A Small American City podcast is a project by author Duncan Crary. It aims to re-acquaint listeners with small city life in North America through the voices, stories, history and urban fabric of his home city of Troy, New York.

The program features spoken-word essays and intimate conversations with a cast of characters who bring this unusual Hudson River settlement to life. This is not a news program. It is not a talk show. It is a passport into the lives of the people who inhabit a place.

You are a welcome eavesdropper. And so at first, you may be unfamiliar with and disoriented by some of the names you hear along the way. We won’t always clarify things for you. But like any newcomer to our town, you will get to know all the players over time, if you keep showing up. So belly up to the bar with us. Put your cell phone in your pocket. Let a different sort of exchange nestle in.