History, folklore, literature, & life on the Great Plains of North America

Newspaper & radio features, ballads and folksongs, the regional project

Newspaper Columns

Plains Folk originated as a self-syndicated weekly feature appearing weekly in newspapers across Kansas. Its subjects: history, folklore, literature, and life on the Great Plains of North America. Jim Hoy and Tom Isern swapped weeks writing the column from 1983 to 2024, the year Jim passed away. On his passing, Tom discontinued the newspaper venture; didn’t have the heart to continue it, as the epistolary relationship of coauthorship was the great satisfaction in the enterprise. Do the math, though: weekly 1983-2024, that’s a lot of knowledge and commentary invested in the regional project.

Radio Essays

Plains Folk on the radio is a weekly feature, written and voiced by Tom Isern, broadcast statewide in North Dakota (since 2008) on Prairie Public radio, and offered worldwide as a podcast by NPR One. Plains Folk radio features deal with history, folklore, literature, and life on the northern plains, with some emphasis on agricultural and country-town life. Following broadcast, the recordings and text are archived online at Prairie Public, as well as at NPR One.

Willow Creek Folk School

The Willow Creek Folk School is a monthly livestream (generally the third Friday of the month, but this may vary) devoted to ballads and folksongs of the Great Plains. Composed and presented by Tom Isern, produced from the Salon on Willow Creek by Dr. Suzzanne Kelley. 8pm Central on the Facebook timeline of Plains Folk (facebook.com/plainsfolk). Also see the Willow Creek Songbag.