It takes about 40 hours of hammering to turn a steel drum into a steelpan drum. Although originally meant to hold oil, shampoo or ketchup, the metal tube becomes an instrument uniquely capable of evoking island breezes and a slower pace of life. And believe it or not, this transformation takes place […]

There’s a place in southern West Virginia that many consider holy ground. For nearly 70 years, gospel music fans have gathered on this mountaintop just south of Summersville Lake for weekend concerts featuring singers from all over West Virginia and its surrounding states. This is the annual West Virginia Mountain State […]

When rumors began circulating among the community of country music scholars that famed documentarian Ken Burns was turning his attention toward country music, I had mixed feelings.  To be sure, such a national platform for the telling of the genre’s history would provide an opportunity for a national— and even […]