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Continue reading →: Me and Johnny Cash: My Trip to Cummins Prison Farm
By Colin Woodward A few weeks ago, I traveled to Cummins Unit in Grady, Arkansas. I went because I was asked by Jo Wheeler and Danny Robins producing a show for BBC radio to talk about Johnny Cash’s April 1969 concert at the prison. Earlier this year, I had written a short…
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Continue reading →: Will Percy’s “Lanterns on the Levee” and Greenville, Mississippi, 2012
By Colin Woodward Lanterns on the Levee Recently, I had the pleasure of reading William Alexander Percy’s Lanterns on the Levee. It’s a classic memoir of growing up in the South as the son of a planter in the Delta town of Greenville, Mississippi. Percy, who was born in 1885,…
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Continue reading →: Cross-Dressing Arkansas Soldier
Here’s an interesting article about a cross-dressing soldier from Arkansas.
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Continue reading →: Cleburne Statue unveiled in Helena
By Colin Woodward I saw an article today about the unveiling of a Patrick Cleburne statue in Helena, Arkansas. I visited Helena last summer. It’s a mostly African American city that has a rich musical and military past. I wonder if there will be some debate about Cleburne’s statue. As…
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Continue reading →: Sleepy LaBeef and the Arkansas Sounds Festival
By Colin Woodward Last weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Arkansas Sounds Festival. This two-day concert of all-Arkansas musicians was sponsored by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, which is part of the Central Arkansas Library System, and is housed in the Arkansas Studies Institute in downtown Little…
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Continue reading →: Patterson Hood and Southern History
By Colin Woodward I’ve blogged in the past about Patterson Hood–the chief songwriter for the terrific rock band Drive-By Truckers–and his insights into southern history. The Truckers are from Alabama, but they’re based in Athens, Georgia, and they’ve hit upon themes in their work that are not just southern, but…
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Continue reading →: St. Augustine, Florida, in Stereograph Form
While I was home in Massachusetts for vacation, I came across some old stereographs at a flea market in the western part of the state. They were goiung for $3 a piece. I bought so many I was able to talk the dealer down to about $2.50 each. I had…
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Continue reading →: Lincoln: The Movie
Here’s the trailer for the new Lincoln film. Looks pretty good. Daniel Day-Lewis is one of our best actors. And Spielberg is the best director of all time. It was also filmed (at least in part) in Richmond, my former stomping grounds. I do hope, though, that the movie has…
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Continue reading →: Helena, Arkansas, and Southern History
By Colin Woodward In July, I had the opportunity to visit Helena, Arkansas, a true Delta town about two hours east of Little Rock. The town has a lot of history. The place was where Levon Helm of the Band grew up. Helm became famous later as a drummer, but…
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Continue reading →: Ugliness on the Confederate Home Front
Here’s an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about property wars on the Confederate home front. Just goes to show how the Confederate war effort was not about small government versus big government. Southern state and national governments were actually much more intrusive into the lives of its daily citizens…
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About
Colin Woodward is a writer, historian, archivist, and recovering podcaster. His latest book is Country Boy: the Roots of Johnny Cash, winner of the Ragsdale Award for best book on Arkansas history, 2022. He has also written for the Civil War Times, Civil War Monitor, Arkansas Times, Style Weekly (Richmond, Va.), and other publications. He is a frequent contributor to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. He lives in Richmond.
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