Honoring the Past

The phrase “Appalachian roots music” may call to mind a robust fiddle sound and danceable mountain rhythms, but there’s more to this region’s musical tradition than just that. Asheville-based River Whyless taps into other areas with their latest, and you can dig into that in this week’s spotlight. Offsetting it is a new album that brings back up some classic Appalachian tunes from the 1930s. Over on the other side of the Smokies, in Nashville, Tim Easton made a stirring new effort on his latest recording. And, digging even further into American roots music traditions, a new collection from Wilson Pickett sees daylight, to remind us of the stirring social power of great soul music. Not a bad tune in the bunch.