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.

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!

Chuck! Please bring this podcast back! I have listened to them all! I need more!

As a man from WNC, this podcast is amazing.

If you want to stay stuck in your rut, don’t listen. I’ve been looking for this podcast for years. A Southern focus with a progressive lens, calling all Southerners in. Shining a light on things that are too often hidden under our cultural hoop skirts and smiling on the beauty, cooking, and humor of our region, as well.

Such a great listen and reminder of all the great things the south can be.

Thanks for interesting stories in a well done format, for celebrating all the wonderful differences we have, and for reminding us that you can love a place and fight to make it to be better at the same time.

After listening to one podcast I’m sold! Thanks

This show validates my pride at being Southern and calms my internal conflict about being a Black Southerner and having pride in the South.

As a left coast (mostly liberal) California girl, I’m surprised at how much this podcast makes me wish I was from the South. It has made me reign in my presumptions, enjoy the cultural differences and I could listen to Chuck Reece talk all day long.

Every podcast edition is such a treasure. I wish there was more

Love this show! I’ve followed y’all for a while and didn’t know it existed, it should be promoted more on the website and Instagram because it’s so good! I’ve ordered several of the books mentioned, I’m really happy that it’s helped me supplement my reading list

Bring on season three please!!!!

I absolutely love this podcast. A lifelong southerner who identifies the region and also a PhD in history I appreciate the many levels of coverage and analysis this podcast provides, I can’t wait for more.

I’ve known about this podcast for years and for some reason have never listened to it. After a maddening 2 years of Covid and hesitancy to fly or not being able to fly, politics and other issues, I was finally able and ready to visit my family and hometown about 45 minutes outside of ATL. I downloaded a few episodes for the flight, one about Waffle House, the best of southern music 2019 and another called Can the South Be Redeemed. I listened to the first 2 episodes mentioned on the way to GA and the last episode on the way back to CA, where I currently and often regretfully live. I’ve realized in my 20 years gone that the South is me and I am the South. I can’t put into words that nostalgia feeling from days living there, driving by the old Dairy Queen, dodging ant hills, watching lightning bugs, you get it. Growing up there was a love/hate relationship similar to where I live now. While visiting, I soaked up every minute I could. On the flight back, I sat beside a lady from Tennessee traveling to CA and we both agreed that more Southerners should travel and how it’s an eye opener for acceptance of other cultures and people. We talked about where she’d traveled to and what games to play in Reno. I later listened to the Can the South Be Redeemed episode and teared up about 4 times. My mask soaked up the tears and I felt such pride in being a Southerner. I felt pride that the South is changing for the better. I’ll try to do my part.

When I compare where I live in the PNW to the south, I often feel like these two regions are different countries within the same country. The insight, humanity, and humor makes me proud that the south is indeed part of our county.

Holy cow, this is a great podcast. True love is when you recognize the flaws in something and love it anyway, but want it to improve and be the best it can be. That is the kind of love this podcast has for my home region, the South. A welcome change from the kind of "love" you see in the media from people who will admit no failings and stubbornly insist on stasis.

What a great podcast. I was introduced to it via the Proof podcast and I’m so glad they featured it. I hit the subscribe button about halfway in. Really loved the strong storytelling - I could have listened all day.

For non-southerners and Southerners alike, this podcast is an enormous testament to the beauty and resiliency of the complicated, honest South. The conversations are at times difficult, at others funny — yet always relevant to our experiences living and loving this complex region.

The perspective is awesome - I’m proud of where I’m from but SO excited for the change that can and does come from this region and all the potential here. Would love to learn more about roots of music and holiday celebrations in future episodes!

Really interesting and insightful, creative and beautifully told.

Well?

Literally all I want to listen to now that I don’t live in the proper south anymore.

One of the most accurate depictions of life growing up in the South. A true celebration of the one united place we call home.

As a lover of oral histories, storytelling and southern culture, I appreciate how this series manages to provide an unvarnished, sometimes critical but ultimately affectionate portrait of this complex corner of America. Whether discussing the nature of Appalachian “hillbillies,” blues, cocktails, okra, or the perfect cake, subjects are consistently engaging, and stereotypes are turned on their heads and eschewed in favor of authenticity.

In these divisive times we need more stories and programs such as this. Thank You

I really enjoyed listening!

Ashamed to say I was raised to see southerners as inferior. I’ve changed this incorrect idea, but I’m now disgusted by the incorrect assessment that “southern whites who aren’t actively democrats are basically racist monsters”. Enjoy the emotional civil war your low-information, empty, dangerous INSINCERe progressiveness is causing.

Informative and entertaining. Covers topics and angles not covered much elsewhere. Digestible, in that you can really hear everything and ponder it (not fast talk you have to rewind and hear again), and because it’s just about always less than an hour long.

Wonderful to hear honest and intelligent conversation. Thank you!

Great story telling and giving insight. Not sure how to write it but this is one of the podcasts that connects and strengthens our humanity

This is the maxim that guides their work. It is important work, starting the difficult conversations we all need to have about the South. This podcast and it’s publications give me hope that there are folks out there that are done with the Anti-Belem bull and ready for progress.

Is more and more and more of the Bitter Southerner. Anyone in the South and anyone not in the South should give this a listen for a REAL look at the many layers of the region and its people

While the style is unique and topics are truly southern, if I had to describe it to someone in less than 5 words, the four in the title so the job.

A timely and topical podcast for today and from rememberences. Stories about the South that I love—both heart-breaking and warm. It is a great vibe for all people who don’t abide hatred. It’s time for all of us to “Hug More Necks!”

I love this podcast because it speaks to the South that I know, the one where I was raised, not the one that is so often described in the media. My parents were progressives who taught me the importance of acceptance of all humans, especially those different from me. I especially love the episodes where guests discuss losing or discarding their accents, because I'm one of those folks. When I get back to the part of the Virginia mountains where I was born my accent comes roaring back! This is my new favorite podcast.

This podcast makes the south feel like home. I’m from the upper Midwest, but love the accent and lifestyle of the south. Makes me wish I was born and raised southern. This podcast is soothing for sure, really enjoyed the cake episode and Waffle House (which kinda makes me sad because we don’t have any here) - I normally go to Kentucky every year but haven’t gotten to this year due to covid but am going to miss Waffle House this year and the conversations you just can’t have in a bigger city.

The makers of this podcast resemble Constantine in Egypt. Now they’re demolishing European history in the US.

Vacation to me means heading south and east from Minnesota. Down the Mississippi and over to the Gulf coast. This podcast refreshes my wonderful memories of t in the South: Nashville, Biloxi, Panama Beach, Tupelo and others. Thanks for the good stories especially about Waffle Houses.

I promise you that nobody wants your ol racist dry unflavored pound cake. anyway this podcast is awesome.

This podcast makes me feel like I have found my people, and helps me articulate why I love the south and why I’m proud to be from the south. I look forward to listening to each episode, and can not wait for more.

I started listening to this podcast at the end...about the possibility of redeeming the South. I’m a Yankee transplant but have lived more of my life in the South. I consider myself a “new” Southerner. I love the South...it is home. I teach South Carolina history. I feel an urgency in what I do. I have never been able to articulate what it is that I feel that I am a part of but I believe I have a role in redeeming the South through education...teaching a complete history of the South that is honest and authentic. “The Bitter Southerner” is an affirmation of my vocation and my Southern pride. It is instructive and genuine. I feel so fortunate to have stumbled upon this podcast. It’s the conversation I have wanted to engage in and have been searching for but couldn’t ever find. I can’t wait until Season Three.

The very first author interviewed said that a pound cake HAD to have been made by slaves. What ridiculous tripe! My greatgrandmother’s pound cake was stirred by herself or her family. We were made of sterner stuff back then; we did not have the chicken scrawny arms that this woman must have. I take umbrage at her theory that only “slave labor” could have created many cakes. That ridiculous assumption is insulting and ignorant and worse: it perpetuates anger and division.

As an native Atlantan transplanted to DC, I often miss the comforts of home. Chuck’s “twang,” and the stories that remind me of where I come from, brighten my days and make quarantine a little less torturous. I can’t say I miss home any less, but I feel like I’ve got a piece of it here with me. 🍑

I really enjoy this podcast and learning different subjects that concern the south.

This podcast helped me make it through the beginning of the pandemic! Listened to this remarkable podcast while burning up the road walking. I sure hope another season is coming around the corner. My daughter was born in Winston-Salem, NC. Some NC friends tease her because she “doesn’t have a southern accent and tell her she isn’t Southern.” Her reply “ Well then what am I?” The topic of the south is Rich and Complicated. This show covers the topic so respectfully and spends time going over the many layers of the south and what it means to be southern. Bravo for all who make this podcast possible. Thank you.

Maybe I’m late, but I love that you’re from Ellijay! My dad’s family is from nearby Jasper and I grew up going to visit. At his funeral a few years ago, I couldn’t even understand what the speakers were saying because their accents were so thick. This episode really made me check myself and my own biases about the way people sound with a southern accent. Thank you!

Wow! An extraordinary piece and I’m grateful for the tears Shine on and thank you for helping to show us the way There’s plenty of redemption needed in our entire country and world and John Lewis is a touchstone for that to happen

I truly believe that the majority of people are good but the state of the world today hijacks that belief and I easily give into judgement and frustration. “Can the South be redeemed” was good for the soul, gave me hope and teaches the values of fighting with education, persistence, and love is the only way to evoke true growth and permanent change. May we all continue to learn, honor, and continue the legacy of John Lewis.

I am not from the south, but moved there in high school. I lived in various places in Georgia and the mountains of South Carolina over the course of 10 years. I fell in love with the food, the beauty of the land and the people there. This podcast takes me back to those people and places with beautiful and honest storytelling. The south has many faults, but it also has much to be proud of, and I appreciate this podcast for being real about both. Thank you!