Kathy “Sully” Roddy loves and deeply appreciates all music genres, but her passion is Americana, roots, country, and bluegrass. Born and raised in the Bay area of California in Palo Alto, Sully grew up in the Hootenanny era of music. “When I was eleven or twelve, an older sister brought home records by Judy Collins, Doc Watson, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Woody Guthrie, and Jim Kweskin. We listened to the records on my parents’ big wood stereo system.” Later, another sister discovered country music, and Sully began listening to Loretta Lynn and George Jones, as well as Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. “My parents were very musical. My dad had a beautiful voice, and he sang in church choirs. My grandfather was from Ireland, and he played the concertina.” Sully recalls her mother loving music and dancing to it around the house. The family has talented musical offspring as well. “My sister is the mother to my talented niece, Molly Tuttle.” After high school, Sully attended a local Foothill College, where she did a folk and bluegrass show on KFJC, the campus radio station. After college, she took a job at the Tiki Inn Motel. “They only had an AM radio, and the best station I could find was a country station. I really fell in love with country music. I thought that if young people could be introduced to country and bluegrass music, as well as roots music, the way FM music was presented, they would love it, too.” In 1975, Sully heard there was a progressive rock format station, KFAT, in Gilroy, an hour away. “They were country and roots music based. I drove there and convinced the program director to give me a shot. As it turns out, several of their on-air staff had walked out, and he was tired of doing a show, so he led me to the studio and told me to have at it.” Having never been in that studio, Sully did a two-hour show, not knowing that the program director was listening from a bar downstairs. “He hired me and gave me the graveyard shift. He hired more on-air staff, and we all loved music. If someone discovered a new kind of music, they would bring it in for everyone to hear. The format kept expanding until, sadly, the station was sold.” Sully moved to Oregon and worked for a station there that had a progressive rock format. The station sold in the early 1980s, so she moved back to California and worked at KFAT part-time while doing other jobs, including writing a Top 40 countdown show of popular music. “I stopped in a 7-11 for a soda on the way to my interview for that show and saw Sting on the cover of a Rolling Stone magazine. I didn’t know who Sting was, but I figured I needed to find out. People just assumed I knew all the top pop artists of the day, and I found that if I kept my mouth shut, they wouldn’t know otherwise.” Sully got to know Rob Bleetstein, whose first job out of college was at KHIP, a renegade country station that also played rock music. “Rob loved music, and he went to the music industry magazines about doing charts for the kind of music we were playing.” He coined the term ‘Americana’ and started the Americana music chart in 1995 in the Gavin Report, a radio trade publication. What Sully wanted was a show on KSAN, the Bay area’s largest country station. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t get in. “One day, I put a note inside a glass bottle along with a silk orchid and some seashells. I boxed it up and sent it to the program director. He loved that and called me in for an interview. I was eight months pregnant. He waited until I had my baby to put me on the air. That was in early 1989. I started doing a show called ‘All Kinds of Country.’” Her next stop was at an early internet station called Spinner.com in San Francisco. “I played all kinds of music, from bluegrass, Americana, country, rockabilly, to Southern Gospel. AOL bought it and called it Roots Music Radio. I was the director until it merged with Time Warner, and we were all out.” Not certain about the future of radio, Sully went back to school and got a teaching license in special education. She taught for a while, but Covid shut that down. But she is still very much in radio. “I am on KKUP, a non-commercial station, one time a month, and on Bluegrass Country out of Washington, DC, once a week. I also do a show called Bluegrass Signal on KALW-FM once a month. I do the shows from home on my own little studio setup. I will do one original show live; then the stations run it a few times a week.” Sully says she listens to all kinds of music but can’t do anything else when she is listening. “I can’t even listen to music when I drive. When Bela Fleck’s “My Bluegrass Heart” album came out, I almost wrecked the car listening to Slippery Eel.”

Amelia Brown: Bluegrass From Head to Toe From a very early age, Amelia Brown loved the experience of playing bluegrass music. At six years old, she picked up her first stringed instrument—the guitar. Today at age 14, she plays guitar, piano, dobro, and bass fiddle. According to Brown, her journey with music didn't start with the guitar, though. At only four years old, she clogged in competitions with her sister Reagan and started piano lessons, picking up the guitar soon after. "My sister and I started clogging together and going to bluegrass competitions to compete," Brown said. "That's how my sister talked me into learning to play the guitar, by being at these competitions for clogging. Once I learned to play, we were able to compete for music also." By 2020, Brown was trying her hand at learning the dobro, and later that year, she learned to play the bass fiddle for her band. "I love to play anything with strings," Brown said. "I was really drawn to bluegrass music because it sounds so authentic." Brown's connection with the music she plays is something that she associates with her relationship with her grandfather, who loved to play old country music and bluegrass musicians like Dailey & Vincent. "My granddad would take me and my sister places to see bluegrass music, and I feel like I have a deeper connection with bluegrass music because of my granddad. I feel more in tune with my music and feel really connected." However, Brown's grandfather wasn't the only bluegrass influence in her career as a young musician. A significant influence on her as a young artist has been Springfield Guitar Company, where she has been taking guitar lessons since the second grade. Brown has been taking lessons there several days a week alongside her sister Cara Brown, Frannie Bryson, and Gary Adams. Springfield Guitar Company began hosting old-time music jam sessions each Monday night in 2020, and it was at these sessions Brown and her sister met the artists that would become their first bandmates. Today, Brown is a member of three different bluegrass bands: the TriState Ramblers, made up of three sets of siblings from Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee; a duo with her sister aptly named She's My Sister, and Can't Drive Yet, a group of young musicians all 14 years old and under. As a part of her bands, Brown has performed at countless bluegrass festivals, churches, schools, and events over the last few years, and placed in competitions for her bluegrass bands and guitar, dobro, square dance, and clogging. "Performing with my sister in our duo makes things fun and gives us new experiences. It has taught me to learn to do things differently and how to speak onstage. My sister doesn't like to speak onstage, so it's given me a new perspective," Brown said. Brown has been on WoodSong Old Time Radio twice—once as the WoodSong kid and once with her sister for the pilot of WoodSongsKids. This year, Brown started stacking up accomplishments in music and received the Houston Caldwell scholarship to attend Rob Ickes' Reso-Summit in November 2022. "While I was at the Reso-Summit, I got the opportunity to meet a lot of new dobro players who piqued my interest in many areas. I also got to see and learn from many musicians who have influenced me, like Rob Ickes and Jerry Douglas. This event made me look at things differently and taught me not to always look at just the basic melody in my music," Brown said. The Tennessee Arts Commission Folk Life Program awarded Brown one of twelve 2022-23 grants for a mentorship with Tim Graves for Graves-Style dobro playing. "This opportunity is absolutely extraordinary!" Brown said. "Tim Graves is Josh Graves' nephew, and he has become such a hero to me in my music. Every Tuesday beginning in December, he will teach us Josh Graves' style of playing dobro. Once the program is over, I also get to perform onstage with him and his band." Among her musical influences, Brown says some favorites are Trey Hensley and Jamie Dailey of Dailey & Vincent on guitar, Tim Graves, Rob Ickes, Josh Graves on dobro, and Mike Bub on bass. "The Osbourne Brothers have also had a big influence on how I sing my music and perceive the music I am playing," Brown said. When asked about a potential music career, Brown said she would love the opportunity to record her original music one day, but she isn't ready for that quite yet. "Recording music is definitely something that has interested me, but doing so would disqualify me from some of the music competitions I enter with my bands. So for now, I am going to keep competing with my bands, but that is a possibility for later on," Brown said. Her love of bluegrass, engrained in her from a young age, led her to the bluegrass community. Brown and her sister joined Tomorrow's Bluegrass Stars, whose mission is to preserve bluegrass music one youngster at a time through encouragement and music promotion. "The TBS leaders have been so nice and encouraging, reminding us always to try," Brown said. "They've really been so kind, generous, and patient in their time with us." Today, Brown hopes to see her bands prosper and bless people with their music. She would love to major in bluegrass music when she gets to college to help her in her goal of playing dobro like her heroes. "I've learned not to try to be like everyone else, to find my style and have fun with it. You have to take things from people here and there that you admire and create your own sound," Brown said. "Bluegrass music gives me a different view of the world. It makes people see things in a different way, and I would love to eventually be as influential on dobro as some of my musical heroes."

Hillary Klug is well-rounded and multifaceted, like the most interesting of gems. Not only does she play the fiddle, but she also sings while she does it…and dances! She hits them with all she's got when she entertains her audiences. It's clear to see when a performer is "all-in," and in the case of Klug, her talent trifecta brings a real sense of energy. "It's unique," Klug agreed, "and so it has distinguished me from all my peers because it's completely different and memorable." That said, Klug describes her talent with admirable humility and self-awareness. "I'm actually not a very impressive fiddler or vocalist or dancer. I'm very mediocre," she said, adding that many vocalists, fiddlers, and dancers are more skilled than her. She's figured out how to do all three simultaneously, so she agreed that it makes her "stand out." "I've done so much fiddling and dancing at the same time that I'm a better fiddler when I dance, and I'm a better dancer when I fiddle," she said. "I've put the fiddling and dancing together in such a way that the entertainment factor has attracted audiences outside of the bluegrass world. I'm very proud of that. I have people watching and listening who would otherwise never be exposed to this type of music." Klug described the interplay between music and dance. "My dancing is more than just entertainment," she said. "I'm making music with my feet. My dancing lays a good rhythmic foundation for my fiddle music." Klug is a two-time National Buck Dancing champion. This style is similar to clogging but is "a lot older and more traditional, and clogging has evolved from buck dancing much the same way bluegrass has evolved from old-time music." "Cloggers dance to the music, but the sounds from their feet don't contribute to the music," she explained, differentiating the two styles. "A buck dancer is a musician; their feet are their instrument. It's a solo dance, and it's always improvised. Buck dancing is not standardized or formalized like clogging. Each unique buck dancer has their unique style, as the dance is learned the traditional way, passed down from generation to generation." Klug has always loved Irish music and dance and includes it in her repertoire. "I started clogging when I was eight. I grew up listening to country music, mostly because I was a daddy's girl, and that was his kind of music. I started playing fiddle at age 13," she said. "I learned some Irish dancing with a local group in Bellbuckle around age 18, and later I took a trip to Ireland to learn Irish dancing from real Irish dancers." Klug explained that there's an Irish dance called "Sean Nos," and it's the Irish equivalent of buck dancing. She enjoys performing in both styles. "Unlike the rigid River dancing with a stiff upper body, Sean Nos is relaxed with loose, dangling arms." "Sean Nos is always improvised, and it's all about making music with the feet." She's learned a few Sean Nos steps and incorporated them into a few videos and songs during her shows. "I've learned steps in both 2/4 and 6/8 time in order to dance to both reels and jigs." She learned more about Irish dancing directly from the source; she went to Ireland. "I had been dancing in my big clunky dance boots, and I didn't realize I had been dancing on my heels with my buck dancing," she said. "My footwear had dictated my dance style, with the heavy heels on my boots. When I tried learning Irish dance, I had a hard time at first with my big clunky dance boots. Did you know Irish dancers dance on their toes? I couldn't do the Sean Nos dancing in my boots, so I changed into tap shoes to dance on my toes and execute the more delicate Sean Nos dance steps with precision." Unsurprisingly, she's interested in Celtic and Appalachian music; there's overlap. "Many settlers in Appalachia were of Scotch-Irish heritage, and they brought their Celtic music with them to America," Klug said. "Celtic music was one of many influences in bluegrass music as we know it today. There are many differences, including the fact that bluegrass repertoire doesn't include any jigs. Also, bluegrass fiddle tunes emphasize the backbeat, whereas Irish fiddle tunes emphasize the downbeat. Bluegrass music has a lot of blues notes and rhythms that come from its African influences. There are no blues whatsoever in traditional Celtic music." Klug said she is drawn to old-time fiddle music that is "related" to Celtic music and plays some Americanized versions of Celtic music tunes. "For example, the tune 'Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe' is an old-time version of the Irish tune 'Miss McCleod's Reel.'" She incorporates both genres into her shows and videos. "I also incorporate Canadian and bluegrass music as well as clogging and podorythmie, or French-Canadian foot percussion dancing," she said. Klug has been sharing her multifaceted talent with audiences both in-person and online. "I've been busy all spring, summer, and most of this fall with touring and performing at Silver Dollar City," she said of the theme park near Branson, Missouri. "Now I'm home in Nashville, and I've been focusing on social media." She said she has no gigs lined up right now for the winter but says this fact is both "terrifying" and "liberating" at the same time.

Cristina Vane: From Rock to Ole Time by Kara Martinez Bachman Cristina Vane plays clawhammer banjo, but she has as much old time in her as she has plugged-in rockstar. She’ll jam like Slash from Guns N’ Roses, and she’ll study the country vibe of Jerry Reed. She’ll lay into some Delta blues that sound like Blind Willie Johnson. She’ll play slide on a resonator or craft something that seems like a mix of all things. It’s not odd, she seems to think. She’s just doing what interests her, without regard for shaping an image. It’s just all her, exploring what tickles her fancy. It’s all about being her authentic self, always. “I feel as though my authentic self is …multidimensional,” Vane said. “And it follows that my music is multidimensional.” It’s no surprise that her music reflects a variety of experiences and interests. A life of living everywhere—and nowhere—informed her paradigm. Today she calls Nashville home, but Vane was born in Italy; lived as a child in Paris; spent some time in England; schooled herself in New Jersey, and grew as a performer while busking on Venice Beach. While living there in L.A., Vane – whose roots were in rock and even punk – became fascinated with – and began to delve deeply into – blues, bluegrass, and Americana forms, styles, and instruments. “I got a job at a guitar shop and got my first cheap resonator,” Vane recalled. She soon found a guitar mentor, then began going to open mics and busking on the boardwalk in Venice. “Then I went on a six-month tour,” she said. “I did ten shows a month or so, living out of my car and tent.” According to Vane, these itinerant meanderings are part and parcel of who she is and has always been and seem at the core of that authentic self she seeks to share with listeners. “It’s been a constant sense of not really being from anywhere,” she said, relaying how floating cross-culture is a motif that might make her music more expansive. “It puts me in the role of a sort of cultural observer. I spent a lot of time watching…when I’m out touring, it’s a lot of observing. This country is so big, and that’s cool to me.” Sometimes, Vane will have people ask about the fact that she’s a woman playing the blues, and this rubs her the wrong way. Why can’t a woman play the blues? Why even ask that question? “I fundamentally believe that women are treated differently,” she said. Vane saw this even as a youngster. “All the people I saw living the rock star dream were men,” she said. “Women aren’t even involved [in rock] unless they’re groupies.” Vane recalls that she always wanted to live a life similar to Slash from Guns N’ Roses. For women musicians, there were few female role models to relate to. There were few examples to emulate. “Who’s my Slash?” Vane asked rhetorically. Over time she has updated her goals, and the result is a well-rounded constellation of influences and interests. “I love rock music,” she said, “but I also play soft banjo. I play clawhammer banjo, so part of my set is old-time music.” Vane has released two albums, the most recent being the May release of Make Myself Me Again. Vane said it has done well—people like what she’s putting out there. “It’s been really good,” she said. “I’m pretty small fry, so I get excited when it’s played on the radio. People seem to like it.” As for the future, Vane said she’ll probably take a little break from heavy touring in the near future and will “hunker down for the winter” and work on her next record. She gives no specific timeframe for when that’s projected to drop but assures it probably won’t be until sometime in 2024. She’s recorded two records in two years, and there’s no rush on the third. “I’m really grateful,” Vane said. “I’m grateful that now that I’m trying to make a living doing this, there are people whose support helps keep the dream alive.”

Women Chefs Blazing Paths in Appalachia by Candace Nelson Women chefs across Appalachia preserve and elevate regional cuisine through traditional and modern techniques. These chefs, sprinkled through North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, and other mountainous regions, are incorporating food rooted in place in the menus of their restaurants and encouraging others to appreciate the cuisine, as well. Here are just a few women in the food industry helping tell stories through food throughout Appalachia. Katie Button Asheville, North Carolina Katie Button has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, Food & Wine Magazine, and numerous other notable organizations championing the best of the best in food. Button currently serves as the co-founder and CEO of Katie Button Restaurants, which includes Curate Bar de Tapas and La Bodega by Curate. The restaurant group also operated two additional restaurants in Asheville: Nightbell, which closed after five years, and Button and Co. Bagels, which opened in 2018 and transitioned to La Bodega by Cúrate during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to its website. Button and Co. Bagels was known for incorporating Appalachian ingredients and traditions into its offerings. The bagels were made with locally milled wheat flour and sorghum syrup. Sumac, ramps, smoked mountain trout, and dried figs all made appearances within the dough or cream cheese topping. Ashleigh Shanti Asheville, North Carolina Ashleigh Shanti is a chef and owner of Good Hot Fish, a pop-up fish fry in Asheville, North Carolina. Shanti also recently appeared on Top Chef Season 19, a Bravo TV cooking competition show. She specializes in Black Appalachian foodways, including southern and soul food, and "creates dishes like country ham calas with hot chow chow; buttermilk biscuits with farmers' cheese and salmon roe butter; killed lettuces with vegetable bottarga and cured egg yolk; and grilled halibut with ramp rice grits, chanterelle escovitch, and fish skin cracklin'," according to Eater.com. In 2019, Shanti was named one of "16 Black Chefs Changing Food in America" by The New York Times. And she is continuing to make a name for herself as she travels throughout the region, dishing out delicious, inspired meals that have folks traveling from miles away. (Photo by Kelly Doyle) Ashleigh Shanti at Charleston Wine and Food Festival Shelley Cooper Townsend, Tennessee Shelley Cooper joined the Dancing Bear Lodge & Bistro as the chef in Townsend, Tennessee, on Valentine’s Day in 2013. While she was at the helm, she had consistently blazed the path of creating incredible Appalachian food while embracing the region’s history. “Smoked meats, fish, corn, beans, and foraged vegetables like mushrooms, muscadines, ramps, poke, sumac, berries, ginseng, chestnuts, plantain, artichokes, and dandelions were all known to indigenous tribes from north Georgia to Pennsylvania. Dishes like poke sallet, succotash, and cornbread all have roots in Cherokee, Seneca, and Iroquois cooking. Even country ham’s time-honored place in Appalachian cuisine is rooted in trade between indigenous peoples and Spanish settlers, with hogs making their way up old Indian roads from Florida to New England,” according to the restaurant’s website. Dancing Bear has been featured on The Travel Channel’s “Food Paradise” and The South’s 38 Essential Restaurants – Eater.com. Anne Hart Clarksburg, West Virginia Chef Anne Hart's eponymous restaurant, Hart Kitchen, focuses on seasonal and local ingredients, emphasizing classic food and beverage in the heart of Appalachia. Before opening her current restaurant, Hart operated Provence Market and Cafe in Bridgeport, which had been recognized for its French cuisine before suffering a devastating fire in 2019. Just one year after the beloved restaurant went up in flames, Hart was serving her community once again - this time just a town over. Hart Kitchen features daily specials with a revolving seasonal menu. You might find the warmed pimento cheese dip with housemade crackers; a burger with bourbon mushrooms, tomato jam, and smoked bacon; or an oven-roasted chicken with pan sauce, herbs, and potatoes. If you want to learn how to cook dishes like these directly from Hart, you can attend her cooking school, where she walks students through a meal during a private class or public workshop. While beans and cornbread might come to mind when you think of Appalachian food, these chefs have gone to great lengths to pay homage to tradition and continue to elevate Appalachian cuisine to include diverse foods beyond the stereotypes. As women, these chefs have faced unique challenges in their journeys to find success, yet they continue to pursue a larger mission of promoting Appalachian food. Whether you're interested in trying a new food or want to gain a deeper understanding of the region, support these trailblazers who are creating works of art in edible form.

"Winters are Long ...But So Are the Memories" by Susan Marquez Irene Kelley has established herself as a singer-songwriter in Nashville. Her songs have been recorded by artists including Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, Loretta Lynn, Little Big Town, Claire Lynch, Darrell Scott, Rhonda Vincent, The Whites, Bill Anderson, The Osborne Brothers, and more. She is releasing her fourth full-length bluegrass album on January 27. The granddaughter of a coal miner, Irene grew up in a musical family in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. “My grandfather on my mother’s side was a Polish immigrant. There was a lot of singing and dancing in our home. My dad played the accordion and guitar and sang a lot of Jimmie Rodgers songs, as well as Polish and Italian polka songs. My brother played Chet Atkins-style guitar –he was pretty good – and I sang.” Irene became serious about music at age sixteen when she joined a rock band in Pennsylvania, her home state. “I was the singer,” she says. “We did a lot of Led Zepplin tunes.” But her “aha” moment came when she heard Dolly Parton sing on television. “I just stopped dead in my tracks. I went out and got one of her albums and took it to band practice, and I said, ‘oh my gosh, you guys, you have to hear this. We have to learn these songs.’ They just looked at each other and said, ‘we need a new singer.’” When she was eighteen or nineteen, Irene found her people when she met up with some bluegrassers. “One of them told me I needed to learn to play the guitar so I could at least play with my singing, so I picked up the guitar. I started learning from a chord chart. I learned three chords, and before I knew it, I was starting to come up with some original song ideas. I didn’t really know what they were – songwriting snuck up on me after learning to play the guitar.” Leaving her home in Pennsylvania, Irene moved to Nashville in 1984, where she pursued her musical career in earnest. “I was pregnant with my first daughter, Justyna, at the time,” she says. “I remember the first song of mine to be recorded was for Carl Jackson - You Are A Rock, and I’m A Rolling Stone. The next song I wrote was Love Can’t Ever Get Better Than This, recorded by Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White.” Other songwriting collaborators on the album include Billy Droze, Terry Herd, Ronnie Bowman, Mark Irwin, Steve Leslie, Steve Cropper, Bill Whyte, and Donna Ulisse. Irene’s other daughter, Sara Jean, provided harmonies on the project. There was one song on the album that Irene didn’t write. “I have always loved the band Kansas, and the song Can I Tell You is a favorite of mine.” Written by Phillip Ehart, David Hope, Steve Walsh, and Richard John Williams, the song was Kansas’ first single. “I had a huge Kansas poster on my wall when I was a teenager, mostly because of the violin player, Robbie Steinhardt, whom I had a giant crush on.” Sara Jean encouraged Irene to record the song, and Sara Jean, along with her sister Justyna, joined Irene in singing the song. “I have to give a high-five to Scott Vestal for saying we could cut the song in bluegrass style.” The album quickly produced three chart-topping singles, including Wild Mountain Stream, the number-one song for 2021 on the Bluegrass Today weekly chart. Irene and her daughters have recently finished recording a Christmas album, “Kelley Family Christmas.” Three songs were released as an EP on November 25, and the full-length twelve-song record will be released in October 2023. “This is a family project that we are very proud of.”

Moving the Conversation Forward by Shelby Campbell Berry A certain kind of person makes a lasting impact on the world they leave behind, but often, the impact is not apparent to the person. Gaelynn Lea, a musician, public speaker, and disability rights activist, is undoubtedly that certain kind of person. At only 38 years old, she has influenced others so profoundly that people will talk about her work for years. Lea was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta or Brittle Bones Disease, but she hasn't let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. She was rooted in the thriving music scene of her hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, from the first moment she heard an orchestra play at her elementary school. Immediately inspired to pick up a stringed instrument, Lea began playing the violin at ten years old due to an orchestra teacher willing to take a chance and help her adopt a method of playing the violin that fit Lea's abilities. "I also grew up around music," said Lea. "My mom was choir director at my church, and my family owned a dinner theater. Duluth is a very musical town. It's a beautiful port town near Lake Superior with natural beauty and a musical community that really shapes artists." Lea found her sound in college, being drawn to Celtic music through extracurricular groups and jam sessions, and eventually found her way to playing violin in folk groups and writing her music. She has become known for her haunting original songs and approach to traditional fiddle music. Combining this with her incorporation of live looping and sonic exploration has made her an artist like none other—creating a place for herself in the music industry all her own, opening up for artists like Wilco, LOW, The Decemberists, and Pigface. "I like having the combination of both traditional and unique, modern music. My original music is more experimental and spooky," Lea said. "With the looping peddle, fiddle tunes have a lot of repetitive chord structures. It's exciting for me to create new and innovative ways to perform music that has been around for hundreds of years. I love bringing those tunes to a modern audience." In 2016, Lea won National Public Radio's Tiny Desk Contest, introducing her to a continuously broad audience of fans, touring, and a community she didn't know she was missing. It also opened up other opportunities, including Lea's most recent accomplishment—composing the music for Macbeth on Broadway. This iconic Shakespeare play, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga and directed by Sam Gold, was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Sound Design. "Growing up, musical theater was in our DNA," Lea said. "So, getting to do the music for Macbeth on Broadway last year and really getting back into theater made it such a full circle moment for me." Lea is known for so much more than her music, however. She also uses her platform to advocate for people and artists with disabilities. She has become a sought-after public speaker on disability rights, accessibility in the arts, finding inner freedom, and the power of music. Lea regularly speaks at universities, conferences, and music festivals and has multiple widely-viewed TEDx Talks. She shared her experiences on PBS NewsHour, On Being with Krista Tippett, The Moth Radio Hour, NowThis, The Science of Happiness Podcast, and Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine My Best Break-Up Podcast, all while touring the world with her music. "In the beginning, I started speaking because I had a terrible phone call with a case worker about healthcare after I got married." Then, Lea talked with a social worker friend and started having enlightening discussions about her experiences and doing general disability speaking. "Winning Tiny Desk, it became clear that accessibility was not something that was talked about in the music industry. I shifted my speaking to being more music-focused and why it's important to have visibility and diversity in the music industry," Lea said. "Music is still my passion, but as long as speaking is something I can help move the conversation forward, I'll keep doing that." Focusing on the universality of disability culture and the fact that 26 percent of Americans have some form of disability, Lea has made it her mission to break down the norms of our society, specifically in the music industry. Part of this goal was becoming the Co-Founder of RAMPD, Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities. The mission of this fast-growing group led by people with disabilities is to amplify disability culture, promote inclusion, and advocate for accessibility in the music industry. "My Co-Founder Lachi and I officially launched RAMPD in January of 2022. Our main goals were to provide accessibility consulting and artist development to help artists with disabilities get more established. We wanted to become a source for groups and companies when they want to know how to become more diverse and inclusive," Lea said. In less than a year, RAMPD has already helped make the Grammy Awards accessible for the first time in history. "The time is right. People understand diversity is important," Lea said. "They've never thought of it. Folk Alliance has been very supportive as well. They created a whole summit topic on accessibility and invited us to be a part of it. For the first time, they had ASL and captioning. These changes need to happen." Working with the Recording Academy on consulting through RAMPD has led to additional opportunities for Lea. She is now a voting member of the Recording Academy, lending her unique perspective and creating awareness for artists with disabilities. "I'd love to focus on committing to keeping RAMPD growing," Lea said. "Seeing accessibility as a built-in part of the music industry is the goal." As if she wasn't already busy enough, Lea is currently working on writing a memoir about her life in music and disability advocacy as well. She says that disabilities are a contribution to culture rather than something to overcome. As a person with disabilities, she connects to the world differently and sees through a different lens. If Lea's music and projects indicate in some way how she views the world, then her view must be extraordinary. "It always feels like you are on a journey in music, but it's exciting to present a more inclusive way for all," Lea said. "To reimagine what the music industry could look like is exciting. We do things the way we've always done them, but it's great to think outside the box."

These days, making a living in the music industry can be a challenge, especially for songwriters and composers. Thankfully, there has been a change in U.S. copyright law. The Music Modernization Act of 2018 spurred the formation of a non-profit organization based in Nashville that helps songwriters and composers get the mechanical royalties they are due for certain types of digital uses of music in the United States. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) collects and distributes royalties directly to the songwriter or composer or through a publisher or an administrator who collects on their behalf. “The Music Modernization Act changed the way digital mechanical licensing in the United States is done,” says Serona Elton, head of The MLC’s Educational Partnerships. “It mandated the creation of a mechanical licensing collective and set the rules about what it does and how it does it.” Serona is also a full-time professor at the University of Miami Frost School of Music,where she is the director of the Music Industry program. She explains some important,sometimes confusing, differences between what The MLC does and what ASCAP and BMI do. “Those organizations collect and distribute performance royalties from uses worldwide. We are focused only on mechanical royalties from digital uses in the United States. We both sit on the song and music publishing side of the business, not on the sound recording and artist side.” To collect royalties from The MLC, songwriters, and composers must be members of the collective or signed up with a publisher or publishing administrator, who will collect from The MLC on their behalf. “Either way, those royalties are going to run through The MLC,” says Serona. “So, they have to do one or the other, or else they are basically losing the royalty money.” She explains that when there is a stream of a recording on a service like Spotify or Apple Music, that one stream generates three different sets of revenue. One type of money is the public performance royalties for the use of the song that goes to ASCAP and BMI, which they then pay publishers and writers. The second kind that people are familiar with is the revenue money that goes to the record label and the recording artist. The third type is mechanical royalty. Not all kinds of streaming services generate mechanical royalties. “Digital mechanical royalties are generated by audio-only download services and interactive streaming services,” explains Serona. “An interactive service is different from a non-interactive service like digital radio, such as satellite radio or Pandora radio, where the listener can pick the channel or the station, but not exactly what they are going to listen to. On interactive services like Spotify and Apple Music, the listener gets to pick the specific track to listen to, and a stream on those services generates the three different types of revenue.” Serona says that songwriters and composers have gotten much more business savvy over timeabout understanding PRO money. “Additionally, without having a deep understanding of the music business, most people intuitively know that recording artists and record labels are paid on streaming,” says Serona. “But less people understand that there is also a mechanical royalty generated, which flows from Spotify to The MLC and then from The MLC to the publisher or publishing administrator, who then pays the songwriter. If a songwriter is acting as their publisher because they have never signed with a publisher and don’t have a publishing administrator, then they need to join The MLC so we can pay them directly.” The MLC was formed due to the change in the copyright law. “We are a very new organization but have done a lot of important work in a short amount of time,” states Serona. “Theorganization was first created in the summer of 2019. We spent 2020 building our staff, systems, processes, and member base so we would be ready for the new blanket license becoming available to the digital services on January 1, 2021. When the time came, we were ready to start receiving royalties and matching and paying them. In the year and a half since launching full operations, The MLC has met every milestone set by Congress in the Music Modernization Act and successfully distributed nearly $700 million in blanket royalties to our members.” The response from songwriters and composers has been good and “really positive. I think we have improved their understanding of this complicated area of the business. It was very difficult to get a clear answer about how to collect this money before The MLC was formed. Now there is greater clarity thanks to our dedicated efforts to educate everyone about what The MLC is and what we do.” For more information about The MLC, visit their website at www.themlc.com.

Gift-giving is a special kind of art. A thoughtful gift - whether material or experiential - can mean a lot to both the gifter and the receiver and can point to a special moment, inside joke, or just even bring joy. It’s a showcase of love, attention, and care. For the food lover in your life, it’s the perfect time to gift them something new, something they may never splurge on, or something hard to find for their kitchen. As a bonus, the following gifts have ties to Appalachia, so you can give a new treasure to a loved one and support local artisans simultaneously. Or, you might even enjoy one - or two - for yourself. 1. Peach Salsa from Blue Smoke Salsa - Who doesn’t enjoy chips and salsa? Blue Smoke Salsa, based out of Charleston, West Virginia, offers mild, medium, hot, triple-x hot, and peach. The all-natural salsa is kettle-cooked in small batches with special attention to quality ingredients. More information: https://www.vandaliaincorporated.com/ 2. Mustard Relish from Uncle Bunk’s - This award-winning relish is a gourmet product based on an old-time Appalachian recipe and comes in both medium and hot versions. It joins the ranks of products like rustic pepper sauce, 14-day sweet pickles, and spice blends. More information: https://www.unclebunks.com/ 3. Rosemary Honey from Thistledew Farms - Crafted from light wildflower honey and natural herbs and spices, the rosemary honey from Thistledew farms is the perfect complement for pork or chicken dishes to add some depth. More information: https://www.thistledewfarm.com/ 4. Old-Fashioned Wilted Lettuce Salad Dressing from Appalachian Mountain Specialty Foods - Reminiscent of those family get-togethers in the country, this dressing is sweet and tart and is perfect on any garden, pasta, bean, cucumber, or other prepared salad. And, of course, it’s great on a traditional wilted lettuce salad. More information: https://www.vandaliaincorporated.com/ 5. Sour Cream & Onion Chips from Mister Bee Potato Chips - Made in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Mister Bee Potato Chips come in nine varieties: original, barbeque, dip style, cheddar sour cream, honey barbeque, jalapeno dip style, salt and vinegar, potato stix, and my personal favorite: sour cream & onion. Try them all to see which is your favorite. More information: https://misterbee.com/ 6. Biscuit Mix from Teays Valley - If you want biscuits like grandma made, this biscuit mix is the closest you’ll find. Their slogan, “nobody has to know it came from a mix,” rings true when these tasty biscuits are presented. More information: https://tastyblend.americommerce.com/ 7. Original BBQ Sauce from Lem’s Meat Varnish - Created by a competition pit master, Lem’s Meat Varnish is made in small batches with fine ingredients and is used in barbecue competitions. The sauce is sweet with a bit of heat and goes well on just about anything. More information: https://www.lemsmeatvarnish.com/ 8. Hot Dog Chili from Custard Stand - For the perfect chili dog, top your wiener with hot dog chili from Custard Stand, which uses a secret blend of spices and 100% ground beef in a century-old family recipe. 9. Water Bottle from Blenko Glass Co. - The iconic 384 Water Bottle from Blenko is a beautiful centerpiece and vessel for any beverage on the dinner table. The bottle comes in a variety of colors and designs. More information: https://blenko.com/ 10. Ramp Finishing Salt from J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works - Add a bit of onion flavor to your favorite dishes with this salt infused with Appalachia’s favorite wild leek: the ramp. More information: https://www.jqdsalt.com/ 11. The West Virginia Pepperoni Roll from Candace Nelson – (Shameless plug for this author’s book.) The West Virginia Pepperoni Roll tells the story of West Virginia’s unofficial state food. More information: https://wvupressonline.com/node/667 12. Hot Pepper Jelly from Bigg Riggs Farm - Paired with crackers and cream cheese, hot pepper jelly can be the ultimate crowd-pleaser. Try it for an appetizer or hors d’oeuvres. More information: https://biggriggsfarm.square.site/ 13. Pear Butter Jam and Glaze from Simple Products - Made from organically grown Bartlet pears in Ohio, this jam complements any breakfast. Once the pears are cooked and puréed, special spices are added to create a tasty condiment. More information: https://simplegourmetsyrups.com/ 14. Original Hickory Syrup from Falling Bark Farm - Based in the heart of Virginia, Falling Bark Farm makes a unique syrup from the bark of the shagbark hickory tree. It creates a smoky, sweet flavor that goes well on pancakes or waffles. More information: https://fallingbarkfarm.com/ Pick one, two, or a few to create a delicious taste of Appalachia that will surprise and delight any recipient. And, we won’t tell if a few caught your eye and you decide to treat yourself.

At one time, washday meant pulling out your trusted washboard and scrubbing clothes on the ridges before rinsing and hanging them to dry. A washboard was a utilitarian item, certainly nothing to get excited about. But somewhere along the way, someone ran their fingers up and down those ridges and realized it made a sound that worked well with music. Add some thimbles to your fingertips; the sound it creates is ideal for percussion. Lucho Pellegrini comes from a musical family in Argentina. His mother taught piano, and Luchowas a percussionist. He sought out the washboard as an instrument, and he wanted to incorporate that into his music. He found one, but it was falling apart. His cousin, Rodrigo, is an engineer, so Lucho asked Rodrigo to re-engineer and improve the washboard for him to use as a musical instrument. “They started iterating and came up with what became Cincinnati Washboards,” says Tim Zenderman, who markets the washboards in the United States. “Their intention was clear from the beginning. They wanted to create an appealing washboard built for musicians. They wanted to use sustainable materials, so they decided upon Paulownia, a tree in northern Argentina that grows rapidly.” The name “Cincinnati” is an homage to Ohio, the location of two large washboard manufacturers. “Ohio is where National and Columbus washboards are made,” says Tim, “and Cincinnati is a big city in Ohio, so Lucho named his company Cincinnati Washboards.” In 2016, the company launched in Argentina and sold its products online. The washboards sold out almost as fast as Lucho and Rodrigo could make them. “Each of the washboards is hand-crafted.” Tim connected with the company when a mutual friend and fellow musician introduced them. “I lived in Argentina for eight years,” Tim says. “I used to follow Lucho’s band, and I actually played ukulele with some of his bandmates. I went to see his band with my girlfriend at the time (now my wife), and Lucho was playing the washboard. We loved that.” Tim’s family manufactures wind instruments. Their company, Jean Paul USA, started ten years ago. “Prior to starting his company, my dad had been a distributor for other musical brands, including Fender, Gipson, Roland, and Yamaha. I got into this space of marketing just before the pandemic. I was working on growing the brand, and I got a lot of experience helping that company grow. A mutual friend introduced me to Lucho. He wanted to expand his business into the United States. At the time, washboards were not a ‘thing,’ but Lucho’s perspective is that it is an instrument with jam blocks and cymbals that make it super customizable, and it fits in a backpack. That is mind-blowing for percussionists. Those who know the washboard usually associate it with Appalachian music or something out of New Orleans, like Dixieland jazz, Cajun, or zydeco music. But the reality is that you can play the washboard with any kind of music, and it works incredibly well in so many different spaces where percussion isn’t even really a thing, like in bluegrass, but because the washboard is much more discreet than a full drum set. It can work alongside, like an acoustic instrument, in harmony. I think it’s like such a cool instrument.” Tim points out many reasons to prefer a washboard over a big drum set. “The first, of course, is a drum set takes up a lot of space, whereas the washboard can be tucked away in a small case. Drum sets are difficult to travel with, while the washboard is lightweight and easy to carry. It’s basically a drum set you can carry in a backpack.” And of course, a huge advantage the washboard has over a drum set is the cost. A small washboard starts at just $199. The “rusted” model is more expensive, coming in at $299 for the small version. “The washboards come with a galvanized or rusted finish,” explains Tim. “The instruments are played by tapping and dragging your fingers over the ridges. Our rusted finish gives a ‘darker’ sound. Players can drag along the ridges for a fuller sound texture. That has never been done with washboards before. It’s a Cincinnati first.” Learning how to play the washboard is easy. A free “get started” video is on the company’s website, www.cincinnatiwashboards.com. “We are working on a good course that will get people started playing like a pro,” says Tim. Once you’ve mastered the washboard, you may want to add more accessories. Cincinnati Washboards offers cowbells, cymbals, and jam blocks. “The jam blocks have been very popular in the United States,” says Tim. “They are really unique.” The washboards come complete with a cowbell, shoulder strap, thimbles, and carrying case. “Because we are celebrating our entry into the U.S. market, we are offering special deals for the holidays,” says Tim. “Cincinnati Washboards can be shipped all over the world.” Sidebar info: Cincinnati Washboards work well with many genres of music. Videos can be seen on the company’s YouTube channel at (2) Cincinnati Washboards - YouTube. To see a video of Lucho Pellegrini playing with bluegrass banjo player Joe Troop, click here: (2) Joe Troop y Lucho Pellegrini - White Freightliner Blues - YouTube. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNPTI-M_RHOZiLuLZbdWUioB_T3_jUOcn9jmxHAkNgIQ6SCyuYgnOe7wCmgYbRl0A?pli=1&key=YmpjQWNNZkxZSkZKQXN1bzZvUTdHUXFaZlFGOGxB

Nathan Gates was born into the world of Gospel bluegrass. As one of seven children of the Gates Family band, Nathan traveled in a converted school bus with his family. "We traveled with a tent evangelist out of Arkansas. He taught Sunday school, and we would provide music for the meeting." Nathan's dad, Craig Gates, put a mandolin in young Nathan's hands when he was nine. While the mandolin was a perfect size, the banjo was a perfect fit. He fell in love with the instrument and became quite proficient at playing it. As the Gates children grew up, Nathan's sisters married and lost interest in touring with the family band, choosing instead to stay home and raise families. In 2012, Nathan decided to form a new band. He enlisted his father and Robert (Bob) Hauser, a classical cello and bass player who has been a professional church musician throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin for over thirty years. He also performed with orchestras, operas, theatre groups, and weddings and even had a short stint in an early-Elvis-era rock band. Bob's daughter, Kemedy, joined the group playing fiddle. The youngest in the group at 17, Kemedy started her music studies at age six, taking cello lessons from her dad. She took up the fiddle when she was ten and began sitting in on bluegrass jams at a local guitar shop. Craig Gates plays guitar with the band and provides solid vocals. He began traveling with college choirs in his early twenties. After getting married and having children, he started a family ministry, traveling and singing Gospel music at churches, camp meetings, and county fairs. Nathan says his dad, now 71, wants to tour until he can't do it anymore. "He says this is what God wants him to do." Nathan describes the band as a coming together of two families. Based in Bloomington, Illinois, Nathan owns a construction company and does electrical work. But on many weekends, the band hits the road to perform. "We load up the kids and take them on the road with us," says Nathan. We have traveled all over the Midwest and south as far as Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida." Nathan says his wife, Rachel, was never really involved in music other than participating in her church's praise and worship team. "She moved here from Connecticut to go to school. She studied Agricultural Education and got a degree in teaching.She helps behind the scenes but has also stepped up on both mandolin and vocals." Rachel also plays a vital role within the family. "We just had our third child, who is five weeks old. That gives us three under three, which keeps her busy." Their hard work and dedication have paid off in the form of recognition by the Rural Roots Music Commission. In 2018 New Legacy's Simple Truth album was named Acoustic Bluegrass Album of the Year, and in 2019 they received the Gospel Bluegrass Album of the Year for their album, One Day at a Time. "I never thought of chasing accolades," says Nathan. "But getting those awards gave us credibility as a band. We were thankful for the honors." In addition to those two albums, New Legacy has also released Light the Way, a full LP with 13 cuts, and their Christmas album, A Christmas Collective. Like many other bands, New Legacy struggled with what they would do when Covid shut down festivals and shows. "We had been producing The New Legacy Show, a music variety show on YouTube. We got seven episodes completed before Covid shut it down. But those shows helped keep us top of mind with folks for a while. We loved doing them, and we want to do more shows." Nathan describes himself as a "goof" on stage. "I like pranks, and because I stand next to Kemedy on stage, the juvenile side of me comes out. We enjoy playing around with each other, all in good-natured fun. Bob also enjoys a good cutting up. My dad loves to tell corny jokes, so we all have a really fun time on stage. I think that engagement with the audience helps to tear down walls, and the music and the message are better received." One thing Nathan knows not to do is to startle his wife. "She does not like to be startled, and I respect that." The sound of New Legacy is rich and full. "One of my favorite songs to perform is "The Middleman" from our One Day at a Time album. It has a full orchestration arranged by Bob, and the music sounds full and lush. We stacked parts, and it sounded like a full string section. That's the kind of sound we try to provide on stage at our shows, and I think our audiences appreciate it." Link to website: New Legacy Music | Bluegrass | Gospel | Bloomington Link to an episode of The New Legacy Show: (3) THE NEW LEGACY SHOW S1.E4. "FAMILY" - YouTube

It seems the circle will remain unbroken, as a musician (and now writer) John McEuen, a founding member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, has come full circle with a book about the making of what some call the most iconic album to come out of Nashville. Why did he write the book? "The fiftieth anniversary of the recording of Will the Circle Be Unbroken was coming up,"says John. "About eight years ago, my brother, Bill, gave me a treasure trove of photographs he had taken of the early Dirt Band. He took a lot of the photos at our recording sessions. He gave me about 150 photographs, many of which had never been seen. And the ones I had seen were only like a half-inch square on album and CD covers." But the idea of writing a book didn't happen right away. Instead, John went to work putting together a multi-media stage show about the early Dirt Band, leading up to the Circle album. "It tells how that came about, with photos from the sessions I play in front of. I did both the writing and recording." John says that during the recording sessions for the original album, there was always a recorder going to capture conversations in the studio. "For instance, on the Circle album is a recording of a Roy Acuff speech that says, 'Let me tell you a little something about my policy in the studio.' I have various photos that go back and forth between the band members and Acuff while he says, 'I figure we gotta get it right the first time and the hell with the rest of them.'Then the song we were recording in the studio plays live on stage." John took the show on the road, but Covid stopped it for a while. "I only did about ten shows last year, and it has picked up this year." He has presented the show about 120 times. "It's always different, and it's really fun. I love editing the film, and without realizing it, I was preparing for the book. I began seriously thinking about it when Ken Burns did his country music series. In episode six, he did a piece on Will the Circle Be Unbroken. When I did my interview for that, I thought, I'd better get this right." The Circle project fell into place in a most unlikely way. John had just moved to Colorado andwent to see Earl Scruggs play. He played for five days in Boulder, and then Doc Watson was scheduled to play in the same club the following week. "I had been taking Scruggs back to his hotel, and I asked him if maybe one day he would possibly record with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He said he'd be proud to. I later asked Doc Watson, and he agreed as well. I called my brother Bill, a record producer and manager of the band and the photographer in the early days. Bill said he would call Merle Travis to see if he would play with us as well. Merle said it would be a challenge, but he had always wanted to meet Doc Watson." The project was recorded in Woodland Studios in East Nashville. Bill captured a video recording of the first meeting between Doc Watson and Merle Travis. Scruggs then got "Mother" Maybelle Carter to join them; Roy Acuff came on board, along with the Carter Family, Jimmy Martin, and Vassar Clements. Bill talked with the record company and told the label's president about the music they played – bluegrass and occasional rock and country." It was an opportunity to build bridges between generations and genres. With a $22,000 budget to make a whole album, plus pay for meals and hotels, they had to make the best of their five days scheduled in the studio. On the first day in the studio, they had four hours allotted to record three songs. They ended up recording four songs in an hour and a half. "Three of them were done on the first take," John recalls. The musicians sat in a circle facing each other, and the songs flowed naturally. From "You are My Flower" to "Soldier's Joy," each song was flawless. "It took maybe eight minutes to record 'Soldier's Joy,'" says John. "We got the sound up and running and said, 'OK, let's make one,' and ten minutes later Watson and Earl both said, 'I don't think I made any mistakes,' so that was it." A book publisher reached out to John last year and asked if he had any ideas for a book. "That's when the idea for this book really came together. I had the photographs my brother gave me, and I had been working on the stage show I do on making the album, so the time was right." Now in its third printing, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Making of a Landmark Album tells the story of the 1971 collaboration between The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a country-rock-jug band from Southern California, and a stellar lineup of legendary bluegrass musicians from Nashville. The book is beautifully illustrated and filled with an amazing array of never-before-seen photographs by William McEuen. Fifty years after the album's recording, it remains one of the most iconic albums in American history. John's book takes the reader inside that circle of musicians and shares the stories behind the songs, a circle that is yet unbroken.