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The SouthBound finale: Host Tommy Tomlinson on talking to fascinating Southerners

Well, I guess I should go ahead and say this right off the top: This is the final episode of SouthBound.

Ely Portillo (left) and Tommy Tomlinson.
WFAE
Ely Portillo (left) and Tommy Tomlinson.

You might know that NPR’s federal funding was eliminated by Congress; member stations across the country, including WFAE, are facing budget cuts. I chose to take a buyout from WFAE as part of offsetting those cuts, and also to move back to my roots as a full-time writer. We’re parting on good terms.

But I’m going to miss the hell out of doing this podcast. Over the past seven and a half years, if my math is correct, I’ve interviewed 173 people for SouthBound.

Some of them were famous at the time, such as race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and singer Anthony Hamilton. Others became famous later. The Kentucky poet Ada Limon became America’s poet laureate. The Tennessee comedian Nate Bargatze now sells out arenas all over the country.

And still others aren’t as well-known but had their own compelling stories. I think about LB Prevette, fighting for LGBTQ rights up in Wilkes County, North Carolina, or Rob Gipe, who brings together regular folks from the hollers of Kentucky to create plays about their lives in Appalachia.

I wanted SouthBound to be a lot of things, but mainly I wanted it to bring forth the voices of people who love the South, understand its deep and powerful flaws, and have decided to stick around and try to make it better. I think we’ve done that, and I hope you’ve been able to draw something meaningful from these conversations.

If you’re interested in going back into the archive, every episode is available at WFAE.org.

For this final episode, I’m on the other side of the mic. WFAE executive editor Ely Portillo interviewed me about how SouthBound started, what it’s like to do journalism in these difficult times, and why it still matters, among other things. It was a privilege to talk to Ely, and it’s been a privilege to have this space for all this time.

Tommy Tomlinson has hosted the podcast SouthBound for WFAE since 2017. He also does a commentary, On My Mind, which airs every Monday.