![]() ![]() The opening verse as I learned it from my Mamaw: “Pearl Bryant,” a variation of the ballad more commonly known as “Pearl Bryan” was one of the songs my Mamaw taught me. When I was in high school, I wrote a musical, “Just an Old Ballad,” inspired by the Appalachian ballads I’d grown up learning-ballads that often centered around heartache and sorrow and, yes, murder. I grew up steeped in Appalachian lore, dialect, food, attitudes, customs, crafts, music. Yet, the dynamics of growing up in an Appalachian family shaped me far more than actual location of birth. However, I grew up in a region of Ohio that’s geographically outside the Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio-a first-generation “Buckeye,” as I was often teased as a child. ![]() JESS MONTGOMERY: I’m a child of Appalachia-both sides of my family of origin go back generation after generation after generation deep in the hills and hollers (as we pronounced ‘hollows’) in Eastern Kentucky. ![]() But this month she's here to talk about her new historical mystery, written as Jess Montgomery. You might know Jess as Sharon Short, who's written a wonderful novel MY ONE SQUARE INCH OF ALASKA, along with several mystery series and many essays and humor columns. LUCY BURDETTE: We're so excited to be hosting Jess Montgomery and her brand new release, THE WIDOWS. ![]()
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