or money, or land, or a host of other material things. But for some folks, the most important thing bequeathed by an ancestor is the food, the recipes, because in those tastes — sometimes, if we’re lucky — there is magic. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has a story about that magic in this week’s commentary.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece’s father ate sorghum syrup almost every night. In his era, refined sugar was scarce on a North Georgia farm. There wasn’t a sugar bowl on most tables; instead, there was a jar of sorghum. These days, sorghum is a necessary element of Southern food and culture as Chuck explains in this week's commentary. 

One of the most famous painters the state of Georgia has ever produced never took an art class. Instead, he was a small-town preacher. He believed God called him to paint what he called “sacred art.” Salvation South editor Chuck Reece remembers a day he spent with Howard Finster forty years ago for this week's commentary. 

Too often, we do not think about the first thing that comes out of our mouths in a conversation. After many years of paying very close attention to the first lines of books and magazine articles, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has a few ideas about why we should give our first words a little more thought in this week’s commentary.

When we think about “folk music,” most of us think about music that sounds a certain way. But really, folk music is the stuff we pass around to each other, that we sing around the fire, the songs that we let anyone join in on. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece explains the origins of one of the most famous folk songs in this week’s commentary.

One of the South’s greatest musical treasures is a gospel singing group that has been around since 1939, called the Blind Boys of Alabama. The longtime leader of that group is, at age 91, retiring after a lifetime of singing. In this week's commentary, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece reflects on a recent visit with the singer and a lasting memory of one of the singer's performances. 

In our public discourse these days, certain phrases are almost guaranteed to make people nervous. One of those is “white privilege.” In this week's commentary Salvation South Editor Chuck Reece explains how a long talk with Southern writer, David Joy, helped him look at the phrase differently. 

Building a series of travel stories about the hometowns of Southern writers, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece discovered an essay by the novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston in which she discusses the town of Eatonville, Florida where she grew up. He has more thoughts on Hurston and her connection to the historic town in this week's commentary. 

Due to this year’s unusually warm winter, Georgia peach growers are facing one of the worst seasons in memory. In this week's commentary, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has a few words of lament for this situation—and some thoughts about how to behave when you visit a fruit stand that has no peaches.

When Salvation South editor Chuck Reece was 19, he encountered what many people say is the greatest Southern novel ever written—William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! The book is a grueling test for even the most dedicated reader, but in this week’s commentary Chuck says it is still worth your time.

When Salvation South editor Chuck Reece first moved to New York City, he felt like he had something to prove. But he didn’t know exactly what that was. In this week’s commentary, he reports on what he learned from an audacious experiment.

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece often talks about how cultures from around the world have integrated into the culture of the American South. In this week's commentary, Chuck looks at a truly unique and harmonious marriage of bluegrass picking with the music of China direct from Nashville of course.

June is Pride Month, and LGBTQ+ communities across the South and elsewhere are celebrating, while some state legislatures across the country have passed or are considering new anti-LGBTQ laws. In the middle of this controversy, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has decided to stick with a simple lesson his father taught him years ago in this week's episode. 

Food lovers often talk about “fusion cuisine,” a type of food created when a cook mixes flavors from one place with flavors from another. Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has a few words about a chef who grew up in India but who adamantly and proudly declares himself a Mississippian in this week's commentary. 

How well do you remember what you were like when you were only eight years old? Most of us would never dream of doing the things we did when we were kids. But have you ever wondered whether thinking like an eight-year-old could be a great thing? Salvation South editor Chuck Reece has a story about that in this week's commentary.