How One Young Man Is Trying To Preserve Lebanese Traditions In Appalachia This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, we visit the only Maronite church in West Virginia where one young man in the congregation is trying to keep the traditions alive. Also, we listen to this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week brought to us by Birds of Chicago.

Throughout Appalachia, many communities share a common concern: as the young people leave, and the older generations pass on, who will carry on the traditions? But in Wheeling, West Virginia, a young man is determined to reverse this trend. He’s committed to bringing his community home, to the sound of church bells and the smells of homemade cooking. Inside Appalachia folkways reporter Clara Haizlett brings us this story.

JT Nero and Allison Russell release music as Birds of Chicago, who made their third appearance on Mountain Stage in 2019. Joined by guitarist Steve Dawson for that performance, our Song of the Week is “Lodestar,” which appears on Love in Wartime, Birds of Chicago’s 2018 full-length release.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Our Appalachia Health News project is made possible with support from CAMC and Marshall Health.

West Virginia Morning is produced with help from Glynis Board, Caitlin Tan, Jessica Lilly, Liz McCormick, Eric Douglas, Emily Allen, June Leffler, Duncan Slade and Roxy Todd.

Andrea Billups is our news director. Dave Mistich is our producer.

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