The West Virginia Blend

#83 / Audio Extra

We always take note of West Virginia Day, and instead of singing “Happy Birthday” to our Mountain Mama, we usually choose a composition by one of the great Mountain State songwriters, such as the late Hazel Dickens.

This year we’re going beyond simply one song, rolling out our new West Virginia Show, with an hour of our favorite tributes to our beautiful home state.

As always, Hazel Dickens tunes are front and center. The show starts with Dickens’ seminal composition, “West Virginia, My Home,” as we recorded it on our first album more than two decades ago. That is followed by “Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia,” which, as we explain on the track, actually is a Utah Phillips’ tune, but with a final verse by Hazel.

Of course, any conversation about West Virginia songwriters must include some of the foundational music by the great Billy Edd Wheeler, the phenomenal singer/songwriter/writer/artist who was born in Whitesville, in neighboring Boone County some 80 years ago. Billy Edd's many tunes include "Jackson," with which Johnny Cash and June Carter scored a Grammy in 1968, and "The Reverend Mr. Black," which was a hit for The Kingston Trio in 1963. Our shows has two of his most important West Virginia pieces, “Coal Tattoo” And “Coming of the Roads.”

We also salute the work of younger writers, including Tommy Thompson (“Twisted Laurel”), Colleen Anderson (“West Virginia Chose Me”), Holly Near (“West Virginia Friend”) and Walt Aldridge (“No Ash Will Burn”).

The late Joe Dobbs was not a Mountain State native — “I wasn’t born in West Virginia,” he used to tell Flood audiences, “but I got here as soon as I could!” — but his fiddle captured West Virginian hearts for a half century. Here we offer two of Joe’s WV-centric instrumentals. First is that great old West Virginia fiddle tune, "West Folk Girls" (which also provided one of the best laughs of that particular evening, when… well, check it out for yourself … it comes about midway through the track.) Also, we have Joe’s own composition, “Vandalia Waltz,” dedicated to the state’s annual Vandalia Gathering folk festival on the state capitol grounds.

And of course, we couldn’t do a West Virginia tribute without featuring tunes from the state’s dearest friend and most ardent defender, native son Dave Peyton, our band’s co-founder. In this show, David is present throughout, of course, from his rollicking “Moonshine in Those West Virginia Hills” to his and Rog Samples’ classic rendition of Aunt Jennie Wilson’s moving “Banks of the Old Guyan.”

We love celebrating West Virginia. Click the button below to join us!

And Now a Word From Dave…

We think of our late co-founder David Peyton every day, but never more than on West Virginia Day. Dave absolutely love his native state.

Here, from 25 years ago, is a Dave Peyton column that has always been one of our favorites: