Advertise on podcast: Great Grief

In this final episode of Season 3, I reflect on endings, beginnings, and the mystery of what it means to let go. Through story, song, and remembrance, I share the journey behind Last Dream Home — a song born from love, fear, grief, and the quiet unfolding of acceptance. Together, we sit with the unknown, with the tenderness of goodbye, and with the hope that peace may meet us on the other side of sorrow. Thank you for walking with me through this season of Great Grief. It has truly been a joy to be in community with you.

In this episode, I share a reflection from my book Beneath the Skin of Sorrow—a poetic “recipe” for caring for ourselves in the midst of grief. Loving Kindness Tea invites us to slow down, breathe deeply, and return to gratitude, silence, and love. Through story, meditation, and a touch of ritual, we explore how healing can live in small, intentional moments—and how we can begin to live greatly through grief.

After my husband’s passing, I found myself searching for language that could hold both my grief and my continued capacity to love. Then, a stranger offered me a new way of seeing.

In this episode, I reflect on the idea of an encore—that unexpected moment when you are called back to the stage. As a young jazz singer on my first European tour, I experienced my first encore and discovered something powerful: the space between what we plan and what we are asked to give in the moment is where the real magic lives. Through story, music, and reflection, I explore how that lesson returned to me years later through grief. Sometimes grief calls us back to the stage of our lives when we feel unprepared, uncertain, and afraid. Yet in those moments, we are invited to trust, to improvise, and to find healing in the unexpected. If this episode resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe to Great Grief Podcast, and to join my community as the season unfolds. New episodes are released bi-weekly!

Valentine’s Day can stir many things — joy, memory, longing, even sorrow. Not everyone greets it with candy and flowers. So instead of wishing you a happy Valentine’s Day, I offer you something else: a love bouquet from my heart to yours. Recorded live at Moorhead Manor on Valentine’s Day, this episode reflects on love through the lens of loss. What is this thing called love? What happens when grief reshapes it? When marriage, partnership, and shared life change form? When the question stops being theoretical and becomes deeply personal?

Welcome to Season 3 of Great Grief. In this episode, I sit with the word “loss.” What does it mean to lose something? A bag. A job. A sense of direction. A beloved. What does it mean to feel lost yourself? Through meditation, storytelling, and song, I explore the difference between something being gone and something being changed. I reflect on grief as a landscape—where the map no longer matches the terrain, where you show up but feel estranged from your own life.

Welcome to Season 3 of Great Grief! This season I’m listening closely—to stories, songs, and the quiet places where grief lives beneath the surface. In this opening episode, I share ancestral stories of my grandmother and great-grandmother, reflecting on grief, memory, and lineage. Through music, storytelling, and poetry, I explore grief not as something to fix, but as a journey—one that can be honored, felt, breathed with, and sometimes sung through. This season holds a culturally wide lens and a feminine gaze, creating space where sorrow and joy can coexist. If this episode resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and join my community as the season unfolds. New episodes are released bi-weekly. What has grief taught you about listening? Share in the comments. Website - http://nnenna.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nnennafreelon/ Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nnenna-Freelon/32336396896 Twitter - https://twitter.com/OfficialNnenna Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/4WkgNR9kn136k50T4pc7RS #GreatGrief #NnennaFreelon #LiveGreatlyThroughGrief #GriefJourney #GriefAndHealing #MusicAndGrief #StorytellingAsHealing #AncestralMemory #GreatGrief #GreatGriefPodcast #GriefAndHealing

December has been calling all year long. This holiday offering from Great Grief is an invitation to pause, to listen, and to remember what the heart craves — belonging, rest, and communion with spirit. Featuring a summer moment of joy and reverence with Paperhand Puppet Intervention, this piece honors our oldest ancestors and calls to our beloveds on both sides of the veil. Every goodbye ain’t gone. 🎧 Season 3 of Great Grief returns weekly beginning January 13, 2026. Great Grief is a podcast about living greatly through grief and is available everywhere you get your podcasts. Special thanks to Naima Harrell, Andrew Berinson, Donovan Zimmerman, and Larkin Consulting.

Grief comes to live with us all eventually, and she needs no invitation. In this bonus holiday episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon appreciates the quiet moments shared in the kitchen with her late father and wonders aloud how to curate her space for the holidays now that grief has made a home in her home. In this previously-recorded live edition of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon shares her memories of the lessons her grandma's wooden spoon and wisdom gave her about gathers with community to create a warm space for us to sit with our loves and our losses in the company of those who also know suffering. The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost. --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South.  Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

Grief cannot tell time. She comes and goes as she pleases. In this bonus holiday episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon remembers the lessons of her grandmother, honors those we've lost, and holds space for our holiday grief with poetry and song. In this previously-recorded live edition of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon shares her memories of the lessons her grandma's wooden spoon and wisdom gave her about gathers with community to create a warm space for us to sit with our loves and our losses in the company of those who also know suffering. The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost. --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South.  Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

The festive season carries such a high expectation of joy that can feel inaccessible for so many grievers. In this previously-recorded live edition of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon gathers with community to create a warm space for us to sit with our loves and our losses in the company of those who also know suffering.  Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for "Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays," a live music performance and uplifting conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. Reserve your tickets today. This is episode four in the second four-episode season of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, "Seasons of Change." The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost.  --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on all podcast platforms. Learn more about Great Grief and find upcoming live events near you. Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

How do we communicate with those who have “gone?” Is it even possible? In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon sets about asking the moon, the sun, and even the leaves how she might get in touch with her beloved Phil. If grief shows us that time isn’t linear, maybe sorrow is more than a season. Maybe it’s a portal.  Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for "Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays," a live music performance and uplifting conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. Reserve your tickets today. This is episode two in the second four-episode season of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, "Seasons of Change." The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost.  --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on all podcast platforms. Learn more about Great Grief and find upcoming live events near you. Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

Grief can take us to our knees—right back to the dirt, dust, and the earth, from which all things grow. In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon consults Mother Nature—and a Black woman hemp farmer—to lean into how we might grow on even in harsh environments and bitter seasons. Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for "Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays," a live music performance and uplifting conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. Reserve your tickets today. This is episode three in the second four-episode season of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, "Seasons of Change." The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost.  --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on all podcast platforms. Learn more about Great Grief and find upcoming live events near you. Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

In this episode of Great Grief, we follow Nnenna Freelon on a walk through the woods, where she contemplates autumn, the changing of the seasons, and the possibility of renewal after everything dies. Read a transcript of this episode. Join Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, December 10 for "Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays," a live music performance and uplifting conversation exploring loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays. Reserve your tickets today. This is episode one in the second four-episode season of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, "Seasons of Change." The seasons are changing—an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. This season, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost.  --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it. Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences—topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Seasons 1 and 2 are available now on all podcast platforms. Learn more about Great Grief and find upcoming live events near you. Check out the archive of essays in Scalawag's grief & other loves series. Join the Great Grief Facebook community.

Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, season 2: "Seasons of Change," launches November 28, 2023. The seasons are changing, an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. In the latest series of Great Grief, Nnenna looks to nature and the cyclical movement of time to delve deeper into loss, creating rituals and making discoveries that help us reconnect with ourselves, each other, and the ones we’ve lost.  For many people, holidays are a time of celebration marked by family, faith, and food. This time of year can also be a period of remembrance. Yes, grief has a seat at the table. But grieving in the holiday season doesn’t have to be a solo or solemn affair.  Sunday, December 10, 2023: Come visit with Scalawag and Nnenna Freelon in Durham, North Carolina, for Great Grief—Live! Home for the Holidays. Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon invites you to join her for a live music performance and an uplifting conversation to explore loss, love, and how to move forward with grief during the holidays.  Accompanied by keyboardist Andrew Berinson, Nnenna will share her story and discuss the process of healing through word and song. Great Grief is produced by Nnenna Freelon and Scalawag, a grassroots Southern media organization committed to building political and social consciousness, in collaboration with OnlyUs Media, a Durham-based, Afrofuturist production company. Reserve your tickets today. --- Unlike other podcasts on grief, Great Grief by Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon doesn’t give you a blueprint for how to get over it. Instead, she offers her own experiences as a wife, a sister, a Black woman, and a powerful jazz artist to help you get into it.  Each four-episode season is organized around topics that intertwine our grief experiences, topics like sisterhood, the inevitability of change, and Black love. A new collection drops every quarter, accompanied by a live opportunity for us to gather around our griefs in different cities across the South. Learn more: https://scalawagmagazine.org/great-grief/