Spring 2021 issue of GOLDENSEAL Magazine features stories from around the state

News Release
May 2, 2021

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Spring 2021 issue of GOLDENSEAL magazine is now available. Since 1975, GOLDENSEAL has been West Virginia’s Magazine of Traditional Life.

This issue’s cover story examines Black gospel and blues music. Doris A. Fields, better known as Lady D, one of our state’s most gifted singers, traces the history of this poignant music from the slave plantations of the Deep South to the West Virginia coalfields. She discusses how gospel and blues formed the foundation of modern popular music and how they have changed in some ways while remaining true to their roots.

This edition covers a wide range of other historical and cultural topics from across our state. State Folklorist Emily Hilliard writes about singer and storyteller extraordinaire W.I. “Bill” Hairston of Charleston. Edwin Daryl Michael looks at the evolution of rural photography through the lens of his Marion County family in the early 20th century. Lawrence “Larry” Cabell remembers the perilous task of digging coal from a community mine when he was a kid in Boone County in the 1930s.

The late Bob Barnett, in his final article for GOLDENSEAL (dating back to 1983), tells of Parkersburg’s Greasy Neale, one of our state’s greatest athletes and coaches. Aaron Parsons writes about television news pioneer Bill Kelley. Miriam Ralston reflects on founding MAW, the first magazine solely about Appalachian women, in Huntington in the 1970s. Ben Calwell relates the story of a mass comic-book burning at Spencer Grade School (Roane County) in 1948. Nancy S. Hoffman pays a visit to the family owned Ruggles Orchard in Hampshire County. Jeffrey Shade shares how undercover state troopers brought down the longtime red-light district at Cinder Bottom (McDowell County) in the late 1960s.

Two articles are dedicated to WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Service) who served our country during World War II. Barb Howe writes about Greenbrier County native and former Tucker County resident Jessie Luckie and Isabel Lobb Jones, who recently passed away in Morgantown at age 101. Sara Bragg Aikin recalls the life of Ansted (Fayette County) native Ernestine Hess Davey, who died a few months ago at 99.

In his regular “Back Roads West Virginia” column, Carl E. Feather drops by the Lenox Store, Preston County’s oldest continuously operated business. Michael Evans Snyder salutes the late Lincoln County native Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier. Author Kathleen M. Jacobs and Ellen Lambert offer some personal recollections from their lives, and Audrey Pitonak-Goff writes about the Appalachian Children’s Chorus, which just celebrated its 30th anniversary.

GOLDENSEAL Magazine can be purchased at the following retail outlets: