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This October, the Adaptive Climbers Festival will gather in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for the fifth year. In 2023, Folkways Reporter Emily Chen-Newton covered the event for Inside Appalachia. Since then, the Adaptive Climbers Festival has grown. Organizers say they’re nearly at capacity, with 300 climbers, caregivers and volunteers. Ahead of the festival, the campground has made accessibility improvements. Volunteers with the ACF have also been sprucing up the trails.
The Healing Power Of Old-Time Music And A History Of Meth, Inside Appalachia
Pictures of musician family members and collected stringed instruments adorn the living room wall in the Burhans’ home.Liz Pahl/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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This week, old-time music jams aren’t just fun, they’re good for your mental health.
Also, the opioid epidemic has changed how we talk about addiction in Appalachia. But it’s not America’s only drug crisis.
And, every year, hundreds of people parachute off the 876-foot-tall New River Gorge Bridge for Bridge Day, but not just anyone can do it.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
(Left to right) Hilarie Burhans (banjo), Mark Burhans (fiddle), Mark “Pokey” Hellenberg (mandolin banjo), Steve Owens (banjo), Julie Elman (bass) and Caitlin Kraus (guitar) are playing old-time music on a Monday night at the Burhans home in Athens, Ohio. Hilarie is a sought after claw hammer banjo instructor, and she and Mark also own and operate a local Mediterranean restaurant in Athens named Salaam.
Photo Credit: Liz Pahl/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Human beings have used music to do everything from soothe children to sleep or to fire up crowds during football games, but there are other benefits, too.
Folkways Reporter Liz Pahl explored them during an old-time jam session in Athens, Ohio.
The Other Drug Epidemic
Olivia Weeks hosts Home Cooked, a podcast that looks at the continuing crisis of methamphetamines.
Courtesy Photo
When we talk about addiction, a lot of us think about opioids. But there’s another drug still circulating in communities — methamphetamine, or meth.
The powerful stimulant could be manufactured in people’s homes, but after the US cracked down on the sale of meth making ingredients, the ways people make meth evolved. That history is the topic of a new podcast, called Home Cooked, produced by the Daily Yonder.
Mason Adams spoke with the show’s host and producer, Olivia Weeks.
No Son Of Mine
West Virginia native Jonathan Corcoran’s memoir No Son Of Mine is about coming out and coming to grips with loss.
Photo Credit: Sam Klugman
West Virginia writer Jonathan Corcoran hid his sexuality growing up, but then in college, his mother discovered he was gay. She disowned him and then died during the pandemic before they could reconcile.
Corcoran, now a university professor in New York, wrote a book exploring grief and his relationship with his mother.
Producer Bill Lynch spoke with the author.
Breaking Down Base Jumping At Bridge Day
The New River Gorge Bridge.
Photo Credit: E-WV
It’s a few months off, but thrill seekers are already planning for Bridge Day at the New River Gorge in Fayetteville, West Virginia.
High school students Dylan Neil and Nella Fox of the Fayette Institute of Technology got curious about how to become a Bridge Day BASE Jumper and talked with BASE Jumper Marcus Ellison.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jeff Ellis, Noam Pikelny, Joe Dobbs and the 1937 Flood, Sierra Ferrell and John Blissard.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from folkways editor Mallory Noe-Payne.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
Two federally important facilities located in West Virginia require a strict limit on radio frequency interference. But for decades – increasingly as communication systems have become more advanced – those limits have made it difficult for emergency crews and first responders in Pendleton and Pocahontas counties to do their jobs as safely and effectively as possible. Now the results of a lengthy federal study show exactly how precarious the situation is. We caught up with Pendleton County Emergency Management’s Rick Gillespie to find out what the study shows and what happens next.
This October, the Adaptive Climbers Festival will gather in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for the fifth year. In 2023, Folkways Reporter Emily Chen-Newton covered the event for Inside Appalachia. Since then, the Adaptive Climbers Festival has grown. Organizers say they’re nearly at capacity, with 300 climbers, caregivers and volunteers. Ahead of the festival, the campground has made accessibility improvements. Volunteers with the ACF have also been sprucing up the trails.
