• The American Countryside is truly a slice of Americana. It might be a well-known music or TV star or just someone with an interesting story that lives down the street. From Iditarod sled dog mushers, to NASA scientists... from the Rooster Crowing Championships to NFL greats...The American Countryside is sure to be of interest. Click the button above to listen to the latest show, or visit the American Countryside archives.
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Root Capitol

Willy Foote saw farmers and farmer cooperatives in developing nations often struggle to survive.  What resulted was a vision that turned into a non-profit organization that’s making great strides in helping small, rural business thrive……

Pearl Harbor Survivor Al Bodenlos

Al can tell you plenty about building airport runways.  Of course, most of those he helped build were on surfaces like coral under the threat of attack by the Japanese…..

Chattanooga Battlefield

Imagine being a slave at the beginning of the Civil War only later to have an opportunity to join the Union army and fight back at those who enslaved you.  It is here that former slaves joined men from the Union army to wage war in some of the most difficult terrain of the Civil War…..

Best of 2011: Barbara Law

Our best of 2012 continues today with a lady named Barbara who was a teenager living in Japan when World War II ended. Her country’s surrender signaled many changes in her life, including instruction on using judo to deal with aggressive American GI’s that would soon land on her homeland’s soil……

Best of 2011: The New Mallery Abbey

When people began attending funerals here, many had the exact same reaction. They mentioned that when they passed, they wanted a funeral just like that. What resulted is a business with deep ties to the mission they men serve…..

Best of 2011: Santa Anna

It’s been over 150 years since Illinois soldiers faced Santa Anna in the Mexican War. However, traces of that battle fought over 1500 miles to the south can still be found in the names of cities and the relics in museums…..

Best of 2011: Pioneers of Flight

Today a transcontinental flight from New York to L.A. might take about five hours. But do you know how long the first such flight took? We celebrate the 100th anniversary of flying coast-to-coast with this special look back at the best of the American countryside 2012……

Best of 2011: Helen Netherton

It’s a tradition the last week of each year we give you the “Best of the American Countryside.” And in 2012 we interviewed 110 year old Helen Netherton. Since that original broadcast, Helen passed away at her home just shy of turning 111. Today we go back to listen to her wisdom on living a full life on this edition of the American Countryside.

The Denver Sleigh Works

Santa needs his sleigh to make deliveries around the world and this man makes sure he’ll never run out of transportation…..

Leroy Keyes

In 1968, O.J Simpson won the Heisman Trophy, but it was this man who was runner-up in the Heisman balloting that year. His story is one he shares with many across the Hoosier state and the nation as well…..

The New Madrid Earthquake

Although California and Alaska are most often the epicenter of major earthquakes in the United States, it was the Midwest that produced one of the most violent events in history. It’s been 200 years since that quake in southeast Missouri, a quake felt on the east coast that you can still see the effects of today…..

The Ketch

When the silver ran out, the sheep moved in–thousands of them, in fact. This place became one of the largest sheep exporting cities in the world…..

Alaska’s Famous Iditarod

Some sports not only require thousands of hours of training, they also require a hefty financial investment. For those who run Alaska’s famous Iditarod, it is a part of their life…..

The Holiday Christmas Store

If Santa Claus needed a place to buy all of his decorations, this would be it. It’s big business in small town Michigan and it brings Christmas cheer every day of the year…..

The Toughest Place on the Basketball Court

It may just be the toughest position to play on the basketball court. The worst part is, no matter how well you play, you seem to always get jeers instead of cheers…..

The First Thanksgiving

You may have thought Thanksgiving dates back to the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in today’s state of Massachusetts. But there’s a farm that claims to have held that first feast many years prior to the Pilgrim’s meal…..

The Buckhorn Saloon

When people can’t pay cash for the items they want, they may try to barter. That’s what this saloon did, and what they received became a bigger attraction than the drinks they served…..

King of the Cowboys

Tom Mix was known as the King of the Cowboys, starring in over 300 films from 1910 – 1935. He might also be the king of marriage, tying the knot five times…..

Smuggling Cash Under Your Skirt

When Union and Confederate sympathizers threatened to take this banker’s money, he did what any logical person would do–he dressed as a woman and began transporting cash under his skirt…..

The Carthage, Illinois Jail

Jails aren’t supposed to be a thing of beauty, but the tan limestone walls of the 1839 jailhouse in Carthage, Illinois are attractive set against the backdrop of its tree-lined yard. It’s also the epicenter of violence that occurred here in 1844…..