How I Gave Up and Found Love I love a good love story, so I decided to share the improbable story of how I met my true companion a bit later in life. (Even though we’d met as kids when my search for baklava in a town we’d both just moved to landed me in […]

Growing Up Dancing in Appalachia So many dances in my childhood began with the caller shouting, “All join hands and circle to the left…!”The community of loving hearts and lively music that I grew up in anchored my love of the art forms, and I enjoyed sharing with you some of the elements of how […]

Appalachian Herbalist Andrew Bentley (Part 2) In this episode, I interview longtime friend and accomplished Appalachian Clinical Herbalist Andrew Bentley of Lee County, Kentucky. This is part two of two, where he shares more about what it’s like to visit his clinic or have a tele-health appointment, opens up about projects on the horizon, and […]

Appalachian Herbalist Andrew Bentley (Part 1) In this episode, I interview longtime friend an accomplished Appalachian Clinical Herbalist Andrew Bentley of Lee County, Kentucky.This is part one of two, where he shares his earliest experiences learning about herbs from his Irish-American family, and talks about his childhood in Appalachia. You’ll learn about all the components […]

Flatfooting & Clogging & Bluegrass & Old-Time As an artist who performs traditional Appalachian music and dance, I get lots of questions about the styles of music and dance that I play.“You play banjo–does that mean you play bluegrass?”“What’s the difference between flatfooting and clogging?”And, quite often, “Will you play Dueling Banjos?” In this episode, […]

A Visit With Granny Ollie In this episode, I take you on a little trip through time and the backroads of Kentucky, across swinging bridges and up dirt roads to the tiny dwelling of my mother’s mother, Ollie Gilbert Hudson.  I wanted folks to feel what a visit there was like for me as a […]

Appalachia Edition In this episode, I take on a potentially sensitive subject: cultural insensitivity toward Appalachian people, as manifested in the musical community. This episode deals with what I see as respectful vs. insensitive ways to approach performing and participating in cultures of groups and places that are different from your culture of origin. To […]

A tale about my Granny and Generosity I was blessed with a mother and grandmother who were both incredibly generous. The older I get, the more I appreciate the sweet spirits they had and the way they lived their values via their actions—they TOTALLY walked their talk!In this episode, I tell a quick story about […]

Choosing the best shoe for Appalachian Flatfooting & Clogging is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Here is some information to help you select the best shoe for YOU! How do I pick a shoe? This is always one of the first questions on folks’ minds when they start learning or diving deeper into Appalachian Dancing. I’d […]

In this episode, I share some of my thoughts on songwriting and why I have a bit of impostor syndrome when it comes to calling myself a songwriter.I also share tons of information that I normally give in my songwriting workshops, including information about: song forms and structures, rhyme schemes, formats, story songs, and ballads.I […]