Bill Lynch, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Welcome to Lore with Bill Lynch

Lore is defined by Merriam-Webster as “Something that is learned. Traditional Knowledge or Belief. Tribal Lore. Knowledge gained through Study or Experience.”That last part is important. Experience.Some things you can’t quite get a grasp on just from reading a book or listening to someone talk at you. You have to put your hands on what it is you want to know. You have to spend some time with it.

Lore is defined by Merriam-Webster as “Something that is learned. Traditional Knowledge or Belief. Tribal Lore. Knowledge gained through Study or Experience.”

That last part is important. Experience.

Some things you can’t quite get a grasp on just from reading a book or listening to someone talk at you. You have to put your hands on what it is you want to know. You have to spend some time with it.

I’ve lived in Appalachia nearly my entire life, but a lot of the culture that’s part of Appalachia is a mystery to me. I don’t hunt. I have never been whitewater rafting (on purpose) and have never stepped foot inside a coal mine or handled a snake in church (or anywhere else).

I don’t clog, flatfoot or contra dance. My mother didn’t make chocolate gravy for breakfast on special occasions (or any occasion) when I was a kid. I don’t make biscuits from scratch. I buy them. They come in a can (or from a bag at the drive-thru) and I’ve never tried chow-chow or apple stack cake. I have never even seen muscadine pie.

Honestly, up until a week ago, I thought chow-chow was a kind of dog and didn’t know you could eat muscadine grapes.

It’s more than a little awkward.

Appalachia is forever associated with the Appalachian mountains. I grew up in Giles County, Virginia, which has an access point onto the Appalachian Trail. All summer long when I was a kid, I used to see hikers from the trail wander through town on their way to the post office to pick up their mail and maybe to find a bath. In college, I served these hikers pizza and sandwiches at Papa’s Pizzeria. They’d eat like horses. In between mouthfuls, they’d tell me about their adventures.

Sometimes, I was the first person they’d spoken to in days.

As an adult, I’ve read books and magazine articles about the Appalachian Trail. I hate camping, but I’ve flirted with the idea of taking on a long trail hike more than once. I even have a hiker’s map of the trail hanging up in my office, but I’ve never visited — not even for just the day.

There are dozens of other things, really — boxes on an All Things Appalachia list itching to be ticked.

So, I’ve started this blog and I have some recording equipment to make some radio stories for Inside Appalachia. There are things I’m very interested in knowing, things I’m sort of interested in learning about and things I’m not entirely sure I want to know at all, but I’m curious to see where this all goes.

New Christmas Book Looks At All 55 W.Va. Counties

The holidays always bring out a wealth of new Christmas books. Among those hoping to find a place under the tree and on your shelf this year is “Christmas Eve in the Mountain State.” Written for children or just fans of all things West Virginia, it celebrates the state county by county.

Bill Lynch spoke with author Marly Hazen Ynigues about her very “pun-y” book.

Lynch: Marly great talking to you tell me a little about Christmas Eve in the Mountain State. When did you start this?

Ynigues: I started writing Christmas Eve in the Mountain State in 2016.

More recently, I’ve found a wonderful artist to work with, Emily Prentice in Elkins, from the Mycelium Creative Art Space.

She’s a graduate of fine arts from Davis and Elkins College. And she really helped put some more fun West Virginia touches into the story.

Recently, I’ve been working with Joshua Singleton, a voice artist from Grafton, who’s working on creating an audio book of the story.

Lynch: Why do a Christmas book about all 55 counties?

Ynigues: Everybody knows how exciting it is to see West Virginia get a shout out in the news or in a piece of entertainment. And I wanted to make sure not only do we see West Virginia celebrated, but we see everybody celebrated, even in your own individual counties; in many cases, in hometowns across the state.

So, you have a lot of fun tidbits like, “Kanawha” celebrate with you and rally around the tree?”

Everybody’s a part of the story here.

Lynch: Well, 55 counties, and some of them are kind of a mouthful. What was the most difficult one to work in?

Ynigues: I’d say there are a couple of them like my own county of Monongalia, where it doesn’t lend quite as easily to rhyming, as it were. Some of these kind of act as more of a stand in for the names. I am working on including them more in some future stories. So, I’m trying to make sure everyone’s a piece of the story. And everyone has a colorful way to remember it.

Lynch: How difficult was it to line everything up, to make it all work?

Ynigues: It has just been a labor of love. There’s so many wonderful people who’ve supported along the way and given great feedback and, you know, help to become a representation of West Virginia. It was tough, but definitely worth it to be able to tell a part of our story here.

Lynch: What’s your favorite part about the Christmas season in West Virginia?

Ynigues: I love the snow. I just I love sledding. I grew up somewhere where we might have one day of snow a year and then maybe every few years, we get up to three inches of snow. So having these wonderful, beautiful snowy hills is just so much fun.

Lynch: Where are you from?

Ynigues: I’m from Memphis, Tennessee, originally.

Lynch: Well outside of writing a children’s book, what’s your day job like? What do you do besides that?

Ynigues: I do communications. So, I love storytelling. And I was also a history student and learned all about Appalachian culture and did some research on a mine war’s community. And previously I’ve also been a city councilor in Elkins. So just appreciating the culture, from learning about it as a new arrival, and then just really getting involved.

This taught me so much love for the state.

Lynch: Any big plans for the guest the holiday season?

Ynigues: I’m just excited to help share West Virginia story with everyone.

Lynch: The book is called “Christmas Eve in the Mountain State.” Marly, thanks for talking with us.

Ynigues: Thank you so much Bill. Happy holidays!

New Film Looks At 'Return of the Mothman'

Since his first sighting in November of 1966, West Virginia’s Mothman has become a pop culture figure recognized around the world and appearing in films, books and video games. Now the state’s best-known cryptid is back in a new movie, the locally produced “Return of the Mothman.”

Bill Lynch spoke with film director Herb Gardner about why people are still interested in the Mothman.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Lynch: The Mothman has been kind of like the local monster. I’d never heard of it until about college, actually. What is the enduring affection for the Mothman? Why do we still love the Mothman?

Gardner: I think, probably rest on Jungian thought on that one. Carl Jung would probably call him a universal archetype, that he kind of wellsprings from, whether he’s real or not.

Certainly, it’s something that our universal unconscious can relate to and I really think it’s that simple.

There’s so many of them [monsters] besides the Mothman. There’s the Flatwoods Monster, and then there’s Sasquatch, and the list goes on and on and on.

Lynch: West Virginia really likes its monsters. You were mentioning Sasquatch and the Flatwoods Monster. There’s over 20. They keep developing them. Why do we like monsters?

Gardner: I think with any culture, and especially West Virginia/Appalachian culture, there’s a rich history of folklore and storytelling. I think they just naturally arise. And again, going back to Carl Jung, it’s like, can we project our shadow self into the real world? And that’s a reflection of us, really.

Lynch: With the production of the film, did it go okay. Did you have any trouble?

Gardner: It took two years to make and we would have released it probably this last year, If COVID hadn’t just brought us to a grinding halt there for a while.

We had actually shot our first scenes when – and of course, we were following all the strict protocols– masks and nitrile gloves and taking people’s temperatures every hour.

We’d filmed a couple of scenes in-studio, and then we got a call from one of the primary actors. They say, hey, I just found out that, prior to filming, I was exposed to someone who has COVID.

And they were getting tested.

So, we’re just holding our breath for 48 hours. It came back negative, but we didn’t even have to discuss it. The risk was just too high for us. We didn’t want to put anybody at risk. So, we just put production on a back burner and concentrated on what we could, which was working on the Mothman costume, securing locations down the road and things that we could do, literally, from our offices.

Lynch: Herb, How did you get into filmmaking in the first place?

Gardner: My background from the late 80s and early 90s, I did educational films and commercials. I really didn’t find it rewarding. And I was like, if this is what’s available, I’m just not gonna do it.

So, I pursued a career as a detective and then as a mental health counselor. And a few years ago, a very good friend of mine, actually, my filmmaking partner Calvin Grimm, enlisted me as an actor for our first film, “River of Hope.”

And… that was the type of film-making that I wanted to do.

So, I went from being an actor in that, to first assistant director to helping co-write the screenplay, and I got hooked and haven’t looked back since.

As soon as that project was over, we were looking to do another film. And we wanted to do a Mothman story, and actually had three separate ideas for potential scripts. And then Calvin discovered Michael Knost’s novel, “Return of the Mothman.”

He shot it over to me and I read it. We both fell in love with the story and we decided that’s the avenue we were going to take.

We contacted Michael. He’d been approached by some larger networks – Sci Fi Channel and FX. He turned them down. He wanted the story to be told by West Virginians. So after a few meetings with Michael, we shook hands, and started working on the project.

Lynch: I imagine the difference between “River of Hope,” which is more of a historical drama, to your Mothman film, there’d be some differences like in costuming, special effects. What kind of challenges?

Gardner: The first film, which was set between 1850 and 1891, of course, costuming was a huge concern.

And then also we got horses. We had to hire horse wranglers, horse trainers to teach the actors how to ride,

In this film, because it is contemporary, costuming wasn’t an issue, but there’s special effects and we didn’t go the CGI route. The Mothman is a live actor. So, the costuming there was a huge challenge, instead of having to come up with period correct costumes for 50 people-plus.

It’s giving this believable costume for one actor –but the challenge was real and it was great.

Lynch: The film is called “Return the Mothman.” Herb, thank-you.

Gardner: Thank you so much.

Whiskey Tourism Is Growing In West Virginia

For generations, visitors have come to West Virginia for the scenery and a taste of adventure, but over the past few years, they’re coming to sample whiskey.

For generations, visitors have come to West Virginia for the scenery and a taste of adventure, but over the past few years, they’re coming to sample something else.

Whiskey.

Jeff Arthur at Mountain State Distillery on Capitol Street in Charleston said he was making whiskey in West Virginia before making whiskey in West Virginia was cool – or at least before it was legal.

“I grew up in an area where moonshine was pretty common,” Arthur said. “I knew some people that made it and I eventually learned how to do it myself.”

Across town at the Bullock Distillery, Tighe Bullock said he got into the whiskey business as a way to become part of the neighborhood he was building in.

“I think it’s such a great American endeavor, such a great American task,” Bullock said. “You take some water, you take some corn, you care about what you do and you care about every step of the way. You put some heat in there and you have a really good product. Whiskey comes from Ireland and Scotland, but it’s an American thing.”

Brooke Glover at Swilled Dog, a Cidery and Distillery in Pendleton County, got into the alcohol business because she said her family saw an opportunity.

“Well, the cider market had a big boom, especially in Virginia, around 2016. And that’s when we really came onto the scene,” Glover said. “We found that there was a need in the state of West Virginia that wasn’t being served. There was only one other craft cider in the state. They make amazing cider, as well. We thought that there was a need and we thought that we could use that local agriculture. So, cider which is something that we love to make, and we saw a need in the marketplace.”

They each said they hoped locals would embrace the neighborhood craft distillery much in the same way they embraced neighborhood craft breweries. What they didn’t really count on were travelers stopping by on their way through or tourists seeking them out.

“We really started with people who were coming over and didn’t know about us, had heard about us from locals or just kind of searched for something on Google,” Glover said. “They didn’t have anything to do in the evenings when they were coming over to do climbing, camping and hiking and all those things. That’s how we started with bringing people in. And it has actually changed now to the majority of people who are specifically coming for Swilled Dog. They’re specifically coming to the area and they’re like, ‘What is there to do around you guys?’ And we get to tell them about all the amazing places that we have to experience West Virginia beauty.”

Bullock agreed.

“Some people seek out these kinds of things. They seek out breweries. They seek out distilleries. They seek out that ‘terroir’ of different regions,” he said. “And so we’ve seen people from Brazil, Germany, England, not to mention all the surrounding counties and states. We’ve talked about having a little map where people can put their pins where they’re from.”

It’s been a bonus for some distillers and a real shot in the arm for others.

“It’s very hit and miss,” Arthur said. “When there are events in town, be that Live on the Levee…the regatta was incredible. But even like soccer tournaments down at Shawnee – stuff like that brings all these people here to stay in these hotels. That’s where the bulk of my business comes from. If it wasn’t for tourism, I couldn’t do this.”

Tourists coming to buy products from these distilleries underscores what they say they really want to do –bring outside money into the state and then keep it local.

As much as they can, Glover and Bullock say they buy here.

“We get all of our grains from Mason County, which is old Mr. Yauger. Who, he’s got to be in his late 70s by now,” Bullock said.

Glover said they not only get apples and grain from farms in West Virginia, but they get their oak barrels in-state, too.

“We use West Virginia Great Barrel company barrels for everything that we do,” she said. “They’re in Lewisburg and they’re just amazing. The quality of what they’re producing just ups our quality exponentially. So, it kind of makes it easy.”

The more product they sell, the more local goods they’re able to buy, Bullock said.

The distilleries are trying to be destinations. They schedule live entertainment, host trivia nights and sell merchandise. Some of it comes from area artists or craft businesses.

“We make our money off of this stuff we make in the back, but we have a big tasting room and again like I said, we have a great presence in the capital city of West Virginia,” Bullock said.

“So, while we’re engaging those people, like I said, from Brazil, Germany, people that are visiting us –even if they’re just using the restroom or just getting a sandwich down at the Grill or Gonzoburger or Books and Brews. While we have that opportunity to engage them, why not introduce them to some local honeys, maple syrup that’s been aged in certain barrels? There’s always that opportunity for interaction. If I can help facilitate that, then here I am.”

The distillers all said they’ve had some good experiences with tourism but say the state could probably do more to help them. They did concede that it may not be in the hands of the Department of Tourism.

“Right now, I have a micro distillery license and I’ve already outgrown it,” Bullock said. “One of the main things being that I can’t sell out of state with my current license. I don’t know why the legislature would not want me to sell out of state. I don’t really understand that aspect of it. I think that every license that you have in distilling should enable you to sell at a state. I can’t imagine one good reason why the legislature would want to not allow us to sell out of state.”

Bullock said just allowing small companies like his to sell outside of West Virginia could benefit a lot of people. It would acquaint people with the state’s spirits which might draw fans to come to the state and visit the source. Arthur pointed out people already do this in Kentucky with that state’s popular bourbon trail.

Meanwhile, Glover said the state has been good to them, but they could really use some help from the division of highways. They’re on the wrong side of a mountain.

“Our facility is actually right on the backside of Seneca Rocks,” Glover said. “There’s no road that goes in between. So, you have to go all the way to Franklin and then all the way around. But we’re only like a couple miles just, you know –if you just make a straight line. You can do it. I think there’s like a fire road or something that some people have talked about, but we’re right there. I’m like, ‘Oh, come on, just get off the road!’”

Healing Appalachia Festival Supports Recovery

This weekend sees the return of ‘Healing Appalachia’ in Greenbrier County. The music festival features performances by eastern Kentucky music sensation Tyler Childers, singer/songwriter Margot Price, jam band Galactic, Arlo McKinley, Lucero and others.

But the festival has a larger mission than just a good time. Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch spoke with festival organizer Charlie Hatcher about the roots of the festival and what it hopes to accomplish.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Lynch: Charlie, first off, tell me what is Healing Appalachia?

Hatcher: Healing Appalachia is an event that is organized and put on by Hope in the Hills. Hope in the Hills is a 501c3 nonprofit that’s behind Healing Appalachia. Healing Appalachia is the event.

Lynch: So, Hope in the Hills, tell me about that.

Hatcher: Well, Hope the Hills was created back in 2016. In 2016, we started this thing.

Basically, I have a friend of mine — her son had passed away. I dealt with a lot of deaths, I felt, that year from friends of mine that had passed away due to overdose, drug abuse.

And when my friend called, that was kind of the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. At that point, I just sat there and thought to myself, I want to be a part of the solution to this and not sit on the sidelines. I wanted to start helping my neighbors and start helping my friends, start helping my family.

If you live in Appalachia, everybody knows somebody. I always say whether it was your brother, your preacher, your teacher, your mother, your cousin, if you live here, you’ve been affected by it in one capacity or another [by drug use].

It’s hard to sit back and watch it go down like this.

We’re proud people. We’re hard workers. Whenever there’s a disaster, such as, you know, flooding that’s going on, you always see communities come together and lift one another up, you know?

I guess one of my personal goals with Hope in the Hills was to capture that feeling and keep it going year-round.

Lynch: The first concert, the first festival, what year was that?

Hatcher: 2018. It took us about a year-and-a-half to get the whole thing together and go through the process to become a nonprofit, assembling a board and figuring it out, you know? Because we are a true definition of a nonprofit. We’re all-volunteer.

I had to leave the board because it became way too much. And I’m the only paid employee of the board. I’m just an independent contractor. And that’s mainly because [Healing Appalachia] is here in Lewisburg, where I live.

We’re a granting organization. We’re not doctors. We’re not a recovery center. We grant out money to those that are working in fields of recovery.

Lynch: With doing this stuff, with doing this festival, have you gotten any pushback?

Hatcher: Nobody ever tried heroin or meth for the first time and said, “Hey, I want to be an addict.” You don’t go into it thinking that’s the case. And back up to these needle exchange clinics — it’s a public health thing more than anything.

The rise of hepatitis, the rise in AIDS, diseases that are spread through intravenous drug use, are all a public health crisis. And if we can do anything to curb that, then we should.

And it’s hard for folks to understand that. I have to say I was guilty of it, too. I did not understand until I actually sat down and listened and looked at the statistical data behind it. And if you look and you see where the highest rates of AIDS transmission, hepatitis transmission are, they’re all in areas where there are not these needle exchanges.

Folks that want to do drugs are going to find a way to do it. They are, but if we can get them into these clinics, where we’re giving them clean supplies, and getting a moment to talk, it was all worth it because if that one moment stuck, and they said, “You know what, man? I’m ready. I’m ready to make the change. I don’t want to be like this anymore.”

Then it was all worth it.

If you look at these areas where these clinics are available to folks. The hepatitis and AIDS numbers are down.

A big problem with drug abuse is, you know, people break into your tool shed and steal your weed eater and things of that nature. People get angry, and they should be but be a part of the solution. Sitting back on the sidelines and throwing stones at folks is not going to get us anywhere.

Lynch: Getting folks to be part of the festival — has it been hard?

Hatcher: Well, fortunately, I worked for a company called Whizbang, which is the management company that does Tyler’s career. And Tyler is a friend of mine. I know Tyler. I think we first met in 2016. And I spoke with Ian Thornton. He’s Tyler’s manager and he said, “Well, let’s talk to Tyler and see if this is something that he would be willing to be a part of.”

And he’s been a great partner. He grew up in Appalachia. He knows what it’s like. And he’s always, anytime we’ve ever been there in need, he was always there to help us. And he’s been a great partner in this.

Also you look into the music community. You know, the unfortunate thing is substance use disorders are very prominent in the music industry. I mean, look at all the greats that we’ve lost due to drug abuse, alcohol abuse over the years.

So for folks, it becomes easier when they understand who we are and what we do.

Lynch: It’s not just about music though. You’ve got some of the things happening during the festival, right?

Hatcher: Oh, yeah, it’s definitely not just about. We have over 30 service providers from eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, southeastern Ohio, Pennsylvania.

There are people that come in — we don’t advocate for one type of recovery, because each person is different. We advocate for what works best for you. So, that’s why we have different service providers coming in from all over the place. In hopes, someone might say, “yeah.”

And another thing, too, we have over 20 … I think it’s 31 states represented in ticket sales this year.

So, maybe someone comes in and says, “Oh, man, you guys are in our neighborhood. My cousin he’s not doing so good. Maybe we can get him down to talk.”

You know, that’s the hook behind it all. It’s a hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And my hope is that everyone can see that. It is a hard path, and it’s a hard road, but people do recover, man. I’ve got friends and they’re, you know, they’ve got 10, 11 years of sobriety and recovery, and it’s a struggle for them every day, but they stay strong and they’re prominent people.

I mean, they’re out here. Folks that you never thought would ever hold down a job. They’re out there having two or three jobs, you know, taking care of their kids, getting married, taking care of their neighbors, looking after people.

So, it is possible to recover, and the hope is that someone will find one of these recovery booths or places of recovery at our event and maybe be able to help a friend.

The Healing Appalachia Music Festival runs Friday through Saturday. Limited tickets are still available. For more information about the festival or Hope in the Hills, visit HealingAppalachia.org.

Banjos, Buzzing Bees And 'No Hate In My Holler'

On this week’s episode, we begin our journey through Appalachia in the meadows and woods of West Virginia to catch the buzz on beekeeping.

We’ll also revisit our interview with Pocahontas County, West Virginia native Trevor Hammons. The young banjo player decided to carry on his family’s traditions of storytelling, wild lore and old-time music.

Then, we’ll check in with Kentucky artist Lacy Hale, who designed her iconic “No Hate In My Holler” screenprint five years ago. Appalachians are still telling her how much they identify with its message.

You can hear that and more in our latest tour Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

The Buzz On Beekeeping
Music Comes Naturally To Son Of Hammons Legends
No Hate In My Holler

The Buzz On Beekeeping

Mark Lilly inspects a frame of his honeybee hive.

We begin among the trees — in stands of black locust and tulip poplars — with a report from our Folkways reporter Margaret Leef, who checks in with a community of West Virginia beekeepers.

Music Comes Naturally To Son Of Hammons Legends

Trevor Hammons, a member of the famed Hammons family of Pocahontas County, West Virginia.

The Hammons Family of Pocahontas County, West Virginia are known around the world for their distinctive old-time music that reflects the early Appalachian frontier of the Mountain State. Nine members of the Hammons family — Edden, Pete, Maggie, Sherman, Burl, Lee, Currence, Mintie and Dona — were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame in 2020.

We’re listening back to our story from 2020, when we first met 22-year-old Trevor Hammons, who is helping to ensure his family’s musical legacy lives on.

No Hate In My Holler

Artist Lacy Hale’s mural, honoring Nancy Mullins Shores, a beloved local midwife in Pound, Virginia.

In Eastern Kentucky, artist Lacy Hale has been painting murals and dabbling in other art forms for years. In 2017, her screenprint “No Hate In My Holler” — designed in response to a Nazi rally — went viral.

That image still resonates with Appalachians and can be found all over social media. Our host Mason Adams spoke with Hale about her work for this week’s episode.

——

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week is by Long Point String Band, Ona, Chris Stapleton and the Hammons Family. Bill Lynch is our producer. Alex Runyon is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia and on Instagram @inappalachia

You can also send us an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.