Jere Brittain, professor, songwriter, activist, lifetime conservationist, and “dam fighter”, talks about his passion for the Mills River and the fight with TVA to save the surrounding communities.
Mountaineers
Jere Brittain 2013
Jere Brittain, a Western North Carolina native who grew up in Mills River, talks about his passion for Mills River, growing up in Mills River, and thoughts on the coming generations.
Betty Smith Discussion and Concert
Betty Smith, a ballad singer first, a musician and teacher, and then a playwright and author, discusses ballads, the many people who have collected and sung them, at Blue Ridge Community College as part of the Keeping the Fires Burning series.
Jere Brittain French Broad River interview # 2
Sitting by his beloved Mills River, Jere Brittain talks about the Upper French Broad Defense Association and the fight against the TVA to save the French Broad River.
David Holt – Ballad Musicians
David Holt, a master of Appalachian music and storytelling, talks about the history and tradition of ballads, his love of the music, and people who sang and still sing the ballads.
Joel McCraw
Joel McCraw, a fourth-generation farmer and owner of Linda’s plants in Edneyville, explains how he became a river friendly farmer and why.
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor, a member of the United States House of Representatives, talks about his political career, his fight to stave off the TVA’s plans to flood certain areas, his views on environmentalism, and the creation of the Headwaters State Forest.
Ernst Larsen
Ernst Laursen talks from the campus of Warren Wilson about his family coming to the college, his jobs at the college, and his involvement in the Upper French Broad Defense Association.
Annie Ager
Annie Ager, owner of Hickory Nut Gap Farms, talks about her farm, her love of the land, and her hopes for the future of the farm.
Duay O’Neill
While sitting next to the Pigeon River Duay O’Neill, a lifelong resident of Newport, Tennessee, Cocke County, talks about the pollution and clean-up of the Pigeon River after Champion Paper started operation.
Bob Seay
Bob Seay, of Newport Tennessee, talks about The Dead Pigeon River Council, their formation, and their mission to clean up the pollution from Champion Paper Mill.
Opal Parkinson Interview
Opal Parkinson, who grew up in Etowah, talks about generations of her family and their lives in Etowah.