Folk Music

If you’ve listened to Inside Appalachia, there’s a good chance you’ve heard LaPrelle’s music before, as one half of Anna & Elizabeth. That would be LaPrelle, who grew up in Rural Retreat, Virginia, and Anna Roberts Gevalt, who is now based in Brooklyn. Inside Appalachia co-host Mason Adams spoke with LaPrelle to learn more, beginning with LaPrelle’s roots as a ballad singer who took up the tradition of regional legends like Texas Gladden.

On this West Virginia Morning, we get an update on infrastructure proposals in Congress. Then, a story from 100 Days In Appalachia explores a new, cross-continental connection between Slavic and Appalachian folk musicians. Grammy and MacArthur award winner Rhiannon Giddens plays "Black is the Color," from her album Tomorrow Is My Turn, as our Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

This week's episode of Inside Appalachia is a mix of rich storytelling and cross-cultural collaborations. What happens when a musician from Belarus gets together with Appalachian folk musicians? And we’ll talk with Affrilachian writer Crystal Wilkinson, who has just been named Kentucky’s Poet Laureate.

Belarusian musician and activist Siarhei Douhushau was in Chicago in March of 2019 on a U.S. tour presenting folk art and music from his eastern European home. Among the Madness, Someone Yelled, "Slavalachia!" That evening, the namesake was born as both an Appalachian-Slavic folk ensemble and a cross-cultural folk alliance.

This week’s episode of Inside Appalachia is about fierce women — something we have no shortage of here in Appalachia.We’ll hear about the folk music collaboration between Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn. Their new album combines the tones of Appalachia with the melodies of China. We’ll also hear a story about the first transgender person elected to political office in West Virginia, and a 90-year-old newspaper publisher who is still hard at work each week.

On this West Virginia Morning, we visit some shared musical ground between China and Appalachia. Also, in this show, we hear about a report to help Ohio Valley communities address climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, and we bring you this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week brought to you by Wilco.

Before the pandemic hit, our Inside Appalachia team was planning a reporting trip to Wales as part of our ongoing folkways project, as the country has a…

These days, kids are spending less time exploring the outdoors and more time in front of screens.A 2019 report by the independent non-profit Common Sense…

Music can entertain and inspire and serve as a way to share another person’s truth. This episode, Us & Them talks with two musicians, each with roots in…

This week on Inside Appalachia, we’re going on a road trip to meet people who are working in Appalachia to preserve American culture and traditions.We’ll…