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Larry Bingham's avatar

This is a great read! I didn’t know this history and am thrilled to see Sharon McCrumb getting attention. I took a class on Appalachian Literature from her at Virginia Tech in the late 1980s and have been a fan ever since.

Carl Camembert Henn's avatar

save the music! it’s wonderful!

John Nielson's avatar

I’ve studied, sung and played traditional music for over fifty years now. When I first encountered Sharon McCrumb’s novels I was drawn in by their being set in the place and culture of Appalachia, but what kept me reading was her ability to spin a story. Plus, they’re just so hard to put down and so much fun to read!

Shauna K. Hunt's avatar

You have a bona fide Sharyn McCrumb fan girl here. My favorites:

The Unquiet Grave

King's Mountain

She Walks These Hills

The Songcatcher

She is also fun to follow on Facebook. She has inspired me to work on my family history. In fact, it was an article in Writers Digest that I discovered her, in the 1990s. McCrumb documents everything meticulously.

Most of all, Sharyn McCrumb is one of the best storytellers I have ever read.

I desperately want to go to these festivals! Thank you for this awesome article!

Priscilla King's avatar

Very interesting!

I went to Berea for a year. It seemed the sort of place where political or even more venal considerations might prompt them to suppress even their best students' best work, despite the abundant promotion they normally do.