USA Projects

“Tales from the South” is a 29-minute weekly radio show recorded in front of a live audience at Starving Artist Cafe' in the Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock, Arkansas. The show is created, produced, and hosted by Paula Martin Morell in conjunction with Temenos Publishing Company. Each Tuesday, Southerners read their own true stories, which range from funny to sad, to enlightening to touching. Although the show itself is unrehearsed, the literary memoirs have been worked on for weeks leading up to the recording. We also include live music from local musicians. The night includes dinner and a show and is open to the public. The event is a cross between a house concert and a reading/show, with incredible food and great company.

The first Tuesday of every month, we feature a prominent Southerner on a special edition of the show we call “Tin Roof Project.” Past Tin Roofers have included Grif Stockley, Suzi Parker, Mara Leveritt, Lawrence Hamilton, Janis Kearney, P. Allen Smith, Natalie Canerday, Graham Gordy, Kevin Brockmeier, Steve Azar, Jay Jennings, Jerry McKinnis, Judge Reinhold, and Jill Conner Browne. Each Tin Roofer reads his/her story, followed by an informal interview with Paula Morell and audience questions.

During dinner and before the storytelling, we provide live music by different Southern musicians, who continue the storytelling tradition and play everything from folk to blues to bluegrass to Americana, and more. Acclaimed blues guitarist Mark Simpson plays the blues live each week during the taped portion of the radio show. 

"Tales from the South" is uniquely Southern, in that while we don't require stories are set in the South (though a majority are), writers must be either originally from the South or live here currently. The distinct Southern art of storytelling—rich in language, detail, and voice—is alive in all of them.  Contributors are from all walks of life and include professional writers as well as those who have never been published. 

"Tales from the South" started in 2004 as a once-a-month program. We were self-funded for the first six years and heard on UALR Public Radio. In the fall of 2010 William F. Laman Library offered us funding to turn it into a weekly event and program. We have been growing rapidly ever since, adding show videos on our YouTube channel, and podcasts available on ITunes, the NPR website, the Tales from the South website, and elsewhere. We were picked up by World Radio Network (WRN) in November of 2010, and are heard on satellite radio and cable TV throughout Europe and Russia. We are now distributed by Public Radio Exchange (PRX) and are heard on multiple Public Radio stations across the country. Our partners include AY Magazine, where one of our stories is published each month, and the Argenta Arts Foundation. We are also supported by The Oxford American, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, and The North Little Rock Visitor's Bureau. Our audience is rapidly expanding as more and more people connect with each other through the power of  our stories.

We are seeking funding for our 20-show, 2012 Spring Season to keep up with the demand for the show and  the number of other artists who want to be part of the project. Funding will also help us continue to produce, develop, and air the program. 

Help keep the art of Southern-style storytelling alive!