Mountaineer Jamboree

Mountaineer

The Airwaves of Zion

Throughout central Appalachia, small AM radio stations send forth a steady flow of country western and gospel music, regional farm and industry news, local advertising and public service information, and a Sunday morning (and sometimes afternoon) fare of locally produced live religious broadcasts Many of these "airwaves of Zion" programs have become part of the established cultural base of this region, having maintained their audiences for decades. Nevertheless, this genre is in danger of extinction as various social and economic forces combine with changes in the broadcast industry that threaten to drive these programs off the air. For over twenty years, Howard Dorgan has been listening to "airwaves of Zion" programs in the Appalachian regions of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Avoiding editorial judgment and academic theorization, The Airwaves of Zion is Dorgan's first-person report on his own reactions to the people and events he encountered during his years of research. This ethnographic study provides an overview of radio evangelism in Appalachia by identifying its characteristics and origins and analyzing its present status Dorgan trains his scholar's eye on four case studies within the genre, capturing not only the unique character of each of the respective programs and stations but a sense of the larger religious environments within which each case resides. This book preserves an endangered segment of the Appalachian religious experience, rich in the cultural values and evangelical traditions that make this region unique.

Lonesome Melodies

Carter and Ralph Stanley—the Stanley Brothers—are comparable to Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs as important members of the earliest generation of bluegrass musicians. In this first biography of the brothers, author David W. Johnson documents that Carter (1925–1966) and Ralph (b. 1927) were equally important contributors to the tradition of old-time country music. Together from 1946 to 1966, the Stanley Brothers began their careers performing in the schoolhouses of southwestern Virginia and expanded their popularity to the concert halls of Europe. In order to re-create this post–World War II journey through the changing landscape of American music, the author interviewed Ralph Stanley, the family of Carter Stanley, former members of the Clinch Mountain Boys, and dozens of musicians and friends who knew the Stanley Brothers as musicians and men. The late Mike Seeger allowed Johnson to use his invaluable 1966 interviews with the brothers. Notable old-time country and bluegrass musicians such as George Shuffler, Lester Woodie, Larry Sparks, and the late Wade Mainer shared their recollections of Carter and Ralph. Lonesome Melodies begins and ends in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. Carter and Ralph were born there and had an early publicity photograph taken at the Cumberland Gap. In December 1966, pallbearers walked up Smith Ridge to bring Carter to his final resting place. In the intervening years, the brothers performed thousands of in-person and radio shows, recorded hundreds of songs and tunes for half a dozen record labels and tried to keep pace with changing times while remaining true to the spirit of old-time country music. As a result of their accomplishments, they have become a standard of musical authenticity.