In August 1925, two years before the famed Bristol Sessions, Ralph Peer and Okeh Records set up a temporary studio on the rooftop of Asheville’s brand-new Vanderbilt Hotel. Over ten
Today we tell the story of Fiddlin’ John Carson, a man who was not only an early pioneer of country music but also a master storyteller with a controversial past.
On New Years Eve, 1952, the South was being pounded by a winter ice storm that caused the cancellation of flights all over the region. Hank Williams had a show
A mountain farmer and schoolteacher from the North Carolina town of Magnetic City (now Buladean) got so tired of shaving that he tossed his straight razor in the garbage and
Every now and then there appears a man or woman with a sense of the true importance of the culture of Appalachia. Bascom Lamar Lunsford was one of those people.
Near Market Square in downtown Knoxville is Strong Alley. There you’ll find artwork painted on the building walls by local East Tennessee artists. The most notable work there is a
From its beginnings in a former church, the Barter Theater has become the premiere theatrical destination in Appalachia, starting the careers of many a Broadway and Hollywood actor. Today we
Back in the 1940s Roy Acuff was at the top of his game. He was a country music star with such hits as “The Great Speckled Bird” and “The Wabash