Search results for

Dr. John Shelton Reed, an authority on all things Southern and a retired University of North Carolina sociology professor, returns to “Vital Voices.” This time his subject is a classic New Orleans cocktail, created in the 1890s. Dr. Reed’s book, The Ramos Gin Fizz, was recently published by the Louisiana State University Press as part of its Iconic New Orleans Cocktails series.

We travel to Hiltons Memorial United Methodist Church in Scott County, Virginia, to witness the fall ritual of making apple butter, with members of the congregation.

The late B.B. King would have turned 100 on September 16, 2025. This program features excerpts from “Vital Voices” host Fred Sauceman’s 2002 visit with King in Indianola, Mississippi, where King played gospel and blues music on streetcorners as a young man.

Join us for part two of our interview with Dr. Guy Consolmagno, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory in Rome.

A rebroadcast of our interview with Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory in Rome.

Pumpkin folklore, pumpkin agriculture, and pumpkin symbolism are discussed by Dr. Cindy Ott, Associate Professor of History at the University of Delaware.

We revisit our interview with Mary Louise Kelly, co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Her book It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs is now out in paperback.

Kentucky State University in Frankfort is the only full-time pawpaw research program in the world. We talk with Dr. Kirk Pomper, Professor of Horticulture, about the largest edible fruit native to North America.

We delve into a new compilation of essays entitled Appalachian Epidemics: From Smallpox to COVID-19, with the book's co-editor, Dr. Chris White, from Marshall University.

The detection and the treatment of prostate cancer are discussed in this edition of "Vital Voices," with Vanderbilt University urologist Dr. Kristen Scarpato.