Virginia Water Radio

Episode 162 (5-20-13): "Three Forks of Sandy," by Bobby Taylor

water@vt.edu (Virginia Water Resources Research Center) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:52:54 PDT

Click to listen to episode (2:37).

TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 20, 2013.

This week, we feature an old-time fiddle tune named for a trio of rivers that connect Virginia to the waters of neighboring Appalachian states and—far downstream—to the Gulf of Mexico. Have a listen for about 40 seconds.

MUSIC

You’ve been listening to part of “Three Forks of Sandy,” on the 2009 CD “Bobby Taylor Plays Ragged Shirt and Other Favorite Fiddle Tunes from West Virginia,” on Vigortone Records. The tune is attributed to Ed Haley, a West Virginia native who settled in Kentucky and became a well-known traditional fiddler in the early-to-mid 1900s, despite having lost his eyesight at age three. The tune’s name refers to the three forks of the Big Sandy River: Levisa, Russell, and Tug, all of which have headwaters in southwestern Virginia. Near Pikeville, Kentucky, the Russell flows into the Levisa, which in turn joins the Tug to form the Big Sandy River along the Kentucky-West Virginia border. Near Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where Ed Haley settled, the Big Sandy joins the Ohio River, one of the major tributaries of the Mississippi River and eventually the Gulf. Thanks to Bobby Taylor for permission to use this week’s music.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES
[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of the posting date.]

Virginia’s major river basins. The Virginia portion of the Big Sandy River watershed is shown in green at the lower left. Map from Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/stormwater_management/wsheds.shtml#vawshedsites, accessed 5/20/13.

Big Sandy River watershed, showing its three main forks, the Levisa, Russell, and Tug. Map by Kmusser [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons, accessed
at this link, 5/20/13.

Acknowledgments and Sources: “Three Forks of Sandy” and “Bobby Taylor Plays Ragged Shirt and Other Favorite Fiddle Tunes from West Virginia” are copyright by Bobby Taylor and Vigortone Records, used with permission. Information about Bobby Taylor is available online at his Web site, http://btfiddler.com/, by phone to (304) 546-7175.

Information on the Big Sandy River watershed was taken from the Virginia Department of Conservation, online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/stormwater_management/wsheds.shtml#vawshedsites; “Big Sandy River Basin Profile,” Big Sandy River Basin Coalition, online at http://www.bigsandybasin.org/Profile; Virginia Atlas and Gazetteer (Yarmouth, Me.: DeLorme, 2000), and State Farm Road Atlas (Rand McNally, 1998).

Information on the “Three Forks of Sandy” was taken from “Big Sandy River,” by the late musician John Hartford, on the “West Virginia Encyclopedia” Web site, http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/484; and from “The Traditional Tune Archive” (formerly “The Fiddler’s Companion”) by Andrew Kuntz, online at http://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Forks_of_Sandy_%281%29.

Information on Ed Haley was taken from the “Old –Time Music Home Page,” online at http://www.oldtimemusic.com/FHOFHaley.html, and from the “Fiddle Fest” page on the Web site for the 2012 Ashland (Ky.) Poage Landing Days Festival, at http://poagelandingdays.com/.

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For news, events, and resources relevant to Virginia's water resources, grouped into categories, please visit the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/.

Episode 161 (5-13-13): Virginia State Parks and National Kids to Parks Day

water@vt.edu (Virginia Water Resources Research Center) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:57:06 PDT

Click to listen to episode (2:33).

TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 13, 2013.

This week, we feature another series of mysterious names. Have a listen for about 30 seconds, and see if you can guess what group of Virginia places includes these names being called out by young Blacksburg residents. And here’s a hint: they’re all public, popular, and particularly natural, scenic, or historic.

VOICES.

If you guessed Virginia state parks, you’re right! Colorful and interesting names hint at the varied natural and historic resources—not to mention programs and activities—offered by Virginia’s state-parks system. Since the June 15, 1936, ceremony at Hungry Mother State Park in Smyth County that marked the opening of Virginia’s first six parks, the Commonwealth’s system has grown to 36 parks covering over 60,000 acres, along with several dozen other natural area preserves and historic sites. This system will be on special display on May 18, 2013, when Virginia’s parks will be participating in the third annual National Kids to Parks Day, coordinated by the National Park Trust. Our children and our parks are indeed part of our public trust and our common wealth, so this week or whenever you can, take a kid to a park!

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES

[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 5/13/13]

Location of 35 Virginia state parks (not including Tabb Monument, a one-acre property in Amelia County), as of May 2013. The parks, with the map abbreviations shown in parentheses, are as follows: Bear Creek Lake (BC), Belle Isle (BI), Breaks Interstate (BK), Caledon (CA), Chippokes Plantation (CP), Claytor Lake (CL), Douthat (DO), Fairy Stone (FS), False Cape (FC), First Landing (FL), Grayson Highlands (GH), High Bridge Trail (HB), Holliday Lake (HL), Hungry Mother (HM), James River (JR), Kiptopeke (KP), Lake Anna (LA), Leesylvania (LE), Mason Neck (MN), Natural Tunnel (NT), New River Trail (NR), Occoneechee (OC), Pocahontas (PO), Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historic (SC), Shenandoah River Raymond R. "Andy" Guest Jr. (SH), Shot Tower (ST), Sky Meadows (SK), Smith Mountain Lake (SM), Southwest Virginia Museum Historical (HM), Staunton River (SR), Staunton River Battlefield (SB), Tabb Monument (not shown on map; this), Twin Lakes (TL), Westmoreland (WE), Wilderness Road (WR), and York River (YR). Map and list from Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation We site, http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/index.shtml, accessed, 5/13/13.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to neighbors in Blacksburg for recording Virginia state park names on May 12, 2013, and for participating in the group recording of “Take a kid to a park!”.

Sources and More Information:

Information on “National Kids to Parks Day 2013” was taken from the National Park Trust Web site at http://www.kidstoparks.org/. Information on Kids to Parks Day activities at Virginia state parks was taken from a May 2, 2013, news release from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), online at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/pr_relz_detail.shtml?id=2013-05-02-15-05-24-32239. Other information was taken from the DCR’s “Virginia State Parks” Web sites at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/index.shtml and http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/his_parx.shtml.

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Episode 160 (5-6-13): "Piney Mountains," by Bruce Molsky

water@vt.edu (Virginia Water Resources Research Center) — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:12:50 PDT

Click to listen to episode (3:20).

TRANSCRIPT
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of May 6, 2013.

This week, we feature music about a natural-resource industry that’s been important to Virginia’s economy for hundreds of years, while also being vital to management of the Commonwealth’s water. Have a listen for about a minute.

MUSIC.

You’ve been listening to an excerpt from “Piney Mountains,” by Bruce Molsky on his 2013 CD, “If It Ain’t Here When I Get Back,” from Tree Frog Music. The song was written by Craig Johnson, a highly-regarded string-band musician who died in North Carolina in 2009. Focusing on one logger-turned-millworker’s tragic accident in a Galax, Virginia, mill, the song weaves in several aspects of the history of the forest industry in the southeastern states: hard work and rough leisure by loggers, opportunities and risks of working in sawmills and furniture factories, economic ups and downs of resource-based industries, changes to landscapes after land uses change, and a rich heritage of traditional music. With so much else to say, it’s understandable that the song’s woeful logger didn’t mention that forests play an important role for watersheds, water sources, and aquatic life. With about 62 percent of Virginia covered by forests as of 2012, piney mountains and other wooded landscapes will continue to influence the Commonwealth’s economy, culture, and water. Thanks to Bruce Molsky for permission to use this week’s music.
For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES
[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 5/6/13]

Forests made up much of the watershed surrounding a Bedford County, Virginia, reservoir (center of photo) in this April 21, 2011, photo from Peaks of Otter.

Map from “State of the Forest 2012,” Virginia Department of Forestry.

Acknowledgments: “Piney Mountains” and “If It Ain’t Here When I Get Back” are copyright 2013 by Bruce Molsky and Tree Frog Music, used with permission. More information about Bruce Molsky is available online at http://www.brucemolsky.com, or by mail to Tree Frog Music, P.O. Box 729, Beacon, NY 21508; phone (845) 797-1540.

Sources:

Information on Craig Johnson was taken from his December 2009 obituary online at http://www.cremnc.com/sitemaker/sites/Cremat2/obit.cgi?user=151400Johnson; and “Most Done Traveling: A Tribute to Craig Johnson,” by Dave Shombert in the Dec. 2009-Jan. 2010 issue of The Old Time Herald (Durham, N.C.), online at http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-12/12-3/johnson.html.

Information on forests and the forest industry in Virginia was taken from the “Virginia’s Forests,” Virginia Department of Forestry (Va. DOF) Web Site, http://www.dof.virginia.gov/stforest/index.htm; from the Va. DOF’s “State of the Forest 2012,” online at http://www.dof.virginia.gov/info/index-forms-docs.htm (see pp. 11-12 for comments specifically about the impacts of forested lands on watersheds, water quality, and aquatic habitats); from the Virginia Forest Products Association Web site at http://www.vfpa.net/Our-Industry.html; and from Jennifer Gagnon, Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program/Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment.

Information on development of new uses for forest products is available from the Virginia Tech Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, online at http://sbio.vt.edu/.

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