Just before Thanksgiving, 2023 we were privileged to return to The Old Mud Meeting House in Mercer Co., Kentucky. The Meeting House was used to record Episode 6 of the first season of The Grinnin' Possum Podcast. This time we brought The Grinnin' Possumaires (Deborah Payne - Fiddle, Brian McDonald - Mandolin and harmony vocals, joining Maurice Manning - Guitar, Banjo, and lead vocals) and recorded the results, which we now offer as a bonus to the first season.

The acoustics of the Old Mud Meeting House are amazing, and I hope our recording does it some justice. Thanks to everyone who attended, and to all who have downloaded the original ten episodes so far.

Keep it in your pouch!

Steve Cody

The Possum Outfit went all the way to Paducah, KY to find the remains of Rocky Hill Plantation, the sight of a ghastly murder during the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811-1812. Maurice tells of the murder, committed by the nephews of Thomas Jefferson, the earthquake, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, young Abraham Lincoln and John James Audubon and the fate of the now thought to be extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, also known as The Lord God Bird due to its striking appearances. We use a recording of the ivory-billed woodpecker with permission granted by the Macaulay Library at the Cornel Lab of Ornithology.

Maurice weaves together the work of Robert Penn Warren and diary entries by Audubon with the original works Time Is The Hum Of Gods Dream, Another River Still, and sings Banjo Pickin' Girl to help make sense of this age-old, tangled tale.

We wrap up the season with a Manning original tune, Gloryland. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill graciously allowed us to bring a chorus of friends and family to their Meeting House to help bring It all home.

We want to thank you for listening and reading along and hope you will see fit to share our podcast with anyone you think might enjoy it, and some who you think wouldn't!

Until next season - Keep It In Your Pouch!

The Red River Gorge is a climbing Mecca and one of our great geological wonders. The intrepid GP crew hiked to beautiful Coppers Falls, crossing Copperas Creek approximately 273 times, microphone and banjo in hand, and used the massive rock house under the falls for natural reverb. There we recorded a reading of Treatise On Milk Gravy. On the return trip, we walked directly into a swarm of hornets, the possum's habit of playing dead helping not in the least!

The episode opens with Maurice performing the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God in the 900 foot Nada Tunnel, known as the Gateway To The Red River Gorge and ends with a studio recording of Della Mae, with Maurice on banjo and vocals and Steve Cody on guitar, bass and harmony vocals.