When President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday, Salvation South editor Chuck Reece remembered the night when he, at age fourteen, first shook the great man’s hand. Chuck has some thoughts about the examples Carter left behind for all Southerners.

At this time of year, carols and holiday songs surround us. They’re on the radio. They’re in the stores when we’re shopping. And this is true everywhere, all over the world. Thus, we rarely think of Christmas tunes as a Southern thing. But Salvation South editor Chuck Reece today offers four distinctly Southern holiday classics.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece talks with Peter Guralnick, acclaimed biographer and author of Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, and soul music legend William Bell, about the deep connection between soul music and the civil rights movement. Learn how this quintessential American artform was the catalyst and soundtrack for remarkable social change.

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB Radio in 2024. (Part 2 of 2).

As the year comes to a close, we bring you this special episode of Salvation South, where we take a look back on our most popular commentaries aired by GPB Radio in 2024. (Part 1 of 2).

Salvation South editor Chuck Reece came from a very large family. His father was the eleventh of twelve children. So every year about this time, Chuck has always wondered how his grandmother managed that huge Thanksgiving dinner. This year, he did some calculations.

On this episode of Salvation South Deluxe: Chuck Reece explores the evolution of Southern fiction through conversations with acclaimed authors David Joy, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, Chris Offutt and S.A. Cosby. From Appalachian hollows to Atlanta's streets, these authors craft thrilling narratives that challenge stereotypes and confront issues of race, class and justice.

A friend of Salvation South editor Chuck Reece had a hard year because of things that were out of his control. Chuck didn’t have any answers to the hand that life dealt his friend, but he did have a few ideas about certain uniquely Southern constants we can turn to when the rough patches come, as they inevitably do.