Appalachia

Music
A Surprisingly Popular Album of Frog Noises Comes Bellowing Back
Plus more special sounds as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings marks seventy-five years

Travel
An Insider’s Guide to Lexington, Virginia
Blue Ridge bites, picturesque breweries, lush hiking trails, and cool rivers to explore in this Shenandoah Valley gem

Arts & Culture
The Bold and Generous Spirit of Lee Smith
No one has tapped into Southern truths quite like the Virginia-raised author, whose fifteen novels span Appalachia to the Florida Keys. Just ask the legion of writers who praise Smith for guiding their own stories

Food & Drink
An All-Star Appalachian Pork Burger
Slathered with apple-butter-onion-jam and crowned with pickles and slaw, North Carolina’s Over Yonder burger is a taste of the mountain South you can make at home

Books
Why Foxfire Still Resonates
A new book—and a new oral history project—highlight the rural women whose stories continue to shape Appalachia

Arts & Culture
How the Celebrated Food Writer Ronni Lundy Cooked Up a Bookshop
Plott Hound Books is the place to find thoughtfully curated reads—and advice on where to eat while you turn the pages

Arts & Culture
Voices from Appalachia on Storytelling, Stereotypes, and the Truth
A novelist interviews Dopesick writer Beth Macy and the author Silas House, who tells him, “I never trust a writer who doesn’t doubt themselves”

SEVERE WEATHER
Pulled from the Flood
After devastating waters wrecked novelist Silas House’s Eastern Kentucky homeland last week, he worked alongside the helpers—those who refuse to let the voices of Appalachia go under.

Arts & Culture
Fifty Years of Appalachian Arts
Whitesburg, Kentucky’s Appalshop celebrates a milestone of preserving the culture of the Southern mountains

Books
A Photographer’s Ode to the Roots of Country Music
A new book of recovered photos taken on the porches and back roads of Appalachia offers an intimate look at some of traditional Southern music’s early greats

Books
Sean Brock’s New Cookbook and a Foxfire Reissue Sing in Harmony
An Appalachian Duet: Two books to add to your shelf this fall

Arts & Culture
Saving Southern Music
How the bluegrass balladeer and TV host David Holt helps preserve—and move forward—the region’s traditional sounds

Arts & Culture
Fifty Years of Foxfire
Past students and participants of Foxfire celebrate Appalachian traditions

Food & Drink
Salt of the Earth
From ancient times, the story of Appalachia has in many ways been the story of salt. And whether sprinkled on watermelon or in chili slathered on a hot dog bun, for the Kentucky native and foodways expert Ronni Lundy, it’s the taste of summer in the mountain South

Food & Drink
Appalachian-Style Rösti
A Southern mountain take on a Swiss classic

Food & Drink
Chili Buns and Slaw Dogs
An Appalachian custard stand classic

Food & Drink
A Vanishing Appalachian Bread Tradition
The story of salt-rising bread

Arts & Culture
Finding My Way Home
How two Southern literary giants led a young Appalachian writer to her own voice

Arts & Culture
Ron Rash’s ‘Above the Waterfall’
A poetic tale of crime, violence, and the Appalachian landscape

Food & Drink
Kil’t Greens with Bacon Jam
Chef Ouita Michel serves a versatile version of an Appalachian classic