This week, historian Mills Kelly’s love affair with the Appalachian Trail started when he was a boy scout. Also, the region is known for exporting coal, but it’s losing people, too. And, Cuz’s Uptown Barbeque in southwestern Virginia fuses Asian ideas with Appalachian comfort food.
The Texas trio have been called “more of a legend than a band,” and their status as both is unmatched. Comprised of Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders have appeared four times on Mountain Stage with their unmistakable brand of country rock. With 30 years separating their first two recordings, the band went on to release Wheels of Fortune in 2006, Hills & Valleys in 2009, and The Odessa Tapesin 2012.
Our Song of the Week, “I Had My Hopes Up High,” is a Joe Ely composition that the group included on their Live From Austin TX recorded in 2002.
Tune in for more of this 2013 performance from The Flatlanders, plus full sets from UK alt-folky Billy Bragg, songwriting greats Joe Pug and Amy Speace, plus mother-daughter duo Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche on this week’s classic episode of Mountain Stage.
Brian Blauser
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Mountain Stage
Billy Bragg performing on Mountain Stage in Morgantown, W.Va. in 2013
This week, historian Mills Kelly’s love affair with the Appalachian Trail started when he was a boy scout. Also, the region is known for exporting coal, but it’s losing people, too. And, Cuz’s Uptown Barbeque in southwestern Virginia fuses Asian ideas with Appalachian comfort food.
Mills Kelly is a lifelong hiker and Appalachian Trail scholar. He shares the trail’s history and more on "The Green Tunnel Podcast." He’s also written several books, including his most recent, called "A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail." Inside Appalachia’s Bill Lynch spoke with Kelly to learn more.