MetaFilter posts tagged with Appalachia

Limberjack and Limberjill

tellurian — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:08:58 -0800

Jig Dolls as a percussion instrument, here played by Jean Ritchie [previously] and The Beers Family. There are modern exponents though - Limberjacking is NOT just for folkies.

Mind Body Spirit Place

netbros — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:34:39 -0800

Appalachia Ohio is home to an eclectic mix of individuals united by a common sense of place. Through photography, video, audio, text and interactive graphics, Soul of Athens reveals the spirit of this unique community. Produced by students at Ohio University's School of Visual Communication. (2008, 2007)

Daddy Moonshine

Who_Am_I — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:24:43 -0800

Do you know how to make a frog drunk? I bet you don't. But I do. I fired my pot up one morning and got it going real good. It had just started running high shots. That is what you call it when it first starts to come out. For so many jugs, then it turns to backins. Anyway here come hopping up to the still a damn big frog. I thought to myself ol' boy I'll make you drunk as hell.
Legendary Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton was arrested by the ATF in March 2008 [PDF]. At his arrest, agents found guns, three 1000-gallon stills, hundreds of gallons of sour mash, and over 800 gallons of white lightning. This week at 61 years old, and faced with 18 months in prison, he committed suicide.

A day at the fair

oneirodynia — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:30:44 -0800

You may remember Stan Brock from as the British anaconda wrangler from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom (top right video). These days he runs Remote Area Medical, a volunteer airborne relief corps that brings medical, dental, and educational assistance to remote areas of the world. Every year, they go to remote Appalachian Virginia, a one day drive from Washington DC, for a 3 day event at the fairgrounds.

A brilliant talent gone too soon. Breece D'J Pancake.

scarello — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:21:10 -0800

Transcripts of a troubled mind tells the life and times of Breece D'J Pancake, a brilliant young writer from South Charleston, West Virginia. In a raw, stripped down style, much of his work focused on the people and the language of the Appalachia He committed suicide at the age of 29 and left behind a small, but powerful collection of stories

Where Musicians Come to Play

netbros — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:23:04 -0800

Larry Groce has been producing Mountain Stage in West Virginia for 25 years. This weekly radio and public television program has been broadcasting the best mountain music in Appalachia, usually from the WV Cultural Center. This month NPR began distributing the show nationally in the U.S. Also, last year Mountain Stage began archiving podcasts of the programs ... many, many hours of wonderful mountain music. Some featured artists on the podcasts include Kathy Mattea (a native West Virginian), Ani DiFranco, Duncan Sheik, Suzanne Vega, They Might Be Giants, Asleep At the Wheel, Joan Osborne, Judy Collins, Bruce Cockburn, Jorma Kaukonen, Arlo Guthrie, and the Cowboy Junkies, plus much, much more.

Serpent Handling Practice and History

Pater Aletheias — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:36:09 -0800

The Ediwina Church of God in Jesus Christ Name. Pastor Jimmy Morrow's spelling is often non-standard and this isn't the world's best designed web page. But it's remarkable for what it is: an insider account of the history and practice of a serpent-handling sect by a current practitioner. For anyone interested in the more unusual expressions of Christianity in rural Appalachia, this site is a treasure. It includes video of Pastor Jimmy's preaching/serpent-handling, as well as his own recounting of the oral history of his tradition--a history that he traces back to early 19th century England. Most other accounts of snake handling go back no farther than the life of George Hensley, who began to popularize the practice around 1910. Jimmy's account of his sect has also been compiled into a book. Pastor Morrow may be the only person left who remembers these stories and is making an effort to see that they are preserved.

Stranger with a Camera

billtron — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:02:08 -0800

What happens when a US President declares war on a concept? In 1964, Canadian photojournalist Hugh O'Connor traveled to eastern Kentucky to document the battlefields of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty and was shot for trespassing. The incident is the subject of a wonderful documentary, Stranger with a Camera by filmmaker Elizabeth Barrett, produced by Appalshop, a non-profit organization in Whitesburg, Kentucky, that works with local artists to promote self-representation in media and the expediency of culture to counteract a stagnating local economy. Makes you think twice about nostalgic representations of poor Appalachian coal miners plucking their banjo strings in the hollers, doesn't it?

Jean Ritchie, "Mother of Folk Music"

ethel — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:57:20 -0800

Jean Ritchie, Mother of folk music. Abigail and Balis Ritchie of Viper, Perry County, Kentucky had 14 children, and Jean was the youngest... In the summer of 1946, she [more old timey from the Florida Memory Project] moved to work in the Henry Street Settlement in New York. There she met Alan Lomax,* Oscar Brand, Leadbelly, and Pete Seeger and started singing her family songs again. In 1948 she shared the stage with The Weavers, Woody Guthrie and Betty Sanders at the Spring Fever Hootenanny. By 1952, she was traveling on a Fulbright Fellowship to trace and document the roots of her heritage in the British Isles. In 1955, her first book, Singing Family of the Cumberlands, was hailed as an American classic. Her many recordings and appearances at major folk festivals, including the early Newport Folk Festivals, cultivated a revival of interest in Appalachian music and culture. She also became known as an insightful [realplayer required] songwriter, penning such classics as Blue Diamond Mines, Black Waters, and The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore, about life in eastern Kentucky coal country. Her itinerary page hasn't been updated in a while, but she is an active, performing musician, playing 10-15 shows per year. *there are several other songs before Ritchie's under this link, and the player makes it so you have to listen through to get to track 4, her beautiful version of "The Cuckoo." also of note: at least a few of the YouTube links come from her filmmaker husband George Pickow's YouTube account

Protecting a Mountain Heritage

Atreides — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:17:25 -0800

"It's like having a gun held on you with the hammer back and not knowing when the man's gonna pull the trigger," is the dramatic introduction to Appalachian Voices' coverage on mountaintop removal. The on-line journal is an environmental advocate for the Appalachian mountains, covering topics from air pollution to forest restoration, but also subjects like box turtles, coyotes, poison ivy and timber thieves. They also have a blog.

The great Doc Watson.

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:10:56 -0800

Doc Wat son: his warm and unprepossessing voice and rolling guitar stylings (both flatpicking and fingerpicking) are treasures of American music. The following video clips will be a treat for any Watson fan, but especially for guitar players: they feature closeup shots of Doc's left hand fretwork as well as insets of his right hand picking. So, without further ado: Deep River Blues, Blue Railroad Train, Black Mountain Rag and Bluebell. See also: Earl Scruggs & Doc Watson (and sons) play "John Hardy". Doc & Merle Watson play "Tom Dooley". Chet Atkins and Doc Watson: 1, 2, 3.

Mountaintop Removal Mining

homunculus — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:45:14 -0800

Appalachian Apocalypse. Mountaintop removal mining (previously) has a devastating effect on the environment and local populations. The Bush administration wants to loosen regulations and expand the practice. [Via Wired Science.]

Hatfields and the McCoys

frogan — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:47:14 -0800

As legends go, the first recorded instance of violence in the feud occurred after an 1873 dispute about the ownership of a hog: Floyd Hatfield had it and Randolph McCoy said it was his. The rest is Appalachian history. But it turns out that history may have had a helping hand in something called Von Hippel-Lindau disease. It weren't the moonshine, Pa. It was the DNA that did it.

Appalachian Tales

Miko — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:07:15 -0800

The Digital Library of Appalachia presents an online collection of music files, images, literature, and scanned documents supplied by twelve regional college libraries.

Rural Appalachia still needs a

nofundy — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 07:36:36 -0800

Backyard Third World

John F. Kennedy saw it and pronounced it a shame on our nation. Lyndon B. Johnson tried to change it. The "compassionate conservatives" have exacerbated it. I wanted to share it with you. Isn't it time for real change? Hasn't the exploitation of this place and these people gone on long enough?

Blue Ridge Music Trails

gottabefunky — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 11:26:18 -0800

Blue Ridge Music Trails. An invaluable resource for fans of old-time country, bluegrass, gospel and folk music in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Includes places and events like the Friday night Flatfoot Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store and the Saturday-night show at the Carter Family Fold .

Appalshop

PrinceValium — Thu, 08 May 2003 08:46:57 -0800

The Appalshop, nestled in the hills of coal-stained eastern Kentucky, was founded in 1969 as a War on Poverty project designed to train young people in Appalachia for jobs in film and television. Today, it flourishes as one of the premier cultural outposts of a proud and struggling swath of America. Its projects include documentary films, a record label, and one of the best public radio stations in the country.

subpixel — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 22:09:22 -0800

Homeland security loophole discovered in 1999: "In the Appalachians of West Virginia, the sun was going down and I was stuck for a place to stay. I knocked on the door of a private farm house. Three college-age girls were in the middle of an LSD trip. They recognized me as Art Garfunkel. I learned that they were three of thousands (millions?) who are "invisible" - pay no taxes, avoid the census taker; they are not on America's books."