Words Out West

Voices from the Oval

In this episode, we celebrate the fruits of a teacher’s labor. You’ll hear from Professor Robert Stubblefield, along with three of his University of Montana students. A selection of poems and non-fiction, with Robert Stubblefield, Jade Taylor, Donna Arganbright, and Cass Sissel. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

A Place in the Sun for Butte

In this episode, writer, geologist and professor Rob Thomas explains how the amazing history of rocks is related to the mining town of Butte finding its place in the sun. Selections from Roadside Geology of Montana. This episode is sponsored by Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula's independent publisher for over seventy years. Mountain Press publishes nontechnical books for adults and children on geology, natural history, western US history, and more. For more information go to m...

Why the Village Appears on No Map

In this episode, novelist Claude Alick introduces us to a place of mystery in the island country of Grenada—a village that appears on no map—a place that resides only in wilting memories.

How to Write about Sex and Death and Dreams

In this episode, we pair writers who were born to be storytellers—poet Mara Panich, and singer/songwriter Margi Cates, accompanied by guitarist Nick Barr. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

How Stealing Laundry Leads to Success

In this episode, a struggling writer has a breakthrough when she accidentally steals her neighbor’s laundry. A short play written by Bozeman playwright Greg Owens, directed by Missoula’s own Reid Reimers and read by Missoula actors Hamilton Clement and Az Sacry.

Three Minds Driving

In this episode, writers Chris La Tray, Fred Haefele, and Chris Autio take us on three distinct and heady road trips. Chris La Tray: Comet (poem) Three . . . Two . . . One . . . Blast off! Fred Haefele: excerpt from A Life in 12 Pickups (vehicular memoir) When a pickup truck transcends mechanical essence, rises to become comrade, ally and intimate. Chris Autio: Truck Topper (poem) We go on an archeological dig. Chris Autio: Bad Auto Points in Augusta (poem) We find a stranger...

I Don’t Understand Snow

In this episode, singer/songwriter Spencer Kellum performs some ‘modern spirituals’ as Separate Circles, with piano accompaniment by Cole Grant.

Much More Than a Bartender

In this episode, Joan Melcher finds her perfect saloon, and chats with the bartender who has the same name as his bar—Moose. A selection from her non-fiction books Watering Hole: A User’s Guide to Montana Bars and Montana Watering Holes: The Big Sky’s Best Bars.

The Glitter and The Glamour

In this episode, we get up close and personal with Bobby Lee Springfield, a singer/songwriter who gives us the skinny on the ups and downs of show biz. This episode contains some adult language and themes, with references to alcohol, tobacco and drugs, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. This episode is sponsored by The Bell Pipe & Tobacco Shop, located at 215 West Broadway, across from the courthouse in downtown Missoula. Home to the Otis—tobacconi...

A love affair with prison

In love with peace — Obliged to war

The narrator in Sean Gallagher’s short story laments the damage done to his older brother after becoming a soldier — the brother who taught him, "That no one wins a fight." Morning Is My Favorite Time, short story from the podcast MT3K. This episode contains some adult themes, violence, and references to combat and war wounds, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. 

It's All Just Noise

In this episode, playwright Jay Kettering, introduces us to a couple recounting how they met, fell in love, and ultimately broke up, and let’s just say, it gets a bit noisy.   This episode contains some adult language and themes, and sexual references, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

WOW S2 E04 Caroline-Patterson

Songs in the Key of Keys

In this episode, Caroline Keys and Nate Biehl share their original songs along with poems from Caroline and her young student writers.

One Sentence At A Time

Chris La Tray doesn’t need many words to tell a damn fine story. In this episode featuring Métis storyteller Chris La Tray, we celebrate words, and the way even very few words, in the right hands, can capture the wonder in every single day. (from One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large and Descended from a Travel-Worn Satchel: Haiku & Haibun, as well as other poems.)

You Hate These Roads

In this episode, novelist Richard Fifield puts us in a car going way too fast up a narrow mountain road, and that’s only the beginning of our troubles.

Love and Gunpowder

In this bonus episode, Words Out West’s own Jay Kettering writes about a kid who’s willing to blow up his world for love.

Who is My Dad?

In part one of his radio play trilogy, My Dad and Pre-Socratic Thought, Jay recalls the crazy stories his father told him in an attempt to find meaning.

The Ticking Of The Clock

In this bonus episode, Words Out West’s own Jay Kettering looks back to a time when everything was a mystery—especially time. Jay Kettering: How I Learned To Tell Time: part 2 of his audio trilogy Notes From the Huntley Project (radio play) (Dramatic reading by Missoula actors David Mills-Low, Rebecca Schaffer, Will Tilton, Jessica Adam, and Aaron Roos) Only one thing is for sure—time is on his side.

A Mysterious Relationship

In this episode, our season finale, Words Out West’s own Jay Kettering writes about a mysterious relationship. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.    

Personal Landscapes

In this episode, Mark Gibbons, Shaun Gant and David E. Thomas explore their own personal landscapes. One ventures to where there are no fences, one observes an explosion of life in her own backyard, while another stays close to the tracks.

Fleeting Nature of Time

In this episode, David Allan Cates, Sheryl Noethe and Robert Lee mull over the fleeting nature of time. One takes a nostalgic leap of faith, another explains how life never stops, while another makes a plan for when he’s a ghost.

Grab Bag

In this episode, we hear from Shane Wheeldon, Freya Jones and Chris Sand, three writers who are hard to put in a box. Therefore, it’s our first installment of the Grab Bag.

Searching

In this episode, writers Sheryl Noethe, David E. Thomas, and Sarah Aronson are in the process of searching. One is searching for stories from strangers, another seeks magic from a natural phenomenon, while the other is tracking those who want to get to their destination in the quickest way possible.

Bold Women

In this episode, writer Beth Judy documents a real life — and in this case — a real glamorous life: Myrna Loy.

Self-Reflection

In this episode, writers David E. Thomas, Sarah Aronson and Mark Gibbons meditate on self-reflection. One ponders which technological time-zone he belongs in, another celebrates the things that cannot be understood, and the other uses the mirror behind the bar to reflect. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

True Love and its Many Forms

In this episode, writers Shaun Gant, Mark Gibbons and Sheryl Noethe reflect on the many forms that true love takes, like an enduring marriage, the flicker from a candle’s flame, and even a drug-induced coma. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

The Nature of Love via the Love of Nature

In this episode, writers Brian Laidlaw and Sarah Aronson have come to understand how the nature of love can connect to the love of nature.

Sense of Sound

In this episode, writers Jay Kettering, Chris Sand and Robert Lee have tuned into their sense of sound. The sound of memory, the sound of solace, and the sound of place.

Drinking and Addiction

In this episode, writers David E. Thomas, Sheryl Noethe and Mark Gibbons are talking about booze, and the effect it has from the view of a bus seat, a bar stool, and a lawn chair. This episode contains some adult language and themes, which may be unsuitable for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

Pathways to Self-Discovery

In this episode, writers Chris Sand, Freya Jones and Robert Lee are on the path to self-discovery. While on their journey, they run into things like girl traps, peacocks and rattlesnake juice.

Puzzles of Human Relationships

Hear from three writers who have put together puzzles—all made up from the pieces of human relationships. One will tally the cost of family, another the toll of an affair, and the other ignites romance.

Words Out West Preview

Welcome to Words Out West, a podcast where we hear voices from the literary landscape of Big Sky Country and beyond. We spotlight both established and emerging writers of the contemporary West. A rapping cowboy, a river guiding novelist and a bus-riding Poet Laureate are just a few of the folks we’ll hear from on Words Out West