The Appalachians
(DVD)

Originally produced for public television broadcast.

Bonus feature: exclusive interview with Johnny Cash.

Executive producer, Mari-Lynn C. Evans ; project developers, Mari-Lynn C. Evans and Tom Robertson ; original music composed by Charlie Barnett ; edited by Barbara W. Burst and Sam Green.

Narrator, J.W. Mahoney ; Interviewees: Johnny Cash, Ricky Skaggs, Loretta Lynn, Marty Stuart, Little Jimmy Dickens, and others.

Episode 1 (55 min.). Examines the earliest settlers of the Appalachians, the Cherokee; the arrival in the 1700s of European settlers who brought their traditions and music with them; the regional role of whiskey distilling; the large evangelical tent meetings which brought together blacks and whites and fostered the development of regional white gospel influenced by African rhythms -- Episode 2 (55 min.). The Cherokees are cruelly relocated along the Trail of Tears; the Civil War splits families; modernization arrives as railroads make it possible to strip raw materials and timber from the mountains; mining companies change entire towns and ways of life; miners demands better working conditions and the region suffers from the violence of the great Coal Wars -- Episode 3 (62 min.). The phonograph and radio take mountain music to the outside world; Great Depression devastates the region; the New Deal provides new ways of making a living and brings wider access to electricity; strip mining and mountain-top removal change the landscape forever; people of Appalachia keep their traditional culture alive and vibrant.

Funding provided by US Department of HUD/VA, The Sierra Club and Sierra Club Productions, The Vandalia Heritage Foundation, MountainMade Foundation, The Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation, Appalachian Regional Commission, West Virginia High Tech Consortium Foundation, NASA, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

DVD.