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West Virginia University Press is pleased to announce Sounding Appalachia, a new book series edited by Travis D. Stimeling.

Sounding Appalachia is a book series that documents the many rich traditions of music-making in Appalachia, including gospel, blues, country, old-time, jazz, and classical music, among many others. Presenting high-quality scholarship that is written for the general reader, Sounding Appalachia will capture the vibrancy and cultural diversity of Appalachian musical practices with an ear for those stories that challenge our prevailing understandings of the region, its people, and their musics.

The Sounding Appalachia series will be of interest to the community of Appalachian music enthusiasts; the community of Appalachian music scholars, and to a broader extent, American music scholars; and Appalachians who have a strong interest in regional history and culture. These books will represent the diversity of writers who are currently working to document and tell others about music-making in Appalachia. As such, the series editor will work diligently to recruit authors from a variety of disciplinary and methodological backgrounds and will embrace the work of seasoned scholars as well as strong writers who do not possess academic credentials.

Series Editor:

Travis D. Stimeling is associate professor of musicology at West Virginia University, where he also directs the WVU Bluegrass and Old-Time Bands. His previous books include Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin’s Progressive Country Music, The Country Music Reader, and Fifty Cents and a Box Top: The Creative Life of Nashville Session Musician Charlie McCoy, published by WVU Press.

For more information:

Authors interested in submitting proposals for consideration should contact series editor Travis D. Stimeling at Travis.Stimeling@mail.wvu.edu.

image of rough violin body in process


Finding the Singing Spruce
Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth

Past Titan Rock cover, illustration of leaves, clouds, sky


Past Titan Rock
Ellesa Clay High

Bluegrass Ambassadors cover

Bluegrass Ambassadors cover
Bluegrass Ambassadors
Paul O. Jenkins


Songwriting in Contemporary West Virginia
Travis D. Stimeling


Folk Songs from the
West Virginia Hills

Patrick Ward Gainer
Foreword by Emily Hilliard


Fifty Cents and a Box Top
Charlie McCoy with
Travis D. Stimeling