Appalachia has provided cultural riches to the world, but its greatest achievement may be string-band music, particularly old-time and bluegrass. In essence, it’s Appalachia’s core story: immigrants move and bring their culture into the mountains, and become part of the greater whole. Appalachian string-band music combines African-rooted banjo, fiddle and ballads from Scotland, England and Ireland, and numerous other musical strains to make something new that couldn’t have originated anywhere else. Perhaps the best thing about mountain string music is that it’s populist, taught in after-school programs across the region…
