Why Do We Call Them Workshops?

Looks like more fun than work. Check out the workshops scheduled for this year's Appalachian Roots Tribute, and you'll see what I mean. Workshops are scheduled so participants will have the opportunity to attend all workshops. And just a reminder: Workshops are included only with full event tickets which are limited.  So best not to wait for the snow to thaw. Get your tickets now, online, without even leaving the house.

Anndrena Belcher: My Story, My Songs, My Voice, My Home: Anndrena's stories and songs celebrate a "life lived in the crux of contradiction."  A child of the 1950s Great Southern Migration, her workshop chronicles the journey between her eastern Kentucky ancestral home, her inner-city Chicago home, and the "Hillbilly Highway" she travels to connect the two. Traditional ballads, original acapella songs and Anndrena's self-penned Honky Tonk tales explore the ever intriguing music that springs up from these mountains she calls  home!

Joseph Sobol: Appalachian Wonder Tale: Jack and the Least Gal     

Joseph Sobol has studied and learned tales from several of the major bearers of the Appalachian wonder tale tradition—Ray Hicks, Stanley Hicks, and Donald Davis—and has published extensively on the tellers and their tales. He’ll be sharing insights from his 30 years of research as well as some of his own versions of the stories--exploring the enduring value of telling traditional tales in the 21st century.

Katie Hoffman: Hillbilly… or Hipster?                

It just goes to show you that if you wait long enough, you’re the new “in” thing! This workshop will explore the new hipness of mountain culture, which is all the rage right now in big-city restaurants and music venues. We’ll see how images of Appalachia and its people have changed over the last century and a half and celebrate the fact that, finally, mountain people are speaking for themselves and others are listening. Prepare to be both educated and entertained as Katie reviews the problematic and stereotypical Appalachian images of the past in the light of a very promising present and future.

Orville Hicks: Life on the Mountain            

Raised up on the backside of Beech Mountain, Orville Hicks learned storytelling from his mother, Sarah Harmon Hicks, and his famous cousin, Ray Hicks. "I think old tales ought'ta keep going,” says Hicks, “so this younger generation can learn and know about what some of us went through growin' up in the mountains, how life really changed."  So, just what was it like growin' up on the mountain? Come listen as only Orville Hicks can tell it.