Hope in the Hills
by Kenny Clair
There’s no shortage of references to self medication in country music, so much so that some may consider it essential criteria to mention what your preferred substance to use or abuse to make a proper country song.
In 2017, Tyler Childers released the first version of “Nose on the Grindstone” a song that sorrowfully describes the experience of a coal mining reliant family trying to avoid succumbing to the opioid epidemic. Just one year later, the debut of the Healing Appalachia Festival, co-founded by Childers, was held in West Virginia.
Healing Appalachia’s home location in West Virginia was no coincidence. Since 1995, the Appalachian region, and in large part West Virginia, has produced about half of the United States' coal. While the region provided power to the country, its residents suffered deeply, sustaining life-altering injuries due to dangerous workplace conditions or simply decades of grueling labor in the mines. In the 1990s, Purdue Pharma began aggressively advertising an apparent “miracle drug” to Appalachian doctors: OxyContin. The company falsely claimed the drug had a low risk of addiction. As regulations on prescriptions tightened in the 2000s, people with existing dependencies were cut off from their supply. This led many to turn to cheaper and more dangerous illicit opioids, like heroin and fentanyl, exacerbating the crisis.
While drug overdose is the leading cause of death for people under 50 in the United States, overdose mortality rates for people ages 25–54 in Appalachia were 64% higher than in the rest of the country.
On Aug. 15, 2016, the city of Huntington, West Virginia gained international headlines when 26 people overdosed in one day. This dark day sparked the organization of Hope in the Hills, the nonprofit that formed Healing Appalachia.
The event is powered by hundreds of volunteers who are in recovery themselves. They work throughout the festival, share their stories, and celebrate recovery in front of thousands. As Healing Appalachia’s board president Dave Lavender stated, "Addiction is too powerful for anyone to defeat alone". The festival exemplifies this belief by creating a supportive and inclusive environment where attendees can connect with resources, each other, and music from artists who can relate to a life affected by addiction. Substance abuse can often be fueled by the same pain that makes your favorite country music song so captivating, but pain is not the only thing that music and addiction can have in common. If you frequent a 12 step meeting, you’re likely to hear that the opposite of addiction is not actually sobriety, it’s connection. This sentiment is visible at Healing Appalachia, walking the festival grounds, seeing people from all backgrounds connect over how addiction has impacted their lives, and how music has proven to be a tool for healing.
This year, the festival was held in Childers' home state of Kentucky for the first time, as the organization intends to change locations, making it accessible to different communities that make up the region recognized as Appalachia. The line up included diverse headliners ranging from Chris Stapleton to Remi Wolf. Cofounder Tyler Childers returned to the stage with songs from his new album, Snipe Hunter, as well as songs from nearly all of his released albums. He played the unreleased song “Jersey Giant” that fans already know and love, and closed out the night with a deeply moving set of acoustic songs. As he stood alone on stage, guitar in hand, with what felt like every person in the crowd singing along to each lyric to “Nose on the Grindstone” the feeling of connection was palpable.
Other artists such as Lukas Nelson and The Hillcountry Devil shared how long they’ve been sober and spoke about the challenges that drinking and drug use created in their lives, emphasizing that recovery is a difficult road. Jesse Welles also took to the main stage, performing songs that called out the systems of power that have fueled the addiction crisis throughout Appalachia and the U.S.
Cofounder of Whispering Beard Folk Festival, Catfish Williams, led Saunter Song Spotlight on Friday and Saturday. After a short hike through the campgrounds, into the mouth of a valley that used to be a surface mine, the group met artists who performed in an intimate and wild setting. The bugs and critters buzzed and hummed along to The Montvales, Willy Tea Taylor, Corduroy Brown, and Carriers. Catfish asked attendees to take with them the healing sentiment that nature can help us all connect to each other, ourselves, and a feeling of something greater.
Healing Appalachia is a testament to the power of community and music to bring light into darkness. It serves as a reminder that with empathy and action, communities can come together to overcome the devastating effects of addiction and build a brighter future.
Beyond the recovery-centered music festival, the Hope in the Hills nonprofit provides year round support to a wide range of programs, funding initiatives that provide mentorship for youth in foster care, outdoor camps for trauma-impacted children, harm reduction programs, yoga in women's prisons, and recovery-to-work initiatives.
The Luck Foundation also works with the SIMS Foundation, an Austin based non-profit that provides mental health support to the local music community.
