logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2017
20m 8s

Life on a shanty boat

Bbc Radio 3
About this episode

A 20-minute watery odyssey - idling down the Tennessee River with the best thunderstorm in a tin shack you are ever going to hear... and some frogs…

In the company of Betty Goines, who grew up on a shanty boat during the depression, Wes Modes takes his recreated shanty out on to the river, to gather stories for his Secret History of American River People project, and to live a life under the cosy tin roof of his shanty - close to the water, and all the elements..

Up next
Feb 2024
Sleeper Train
In 2017, audio producer Phil Smith travelled to Ukraine to attend his friend's wedding. There, somewhere between the cities of Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Odessa, he fell in love with the soundworld of the sleeper train: its steady hypnotic rhythms, the melody of hurtling through t ... Show More
30m 1s
Jan 2024
Sounds of the Earth - husky howls and oystercatchers
Relax with a mix of music and natural sounds, recorded by Radio 3 Sunday Breakfast listeners. Three dawn choruses from across the UK, starring woodland, garden and sea birds, follow on from the very different dusk chorus from the remote Greeenland town of Ilulissat, which feature ... Show More
27m 52s
Jan 2024
The Clock
Time unravels in this hypnotic audio journey...In this edition of Slow Radio, we tumble inside the delicate mechanism of the clock - our attempt to contain and mark the steady rush of time itself. Musical and rhythmic, this surreal audio composition moves between the meditative b ... Show More
29m 48s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2021
Jemma Wadham, "Ice Rivers: A Story of Glaciers, Wilderness, and Humanity" (Princeton UP, 2021)
The ice sheets and glaciers that cover one-tenth of Earth’s land surface are in grave peril. High in the Alps, Andes, and Himalaya, once-indomitable glaciers are retreating, even dying. Meanwhile, in Antarctica, thinning glaciers may be unlocking vast quantities of methane stored ... Show More
35m 23s
May 2023
Women paddling treacherous water
Kim Chakanetsa hears about the awe-inspiring journeys of two white-water kayakers from the US and France, and the resilience that's kept them at the top of their discipline. Nouria Newman is the first and only woman to run a 30-metre waterfall, a feat captured in the film Wild Wa ... Show More
27m 49s
Apr 2019
Last Night on the Titanic: The Life Savers
Mr. Rogers once said, “When there is a disaster, always look for the helpers; there will always be helpers. Many died on the night of the Titanic's sinking, but many more would have died if not for the heroic efforts of such helpers as the “unsinkable” Molly Brown and Benjamin Gu ... Show More
29m 18s
Oct 2016
Off Grid in Mid-Wales
Guest presenter Ian Marchant meets people who live off-grid in his part of the world, near Presteigne in mid-Wales. There's Bob, who started his off-grid life on the hippy trail in the sixties, driving over-land to Afghanistan and bringing back the first Afghan coats to the Londo ... Show More
23m 42s
Aug 2023
Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates, "Noah's Arkive" (U Minnesota Press, 2023)
At a moment when the world has tipped over into irreversible violence and corruption, a divinity contacts a righteous man. The man is directed to build a giant ship and bring aboard animals, who will spend an indefinite amount of time living, sleeping, and eating alongside Noah a ... Show More
1h 39m
Nov 2021
All Aboard the Sir David Attenborough
The public wanted to name her Boaty McBoatface, but in the end she got a slightly more stately name. The UK's newest polar research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, has just set out on her maiden voyage to Antarctica, where she'll enable scientists to research climate chan ... Show More
27m 32s
Mar 2024
430. Titanic: The Iceberg Strikes (Part 4)
It is Sunday the 14th of April 1912, and the passengers of the Titanic, from the tycoons in first class to the migrants in third class, have been enjoying a journey incomparable in its modernity. The weather, up until that point exceptionally clement, suddenly grew colder, stille ... Show More
45m 38s