This week's broadcast of Mountain Stage is a special episode featuring songs that represent the four seasons of the year. You'll hear live performances by Doc Watson, Bruce Hornsby, Susan Werner, Molly Tuttle, Taj Mahal, Norah Jones and many more.
On September 7, 1955, the great fiddler Edden Hammons died at age 80. The Pocahontas County native was part of an extended family known for its music and traditional ways.
The family had migrated into the Webster-Pocahontas county area just before the Civil War.
In 1947, Edden Hammons was recorded by folklorist and West Virginia University professor Louis Chappell in a Richwood hotel room. The resulting 52 tunes document a frontier fiddling tradition with links to the Old World. Here’s a sample:
edden_hammons_-_digging_potatoes.mp3
Edden Hammons, Digging Potatoes
Most of these tunes were later released as record albums by West Virginia University Press. These 52 tunes are the only known recordings of the great Edden Hammons.
Across the country, people took a moment out of their day on Monday to watch the solar eclipse.
West Virginia was no exception. The greens of the Mountainlair, West Virginia University’s student union, were completely covered by students and community members watching the sky.
On this West Virginia Morning, across the country Monday, people took a moment out of their day to watch the solar eclipse. West Virginia was no exception, and at West Virginia University’s (WVU) Morgantown campus, a large crowd gathered to experience the celestial event. Chris Schulz has the story.
An artificial intelligence (AI) tool being developed at West Virginia University (WVU) could lessen medication errors that send recently discharged patients back to the hospital.