Ten years ago, three friends—Galen Huckins, Reid Lustig, and Brian Benson—traveled the mighty Mississippi, top to bottom, on a thirty-foot paddlewheel riverboat called the Channel Princess. Along the way, we met dozens of musicians, recorded their songs and stories on the boat’s bow, and incorporated it all into a weekly, serialized radio story, which we wrote, recorded, and broadcast while floating downriver. Though loosely based on our travels, the story was set in a bizarro, post-apocalyptic universe—a “scorched American heartland”—in which quirky survivors huddled on riverbanks and communicated via a mysterious river-based radio signal.
And this summer, we’re doing it again.
From early July to late August, we’ll be back on the water, in our riverboat radio station, puttering along the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, bringing together artists of all stripes to make some good, old-fashioned radio. The idea, this time around, is that every Saturday, we’ll pull into something resembling safe harbor, and on sound stages both aboard the riverboat and along the scenic shorelines, we’ll record an hour-long, live variety show, set in that same bizarro, post-apocalyptic universe—think Prairie Home Companion meets Station Eleven.
We’ll broadcast each show live, with audio and video feeds on our website, and shows will then be posted online and accessible to anyone, for free, forever.
In the coming months, we’ll be assembling our gear, poring over river charts, patching holes in our dinghy, and, most importantly, connecting with artists who’d like to come make some noise out on the river. Our route basically looks like a big horseshoe around Nashville, Tennessee, so if you know any musicians or writers or storytellers who live nearby (or will be passing through), and you think they might be into collaborating, please put them in touch! We can be reached at theriversignal@gmail.com.
In the meantime, here are some videos, and some episodes from the first season of The River Signal, to give you a sense of what we’ll be up to out there.