Search Results


Listen to Audio

1. Oral history of Elaine Purkey, 1 of 2


Listen to Audio

2. Oral history of Elaine Purkey, 2 of 2

["Elaine (Moore) Purkey is an activist songwriter and musician from Harts Creek, West Virginia in Lincoln County. She was born on May 29, 1949, on the same piece of property where she still lives. She was raised in a family of musicians and flatfoot dancers and attributes her powerful voice to the acapella singing she learned as a member of the Church of Christ. As a teenager she played in bands with her brother, and in early adulthood she was the lead singer of a local country band. In the 1980s, she began performing regularly on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, a live radio program out of Logan County that has been on the air since 1967. She now hosts the show. Purkey wrote songs for the Pittston Coal Strike and Ravenswood Lockout and has performed at concerts and festivals across the continent. Her song \"One Day More\" written for the Ravenswood Lockout, is featured on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings compilation Classic Labor Songs. Purkey is portrayed in the 2014 film Moving Mountains, based on a book by Penny Loeb. A proud mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Purkey teaches singing classes to children at the Big Ugly Community Center."]%

3. Oral history of transcript of Elaine Purkey

["Elaine (Moore) Purkey was an activist songwriter and musician from Harts Creek, West Virginia in Lincoln County. She was born in 1949, on the same piece of property where she lived when she died in 2020. She was raised in a family of musicians and flatfoot dancers and attributed her powerful voice to the acapella singing she learned as a member of the Church of Christ. As a teenager she played in bands with her brother, and in early adulthood she was the lead singer of a local country band. In the 1980s, she began performing regularly on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, a live radio program out of Logan County that has been on the air since 1967. She eventually became the host of the show. Read state folklorist Emily Hilliard's tribute to Purkey: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/09/03/a-tribute-to-west-virginia-labor-singer-songwriter-elaine-purkey-1949-2020/"]%

4. Portrait of Elaine Purkey

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

5. Elaine Purkey and company introduce the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show at a live taping in Chapmanville, 1 of 2

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

6. Elaine Purkey and company introduce the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show at a live taping in Chapmanville, 2 of 2

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

7. Guest fiddler on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

8. Singer-songwriter Elaine Purkey introduces the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

9. Victoria Bosley introduces the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

10. Elaine Purkey and band perform on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, 1 of 3

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

11. Elaine Purkey and band perform on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, 2 of 3

["The Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show is a live radio program, recorded in Logan County, and airing for over 50 years on WVOW, The Voice of the Coalfields. Wallace Horn founded the show and passed the creative directorship on to Elaine Purkey. This taping of the Friendly Neighbors Show, on November 18, 2017, was recorded at the Chapmanville Towers in Chapmanville, WV. Other taping locations include the Hot Cup coffee shop in Logan. Shows are taped twice a month."]%

12. Elaine Purkey and band perform on the Wallace Horn Friendly Neighbors Show, 3 of 3