This month sees the release of The Vine That Ate the South, the first novel by visual artist, filmmaker, musician, frontman of the Legendary Shack Shakers, and "one man Southern Renaissance" (according to Jello Biafra), J.D. Wilkes. Here's a video interview we conducted with Wilkes last summer at his home in Western Kentucky, regarding the origins of his novel, writing process, and what he hopes to accomplish with the work.

