WMMT Public Affairs & Podcasts

WMMT/Appalshop

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

    6D AGO

    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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Mountain Talk: Writing in Place, with Poet Annie Woodford

    APR 14

    Mountain Talk: Writing in Place, with Poet Annie Woodford

    “I come from people who didn’t have access to education, lived in rural areas, probably didn’t have the best manners,” Annie Woodford says in this episode of WMMT’s Mountain Talk. “But,” she goes on, “I feel like there’s a power to that lineage. There’s a power to being connected to place and labor, and I guess it’s… kind of like an economic destiny that I’m always pushing back against, that just because you don’t come from privilege doesn’t mean you can’t make art.” April is National Poetry Month, and this week on Mountain Talk, we bring you a show full of Appalachian poetry, featuring as a special guest the poet Annie Woodford, who joined us in-person at the WMMT studio for a special live (and with a studio audience!) version of our program, on Thurs, Apr. 9th. Annie is originally from Bassett, Virginia, and currently lives in Deep Gap, North Carolina. She’s the author of 3 full-length books as well as a chapbook, and her latest book of poems, Peasant, was published in late 2025. And in this episode, we sit down with Annie for a wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything from her new book, to her approach to reading poetry, to what it means to her to be an Appalachian writer, to what it’s like to watch your hometown’s economy dry up in front of you. We also hear Annie read several poems from Peasant, and we speak with her about some of the themes that run throughout the course of her book, which include vivid and thoughtful explorations of place, family, and class. We also talk about the deep reverence the book has for just plain noticing the world around us—the natural and the human-made parts of it alike—in all of its richness, contradiction, and complexity. For more on Annie and her work, you can check out her website, at www.anniewoodfordpoet.com. (MUSIC in today’s show comes from Tommy Hunter, from the June Appal Records release “Deep in Tradition.”)

    59 min
  5. Mountain Talk: Kentucky Women in Traditional Music

    APR 6

    Mountain Talk: Kentucky Women in Traditional Music

    In this edition of Mountain Talk, to close out Women’s History Month, we pay tribute to some of the many women who’ve been pioneers and masters in Kentucky Traditional music, through an in-depth, hour-long radio special, hosted by Kentucky folklorist (and master musician himself) John Harrod. Through a mixture of songs & fascinating interviews with the musicians themselves, we visit with a variety of musically-groundbreaking Kentucky women (including Lily May Ledford & Blanche Coldiron, both pictured), ranging from some who became household names to others who weren’t really known outside of their home communities. This show was produced by WMMT’s Rich Kirby, and first aired on WMMT back in 2018. As a final note, we ARE in the thick right now of WMMT's Spring Fund Drive, one of those times when, twice per year, we come together as a community of people who care about WMMT to try to keep this incredible, improbable experiment in Appalachian, non-profit community radio on the air. If you appreciate WMMT, and you'd like to be a part of keeping us going, you can contribute at our website: www.wmmt.org. Now more than ever, anything at all goes a long way towards keeping Real People Radio on the air; as we always say, we couldn't do this without you, and we wouldn't much want to. Thanks so much for your support, and thanks so much for listening. (Music in today's show, apart from the recordings in the special itself, includes selections from the Dutch Cove String Band, from their June Appal Records release "Sycamore Tea," and by Don Bikoff, from the Free Music Archive.)

    58 min
  6. Mountain Talk: EKY Nurses on the Big, Beautiful Bill's Medicaid Cuts; plus Eula Hall & Martha Carson

    MAR 30

    Mountain Talk: EKY Nurses on the Big, Beautiful Bill's Medicaid Cuts; plus Eula Hall & Martha Carson

    “The Big, Beautiful Bill was a dirty, rotten deal,” said Perry County nurse Rachel Parks (pictured), at a public event in Whitesburg, Ky. last month. “What those politicians who supported the bill did was cold-hearted," she went on. "They knew that the bill would throw millions of people off healthcare, especially here in Appalachia. They signed it into law anyway. As a result, rural hospitals will close, and that includes pretty much every hospital here in Eastern Kentucky, and many in West Virginia.” Parks, who works at the ARH (formally known as Appalachian Regional Healthcare) location in Hazard, Ky.—and is the Chief Union Representative there for the union National Nurses United—was one of several nurses from ARH clinics and hospitals across the region who gathered at James Wiley Craft Park in Whitesburg on February 19th, to voice their concerns about the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which was championed by the Trump Administration, and passed by the Republican majorities in Congress last year. The nurses’ worries primarily lay in the bill’s cuts to federal social programs that affect Appalachian healthcare. In order to pay for a $4+ trillion set of tax cuts (nearly half of which, according to the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, will go to just the top 5% of US households), the Trump-backed bill makes sweeping cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid. In particular, the bill cuts Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade. For their part, the Trump Administration says these cuts are aimed at getting rid of "waste, fraud, and abuse." All in all, some 7 1/2 million people nationwide are expected to lose access to Medicaid as a result of the bill, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. And these cuts are poised to not only affect low-income people in our region who rely on Medicaid for healthcare— Medicaid reimbursements are also a significant part of local hospitals’ bottom line. In fact, according to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, some 35 Kentucky hospitals—and many of them here in the mountains—are now at risk of closing because of the Big Beautiful Bill’s cuts to Medicaid, including local ARH hospitals in Whitesburg, McDowell, Harlan, Prestonsburg, and south Williamson, among others.  And so last month, this group of unionized ARH nurses, from Whitesburg, Hazard, and beyond, spoke about what they see as the dangers of these cuts, to local healthcare and to the local economy, and they also shared their thoughts about how cuts to programs like Medicaid have come even as other federal agencies, like ICE, received massive funding increases this year. And in this edition of Mountain Talk, we begin our show with a selection of their comments. Then, we stay on the topic of local people organizing for better healthcare outcomes, to hear a story from the WMMT archives about local healthcare during the War on Poverty, including the trailblazing work of the tireless, and hugely influential, local health advocate Eula Hall. And then, in the second half of the show, in honor of Women’s History Month, we hear an installment from the former WMMT series Southern Songbirds: a biographical portrait of Letcher County’s own Martha Carson, a pioneering figure in country music. (Music this week comes from Malcolm Dalglish & Grey Larsen, from the June Appal Records release "Banish Misfortune"; from Glenn Jones & Laura Baird, and from Don Bikoff, both from the Free Music Archive.)

    59 min
  7. Mountain Talk: Appalachian Women Writers — Barbara Kingsolver & Mary Lee Settle

    MAR 16

    Mountain Talk: Appalachian Women Writers — Barbara Kingsolver & Mary Lee Settle

    This week on Mountain Talk, in honor of Women's History Month, we bring you a couple of special pieces from the WMMT vault: two episodes from the 'Tell it on the Mountain' radio series. Originally produced back in 1995 by then-WMMT producer Maxine Kenny, each installment of the series spotlights one of fifteen women writers from all across Appalachia, featuring readings, interviews, and biographical notes. And the series was hosted by the incomparable Appalachian poet, and writer, Nikki Giovanni. For this week's show, we hear two episodes from Tell it on the Mountain: first, we visit with the world-renowned Kentucky author Barbara Kingsolver; and then, with the trailblazing Appalachian writer Mary Lee Settle, who grew up in both Pineville, Ky. and Charleston, W. Va. And as a quick PS: while these episodes were originally released on cassette tape, Appalshop will be digitally re-releasing this whole series soon. So, keep an ear out! As a whole, it’s a total treasure trove of readings and reflections from a massively-talented gaggle of mountain writers. (Music this week comes from J.P. & Annadeene Fraley, from the June Appal Records release "Galleynipper"; and from Don Bikoff, from the Free Music Archive.)

    59 min
  8. Mountain Talk: The Scotia Mine Disaster

    MAR 6

    Mountain Talk: The Scotia Mine Disaster

    50 years ago this week, on March 9th and 11th, 1976, 26 people lost their lives in two separate methane explosions at the Scotia coal mine here in Letcher County. And in this special edition of WMMT’s Mountain Talk, we remember Scotia, by adapting and drawing from media related to the tragedy from all across the Appalshop & WMMT archives. We'll hear the story of Scotia through the voices of the people who lived through it, from loved ones describing what it was like to get the first phone call that something had gone wrong at the mine, to the mine rescue workers who, bravely, risked their own lives by heading into the mine, after it had exploded (twice), looking for survivors. We'll also hear about the lax safety standards at the mine, which was operated by the Blue Diamond Coal Company, that set the stage for these two tragic explosions. Appalshop/WMMT media drawn from & adapted in this episode includes: the 2000 film "Blood-Stained Coal," produced by three then-interns at Appalshop's Appalachian Media Institute—James Pigman, Jeremy Roberts, and Natasha Watts; two 2010 WMMT feature stories on the dedication of a roadside historical marker at Scotia that year, produced by then-WMMT producers Sylvia Ryerson & Rich Kirby, with Mimi Pickering; and a 2025 episode of WMMT's Mountain Talk featuring remembrances of Scotia from members of the Westmoreland Mine Rescue Team, produced originally by our own Mimi Pickering. For a full video playlist of Appalshop media related to the Scotia disaster, you can visit Appalshop's Youtube page. (Music this week includes selections from: Phyllis Boyens ("Blue Diamond Mines"), from the "Coal Mining Women" compilation album; Glenn Jones & Laura Baird ("Across the Tappan Zee"), from the Free Music Archive; Don Bikoff ("Traveling Riverside Blues"), also from the Free Music Archive; and Erynn Marshall ("New Coat of Paint") from the record "Calico.")

    59 min
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About

Weekly 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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