The Talking Appalachian Podcast
Talking Appalachian is a podcast about the Appalachian Mountain region's language or "voiceplaces," cultures, and communities. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Amy Clark, a Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. The podcast is based on her 2013 co-edited book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community. Her writing on Appalachia has appeared in the New York Times, Oxford American Magazine, Salon.com, on NPR, and Harvard University Press blog. She is also founder and director of the Appalachian Writing Project, which serves teachers, students, and the communities of the central Appalachian region.
Episodes
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Renowned author of 19 books and former NASA engineer Homer Hickam sits down with me and a few students at UVA's College at Wise to talk about his journey from the coalfields of West Virginia to becoming a celebrated author and esteemed engineer. In this episode, Hickam shares his experiences writing Rocket Boys and other books, the inspiration to write both fiction and nonfiction, and his mos...
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*From the Season 1 Archive*
"Molassey," as that smoky, syrupy mixture is known in central Appalachia, is a dying tradition. Appalachians call the process of making molasses a 'stir-off,' and everybody in the community would come by to help or sit around the boiling pan and talk.
The word 'molasses' becomes 'lasses' or 'molassey' in the local dialect,...
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Jeff Biggers is the author of The United States of Appalachia, In Sardina, Trials of a Scourge, and many more. You've heard me discuss his work on the podcast, particularly in New England, where we visited the grave of Washington Irving, who first proposed that the country's name be changed from "America" to "Appalachia." Biggers' book, published 20 years ago, is...
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What does it mean to “tell the bees”? In this episode, we explore a centuries-old European custom carried into Appalachia by Scots-Irish, English, Welsh, and German settlers. Families once whispered news of births, marriages, and deaths to their hives, sometimes draping them in black cloth or feeding them bits of funeral cake.
Through oral histories and folklore, we trace how "telling the bees...
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If you're following Appalachian digital creators on social media, you've probably come across Appalachian_Bluebird, a vlog created by Southwest Virginia's Brittany Breeding. Inspired by her grandparents and upbringing in Meadowview, Virginia, Brittany shares what she learned from them, including features of her Appalachian dialect, folklore, the histories of old homes in the region,...
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*This is an edited repost of an August 29, 2024 episode*
The word “redneck” might have different connotations today, but its roots tell a very different story. In this episode, we trace the surprising history of the word, from its early association with solidarity among coal miners in the hills of Appalachia to its lasting mark on the American labor movement.
We journey to 1921 and the Battle of Bla...
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From mountain mists to coastal marshes, the American South is rich with stories that blur the line between weather, superstition, and the supernatural. In this episode, we explore the colorful world of Appalachian weather lore: old sayings and signs used to predict snow long before the weatherman came on the radio.
We’ll step onto haint blue porches in the Low Country, uncovering the Gullah-G...
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*This updated episode first aired on July 3, 2024*
Dog Days are upon us in Appalachia, stretching from July 3rd to August 11, but what does this 16th century phrase mean? Many of us in Appalachia have heard that dog days means avoiding swimming, touching bare feet to the morning dew, and taking care to avoid snakes. But why?
Joining me in this episode is Shallon Payne of The Appalachian Homestead. ...
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A coal miner's daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter from Eastern Kentucky, Tiffany Williams followed her dreams of singing and songwriting to Nashville. I knew her first as a writer and linguist, specializing in Appalachian dialects, a background that she continues to use in her work as a dialect coach for films set in the region. We'll talk about the intersections between he...
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*This episode originally aired August 1, 2024*
Barbara Kingsolver's novel just keeps on giving: this month she opened the Higher Ground Women's Recovery Residence in my home county of Lee (VA) because, as she says in this episode, what Demon needed most was his mother. In this episode, the eastern Kentucky native gives her last talk on her novel, Demon Copperhead on the campus of The Univ...
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The Ballad of Falling Rock is one of the best novels I've read this year, so I was fortunate to be able to interview its author, Jordan Dotson. Listen in as we talk about his inspiration for the novel (which began with a snow day and no electricity) and the family stories that helped form the historical context for the novel. From the real tuberculosis sanatorium in Roanoke to the churches of...
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This week, I'm collaborating with another podcaster, Kendra Winchester, from Appalachian Ohio. She hosts and produces the award-winning Read Appalachia podcast. Naturally, we're talking about books and authors, but also the way language shaped us, and how we grew into an understanding of what it means to be Appalachian.
Ivy Attic CoJewelry from coal, river glass, and discarded books h...
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Landon Bryant, author of Bless Your Heart: A Field Guide to All Things Southern and social media sensation @landontalks, launches Season 3 of the podcast. We'll talk about everything from hollers to waspers, Dolly and Loretta, cornbread and poke cakes, the overlap between deep South and Appalachian culture, literature and lore, and what being Southern means to us.
Ivy Attic CoJewelry from...
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Southern accents are in the news again (but they've really never left our hearts and minds). Maybe it was Parker Posey's White Lotus character from North Carolina, who stole hearts with her syrupy vowels that created the latest buzz. But the conversation always leads to: are Southern accents fading?
The short answer is, it's more complicated than a yes or no, but I'm tackling th...
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In this episode, we head back to May 2, 1929, when a deadly tornado tore through the small mountain community of Rye Cove, Virginia, claiming the lives of 12 schoolchildren and one teacher and leaving lasting scars on the region.
We explore:
- What happened that spring afternoon in Rye Cove and the impact on the community.
- How the tragedy inspired a haunting ballad by the Carter Family, written by ...
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Outlander fans will enjoy this episode, where we trace the winding trail of language from the misty Highlands of Scotland to the shaded hollers of Appalachia. Along the way, we unpack double modals like “might could,” trace the evolution of the word highlander and outlander, and reflect on how language becomes a legacy you carry in your mouth. Hear about the real-life Scottish festival held in Jul...
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Have you ever tried text to speech with your accent, only to find your message garbled? In this episode of The Talking Appalachian Podcast, we'll explore speech technology and how AI interacts (and doesn't) with the unique accents found across America, including those in Appalachia. We discuss the 30 most misunderstood American accents by AI, trace the timeline of how AI speech recogniti...
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Jeannette Walls is hailed as one of the world's most gifted storytellers, and she's been sharing her remarkable story of resilience and redemption with audience since her memoir, The Glass Castle, was published in 2005. The book chronicles her dysfunctional and nomadic upbringing, part of which took place in Welch, West Virginia. It was a NYT bestseller for over eight years. In 2017, the...
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In episode 50, we will talk about the word "Melungeon," its multiple meanings, and the history of a mysterious Appalachian people known as the "lost tribe" (who claim Elvis and Abraham Lincoln among their members.) Appalachian historian Dr. Brian McKnight joins me as we dive into a dark part of Virginia's history, the 1924 Racial Integrity Act and Walter Plecker's pol...
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Listen to find out what word people are replacing with the euphemism "dadgum." Then, author and Kentucky Poet Laureate Silas House reads from his essay "In My Own Country," about how his parents learned to defeat those who were making fun of their accents....one word at a time.
Listen to holocaust survivor Yvette Purdue's story of escaping the nazis to find refuge in the Ap...
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