The Wind (Fil Corbitt, The Wind)

In the season finale of Devil Music, we walk down to the crossroads to make a deal. 

Featuring: 

The myth of Bluesman Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossroads.

Steven Johnson, president of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation and grandson of Robert Johnson.

Chris Smith of the great podcast, Sounding History.

A trip to the cemetery in Compton, CA where Robert's guitar mentor Ike Zimmerman is buried.

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The Wind is produced by me, Fil Corbitt.

This season was made with support from the Google Podcasts Creator Program through PRX. And by our patrons. If you’d like to support the show, head to Patreon.com/Thewind and set up a monthly donation.

 

Thank you to Shawn Yazzi, Michael King, Dylan Jahr,  Iron Mountain, Little Bear, Bad Soul, and Wocus Muffin for speaking with me for this episode. And thanks to Bethany Sam, Eleanor Tullock, and to Henry Rondeau  who provided some of the audio of the drum groups. You can find him on youtube at “Yoyoyo itshendo”. He’s got a bunch of powwow videos if you wanna check them out, and I’ll post some, along with photos, links and more at TheWind.org.

 

Thanks for being here for Year 3 of The Wind. We’ll have a guest episode and epilogue soon. And to all of the patrons, THANK YOU. You’ve seriously made this thing much easier to sustain, and I am deeply grateful.

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Cowboy poetry is often very structured. The good poets play with that structure and surprise you with twists or a pauses, jokes, word play. Henry’s poems do somethin’ else entirely. They feel like suddenly you’re walking down a path and you don’t know where it’s goin’, or if it’s goin’ anywhere, but it usually does and then you’re somewhere a little different and he says thanks and puts his hat back on and sits down in a chair at the back the stage.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering started in 1985, becoming an annual roundup of cowboys, ranchers, poets, artists and the many combinations therein, hailing from all parts the American west and sometimes beyond. Hosted by the Western Folklife Center, the gathering is always held in January/February when folks’ ranches are dormant. Elko’s oft-snowy streets are then marked by the soles of boots, mostly of the cowboy variety, some rounded, some pointed, and most of them pointing into the Western Folklife Center’s Pioneer Saloon, or up the front steps of the Elko Convention Center.

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Year 4 of The Wind will be a series called "Devil Music". Investigating the Satanic Panic, the crossroads and subliminal messaging. The devil is in the details. Coming soon.To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

The unlikely history of voice breaking in American music, and what it says about us.

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Warning: this episode contains strong language and graphic descriptions of suicide. It might not be suitable for some listeners.

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This episode is part of a two part series called The Merry Monarchs. Both are from Wind contributor Eleanor Qull.

In this episode of the Merry Monarchs, Eleanor makes an audio tour for the Monarch Butterflies, and to aid them on their migration, she constructs a series of objects and offerings. And it’s not just audio magic: she really created these offerings: butterfly-sized leather-bound books, kites, pendants and baskets…all types of really cool stuff. You can see photos of all of it at TheWind.org.

A huge thank you to Theo Rassmusen who provided all of the music in this episode. Theo is a good friend and excellent synth musician and you can his work at patterns.bandcamp.com

Thanks to Laurie Leonard of the River Fork Ranch, Dr. Chip Taylor: Founder and Director of Monarch Watch, and Storai Stanizai for speaking to us for this episode.

For a full source list and a million links, head to thewind.org!

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This season was produced with support from the Google Podcasts Creator Program through PRX and our patrons. If you want to support the show, Head to www.patreon.com/thewind or click the link on the website. Set up a monthly donation to keep this thing going.

Thanks to Cory Mcabee for speaking with me for this episode, and to Lori Leanord of the River Fork Ranch Preserve, Katrina Spade, and John Christian Phifer of the Conservation Burial Alliance.

For more information on I_Butterfly and the Red Planet Planning Commission, along with other Links, photos, Live show calendar, Merch and more, visit Thewind.org.

The music in this episode was almost entirely by Cory Mcabee, Most of it was from his album Small Star Seminar, plus that one was from his film, a space western called Stringray Sam.  The piece I played under Carl Sagan was an altered version of The Magic Flute by Mozart, The original was included by Sagan on the Golden Record, a collection of music that was present on Voyager 1 when it took that picture of our pale blue home.  Finally, Wedding of the Winds is from the public domain.

 

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In 2017, Jeff Davis Peak (California) and Jefferson Davis Peak (Nevada) began the process of shedding their names. In this episode, we journey through the bureaucratic network that names places in the US, and try to get a handle on what it means to name a place.

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Dan Flores and his book Coyote America, dueling press releases, and The Wind Inaugural Coyote Calling Contest.

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Year 3 comes to a close. Despite my best efforts, this was the first year that the desk was buried. To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

Aja defines the Satanic panic as 2 separate but connected things. First, a specific era in the 80s and 90s where moral hysteria spread and court cases about satanic ritual abuse lead to the very real imprisonment of innocent people. Second, the Santanic Panic is a mode of thought, a moral panic, whose framework continues to exist and sway legislation and public opinion to this day. 

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The Wind on Snap Judgement!

If you're new to The Wind, start with the Prologue.

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Hey, Fil Here

Just dropping in the feed real quick with an announcement. Wind episode Whip Law just aired on the podcast and national radio show Snap Judgement. We’ve got a wave of new listeners here so if you came over from Snap, WELCOME.

 

The Wind can be a hard show to describe, but I recommend starting with the Prologue. It's the very first episode and it’ll explain the premise of the show.

 

Then, feel free to click around. If you dug Whip Law you might like Rodeo Clown or a Hobo a Tramp a Bum.

 

And if you’re already a Wind listenerr thank you. Whip Law will be airing on Snap Judgement this week all over North America.

 

Catch you soon with the season finale of Year 3.

 

 

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The Wind is produced by me, Fil Corbitt.

This season was made with support from the Google Podcasts Creator Program through PRX.

Links, photos, Live show calendar, and more at Thewind.org. And, if you want to support, first subscribe on your podcast app and then become a patron. Head to the brand new patreon.com/thewind or click the link on our website. You can set up a monthly donation to help me keep this thing going. 

Thank you to Michael Branch who wrote a short story on the rodeo that partially inspired my curiosity in the rodeo clown. Thanks to Geoff from In Other News Radio who interviewed Michael Bala. And Thanks to Willie and Connor for talking with me.

The music in this episode was In the Gloaming and Rovin’ Cowboy from the public domain, plus a track from friend of the show Yclept Insan.

 

 

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The word “transit” comes from the Latin “transitus”, meaning to pass across or through. Off the subway in Brooklyn, down the stairs into the busy green room of On Air Fest, we meet Jazmine (JT) Green.

|| Ephemera, change, sound. ||

This episode features a piece called:

Transformation through Repetition (feat. Jemma Rose Brown) - aired on Jazmine’s experimental audio podcast U+1F60C

Thanks to: Eleanor Qull, Jemma Rose Brown, Ray Pang, all the folks at On Air Fest.

Jazmine's album "As A..." available here

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The Wind is made possible by our patrons. If you’d like the support the show, head to patreon.com/thewind and set up a monthly donation. This is a completely independent production and any support helps.

This episode is one part of a two part series called The Merry Monarchs. Both are from Wind contributor Eleanor Tullock. 

In this episode, Eleanor interrogates the internet in search of answers about the Monarch Butterflies. 

A huge thank you to Theo Rassmusen who provided most of the music for this episode. Theo is a good friend and excellent synth musician and you can his work at patterns.bandcamp.com - And thank you to Tsippora Sidibé from the podcast Tant Que Je Serai Noire for lending her voice.

 

 

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All we talk about is the smoke. 

Where I live it has replaced the weather; both conversationally and to some degree physically. Fire has become its own season.

I have not had a conversation in over a month that didn’t at least touch on the smoke.

But really, that’s only if we’re lucky. Because if we aren’t talking about the smoke, it’s because a fire has come close enough to talk about that instead. Close enough to our houses or friends houses or favorite places in the mountains that we watch slowly be eaten by a red line as the Facebook group updates the fire perimeter.

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Before this patch of Lodgepole Pines became my office, I was walking through the meadow. I heard a small waterfall coming from inside a bush. Since waterfalls don't come from inside bushes, I elbowed my way in to find a Fountain of Youth -- a rusty pipe spouting the coolest, clearest water I had ever tasted. 

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Kiko Dinucci: “It's been about 10 years since I've realized that in my music, in all my works and projects, such as Metá Metá, I have been working with something beautiful and something ugly; something violent and something lyrical. And I think Brazil is like that. It is a tropical country with wonderful nature, but it has its past and history marked by death, exploitation, and so on and so on… So we live with many amazing things, especially when we think about our culture and nature; but there's a lot of bad stuff too. Thus, we still have a lot of marks from our colonial period, from slavery, from military dictatorship… so I got used to writing songs in this way: bringing together beautiful and ugly things; lyrical and violent things. I like that mix and I like artists who play with it.”

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A quick tour of the office, as it snows on my desk. 

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Traveling the west with an Aeolian Harp: listening in dry lake beds, great sand dunes, and the world's largest living organism, Pando Aspen Grove // official reports from the road.

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Let's take a long walk. We'll park at the Walmart. Cross the asphalt, past the Arby's and the TJ Maxx. Get on the sidewalk, right between the street and the parking lot. Now, keep walking. Pass the KFC and the Payless Shoes. In just a few long minutes you'll reach the Circle K. Hit the crosswalk button -- it's only you on foot. Watch the traffic back up as you slowly cross the 6 lanes and step into the Burger King parking lot. Behind it, you'll find a Costco. Now the trick is to keep walking, as far as you can, until you can't anymore. And then turn around and walk back.

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Links and more: www.TheWind.org 

Support: www.patreon.com/thewind

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Up the freeway a few miles from Downtown Los Angeles, the streetlights flicker on and I approach the warm glow of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. Inside, I meet organist Edward Torres.To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

A note on Throat Forest, a half-failing aspen grove that I pass through on my way to my handmade desk in the woods. 

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PATREON

WEBSITE

HOWLS ROAD EP

 

The Wind is produced by me, Fil Corbitt.

This episode was written, read and scored by Emily Pratt. If you’d like to find her music head to Howlsroad.bandcamp.com.

This season was made with support from the Google Podcast Creator Program through PRX. and by listeners like you. If you’d like to help keep this thing going, head to patreon.com/thewind and set up a monthly donation. At $7/month, you can get access to the exclusive official Wind Listener Patch.

For photos, links, merchandise and more, we’re at Thewind.ORG

 

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I found a handsaw in the mountains, sticking out of the snow. I carried it deep into the woods and used it to build a desk from a felled tree. This desk is where I produce and record the podcast.

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Western Films as America’s origin story, and why they sound the way they do. Featuring Gary Farmer, Rion Amilcar Scott, Jeff Grace and Kathryn Kalinak. 

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Playlist of Western Film Scores:

SPOTIFY  | YOUTUBE

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In this episode we investigate western film scores from early westerns and singing cowboys (Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Herb Jeffries) to the John Ford Era (Tiomkin, Hageman, Steiner and Bernstein) to Ennio Morricone to Neil Young's score for Dead Man and beyond.

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Year 5 • Prologue -- notes on maintaining the desk and wandering far from the home mountain.

This year you'll hear more of the interviews left long form; more intact. More raw material, collected from the road.

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The history of Mailer Daemon, a clip from Tartini's Devil's Trill Sonata, Rumble: the Indians who Rocked the World, Charley Patton and the development of the blues, Link Wray, Stairway to Heaven Backwards and Lil Nas X. Plus, the final vote for a fiddle duel between a boy named Johnny and The Devil.

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In a quest to understand the Aeolian Harp, an interview with composer John Luther Adams. 

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My office is a field of poison flowers

purple swaying in the breeze.

It is also a pathway. For a bear, whose tracks have on occasion encountered my own. Surprised by each other’s quiet presence, we make eye contact before retreat.

•

On the way to my desk, I traverse a shelf more mixed than lush: Throat Forest — a half failing aspen grove, green shoots among the fallen white trunks.

 

• That which is pliant is a disciple of life: that which is rigid, a disciple of death. •

 

Throat Forest voices this point. The living trees bend and sway, while the dead hold steady and unwavering: solemn monuments, they are their own gravestones.

•

This has been a year of adjustment, a season of bending and adapting. But in so, a year of life. 

I appreciate your presence, and this show will return soon, with more findings and searchings. 

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Warning: this episode includes strong language and graphic descriptions of suicide. Make sure you're in the right place for that.

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Time can wear a word down. If said too much, or not enough, it can begin to mean something else entirely, or start to blend into the words around it. Three such words are hobo, tramp and bum. 

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A tour of Himalayan metal music, from the ethnic-metal of Lakhey to Binaash's रमाइलो Death Metal. // दानव जो दानव खान्छ.

 

 

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How gender neutral language is working for non-binary people, and how it’s developing in English, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Hebrew. Featuring Avery Hellman (Ismay), Cara Nguyen, Dana Dela Cruz, Tyler Broderick (Diners), nwaobiala, Tuck Woodstock (gender reveal), Dan Everton, Jaq Victor, Em Jiang, Lior Gross, Eyal Rivlin (Non-binary Hebrew project). 

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LISTENER SURVEY • CLICK HERE

The second Wind listener survey!

Plus, a guest episode from our friends at Twenty Thousand Hertz.

The guest episode is called Dias Irae, and I think it works as a companion piece to Devil Music.

The Wind will be back in the fall -- thanks for listening.

 

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Subscribe here

Links, photos and more at www.thewind.org

A song bounces from slope to slope, emerging from the valley as an echo. Just of out earshot from Spokane Falls we meet star Taiwanese yodeler, Ho Lan.

Ho Lan • Bandcamp | Website

 

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Tags, Topics and Mentions: Ho Lan, Echo from Deep Valley, Yodeling, Yodel, Taiwanese Yodel, Puli, Spokane, Washington, Spokane River, Spokane Falls, Expo '74, Manito Park, Yodeling cowboys, Hawaiian yodel, Mike Hanapi, Vicente Fernandez, Josaya Hadebe, Bulawayo Blue Yodel, yodeling in nature, waterfalls, birdsong, Hsia-jung Chang, the wind, eastern washington, high desert, silent night

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I sit at my desk and the wind scrapes endlessly through the canyon. Glad that I could capture a little bit of it and fold it up into words and yips and yodels for you this year. Catch you soon.

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A welcome to new listeners, and an announcement.

Hear my episode on 99% Invisible's feed or at 99pi.org

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How a small sonic boom came to represent homelessness in Reno, and how the city responded to unhoused people taking up sonic real-estate. // Utility, aesthetic language, 911 tape and the search for Reno’s master whip maker.To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

A conversation with Nomadland author Jessica Bruder from February 2020.  

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From the backroom of a Basque hotel in the Great Basin, Tuvan throat singing flows out through the bar, over the train tracks, and into the vast sagebrush steppes.

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Topics, Tags and Mentions: Alash Ensemble, petroglyphs, freight train, The Martin Hotel, the martin hotel winnemucca, winnemucca nevada, basque, picon punch, tuva, throat singing, xoomei, tuvan throat singing, seven troughs, ghost town, mazuma nevada, tunnel camp nevada, ghost towns, mining towns, casino cafe, the martin hotel menu, bai taiga, Sygyt, Kargyraa, Xöömei, Ezenggileer, Borbangnadyr, great basin arts and entertainment, throat singer winnemucca, winnemucca throat singing concert

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More at: linktr.ee/historium

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An investigation of subversion by Emily Pratt.

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• (901) 609-5347 • The Devil went down to Georgia, looking for souls, etc etc... But did he really lose a fiddle duel to that lil rascal, Johnny? That's for you to decide. Text your vote to • (901) 609-5347 • • 666 for the Devil • 777 for Johnny •   // The music in this episode included Reference clips from the Devil Went Down to Georgia Parts 1 and 2. Sodden Gallop by Howls Road,  two songs from the public domain. For More information, visit www.TheWind.orgTo support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

I found a handsaw sticking out of the snow, and I carried it deep into the woods. This is a story I’ve told a few times. ••• Broadcasting from a handmade desk the the Sierra Nevada, The Wind returns for a third year. •••To support The Wind, become a patron at www.patreon.com/thewind Subscribe at thewind.org

Thanks to Jay Valentine and Kim Green for speaking to me for this story. You can find Kim’s webstore at BlackB4U.com. Also thank you Alex Painter for connecting me with Jay and thanks to the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

Music from the public domain and by: Yclept Insan, Hannah Lee, Anthony Ouradnik.

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I reported another episode for 99% Invisible. It’s called The Los Angeles Leaf Blower Wars.

Listen in the 99pi feed, or at https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-los-angeles-leaf-blower-wars/

•••

If you're new to The Wind:

Start with: "Prologue"

For politics of sound: "Whip Law" // "Judas Priest on Trial"

Music: "The Demon who Eats Demons" (Nepali death metal)

Music History: "Frontier Music" (western film scores)

Fan Favs: "Coyote" // "A Hobo, a Tramp, a Bum"

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Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

•••

Year 5 of The Wind coming this Fall/Winter.

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