Appalachia

On this West Virginia Morning, the Monongalia County Quick Response Team was launched in 2019 as a collaboration among public health, first responders, and other health care and private partners. As Chris Schulz reports, robust community responses efforts like these have been built to tackle the state’s opioid epidemic head on.

On this West Virginia Morning, we talk with two authors about their new books. One, from folklorist Emily Hilliard, explores visionary folklore and everyday culture in Appalachia. The second book, from West Virginia University’s James Van Nostrand looks at West Virginia’s reluctance to let go of coal.

On this West Virginia Morning, a new book called “Y’all Means All: Emerging Voices Queering Appalachia” is challenging the stereotypes and marginalization faced by LGBTQ Appalachians. It shows how the public perception is changing. Mason Adams has the story.

On this West Virginia Morning, throughout the 20th century, people left Appalachia in search of jobs and opportunities. Some Appalachians came to a part of Atlanta, Georgia for work, bringing with them their mountain culture. Jess Maydor has this story about Cabbagetown.

On this West Virginia Morning, snake handling churches play a style of Appalachian music few know much about. That music is the subject of a new podcast called “Alabama Astronaut.” Folkways Reporter Zack Harold recently spoke with co-host Abe Partridge about how a project intended to document this music ended up being about a whole lot more.

This week on Inside Appalachia, we talk to podcaster Abe Partridge about a uniquely Appalachian art — the religious music heard in snake handling churches. We also travel to southern West Virginia and talk real estate. The Itmann Coal Company Store building is up for sale, and the owner’s looking for a buyer who appreciates its history. And, it’s hunting season. We visit with women who tan deer hides — using animal brains.

This week on Inside Appalachia, we travel to Cabbagetown, an Atlanta neighborhood that was home to Appalachian workers who migrated there for textile jobs. We also tag along with Coal, a dog with a big job in a southern West Virginia elementary school. And just in time for the spooky season, we hear about Mountain Cove, a community of spiritualists who came to western Virginia in 1850.

Coal production rose in Appalachia in 2021, according to federal data, but employment declined.

Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter whose frank songs about life and love as a woman in Appalachia pulled her out of poverty and made her a pillar of country music, has died. She was 90.

On this West Virginia Morning, we learn about the slow, northerly migration of the armadillo to Appalachia, which is now being spotted in the mountains of western Virginia. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams spoke with Seth Thompson, a biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, who took the first reports on the arrival of armadillos.