Wvpb Podcasts

This week, we usher in the season of lights with our holiday show from 2022. James Beard-nominated West Virginia chefs Mike Costello and Amy Dawson serve up special dishes with stories behind them. We visit an old-fashioned toy shop whose future was uncertain after its owners died – but there’s a twist. We also share a few memories of Christmas pas…

This episode was recorded on October 15th, 2023 at the WVU Canady Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV. The lineup includes Vince Herman Band, Roy Book Binder, Teddy Thompson & Jenni Muldaur, Kat Wright, and Larry & Joe. https://bit.ly/46I8v8sBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, we pick up a little light reading at the Johnson City Zine Fest. And… Grab your dancing shoes and learn about a movement to make square dance calling more inclusive. Also, the perils of playing the spoons. You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia. In This Episode: Making Square Dancing More Inclusive A Visit To Zin…

This episode was recorded on October 1st, 2023 at the Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg, VA. The lineup includes Hot Tuna, Mick Flannery, Viv & Riley, William Lee Ellis, and Kaia Kater. https://bit.ly/3GapGo7By West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Our confidence is eroding. Polls and surveys report we’ve lost trust in one another and in some of our most essential institutions. As a followup to September’s event at WVU on trust in the media, Us & Them host Trey Kay has a new conversation focused on our trust in science. The COVID pandemic presented examples of our differing confidence in scie…

This week, Karly Hartzman of Asheville indie rock band Wednesday, talks about songwriting, place and spending a lot of time with a band on tour. We also meet Emily Jones Hudson, who started a workshop to try and reinvigorate quilting in her community in Kentucky. Also, we check in with the Alabama Astronaut and learn about a uniquely Appalachian fo…

This episode was recorded on September 24rd, 2023 at the Franklin Theatre in Franklin, TN. The lineup includes Jason Isbell, Hailey Whitters, The Band of Heathens, Tracy Nelson, and Adeem the Artist.By West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, we head to the woods and take a master class in foraging for wild mushrooms. We also break bread and talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece, Brooklynn. And we’ll hear about old-time music legend Aunt Jeannie Wilson. A marker has been set near the place where people used to hear he…

In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay invites his dinner party guests to gather once again for some fresh conversation across the divide. Kay’s friends, old and new, all share a favorite dish at the potluck meal while offering honest and sometimes raw accounts of how the social and political issues of the day affect them. Kay guides the conve…

This episode was recorded on September 23rd, 2023 at the Franklin Theatre in Franklin, TN. The lineup includes Steve Earle, Elizabeth Cook, Sam Bush, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and Chris Pierce. https://bit.ly/3SwfnlUBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, we’re airing an encore episode of Inside Appalachia. We'll meet a man who makes wooden turkey calls, but these aren’t just any turkey calls. Painter Brian Aliff doesn’t call himself an artist, but he intricately paints his turkey calls, which are now collectors’ items. We'll also meet people who make wooden paddles by hand and custom-dec…

This episode was recorded on August 27th, 2023 at the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center in Clarksburg, WV. The lineup includes Tony Trischka’s EarlJam, Jerry Douglas, Jason Carter and Friends, The Watson Twins, and Davisson Brothers Band. https://bit.ly/46Zn3l2By West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Submitted for your approval, we have a selection of spooky tales for Halloween and beyond. We have scary stories read by acclaimed sci-fi and horror authors, tales of the supernatural, and we might know someone who says they’ve seen a ghost. All this and more this week, Inside Appalachia. In This Episode: Mike Allen And “The Button Bin” Molly Born …

Trust is in short supply in America as social and political divides continue to erode our faith in our democratic republic. National surveys and polls show that people distrust each other as well as our government and institutions. Us & Them host Trey Kay recently partnered with West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media for a conversation fo…

This episode was recorded on August 6th, 2023 at the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park, California. The lineup includes Booker T. Jones, Chris Smither, Karla Bonoff, Steve Poltz, and Amber Rubarth. https://bit.ly/3MfEMvQBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Can the internet rebuild Appalachia? We ask sci-fi novelist and tech writer Cory Doctorow. Also, fish fries have been a staple in Charleston, West Virginia’s Black community for generations. We learn more about them. And, hop on board the Cass Scenic Railroad for a visit with the people who keep the steam trains running. You’ll hear these stories a…

This episode was recorded on June 25th, 2023 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes John Pizzarelli, Maria Muldaur, Jennifer Hartswick Band, Melissa Carper, and Gabriel Royal. https://bit.ly/3QlGfDBBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, Rae Garringer felt isolated growing up and thought they were the only queer person in a small town. But they learned otherwise. Now they are collecting and sharing the stories of rural LGBTQ people from across the country. Also, surface mining changes the landscape in a way that makes flooding worse. And there’s no easy fix. And we meet …

This episode was recorded on June 18th, 2023 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Donna the Buffalo, Alisa Amador, David Jacobs-Strain & Bob Beach, Jon Byrd, and David Childers & The Serpents. https://bit.ly/45nWQuBBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Many Americans are getting good at ignoring friends and relatives who disagree with them. Roughly four in ten registered voters say they don’t have a close friend who supports the opposing party’s candidate according to a Pew Research study. Think how often you’re tempted to unfriend someone on social media. However, some lifelong friendships seem …

Updated on Oct. 10, 2023 at 11:30 a.m. Black lung disease is back. In fact, it never went away. Now, younger and younger miners are living with a particularly nasty form of black lung disease. Regulators and the coal industry have known about the problem for decades — but they’ve been slow to respond. One reporter asks, “What would happen if thousa…

This episode was recorded on May 14th, 2023 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Drive-By Truckers, Charles Wesley Godwin, Eilen Jewell, Jake Blount & Nic Gareiss, and Tomberlin. https://bit.ly/3ZEQqpGBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, a Pittsburgh artist channels the Steel City’s mythology and struggles — into tarot cards. Western North Carolina author Ron Rash shares his thoughts on writing about Appalachians. And we hear about efforts in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to return a young bald eagle to the wild. These stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia. In Thi…

Overcrowding and understaffing have pushed West Virginia’s prisons and jails to what many believe is a crisis point. On this episode of Us & Them, we hear what incarceration is like for someone in a mental health crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people with mental illnesses are caught up in a criminal justice system that was never intended to treat…

This episode was recorded on May 7th, 2023 at Peoples Bank Theatre in Marietta, Ohio. The lineup includes Amy Ray Band, The Lone Bellow, Alison Brown, Tony Furtado, and Villages. https://bit.ly/3rvL9UYBy West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Appalachians are often called mountaineers — but are they also "pioneers?" A new documentary reckons with what it means… to be a pioneer. In Michigan, an Appalachian mountain man competes in a championship tournament for skipping stones — and we wade into a mountain wetland to search for one of the region’s most elusive creatures. You’ll hear these…

This episode was recorded on April 30th, 2023 at the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio. The lineup includes Wilco, Guy Davis, Peter Case, and Garrison Starr. bit.ly/3RsxB78By West Virginia Public Broadcasting

This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust Belt and even the Northeast. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) defined the boundaries for Appalachia in 1965 with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a part of Lyndon B.…

In the aftermath of a disaster, people search for assistance and answers. Since a rural Ohio train derailment sent toxic material into the air, soil and water earlier this year, people in East Palestine have needed help. Some look to the government for that support, while others aren’t sure who to trust. In this episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay …

We touch on the songs of Bob Dylan with performances by The Band, Chris Smither, Jimmy LaFave, and The Derek Trucks Band. The songs of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter are done by Joan Osborne, Catherine Russell, and Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams. Brandi Carlile does Leonard Cohen and Mary Black covers Joni Mitchell. You'll also hear various inter…

This week, Rev. George Mills Dickerson of Tazewell, Virginia was born in the years after slavery ended. He’s remembered today through his poetry. And a new wave of black lung disease is ravaging Appalachia. We’ll hear more from a black lung town hall in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Coal miners have their own thoughts about black lung, too. You’ll hear the…

This week, a Virginia Tech researcher challenges deeply held ideas about the purity of natural springs. Also, we meet the folks behind Angelo's Old World Italian Sausage. They still use a family recipe that’s been handed down from generation to generation for over a century. Customers love it. You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Ap…

This week, Inside Appalachia drops by Flat Five Studio in Salem, Virginia. It had a reputation for recording bluegrass bands, but caught a big break in the early 1990s when the Dave Matthews Band needed a quiet place to record its debut album. We also learn a little about primordial forests. A patch of woods in the New River Gorge National Park and…

At least 20 states have laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on girls and womens sports teams. On the next episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at the battle over gender and sports. Kay talks with transgender athletes who say they want to be who they truly are as they compete on the playing field. We hear from a state lawmak…

Appalachians love to compete. Whether it’s recreational league softball, a turkey calling contest or workplace chili cookoffs, Mountain folks are in it to win it. But there’s more to competing than just winning or losing. In this show, we’ll meet competitors who are also keepers of beloved Appalachian traditions. In This Episode: Musgrave Reports F…