What possible connection could world-renowned, Russian-born pianist, composer, and performer Sergei Rachmaninoff have with Appalachia? Well, a concert, of course. But not just any concert—his last concert. Earlier this year, the UT Symphony Orchestra commemorated the 80th anniversary of that performance with a concert. Rachmaninoff was a fascinating individual andContinue Reading
Arts and artists throughout Appalachia have a strong connection to the land. That connection is expressed in diverse ways, sometimes overt and intentional, and other times more subtle, like an undercurrent. The music of Appalachia, especially Southern Appalachia, is no different. Usually, when one thinks of “Appalachian music” the mindContinue Reading
I’ve been friends with Ed McDaniel (aka Captain Ed) for over ten years. We met working in Facilities Services at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. We are union members of United Campus Workers (UCW), which we both were privileged to serve as Local President. We’ve spent a fair amount ofContinue Reading
**Featured Image: Barbara Allen’s Cruelty by H. M. Brock (Cropped) My maternal great-grandmother, Cora (McNeely) Goins, lived a good deal of her adult life in a coal camp, just down the road from Kentucky, in Westbourne, Tennessee. As the coal boom slowed and the company’s profits waned, the coal baronsContinue Reading
A person cannot live in Appalachia or the South without experiencing “hillbilly music,” replaced in 1949 as “country music.” The familiar sonority, accompanied by a melodic, twangy dialect, echoes and reverberates across hills and hollers, flat lands and swamps. It surrounds just about every facet of the region and canContinue Reading