The Talking Appalachian Podcast

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In this revisit from Season 1, Amy hosts a Halloween edition of the Talkin’ Appalachian Podcast featuring education specialist Burke Greer from the Southwest Virginia Museum and Historical State Park, exploring historic Appalachian death and mourning rituals. Topics include church bell tolling to announce deaths and the deceased’s age, the “death watch,” wakes, and premonitions through dreams or visions. Burke describes home-based practices before embalming: cooling boards, binding the body, salt to absorb moisture, sitting up with the dead, fears about cats, and seasonal concerns like keeping bodies frozen in winter. The episode covers the rise of embalming and funeral aesthetics, post-mortem photography, grave digging as a community task, outdoor funeralizing, the origin of “pallbearer,” ridge-top cemeteries versus church graveyards, early markers and symbols, wreaths and flowers, hair weaving and graveyard quilts, Victorian mourning customs, and home superstitions like stopping clocks, covering mirrors, and corpse-bird omens, ending with an excerpt from Ron Rash’s “The Corpse Bird.”

00:00 Halloween Episode Intro

01:00 Bells and Death Notices

01:16 Death Watch and Wake

02:10 Family Roles After Death

02:43 Premonitions and Visions

04:09 Cooling Boards and Rigor

05:54 Sitting Up With Dead

06:19 Embalming and Funeral Industry

07:20 Post Mortem Photography

09:01 Funerals and Pallbearers

10:39 Cemeteries and Grave Markers

12:50 Mourning Symbols and Hair Art

14:29 Victorian Mourning Clothes

15:56 Patreon and Bonus Photos

16:43 Home Death Superstitions

18:34 Ron Rash Corpse Bird

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*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

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Emilee Hackney's memoir, All That's Unseen ( Random House, 2026) is a story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. Here's more about Emilee and her book:

She was born and raised deep in the hollers of the Appalachian Mountains. The majestic ridgelines of southwest Virginia provided the backdrop for her upbringing, and the stories of her grandparents and the coal mines’ brutal grip on their livelihood and land informed her understanding of home and the shape of one’s life.  The memoir and our conversation detail the story of a young woman who loses her faith, leaves the holler for Harvard, and finds her way back to her home, discovering what endures along the way.

Paid subscribers can find a bonus conversation I had with Emilee here and on Patreon.

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

Known as @theculturedbumpkin on social media and YouTube, voice actor Jake Phillips knows a thing or two about sounding Southern. The Mississippi native built his voice acting career after he began reading and recording audio books for his children and putting them on YouTube. He has grown a following online for his whimsical vocal interpretations of classics like Shakespeare and Pride and Prejudice-but with a Southern twist.

You can find Jake's Voice Acting Academy here

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

In this episode, I'm sitting down at the Library of Virginia with bestselling author, director, playwright, podcaster, and friend, Adriana Trigiani, to talk about what it means to be Appalachian.

She is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Big Stone Gap series, The View from Lake Como, The Good Left Undone, The Shoemaker’s Wife and Lucia, Lucia. In recent news, she was chosen to write Connie, a new authorized Godfather novel, to be released in the fall of 2027. 

Her work has been published in thirty-eight languages around the world. An award-winning playwright, television writer/producer, and filmmaker, Trigiani wrote and directed the major motion picture of her debut novel, Big Stone Gap, adapted her novel, Very Valentine, for television, and directed the award-winning documentary, Queens of the Big Time. She has written for The Washington Post, the Richmond Times Dispatch and Bon Appétit magazine, among others. Adriana hosts the hit podcast, You Are What You Read, where she interviews authors and luminaries about the books that built their souls. In 2023, Adriana was named Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by President Sergio Mattarella of Italy, and in 2024, the Library of Virginia awarded her the Patron of Letters degree, their highest honor. She also holds honorary degrees from Saint Mary’s College and the University of New Haven. Adriana is co-founder of the Origin Project, a year-round, in-school writing program that has served over 25,000 students since its inception in 2014. Trigiani is honored to serve on the New York State Council on the Arts. 

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

In this episode, we dig into seven key reasons Appalachian and Southern speakers push back when others critique the way we talk. Media bias, language discrimination, and a deep sense of ownership over our vowels, words, and ways of speaking all play a role in why dialect pride can turn into defensiveness. 

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

As America celebrates 250 years, we're reflecting on how Americans may have sounded from the colonists to Confederados. Drawing on a prior episode with Dr. Valerie Fridland and research by linguists like Michael Montgomery, I'll discuss how settlement patterns, class, mobility, and political affiliations shaped regional speech, contrasting Scots-Irish and North Midland influences in Appalachia with London-oriented coastal Virginia, and discussing rhotic vs. r-less pronunciation and shifting prestige norms. I'll also touch on Michael Montgomery’s study of Confederado descendants in Brazil whose 1970s speech preserved 19th-century Southern traits. 

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

Author Valerie Fridland is the author of the new book Why We Talk Funny: the Real Story Behind Our Accents (Viking, 2026.) In this fascinating episode that launches Season 4, we'll talk about the Revolutionary-era origins of our American accents, how mainstream American English arose as the 'prestige' dialect, the shibboleth (which explains the hostility people feel about 'latch' versus 'lay' in Appalachia, and Virginia's complex linguistic landscape.

A professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada (that's ne-va-da as in "cat"), Fridland is also the author of Like, Literally Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English. She's also originally from the South, so she gets it when we talk about how important accents can be to speakers.

A bonus episode on the histories of Y'all, You's, and Yinz is available to paid subscribers here, on Facebook, and on Patreon.

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

"Kil't" lettuce is an Appalachian delicacy. In this encore episode from Season 1, we discuss how to make this delicious summer salad and why people use -t at the end of the word instead of -ed. We'll also hear clips from storyteller Ray Hicks, who illustrates this Appalachian English pronunciation. So, get your onion, bacon grease, leafy greens, and intrusive -t ready because summer's on the way!

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

In this episode, we're looking for voice in some WWII-era letters and recipe books from my great-grandparents' era (I found a recipe called "Masculine Potato Salad"!) You'll also hear a voiceplace story from a western NC listener, who has decided to return to his voiceplace to teach his young daughter about her linguistic heritage. Then, we'll talk about the phrases "up and" and "up in," as in "She up and slapped me for no good reason!" or "We've had up in 50 people at a time come to the house on holidays."

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain

What did you think of this episode?

Beth Macy is the bestselling author of Dopesick, Factory Man, and Paper Girl. Dopesick, her investigation of the opioid crisis, was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, and was described as a “masterwork of narrative nonfiction” by The New York Times. Dopesick was made into a Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning Hulu series on which Macy served as an executive producer and cowriter. Her most recent book, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, is a combination memoir and reported analysis of the rural-urban divide told through the lenses of backward mobility, political polarization, and the decimation of local news. 

Silas House is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the novels Clay’s Quilt, 2001; A Parchment of Leaves, 2003; The Coal Tattoo, 2005; Eli the Good, 2009; Same Sun Here (co-authored with Neela Vaswani) 2012, Southernmost, 2018, and Lark Ascending, 2022, as well as a book of creative nonfiction Something’s Rising, co-authored with Jason Howard, 2009; and four plays. His first book of poetry, All These Ghosts, was the recipient of the 2026 Southern Book Prize. He recently published his first murder-mystery (under the pseudonym S.D. House), Dead Man Blues. He was also Poet Laureate of Kentucky.

I sat down with these two amazing writers at the 50th John Fox, Jr. Literary Festival at Mountain Empire Community College to talk about writing, their process, and a what it means to chronicle the complex stories of this region.

Special thanks to MECC's Dr. Amy Greear, Brandon Maggard for audio, and MECC for allowing me to create this episode from our conversation.

Support the show

*Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and review the podcast (if you like it)!
*Support the show by sharing links to episodes on social
*Subscribe to support the podcast on the Facebook Talking Appalachian page, or here at our Patreon page to get bonus content:
Talking Appalachian Podcast | Covering the Appalachian Region from North to South | Patreon
*Follow and message me on IG, FB, YouTube: @talkingappalachian
*To sponsor an episode or collaborate: [email protected] or message me at the link here or on social.

Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Freight Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain