Domestic Harmony - Incite at Columbia University

In a nation increasingly divided by political, social, economic, and religious divides, Domestic Harmony attempts to bring together people who inhabit the same geographical community—but experience different socio-political realities—through song.

This travel recording project aims to create a series of radio essays where people are able to talk, listen, and sing. The project exists not strictly as an oral history project nor as journalism but rather, a type of social work designed to connect two individuals who may otherwise be ideologically opposed.

Launching their pilot expedition in the summer of 2024, Brian Carey and his wife, Bailea Rehberg, traveled along Route 11 from the Canadian border, through Appalachia, and into New Orleans in a mobile recording studio for their month-long experiment. Along the way, the pair set up on street corners or public squares in towns and encouraged people to contemplate the state of the union and what they envisioned to be the solutions to the nation’s disunity. These questions were then followed by a performance of a song that resonated with the themes of their interview.

Through this trip, Carey and Rehberg saw how the need for discussion and listening across cultural divides was consistently cited as a prescription for the disunity in the nation. The pair hope to continue their work by planning future expeditions along other old federal highway routes to explore different cross-sections of the country.