The following interview of James Childress took place in 2009, five years before his death in 2014 at the age of 90. A pioneer in the broadcast radio industry, "Uncle Jimmy" tells the story of his successful career. In 1992, he was inducted into the…
Author Curtis Blanton has a wonderful sense of humor. Herewith, listen to this interview from 2009 about how he came to publish the stories he heard the old timers tell when he was a kid.
Stedman Mitchell passed away at the age of 101 in June of 2017. A gifted storyteller and humorist, he loved his garden, building projects and his church. At the time of this interview in 2014, Stedman was 98 years old. He tells of his history of…
Born in 1940, Roy Owenby grew up in Nantahala, North Carolina. With a childhood lived in the richness of the forest, Roy learned to depend on nature and himself. This type of childhood gave him a creative foundation on which to rely for the rest of…
Annie Lee Bryson, 2010 winner of Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Award, was a legend in her own time. Born in a long line of pioneers in western North Carolina, this lady touched thousands of lives with her “corn husk dolls”—dolls…
Here is David Ammons, chair caner, who tells the story of how as a child he learned chair caning while watching his grandpa, Tom Ammons. In his words: “I watched in awe as he wove his magic piece by piece, bottoming the chair in a herringbone weave…
Herewith is the story of a young boy growing up in the mountains, and then traveling all over the world. Amy interviews Jim Sellers from Montieth Branch in Sylva, who gives us this glance of his childhood and tells of sneaking his first taste of…
From the radio show March, 2015— Howard Allman from Webster, NC, who shares some of the Allman Family lore, including a toll road named “Drummer’s Lane,” moonshiners, the gold rush of north Georgia, and stories of Howard as a young boy and swinging…
Listen to the soothing sounds of Nita’s voice as she shares precious memories of the life of a mountain girl who didn’t know her family was poor. A childhood with parents who taught core values gave Nita a solid foundation, assisting her as she…
Amy spends time with Glenda Miller, owner of RedBone Willy’s Trading Co., an old country store in Lawndale, NC, and survivor of two tornadoes, one on May 5, 1989, and another in 2017. A graduate of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC,…