Appalachia has a rich history of protest music. Today, some regional musicians are using their voices to oppose data centers being built across Appalachia and the artificial intelligence they power. Folkways Reporter Andrea “river” Peterson has more.
Pops Staples on Mountain Stage in the early 1990s.Mountain Stage Archive
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Our Song of the Week is the title song for this week’s special episode of Mountain Stage. Larry has curated a show in four parts, turning an ear to songs about the oppressed, the overlooked, and the experiences of those who are misunderstood.
Roebuck “Pops” Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000) was the patriarch of the gospel-soul family band The Staples Singers. Pops performed twice on Mountain Stage, in 1992 and 1994, and both times he performed his song “Why Am I Treated So Bad?”
Staples performed the song while traveling with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he tells in his introduction, that King called it “My song.”
This episode is called “Why Am I Treated So Bad” and highlights songs about experiences of people of color, Native Americans, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, women, and those living on the economic edge.
Appalachia has a rich history of protest music. Today, some regional musicians are using their voices to oppose data centers being built across Appalachia and the artificial intelligence they power. Folkways Reporter Andrea “river” Peterson has more.
AI proponents say the technology will revolutionize our lives. It’s also started a conversation about creativity and what’s really art. That applies to kinds of expression that seem to have nothing to do with machines, like crochet. Folkways Reporter Wendy Welch brings us this story of how crocheters found AI invading their communal spaces and what they plan to do about it.
More than 3,000 pumpkins decorate the Pumpkin House in Kenova, an event that has turned into a community carnival but started out with five simple carved pumpkins.
On this West Virginia Week, urban cryptids get us into the Halloween spirit, a researcher revives forgotten musicians and a conversation with a journalist covering data center development.