(Aired 10/08/2022)
The inaugural episode of “The Songbirds Radio Hour” focuses on Chattanooga's famous 9th Street - now known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard - and how the thriving Black community helped shape the music career of legendary blues singer Bessie Smith.
Guests:
- Dr. Michelle Scott, the author of "Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga: Bessie Smith and the Emerging Urban South," which influenced the 2015 film "Bessie." Dr. Scott is a professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
- Neshawn Calloway - a music teacher at Chattanooga’s Center for Creative Arts - is the musical guest, covering some of Bessie Smith’s most beloved songs.