StoryTellerZine

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  Featured Writer Michael Gray by J. Smith Kirkland Michael Gray grew up on a dairy farm in Morristown in East Tennessee. I met him in Chattanooga as a member of a poets group. But it wasn't long before I learned his only storytelling outlet was not poetry. Mike first performed as a spoken word artist in1984, presenting an original piece at The Knoxville Barbeque Contest . But if you are a Chattanooga local, you may know him as the host of The River City Sessions. As producer, director and performer he developed the concept for The River City Sessions, which was a monthly event at The Camp House, and later continued at UTC and The Granfalloon. It was a collaboration of poets, authors, story tellers, and musicians whose work honors life in the south and the tradition of southern literature and music. The show was broadcast on WUTC 88.1 locally and across the internet on WUTC.org two weeks after the live show. Michael has also been on the air a few times performing...

  Interview STZ: How/When did you start sharing your skills as a storyteller? MG: I suppose that would be traceable to early childhood. One of my earliest memories is my family sharing how I would simply make up the words to familiar songs with seemingly no knowledge I was doing so. Take the old gospel song Bringing in the Sheaves, since I did not know what a sheave was I replaced it with Sheep, made sense to me… Looking back I am reminded that as a child I often used stories in explaining my thoughts to others, validating through example. STZ: Where do you get inspiration for your stories? MG: Inspiration is all around. It’s the woman in the checkout line at the grocery, the older man with the Vietnam Vet cap, but by far it is the oral histories of Appalachian or “mountain” people relating what their life was like. Growing up I was surrounded by adults who told stories, my father’s side of the family were farmers and horse traders from eastern TN going bac...

  The Funeral of Josiah Jones Michael Gray It was the year 1902 and Chattanooga’s Main Street was bounded by wooden sidewalks, from Central to Broad. For all of those five blocks, people lined the street two deep. Men and women, young boys and girls alike, stood still, waiting and watching, I don’t know how many, but it sure seemed the whole population of Chattanooga had turned out, the silence broken only by an occasional whisper or the scuffing of child’s foot. But even that stopped when Josiah’s gray horse, rider-less, the boots turned upside down in the stirrups and led by his youngest son marched down the street. The horse’s head jerked nervously testing the bridle and bit, snorting on each twist when it reached the end of his freedom. The anxious horse was followed by a hearse drawn by two black horses and behind that the family of Josiah, some hundred strong came walking, every single one dressed in black. As the family passed the crowd peeled away and foll...

      StoryTeller zine showcases people who share their stories through written words, spoken words, and moving images. Whether they are poets, writers, singer songwriters, movie makers, or express themselves through spoken words, they are Story Tellers.   www.CrazyBuffet.club “ The Funeral of Josiah Jones” by Michael Gray. Printed with permission of Michael Gray. StoryTellerZine.com Editor: J. Smith Kirkland Cover Art: JimmyLee Smith Sale Creek Publishing salecreekpublishing.com