After losing her brother to addiction, poet Crystal Good found herself at the center of the Healing Appalachia music festival which compats opioid addiction in Appalachia.

High-energy and often whip-fast, flatfoot dancing is an ancient tradition rooted in European, African, and Native American cultures, and it’s still going strong.

These tunes prove the banjo ain’t just for country music anymore. Today, clever instrumentalists are plingin’ and plangin’ banjo strings in almost every imaginable genre.

At first, Patty Loveless had trouble getting into the song that might end up being remembered as her signature tune — "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive." She first released it back in 2001 on "Mountain Soul," a deeply personal album of bluegrass and old time tunes that sent her career in a new direction while snagging her a Grammy nomination

While Appalachia is best know for bluegrass, it's also given birth to artists like Nina Simone, who blended genres and drew from her wide-ranging life experiences to create her own remarkable sound and this inspiring song.

Blue Ridge Parkway near Linville, North Carolina. Photo by Ashley Knedler on Unsplash.

Growing up, I never really appreciated the Blue Ridge Parkway. I mean, I drove on it and hiked alongside it. I knew it had beautiful views. But I somehow didn't grasp what it would be like to live without it.

It's like that with many things I suppose — family, health, home — you only notice how much they mean when they're gone.

With the Blue Ridge, that moment came when I moved away from Roanoke, Virginia for college and was suddenly living on flat land. I could no longer look in any direction and see undulating ridges. I could no longer drive fifteen minutes and stand atop a mountain with sweeping vistas.

I think back to when I was that homesick teen and know this song would have brought me to tears. Written and performed by Boone, North Carolina artist Shay Martin Lovette, it’s bound to tug heartstrings for fans of this iconic road.

To hear more of Shay's work, check out his stirring new album Scatter & Gather (Spotify|Apple), which was mostly written from a rural, creekside cabin.

Rarely is good relationship advice set to music, but Chattanooga-based The Foothills has pulled it off. Drawing from bluegrass and country traditions, this acoustic trio captures the sorrowful, low down feeling of eating crow.

"It is a song about confronting pride," said Paul Hadfield, the band's lead vocalist. "The protagonist of this story leads listeners through a series of scenes in their life culminating in the realization that their need to be right has only resulted in loss."

For anyone who has trouble saying "I'm sorry," that can be a true revelation. Funny enough, it also makes for a beautiful tune.
If you want to hear more from The Foothills, check out their album Shadow of the Mountain (Spotify), which contains this song, and their latest release Rest Easy (Spotify|Apple|Amazon).