Mason Adams
Inside Appalachia Co-Host and Folkways ReporterMason Adams grew up near the Virginia/West Virginia border in Clifton Forge, Virginia. He earned a degree in wildlife biology from the University of Rhode Island, but after a couple of years of working out west, he became a journalist and moved back to Appalachia in 2001. Since then, he’s covered mountain communities and the issues affecting them. Mason wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, 100 Days in Appalachia, Mother Jones, Huffington Post and elsewhere. Mason likes Appalachian history, zines, roller derby, punk rock, metal, hip hop, bluegrass and classic country music. He lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia. Follow him on Twitter @MasonAtoms.
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Over Memorial Day weekend, airports across the country reported the highest numbers of people flying in more than a year. As more of us are dreaming once again of flight, we thought this would be a good time to listen back to an episode of Inside Appalachia that originally aired last summer. We’ll hear stories about flight: legendary aviators, fighter pilots, and a plane ride that didn’t quite go as planned. -
Our Inside Appalachia team recently won several awards for our reporting. This week, we’re listening back to some of these stories, including one about the John Denver classic, “Take Me Home Country Roads,” which was first recorded 50 years ago in 1971. And we’ll learn how indie pro-wrestling in Southern West Virginia was able to keep going through the pandemic — with drive-in shows. We’ll also hear about two Welsh storytellers and their fascination with Appalachia.
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This week we're revisiting an episode of Inside Appalachia that features children's authors in and from our region. And while these stories were written for children, like many children's stories, these stories have messages for all of us, including grown-ups.
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Many oil and gas workers come into contact with a fracking byproduct called brine. The gas industry says it’s safe. But is it really? This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll talk with reporter Justin Nobel, who says some workers are being exposed to dangerous levels of radioactivity, which could be making them, and their families, sick. And, as we head into garden season, we’ll check in with an update on a mystery about mortgage-lifter tomatoes.
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In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we’ll talk with West Virginia native, Anna Sale. And we’ll hear from teenagers in Charleston who lost their friend to gun violence. We’ll hear the history behind Mother’s Day, and we’ll go on a nature hike with biologists who are restoring wetlands for frogs and salamanders.
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Lots of rural communities in Appalachia also have unsafe drinking water. This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll hear from people in Appalachia who are trying to bring clean drinking water to their friends and neighbors. President Joe Biden’s “American Jobs Plan” includes billions of dollars that would go to fixing water systems, but will it be enough to fix the underlying issues? And will it make a difference in the lives of the poorest, most vulnerable people?
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We have a packed episode of Inside Appalachia this week, stuffed with stories of family strife and struggle, revolutionary artists fighting against stereotypes, legendary lawbreakers, matriarchal moonshiners and the badmen of one of Appalachia’s biggest battles — the Baldwin-Felts detectives.
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This week on Inside Appalachia, we talk with folks who are planting seeds of change — literally and figuratively. While many are finding joy through their gardens and food work, there are some people in Appalachia who are going through some of the most challenging times of their lives.
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The pandemic has reshaped our world in many ways. Can you remember what life was like before you wore a mask to the grocery store? This has been a historic year for so many people, and we wanted to mark the moment. Let’s be clear, the pandemic isn’t over yet. But it’s good to think back on how far we’ve come. In this week’s episode of Inside Appalachia, we check back in with some of the people we've had on our show over the past year, and hear how they're doing now.
