To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

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If grocery shopping isn't your thing, here's a new way to put food on the table: try sticking your arm under a rock until a big ol' catfish clamps onto to you. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, noodling for catfish and other southern pastimes. Also, Texas singer Steve Earle's odyssey from heroin addict to resurgent country star.

Burkhard Bilger is the author of "Noodling for Flatheads." He tells Steve Paulson how to catch catfish with your bare hands; describes the delights of eating squirrel brains; and chronicles the exploits of some Southern marbles champions - the Rolly Holers. Also, storyteller Lorraine Johnson-Coleman compiled "Larissa's Breadbook" based on thing she learned cooking with her elderly relatives. She tells Anne Strainchamps that cornbread is the ultimate Southern food and that Southerners can always recognize their loved ones' fried chicken.

Noah Adams hosts NPR's "All Things Considered." His latest book is "Far Appalachia." He tells Jim Fleming that researching the book let him learn about his own family's origins in Kentucky, mentions the peculiar family dynamics of Daniel Boone's household, and celebrates the importance of old-timey music. Also, historian David Blight tells Jim Fleming that popular memory of the Civil War all but obliterated the liberation of Black Americans. His book is "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory."

Singer/songwriter Steve Earle was the Next Big Thing in alternative country music until heroin addiction and a chaotic personal life de-railed his career and almost killed him. Now Earle is recording again and has published a book of short stories, "Doghouse Roses." Earle talks with Steve Paulson and we hear several examples of his music.

Books:

• Noah Adams, Far Appalachia: Following the New River North (Delacorte Press)
• David Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Belknap Press)
• Burkhard Bilger, Noodling for Flatheads: Moonshine, Monster Catfish, and Other Southern Comforts (Scribner)
• Loraine Johnson-Coleman, Larissa's Breadbook: Breaking Bread & Telling Tales With Women of the American South (Rutledge Hill Press)
• Steve Earle, Doghouse Roses (Houghton Mifflin)

Music:

• Taj Mahal: Beans and Cornbread from the album Shakin' a Tailfeather (Rhino)
• Taj Mahal: Loop De Loop from the album Shakin' a Tailfeather (Rhino)
• Stanley Brothers: Nine Pound Hammer from the album Stanley Brothers of Virginia - Volume 2 (County Records)
• We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder from the album Ken Burns' Civil War Soundtrack (Electra Nonesuch)
• Battle Cry of Freedom from the album Ken Burns' Civil War Soundtrack (Electra Nonesuch)
• Steve Eaerle: Wherever I Go from the album Transcendental Blues (Artemis Blues)

Distribution dates:

• week of 07/28/2002 - hour 1
• week of 07/08/2001 - hour 1

Last modified: July 29, 2002