The recent Healing Appalachia music festival featured stars like Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers. This year, through a sponsoring partnership from Los Angeles, Healing Appalachia also welcomed another big name: the Matthew Perry Foundation. The Califor...
‘Valley So Low,’ Climbing Crafts And Vegan Cooking, Inside Appalachia
More than a billion gallons of coal-ash slurry inundated the East Tennessee countryside.Courtesy of Appalachian Voices/Dot Griffith; flight courtesy of Southwings
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A new book looks into the toxic legacy of a huge industrial disaster in Tennessee.
Also, rock climbing gear wears out. But it can still live on as art.
And, an Eastern Kentucky pharmacist serves vegan food for the holidays.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Tennesse Valley Authority’s Norris Dam, circa 1936, near Andersonville, Tennessee.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW33-015709-C
Just before Christmas 2008, Appalachia became the site of the largest industrial spill in U.S. history. A dam holding back coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant ruptured. The break released over a billion gallons of toxic coal ash slurry.
The spill — and what came after — are the subject of a recent book, Valley So Low: One Lawyer’s Fight for Justice in the Wake of America’s Great Coal Catastrophe. Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams spoke with its author, Jared Sullivan.
Crafter Turns Climbing Gear Into Cozy Crafts
Shelby Treichler stands smiling holding a wall hanging she’s made out of the inner core pieces of old climbing rope. The wall hanging, artfully designed to look like a bright red flower encircled by sage green leaves, is about the size of a placemat.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Williams/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Over time, outdoor gear wears out. Boots lose their tread. Kayaks and canoes spring leaks. Climbing rope frays. Most of it has to be thrown away.
In Western North Carolina, though, there’s a climber-turned-crafter who keeps old climbing gear out of the landfill. And finds new life for worn out equipment. Last year, Folkways Reporter Emily Chen-Newton brought us this story.
The Modern Mountain Cookbook
The Modern Mountain Cookbook by Jan A. Brandenburg.
Courtesy Photo
When you think of “Appalachian cooking,” what comes to mind? For a lot of folks, it’s savory comfort foods like biscuits with sausage gravy, crispy fried chicken and mashed potatoes loaded with butter. But, what about folks who want that comfort food, without involving animals?
Jan Brandenburg is a pharmacist and poet in Eastern Kentucky. Over the last 30 years, she’s collected and perfected recipes that take a plant-based approach to the Appalachian table. Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Brandenburg about her new book The Modern Mountain Cookbook.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Erik Vincent Huey, Larry Rader, Jeff Ellis, Tim Bing and Blue Dot Sessions.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff 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 Jennifer Goren.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
The recent Healing Appalachia music festival featured stars like Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers. This year, through a sponsoring partnership from Los Angeles, Healing Appalachia also welcomed another big name: the Matthew Perry Foundation. The Califor...
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