Robert K. Oermann

"For the first time ever, legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton brings you behind the lyrics of 175 of her songs to reveal the personal stories and vibrant memories that have inspired sixty years of songwriting. Lushly illustrated and told in Dolly's inimitable voice, this rich collection offers an intimate, exclusive look at the colorful life, prolific career, and rags-to-rhinestones journey of one of the most revered entertainers of our time"--...

The Grand Ole Opry has been home to the greatest legends of country music for over eighty years, and in that time it has seen some of conutry music's most dramatic stories unfold. We'll hear of the great love stories ranging from Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 1960s to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who married in 2005. We'll get the truth of the tragedies that led to the loss of three stars all in the same month, starting the rumor of the...

The American South has given us words like "y'all" and "rednecks" as well as dozens of colorful phrases like "fly off the handle," "having an axe to grind," and "barking up the wrong tree." But what are the origins of these expressions?

In this episode we look at how entertainment from circuses and vaudeville to plays and movies, influenced the common words and phrases we say every day. How did bad actors give us the word "explode," rude actors give us the phrase "to upstage" someone.

In this episode, we look at the ways that American English has been transformed by the clothes we wear, the crimes we commit and the punishments we receive, the insults we use...and the internet. Ever wonder why, when we "speak off the cuff."

Expressions from "riffraff" to "betting your bottom dollar", "passing the buck," "acid test" and even "heard it through the grapevine" all come from America's frontier days. But have you ever wondered why these phrases were first used?

In this episode, we look at the ways that American English has been transformed by animals, food, sports--and death. Ever wonder why we say "that's a horse of a different color" or "that's for the birds"?