Episodes

  • Beyond Provincial: Texas Literature, Land, and Recognition

    Beyond Provincial: Texas Literature, Land, and Recognition
    Jan 5 2026

    Welcome to Lone Star Lore - hosted by filmmaker Matthew Thornton, and written by historian Joleene Maddox Snider, the series pairs immersive narration and cinematic sound with expert guests who help us ask better questions:


    * What happens when a place this vast and mythologized tries to agree on one story?


    * Who owns Texas history?


    * And how do the stories we inherit still shape who we are today?


    Ep. 03 — Beyond Provincial: Texas Literature, Land, and Recognition


    Why do stories rooted so deeply in Texas land and place so often get dismissed as “regional,” when they’re wrestling with the same universal questions as the American canon?


    In this episode, we explore how Texas writers like John Graves, Katherine Anne Porter, Sandra Cisneros, Elmer Kelton, Stephen Harrigan, and Elizabeth Crooks built Texas literature from the ground up — and how the label provincial became a kind of cultural gate that kept these works from being heard beyond their place of origin.


    With guest Tammy Gonzales (Texas State University / Center for the Study of the Southwest), we trace how land becomes a doorway into reading — and how Larry McMurtry eventually kicks open the door of national recognition, not by inventing something new, but by making it impossible to look away.


    Written by: Joleene Maddox SniderHosted & Produced by: Matthew ThorntonFeaturing: Tammy GonzalesProduced by: Griffyn.Co Productions


    About Tammy Gonzales:Program Director for the Center for the Study of the Southwest at Texas State University, and Associate Editor for Southwestern American Literature and Texas Books in Review. Tammy works at the intersection of land, memory, and culture — helping preserve Texas stories as something lived, shared, and carried forward.


    Reading List from this Episode:John Graves - Goodbye to a River, Hard Scrabble

    Sandra Cisneros - Woman Hollering Creek, The House on Mango Street, Caramelo

    Katherine Anne Porter - Noon Wine, Ship of Fools, Pale Horse, Pale Rider

    Elmer Kelton - The Time it Never Rained, The Day the Cowboys Quit

    Stephen Harrigan - The Gates of the Alamo, Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas

    Elizabeth Crook - The Which Way Tree, The Night Journal, The Raven’s Bride

    Larry McMurtry - The Last Picture Show, In a Narrow Grave, Lonesome Dove


    Timestamps / Chapter Guide:


    00:00 – Finding the hook: land as memory
    01:03 – Introducing Tammy Gonzales & today’s question
    01:55 – John Graves and Goodbye to a River
    03:40 – Land as lived experience (Tammy)
    05:33 – Graves on responsibility and stewardship
    07:34 – “Provincial”: the problem with the label
    08:49 – Sandra Cisneros and personal connection
    10:29 – Katherine Anne Porter and interior violence
    11:19 – Elmer Kelton, endurance, and aging
    12:21 – Breaking the myth of “small” stories
    12:47 – Stephen Harrigan and challenging mythology
    14:38 – Elizabeth Crook and reexamining history
    16:03 – Enter Larry McMurtry
    18:29 – In a Narrow Grave and rejection
    19:57 – Land as common ground (Tammy)
    20:45 – Lonesome Dove and national recognition
    22:13 – Memory, inheritance, and return
    24:28 – Final reflections & thanks
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    26 mins
  • Who Owns Texas History? - Dr. Frank de la Teja

    Who Owns Texas History? - Dr. Frank de la Teja
    Nov 21 2025
    Welcome to Lone Star Lore - hosted by filmmaker Matthew Thornton, and written by historian Joleene Maddox Snider, the series pairs immersive narration and cinematic sound with expert guests who help us ask better questions:What happens when a place this vast and mythologized tries to agree on one story?Who owns Texas history?And how do the stories we inherit still shape who we are today?Ep. 02 – Who Owns Texas History? – Dr. Frank de la TejaWho gets to tell the story of Texas—and what happens when that story no longer fits?In this episode of Lone Star Lore, filmmaker Matthew Thornton and historian Joleene Maddox Snider join Dr. Frank de la Teja, the first State Historian of Texas, to explore how power, pride, and politics shape the way Texans remember their past.From textbook battles to boardroom feuds, the myth of the Alamo to modern culture wars, this conversation reveals how history becomes identity—and why revisiting it can feel like a threat.Dr. de la Teja offers a candid look at the institutions and emotions that guard the past, reminding us that honest history isn’t about rewriting—it’s about widening the lens.Written by Joleene Maddox SniderHosted and Produced by Matthew ThorntonProduced by Griffyn.Co ProductionsFeaturing Dr. Frank de la TejaAbout Dr. Frank de la Teja:Appointed Texas’s first State Historian in 2007, Dr. de la Teja has served at the Texas General Land Office and Texas State University, where he chaired the History Department and directed the Center for the Study of the Southwest. His career bridges scholarship, museums, and public storytelling.Selected PublicationsFaces of Béxar: Early San Antonio and Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2016)Lone Star Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance: Other Sides of Civil War Texas (University of Oklahoma Press, 2016)Texas: Crossroads of North America, 2nd ed., with Ron Tyler and Nancy Beck Young (Cengage Learning, 2015)Recollections of a Tejano Life: Antonio Menchaca in Texas History, with Timothy Matovina (UT Press, 2013)Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2010)Choice, Persuasion, and Coercion: Social Control on Spain’s North American Frontiers, with Ross Frank (University of New Mexico Press, 2005)A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín, 2nd ed. (TSHA, 2002)San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain’s Northern Frontier (University of New Mexico Press, 1995)In this episode:Textbooks, politics, and the illusion of neutralityWhy the Alamo remains Texas’s most powerful origin mythFear, pride, and the anxiety of rewriting historyThe feud that split the Texas State Historical AssociationHow new voices are reshaping what “Texas history” even meansVisit our website @ ⁠https://www.griffynco.com/lone-star-lore/⁠Subscribe and follow us on YouTube: ⁠Lone Star Lore Podcast⁠#TexasHistory #LoneStarLore #FrankdelaTeja #JoleeneMaddoxSnider #MatthewThornton #PublicHistoryTimestamps / Chapter Guide:00:00 – The Question of OwnershipJoleene Maddox Snider asks who owns Texas history—and why it still matters.01:55 – Two Histories, One StateA divide emerges between the Texas State Historical Association and the new Alliance for Texas History.05:51 – No Single TruthHost Matthew Thornton reflects on perspective and the meaning of “truth” in storytelling.06:38 – Origin MythsDr. Frank de la Teja on how the Alamo became Texas’s defining legend.14:26 – Fear and the PastWhy reinterpreting history can provoke pride, anger, and anxiety.17:30 – Revision and ReckoningJoleene closes with a call to keep looking, listening, and asking what’s true.
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    43 mins
  • Lone Star Lore Trailer

    Lone Star Lore Trailer
    Nov 5 2025

    About the Show

    Lone Star Lore uncovers the myths, truths, and untold stories of Texas—not to rewrite the past, but to widen the lens.


    Hosted by filmmaker Matthew Thornton and written by historian Joleene Maddox Snider, the series pairs immersive narration and expert voices to explore what happens when a place this vast and mythologized tries to agree on one story. Each episode blends cinematic sound design, historical insight, and literary storytelling to reveal how the past still shapes who we are today.


    Our pledge: To tell Texas history with honesty, curiosity, and respect—for the land, for the people, and for the complexity that connects them. We embrace Texas with all its perspectives, its colorful history, and most of all, its contradictions and complexity. To us, there is not a "black and white" version of our past; everything is "GRAY."


    Matthew Thornton is a Texas-based filmmaker and co-founder of Griffyn.co Productions. His work explores art, history, and the American landscape through a cinematic documentary lens.


    Joleene Maddox Snider is an author, historian, and the lead writer of the show whose work bridges scholarship and storytelling. Her narratives trace the moral and cultural complexities of Texas history with honesty and grace.


    Visit our website @ ⁠https://www.griffynco.com/lone-star-lore/⁠

    Subscribe and follow us on YouTube: ⁠Lone Star Lore Podcast⁠
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    4 mins
  • Texas: The Land and the Myth - Dr. Benjamin H. Johnson

    Texas: The Land and the Myth - Dr. Benjamin H. Johnson
    Oct 31 2025
    Welcome to Lone Star Lore - hosted by filmmaker Matthew Thornton, and written by historian Joleene Maddox Snider, the series pairs immersive narration and cinematic sound with expert guests who help us ask better questions:What happens when a place this vast and mythologized tries to agree on one story?Who owns Texas history?And how do the stories we inherit still shape who we are today?Ep. 01 - Texas: The Land and the Myth – Dr. Ben JohnsonTexas isn’t just a place—it’s an idea. A land of legends, contradictions, and extraordinary scale. In this opening episode of Lone Star Lore, filmmaker Matthew Thornton joins historian Dr. Ben Johnson, author of Texas: An American History, and writer Joleene Maddox Snider to explore how myth and memory shape the story of the Lone Star State.Through rich narration and field recordings, we travel from Austin’s roaring stadiums to the silent deserts of West Texas—unearthing the deeper truths beneath the slogans, songs, and swagger. From Comanche frontiers and cotton fields to oil booms and modern politics, this journey asks: What is Texas, really?Written by Joleene Maddox Snider Hosted and produced by Matthew Thornton Produced by ⁠Griffyn.Co Productions⁠Featuring Dr. Ben Johnson, author of Texas: An American HistoryAbout: Benjamin H. Johnson, Author and Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago, specializes in environmental, borderlands, and Latino history. His latest book, Texas: An American History, traces how size, soils, horses, cotton, oil, and cities shaped Texans—and how Texans, in turn, shaped America.His other books include Revolution in Texas (2003), Bordertown (2008), Escaping the Dark, Gray City (2017), and his newest, Texas: An American History (2025), which re-examines how Texas’s myth, geography, and diversity have shaped both the nation and the modern world.In this episode:How geography and “non-human actors” like horses, corn, and oil transformed destinyMigration and the U.S.–Mexico border as a living, two-way storyMyth vs. reality—why the 19th-century rural myth enduresPride without erasure and why “revisionism” means honest historyFrom ranching to tech: the frontier under the asphaltA 50-year hope for a more democratic, inclusive TexasVisit our website @ https://www.griffynco.com/lone-star-lore/Subscribe and follow us on YouTube: Lone Star Lore Podcast#TexasHistory #LoneStarLore #BenJohnson #TexasMyth #JoleeneMaddoxSnider #MatthewThornton #PublicHistory #TexasPodcastTimestamps / Chapter Guide:00:00 – The Voice of HistoryDr. Ben Johnson on how myth often overshadows fact in Texas’s story.00:10 – Introducing Dr. Ben JohnsonHost Matthew Thornton introduces Texas: An American History and Texas as both place and idea.01:00 – Texas to the WorldHow “Texas” became shorthand for wild, larger-than-life identity.02:06 – A Night in AustinJoleene Maddox Snider captures game-day ritual and Texas pride.06:05 – The Myths We InheritTradition turns to identity—and myth becomes history.08:41 – The Myth and the Reality Independence, oil, swagger—the stories we tell versus what’s true.12:17 – The Land and Its LegacyHow geography, slavery, and expansion shaped early Texas.17:00 – Borders and IroniesMexico’s open frontier—and how migration shaped two nations.21:17 – Revisionist TruthsWhy honest history requires revision, not denial.27:29 – Vastness and Vision The land itself becomes the character—plains to coast.32:08 – Driving TexasA cinematic road trip through prairies, deserts, and Cadillacs.39:34 – Beyond MythLoving Texas means seeing it clearly—past and present.43:06 – Modern TexasPolitics, pride, and the question of who tells the story.45:12 – CreditsFeaturing Dr. Ben Johnson and Joleene Maddox Snider.
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    46 mins