XMTR Radio Hour Ep29: Lowlines
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2024)
60 min / Episode 29 of 29
This XMTR (Transmitter) Radio Hour is dedicated to Lowlines - a sonic scrapbook, a passport to roam, tuning in to the pulse of place, with 2 episodes from this series follows food entrepreneur & urban place-maker Petra Barran as she travels through the Americas, meeting people with profound connections to the places they’re from. We’ll join Petra as she travels from London to New Orleans immersing herself in a Second Line parade and then on to the Amtrak slow train from New Orleans to Arizona connecting with strangers along the way.
Featured:
1. Lowlines Prologue
Petra Barran isa gatherer of people and food on the kerbs of London. She began as a food truck owner, cruising the UK, selling chocolate to any and everyone - and grew a whole multi-pronged street food organisation from there. But as her business took off and gave way to more and more meetings in glass buildings, the energy and genuine, spontaneous human connection that she thrived on started to fade away..
2. Episode 1: Second Line Footwork in New Orleans (excerpt)
New Orleans - the most human city Petra Knows know has to be the first stop on her pull to tune into the pulse of place. It’s the most magnetic of places. Here it feels like the air is thicker, the light has currents in it and the ground is …bouncy. And bubbling up from those streets is the second line, a rolling block party, a neighbourhood parade, a high-voltage current coursing through the city’s veins every Sunday with music, community, freedom and culture. For many Black New Orleanians it’s the day when you own the streets, so you better bring that FOOTWORK
The series kicks off with Petra getting her feet back on the ground at the Ole & Nu Style Fellas parade in the 6th Ward.
3. Episode 3: Trainline: Slow Train to Tucson
The Sunset Limited, Westbound - Fly or take the Amtrak? The journey or the destination? Taking the slow train to Tucson just felt right. You know when your whole body craves a more gentle, almost human tempo to carry you onto the next place? So, whilst keen to get to the wide open desert, the opportunity to stretch out the journey, savour the changing landscape through Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and have time to meet my fellow passengers was too much of a pull.
In Episode 3 we follow the lowlines of the train tracks and the hiss, groan and gentle gyrations of the 36 hour journey as I talk off-grid living, denture cream woes, magic mushrooms and marrying the same man three times with a raft of fellow travellers - all while trying to get a decent bite to eat and a bit of shut eye.
Narrated by Petra Barran
Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) and Lina Prestwood (Scenery Studios)
Original score by Hannah Marshal
Mastering by Jobina Tinnemans
XMTR Radio Hour Produced by Lucia Scazzocchio
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