Those of us with roots in Appalachian culture know what shape-note singing is, have probably been to at least one barn dance as a small child, have heard stories about Aunt Sadie and her ceremonial sticks around the chicken house, and know that Uncle Bud frequently hung out with buddies like Popcorn Sutton and probably picked up a few extra dollars during the Depression, and afterward, working as a freelance distributor for a local version of Popcorn somewhere.

By the way, some of the things old-style Appalachians believed to be true that I continue to believe myself include the superiority of herbal medicines and concoctions (most often given in the form of teas) over modern chemical “medicines” and that certain people have “the gift,” the ability to see and understand a person’s spirit and what is likely to happen in the future. “The gift” was usually found in strange older women, but sometimes men had it too.

Appalachian culture was fiercely anarchist at its core, just like Celtic tribal culture. To their eternal credit, the Appalachian regions of the Civil War South opposed slavery and either fought on the side of the Union or sniped at Confederates from high mountain redoubts whenever the Rebs appeared.

And of course, through it all, they made ‘shine.