This week on Inside Appalachia, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens. Also, an Asheville musician’s latest guitar album is a call to arms. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
West Virginian Uses Opera to Talk Mountaintop Removal Mining, Painkiller Overdoses
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Composer and Huntington native Nate May recently finished production on an original two-person music-drama, called Dust in the Bottomland.
When he began studying music at the University of Michigan Nate May decided to write an opera about some of the issues facing Appalachians.
His friend and fellow student at the University, Andrew Munn, collaborated with him to create Dust in the Bottomland, which they performed last year in West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York City. The piece uses only one instrument and one vocalist. May plays piano, and Munn sings bass.
“Some people ask, ’Where’s the Appalachian influence in the music?’ And I say, ‘Well, all of it. It’s me, who’s writing it and I grew up in Appalachia,’” said May.
Dust in the Bottomland is about a young man who grew up in West Virginia but moved away. Since he’s been gone, his parents and sister have been displaced from their home, due to mountaintop removal mining. They still live in West Virginia, though they now live down in the valley.
The main character is returning home after 10 years because his sister has overdosed on pain pills. During his return home, the protagonist also visits the site of his family’s home and sees the changes that mining has done to that landscape.
“I think the story hit home to a lot of people because a lot of people, even not from the area, know people affected by addiction,” said May. “The other issue that people were affected by was homecoming. And going away and coming back.”
Credit Nate May
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Album cover for Dust in the Bottomland. Shows Bev’s Flower Store in Oceana, West Virginia.
Nate May and Andrew Munn are now talking about composing a chamber ensemble version of Dust in the Bottomland, which will include more instruments.
Credit Abigail O’Bryan
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Andrew and Nate, during a break from rehearsing at Interlochen Center for the Arts in northern Michigan.
This week on Inside Appalachia, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens. Also, an Asheville musician’s latest guitar album is a call to arms. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
When he ended his term as governor to head to the U.S. Senate, Jim Justice assured West Virginians he was leaving the state in glowing financial condition. New Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced a week into his first term that he had “inherited” from the Justice administration a projected $400 million budget deficit for the fiscal year starting in July. Contradicting Justice, he said the former governor didn’t find the money to pay for his record $1 billion-a-year cuts to the personal income tax. Justice has dismissed the concerns as “crazy talk."
This is a transcript of Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s State Of The State address, delivered to West Virginia lawmakers on February 12, 2025. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
I want to start with ...
Affrilachian poet and playwright Norman Jordan is one of the most published poets in the region. Born in 1938, his works have been anthologized in over 40 books of poetry. He was also a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. He died in 2015, put part of his legacy is the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy in West Virginia. Folkways Reporter Traci Phillips has the story.