Expressive Idaho

This week on Expressive Idaho, Musician Damian Rodriguez shares tejano music through performance across the state and his program on the local bilingual community radio station Voz Latina KBWE.

Idaho Matters heads to the Melba home studio of weaver Linda Morton-Keithley to learn more about her craft and how she is outfitting modern cowboys with handmade gear.

After retiring and moving to Idaho nuclear scientist Gary Eller began playing bluegrass and oldtime with Gem State musicians. He wanted to learn historic songs from his new home, but no one was playing them. So he began a search - scouring archives, libraries and museums for historic Idaho songs from a time before radio and records were available in the region.

Idaho Matters takes a trip to the studio of Idaho blacksmith Susan Madacsi to find out more about the art of industrial forgery.

Each Monday we're bringing you our series Expressive Idaho where we visit the spaces of artists who are keeping folk traditions alive in our state.

For some, flamenco dancing is more than just an art form, it's a way to heal.

Hot August days on a ranch are the quieter times when Ryan Carpenter and his wife are able to halter break new colts in between bailing hay and other chores. Their ranch is on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, which sits on the border of Idaho and Nevada. It’s the same time of year they met their neighbor, Monte Cummins, more than 10 years ago.

From music to food, to Boise’s Basque Block and the Jaialdi Festival, to the Trailing of the Sheep in Ketchum, Basque culture plays a big role in southern Idaho and Dan Ansotegui has played an important role in promoting that.

Shouting, rhythmic banging and laughter fill the hallways of Jewett Auditorium in Caldwell. People beat large wooden dowel-shaped sticks on makeshift drums: large plastic trash cans, bottoms removed and covered with a thick layer of packing tape. Until March and the stay-a-t-home order, the local drumming group Kawa Taiko practiced together weekly.

The art of gun engraving is alive and well in eastern Idaho thanks to a few dedicated cowboys. More than 50 years ago Dean Philbrick of Irwin, Idaho began…