Two Knoxville Events to Support Appalshop Archive

Hello from the Appalshop Archive! As you may have seen in the PBS NewsHour special, our team has been busy with our post-flood remediation efforts. Cleaning and digitizing the largest Appalachian audiovisual collection in the world takes patience and a lot of outside help, such as that from our asset storage partner Iron Mountain and their generous Living Legacy Initiative. They are holding our flood-affected materials in cold storage in Pennsylvania until we can move those materials through remediation and back into some form of accessible archive or museum on our grounds here in Letcher County. We are also working on building out a brand-new archive website, which will allow folks from anywhere to explore our novel collections.

Would you like to learn more? Perhaps even see some of the films in our collection? If you are in the Knoxville area on May 29, we have two events you might be interested in! 

At noon on May 29 at the East Tennessee History Center, archive team members Leo Shannon and Shane Terry will be presenting “Preserving Appalachian Culture: Recover and Remediation of Appalshop’s Legacy Media Content.” To learn more and register (this is both an in-person and digital event), visit easttnhistory.org.  

Next, at 6:45 pm on May 29 at Central Cinema, Leo and Shane will be screening and discussing three classic music-centric Appalshop films: Wild World of Hasil Adkins (1993), His Eye Is On the Sparrow (2003), and Youth Bored: Uniting Appalachian Youth (2002). These screenings are hosted by Central Cinema and the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS). 

Both events are completely FREE! We hope to see you in Knoxville.

Lots of Free Music: Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series 2024 + Seedtime on the Cumberland

It’s that magical time of year again, when the Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series kicks off! Join us every Thursday from May 30 through July 26 for ten family-friendly, FREE concerts at the Mountain Heritage Stage in beautiful downtown Whitesburg. 

The series begins with a performance by two-time Grammy winner and fifteen-time IBMA Dobro Player of the Year Rob Ickes and 2023 IBMA Guitar Player of the Year Trey Hensley. The Grammy-nominated duo cleverly and uniquely melds music of all kinds to create a signature blend of music that defies genre. Hear them and learn why No Depression observed “two of the finest musicians playing today.”

The Whitesburg Farmers Market opens at 4:30 pm, opening acts hit the stage at 6:30, and headliners go on at 7:30. To learn more, visit https://levitt.org/amp-whitesburg-ky/. 

Also, don’t forget that Seedtime on the Cumberland, our FREE music festival will be at our Solar Pavilion (91 Madison Avenue, Whitesburg, KY) on Saturday, June 1. Music on the main stage kicks off at 10 am!