‘Don’t Get Dead,’ Tattoos And Cryptids, Inside Appalachia

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It’s been five years since the COVID-19 lockdowns. An album made during that time is getting a re-release on vinyl.

Also, a Kentucky tattoo artist practices traditional tattooing and traditional music. He says they’re not too different.

And, what keeps people so fascinated with cryptids?

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Don’t Get Dead: Pandemic Folk Songs By The Cornelius Eady Trio

Album cover that reads "Don't Get Dead: Pandemic Folk Songs by the Cornelious Eady Trio. There is a red car in a forest surrounded by trees. The front trunk of the car is full of yellow flowers. — *Don’t Get Dead: Pandemic Folk Songs* by the Cornelius Eady Trio
*Courtesy Photo*

Five years ago, the COVID-19 lockdowns kept a lot of people out of public spaces — and a lot of artists used that time to create. Like the Cornelius Eady Trio.

The group is organized around Cornelius Eady, a poet and professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, whose writing has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

With the help of musicians Lisa Liu and Charlie Rauh, Eady puts his words to music. The trio recorded an album of songs about the pandemic. It’s called Don’t Get Dead: Pandemic Folk Songs by the Cornelius Eady Trio.

The album now has been re-released on vinyl by Whitesburg, Kentucky’s June Appal Recordings.

Traditional Music And Tattoos At The Parlor Room

Three people in a tattoo parlor. One person is sitting and two of them are standing and playing an upright bass and a banjo. — Fellow tattooer Russ Griswold thumps on his upright bass and John Haywood plays the banjo as frequent client Brad Centers listens.
*Photo Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

John Haywood of Whitesburg, Kentucky says he got his first guitar and his first tattoo when he was about 13 years old.

These days, Haywood is the proprietor of Parlor Room Art and Tattoo in downtown Whitesburg. It’s a place where some people get inked up, and some play traditional music.

It’s a place unlike any other, as Zack Harold reports.

Traditions: The Ghost of Ruth Ann and Other Local West Virginia Lore

Cardboard cutout of the Veggie Man, a cryptid creature with green skin and yellow eyes in the middle of a room. — The Veggie Man at the Folklife Center in Fairmont, West Virginia.
*Courtesy of the Mothboys*

Almost everyone has heard of the Mothman — West Virginia’s best known cryptid. But have you heard of Veggie Man?

That’s another West Virginia cryptid. And it helped inspire a zine project from the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State University.

Producer Bill Lynch spoke with the center’s director, Lydia Warren, about the forthcoming publication, which is taking submissions.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Cornelius Eady Trio, John Haywood, Tim and Dave Bing, Paul Loomis, John Inghram and John Blissard.

Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways Editor Chris Julin.

You can send us an email: [email protected].

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and X @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

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