Inside Appalachia

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.

On this West Virginia Morning, many family traditions are passed down from generation to generation throughout the Appalachian region, but there is a unique story of a particular tomato plant cultivated in West Virginia. Also, we have a story about Gayle Manchin who is the first West Virginian to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

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.

The nearly forgotten Estler Mortgage Lifter is available again to the public, thanks to a passionate family member.

On this West Virginia Morning, poetry often tells stories of truths about our lives and personal struggles, and poets in Appalachia are no stranger to those stories. We speak with Kentucky’s new poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson, who is the first Black woman to have this title in Kentucky.

On this West Virginia Morning, there are master crafters of all stripes from music to poetry to wood working. But have you ever heard of a master crafter of ‘pull candy?’ We meet one. Also, we chat with some young people who are contemplating whether to stay or leave West Virginia, and we have the latest on the governor’s executive order ending the statewide COVID-19 mask mandate for fully vaccinated West Virginians.

A McDowell County food pantry is teaming up with a non-profit called Dig Deep in order to bring residents clean drinking water.

In this era, kids spend so much time looking at screens. This week on Inside Appalachia, we’ll meet a storyteller and songwriter who inspires kids to get outside and explore nature. And we visit a former strip mine where Elk are being reintroduced. This episode explores stories about humans and nature, and what experiencing the outdoors means to different people.

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?

The process of making Kentucky pull candy is long and difficult, but the payoff is worth it. The candy is buttery and melt-in-your-mouth. Folkways reporter Zack Harold caught up with a man who's a confectionary master to see how it's made.