This week, before emancipation, Appalachia provided pathways to freedom for enslaved people trying to escape bondage. A new project identifies more than two dozen previously unknown underground railroad sites. Also, the Fly Around Music & Arts Festival in North Carolina was inspired by the hard work that followed Hurricane Helene. And, a ballad about floods recorded a generation ago still provides solace for people today.
Encore: Our Common Nature With Yo-Yo Ma, Inside Appalachia
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing at the New River Gorge National Park in Fayetteville, West Virginia.Austin Mann/WNYC
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Our Common Nature is a new podcast from WNYC. It features cellist Yo-Yo Ma and producer Ana González, as they explore America and talk to folks like West Virginia coal miners.
We follow Yo-Yo and his team as they venture into Appalachia. And we talk with González about meeting people where they are.
You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Our Common Nature: The Smokies, Mammoth Cave And W.Va. Coal
Yo-Yo and West Virginian country/folk artist Kathy Mattea perform for retired miners at Nuttallburg, a historic coal-mining complex.
Photo Credit: Austin Mann/WNYC
We’re sharing a new podcast from our friends at WNYC. It’s called Our Common Nature. It features cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who you probably know best from his rendition of Bach’s Cello Suite Number One in G Major.
In the podcast, Ma teams up with producer Ana González. They travel around the country, meeting people and hearing their stories and music. They visit parts of Appalachia, including West Virginia and the Smokies. We’re excited to share an excerpt from their travels.
Also, host Mason Adams speaks with González about what she and Ma had in mind for these trips — and what they learned along the way.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Yo-Yo Ma and Blue Dot Sessions.
Special thanks this week to WNYC for sharing their podcast with us.
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.
On this West Virginia Week, the board of education is in charge of rulemaking for schools according to a ruling from the Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Sen. Jim Justice is admonished and a rule to weaken silica limits in mines is proposed.
This week, before emancipation, Appalachia provided pathways to freedom for enslaved people trying to escape bondage. A new project identifies more than two dozen previously unknown underground railroad sites. Also, the Fly Around Music & Arts Festival in North Carolina was inspired by the hard work that followed Hurricane Helene. And, a ballad about floods recorded a generation ago still provides solace for people today.
On this West Virginia Morning, a Marshall University historian discusses documenting previously unknown underground railroad sites throughout the region.
Every week, more than two newspapers close in the United States, leaving whole communities without local coverage. On this encore Us & Them, Trey Kay visits West Virginia communities trying to hold onto local journalism — from the long-running Hurricane Breeze in Putnam County to The Real WV, a relatively new digital news outlet with roots in Greenbrier County. What happens to a place when the news that helps a community see itself begins to disappear?
