Jaclyn spoke with Dr. Siti Kusujiarti, professor of sociology at Warren Wilson College, ahead of Cultivating Tomorrow: The Second Annual Climate Summit, where Dr. Siti will help present preliminary findings from the research project Increasing Community Resilience to Inland Flooding: Lessons Learned from Response and Recovery Efforts in West Virginia and North Carolina. Click above to hear the interview.

Beginning this Wednesday, Jaclyn Anthony brings you weekly updates on local and regional outdoor activities and related stories. For the week of June 17, in addition to outdoor events and volunteer opportunities, Jaclyn includes the first installment of a multi-part series on bears and the BearWise program from NC Wildlife Resources Commission Biologist Ashley Hobbs.

Host Kevin Washington invites you to join him for a show where you’ll hear current WNCW artists alongside their influences, notable producers’ works over the past and current century, tunes from musical families over the decades, and a lot more. It’s 20/21, the new show connecting the dots from yesteryear to now.

Our introduction to country singer Joshua Ray Walker was his wonderful trilogy of albums Wish You Were Here (2019), Glad You Made It (2020), and See You Next Time (2021). After his serious cancer diagnosis and intense treatment in 2023, he began releasing a second trio, beginning with the rather light-hearted, surprisingly whimsical Jimmy Buffett-inspired Tropicana, followed by Stuff, which envisioned the world from the perspective of the inanimate objects we leave behind us. Now he completes trio #2 with a return to his honky-tonk roots with Aint Dead Yet, which he describes as “my most autobiographical record yet.”

We’re glad to have the latest project of Western NC’s Anya Hinkle, Billy Cardine, and Mary Lucey — Tanasi. Perhaps you’ve already gotten to know this trio of “worldgrass” musicians. As they describe it, their music “follows the invisible threads that connect cultures, landscapes, and hearts—from Nepal’s high plateaus and South African villages to the mountains of Appalachia—celebrating the shared human rhythms that surface wherever people gather to sing, dance, grieve, and love. Together they represent an eclectic variety of regional acts over the past 20+ years, including Tellico, the Biscuit Burners, Lovers Leap, and Acoustic Syndicate. Songwriters on this new release, aside from traditional Appalachian and Nigerian tunes, include Jimmy Cliff, Shambhujeet Baskota and Bidhan Acharya, George Harrison, and the three members.

The old-time, bluegrass, & folk band from Boone and now the world over is back. Their latest has a theme that’s right on time for our 250th anniversary of the USA, with songs like “Howdy Do America”, “Last American Waltz”, “Rainbow Stew”, and “Revolution Now”. Guests include Del McCoury, Jesse Welles, and Molly Tuttle.

A literal sign in Musgraves’ tiny, unincorporated, no-stoplight hometown, population under 300, that reads “Golden, TX: Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere” sparked the idea for the title track and symbolic throughline of the album, speaking to something deeper and more nuanced. A recent big breakup is another throughline you might notice. Pedal steel, accordion, and Texas dancehall rhythms provide a nostalgic framework that she flips on its head in signature fashion. It is a sonic love letter to the musical borders of Country, echoing influence from adjacent genres such as bluegrass, pop, and even bits of Norteño and Zydeco. See what you think!

Midwesterner Kevin Morby always delivers lyrically rich, intriguing albums. There’s a newfound confidence and clarity in this, his 8th one, following 2020’s Sundowner and 2022’s This Is a Photograph. Aaron Dessner of The National produced this, and both Morby’s writing and Dessner’s production recall Tom Petty’s 1994 classic Wildflowers. “Morby’s albums are akin to novels, best taken as a whole, but the songs that make up each of the chapters are their own novellas. …This record is so Zen. So Heartland. Kevin Morby is a Master of The Sonic Build.” – WNCW Program Director Joe Kendrick. “Repetition and ritual are paths to enlightenment in Mr. Morby’s songs, and the quietly powerful ‘Little Wide Open’ is filled with earned wisdom.” — The Wall Street Journal

Jim Lauderdale embodies the sound of American roots music for listeners around the world. A 2025 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Lauderdale also received the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award ten years ago. He will release his 38th and 39th albums in 2026: Country Super Hits Volume 2 and a bluegrass collection, The Birds Know. We also know him as just a good friend of ours who grew up in nearby Due West, SC, and Flat Rock, NC.

Sunday, July 19, 2026 | The Orange Peel | Asheville, NC