Blue Ridge Free State

  Paul Ravenwood lives in eastern Tennessee, where he writes, plays and records black metal and folk music, among other pursuits. Mason and Paul discuss Southern rock, what it’s like to hear Darkthrone while camping, folk music as a vital art, and more. Check out Twilight Fauna at twilightfauna.bandcamp.com, or Green Elder at greenelder.bandcamp.com.

At Patreon, I’ll be posting short, personal podcasts talking about the what, how and why of my independent mountain journalism. This short podcast serves as an introduction to my work. Recorded before the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, I stopped during a trail run to talk about what I do, how I got into it, … Continue reading A statement of purpose →

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I last posted an episode. In fact, it’s been just over a year. This new episode features no human voices, but consists entirely of the night sounds outside my house in Floyd County, Virginia. That said, it’s pretty loud, as it’s filled with the sounds of spring peepers … Continue reading Evening in the holler (w/ spring peepers and pond frogs) →

  Like Mason, Bob Hutton grew up reading Snuffy Smith in the pages of his local newspaper. Unlike Mason, Dr. Bob is a history professor at the University of Tennessee who specializes in the American South and Appalachia, which gives him a great perspective on Snuffy’s place in pop culture and how it fits into the … Continue reading Snuffy Smith through the eyes of an Appalachian historian (w/ Bob Hutton) →

This episode features an interview with John Rose, the cartoonist who creates “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” the syndicated comic strip that turned 100 this year. Rose talks about how he goes about writing and drawing a century-old legacy strip, from his daily routine to the changes he’s brought to the characters since taking over … Continue reading 11: A century of Barney Google and 85 years of Snuffy Smith (w/ John Rose) →

Our guest today is Byron Mack, a rapper, promoter, and beat maker from Salem, Virginia, who performs as Poe Mack. We talk about what it takes to rise up from the grassroots in a scene that doesn’t want to take chances on hip-hop, and what it takes to keep going strong 20 years into the … Continue reading 10: #TruthIsNotHate (w/ Poe Mack) →

On this episode, we talk about the 2018 battles we saw in court and on the ground to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile interstate natural gas line connecting the Marcellus Shale formation in northern Appalachia with lines in the Southeast U.S. We hear a segment from West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia involving … Continue reading 9: Inside the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline →

This episode is all about roller derby in Appalachia, through the lens of Twin Valleys Roller Derby in Roanoke. We visited their home finale double-header, with Twin Valleys Roller Derby versus Rail City Rollers and then Virginia All-Stars versus the World. Interviews with team skaters Black Bolt, Tar Hellion, Wedneslay Addams & Speed Junkie. We … Continue reading 8: One team, one goal (w/ Twin Valleys Roller Derby) →

On this episode, we interview Teresa Tyson Gardner of the Health Wagon, a free clinic serving a vulnerable population in Southwest Virginia’s coal counties. Teresa talks about the past, present, and future of the Health Wagon, the challenges to addressing healthcare in the mountains—but also how that need drives innovation and creative approaches.  Also, Mason … Continue reading 7: Mountain healthcare, from VW Beetle to Drone Delivery (w/ Teresa Gardner Tyson of SWVA’s Health Wagon) →

Blue Ridge Free State is a podcast about politics, culture, history, and life in Appalachia. On this episode, Mason looks back on the 2018 midterms and how they played out in Appalachia. And he looks ahead to the podcast’s near-term future. Follow us at @RidgeFree on Twitter and Facebook, or visit us at BlueRidgeFreeState.com.

On this episode, host Mason Adams interviews Brenda Hale, president of the Roanoke Branch NAACP. Topics include childhood trauma, urban renewal, politics, activism, the Confederate invasion of the 2015 Roanoke Christmas parade, and much more. Music by Poe Mack and Twilight Fauna. Find us at BlueRidgeFreeState.com or on social media @RidgeFree.