Chris Boros

Historian Jon Meacham says the United States’ current political division is nothing new.  In his new book, The Soul of America, Meacham examines times when the country was just as divided. 

Last year, James Madison University adopted the Green Dot violence prevention strategy, an interactive program focused on building skills to prevent violence and sexual assault on campus. 

Veteran Charlottesville songwriter, Ellis Paul, was on the road during the Unite the Right rally two years ago which erupted in deadly violence.  Coming back home to a city in mourning prompted him to pen “The Battle of Charlottesville” as a historical document of the incident.  WMRA’s Chris Boros spoke with Ellis Paul who described why this song was something he had to write.

Fifty years ago, Harrisonburg resident Ed Morrison was shattered when his 18-year-old brother Mike was brutally murdered the night of his senior prom, along with his date Debbie Means, in a small Illinois town.

This weekend (July 12-14) is the Red Wing Roots Music Festival, celebrating roots music with artists like Lucinda Williams, The Wood Brothers, and Tim O’Brien.  The festival is organized by Virginia’s The Steel Wheels - they headline the event every year.

This year, NPR held its Student Podcast Challenge and received more than 6000 entries.  Great Oak Academy, a small 6-8th grade school in Harrisonburg recently sent WMRA about a dozen podcasts their students produced and asked us to pick our favorite. 

Since 2002, Virginia Folklife has supported more than 100 pairs of masters and apprentices from fiddle makers to dancers.  On Sunday, May 5, Folklife will present this year’s Apprenticeship Showcase in Charlottesville.  WMRA’s Chris Boros went to Dixon Studio in Staunton to meet the team of master stained glass artist Ronald Dixon and his apprentice Todd Hinkle.

Tangier Island, a 1.3 square mile spit of land in the Chesapeake Bay off the coast of Virginia, may be facing extinction.  Acclaimed journalist Earl Swift has spent much of the last two years living there and his new book, Chesapeake Requiem, is an eye-opening look at a crisis that may completely engulf the island. 

For Virginia author and JMU professor Inman Majors, comedy is one way he deals with the serious world around him.  The New York Post calls his latest novel, Penelope Lemon; Game On! “hilarious” and Booklist says it’s a “laugh out loud” read. 

WMRA and James Madison University present The John Grisham Writers Hour with special guest James McBride, a New York Times best-selling writer, musician and screenwriter.  Grisham, who has 40 novels under his belt, sat down with McBride in December 2018 on the campus of JMU for a candid discussion about writing, books, movies, and life. 

Whistle Words is a multimedia project that uses writing to help women in cancer treatment reclaim their sense of self.  The group has released a new book called Truth: Voices of Women Changed by Cancer.  It’s an anthology of writings by women who are currently fighting the disease or in post treatment.  Charlotte Matthews is one of the founders of Whistle Words and she’s our featured speaker for Books & Brews  in February 2019.  She spoke with WMRA’s Chris Boros.

The Shenandoah Valley Beekeepers Association is on a mission to save bees.  Board member Dorn Peterson used to teach physics at JMU but now he raises the furry insects.  He spoke with WMRA’s Chris Boros about his dedication to beekeeping in Harrisonburg and how he got started.

This interview was produced by WMRA's Sara Amin.

The beer landscape in America is quite different than it was just a decade ago, especially in Virginia, where hundreds of independent breweries are creating all sorts of unique brews from classic pilsners, pale ales and seasonal varieties.  Virginia beer expert, Lee Graves, has travelled the state to find the best brews in the commonwealth and he’ll share his beer knowledge at WMRA’s Books & Brews in Harrisonburg on Tuesday, January 8, and in Crozet on the 9th.  He spoke with WMRA’s Chris Boros.

For 32 years, WMRA presented the best in blues Saturday nights with the Professah and Blues Valley.  After a two-year hiatus, the Professah is back tomorrow night (Saturday, January 5, 2019).  WMRA’s Chris Boros spoke with the blues master about his return to the airwaves.

Virginia professor and author Ed Ayers has chronicled life during the Civil War from one community in the North and another from Augusta county in Virginia for his new book The Thin Light Of Freedom. 

British guitarist and songwriter, Richard Thompson, has been making music and records since the mid-1960s, first with Fairport Convention, a band known for merging traditional English folk songs with rock instrumentation, and then as a solo artist in 1972.  

Here’s a description of a typical film festival:  over 100 movies are screened in a few days from countries all over the world from lesser known directors and film companies.  By the end of the event, you’re lucky if you had a chance to even see half of the movies presented and the ones you did see, you may not even remember.  The Super GR8 film festival is nothing like that.  

Emptying the house she grew up in was tough for Marietta McCarty but she also found joy during the process.  She’ll talk about her experience clearing out her childhood home at WMRA’s Books & Brews - Tuesday, November 13 in Harrisonburg at Pale Fire Brewing Co. and November 14 in Crozet at Pro Re Nata Farm Brewery.  WMRA’s Chris Boros spoke with McCarty and asked her about the fi

Progressive roots music will ring out Thursday, November 8, in Harrisonburg at Clementine Café with the Jon Stickley Trio.  WMRA’s Chris Boros spoke with Jon about his music.

Are there certain sounds like calm voices or magazine pages turning slowly that you find deeply relaxing?  If so, you may be experiencing autonomous sensory meridian response or ASMR for short.  Dr.

New York Times best-selling author John Grisham is coming to JMU on Wednesday, October 17, for the first John Grisham Writers Hour event where he’ll hold a conversation with one of his favorite authors, James McBride.  Grisham spoke with WMRA’s Chris Boros.

Families in Matthews, Virginia, sacrificed much during World War Two when a large group of sea captains from the town were sent to help with the war efforts.  Author William Geroux chronicles the heroic story of one Matthews’ family whose seven merchant mariner sons suddenly found themselves in the cross-hairs of Hitler’s U-boats.  

There’s a honkytonk bar outside of Winchester, VA, that defines rural America, country music, and old time tradition.  It’s called The Troubadour Lounge and was owned by Jim McCoy, a local country music legend who was the first radio DJ to play Patsy Cline on the air.  When author John Lingan went there to find Jim what he found was a town searching for itself.  John’s book