Appalachian Imagination

Thank you for being patient while we took a little break through the month of July!

We hope you enjoyed listening back to some of the older episodes. It is truly an honor and privilege to do each and every interview with our wonderful friends and neighbors.

In this short ad free episode, Jason talks about logging and harvesting trees. From the very first European settlers, logging and harvesting timber has been a crucial part of shaping the world we live in. The pioneers would happen up on the place they chose to settle, cut and hew logs, and build homes and other buildings to raise their families in. Dragging the logs with oxen or horses and mules, then they would soon raise a house.

Logging became more industrial after the invention of the saw mill, and also saw a big boom with railroads. Though it saw somewhat of a decline during the Civil War, it never stopped. In the early 1900's the boom continued, then had a big increase during WW2.

We challenge you to look around your home one day, and see how many wood items that you spot in your home. Anything that you find made of wood at some point in time was brought out of the forest by loggers. If you would like to share with us all that you found, tell us about it in the Questions section of this podcast.

We thank God for his wonderful bounty, that we should be good stuarts of!

We thank all the people who through the years who have had part in building the world we live in!

Thank you for taking the time to listen and your continued support!

We thank our sponsors- WWAG 107.9fm www.wagoncountry.com and The Jackson County Sun www.thejacksonsunky.com and our friend John Caywood in Oklahoma.

You can Email us for any reason at [email protected]

Until next week, Stay Awesome Appalachia!

While the great.State of Kentucky is currently in the process of updating the roads, on the north end of Jackson County. We thought it would be fitting to repost this episode with Rob. He shares a bunch of stories on the history of Sand Gap during the time when it was really thriving, and it now seems to be coming back to life (somewhat). With all the gravel trucks in our area it takes a toll on the roads rather quickly. Though it is aggravating waiting in traffic, it is well worth it to have good passable roads to travel on.

We will be back next week with a brand new episode! Thank y'all for your patience and kindness during our little break.

Rob Williams, Papaw Paul, and Jason sit down for a conversation that is a true adventure through the history and life in Sand Gap, Kentucky. Though you can't tell it now in the 1940's Sand Gap was a booming town! With several mining companies and multiple coal temples, all businesses were doing really well back in the day. They talk about the Moore Holler~ it had electricity while most of Jackson County was still without.

Since the original air date of this episode Paul has retired from driving a school bus, however he is still working as a volunteer reading to the kids at Sand Gap Elementary through the Save The Children Project. He and his wonderful wife Debbie have also opened an Air B&B called The Mayapple Cabin, it is located right on the Sheltowee Trace, near McKee, Ky. If you happen to be in the area and need a place to 'hole up for the night' be sure to check it out on airb&b.com.

Paul is somewhat of a celebrity around Jackson County especially among the children he has met and made friends with, during his time in the educational system. He greets each one of them by name or by a nickname that he has given them and is sure to hand them a soft peppermint candy that he conveniently carries in his shirt pocket. Speaking as a bystander it is always a joy to watch the kids light up and start the familiar chant of "Papaw Paul-Papaw Paul".

Paul really paints a picture with his story telling and I would recommend this episode to anyone!

If you have already listened to it, listen again and show our good friend, co-host and neighbor that we all appreciate all he has done and is still doing in our community.

Paul shares his story of growing up in the city of McKee KY. He drives a school bus and works as a volunteer for the Save The Children Foundation, reading to the kids at Sand Gap Elementary. Paul mentions so many things that most people in the area never knew existed. Jane the train being one.

Hunting, Fishing and Healthy Habits.

Justin tells us about Mouth taping/Hostage Tape. His health routines may seem a little weird to some folks, but Justin really puts his heart into being a healthier person. He says the tape took a couple of days to adjust to but he has really slept well since. Good sleep is when our bodies recover and is really important to our overall health.

Jason gives an update on the garden his family has been growing. Working hard to use no chemicals, it is labor intensive but well worth it with good healthy results. They have started a fruit and berry orchard with blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, an apple tree and blueberries. They have also planted a lot of different vegetables that they will process and put away for future use and maybe even sell a few at the local Farmer's Market.

The conversation then switches over to fishing. Justin has done some fishing in his time but isn't a fan of eating them. His family would take him to Florida once a year fishing as a child and he burnt out on the taste of fish through those trips.(They would eat fish twice a day for seven days straight.) The Bowman's have been doing a little fishing and storing them away in the freezer.

Neither of the guys are much on hunting but they share a few stories of that as well. Jason enjoys eating wild game and Justin doesn't enjoy anything that tastes gamey. Both agree that hunting is a good thing and promote it even if they're no good at it.

We thank God for all things, Big and Small!

We thank You for listening and all of your support!

We thank our sponsors- The Jackson County Sun www.jacksonsunky.com WWAG 107.9 fm www.wagoncountry.com and the loyal folks who make it all worth while.

Find us on Facebook

Email us at [email protected]

STAY AWESOME APPALACHIA!

Justin and Jason, start this episode off by paying tribute to Stringbean Akemon. They touch a little on who he was and discuss the Annual Stringbean Bluegrass Festival that is held at the Stringbean Memorial Park, in Gray Hawk Kentucky.

Talking about music there is no way Randy Hayes could be left out of the conversation. Randy was not only Keith Whitley's guitar player he was also his friend who was alongside KW for the entirety of his career. Keith Whitley's music still carries a huge impact on country music.

Jason being a musician, told about the Gemini Jam, a music festival that he and his wife Amy had played just a few days ago. The Gemini Jam is one of the many shows that is held by Bash On The Branch Promotions in Redlick Kentucky.

The episode then gets caught up in a whirlwind discussion about favorite and most influential musicians throughout the history of modern music. The guys tried to build a Mt. Rushmore of best Vocalist as well as best guitarist. This a really fun episode and we encourage you to jump in the comments and argue with us!!

We thank God for the power of music. It helps us cope with a lot of emotional stress in life and can bring people together when nothing else can.

We thank you for listening and helping keep music alive!

We thank our sponsors- WWAG 107.9 fm www.wagoncountry.com The Jackson County Sun www.jacksonsunky.com and Our dedicated audience!

Find us on Facebook

You can email us for any reason at [email protected]

STAY AWESOME APPALACHIA!!

Born and raised in a little place called Tuff it Out, near Gray Hawk, Kentucky. Donald (Duck) Moore was one of 6 surviving children born to his parents. Working as sharecroppers the Moore family lived in a 2 bedroom house, grew what they ate, and lived off of the farm that belonged to a Mr. Tommy Hays.

Duck found a love for sports in high school and was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to go to college, where he earned his teaching degree. while working hard to pay his tuition during the Summer months.

Mr. Moore started teaching school in 1970 with American History being his favorite subject to teach, from the year 1865 up till present time. One of his proud accomplishments was coaching the boys and girls high school basket ball teams getting both to the tournament in 1974.

Retiring from his teaching career after 27 years of service, Duck drove a school bus for another 5 years the ran for the office of Jackson County Clerk. He has at this point in time held that office for 23 years and has no plans of retiring any time soon.

Healthy Habits- Duck walks, briskly for 15-20 minutes per day and watches his diet.

Words of Wisdom- Do the right thing, take care of yourself, find a good hobby, and don't run with the gang.

Duck also shares how and when he picked up the nickname!

We thank God for folks that do their part to brighten someone else's day!

We thank you for listening and all of your support!

We thank our wonderful sponsors- The Jackson County Sun jacksonsunky.com WWAG 107.9fm www.wagoncountry.com and our friend in Oklahoma, John Caywood.

You can email us at [email protected]

Find us on Facebook!

Share your smile, enjoy the simple things, and

STAY AWESOME APPALACHIA!

This is an older episode that a lot of our new listeners may not have heard yet. With the warm weather now with us, work and life in general didn't allow time for a new episode this week but, this is one that we are sure you will enjoy.

I talk about all the work I had to do involving water growing up. We also had some music sent in from Lowdown Revival!! They perform a cover of Steeldrivers, Ghost of Mississippi. All stories in this episode are true first hand accounts. Find us on Facebook. If you’d like to contribute you can do so at https://www.paypal.me/AppalachianImagine

Feel free to email us for any reason at [email protected]

We thank God for the ability to work and make a living!

We thank you for listening and your continued support!

We thank our sponsors WWAG www.wagoncountry.com The Jackson County Sun www.jacksonsunky.com and John Caywood in Oklahoma.

STAY AWESOME APPALACHIA!!!