Long Haul: Public Radio Documentaries to Go!

Long Haul Productions
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Long Haul: Public Radio Documentaries to Go!

Everyday Americans tell their own stories in narratives and documentaries produced by award-winners Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister. As heard on NPR and public radio stations nationwide.

  1. Dog Mountain: A Love Story

    11/20/2014

    Dog Mountain: A Love Story

    The story you’re about to hear is, at its heart, is a love story — between two artists, and a whole lot of dogs. It’s also the story of what it means to follow a dream — and the difficulties that can bring. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister have the story of Vermont artists Stephen and Gwen Huneck, and their life’s work: a place called Dog Mountain. As you listen, tour Dog Mountain in an interactive website via www.longhaulpro.org.

    22 min

  2. 05/21/2013

    Coming Home: Nick's Story

    A young Marine comes home after his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. His parents tell his story.

    20 min
  3. The Lord God Bird

    04/17/2013

    The Lord God Bird

    The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to be extinct – until recently, when a bird was allegedly spotted near the small town of Brinkley, Arkansas. The sightings were big news in a community depressed by recession and population loss. Our story weaves the locals' reaction with an original song written and performed by musician Sufjan Stevens. Winner of the Sigma Delta Chi award for best national radio feature. The description is from the original broadcast.

    12 min
  4. The Swap Shop

    04/17/2013

    The Swap Shop

    For the past 60 years, people in northwest Tennessee have tuned each weekday at noon to a radio program on WENK/WTPR called The Swap Shop. For twenty minutes, listeners call or write offering to buy, sell or trade an item or a service in a radio version of the classified ads, things which range from a piece of used plywood, to a green cloth Berkline recliner, to a ten-acre farm. Long Haul sent Nashville-based musician Kurt Wagner (of the great band Lambchop) some program excerpts; he responded with a song, Paperback Bible. (Produced in 2006; description from the original broadcast.)

    8 min

  5. 04/17/2013

    Sî Se Puede

    It's been 71 years since the "strike heard round the world" - when autoworkers in Flint, Michigan, occupied a General Motors plant and and jumpstarted the union movement in the United States. But in recent years, as the power of unions in the US has wained, sit-down strikes have been more common in Latin America, Europe, and even Canada. Things finally changed last December when immigrant Latino, African American, and white workers occupied the Republic Windows and Door Factory in Chicago. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister spoke with the workers and organizers at Republic about their decision to stand up by sitting down - the first American sit-down action since the 1937-38 Flint strike. Their documentary, "Si Se Puede" (Yes We Can), is an intimate account of the occupation told by the people who participated in it. It includes original music by Jesus "Chuy" Negrete. (Produced in 2009; this description is from the original broadcast.)

    22 min
  6. Loaves and Fishes

    04/17/2013

    Loaves and Fishes

    Since the 1930s, delighted throngs have gathered just outside Linesville, Pennsylvania, to toss bread to a writhing stew of carp and ducks at the Linesville Spillway. The carp are so thick that mallard ducks literally hop, skip and jump on the fishes' backs to compete for a slice of bread. Famous worldwide as the place “where ducks walk on the fish,” the Spillway draws as many as a half-million tourists a year, part of a small but critical tourism economy bolstered by the sale of day-old Wonder Bread from bread shanties that line local streets. But recently, the people of Linesville learned about some big changes planned for the spillway. Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister paid a visit and, in collaboration with musician Tim Fite, have the fishy tale of the fight for the right to throw bread - the latest in their Song+Story series. (Produced in 2008; description from the original broadcast.)

    7 min
  7. The Tower

    04/17/2013

    The Tower

    The small town of Baudette, Minnesota, sits on the U.S./Canadian border, about as far north in the contiguous U.S. as you can get. Famous for snowy winters and a giant concrete walleye that sits downtown, it's also home to a now-decommissioned Coast Guard navigational beacon, a LORAN tower built to guide people across and around the Great Lakes. The Tower is a Baudette landmark, rising hundreds of feet above the bog that surrounds town and signaling to drivers that they're almost home. But recently, it marked the sudden end of another traveller's journey. In the latest installment of their Song+Stories series, in which musicians contribute original songs that contribute to the narrative, Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister worked with the band Mountain Man. Together, they share this tale of avian navigation gone wrong. Produced in 2011.

    8 min

  8. 04/17/2013

    Mother Nature Kneels (Instrumental, by Bonnie "Prince" Billy)

    Written and performed by Bonnie "Prince" Billy in 2011 for "The Natural State," a Long Haul Song+Story.

    2 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
9 Ratings

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Everyday Americans tell their own stories in narratives and documentaries produced by award-winners Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister. As heard on NPR and public radio stations nationwide.

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