Jason Isbell, Adia Victoria discuss Southern storytelling in new PBS doc

Why it matters: In three episodes, "Southern Storytellers" explores this complicated region at this complicated moment, as its history and stories become entangled with newcomers' histories and stories.

• The interviewees plant magnolias and catch trout, they contemplate the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, and they place a value on the land that's more about its people than its market listings.

What they say: "What I want people to recognize about the South is that it is a very, very complex place," North Carolina author David Joy says in the opening scenes.

• "It's full of a whole lot of beauty. It's full of a whole lot of bad things as well. And it's all of those things. And I don't want to lose a bit of it.
• "As a writer, all I see is gray. Most people only want to see black and white, and I don't care for it all. All I see is gray. And to me, that's about the prettiest color I know."

The first episode includes footage from Victoria's recent wedding, and clips of her combing her bookshelves for Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor and other influences on her music.

• "We have these unresolved questions about our identity, even when it comes to being American. A lot of Southerners, they don't truly feel like a regular American."

The subjects bring their own versions of storytelling — and their own stories — to the documentary, to create a series that weaves music and poetry with striking visuals of the region's landscapes.

• Isbell, for instance, plays his song "Strawberry Woman" while sitting next to the Tennessee River in the second episode.

Watch on your local PBS station or stream here