2025 StoryTown Schedule

The StoryTown Radio Show will return for its 14th season beginning January 27, 2025, with a special performance at the Jackson Theatre. This live, one-hour production is performed in the style of an old-time radio show and features true stories from across the region. These heartwarming and hilarious tales highlight the unique character of Jonesborough, East Tennessee, and Appalachia. In addition to great storytelling fun, the show also brings in the best music acts in the region, featuring a variety of country, jazz, rock, bluegrass and old-time music.

The talented ensemble cast features nationally and internationally acclaimed storytellers, actors,and voice actors, including longtime favorite regional storytellers such as Linda Poland, a founding member of the Jonesborough Storytelling Guild; Catherine Yael Serota and Wallace Shealy, and Guerry McConnell. The large ensemble cast is filled with talented actors who often appear in mainstage productions throughout the Tri-Cities. They come together each month to perform the stories of this land and its people. The Radio Show also partners with the International Storytelling Center to include featured tellers from their Storytelling Live series.

Each episode is filled with stories collected from the community around a certain theme. The script is written from these oral stories, and the cast brings them to life each month onstage with skits, reoccurring characters, history, and vintage commercials. These performances are recorded and then aired on local NPR station 89.5 WETS. Once aired, the show is made available as a podcast on the StoryTown app or online at: https://storytown.simplecast.com/  Over 90 episodes are readily available to listen to on demand, any time.

The live, family-friendly show performs each month at the McKinney Center in Jonesborough. Audiences get to be part of the action and have a chance to see the behind-the-scenes working of a live radio show, complete with a foley operator who handles the sound effects. Audiences are also treated to a special pre-concert by the music guests, who play a small set before the show.

Season passes are only $90, which includes one free show in the 2025 regular season, and comes with a complimentary StoryTown Radio Show seat cushion ($12 value). The hour-long productions perform on the 4th Monday of each month at 7PM. Season Passes can be purchased by calling the Historic Visitors Center at 423-753-1010 or online at Jonesborough.com/tickets. More information can be found at storytownradio.com.

The StoryTown Radio Show is a proud recipient of an Arts Project Support Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

The StoryTown Radio Show offers several podcasts including Voices of the Archive, the Director’s Cut Podcast, and the Radio Show Podcast. Voices of the Archive shares stories from people living in Appalachia, just how they told them. You might think of it as a news report that tells you about all sorts of things. From ghost stories to apple butter, you could learn just about anything from the people living here in East Tennessee. The Director’s Cut podcast shares stories that did not make the final cut for the live version of the StoryTown Radio Show. They’re still great stories, though, and deserve to be shared.