Hello and welcome to WNC Original Music.This is a special episode.I'm talking with Nicholas Edward Williams of the podcast American Song Catcher, and we're actually talking about his project that he's starting called Restring Appalachia.
I got all that right, Nicholas?You got that right.Correct.All right.First try.Okay.You'll attest that that's my first try, right?Let's take one.No take twos on this episode. Sounds good.
So I'm just going to jump right in and can you just tell me what, I kind of know, but for everybody, you can explain it better.What is Restring Appalachia? Sure.
Restring Appalachia is an initiative that involves over 150 different musicians and non-profits, instrument makers, festivals, venues, visual artists, actors.Music podcasts are to your list there.Oh, yes. Yeah, music podcasts shoot.
Yeah, there's a lot of different outlets now that I'm thinking about it, but yeah media outlets as well And it's an initiative that is trying to get instruments back in the hands of people that lost them throughout Appalachia due to Hurricane Helene and It's a unique instrument relief effort in that it's not like other efforts that sort of
They take in a lot of donations of instruments and then they show up and build them out as people need and grab whatever you can sort of thing, which is very much needed also.
It's going to take a lot of different hands to make sure that people get music back in their lives.It's not going to just be our effort, but several others.
But ours is a matching donor program where we're trying to get the same, if not the same exact model, the same quality, the same specs as what they lost.Ideally, we can even give them an upgrade if possible.
For many cases in the people that lost guitars that are around $300, we're going to try to get them a $500 or $600 guitar.We're working with these people and communicating with them to make sure that
If it is, if they have second best options, what would they accept?What would make them stoked is the main thing.We want them to be, it's great to have music back in your life, especially if you've been playing for a long time.
Feel and tone is really important and we know that.I'm a musician, I've been a professional musician for 15 years.All the people that are on board on Restring Appalachia are musicians. And we all care about quality.
And we know that at the end of the day, we want people to be really stoked when they get an instrument.We don't want them just sort of be satisfied, if that makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely. So there's not like a, like you're saying, there's not a central location.You kind of match people up.You know, one person has an instrument and one person needs an instrument.And then they, like, so what's the process there?
I see on your website, I know that there's just a very simple, straightforward, a link to donate instruments, a link to receive instruments.So if someone wants to donate an instrument, they tap that link and then, They fill out information.Correct.
Of what they have.Yeah.And then where does it go from there?
So that's a form that they're filling out and it's a pretty simple form, but it does give those details of what's the make and model, what's the notes on the condition of the instrument, what's your estimated value, those sorts of things.
And then that populates a spreadsheet, it's a whole database full of both the donations and the people that are asking for donations and they're telling us exactly what they lost.
the mix models, the estimated value, as well as a little bit of their story if they're open to it.
So we're just taking the data and matching them, and then what we'd have is several different drop-off and pickup points throughout Western North Carolina right now.The main one in Asheville is at Asheville Guitar Pedals.
Over in Black Mountain, we're working on solidifying a relationship with Lookout Brewing. Up in Madison County and Buncombe County area, we have Rare Bird Farm.And then we're working on a location down in Transylvania County.
There's a former church that is now gonna become a community center in Tryon.So essentially, the idea is that
We either have a courier, a musician, take that instrument from one of those drop-off locations if you live nearby to one of them, we'll get it shipped there, we'll get it taken care of, cleaned up, new strings, we'll get a musician to come out to you if necessary, or we'll have you come to the community center, the community, you know, these are all sort of music-centric
community spaces where people can gather.And ideally, you know, you get to meet somebody else that lost an instrument or is picking up an instrument, or you get to meet the musician that took care of it.
The other really interesting part of this is that that's something I didn't think about when creating this program is that
The people that receive an instrument oftentimes, almost every single time so far, have wanted to meet the person who donated in some form or another, whether that's through email, some of them want to write letters, some of them want to meet them in person, just to thank them.
And it's a really special and unique
part of the human experience, I feel like we're getting sort of back to the roots of what we're all doing here in so many ways, but just looking somebody in the eye, seeing them and hearing them and trying to help them in whatever ways we can.
You know, I'm sure this was inspired obviously by the hurricane, by the flood, but was there anything in particular outside of that that influenced you to do this project?
Yeah, I mean, you know, I have a deep affinity.I've been playing in North Carolina for 12, 13 years now.
As a rich musician, I play all different forms of traditional styles and turn-of-the-century guitar styles like ragtime and Piedmont blues, but I love old time and I love playing early country music and some bluegrass.
traditional folk and contemporary folk and I've been playing in North Carolina throughout the state for many years and I've kind of developed relationships with the mountains, with the musicians, with the venues, with
people, and I've tried to move there a couple times.
And I'm sure we talk about all the time, we're going to end up in North Carolina at some point, just because every time that I cross the state line and I get the first view or the first, you know, anytime I play a show over there, it feels like home.
I'm welcomed with open arms.And especially with, you know, being a preservationist and sharing a lot of the stories that have come out of Appalachian music culture and
and making sure that those stories and that heritage is upheld is a big part of my mission.That's kind of one of the main reasons I started American Song Catcher.
All that to say, I have a really deep relationship with Appalachia on my career, on the podcast, and personally.And when this happened, it was
just incredibly, it was a huge shell shock, knowing how many people I, you know, there's people I didn't hear from for several days that I knew very well that I play music with regularly.And that got really scary.And, you know, I have a,
I have a family here in Chattanooga.I have a four-year-old and I have a three-month-old.And honestly, if under different circumstances, I probably would have been on the ground.I would have been over there in Marshall, helping them clean up mud.
I would have been over in Black Mountain.I would have been over in Fletcher in Asheville, helping out as much as possible.And rightly so, I'm prioritizing my family right now.
And so it was sort of a, I was torn of what can I do from here sort of situation.And one night I just couldn't sleep and kept thinking about what is something I can do, what is something I can do, and I started thinking about
Appalachian music culture, and that right now, in many ways, and for the last month, there's been this sort of gap in that living tradition, and the oral tradition of songs being passed down, and the grandfather passing a banjo down to their son and then their son, and the ballads that are passed through mothers and through fathers and through families, and the idea that that could be paused right now just started really
eating away at me.And so I started thinking about, I could do something with the American Songcatcher network.It's not a huge network.It's 16,000 people that follow on Instagram.There's several thousand people that listen to the podcast each month.
I just leaned on the people that I knew to start and then I started kind of shooting for the stars just with a message of like, hey, if I did this, would you support it?And it was a resounding yes with everybody.
So it was an easy sort of like, let's organize this, let's start getting some actual substance behind it and getting the website together, getting the systems in place, getting everything up and running and off the ground, a clean sort of initiative.
And we launched a week ago as of today.
Oh, wow.Yeah, that seems really quick.It seems like... I know.
Yeah.Yeah.I mean, it's been kind of crazy.It doesn't feel like a week.
It feels like at least two weeks at this point because I'm really happy to report that we've gotten over 100 increase, all mainly throughout Western North Carolina and around Asheville.This program is absolutely
for people throughout Appalachia, not, you know, professional musicians, front porch pickers, people that just started.
And we're looking for people in Virginia, we're looking for people in East Tennessee and North Georgia and South Carolina, and we're wrapping in folks that were affected by Hurricane Milton down in Florida.
And right now it just kind of worked organically through my relationship with WNCW because they've been syndicating the American Songcatcher podcast for the last four years.
We did an interview and the same last week it kind of went out in the morning and things just kind of took fire from there.And so we've taken in over 100 inquiries around this area.I've already matched five people.
I'm delivering the first instruments next Wednesday.So two weeks after we launched, I get to deliver people instruments.Exactly what they missed, exactly what they lost.Yeah, it's just incredible.But there's a lot more folks that we're looking for.
We're looking for people around Appalachia. outside of that community and inside that community, if possible, to consider looking around at their house and looking at the instruments that they have.
There's several people out there, hundreds, if not thousands, that have massive collections of guitars and banjos and mandolins, and we're leaning on a lot of different people to insist that they think about those instruments going into somebody's hands that could really use them right now.
I see a lot of, with my job, I do home health occupational therapy. And I go in a lot of houses where people are just...
just sitting on, sitting on, you know, huge collections of instruments that are anywhere from like, you know, a hundred years old to a year old.And they don't, they don't ever use them.
And they're like, uh, sometimes, sometimes it's, you know, everybody's different.
Sometimes they're, they're not going to part with them, but sometimes people are like, you know, they're like trying to give them to me and I'm like, well, I can't, you know, I can't take that.It wouldn't be appropriate.
But, uh, but if they had somebody to give it to, that would be great.So I'm, I'm, I'm ready with this website next time somebody
I'll get you the graphic and you can just have it ready on your phone for them to QR code scan it and get right there.Make it as easy as possible for them.That's exactly it right there.
We fully understand people have collections and we're not telling them what to do with them.
You can't ignore the fact that if there's 100 people looking for a mandolin out there and you've got 10 of them, you've got 10 mandolins that you're not even playing, it's a good time to consider it.
I want to jump in here real quick in case people are listening.I don't know if I've really said it, but the website to go to is americansongcatcher.com slash Restring Appalachia.Correct.And of course, that's where the forum is.
I'm looking at it right now.It's very simple.Like I said a while ago, as soon as you go to that website,
It tells you either donate or receive or you can, you know, scroll down and look at all the just an amazing list of people who are involved and I'm sure that's going to keep growing.Yeah.But and also the, you know, it's tax deductible.
Um, but, uh, but it's just a really, really cool thing.
And I think, um, um, there's probably a lot of people I've actually seen, uh, on like, uh, social media people like already offering this sort of thing, but not, or not, not, not, not doing what you have, but, but saying, Hey, I have, if somebody wants some instruments, have you lost your instruments?
I have a couple, you know, and, and so this is a great resource for, it's, it's kind of like, uh, you're identifying a need that probably was there, but also a desire that was already there for people to help.
And this is gonna be a great way for people from both sides of that to. kind of get together.
Yeah, we're honestly just a bridge.We're the bridge for people that are wondering when they can do and the people that need it.
And I've been told by many people just like, you know, whether it's comments online or I have these things, I don't know what to do with them.I want to get it from somebody, but I don't know how to do that.
I don't know what the, you know, what's the streamlined process and where the streamlined process.
Have you noticed, I don't know, are you, are you able to, Like, are you aware of the instruments that have been requested and offered already?Like, are you able to see, you know, kind of like what's, do you have, you know, you know what I mean?
Like, do you have a database?I can see every single thing.Every single thing.Is there anything unusual?Like anybody want to donate bagpipes or?
Yeah, well, most of them, the weird ones, or I don't want to say weird, but you know, the less mainstream instruments are coming from the recipient end, the people that lost certain things like shrooty boxes, that lost a kora, or lost percussion instruments like a cajon, or a set of unique rattlers from South America.
Most of the instruments that we're getting have been standard guitars, banjos, mandolins, and fiddles, which is obviously the mainstay.We're also getting some upright basses.We have a lot of requests for electric guitars.
A lot of people lost electric guitars, and so we're really trying to ramp up the donations of electrics.There's also amps.That's another big thing.
And we're working with a couple of different amp makers that are going to be throwing some amps our way. Yeah, yeah.The support from all these instrument makers has been absolutely incredible.
From mom and pop stores to a little bit more bigger independent instrument companies.We're also hopefully finalizing a relationship with Gibson Gives by the end of next week.We're also talking with Guitar Center.
And yeah, we're looking for specific instruments.And they're going to help with some of those specific, a little bit more high value instruments. There's people that lost entire studios, you know?
So there's almost everything under the sun and we're even, you know, there's luthiers that lost their entire luthier shop, if it was like a home shop or whatever.
So we're also talking with other luthiers of like, hey, what are the essential pieces that you have extras of?
What can you donate that are essential tools that people use to build instruments, to fix instruments, so that they can start making a living again and piecing together slowly, of course.
Nonetheless, they still have the opportunity to make some money Have you thought about like the the distant future?
I know you're you're just starting a week ago So this is kind of a very premature question, but have you thought about like adapting this for other I have?
Yeah, that's a conversation that's come up in the last few days with several people this will very likely turn into a nonprofit that will respond to disasters all across the country whether there are floods or fires, hurricanes, tornadoes.
Obviously, there's areas of the country where that's more prevalent, and we can focus our efforts and continue our relationships with these resources to make sure that we can be there on the ground.
We also, in between those scenarios happening, as unfortunate as they are, we would like to be an instrument access. resource, we would like to be helping with music education and preservation.
Those are things that I'm already passionate about, but now this is sort of another means that we can be doing that on a more micro level.So yeah, there's a lot of different ways that this is going to kind of continue.But
Yeah.Short answer is yes.Yes.A great, great idea.Great.And you, I mean, the, the is a great idea, but also, I mean, I just got to say the execution of it looks awesome because it's, uh, it's exactly what you need.
Um, it's, it's simple, but to the point, but, uh, it gets the job.And I think that's part of the, um,
I think that's part of the appeal to everyone, like I said, on both sides that it's very obvious how this works and you're putting people, you're not trying to say, hey, everybody donate everything you have.
Somebody might sign up for it and nothing may ever come of it, but you're putting it out there for someone to possibly receive your instrument and do some good, which is awesome, yeah.Thanks for saying that.
Um, and real quick, let's talk about, um, uh, about your podcast, American Song Catcher.Just, uh, listen to that a little bit, really enjoy it.Um, and it's, uh, it's a music history podcast.Um, so yeah, you want to just talk about that a little bit?
Um, that kind of formed out of a different disaster.That was, um, a creative endeavor that sort of was necessary during the pandemic for me to start.
doing something in a different way since I wasn't able to perform, and that was my way at the time of preserving music history and sharing songs and stories and styles with audiences. It sort of, I was doing the online streaming thing every morning.
I was playing, I call them morning coffee sessions, and I was making enough of an income from playing on Facebook every morning for an hour for a while there.
And then a friend of mine who had a nine, he has a nine five, and he couldn't be on Facebook at the time that I was on the air, so to speak.And he said, you know, you should really think about turning that into a podcast.
I hadn't considered that whatsoever and I looked into what I was doing and trying to adapt that to a podcast and I would be walking through a whole lot of red tape, copyright infringement galore.
But I did realize that I could utilize my mission by doing more research and maybe sharing the stories of musicians and kind of trying to do a documentary, something similar.I'm a big fan of Ken Burns and a similar deep dive.
And sense of time and place and it took a little while for me to get my feet under me with that You know, I think it by the fifth episode of season one things had really Kind of felt like I had a hold on them, but I got really lucky in a couple ways the second episode that I put out
I should back up for a second.The first season and most of the second season, the format was five different stories.
First, the traditional song, whether that's a song through African-American lineage or through British Isles lineage or through Eastern European lineage and how it got here. and why it's still prevalent today, that sort of thing.
And then it would go to, on a timeline, you know, a turn-of-the-century musician, and to like the 1930s and 1950s, 1970s, up to somebody today that is either preserving or is expanding on music, on American roots music at large.
And the styles that I cover range from bluegrass to jazz to all different varieties of blues to contemporary folk and traditional folk and Western swing. obviously all forms of country music as well.So that was the format for the first two seasons.
And then I started doing single stories because I realized that I was kind of cutting out a lot of stories.I was getting to the point where they're like an hour and a half long for five stories.And I still, I really wanted to like,
If I had everything that I wanted for each artist or each story, it would be like two and a half hours.So then I started thinking, maybe I should back up here and just do one-off stories and really do deep dives.
So they range anywhere from 45 minutes to, or 30 minutes to an hour, which is a little bit more digestible.And I've been doing that podcast since 2020. We're syndicating with WNCW.
We have been on their morning edition for the last four years, as well as the WTC here in Chattanooga, our NPR station.And we just started with Radio Bristol this week.
Yeah, and we have a lot of success on PRX as well, and it's been a really incredible project to be a part of, and in many ways has led me to here.
Yeah, I like the comparison to Ken Burns because that is the feel.I was listening just a couple days ago to the Sam Cooke episode. Um, and that was, that was definitely had that feel to it.
Uh, the, you know, bit of his there's music plus history, plus you're kind of there, uh, when it happens.Yeah.You get the sound bites interviews and stuff like that.Yeah.That was really cool.Yeah.
Yeah.Thank you. You just need some movie stars reading some letters from people.That's right.That's next season.Next season.That's right.Yeah.We're almost finished. All right, man, it was a great project.
Anything else you want to talk about relative to this?
No, that's all that I think should be covered, you know, for the most part.Yeah, it's just important that people know that we're here.So hopefully this gets out to some folks that needed to hear it, you know?
Cool.I'm really, really interested to see.I don't know if you're planning on doing this, but it'd be very interesting to see kind of like like the stories of, you know, people getting the instruments and who gets who gets what.
Yeah, you're right.You're right on it.Because I'm going to when I go to deliver next week, I'm going to turn that into the first episode of this pre string project.Oh, yeah.To get, you know, be a field recording, basically.
All right, man.Well, hey, it's good talking to you.I'm glad you I'm glad to be a very small part of this.That's really I appreciate you.It's gonna take many hands for this one to work.
