On the 11th anniversary of the program, Maris Hearn's The Gumbo Shop was featured in WJFF's newsletter Soundings. That article is reprinted here.

[Reprinted from Soundings, July-August 2003]

When the familiar strains of Hazel Dickens’ “Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again” are heard on WJFF, you know it’s Thursday, and it’s time for The Gumbo Shop with Maris Hearn. This July marks the eleventh anniversary of Maris Hearn hosting The Gumbo Shop Thursdays from 7:30 - 9pm. And the show is indeed a gumbo. As Maris’ promo says, “I’ll share with you the performers, music, and words that move, and delight and sustain me.” And she is true to her word.

The Gumbo Shop goes back to the early spring of 1990, just a couple of months after WJFF first signed on the air. The show’s first host was Warwick resident Russ Layne, who some may remember for his spicy mix of blues, jazz, zydeco and samba. In the spring of 1992, after a couple of years of long commutes, Russ turned the show over to the capable hands of newer volunteers Maris Hearn and Judy Zigmund.  Maris and Judy alternated weeks hosting The Gumbo Shop. By 1994 Maris was producing the show on her own, while Judy Zigmund became the host of WJFF’s Open House.

Maris Hearn’s Gumbo Shop is an eclectic mix of music. The emphasis is mostly on folk, but don’t be surprised when you tune in on a Thursday night to hear some jazz, rock, world and more mixed in. Maris calls it “music with a mind behind it.” She first decided to produce the show because she had such a large collection of music (mostly vinyl at that time) that she wanted to share with other people. She was a long time radio listener and had some wonderful music—especially by women—that wasn’t being played on most of the radio programs she heard.

But Maris’ show is not only about the music. She’s also famous for her weekly calendar that covers everything from dates, people, events, things and ideas that people might want to celebrate, honor, observe or protest. You’ll hear everything from the dates of Beltane and Lamas, to the anniversary of Hiroshima, to honoring the birth of Henry Thoreau, to recognizing birthdays of Joan Baez, activist Ida B. Wells, or suffragette Lucy Stone. She tends to put the calendar early in the show. And the music played later often relates back to calendar items mentioned earlier. She’ll also have the occasional guest, whether a musician (she recently invited longtime women’s music legend Alix Dobkin on the air) or not (farmers from a local organic farm came on to talk about what they do—a Community Supported Agriculture program). After 11 years, that list of occasional guests is as varied as it is long!

Maris has persevered in her show, despite some daunting odds. She started at WJFF as a volunteer while she was taking six weeks off from work to receive radiation treatment for breast cancer in 1991. Years later, after she retired full time up to her cabin in Forestburgh, she was diagnosed with breast cancer again, and underwent chemotherapy. And then in 2002 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and went through still another chemotherapy treatment. All this while living in a cabin in the woods of Forestburgh, with no electricity (until she installed a solar power system in the late 90’s), no running water, and a 1/2 mile hike (or ski, or snowshoe depending on the whether) to get home.

While illness, personal set backs or losses might daunt others, Maris has developed a beautiful way of incorporating her life into her show. After the death of her father in 1995, Maris produced one of her most personally memorable shows “Remembering My Father.” And during two rounds of chemotherapy and the baldness it caused, she would play at least one “hair” song each show (and this lasted until her hair grew back). Even sexual orientation plays a big part of The Gumbo Shop. For the annual Coming Out Day, you’ll hear Maris introduce herself at the beginning of the show, “My name is Maris Hearn, and I’m a Lesbian,” and follow that with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender music.

Energy and Passion are operative words for Maris. She is an avid bike rider. She’s a member of the Sullivan County bike club, has participated in the Sullivan County AIDS ride, and did the very first Boston to NYC AIDS ride. Despite chemotherapy, Maris would often take a 30-mile bike ride in the afternoon and then come in to the station to produce her show for that night.

Maris is probably the best at describing herself... “I’m a vegetarian, earth-lover, peace/justice/freedom-nik, lesbian, biker, radical ecofeminist of sorts, language-lover, survivor and all-around non-standard American....”