Across the river from Morgantown, West Virginia is a small community called Osage. At one point, it was a bustling town full of people, industry, and nightlife. There have been a lot of changes here over the decades, but one thing’s remained: music. Aristotle Jones is one Osage resident committed to carrying on that legacy.
Jones is a professional musician and storyteller who plays what he calls “Appalachian Soul” – a mix of soul, R&B, doo-wop, gospel, funk, and folk. It’s an eclectic blend that reflects his identity as a Black Appalachian and specifically, his roots here in Osage.
Roots that he can trace back to his grandfather, Robert Jones or “Brother Jones”, who was a coal miner, farmer and traveling gospel singer.
“He would travel with his band throughout northern West Virginia to the coal camps, the Black, to the segregated parts of the coal camps,” Jones says.
Jones lived with his grandfather for three years before he died.
“He would teach me all these amazing, gospel songs that he used to sing,” Jones says. “He basically just started teaching me his catalog.”
Courtesy Aristotle Jones
Jones was raised in Huntington, West Virginia but would spend summers visiting his grandparents in Osage. He remembers playing in the creek, porch picking, and listening to stories about this little town.
“I had heard these stories growing up, but once I lived here and experienced it, it became much more real,” he says. “We get to hang out in the middle of history here.”
Living In ‘The Middle Of History’
In the early 1900s, dozens of coal mines sprung up along a tributary to the Monongahela River called Scotts Run. First came the jobs, then came the workers. Soon there were thirteen communities along Scotts Run. One of these towns was Osage. It was the hub.
Al Anderson was born in Osage in 1939. He’s a singer, shoe-repairman and somewhat of a local legend, known as the “unofficial mayor” of Osage.
Courtesy Aristotle Jones.
“Up until the ‘50s, the only way to get to Morgantown was through Osage,” Anderson says.
“The train come down all day long. Buses every 15 minutes, five or six restaurants, two theaters. The Bunny Hop was the dance hall. Everybody came to the Bunny Hop.”
In its heyday before the Great Depression, there were around 5,000 people living along Scotts Run. And they came from all over. There were Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Mexicans, and African Americans. Jones’ great-grandfather moved here from Alabama as part of the Great Migration.
In popular memory, there was a distinct culture of integration among the different ethnic groups in Scotts Run. It’s part of the history that many residents take pride in, including Al Anderson.
“Everybody looked out for each other in this little town, Black and white,” Anderson says. “We had two schools up there, but we didn’t need two schools. The bell rings and we’re all back together. But when you get out of Osage, then everything was different, everything was segregated.”
Jones says music played an important role in building community that transcended cultural differences.
“What you get out of that particular time frame was the traditions of sharing music and making music,” he says. “Your blending of raw ethnic music coming from the different populations.”
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Although there was a strong sense of community among the towns of Scotts Run, life here wasn’t easy. Since the economy was directly tied to the coal industry, it was boom and bust, up and down, pretty much from the get-go. There were strikes and mine closures, and then the Great Depression.
Then in the 1930s, Scotts Run attracted national attention–it became a poster child of poverty in the Appalachian coalfields. In response, a New Deal program relocated some Scotts Run families to Arthurdale, a planned community where families would get new homes, plots of land and government sponsored job opportunities. But only white, American-born families were eligible for relocation.
“See, they didn’t take Blacks or foreigners,” Anderson says. “And I think that’s part of where the stigma started.”
Anderson says folks from the surrounding area looked down on the communities of Scotts Run, and Osage in particular.
“It was like literally the other side of the tracks,” Jones says. “So a lot of folks from Morgantown would come over here to have fun in the bars and have fun with the music, but it wasn’t viewed as something that was highbrow across the river.”
Jones heard these stories growing up, but when he moved to Osage as an adult, he began to question that stereotype.
“I was like, ‘Why is my history the place you don’t go?’ And then I found the truth,” he says. “And the truth is, it’s a wonderful place that people didn’t want to acknowledge because they wanted to exploit.”
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
As the mining industry declined, people moved away to find work elsewhere. Then in the late 1960s, another federal initiative shook the community once again.
A major interstate, I-79, was built right through Scotts Run, forcibly displacing many of the remaining residents–including Anderson’s family and Jones’ grandparents. It was part of a nationwide phenomenon where highway planners would build routes right through Black communities. Since the construction of the interstate, Osage has been nearly swallowed up by development.
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Finding Community and Building A Future
Today, the downtown of Osage has a familiar look to it — the look of a town marked by the boom and bust of industry-–boarded up windows, empty lots, a highway roaring not through it, but around it. The population of Osage has dwindled to about 80 residents. And while most folks have moved away, Jones has found his way back.
“I never thought I would live in Osage,” he says. “But living with my grandpa really touched me because he was older. So he was telling these stories and it made me kind of fall in love.”
After his grandfather passed away, Jones decided to stick around.
“What you see now in Osage, it’s not the same as what it was,” he says. “But this end of the town is sparking up a lot of energy for those who want to be part of it. And I think it’s those that are seeking out community that see a future for Osage.”
Just last year, Jones started the Osage Gospel ‘n Soul Community Choir alongside Anderson, with support from the Scotts Run Resonance Project.
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
Members of the community choir come from all over. There’s a few who grew up in Osage, but many are transplants to West Virginia. At this particular choir meeting, there’s a group of about 15 people, young and old, Black and white. There are even two people wearing onesies–a shark and a duck. At the front of the group is Jones, in a tan bowler hat, playing guitar and leading the choir in song.
The group sings a variety of songs from different genres and eras, including many of the gospel songs Jones learned from his grandfather.
“Me, I get to pay a little bit of tribute to the lessons I learned from my granddad, passing that tradition that meant a lot to me, to other people,” Jones says.
Clara Haizlett/West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
The choir members aren’t the only ones making music in Osage today. Down the road, there’s a steel drum factory founded by Ellie Mannette, a musician from Trinidad. His apprentice Chanler Bailey opened up a studio where he teaches the steel drum to students of all ages.
“I do feel the sense of community blossoming,” Jones says.
Near the end of the choir meeting, Jones leads the group in one of his songs called “Salt Of The Earth.” He wrote it as an ‘anthem’ for West Virginia.
The choir sings it twice, belting out the chorus: “Our roots run deep and we stand tall / We are West Virginia.”
“I’d searched for a long time for a way to call West Virginia home,” Jones says. “So when I moved here, that gave me an opportunity to not only feel at home in my own skin, but to feel at home in my own state.”
Jones says Osage has historically been a place where folks came from all over to find a sense of community and belonging. Now, over a hundred years later, Osage is still that place.
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Production assistance for this story was provided by Ella Jennings and Jake Taylor.
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.
Tags: Real Appalachia, Folkways, WVPB, Arts & Culture, Inside Appalachia, Folklife, Music, Scotts Run, Osage, West Virginia