Kelley Libby

Shape note singing has deep roots in Appalachia and the American south. Popular first in 18th and 19th-century New England, shape note singing is a tradition that relies on group participation. But what happens when groups can’t get together and sing? I produced this story for the Folkways Reporting Project in 2020, as people were social distancing because of COVID. This version aired on VPM.

A way of life on Tangier Island is threatened by rising sea levels. Through a partnership with Google, a Virginia project has raised awareness of Tangier’s plight by allowing people from anywhere in the world to visit the endangered island—virtually. I produced this story for With Good Reason.

Camilla Williams was an internationally renowned operatic soprano from Danville, Virginia. I produced this audio portrait of Williams for With Good Reason.

Frank Newsome is an Old Regular Baptist preacher, singer of lined-out hymnody, and former coal miner in Appalachia. Virginia’s State Folklorist Jon Lohman describes Newsome’s musical tradition and its influence on bluegrass, gospel, and old-time music. I produced this story for With Good Reason.

Enjoli Moon is the founder and creative director of the Afrikana Independent Film Festival, which brings filmmakers from all over the world to Richmond. But Moon doesn't have a background in film. She shares her memories of a Richmond restaurant that inspired her to create something new and different in the city. I produced this story for a series I created called UnMonumental, which aired on Radio IQ.

Michelle Taylor was a research associate at Virginia Commonwealth University when she took part in a program to reconstruct the grounds of Montpelier, the former estate of President James Madison, in Virginia. Taylor also has a personal connection to one of the enslaved people Madison owned, which made her work rebuilding slave cabins especially meaningful to her. I produced this story for NPR’s All Things Considered.

News Spot

hosting

I hosted this special holiday episode of With Good Reason. The episode connects the present to the past as we uncover little-known stories of Virginia spirits, from a recently revived 19th-century julep recipe to an event that draws “women who whiskey.” We do a tasting with Ironclad Distillery and Vitae Spirits and talk with Sarah Hand Meachum, author of Every Home a Distillery.

Influenced by Colin Kaepernick’s protest of police brutality during the National Anthem, a high school volleyball player initiates her own protest, and not without consequences. And a historian tells the story of a religious minority who helped win the American Revolution and the fight for religious freedom in America. I hosted and produced American Dissent, a podcast from James Madison’s Montpelier and With Good Reason at Virginia Humanities.

Author and wildlife biologist Drew Lanham talks about his book, The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. Lanham discusses his love of birds, his South Carolina homeplace, and reconciling the South’s legacy of hate with its beauty. I produced this episode of the Broken Ground podcast, which tells environmental stories in the south.

Every Friday, people from throughout eastern Appalachia and beyond ascend the steep slopes of the Blue Ridge to sing, dance, and play music. They arrive in Floyd, Virginia, a one-stoplight town in a sprawling county of about 15,000 people on the Blue Ridge Plateau. It’s home to the Friday Night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store. I produced and edited this award-winning story by Mason Adams for Inside Appalachia.

That Ain’t Country Country? Rap? Lil Nas X’s chart-topping “Old Town Road” revived a long debate about borders and boundaries in American popular music. To sort out this strange history, host Hari Kunzru heads down to the foothills of Virginia, where a legendary collection of blues records holds the key to understanding the insidious separation of “Black” and “white” culture. I was the recordist and engineer for this episode.