Jolene @_thibodeaux_ is a local singer, songwriter, poet, and published author. Her writing and music draw from her experiences growing up in Alabama and time spent with her father in the Pacific Northwest. She is a rich and down-to-earth storyteller with imagery steeped in rural living and a passion for nature.

In this episode, Jolene talks about growing up surrounded by poetry both in words and actions. A debilitating spinal injury she suffered as a child opened her to poetry and music as healing arts. Throughout her life she has existed in spaces of rhyme and rhythm to treat pain and promote healing during a near death experience and a more recent comma from which she is still recovering.

Jolene also shares her current project to recover and reproduce traditional southern and indigenous lullabies. Lullabies, she says, "can be very dark..." When times are difficult, like during a pandemic, singing to your baby can be a "space where you can be allowed to emote some of the things that are happening."

You will not want to miss Jolene reading three original poems and performing a lullaby she wrote for her daughter. True to southern gothic form, Jolene gleaned the lyrics for the lullaby from a love note written by her grandfather to her grandmother that were scrawled on the back of a Rules and Regulation Handbook for coalminers over 85 years ago.

You can gain access to her poetry, books, and music at bbroyal.org/artists/jolene-thibodeaux.