Daniel Johnston recorded songs in his parents' basement in rural West Virginia that would eventually inspire artists such as Kurt Cobain, Beck, Wilco, and Sonic Youth. In this award-winning episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay explores the life, art, and enduring legacy of the late singer-songwriter and visual artist whose creative genius and struggles with bipolar disorder made him one of America's most influential outsider artists.
New Book Exposes ‘America’s Contempt’ For Marginalized Underclass
Sarah Jones is a senior writer at New York Magazine and author of Disposable: America’s Contempt for the Underclass.
Photo Credit: Anna Carson DeWitt
More than one million Americans have died from COVID-19. Some groups of folks died at much higher rates than others. And those deaths tended to follow lines of race, class, age and disability. In other words, conditions that were already making life harder for some people played out during the pandemic, too.
A colorful scene of athletes, climbing gear, wheelchairs and trekking poles are scattered at the base of a cliff. Everything has a golden glow from the light beaming through the fall foliage. Ropes of various colors hang in front of the wall waiting to be used.
Photo Credit: Katie Jo Myers/Adaptive Climbers Festival, 2023
The mountains of Appalachia are home to some killer rock climbing. And, in a lot of cases, its crags and cliffs are fairly easy to get to. That’s why some groups are choosing Appalachia as a climbing destination, a place to return to time and time again.
In 2023, Emily Chen-Newton reported this story about why climbing festivals are making a home in Appalachia.
West Virginians Pay For Rising Costs At Out-Of-State Coal Plants
OVEC’s Kyger Creek plant, on the right, sits next to the Ohio River in Gallia County, Ohio.
Photo Credit: Curtis Tate/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Electricity prices continue to rise and people aren’t happy about it. In West Virginia, Appalachian Power customers have been paying hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs. That money is going to buy power from two coal plants that aren’t even located in the state.
WVPB’s Curtis Tate has more.
Memes Carry On Appalachian Humor
Andi Marie Tillman depicts her character Papaw on FaceTime.
Photo courtesy of Andi Marie Tillman
Humor runs deep here in Appalachia. Even online, where memes about mountain life seem to go viral all the time.
Last fall, Folkways Reporter Madeline Miller brought us this story about two artists who’ve taken holler humor to the digital realm.
Compost Drop-Off At A Farmers Market
Laura Totin Codori, the founder and CEO of Worm Return, with her dog Ginger at the East End market, wants Pittsburgh to be a “city that composts.”
Photo Credit: Kathy Knauer/The Allegheny Front
Finally, apple cores, potato peels and other food waste are a big climate problem when they end up in landfills. Now, the city of Pittsburgh is giving residents a chance to save their food waste from becoming just trash. People can drop off food waste at city-run farmers markets, where it then becomes compost.
The Allegheny Front’s Isabell Kim visited the farmers market in the East Liberty neighborhood and brings us this report.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Gerry Milnes, John Inghram, Tim Bing, Paul Loomis 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 Clara Haizlett.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
Daniel Johnston recorded songs in his parents' basement in rural West Virginia that would eventually inspire artists such as Kurt Cobain, Beck, Wilco, and Sonic Youth. In this award-winning episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay explores the life, art, and enduring legacy of the late singer-songwriter and visual artist whose creative genius and struggles with bipolar disorder made him one of America's most influential outsider artists.
The late singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston grew up in West Virginia and came onto the indie music scene in the 1980s. Last year, Johnston was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame and he’s featured in the next episode of Us & Them. In this award-winning show, host Trey Kay learns about Johnston’s legacy which was partly shaped by his challenges with mental illness.
The Public Service Commission of West Virginia is currently conducting public comment hearings concerning developer NextEra Energy’s application to construct a new 107.5-mile-long transmission line from Pennsylvania through West Virginia to Virginia. WVPB spoke with NextEra about the project.
