Features

The snow is piled outside the small yellow shop. The signage outside says "Diamonds, Jade, and Indian Jewelry" because the building used to be a jewelry shop. Now, it holds a different sort of precious commodity: musical instruments.

Texas-based author, singer-songwriter and historian Bobby Bridger has produced an audio version of the book, Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull: Inventing the Wild West.

The book was awarded Foreword magazine's "Gold Award" as the "Best Biography of 2002". Grady Kirkpatrick recently talked with Mr. Bridger.

Ray Jones is a junior at Natrona County High School. Jones is also this year's Poetry Out Loud State Champion.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that supports poetry by offering free educational materials and hosting a recitation competition for high schools across the country. It's a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and state arts agencies. In this case, the Wyoming Arts Council.

Wyoming Public Radio's Naina Rao sits down with Jones to talk about winning the competition, what's next for national championships, and what got Jones into poetry.

Originally published online in 2004, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of fiction books that share the story of Greg Heffney, a teenage character, and his journal entries as he navigates middle school. When it was published into a print series in 2006, it became an instant bestseller across the world. Now, author Jeff Kinney is trying something different.

His latest book, called Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories, pivots to zombies, vampires, and ghosts. Kinney held a drive-thru book tour throughout the Mountain West region including stops in Casper and Rock Springs this month.

Wyoming Public Radio's Naina Rao sat down with the author to talk about his new book, what inspired him to create this series, and the magnitude of success he's experienced with his work.

Zack Kennah went to art school at the University of Wyoming then moved to California to be an independent filmmaker. Over the past two years, Kennah has written and illustrated a comic inspired by his father's stories growing up on the Wind River Indian Reservation called Crowheart Butte.

It's a story set on the Wind River Indian Reservation about the Fort Washakie School basketball team trying to survive creatures in the shadow of the famous butte. You can check out Kennah's work here.

Coming this month, Wyoming Public Media will be releasing Carbon Valley, a bi-monthly limited series following the race to develop an unlikely climate solution. Wyoming Public Radio's Naina Rao sat down with energy reporter Cooper McKim, who developed this series, on how Carbon Valley came about, and what drove the decision to create it.

Music and conversation with Laramie musician J. Shogren. Grady Kirkpatrick talks with J. about his latest album Slow Bird Winter.

Felix Mercado was born in Worland in 1940. His parents, originally from Mexico, had traveled around the United States, eventually settling in Worland as sugar beet farmers where he and his older brothers grew up.

The pandemic has put uncertainty at the forefront of many people's lives. It's forced many to believe and hope for better days, even if there's no end in sight.

Music and conversation with Stoll Vaughan from Kentucky. Grady Kirkpatrick talks with Stoll about his latest album Desires Shape, his songwriting collaboration with the Allman Betts band and a Wyoming fish story.

A 17th-century book known as the Baumfylde Manuscript is giving insight into the lives and priorities of people of the past. Wyoming Public Radio's Ivy Engel spoke to UW professor Peter Parolin who analyzed the manuscript.

Grady Kirkpatrick recently spoke with Shawn Day from the Sheridan-based band Wyoming. They talk about the new song and video "9 - 5" and also about a University of Wyoming reunion at a renowned studio in Laurel Canyon, California.

Grady Kirkpatrick talked with Joachim Cooder about his new album "Over That Road I'm Bound: the Songs of Uncle Dave Macon."

Many people think of science and art as complete opposites, but one University of Wyoming researcher is working to combine the two. Wyoming Public Radio's Ashley Piccone spoke with Karen Vaughan, a pedology professor who is using the soil in her research to make watercolor paint. She said soil is more important than you would think.

Lunar New Year begins on February 12, 2021. And usually, the holiday involves huge festivities with fireworks, dancing, and family reunions. But as the pandemic continues into this year, the celebration will look and feel different this new year. Wyoming Public Radio's Naina Rao reports this story.

Grady Kirkpatrick spoke with Jerry Mitchell of from the Casper-based band Red Butte. They talk about the origins of the band and recent new recordings plus a new video of the song "Cincinnati."

When an insurrection mob violently pushed through the entrance of the Capitol building on January 6, the American Alliance of Museums issued a statement condemning the violence that occurred. They did so because the Capitol is more than a workplace, it's a living museum.

Wyoming Public Radio's Naina Rao spoke to University of Wyoming's Art Museum director, Nicole Crawford, on her perspective regarding the aftermath and effects the insurrection has made on art, history, and museums.

In 2018, the Ucross artist residency program in Northern Wyoming hosted its first fellows for its Native American fellowship for visual artists to have the space and time to focus solely on their art. This past fall, the program extended the opportunity to its first Native American writing fellow.

Wyoming Public Radio's Catherine Wheeler spoke with Diné writer and teacher Brendan Basham about his forthcoming debut novel, Swim Home to the Vanished, and his time at Ucross while on his fellowship.