A Look Back At 2025, Inside Appalachia

We look back at 2025. We met some fascinating people, like Aaron Dowdy of country rock band Fust. 

Also, central Appalachia continued to recover from Hurricane Helene. From the beginning, the recovery brought people together.

And, we made a trip to Hillbilly Hotdog to take on “The Homewrecker.”

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

• Fust’s Aaron Dowdy And Their New Album, Big Ugly
• Photographer Michael Snyder Documents Allegheny Mountain Home
• Cicada Brood XIV In Appalachia
• Hurricane Helene: One Year Later
• A Trip To Hillbilly Hotdogs

Fust’s Aaron Dowdy And Their New Album, Big Ugly

Songwriter Aaron Dowdy leads Fust, a group with deep Appalachian roots that’s based in Durham, North Carolina. Fust is part of a new wave of indie rock emerging from the Mountain South. 

It’s distinguished by a Southern rock sound and lyrics drawn from observations about living in the region. Last year, host Mason Adams spoke with Dowdy after Fust released their album Big Ugly. 

Photographer Michael Snyder Documents Allegheny Mountain Home

Michael Snyder is a photographer and filmmaker who grew up in the Allegheny mountains on the border of Maryland and West Virginia. His work has been featured in National Geographic, The Guardian and The Washington Post. After living away from Appalachia for more than a decade, Snyder moved back to document what changed and what stayed the same. The result was the book Alleghania: A Central Appalachian Folklore Anthology.

Associate producer Abby Neff spoke with Snyder.

Hurricane Helene: One Year Later

It’s been more than a year since Hurricane Helene hit the mountains of Appalachia. The storm devastated parts of western North Carolina, East Tennessee and Southwestern Virginia. Communities are still rebuilding and recovering. Our partner station Radio IQ produced a documentary about how folks recovered and rebuilt after the storm. This is an excerpt from that special. Roxy Todd reported from southwestern Virginia.

Cicada Brood XIV In Appalachia

This past year saw another appearance by Appalachia’s noisiest critters: cicadas. Across parts of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, Brood XIV emerged in late spring and early summer. Although some folks are annoyed by cicadas, others find profound meaning. Louisville Public Media’s Justin Hicks reported.

A Trip To Hillbilly Hotdogs

Hillbilly Hotdogs in Lesage, West Virginia is a local institution and a bona fide tourist attraction that sees visitors from all over the world. In 2024, the hotdog stand’s signature menu item, “The Homewrecker,” suddenly became unavailable. This summer, producer Bill Lynch paid a visit to Hillbilly Hotdogs to hear about the return of the homewrecker and take the homewrecker challenge.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Fust, Jeff Ellis, Paul Loomis, Frank George 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.

You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

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Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.