If
you missed Anndrena's
performance at the Down Home in February, you've got another chance
in June:
Anndrena Belcher and The
Wildboys
Appearing at: Down Home Music Club, April 13th, 8pm Showtime!
Focus on Songwriting: Anndrena presents her ORIGINAL SONGS, the WAY SHE SINGS THEM!
“Quirky” and “Primitive,”
said someone at the Bluebird Café in
Nashville. “A little bit honky-tonky,” said someone else.
“Pure
Mountain,” said another.
Anndrena and the Wild
Boys will be playing at the Down Home in Johnson City, Tennessee, on
April 13 at 8 pm. This is a perfect opportunity for those of you
living further afield to hear Anndrena's original songs since she will
also be streaming the performance via Concert
Window. For a
$5 fee, you can enjoy the webcast from any location across the country
or around the world.
“Words
hang a little edgy, like gold dust in the middle of the dark, back
room.”

Anndrena with The Rose on her Head (Rose signed by Billy Joe Shaver!)
Anndrena Belcher and The Wildboys at
Down Home
February 16th, 8pm show
$12 at door
Anndrena celebrates a life lived "in the crux
of contradiction." Her songs and tales chronicle her family's 1950s
migration out from the eastern Kentucky colafields into inner city,
Uptown, Chicago, and her experiences living and travelling back and
forth between the two worlds on what gets named as "the Hillbilly
Highway." She is a veteran of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and
has travelled as far away as New Zealand, telling stories and singing
songs. Anndrena has been likened to "..Minnie Pearl with track shoes",
"..a rocket powered raconteur", "a Hillbilly Cleopatra," (referring to
the Doo dads?). The late Oral Historian and Author, Studs Terkel,
called Anndrena Belcher "...a secret national treasure," "Images and
Songs...bittersweet. Like a picnic in a thunderstorm," according to one
audience member. Funny, because one of the first songs Anndrena wrote
is entitled "Picnic in the Rain."
Anndrena is proud and excited to take the stage with Phil Leonard,
Roger Rasnake, Brandon Story, and the combination is called, Anndrena
Belcher and The Wildboys!
For more information on Anndrena, go to www.arts.virginia.gov and
www.crec76.org and to MySpace: anndrena'smusicandstories. Or call
the Down Home at 423-929-9822.
Since
its online debut this summer, Anndrena Belcher's tale, Princess
Witch, has garnered
several five star reviews. Alan Mills gushed:
One final word. Ms. Belcher's roots as an oral story teller come through loud and clear in this written work. Like the best stories, it reads like it was meant to be read aloud. This means it reads really smoothly. It also makes this a perfect book for a parent to read aloud to (or with) a kid....it was literally meant to be read aloud.
But don't make the mistake of pigeonholing The Princess Witch as for kids. It is not. It is fully engaging for the adult reader too.
You can read Anndrena's
story for only 99 cents using your kindle, phone,
or computer,
downloading instantly so there's no need to wait. If you'd like
to see more of Anndrena's stories reach a wider audience, consider
donating to our Patron
Fund to help
Anndrena's masterpieces see the light of day.
One of CREC's oldest programs was to help
thirteen life-learners attain degrees through University Without
Walls. One of our graduates --- Mary Herr --- wrote to share her
experiences:
I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Education and Business Administration on January 25, 1975 from Roger Williams College . I didn’t realize it at the time but this degree later opened many doors for me for future jobs. Without the degree, I would have been ineligible for several employment opportunities. Even though I had much of the knowledge before, the diploma saying I had a Bachelor of Arts degree gave me credibility.
I am currently retired but still involved in volunteer work in Cherokee, North Carolina with several community organizations. I will always be grateful to CREC and the University Without Walls program for the many doors they opened for me.
Centuries ago, artists were often supported by
a patron who believed in their past work and wanted to give them the
freedom to continue expressing themselves without worrying about
financial constraints. Few of us can afford to be an artist's
primary patron today, but 150 backers committing $10 per month can have
the same effect.
CREC is launching a
Patron Fund in 2012 to allow Anndrena Belcher to continue her work with
For Old Times
Sake. Click
the donate button at the top or bottom of this post to support projects
including:
Performances --- You can catch her performancing as part of Anndrena and The Wildboys, with an upcoming appearance at The Down Home and another at Home Crafts Day Festival on October 20 or 21.
Ridin' Route 23/75 --- This collection of stories, essays, songs and living memory vignettes captures the experience of Appalachian families migrating to Chicago in search of work in the mid to late twentieth century.
Passing It On: Three Generations --- Anndrena curated an art exhibit at the Summit City Lounge and Gallery in Whitesburg, Kentucky, for Women's History Month in March and April, 2012. She is currently working on making some of the images available as prints.
Oral history --- The big project on the horizon is Stories of Migration, From the Inside Out, which is currently a work in progress. Anndrena reports "I will continue interviewing Appalachian Migrants who came in to Uptown at the time my family
migrated in (in the 1950s and thereafter). I hope to transcribe the interviews, write the interviews into a book, and we want to do a documentary film following the same folks OUT of Uptown, as the manufacturing disappeared, and gentrification and Urban Renewal (REMOVAL) took place."
It's easier than ever to
support For Old Times Sake. Just click the donate button and pay
with your credit card, paypal account, or bank account. Or simply
send a check with "For Old Times Sake" in the memo line to:
120 Elderspirit Ct
Abingdon, VA 24210
All contributions are
501(c)3 tax-exempt donations. Thanks in advance for
your donation!

Storyteller
and folklorist Anndrena Belcher entertained music teacher Cathy
Qualls' classes at Powell Valley Primary School last
Thursday.
Belcher, who lives in Scott County, enlisted students
and teachers to help bring her skits to life.
Belcher calls her
presentation of folk tales, personal narrative, poems and original
and traditional songs "Anndrena Belcher for Old Time's
Sake."
Belcher is a child of the 1950s migration of people
from the Appalachian region to northern industrial cities, and her
tales reflect her familiarity with two worlds.
"My family
migrated from east Kentucky (Pike County) in the 1950s when the
coalfields were mechanized," Belcher said in an interview before
her presentation at Powell Valley Primary. "Three million people
moved out. We wound up in uptown Chicago, which at that time was
considered one of the nation's most diverse, multi-ethnic ghetto
communities."
"Out of 90,000 people, 70,000 of us were
from Appalachia and the rural Deep South," Belcher said. "It
was called 'Hillbilly Heaven.' We were one of the families that came
home to these mountains once a month on a weekend."
"A
lot of what I ask about is what it means to live in two worlds, and
to have the power of a personal story to help define a human
experience and give a positive identity," she said. "That's
why I do what I do."
Source:
Glenn Gannaway, The
Post,
December 15, 2011.
Dear
Anndrena,
Thank
you for coming to our class and telling us stories about your
upbringing! It really made me think about how alot of people come
from the same background, even though it's different countries or
areas. It also was a great example of how hardships bring people
together. I hope it helped some people realize why it's not okay to
judge others. It was very enjoyable.
Kayla
Miller, Eastside High School.

Students at Powell Valley Primary School in
Big Stone Gap, Virginia, helped Anndrena Belcher tell the tale of "The
Two Gals" last Thursday.
Anndrena explained: "It is my adaptation from an old folktale found in
the Leonard Roberts collection of tales called, Greasybeard: A Tale
From the Cumberlands. This story tells of one little girl who goes to
fetch a bucket of water. She falls in the well because the bucket is
soooo big, and she is sooo little. She finds a different world at
the bottom of the well, and meets a talking log, a talking apple tree,
a talking sheep and cow as she explores this new place and finds ways
to survive. All kinds of lessons about relationship to environment
here!"
Thank you to Music teacher Cathy Quall for sharing her photos.
CREC, Appalachian Regional
Studies Center, Honors Academy, and the Virginia Commission for the
Arts recently partnered to fund a For Old Times
Sake performance by Anndrena Belcher in Dr. Ruth Derrick's Radford
Folklore class.
Dr. Derrick wrote, "I
assigned a response log to my students with three questions, and they
could choose which question to write on. Most of them wrote about
[Anndrena], and their responses were all very positive. I typed up a
few statements, and I thought you would enjoy reading them."
-
Anndrena has talent and passion that is immeasurable
-
She not only breaks the stereotype but help others be proud of their language, heritage and themselves.
-
In my opinion she is a beautifully painted portrait of an Appalachian historian mixed with a highly educated, heritage filled Appalachian activist.
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Anndrena Belcher is […] a very intelligent, outspoken individual in a country tune.
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She was walking, talking folklore, and it was definitely an experience to see such a character in person.
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She preached the importance of valuing where you come from and the culture that makes up who you are as a human. This inspires me to find out different narratives and stories from my own family and culture and share them with others so that they can be passed on through the generations.
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Anndrena Belcher is a walking wonder. […] She walks with pride in her ancestor’s footsteps and speaks with a passion for her home.
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Anndrena Belcher is an amazing artist representing the Appalachian region with her folktales and music.
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When [Anndrena Belcher] came to class, I was blown away at the stories she told us, but more importantly how she told the stories. […] Anndrena is very valuable in the preservation of folklore because of her passion for it.
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Belcher did so much more than just tell stories and sing songs in her presentation. She showed that oral folklore is a true art form that should be valued and treasured here in Appalachia.
-
Anndrena Belcher demonstrated the beauty of Appalachian folklore and oral tradition in an elegant, funny, and entertaining way. She was able to use storytelling and song to captivate the audience, and sometimes when she was speaking there was a poetic element to her voice.
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She no doubt has much knowledge of the region, and truly seems to enjoy what she does. That in my opinion is what really makes her a special performer.
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Anndrena is the most unique and interesting oral presenter I have ever seen.
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Anndrena Belcher is a prime example of someone who strives and thrives on keeping the folklore and tradition of her region alive.
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I personally enjoyed her version of Cinderella. Technically, it was the Appalachian Cindrella, however, it way better than the original one by Walt Disney.
-
She displayed the story with such enthusiasm and with a voice, which made it clear that she cared passionately about the subject of folklore.
-
Anndrena Belcher personifies the Appalachian storytelling experience.
The photos in this post
are from a different recent performance, this one in Selma Alabama for
the Tale Tellin' Festival. Many thanks to Ann Thomas of
ArtsRevive for sharing her photos.

Photo credit: Desiree Taylor.
"When I would hear the word "tale-tellin" it would leave a bad taste in
my mouth," wrote Desiree Taylor, staff writer for the Selma
Times-Journal.
However, after enjoying Anndrena Belcher's performance at Byrd
Elementary, Taylor changed her tune. She wrote:
Anndrena's October
performance was part of CREC's For Old Times
Sake project.
Her workshops, performances, and teacher in-service programs
reintroduce young people to
the Appalachian land ethic of environmental stewardship combined with
leadership development.