All Of Our Friends (TOTR 516)

-originally aired on WTTU 88.5 FM The Nest on Saturday, January 24, 2026
-Listen to the archive:
Stream All Of Our Friends - TOTR 516 by Teacher On The Radio | Listen online for free on SoundCloud
-special guest interview & most songs selected by Nathan Evans Fox, celebrating our scheduled live folk music show on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at the Wesley Arena -- that may or may not happen, as we all wait out the actual impact on us of “winter storm Fern”
-all views only represent the host, the guests, & the artists played, never the student managers or the Communication department or the university

Carsie Blanton - The Little Flame
Leon Bridges - Blue Mesas
D’Anglelo - Ain’t That Easy
Anna & Elizabeth - Here in the Vineyard
Warren Gently - Motherless Child
Alan Lueth - Nothing Equals Nothing
Alan Lueth - Springs Eternal
Nathan Evans Fox - Hillbilly Hymn
Interview with Nathan Evans Fox
Nathan Evans Fox - Some Things Are Coming Back Again 
Emily Hines - All Of Our Friends
Eric Church -Higher Wire 
Guy Clark - Dublin Blues
Don Williams - Amanda
Brent Cobb - Diggin’ Holes
Emmylou Harris - Green Pastures
Stephanie Lambring - Fine
Gary Stewart - Draggin’ Shackles
Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall - In His Arms
David Bazan - Don’t Change
Shania Twain - Any Many of Mine
Doc Watson - Intoxicated Rat
Lainey Wilson - Atta Girl
Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant - Boogie Man
Aretha Franklin - Medley: Precious Lord, Take My Hand/You’ve Got a Friend in Jesus (LIVE)

Do The Trick (TOTR 515)

 

-originally aired on WTTU 88.5 FM The Nest on Saturday, January 17, 2026

-you can listen to the episode archive here: Stream Do The Trick - TOTR 515 by Teacher On The Radio | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

-special guest interview & most songs selected by Average Joey, celebrating the release of his new album Fellow Traveler, out everywhere you stream music on 1-16-26

-all views only represent the host, the guests, & the artists played, never the student managers or the Communication department or the university

Memphis Jug Band - On The Road Again

Spitzer Space Telescope - Rovin is Me Pleasure

Endless Mike and the Beagle Club - Some of My Favorite Songs

Charlie Parr - Boombox
Average Joey - Die Easy
Nick Shoulders - Apocalypse Never
Andrew Sunfrog - Her Name Is Good
Average Joey - Better Days

Average Joey - Check Engine Light
Average Joey - Punk Rock to Honky Tonk Pipeline
Interview with Average Joey 

Average Joey - Do The Trick

Average Joey - Bro, I Told You I Contain Multitudes
Sally Schaefer & Tyler Bagwell - Slats
Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits - Life Is Excellent

Bo Burnham - That Funny Feeling

Jonny Fritz - Are You Thirsty
The Hills and the Rivers - Middle Garden
Forest Sun - Lost Your Mind Rag
Gillian Welch - April the 14th Part 1
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Ogallala
T Bone Burnett - Everything And Nothing

Average Joey - People

Growing Up Is Hard To Do: Cookeville theater’s latest production explores the magical world of emotional freedom

Peter Pan is an eternal pop icon in the public domain, first conceived more than 100 years ago by the Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie. Not only does this storyline (and its countless adaptations and interpretations) deal with topics of our lost and endless youth, it brings with it a compelling cultural currency from Wendy, Peter, and the Lost Boys. Neverland has a magnetic charm that refuses to die.

Whether it's an addition to the canon or a wild fan fiction doused in pathos, the recent play Lost Girl has been making a profound impression at campus and community theaters across the country. 

This chilly MLK weekend, Lost Girl opens at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center (CPAC)--and runs through January 24th--with an emotional intensity that should give us all pause. In this emotional epilogue to what happened once upon a time in the Neverlandverse, Kimberly Belfower's contemporary script takes a timely inventory of timeless themes about growing up and moving on.

Anyone as old as this reviewer knows that nostalgia can be both a delicious and dangerous drug. Our profound protagonist is a maturing Wendy Darling, portrayed perfectly and with passion by Meredith Mannle. Multiple monologues deal with everything from the breakup blues to the mental health journey of young adults in this postmodern high-tech dystopia of a world. It’s not an easy role but Mannle secures the emotional heft of this production with the inner honesty of her acting. It feels especially poignant that her father and Cookeville thespian pillar Patrick Mannle is directing the production.

For someone who has been out of high school for exactly 40 years this year, it was amazing to see so many high school acting stars interact with more mature cast members, all of them in roles that are challenging to our protagonist. From local staple of the stage Evan Cole to newcomer Anthony Rece. Matt Kirby plays the therapist in his first local production since he participated in Cookeville Children’s Theater at the end of the last century! As to how this works in the story line, it’s disarmingly vulnerable to see our protagonist find the solutions to her challenges not with these outside “helpers,” but deep within herself. The show is really forward with an arc of empowering self-liberation that’s not to be missed. 

Any locals who have frequented the Backstage Series at CPAC know what an immersive experience it can be. It’s a fun thing for us critics to say that a show breaks the proverbial “fourth wall” between actors and audience. But at the always well-done Backstage shows, it’s like they said, “What fourth wall,” as they conceived the entire experience. 

Get there early and linger late for this one, because the entire venue has been artistically infused with sparkly Neverland vibes. Unplug from our screens and plug into this entire thing, which is less than two hours long, and without an intermission, so you will be home for bedtime or late night shows or available for a nightcap around Cookeville. 

Lost Girl is an amazing show, where it’s truly exciting to see how 21st century writers, producers, and actors can completely reinvent a canonical myth from the dawn of the 20th century. We never outgrow that sentimentality about love lost, just we always have opportunities to move on from heartbreak and better ourselves.

-Local poet, DJ, and teacher, Andrew William Smith has been Cookeville’s theater critic for the last two decades

-photo of Wendy (Meredith Mannle) courtesy of CPAC

For more information and tickets: Backstage Series | Cookeville, TN