JoshOptical Podcast

-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 worksShoutouts to musician Anna Mertson, ReString Appalachia org, and The “B” String guitar shop in Winston-Salem, NC

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.

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

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.

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.

Hey! Lemme tell you how I got from answering entitled contact lens wearer’s absurd requests to selling gear for the greatest music retailer on Earth, and the troubles in between.

How much time and energy are you spending debating how the industry SHOULD be- that you could be putting into actually making the industry more like you want it to be?

This episode is for you if: 1) you love Winston-Salem, Stokes County & the arts 2) you’re into self-experimentation 3) you want to be happy.

What does your business have that Amazon sort-by-price & next-day delivery doesn’t? How do you balance being a human in business with staying in business? And why on earth would I leave my couch to come to YOUR store? Hear ye hear ye, Season 3 opens with my FIRST INTERVIEW EVER!!! with Dawn Poole, founder/owner of Sunny’s Shoes, bonafide Shoe Dog, retail professional, and all around human of Winston.

“Sales” gets a bad rap, but what does it really mean, and how can we bring a new layer to that conversation to help achieve the things we dream for ourselves?