Inside Appalachia
by West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Latest episode
Encore: The Underground Railroad And Fly Around Festival, Inside…
Encore: The Underground Railroad And Fly Around Festival, Inside…
About this podcast
Inside Appalachia tells the stories of our people, and how they live today. The show is an audio tour of our rich history, food, music and culture.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 329 episodes
- Encore: The Underground Railroad And Fly Around Festival, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24Before emancipation, Appalachia provided pathways to freedom for enslaved people trying to escape bondage. A new project identifies more than two dozen previously unknown…
- Handmade Music School And American Chestnut Trees, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24A new generation is learning the story behind "Brown Hill," a song by influential bluegrass band The Lost and Found. Also, data centers are changing the landscape, and one…
- Data Centers, Inside Appalachia · 54 minThis week, data centers are rapidly expanding into rural parts of Appalachia, and folks say they are having trouble finding information about these projects. Also, artificial…
- Silas House And Making A State Park, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 24This week, author Silas House returns with a sweeping new novel. Also, some folks say, you have to fake it 'til you make it, even if you're trying to establish a state park…
- Encore: Ohio's Ancient Earthworks And Ballad Singing After Hurricane Helene, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24This week, ballads tell stories about all kinds of real-life events, but after Hurricane Helene, one group of ballad singers felt some topics were still too raw. Also, the…
- Barbara Kingsolver, Kudzu Warriors And Pawpaws, Inside Appalachia · 52 min · Season 24This week, Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel takes on issues of class and classical music. Also, kudzu warriors band together to fend off invasive plants and take back the land…
- Ballroom Culture And Hometown Papers Covering The Notable, Inside Appalachia · 52 min · Season 24Ballroom culture offers LBGTQ folks a chance to be as fabulous as they want to be. Also, the national media reports on the deaths of notable people, but small, hometown papers…
- Hockey And W.Va. Hip Hop, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24This week, it’s not easy to find a place to play hockey in Appalachia, and if you happen to be young and ambitious, it can be harder. Also, rappers and musicians across West…
- Encore: The Love Of Competition, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 24One thing about Appalachians, we can get competitive. We’re proud of our local food. Love a good hunt. And enjoy competition with friends. We learn the rules and celebrate our…
- Encore: Torn All To Pieces And Marina Waters, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24Encore: Torn All To Pieces And Marina Waters, Inside Appalachia
- Remembering Dolly Parton, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 24This week, we remember the one and only Dolly Parton. Dolly was more than a musician or a celebrity. She used her musical success to help others. She started the Imagination…
- Dolly Parton, The Adaptive Climbing Festival And Appalachian Plants, Inside Appalachia · 54 minThis week, we reflect on Dolly Parton’s passing and her legacy in the region. Also, the Adaptive Climbers Festival at Kentucky’s Red River Gorge feels like home for climbers…
- Black Lung And Beasts Of The East, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24This week, a new report finds the number of black lung cases is at its highest since the 1970s. The human cost is high. Also, the author of a new book says reintroducing nearly…
- Shinto Garden In Southwest Virginia And A Healing Mosaic In Kentucky, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 24This week, a Japanese Shinto garden took root in Southwestern Virginia because of family connections spanning geography and generations. Also, in Whitesburg, Kentucky a new…
- Encore: John Rose And The Snuffy Smith Comic Strip, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 24This week, having a very specific talent can lead to a dream job. It’s how cartoonist John Rose got his foot in the door to draw the comic strip Snuffy Smith. Also, there are…
- All That's Unseen, Inside Appalachia · 52 min · Season 23This week, a new memoir explores the struggle to stay in Appalachia –and the struggle to leave. Also, an exhibit in Kings Mountain, North Carolina documents the contributions of…
- Appalachian Comics Project And Open Door Cafe, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, after a disaster, can comics help set the record straight? Also, sifting through Hurricane Helene’s debris, one group tries to reunite keepsakes with their owners…
- Summer Vacation, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 23This week, we’re traveling to summer attractions across Appalachia. Like a bus that sits on a rock at the West Virginia confluence of the New and Gauley rivers. Also, one…
- Underground Railroad And Fly Around Festival, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, before emancipation, Appalachia provided pathways to freedom for enslaved people trying to escape bondage. A new project identifies more than two dozen previously…
- Encore: Oscar Micheaux, Kathleen Driskell And Soul Food, Inside Appalachia · 54 minThis week, in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux was an entrepreneur filmmaker in western Virginia. He became a world-renowned director and producer. Also, Kentucky’s poet laureate lives…
- Kudzu, Farmstands And Bristol's ‘Black Bottom’ Community, Inside Appalachia · 54 minThis week, some folks are working to preserve the memory of Bristol, Virginia’s Black Bottom, a largely African American community wiped out by urban renewal. Also, small food…
- Ohio's Ancient Earthworks And Ballad Singing After Hurricane Helene, Inside Appalachia · 54 minThis week, ballads tell stories about all kinds of real-life events, but after Hurricane Helene, one group of ballad singers felt some topics were still too raw. Also, the…
- Storytellers, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, we’re revisiting a show featuring storytellers out loud in front of audiences. Folks like five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Contest, Bil Lepp. Also…
- Encore: Printmaking Inspired By Appalachian Stories, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, some of the stories on our show inspired college student art — including a vivid image of a bear smashing a clarinet. Also, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia…
- Appalachian Monster Game And Nelsonville Music Festival, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, a new roleplaying game gives folks in the workplace a chance to be a mythical Appalachian monster. Southeast Ohio’s Nelsonville Music Festival celebrates its 20th…
- Recovery After Hurricane Helene, Inside Appalachia · 52 min · Season 23This week, Hurricane Helene devastated central Appalachia and disrupted the lives of people in recovery. In West Virginia, fur trapping continues, even in the 21st Century. And…
- Dungeon Fest And Kentucky's Grand March, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, Appalachian Dungeon Fest spotlights the fantastical music of dungeon synth. Also, every year, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival stages a formal dance. Organizers…
- Encore: Crisis Response Teams And Essays On Nature, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week — too often, people with mental health challenges or substance use disorder wind up in jail. But crisis response teams offer another way. Also, changes to the…
- Mills Kelly, Coalfield Depopulation And Cuz's Uptown Barbeque, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, historian Mills Kelly’s love affair with the Appalachian trail started when he was a boy scout. He was 12. Also, central Appalachia is known for exporting coal, but…
- Willie Carver Jr. And Marina Waters, Inside Appalachia · 52 min · Season 23This week, in author Willie Carver Jr.'s new book, he reconsiders a negative childhood experience with a neighborhood girl who might have just been looking for a friend. Also, a…
- Coal's Cost On Energy Prices, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, coal power can be expensive. Utilities run coal-fired power plants harder in the winter and summer when demand is high. Also, two films made in West Virginia shot to…
- Encore: Our Common Nature, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23Our Common Nature is a podcast from WNYC. It features cellist Yo-Yo Ma and producer Ana Gonzalez, as they explore America and talk to folks like West Virginia coal miners. This…
- John Rose And The Snuffy Smith Comic Strip, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, having a very specific talent can lead to a dream job. It’s how cartoonist John Rose got his foot in the door to draw the comic strip Snuffy Smith. Also, there are…
- Don Martin And Maddie McGarvey, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, a new book for young adults. Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire mixes historical fact with spooky Appalachian folklore. Also, over 15 years, a photojournalist…
- Diving Into Spring, Inside Appalachia · 34 min · Season 23We meet the woman behind the popular TikTok account “Appalachian Forager.” She makes jam from pawpaw and jewelry from coyote teeth. Also, we sit in on a master class in foraging…
- Encore: The Secret Astronomers And Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23A new novel about two girls and an astronomy textbook draws inspiration from one of the quietest places in West Virginia. Also, author Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle talks about…
- Good Hot Fish, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23When an award-winning Asheville chef decided to launch a restaurant, she returned to a rich community tradition. Also, the popularity of weaving waxes and wanes. At the moment…
- Oscar Micheaux, Kathleen Driskell And Soul Food, Inside Appalachia · 51 min · Season 23This week, in the 1920s, Oscar Micheaux was an entrepreneur filmmaker in western Virginia. He became a world-renowned director and producer. Also, Kentucky’s poet laureate lives…
- Osage, Connie Jordan Green And Ice Climbing, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, during the Great Depression, Osage, West Virginia was a raucous river town. It’s sleepier now, but music is keeping the magic alive. Also, a poet remembers growing up…
- Encore: Amythyst Kiah, Black Hair Salons And Poetry, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, east Tennessee’s Amythyst Kiah. Her latest album contemplates the cosmos. Also, hair salons are important gathering places where Black women can find community. And…
- Printmaking Inspired By Appalachian Stories, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 23This week, some of the stories on our show inspired college student art — including a vivid image of a bear smashing a clarinet. Also, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia…
- A Secret City In East Tennessee, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, we take a look at how the U.S. government built a secret city in East Tennessee during World War II to work on the atomic bomb. Also, almost everybody has a favorite…
- MVP Noise, Appalachian Flooding And Temperature Blankets, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week, people continue to resist the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Some folks have complained to the company about noise from compressor stations. Also, why is Appalachia so…
- Encore: What Is Appalachia? We Asked People From Around The Region. Here's What They Said · 54 min · Season 23What is Appalachia? We’re giving our entire Inside Appalachia episode over to this question this week, with stories from Mississippi to Pittsburgh. Appalachia connects…
- Crisis Response Teams And Essays On Nature, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 23This week — too often, people with mental health challenges or substance use disorder wind up in jail. But crisis response teams offer another way. Also, changes to the…
- A Look Back At 2025, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 22This week, a look back at 2025. We met some fascinating people, like Aaron Dowdy of country rock band Fust. Alos, central Appalachia continued to recover from Hurricane Helene…
- Encore: Holiday Traditions, Inside Appalachia · 53 min · Season 22This week, Inside Appalachia dives into the holidays. We go a-wassailing in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s kind of like Christmas caroling, with a kick. Also, family recipes…
- Patrick County Urgent Care And Finnamon Buns, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 22This week, when you’re the only doctor in a rural mountain county, you’ve got to think ahead to keep your practice going. Also, a West Virginia baker draws on her Finnish…
- Lou Turner And Little Jimmy Dickens, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 22This week, a poet and musician draws inspiration from a distant family connection to the Grand Ole Opry’s Little Jimmy Dickens. Also, for 15 years, a Virginia library has been…
- Encore: The Love Of Competition, Inside Appalachia · 54 min · Season 22This week, one thing about Appalachians: we can get competitive. We’re proud of our local food. Love a good hunt. And enjoy competition with friends. We learn the rules and…
