This week on the show, Walker & Jay demonstrate the proper care and feeding of old music. They join us to play their renditions of some centuries-old Child Ballads.

***THE SIGNAL AIRS FRIDAYS AT NOON & 7 P.M. ON 88.1 WYPR***

(Click here for mp3’s of some recent stories from the show. And PODCASTERS, click here for a link to subscribe to The Signal’s weekly podcast.)

• We preview a new documentary, Hit & Stay, which chronicles the work of Vietnam-era antiwar activists and the legacy of the Catonsville Nine.
• We tap into a well of songs that survived a migration from the Scottish and English countryside to the hills and hollers of early America. Two Baltimore musicians – the duo Walker & Jay – are keeping these orphaned ballads alive and well today, and they join us to share a few treasures from their repertoire.
• Plus: Rules and creativity… From Twitter to poetry, can restrictions fuel the fires of our imagination? Signal contributor Matt Byars introduces us to a new literary journal, 32 Poems, that challenges writers to say as much as they can, in as little space as possible.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Here’s a link to the documentary film Hit & Stay

Walker and Jay perform live Saturday night, Sept 11, at The G Spot art space, 2980 Falls Road in Baltimore – art show at 7 p.m., concert at 9 p.m. (Click the links for details.)

Here’s a link to more about the literary journal 32 Poems.

Atlanta teenager Sylvia Dorsey, at the Trinity Home Foundation Orphanage in Ghana. Her transcontinental voyage is documented in Ras Tre Subira’s film Black to our Roots. (photo courtesy of www.blacktoourroots.com)

***THE SIGNAL AIRS FRIDAYS AT NOON & 7 P.M. ON 88.1 WYPR***

(Click here for mp3’s of some recent stories from the show. And PODCASTERS, click here for a link to subscribe to The Signal’s weekly podcast.)

• Filmmaker Ras Tre Subira talks with us about his documentary Black to our Roots. The movie follows a group of African American teenagers on their journey through Ghana, a life-changing odyssey that gives them new perspectives on their own identities.
• We meet filmmakers Joseph Cashiola and Nathan Duncan. Their drama, A Thing as Big as the Ocean, tells the story of a chance encounter between two strangers, a meeting that leads them on a journey of self-discovery in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
• Plus: a visit with old-time fiddler Dave Bing, who keeps alive an American music tradition forged in the hills of Appalachia.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Here’s the website for the film Black to our Roots

Here’s the website for the cultural organization HABESHA

More info about “A Thing as Big as the Ocean” is at: http://www.fourbirdspictures.com/ocean/athingasbigastheocean.htm