Virgil Q. Wacks

After the Civil War, thousands of defeated Confederates refused to live under the Union flag. Instead, they packed up their families and headed for new lives in South America in a Confederate exodus f...

8 Nov 202517min

In August 1925, two years before the famed Bristol Sessions, Ralph Peer and Okeh Records set up a temporary studio on the rooftop of Asheville’s brand-new Vanderbilt Hotel.Over ten sweltering days, lo...

1 Nov 202520min

This Halloween marks 10 years of stories from Rod and Steve; to mark the holiday and our tenth anniversary, we’re going to take you deep into the dark side of Appalachia with two chilling tales from s...

25 Okt 202520min

We’ve told hundreds of stories about Appalachia, but few are as bizarre as the night a Kentucky drug smuggler named Andrew Thornton II fell to his death during a smuggling run over south Knoxville, Te...

18 Okt 202517min

In July, 1912, a joyful Fourth of July outing on a mountain turned into a tragedy when a crowded passenger coach collided head-on with a massive coal train on the Wilpen Branch of the Ligonier Valley ...

11 Okt 202515min

In November 1861, a secret band of East Tennessee Unionists struck at the heart of Confederate supply lines by burning railroad bridges across the region. They believed the Union army would soon march...

4 Okt 202522min

This week, we wrap up our commemoration of the first anniversary of Hurricane Helene by talking with Mitchell County’s David Biddix, who documented the effects of the storm and its aftermath in that h...

1 Okt 202546min

When Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina a year ago, it left behind washed-out roads, flooded homes, and communities cut off from each other. For first responders, the storm was more ...

27 Sep 202512min