Our Inside Appalachia team recently won several awards for our reporting. This week, we’re listening back to some of these stories, including one about the John Denver classic, “Take Me Home Country Roads,” which was first recorded 50 years ago in 1971.

“There was this overall mood of homesickness, not just for West Virginia but for our country. The song was born into that,” said Sarah Morris, an English professor at West Virginia University who is writing a book about “Country Roads.”

And we’ll learn how indie pro-wrestling in Southern West Virginia was able to keep going through the pandemic — with drive-in shows. We’ll also hear about two Welsh storytellers and their fascination with Appalachia. We’ll listen back to those stories, and more, in our special awards episode of Inside Appalachia.