"Rumble Strip gives you extraordinary stories about ordinary life."

This episode of MetaPod features two New Englanders talking about how to capture the culture of the region for a podcast. That would be Erica Heilman, creator of Rumble Strip, a podcast that she makes in her underwear closet in Vermont, and Wendy, host of MetaPod and native of the Live Free or Die State (aka New Hampshire).

Erica is an award-winning indie podcaster and has been producing stories for radio for 15+ years. She calls Rumble Strip "a show about people getting through the day". Although the scenes and smells are characteristic of life in Vermont, Rumble Strip listeners will discover that people are more alike than different.

Wendy and Erica discuss how Erica manages to ride tractors, hunt grouse, learn to skin cows while being in a state of wonder talking to people about what the heck is going on. Wendy also asks about the Peabody Award for Erica's episode Finn and the Bell and what it was like to work with band Sylvan Esso on a podcast. And finally, Wendy asks Erica to describe some of the unique smells of Vermont and how she's included them in Rumble Strip. Oh, and p.s. Erica reveals her power song!

Show notes

Fifty. A Phoenix Moment (Total Eclipse of the Heart)
Forrest Foster, Independent Dairyman
Virtual Justice
Sylvan Esso (band)
Shaking Out the Numb (produced by Erica Heilman)

About Erica Heilman

Erica Heilman invites herself into people’s homes to find out what they know, hate, love, what they’re afraid of, and what makes them more like you than you’d realized. These are messy, obsessively crafted stories of the everyday. Rumble Strip’s Finn and the Bell won a Peabody Award in 2022. The Our Show series was named the #1 podcast of 2020 by The Atlantic.

Erica’s independent radio work has aired on NPR, Hearing Voices, SOUNDPRINT, CBC, BBC, KCRW’s UnFictional, KCRW’s Lost Notes, and on major public radio affiliates across the United States.

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