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Remembering Travis Stimeling, A WVU Professor, Scholar Of American Music, Musician And Friend

In walked Travis Stimeling. Burly and ebullient, Stimeling grew up playing guitar in church as a child in Buckhannon, West Virginia, then went on to study trombone in college. That eventually led to a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a teaching gig at Millikin University in Illinois.

This story originally aired in the March 10, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.

Sophia Enriquez didn’t know it at the time, but one music history class in her freshman year of college would change the entire direction of her life.

It was 2013, and the music department at West Virginia University (WVU) was looking to hire another professor. As part of the interview process, the university wanted finalists for the position to teach a sample lecture. A “job talk” in academia lingo.

“I was in the guinea pig class that they gave their job talk to,” Enriquez said.

Now Stimeling was looking to come back home.

“They gave a job talk for music history class and talked about country music and Taylor Swift. And that had everyone so excited,” Enriquez said. “So that’s how I met Travis.”

Stimeling, whose pronouns were they/them, got the job. It was the beginning of what would be an extremely fruitful period, both for Stimeling and WVU’s music program.

Over the next decade, Stimeling established Appalachian music and Appalachian studies minors at the university. They published reams of articles and a shelf full of books. That includes co-authoring the autobiography of legendary session musician Charlie McCoy, and compiling a book of interviews with modern West Virginia songwriters.

Nashville Cats, one of Stimeling’s many books, is about the backing musicians who made Nashville into “Music City.”

*Photo Credit: Zack Harold/ West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

All these books and articles established Stimeling as a leading scholar in the study of traditional Appalachian music. But Stimeling wasn’t only a scholar — they were a musician, too. So they founded the WVU Bluegrass and Old-Time Band in addition to their academic pursuits.

Enriquez joined the band in her junior year. She originally came to WVU to study orchestral trumpet, but caught the bluegrass bug from some friends.

“I just walked right into Travis’s office one day and said ‘I think I want to do this,’” she said. “They said ‘OK, well sing me something.’”

Enriquez didn’t really consider herself a singer. But soon she was belting out the old Flatt and Scruggs tune “Rollin’ in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” with Stimeling backing her up on flat top guitar.

“So then they’re like, ‘OK you’re in,’” she said.

But Stimeling didn’t just help Enqiruez find her voice onstage. When she was nearing the end of her undergrad, she was unsure what to do next. One day, Stimeling sat her down and laid out the options.

“They said ‘I don’t think you’d realize you’d be really great at doing what I do,’” Enriquez said.

Enriquez went on to earn a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology. On the day she received her doctorate, she received a voicemail from Stimeling.

“Dr. Enriquez, this is Dr. Stimeling, calling on important doctor business,” they said. “But really, congratulations. I’m just so dang proud of you, so I thought I’d call and wish it to you directly. Looking forward to celebrating with you the next time we’re together. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

Enriquez said Stimeling referred to themselves as her “academic papa.”

“I know they played that role for a lot of other people. A lot of my close friends, we were all mentees of Travis’ at some point,” she said.

Another of Stimeling’s many academic offspring was Mary Linscheid.

Linscheid grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, the child of two classical musicians. She began studying classical violin at the age of five. But she fell in love with old-time and bluegrass music as a tween.

In eighth grade, Linscheid made a fateful trip to WVU’s Mountainlair Student Union to see the university’s bluegrass band perform.

“So I graduated high school and applied to WVU — that’s the only school I applied for because I knew I didn’t want to leave,” she said. “I wanted to be in the bluegrass band. That was one of my top reasons for going.”

Stimeling, second from right, and the WVU Bluegrass and Old-Time Band pose with WVU President Gordon Gee, center.

*Photo Courtesy of Mary Linscheid*

Linscheid ended up in Stimeling’s Appalachian music and Appalachian studies minors, and she joined the bluegrass band. And like Enriquez, it was in that band that Linscheid found her voice.

“Travis actually got me singing. Before college I would never sing, especially in public. I went to church and everything, and I lip-sang,” she said. “But Travis was like, ‘If you’re going to be in the bluegrass band, everybody has to sing.’”

Linscheid started writing songs, compiling enough to record her debut album, A Place to Grow Old, in 2022. Stimeling produced that project and played and sang backup on several tracks.

“Travis was always my first listener. My first reader of anything,” Linscheid said.

Stimeling and Linscheid performing together.

*Photo Courtesy of Mary Linscheid*

The two became close friends and bandmates outside the university. They first performed together in a square dance group. Recently, Linscheid and Stimeling had started playing gigs as a duo. They had their first big performance last summer, at Jerry Run Summer Theater in Webster County.

“Travis just seemed like they were finally free in their music and ready to take off with that and go in a whole different direction with their life,” Linscheid said. “They were really excited about this next phase of their life.”

Stimeling and Linscheid were set to go into the studio to record a duet album but ended up postponing the session at the last minute. Then, just a week later, Stimeling was gone. They died unexpectedly in their home on Nov. 14, 2023.

Now, instead of recording an album, Linscheid was left to organize a memorial service. She knew she would need to include Ginny Hawker on the set list. Hawker is an expert in the old-time Primitive Baptist style of singing, so Linscheid asked her to lead the crowd in “Amazing Grace” — sung in the call-and-response style of the Primitive Baptists.

Hawker doesn’t remember exactly how she and Stimeling became friends.

“Our paths keep crossing,” she said.

Ginny Hawker (left) and Mary Linscheid sing from the Primitive Baptist hymnbook in Hawker’s Elkins, West Virginia home.

*Photo Credit: Jennie Williams/West Virginia Folklife Program*

Stimeling became fascinated by Hawker’s style of singing and the two were beginning a formal apprenticeship.

“I think we were going, Dec. 10. We were supposed to go to a Primitive Baptist church in Clay County and just listen,” Hawker said.

As they dove into the repertoire of the Primitive Baptist church, Hawker and Stimeling came to make a vow. Whichever of them died first, the other would sing the hymn “Dear Friends Farewell” at the other’s funeral.

Hawker didn’t think about her promise as Linscheid was preparing the setlist for the memorial service. She never imagined she would have to keep her end of the bargain. She assumed it would be Stimeling, singing at her funeral.

But as she sat there, listening as the WVU Bluegrass Band finish up their set with songs like “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and other classic country songs Stimeling loved — Hawker remembered.

She climbed back onstage, stepped up to the mic and kept her promise to her friend:

“Dear friends, farewell, I do you tell,
Since you and I must part;
I go away and here you stay,
But still we’re joined in heart.”

——

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council.

The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts and culture.

Judge Robert Stone’s Passing Removes ‘Pillar Of The Judicial Community’

Senior Status Judge Robert B. Stone passed away on Monday. He served as a circuit judge in Monongalia County for 24 years and was a senior status judge for almost 15 years.

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice John Hutchison said the long-time chief circuit judge was a quiet leader and a consensus builder.

“If there was a dispute or a disagreement, he was the guy that sat down and talked to both sides and tried to get consensus,” Hutchinson said. “So the West Virginia Circuit Judicial Association could move forward on whatever goals were on the table or on being dealt with. He was an unbelievable teacher.”

Supreme Court Justice William Wooton said Stone’s positive influence went statewide.

“Judge Bob Stone was widely known in West Virginia’s judicial community and highly respected for his scholarship, fairness and unfailing courtesy and politeness,” Wooten said. “His passing is a great loss to our entire state, and especially to Monongalia County. His friends and family have my deepest sympathy.”

Hutchison called Stone a forward thinker who used his rich knowledge of the law to improve the overall system of judging.

“He always had good comments to make and good suggestions on how to improve rules of criminal procedure, rules of civil procedure, the trial court rules, all those rules having to deal with judging at the circuit level. He had great suggestions. He was a student of the law behind those rules,’ Hutchison said.

Judge Stone was born in Morgantown in 1943. He graduated from Morgantown High School in 1961, received a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in 1965 and a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 1968.

After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk in the late 1960s for U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Maxwell. He then practiced law in the family firm Stone & Stone and served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Monongalia County in the early 1980s.

Stone was appointed to the bench by then-governor Arch Moore in 1985, and was elected in 1986, 1992 and 2000. He served as chief judge for several years before deciding not to run for re-election in 2008. He retired in December 2008.

Stone held all positions in the West Virginia Judicial Association, including president from October 1996 to October 1997. He was a teaching judge with the judicial association and the West Virginia State Bar and was an adjunct lecturer at West Virginia University College of Law.

Hutchison said Stone was a driving force, especially in times of judicial upheaval, ensuring that at the circuit court level, things were going where they needed to go.

“He was one of the guys, whenever all the uproar was taking place, quietly behind the scenes trying to make sure that the circuit judges did what they needed to do,” Hutchison said. “He was the kind of guy that tried to get rid of the waves that were floating around. He tried to smooth things out. That was Bob. He will be missed. My condolences to his family and friends.”

Stone and his wife Susanne had six children. He was 79 years old.

Online Obituary Scam Targets Most Vulnerable

An online and phone funeral obituary scam is preying on West Virginians in the throes of bereavement.

West Virginia Board of Funeral Service Examiners President Gene Fahey has warned the state’s 500 or so funeral directors to alert families to the scam.

Fahey said the scammers begin by looking up obituary listings on funeral home websites. Then, using a staff name from that website, they google the next of kin and call them asking for money and credit card information before they can proceed with the funeral arrangements.

“When you make arrangements at a funeral home, many people have never done it in their life,” Fahey said. “Often, they’re not sure what the process is. But unless there is a person who is doing this from a distance, meaning that they are out of the country or out of town, and they’re trying to make some arrangements via the internet, most families meet with a funeral director in person.”

The targeted victims are surviving spouses or the elderly.

“They may have never gone through this process in their life and they’re extremely vulnerable,” Fahey said. “It’s really sickening that someone in this world would try to exploit their vulnerability.”

Fahey said at least two West Virginia families have received these scam calls with more happening in neighboring states.

“Fortunately, both of those West Virginia families immediately called the funeral home and reported what had happened,” Fahey said. “That gave us the heads up to make sure that we get the word out so that we can let families know that funeral homes are saying that this is a potential scam that’s going on. Please do not fall for it.”

Fahey said most funeral arrangements are made face to face at the funeral home.

“They discuss all the arrangements, they discuss different options, discuss the options for payment,” he said. “They never would call and demand payment without the family being aware that a call was going to be taking place. It would not happen in this profession.”

Former State Senator Billy Wayne Bailey Jr. Has Died

Billy Wayne Bailey Jr., was appointed to the West Virginia Senate in 1991 as a Democrat and was elected to that seat in 1992 and again in 1996, 2000, 2004. He served as the Senate Majority Whip and served on numerous committees.

Billy Wayne Bailey Jr., was born June 7, 1957, in Bluefield, in Mercer County.

He was appointed to the West Virginia Senate in 1991 as a Democrat and was elected to that seat in 1992 and again in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He served as the Senate Majority Whip and served on numerous committees.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, remembered his former colleague fondly.

“I’m saddened by the news of the passing of Senator Bailey, who welcomed me to the West Virginia Legislature when I became a Delegate in 2003,” Blair said. “We shared many conversations, challenges and most of all, our laughter. I will personally miss my friend Billy Wayne and my prayers are with his family during this time of great sorrow.”

In 2008, he chose not to run for re-election. He ran unsuccessfully for Secretary of State instead.

During the Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin administration, in 2011, Bailey joined the West Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs as deputy secretary under former Secretary Keith Gwinn. He served in that role until 2019.

From 1978 to 1984, he served in the 1092nd Combat Engineers Battalion of the National Guard, then spent 15 years with the Air National Guard’s 130th Airlift Wing.

He was a graduate of Herndon High School, attended Morris Harvey College, now the University of Charleston, and Marshall University.

Loretta Lynn, Coal Miner's Daughter And Country Queen, Dies

Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died. She was 90.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lynn’s family said she died Tuesday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” the family said in a statement. They asked for privacy as they grieve and said a memorial will be announced later.

Lynn already had four children before launching her career in the early 1960s, and her songs reflected her pride in her rural Kentucky background.

As a songwriter, she crafted a persona of a defiantly tough woman, a contrast to the stereotypical image of most female country singers. The Country Music Hall of Famer wrote fearlessly about sex and love, cheating husbands, divorce and birth control and sometimes got in trouble with radio programmers for material from which even rock performers once shied away.

Her biggest hits came in the 1960s and ’70s, including “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “The Pill,” “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “Rated X” and “You’re Looking at Country.” She was known for appearing in floor-length, wide gowns with elaborate embroidery or rhinestones, many created by her longtime personal assistant and designer Tim Cobb.

Her honesty and unique place in country music was rewarded. She was the first woman ever named entertainer of the year at the genre’s two major awards shows, first by the Country Music Association in 1972 and then by the Academy of Country Music three years later.

“It was what I wanted to hear and what I knew other women wanted to hear, too,” Lynn told the AP in 2016. “I didn’t write for the men; I wrote for us women. And the men loved it, too.”

In 1969, she released her autobiographical “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” which helped her reach her widest audience yet.

“We were poor but we had love/That’s the one thing Daddy made sure of/He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar,” she sang.

“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” also the title of her 1976 book, was made into a 1980 movie of the same name. Sissy Spacek’s portrayal of Lynn won her an Academy Award and the film was also nominated for best picture.

Long after her commercial peak, Lynn won two Grammys in 2005 for her album “Van Lear Rose,” which featured 13 songs she wrote, including “Portland, Oregon” about a drunken one-night stand. “Van Lear Rose” was a collaboration with rocker Jack White, who produced the album and played the guitar parts.

Born Loretta Webb, the second of eight children, she claimed her birthplace was Butcher Holler, near the coal mining company town of Van Lear in the mountains of east Kentucky. There really wasn’t a Butcher Holler, however. She later told a reporter that she made up the name for the purposes of the song based on the names of the families that lived there.

Her daddy played the banjo, her mama played the guitar and she grew up on the songs of the Carter Family.

“I was singing when I was born, I think,” she told the AP in 2016. “Daddy used to come out on the porch where I would be singing and rocking the babies to sleep. He’d say, ‘Loretta, shut that big mouth. People all over this holler can hear you.’ And I said, ‘Daddy, what difference does it make? They are all my cousins.’”

She wrote in her autobiography that she was 13 when she got married to Oliver “Mooney” Lynn, but the AP later discovered state records that showed she was 15. Tommy Lee Jones played Mooney Lynn in the biopic.

Her husband, whom she called “Doo” or “Doolittle,” urged her to sing professionally and helped promote her early career. With his help, she earned a recording contract with Decca Records, later MCA, and performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Lynn wrote her first hit single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” released in 1960.

She also teamed up with singer Conway Twitty to form one of the most popular duos in country music with hits such as “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” and “After the Fire is Gone,” which earned them a Grammy Award. Their duets, and her single records, were always mainstream country and not crossover or pop-tinged.

The Academy of Country Music chose her as the artist of the decade for the 1970s, and she was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

In “Fist City,” Lynn threatens a hair-pulling fistfight if another woman won’t stay away from her man: “I’m here to tell you, gal, to lay off of my man/If you don’t want to go to Fist City.” That strong-willed but traditional country woman reappears in other Lynn songs. In “The Pill,” a song about sex and birth control, Lynn writes about how she’s sick of being trapped at home to take care of babies: “The feelin’ good comes easy now/Since I’ve got the pill,” she sang.

She moved to Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, in the 1990s, where she set up a ranch complete with a replica of her childhood home and a museum that is a popular roadside tourist stop. The dresses she was known for wearing are there, too.

Lynn knew that her songs were trailblazing, especially for country music, but she was just writing the truth that so many rural women like her experienced.

“I could see that other women was goin’ through the same thing, ‘cause I worked the clubs. I wasn’t the only one that was livin’ that life and I’m not the only one that’s gonna be livin’ today what I’m writin’,” she told The AP in 1995.

Even into her later years, Lynn never seemed to stop writing, scoring a multi-album deal in 2014 with Legacy Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. In 2017, she suffered a stroke that forced her to postpone her shows.

She and her husband were married nearly 50 years before he died in 1996. They had six children: Betty, Jack, Ernest and Clara, and then twins Patsy and Peggy. She had 17 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren.

Influential Bluegrass Musician J.D. Crowe Has Died

Grammy-winning bluegrass musician J.D. Crowe, whose influential career spanned more than 50 years, has died. He was 84.

His son, David, confirmed the death on Saturday to The Associated Press.

“We just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. As great of a musician as dad was, he was even better husband, father and friend,” David said in a brief message.

Crowe died Friday of undisclosed causes, the family earlier a nnounced via Facebook.

Born James Dee Crowe in 1937, his career included stints with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, Mac Wiseman and his own band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys, which later became the New South.

According to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, his path was set in 1949 when, at the age of 12, he heard Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys play at a barn dance in Lexington.

“Crowe was an innovator on the banjo and influenced countless musicians with his technique and style,” read a post on the website of the Owensboro, Kentucky-based hall, where Crowe was inducted in 2003.

Social media tributes poured in from the music world.

“He was an absolute legend,” eclectic bluegrass guitarist Billy Strings wrote on Twitter. “He will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play bluegrass music. He had tone, taste and TIMING like no other.”

Crowe won a Grammy award in 1983 for best country instrumental performance for his song “Fireball.”

He is survived by his wife, Sheryl; his children, David and Stacey; and a granddaughter, Kylee.