Hairston, Bill, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Fiddling, Storytelling, Fiddle tunes, Folk music--West Virginia, Racism, Old-time music, Banjo, Saint Albans (W. Va.), Big Coal River Valley (W. Va.), 4-H clubs, School integration, and Folklore
Folklore, Saint Albans (W. Va.), African Americans--Appalachian Region, Old-time music, Folk music--West Virginia, Walker, John Homer, School integration, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Fiddle tunes, Banjo, Racism, Fiddling, 4-H clubs, Big Coal River Valley (W. Va.), Hairston, Bill, and Storytelling
Racism, Old-time music, School integration, Hairston, Bill, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Folk music--West Virginia, 4-H clubs, Storytelling, Folklore, African Americans--Appalachian Region, and Walker, John Homer
![["W.I. Bill Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor (Westminster Presbyterian Church) living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia in 1960 when he was 11. Through his storytelling, Hairston, as he says in the interview, combines the Appalachian culture that he was exposed to on the Coal River, to the African-American culture that he is a part of. For 35 years, he served as music coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee, and is currently the coordinator of the Vandalia Gatherings West Virginia Liars Contest. Hairston is an active member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and the Ohio Storytelling Network, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and serves as the West Virginia liaison to the National Storytelling Network. He has performed in concerts, festivals, libraries, corporate meetings, conventions and schools throughout the region and the country. In this interview, Hairston speaks about growing up in one of three Black families in the Lick Skillet area of Saint Albans along the Coal River, his interest in and work with rural West Virginia old-time musicians and 4-H camps, his friendship with Frank and Jane George, experiences with racism in West Virginia, and his work and mission as an Appalachian storyteller."]](/thumb/4224HairstonBillIntTranscript91019 "Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston")
![["Kim Johnson and Cody Jordan were participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. Kim Johnson, a resident of South Charleston led an apprenticeship in banjo traditions of central West Virginia with apprentice Cody Jordan of Charleston. Johnson began playing with fiddler Wilson Douglas in 1979 and has played with and learned from many acclaimed West Virginia old-time musicians including Frank George and Lester McCumbers. She has taught both locally and nationally, at Augusta Heritage Center, Allegheny Echoes, The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and the Berkeley Old-time Music Convention. Jordan plays guitar in The Modock Rounders with Johnson, touring across the state and region, and is looking forward to expanding his knowledge of central West Virginia old-time banjo traditions.See our feature on Johnsons apprenticeship with Jordan here: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/09/04/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-kim-johnson-cody-jordan-banjo-traditions-of-central-west-virginia/The West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program offers up to a $3,000 stipend to West Virginia master traditional artists or tradition bearers working with qualified apprentices on a year-long in-depth apprenticeship in their cultural expression or traditional art form. These apprenticeships aim to facilitate the transmission of techniques and artistry of the forms, as well as their histories and traditions.The apprenticeship program grants are administered by the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council in Charleston and are supported in part by an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. West Virginia Folklife is dedicated to the documentation, preservation, presentation, and support of West Virginias vibrant cultural heritage and living traditions."]](/thumb/4224JohnsonKimJordanCodyIntTranscript81920 "Transcript of oral history of Kim Johnson and Cody Jordan")