The Bitter Southerner Podcast

Georgia Public Broadcasting

4.6 (1.3K)
SOCIETY & CULTURE

The Bitter Southerner Podcast, hosted by Bitter Southerner magazine editor Chuck Reece, explores the culture and history of the American South. It is a co-production of Georgia Public Broadcasting and The Bitter Southerner magazine.

03/20/2020 · BONUS

BONUS: "Jamón, Y'all" from America's Test Kitchen

In a special bonus episode of The Bitter Southerner Podcast, Bridget Lancaster of America's Test Kitchen introduces a story from her podcast called Proof. In it, reporter Maya Kroth looks at how a Spanish pig is changing Southern farmlands. She meets Georgia farmer Will Harris, who is upping the South’s pork game by introducing Iberian pigs to the United States. These pigs are the source of jamón ibérico, a precious cured ham produced in Spain.

45 min
03/06/2020

Can the South Be Redeemed?

For our grand finale this season, we’re going to attempt to answer a question that ... to every truehearted Southerner … is among the most difficult questions ever: Can the South be redeemed? Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin talk about their mission to tell the Civil Rights Movement through comics....we hear about a Freedom Rider’s lifelong fight against injustice....Pulitzer Prize winning columnist John Archibald on overcoming the “great silence” that exists in many of our lives....and Peggy Wallace Kennedy reflects on the legacy of her father, former Alabama Gov. George Wallace.

1h 8m
02/21/2020

Progress, Heartbreak & Art: The TVA

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s dams brought electricity to the rural South, and in our region’s lore, it looms huge: the classic story of people vs. progress. As these dams were completed, entire communities were washed away. In this episode of The Bitter Southerner Podcast, we explore the progress, heartbreak and art inspired by the TVA.

53 min
02/07/2020

Hillbillies Need No Elegy

In his book “Hillbilly Elegy,” author J.D. Vance argues that the people of Appalachia cause the region’s problems — and not the industries that have spent centuries extracting its rich resources. On this episode, three mountain women help us set the record straight about Appalachia.

37 min
01/24/2020

The Ways of Waffle House

How could a 2,000-store restaurant chain become, to Southerners, something more than just another place to eat?

42 min
01/10/2020

The Exactly Right Cake

Being part of a Southern community means baking the exactly right cake when we gather. NYT bestselling cookbook author Anne Byrn joins us to talk about the history of famous Southern cakes, two sisters running a Georgia bakery share how they're cooking with a purpose, and we dig into the pages of the "White Trash Cooking" cookbook.

44 min
12/20/2019 · BONUS

BONUS: Best Southern Albums of 2019

Host Chuck Reece welcomes NPR Music's Ann Powers to help us run down the 10 best Southern albums of 2019.

44 min
12/13/2019

An Undeserved Gift: Okra

Okra is not native to North America. It arrived here at the same time enslaved Africans did. No one — no botanist, no historian — can confirm exactly how it got here. But it has connected Southerners across the lines of race, faith, and gender for centuries. In this episode of The Bitter Southerner Podcast, James Beard Award winning journalist Shane Mitchell travels to New Orleans to show how okra unites in the gumbo pot and in our lives.

35 min

See All (21)

Chuck Reece

Host
Bridget Lancaster

Guest
Anne Byrn

Guest

4.6

out of 5

1,349 Ratings

truly devistating

09/29/2025

shadow_fag_

please, for the love of god, revive this series. like many others here, this podcast has served as a placeholder in my homesick bitter southern heart for when i cant get back to see those georgia pines for long stretches and to be honest i need more of this fantastic, pure tonic. such a necessary and poignant lens into the reality of the south and southern folk. so beautifully done, so cathartic and inspiring.
Why did you stop?

06/23/2025

Ericagonzalez

Please continue this podcast. I just found it in 2025 & it needs to continue!!
Transplanted Southerners need this!

02/20/2024

BenjieRuth

As a transplanted southerner, I miss home sometimes and your podcast takes me back. Each episode is thought provoking, well researched and down right fun to listen to. Please bring it back.
Great journalism!

02/14/2024

GSO Wordsmith

I finally happened upon The Bitter Southerner after hearing a plug for it on WFAE in Charlotte. Wow! As a Southerner from the NC foothills, the episodes feel familiar, but they dig deeper into the culture of the South, told in our own words. The long-form format is simply best of journalism, something I miss so much and something that's sorely needed in our polarized times. I've lived all over western NC and the Piedmont and am now in Charlotte which, of course, isn't far but can seem that way. Thank you for sharing the fullness of the Southern experience in a way that's not the one dimensional. Please come back with more episodes!

The Bitter Southerner Podcast, hosted by Bitter Southerner magazine editor Chuck Reece, explores the culture and history of the American South. It is a co-production of Georgia Public Broadcasting and The Bitter Southerner magazine.