JoshOptical Podcast

UP(and)COMING!- Show, Podcasts, Collabs

-CONCERT: Stokes Co. Songwriter Showcase 4/10 - PODCAST appearances: Tone Nerds, Western NC Original Music Podcast -COLLAB: Stewart Macdonald instrument tools content -RECORDING: new stripped down EP in the works Shoutouts to musician Anna Mertson, ReString Appalachia org, and The “B” String guitar shop in Winston-Salem, NC

This instrument could get you Disappeared- Ken Bloom on Ukrainian music & its iconic Bandura

From the world’s capital of the Bowed Dulcimer, I interview Kenneth Bloom about the iterations of the Ukrainian Bandura, the legendary Kytasky musical family, imperial imposition through the redesign of the traditional instrument, and the failed Russianization of Ukraine. Ken is the world’s leading maker of Bowed Dulcimers and founder of the annual Pilot Mountain Bowed Dulcimer Festival. The honor of being in his rarefied headspace was made greater by our history together, Ken being my first formal guitar teacher and the builder of my fundamental understanding of music. I share this lineage with hundreds of thousands of viewers through today’s communication channels. Cover photo is one of Ken’s bowed dulcimers.

IT IS SUMMER- what’s happening?

Updates and downdates on upcoming content, projects, gigs and more.

A Lotta Bit Country- Flatfooting, Imposter Accounts, & Taking Tradition to School with Mason Winfree

JOP #19: In our new season’s second interview, Mason & I sit down to answer the age-old questions: Who gets to be Country? Do people really go flatfoot dancing in 2023? Where is the line between performance and just living? And how did we first meet? We can’t remember. The two of us talk representation in Country music & culture, Fiddlers Conventions (and his blue ribbons), Martha Spencer’s new album Wonderland whose videos Mason graced, and Mason’s work with American Highways and his own outlet Real Country Music. ~~~~~~~ Mason P. Winfree is a writer, radio personality, musician, scholar, and award-winning dancer with deep North Carolina roots in Stokes & Rockingham Counties. You know there’s something happening when Mason shows up, even if there wasn’t before he got there. ~~~~~~~~~~ If you haven’t subscribed on your favorite podcast spinning app, now is the time! You’ll enjoy it thoroughly.

“A Strong & Particular Bond”— The Power of LOCAL with Miles Montgomery (JOP Episode 18)

Daily Basket Co-Founder & Manager Miles Montgomery & partners take care of their own— and they’d love for you to be among them. Miles & Josh talk community, honoring tradition while pursuing innovation, the sustaining power of being neighbors, and how you’ll never survive without Bud Light.