Port William
Book series
28
MENTIONS
7
EPISODES
6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 28 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Port William".
Oct 13, 2026
Jon PattisonHOST
That was an album that was inspired by five short stories and the Wendell Berry's collection, That Distant Land.
Jon PattisonHOST
And in that episode, which we'll link to in the show notes, Matt and I talked about the process of writing songs inspired by great literature, about some of our favorite Port William characters.
Jon PattisonHOST
and what membership looks like in Matt's life.
Jon PattisonHOST
But we thought it would be good to reintroduce Matt as we turn the page on this next chapter for the podcast.
5 MINS LATER
Matt WheelerHOST
Yeah.
Matt WheelerHOST
There's a mat belt there.
Matt WheelerHOST
So my name wouldn't have been out of place in Port William, but.
Matt WheelerHOST
Yeah, I'm just beginning to read those stories.
Will ShaffermanGUEST
Um, and it's about a...
Will ShaffermanGUEST
If you don't know it, it's about a barber who, um, comes back to his small hometown of Port William and little Kentucky country village by the river, and it's really just...
Will ShaffermanGUEST
It's not a very exciting story.
Will ShaffermanGUEST
You know? It's a very slow, everyday life kind of story of a, a, a guy who's a bachelor barber who ends up becoming friends, uh, with the whole town because of his vocation, uh, especially the men, and just retelling A simple picture of what life could look like in community, in a place not overly affected by technology, one that is very agrarian in its sort of roots and even in its presence, uh, although that's slowly starting to change even in the novel.
speaker_0HOST
And I have a picture of Wendell Berry there because We don't usually talk about them at the Morin Academy, but he wrote a lot of novels like Anna Coulter was one that I read most recently.
speaker_0HOST
And they have to do with this place, Port William, and the people in this community.
speaker_0HOST
And they all know each other.
speaker_0HOST
It's a small town.
John PattisonHOST
My former co-host, David Johnson, also my best friend for the last 35 years or so, he had to step away from the podcast as he finishes seminary.
John PattisonHOST
And you may remember Matt from an episode that we did a couple years back when I interviewed him about an album that he made inspired by Berry's Port William stories.
John PattisonHOST
That album was called The Hard History of Love.
John PattisonHOST
And when I thought about who I wanted to co-host the podcast, Matt was the first person I thought of.
John PattisonHOST
I mean, it's there in his name, Matt Wheeler.
John PattisonHOST
His name is the first names of two great Port William characters, Matt Feltner and Wheeler Catlett.
John PattisonHOST
Matt enthusiastically agreed to come on board.
John PattisonHOST
We met to plan the relaunch, and then just a few days later, Berry passed away.
Karen KernHOST
I think about his words, family and marriage and household economy, and how he takes all of the ideas that he writes about in his essays and embodies those ideas in all of his novels and his ability to just create a world.
Karen KernHOST
This whole Port William.
Karen KernHOST
All these people.
Karen KernHOST
It feels like we know these people.
DonaldPANELIST
It ...
DonaldPANELIST
I've, I think I- I've read every word of his Port William stories and novels at this point.
DonaldPANELIST
Um, you can kind of begin anywhere, but I think it was Hannah Coulter for me.
Ashley ColbyHOST
What was your impression of Hannah Coulter when you read it?
DonaldPANELIST
I, I'm of two minds about it.
DonaldPANELIST
I think ...
DonaldPANELIST
I mean, I feel a lot of gratitude for Wendell Berry, and I love Port William, and I, I think I have, um, such fond feeling for him and his characters that I can overlook some, some of the weaknesses of that novel.
DonaldPANELIST
But I think it, the, the description of, of the Battle of Okinawa is, it pulls the whole thing together in, in a very intense way.
Winn CollierGUEST
I mean there definitely were some lines that I walked away, and he – maybe I could tell his story another time.
Winn CollierGUEST
I did ask him one question about why in his fiction all of the – all the preachers – In Port William, they're the only people that seem like they don't belong.
Winn CollierGUEST
The whole metaphor for everyone who lives in Port William is they're the membership.
Winn CollierGUEST
Everybody's part of the membership, whether you're a scoundrel or not, whether you got something great to offer or not, you're part of the membership.
Winn CollierGUEST
It's grace.
Winn CollierGUEST
there's this one line.
Winn CollierGUEST
I think it's in Jabercrow.
Winn CollierGUEST
It may be somewhere else, but he says – He says the only person who goes to the front door in Port William is the insurance salesman and the preachers because everybody else goes to the back door because they're part of the membership.