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Evan

Ripley, West Virginia

“You hear on the radio a lot of pop and a lot of country, and that's about it.

We're in an extremely small niche of comedy trap, but it's very difficult to do here.”

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"Here in Ripley, even the whole of Jackson County, there isn't much to do. We used to have a movie theater — it burned down. We used to have a bowling alley—it shut down. We go to Sheetz a lot, like the gas station, just because it's a place we can hang out — it's something to do.

"Ripley and Ravenswood are so close to Ohio, that's basically the culture here. I mean, we're definitely West Virginian still, but we are so close to Ohio that like we might as well be Ohioans."

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"Even though I think there is a more northern culture here, there is absolutely the south rooted here. And a lot of people's parents and grandparents were raised on these kind of racist, maybe not like screaming racist, but kind of racist values. So, if that's just in the back of their head already, they might gravitate toward that."

Click the image to enlarge. Photo: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia

Click an image to enlarge and move through the gallery. Photo: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia

Click to play the video. Credit: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia

Click the image to enlarge. Photo: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia

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"We're the first generation that was exposed on a wide scale to YouTube and other streaming services where we can see what's out there. I mean, we can immediately see that we could get big, but it's just not happening here. So we have the ability to see what's possible and the people who didn't grow up around that, it seems like they're regurgitating what they've already seen, whereas, and again, not to brag, but it feels like we are creating something unique here."

Click the image to enlarge. Photo: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia

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"I use it [TikTok] in a way, and I was joking about earlier, for like a brand kind of thing. I create an image of myself which is so awesome, like I really tried to create this bizarre but inviting energy on there, so that if someone who is interested in me or there's an employer, they can see that and instantly know who I am and what I'm about.


"In the future, I think we'd like to do our music professionally, but it's very difficult to do here because no one's asking for it here. You hear on the radio a lot of pop and a lot of country, and that's about it. We're in an extremely small niche of comedy trap, but it's very difficult to do here."