WMMT Public Affairs & Podcasts

WMMT/Appalshop

Weekly program featuring storytelling & conversations about what matters to the people of Central Appalachia. Broadcast from WMMT— the 24-hour voice of mountain people’s music, culture, and social issues. WMMT provides broadcast space for creative expression, community involvement, and discussion of public policy to benefit coalfield communities and the Appalachian region as a whole. Find us online at http://wmmt.org!

  1. Mountain Talk: Ballads, Stories, & Songs, with Sheila Kay Adams + Phyllis Marks

    6d ago

    Mountain Talk: Ballads, Stories, & Songs, with Sheila Kay Adams + Phyllis Marks

    “I think the women made up the folksongs,” says West Virginia storyteller & ballad-singer Phyllis Marks, in this edition of WMMT’s Mountain Talk. “Because I think the men was out horsing around. And the women probably had to rock the cradle and churn their butter with one hand and sing to the other children... and they’d hear these stories, and they’d put a tune to ‘em.” And this episode of our show features extended visits with two multitalented Appalachian women, both of whom have served as vital tradition-bearers of mountain culture. First, we hear from western North Carolina ballad-singer, storyteller, musician, and songwriter Sheila Kay Adams, through a series of clips from her performance at our annual Seedtime on the Cumberland festival in 1992. Then, we visit with the one-of-a-kind West Virginia storyteller and ballad-singer Phyllis Marks, through an episode of the former WMMT series Southern Songbirds, which features interviews with Phyllis alongside recordings of her singing & telling stories alike. (MUSIC in this show, apart from performances by Sheila Kay Adams & Phyllis Marks, includes selections by The Luke Smathers String Band, from the June Appal Records release "Mountain Swing"; by Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal release "Mountain State Music"; and by Don Bikoff, from the Free Music Archive.)

    59 min
  2. Mountain Talk: A Seedtime Harvest—Performances from Seedtime Festivals Through the Years

    Jun 12

    Mountain Talk: A Seedtime Harvest—Performances from Seedtime Festivals Through the Years

    Every summer, since 1987, we here at Appalshop have put on a one-of-a-kind community festival of mountain music & art right here in Whitesburg, which we call Seedtime on the Cumberland. In honor of this year’s festival, which took place this past weekend—and which was our 40th (!) annual Seedtime—for this episode of Mountain Talk, we put together some memorable Seedtime performances from over the years. 
Now, this show is by *no* means definitive: when you put on a festival like this for 40 years, you’re going to have a lot of amazing stuff to choose from. But in this episode, you'll hear some memorable Seedtime performances from the Appalshop Archive that happened to recently catch our eye (and/or our ear): clips from Morgan Sexton's first-ever (!) public performance at Seedtime in 1988; Jean & Edna Ritchie, singing together in 1994, and bringing us some exceptionally special sibling harmony; renowned Piedmont Blues guitar masters Etta Baker & John Jackson, who took the Seedtime stage together in 1997; clips from The Local Honeys' set from 2016; a storytelling performance by Angie DeBord from 2014; Ethel Caffie-Austin in 1991; Nimrod & Molly Workman in 1989; and Rich & the Po’ Folk in 2014. As a final note, many of the Seedtime sets that these performances are drawn from are available to hear (or watch), in full, and for free, at www.appalshoparchive.org. And as a FINAL final note, thank you, so deeply, to everyone who joined us at Seedtime this year. We had an incredible time, and we hope you, did, too. (Apart from Seedtime performances, music in this show includes selections from: Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal Records release "Mountain State Music"; and by Don Bikoff, from the Free Music Archive.)

    58 min
  3. Mountain Talk: The Big Lever—A Portrait of Mountain Politics c. 1981; Plus—Ray Hicks & Elaine Purkey

    Jun 3

    Mountain Talk: The Big Lever—A Portrait of Mountain Politics c. 1981; Plus—Ray Hicks & Elaine Purkey

    So, we of course just recently held our primary elections here in Kentucky. And while things have been calmer here, it’s been a tumultuous primary season so far across the South, especially in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ‘Callais’ ruling that significantly weakened the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965—and which came smack in the middle of primary election season across much of the country. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, states across the South quickly began making moves to try to change their congressional voting maps at the very last minute, with the state of Louisiana even going so far as to throw out more than 40,000 primary votes that had already been legally cast. As a result, many Southern voters have been thrown into limbo about which district they’re in, and who their candidates are. But in honor of primary season here in east Kentucky, we start this edition of Mountain Talk with a portrait of a local election from days gone by: the 1981 Republican Primary for County Judge-Executive in Leslie County. That race was profiled in the Appalshop film 'The Big Lever,' directed by Frances Morton, and today we hear a radio adaptation of that film, which follows the race in Leslie Co. between C. Allen Muncy and George Wooton. (As a whole, the film documents a fascinating, and colorful, era in mountain politics, and you can stream the whole thing, for free, on Appalshop’s Youtube channel.) Then, in honor of our 40th (!) annual Seedtime on the Cumberland festival coming up from June 5th-7th here in Whitesburg, we bring you two memorable performances from Seedtimes past. First, from the 1993 Seedtime Festival, we hear from West Virginia singer & songwriter Elaine Purkey, performing “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday)" and “If the Rich Paid Taxes.” Then, from the 1988 Seedtime Festival, we hear a ‘Jack Tale’ from the master mountain storyteller Ray Hicks, of western North Carolina. The story he tells is called “Hardy Hardhead,” and it’s about three brothers who try to outsmart a witch to win the hand of a young lady, as well as the peculiar cast of Appalachian characters that Jack assembles to help him try. Finally, Ray closes the show with a barnburner of a performance on the harmonica. (MUSIC in this show, apart from performances by Ray Hicks & Elaine Purkey, comes from: Luke Smathers, from the June Appal Records release "Mountain Swing"; Glenn Jones & Laura Baird, from the Free Music Archive, & Don Bikoff, also from the Free Music Archive.)

    59 min
  4. Mountain Talk: Another Chemical Spill in 'Chemical Valley'; Land, Power & Our Economy; Hazel Dickens

    May 28

    Mountain Talk: Another Chemical Spill in 'Chemical Valley'; Land, Power & Our Economy; Hazel Dickens

    Last month, a chemical leak once again rattled the community of Institute, West Virginia. On April 22nd, a leak at a plant which processes silver caused a violent chemical gas reaction which killed two people, and sent dozens more to the hospital. And after the leak, a shelter-in-place order was issued to the community for more than five hours, during which time (not to mention afterwards) local residents had to wonder about the safety of the air they were breathing, and of the water coming out of the tap. And, if any part of this story sounds familiar, that’s because, sadly, it is. The town of Institute has been the scene of multiple scary, and stressful, chemical spills over the years: in 2008, another chemical explosion there killed two people, and injured eight more. And back in 1985, a cloud of gas leaked from what was then the Union Carbide plant in Institute— and this leak came just months after the horrific leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, had made global headlines by killing at least some 16,000 people, and injuring tens of thousands more. And knowing what had just happened in India, when this 1985 leak happened in Institute, it was understandably a tense time for the community. This time was documented in the 1991 Appalshop Film “Chemical Valley,” and to begin Mountain Talk today, filmmaker Mimi Pickering brings us a radio adaptation of that film. Then, we hear selections from a panel held last month at the University of Kentucky about the history and future of Appalachia’s economy, a discussion which was called “Shifting Power in Rural America.” In these clips, Appalachian scholars John Gaventa & Gabe Schwartzman discuss land ownership in our region, and how that has historically helped determine who has power in the mountains— and how all of that might be changing now. Finally, we close the show with an episode of the former WMMT radio documentary series “Southern Songbirds,” produced by Rachel Goodman, about the life and music of the great WV singer & songwriter Hazel Dickens. (MUSIC in this show, apart from the Hazel Dickens tunes in the 2nd half, comes from: Tommy Hunter, from the June Appal Records release "Deep in Tradition"; Glenn Jones & Laura Baird, from the Free Music Archive; and Don Bikoff, also from the Free Music Archive.)

    59 min
  5. Mountain Talk: Murder Ballads

    May 22

    Mountain Talk: Murder Ballads

    If you’ve listened to any true crime podcasts recently, or if you’ve watched one of those Netflix shows like “The Making of a Murderer,” or “Should I Marry a Murderer,” or “The Murder Next door,” or… well, there are lots of options in this genre on Netflix. But if you’ve taken in true crime storytelling of ANY kind recently, in a way, you’re participating in just the latest version of what’s actually a really old form of entertainment, especially here in the mountains: the murder ballad. And murder ballads, songs which depict murder stories, have local roots going back at least hundreds of years to the early colonists in Appalachia, and before that, to the British Isles (among other places), and they remain a significant part of the Appalachian musical tradition today. Our very own Chad Hunter, who’s the director of the Appalshop Archive, put together a whole radio program about murder ballads for WMMT back in 2006. And today on Mountain Talk, we bring you a version of that show, which features a rich mixture of recordings of murder ballads from across the years, as well as the backgrounds & true-life stories behind these ballads, many of which had their roots in real happenings. Among the tunes heard in this show are “Pretty Polly,” “Omie Wise,” “The Murder of the Lawson Family” (who are pictured in our header image), and more, performed by artists like Morgan Sexton, Doc Watson, and Dock Boggs, among many others. (MUSIC in this show, apart from the tunes introduced by Chad over the course of the show, includes selections from the Dutch Cove String Band, from the June Appal Records release “Sycamore Tea,” and from Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal release “Mountain State Music.”)

    1 hr
  6. Mountain Talk: Appalachian Apocalypso—A Poetry Reading from Jim Webb; Plus, Gurney Norman & Jenny Galloway Collins

    May 11

    Mountain Talk: Appalachian Apocalypso—A Poetry Reading from Jim Webb; Plus, Gurney Norman & Jenny Galloway Collins

    April was National Poetry Month, and we celebrated all month long here on WMMT’s Mountain Talk, with readings & conversations with Appalachian writers, past and present. But for this episode, which aired the last week of April, we decided we couldn’t let the month go by without a visit with WMMT’s very own poet laureate: Jim Webb.   Perhaps better known to many listeners as Wiley Quixote, Jim Webb was a fixture on WMMT going back to some of our earliest days on the air in 1985; first as a programmer, and then also as a longtime staffer, working for decades to help run this radio station—and in a one-of-a-kind way.  We won’t even try to sum up everything about Jim, because that’s impossible, but in addition to his countless contributions to WMMT, and his larger-than-life presence in our community, Jim was also, for most all of his life, a poet. A book of Jim’s poems, Get in, Jesus, was published in 2013, and after the book came out, Jim did a series of readings from the book all over the region. One of those readings happened in February of 2014, in Covington, Ky., and for the first half of Mountain Talk today, we bring you a set of clips from that reading. Then, we head across Letcher County to the Blackey Public Library, which, back in the 1990’s, held a series of readings featuring local writers, called the Blackey Writers’ Circuit. Back then, we here at WMMT aired a series, hosted by Artie Anne Bates, that featured clips from those readings. Today, via the Appalshop Archive, we bring you an episode from this series, from back in 1994. In addition to the aforementioned Jim Webb, this episode also includes readings from the writers Jenny Galloway Collins, and Gurney Norman. (MUSIC in this show includes selections from: The Metropolitan Blues All-Stars, from the album “Hillbilly Nation,” and from Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal Records release “Mountain State Music.”)

    59 min
  7. Mountain Talk: Heritage — James Still, in Verse, in Music, and in Conversation

    May 1

    Mountain Talk: Heritage — James Still, in Verse, in Music, and in Conversation

    This week on Mountain Talk, in honor of National Poetry Month, we visit with a nationally-renowned writer from right here in East Kentucky: Knott County’s own James Still. Originally born in Texas in 1906, James Still moved to Knott County to work for the Hindman Settlement School in the early 1930’s— and it was there he stayed, all the way up until he passed away in 2001. His novel River Of Earth gained national recognition as a masterpiece of Depression-era literature, and in addition to being a novelist, Mr. Still was also widely known as both a folklorist & a poet. Back in 1992, we at Appalshop had the privilege of working with Mr. Still on a really unique project: an album, on our very own June Appal Records, that combined audio of James Still reading his poetry with music from the local traditional musician Randy Wilson. That project was called Heritage, and for the first half of this episode of Mountain Talk, we bring you selections from that record. Then, for the last half of the show, we sit down with James Still for a unique, in-depth conversation about his life and his work. In an interview led by longtime friend of Appalshop Judi Jennings, we hear about what it was like for Mr. Still to move to Knott County (they had just paved the road between Hazard & Hindman, he says), how he began sending poems off to The Atlantic Monthly, his approach to writing, a local child who helped inspire River of Earth, and more. (This interview also appeared on the CD reissue of the ‘Heritage’ project.) (MUSIC in today’s show comes from Randy Wilson, from the June Appal Records release “Heritage”; J.P. & Annadeene Fraley, from the June Appal release “Galleynipper”; and Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal release “Mountain State Music”.)

    59 min
  8. Mountain Talk: A Poetry Reading from Wendell Berry; Plus, Traditional Weaving + Fiddle-making

    Apr 23

    Mountain Talk: A Poetry Reading from Wendell Berry; Plus, Traditional Weaving + Fiddle-making

    Given that Letcher County, Ky.—our home county here at WMMT—contains the headwaters of three different rivers, including the North Fork of the Kentucky River, there are an awful lot of Kentuckians downstream from us. And as it turns out, one of them just so happens to be an internationally-renowned—and deeply beloved—Kentucky writer, poet, novelist, essayist, farmer, and activist: the great Wendell Berry. Since the 1960’s, Wendell has lived, written, and worked the land on a farm on the banks of the Kentucky River in Henry County, Ky. And back in August of 1984, Wendell made the trip into Whitesburg for a poetry reading here at Appalshop that was all about the Kentucky River: its landscapes, its people, and how it connects us across the state— how we are all upstream & downstream from each other. In honor of National Poetry Month, we’re thrilled to be able to begin this edition of Mountain Talk with a special treat: a set of clips from this very reading. (Our thanks to the Appalshop Archive for preserving the reading and making it available; to hear more of Wendell’s reading that day for yourself, head to www.appalshoparchive.org and search for “Wendell Berry.”) Then, later in the show, we hear about two longstanding, by-hand craftmaking traditions here in Appalachia. Via two installments of the Rural Remix podcast (from the Center for Rural Strategies), we hear first about Appalachian weaving in North Carolina, and then about fiddle-making in Tennessee. (MUSIC in this show includes selections from: John McCutcheon, from the June Appal Records release “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”; Andrew Boarman, from the June Appal Records release “Mountain State Music”; and Don Bikoff, from the Free Music Archive. PHOTO credit: Guy Mendes.)

    59 min
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Weekly program featuring storytelling & conversations about what matters to the people of Central Appalachia. Broadcast from WMMT— the 24-hour voice of mountain people’s music, culture, and social issues. WMMT provides broadcast space for creative expression, community involvement, and discussion of public policy to benefit coalfield communities and the Appalachian region as a whole. Find us online at http://wmmt.org!

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