Trillbilly Worker's Party - Episode 31: Story Time with Auntie Bernice

Episode Date: October 20, 2017

Tanya makes a solo run to build up women and share feminist wisdom in the days of #metoo.

Hey! These are strange times indeed and it's been a hard week to get through for a whole lot of people, including the Trill Billies. I think we're all feeling a lull and wondering how to proceed. And since some of us are traveling and on the road, we thought about taking a week off. Some of us are traveling and on the road. We thought about taking a week off. But I decided that I think this is a really important time to lift up the voices of women in my life. Because that's the source of experiences that I've had and I've worked through with countless women in my life. And as I watched women that I know both personally and on the internets over on twitter.com,

on the internets over on twitter.com. I struggled to hold it together this week and I know a lot of us have. But as I said, what I have found the most strength in this week and throughout my life are the other amazing women around me. And I'm really, really lucky here in Wattsburg to have a crew of pretty phenomenal humans that I get to spend all my time with. I'm also very lucky to be here in Wattsburg because so many traveling artists come through here, musicians and visual artists, and a lot of women who are doing pretty incredible things. So what I'm doing this Friday is packing together some interviews I've been able to do with fantastic women, female artists, and organizers, and just dream boats, inspirations to me and everyone. Over the last year or two, I'm going to sprinkle in some interviews, some live performances of really important songs about women taking matters into their own hands and throw out a lot of shout outs. So buckle in, settle in, get a nice cup of warm drink or turn the heat up in your car a little bit get as cozy as you can because we're about to have story time with Auntie Bernice

oh can you tell me me where we going Where we're going And will it be like Where we've been Well I won't see you again So I guess I'll go rambling Rambling again

Rambling again You know, women are our sole source of life. They birth every human and raise most of them almost single-handedly, nurse them to health, and women head the most households in the U.S. So the reasons to lift up the women in your life and turn to them in times of uncertainty are many because we have made a way where there was no way. We have raised families when we had nothing. made a way where there was no way. We have raised families when we had nothing. We have brought life and joy and health and wealth into this world in unspeakable and unthinkable circumstances. And I'm so thankful to have so many powerful men in my life, uh, even the ones that I fuck with hard and love do not appreciate or, um, support the women in their lives enough. And for that, I can say with quite a bit of certainty.

And I think that sentiment probably ripples out. I'm going to kick this off with an interview that I did on my morning radio show here in with Amethyst Kia she is a songster she calls herself in a whole genre of her own that she calls southern gothic blues she's a black queer femme, fantastic musician, artist and human. And I'm so thankful to know her and just saw her perform here a few weeks ago over in Harlan County for the Black Bear Festival at the first annual Sorghum Stir Off, that old time festival mouthful of uh babes it was really fun total babe fest but um and we think it'll be huge next year but uh amethyst stopped by here at the apple shop about a year ago this time last year and did a live show with the local honeys. And I was able to interview, talk, I was able, and I was able to talk with her

on the radio. And we ended up talking, of course, about feminist theory, and feminists and women working together in the earliest stages of the birth of rock music and women's role in that era and how it was largely erased by men. But it was women that boosted each other up and created space for one another. As we know, it's something that we continue to have to do today, but we should be learning lessons. So let's kick it off and do a little learning with amethyst kia here i'm just recently starting getting back into like reading like just like well i mean i read like online articles and stuff but like actually like like sitting off not with looking at a screen and actually just reading on paper which is

kind of a big deal because like your it seems like your brain completely changes when it's looking at like I don't know if it's just because it's a tangibility or whatever mechanisms go on in your brain when you're looking at a screen and scrolling because there's always a lot of other stuff going on other than just reading something so to just have something in front of my face and just reading it without like you know scrolling or hitting links and stuff like I'm just looking at a piece of paper there's something kind of interesting about it like your brain slows down and actually processes what you're reading a lot better so anyway I've been trying to do that so yeah I feel that a lot I'm like

trying it is I wouldn't even say on air the number of books I've read since college from cover to cover you know right it's so embarrassingly low the number but I've been trying really hard so I'm dying to know what you're reading detail well what's what's funny is that what I've started reading is actually two academic articles from grad school that I never got to read. So that's my way of easing on back into, like, a book. But one of the ones I just finished reading was one about Big Mama Thornton. Oh, my gosh. I played her earlier on the show. Nice.

I played Hound Dog. Yeah, man. She is like, my goodness. And so this woman, I can't remember her name. Her last name is Mahone. I can't remember her first name right now. But she's an anthropologist and an ethnomusicologist, and she wrote an article about Big Mama Thornton

and really explored how... And it was interesting because she kind of paralleled how her... What she termed as liberated Black femininity, how that influenced people like Elvis. Like that embodiment of just like being assertive feeling free not you know being able to perform and not feel like she had to adhere to some sort of like you know like a cult of domesticity or like this sort of like this damsel in distress that's you know kind of been heralded as being like this sort of like this damsel in distress that's, you know,

kind of been heralded as being like the ultimate womanhood kind of thing in our society. And there's this one thing that she said that I thought was interesting that Mahone used a quote from an interview that she had, I think back in the, I want to say in the sixties where Big Mama Thornton talks about how there are some men even men that she played music with that came across like they were jealous of her because like she would ask about hey what am I getting paid like basic things like hey are you gonna show me respect and respect me and value me like her asking those kind of questions like she

would be called you know all kinds of names because she wanted to be treated like a human. And she made the comment, you know, when I go on stage, I don't try to be pretty, I was born pretty. And that really, like, resonated with me. I was like, wow, that is so cool. So, but anyway, like, yeah, I mean, she just that the whole article was amazing. And it just kind of explored, like, her, her her stage presence and how it influenced other artists and how some of those artists in turn responded to her. We're like Janis Joplin, unlike Elvis, who he, you know, refused to like have her open for him or play any of his shows which she was obviously very bitter about that Janis Joplin was like oh my gosh I love you you're inspiring me come open some shows for me like she was very like embracing of her and like wanted her even though like Big Mama Thornton is the one that recorded the song first and had a play in writing it. But, you know, because of the times, you know,

white artists had a better chance of, like, catapulting in the charts a lot more because of segregation or whatever. And just the fact that, you know, in the 50s, you had this white male who was just kind of like, yeah, okay, cool, you know, like kind of keeping distance. And then you get into, like, the 60s and early 70s, and then you have this, you know, this white woman who obviously the times have changed even more so than in

the fifties, who was like actually embracing her and recognizing her as being an influence. Whereas it's known that Elvis had being mama Thornton along other stacks of records of like, you know, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and stuff like that. But like,

he wouldn't really recognize, you know, black artists like you know Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and stuff like that but like he wouldn't really recognize you know black artists you know as being an influence like openly recognize it whereas you had Janis Joplin who was like oh my god you're amazing I love you and you I want you to I want to play with you like so it was just interesting to kind of see like over the years how how long it took before big mama thornton actually got any kind of respect but even now that she's still not really talked about when people talk about rock and roll like people talk about elvis and people talk about little richard but people don't talk about a lot of the female artists that had that had you know just as pivotal of a role in the music so um anyway, it was a great article. So yeah.

Let the choir say amen. That was beautiful. I'm doing okay for whatever, 930 in the morning, I guess. Yeah, that was a thesis. I want to read the rest of it. I want you to write all this. Wow. Yeah. Even here on the radio station, station we have there are several really great rock shows and they're two hours long and sometimes they play two hours of men and i'll call the station and say what was that what was that get out of here and so it's been like a funny thing that i'm the you know like i'm the police that'll call in and be like i heard a woman on this station in an hour what's the problem as you should as you should you know because that's the thing is

is that's the thing is there's so many people that like it's been ingrained in all of us in this society to think certain things and make certain assumptions about different types of people and so i think in a lot of cases people don't really not everybody but a lot of people don't realize what they're doing and if you don't bring it up because obviously if you bring it up some people are gonna get defensive and then some people will some people will be defensive some Some people will be passive aggressive. Like that's going to happen because anytime anybody's challenged with their beliefs, like there's going to be pushback, obviously. But like if you don't bring it up at all, then, you know, there's always going to be at least that one or two people that are actually that you're going to stop and think about it. And that's who you want to get, you and as time goes on hopefully you know more and

more people will understand but if you don't ever say anything then you know and I've I've had to learn that because I've I've personally dealt with this kind of struggle of like knowing that something wasn't right and then not you know not saying anything because I didn't want people to be mad at me or like you know what if people don't buy my music if I say these things or whatever and I'm almost 30 years old and now and I'm just like ah that's not you know I've got to like there's a way to do it where you can be constructive and I would rather figure out how to be constructive and say what needs to be said than to just not say anything

because obviously you can tell somebody something and it not go over well but if you know you've been constructive if you know what you're saying is right and the other person keeps you pushed back then at least you tried you know and that's what I'm that's what I've been working up more courage to like challenge things and not and do it in a way where I know that I did it the best way I could I mean that's all we can really do so amen conflict resolution lessons with Amethyst Keir I love it I never thought I would write about high heels and Patron to put it in a song but it worked out for this somehow so So, but I kind of have this idea in my head at some point I'm gonna keep picking out more and more Vera Hall songs and just making a little project of it. But, just cause it just seems like it'd be a lot of fun.

Fun. This was called, did I already say the name of the song? I don't know. I said Another Man Done Gone is the name of it, in case I didn't. Another man done gone Another man done gone Another man done gone Another man done gone To the county farm

Another man done gone to the county farm Another man done gone He killed another man He killed another man He killed another man He killed another man He killed another man. He killed another man. He killed another man. He killed another man. He had them long chains on.

He had them long chains on. He had them long chains on He had them long chains on He had them long chains on He had them long chains on He had them long chains on Thank you. She put her high heels on She put her high heels on She put her high heels on And when she's feeling alone

She takes a shot of Patron and put her high heels on. She don't know where he's gone. She don't know where he's gone. She don't know where he's gone. She don't know where he's gone She don't know where he's gone She don't know where he's gone She don't know where he's gone She don't know where he's gone Another man done gone Another man done gone another man done gone another man done gone to the county farm

another man done gone thank you Thank you. That first Feminist Friday live show was such an emotional one. Having Amethyst here at the Apple Shop with the local honeys was a beautiful, beautiful night. They performed together. May the circle be unbroken and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I can tell you that. I think I might even finish out this podcast with that live recording. So stick around for that. But before I kick off another interview with some amazing women, I think I want to spotlight a woman who is one of my best friends.

And I'm not going to say names so that I don't. I don't think I'll say any names to protect the guilty. But I want to spotlight a few of the fantastic women in my life. So we'll call this woman Buffy. We'll call this woman Buffy. And her and I have actually worked together at three different nonprofits over the last eight years. And so we have obviously done a lot of learning and growing together. And we've done our fair share of fighting and not speaking.

And God knows our love for each other is pure because we've come by it by hook and crook. And we've worked for it. We've done the hard emotional work of working through problems with one another. She's one of my closest friends and loved ones and certainly a part of my chosen family, a part of my chosen family, which is what has made the last year of loving her so wonderful because she has brought a little boy into our lives. So Buffy is a fantastic mother to a beautiful little boy who just turned a year old a couple months ago. we had a first birthday party in the nearby community center that was a Pinterest glory. It was Pinterest wall to wall. It was really something to see. And he was beautiful in his knee-high socks and number one jumper.

He's perfect. And he is a foster baby. he's perfect. And he is a foster baby. So Buffy is, has went through unimaginable struggles in the last year and a half, going through the foster process to adopt. And I won't get into any more of that. But she is a, she is a saint with a heart of gold. And in the last eight years that her and I have been knowing and loving one another, I've watched her do countless selfless things. For instance, in our first year organizing together, both of us right out of college, a horrible flood happened in Pike County on Raccoon Creek. And this wasn't a flood just from rain coming up and rising. This

was a flood from a slurry. This was a flood from a silt pond busting at the head of a holler and a huge dam breaking and releasing water down a very tight one-lane holler. And so houses weren't just flooded. They were moved off of their foundation. Cars were took all the way down the holler. People's belongings were gone, just literally gone, taken down the river because their whole road and house beds turned into the river because this pond broke. Of course, the company was never charged and of course they were never able to prove this, but that's what happened. It was raining and it couldn't withhold the rain that was coming and so it broke

and took out this entire community and Buffy who was a survivor of a flood when she was young herself so had all kinds of emotions and particularly hard experiences to get through herself showed up in boots and spent weeks with the people of Raccoon Creek trying to figure out legal action against the company and how to put their lives back together. Not even a year later, and then over and over again, Buffy organized several relief efforts, first for water and supplies to go to MacGuffin County when here in Kentucky, when a tornado came through about five or six years ago and took out about the whole town in MacGuffin County, Sayersville and West Liberty. in McLaughlin County, Sayersville, and West Liberty.

And since then, she has organized countless relief efforts so that people here in the mountains could give what they could, give resources to give just the little that people had to folks who were dealing with climate disasters, hurricanes and floods, and forest fires all the way in Gatlinburg. She even did this last Gatlinburg relief this time last year with a baby. And so that's a pretty incredible thing for a single mom to do. So Buffy is one of my go-to's, one of my starting lineup. She's certainly in my starting lineup. Fast forward to the next job that we had together. Buffy introduces me to podcasts.

Who knew? The first podcast I ever listened to was because she told me to listen to it and I tried to do whatever she told me. And then she decided that we were going to start our own and I tried to do whatever she told me. And then she decided that we were going to start our own podcast in the new job that we were in working with the public school systems to try to create some opportunities for students to work with new media and to kind of boost stories of good things happening in our local rural schools. And so the first time that we recorded together, we were really stiff and at least I was and sounded really funny. So we started beatboxing to try to loosen ourselves up. And so somewhere in the archives, Buffy has a lot of audio of me

beatboxing and I'm going to hope that it just never comes out. But I owe a lot to her for teaching me the joy of podcasting and learning how this can be a really fun and creative platform to express ourselves. And so that's been obviously been a pretty fun thing for me to do the last six months or so with the Trillbillies. Especially since I have my first big live show coming up with Season of the Bitch in Chicago on November 4th, the Saturday after Halloween. At the hideout, I think, or the hideaway, I don't know, somewhere, somewhere spooky in Chicago. I will be there with bells on and hopefully a witch hat if I can come up with one before then. I'm trying to also get a good wig for the event. Anyway, I'm very excited.

But yeah, so, um, big shout out to Buffy, who is, who is one of the most important people in my life. And one last thing I'll say about Buffy is that we came up with these alter egos, Buffy and Madison, at our last job because we were miserable in staff meetings. And we started doodling and passing back and forth notes like children and we started creating comics with Buffy and Madison talking and we would draw out and write out the adventures they would go on and the dialogue they would have if they were in our staff meetings I'd like to come up with some of those sketches too and release those we'll see what we can do Thank you. time next year playing everything that we already play but just metal versions of it. But today we have our good buddy Anyuette singing lead on Hairs on the Mountain and we thought we'd do a little three part harmony for you this morning. This is a Shirley Collins version of this ballad that we learned when we were drinking

beers and playing lots of music in Ireland. Very rigorous work. Here it is. Oh Sally, my dear, it's you I've been kissing. It's you I'd be kissing Oh Sally my dear It's you I'd be kissing She smiled and replied You don't know what you're missing Oh Sally my dear

I wish I could win you Oh Sally my dear I wish I could bed you. She smiled and replied, then you say I misled you. guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo If all young men were hairs on the mountain If all young men were hares on the mountain

How many young girls would take guns and go hunting If all young men were fish in the water If all young men were fish in the water How many young girls would undress and dive after If the young men would sing like blackbirds and thrushes If the young men would sing like blackbirds and thrushes How many young girls would go beating the bushes But the young men are given to frisking and fooling

But the young men are given to frisking and fooling I'll leave them alone and attend to my sculling. Wish there was a big audience in here to clap for you. I'm enough though. Thank you all so much. I've got this recording upstairs, so maybe we'll release this limited edition sweet track. The next queen I want to mention from my coven we'll call Jules she is an incredible friend to me and we two are not without our struggles because that's what human relationship is building

relationships with people over long periods of time is about resolving conflict and working through your things and that's one of my favorite parts about all of the women that I'm in such a close relationship with right now is that we have done the hard emotional labor that you have to to be in community together, to be accountable to one another, to really support each other, to know what each other needs, and to be able to fulfill those needs. And we all invest in each other in really important and beautiful ways. And when one of us is down and we don't have anything

to invest, that's when we get the most. And that's what community is. And I think we all have a lot to learn from rural people and rural community building because you can't run from one another, right? So Jules, I met when I first moved to Wattsburg. She had just moved back home from college to move back home here to Wattsburg. And when I first met her, we were at the bar and someone introduced me to her and she was wearing cargo, camo cargo shorts and a tank top. And she had on these big nerdy glasses with her hair slicked back. And I just knew that we were destined to be best friends. So not long after that, Jules was on my front porch and we were grant writing together, trying to find our way through a grant application to organize the first Stay Summer Institute, which happened in 2010

in Harlan County. And we did, we actually got that grant that we drank beer on my front porch and wrote. And we launched the Stay Summer Institute, which have happened every summer, and focused on identity caucusing for young people all over the region. The Stay Together Appalachian Youth Project has connected queer people and youth of color from all over the region in an effort to connect people who are a huge part of Appalachian culture and living history, yet their stories are rarely told and their faces are rarely used when people speak about the region. You certainly won't hear their stories in trash like Hillbilly Elegy. But the Stay Project is now about to turn 10 years old next year. They're celebrating their 10th.

And not long after that, Jules joined the board of the Southerners on New Ground song, a group in the South that connects queer people to resources and builds power among people to be liberated in our lifetime. be liberated in our lifetime. Her leadership building queer visibility in Appalachia is one of the most moving things I've ever been able to witness and the space that she carves out for young people, for queer people, and for people of color in this region to have platforms and have a say in decision making from economic development to access to health care. I've seen Jules Yale at the EPA and I watched her help hold up a banner in front of Hal Rogers' face at a big event that said prisons are not innovation. She's led a movement against a prison in her hometown, against the only prison that's being, the only federal prison being proposed in the United States right now is USP Letcher here in Letcher County. And she's been a big part of the movement to resist that facility.

She is part of calls from home, hip hop from the Hilltop Crew that helps bring music and calls from loved ones to our radio station every week to share messages from family members to people who are locked up in our listening area. So we get letters from folks who are locked up requesting songs, and Jules helps make that program happen every week. I share an office with Jules, so I lean on her a lot these days, especially in these times of heightened visibility of trauma and as we relive hurt that's come up in our lives. And as we start to reevaluate the relationships we're in and think about what is important and how we're building with one another and how we're accountable to one another. So I love you, Jules. Thank you.

She also listens to the show. She a Trillbilly fan. So I'm going to queue up here a session from my radio show that I recorded a couple of weeks ago with Michela, this amazing singer songwriter from right here in Wattsburg doing a Fleetwood Mac cover for a Spooky Friday the 13th special that happened just after the last Feminist Friday show that we did this year. So here's's Michelle on

talking spooky stuff and Stevie Nicks. Oh my god! Thank you so much! I feel like I have a private concert in here. This is amazing. Alright, you got the, you got all this paper out here. Too's because like too legit

to quit in here you know let's uh let's play some spooky songs on the radio i'm like what what's spooky what's considered spooky so i was like i'll pick out three songs and then i'll just bring them in and play yes all the spook everything's spooky right now. Trump's president. Every morning, every morning is a fresh hot hell of scary stuff, buddy. I ain't had a non-spooky day since October last year. That really is true. It's like an ongoing four-year horror story. Yeah, I'm terrified every day. Every day of my life, I'm scared. If you ain't scared, you ain't awake, baby. Wake up. It is October, Friday the 13th, and stuff is scary.

That is too real. Too real. Okay, what do you got next up for us? Let's see. I guess I'll play Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac because, you know, witchy. The white witch. Yeah, I can't remember where. A little Stevie in here. Can't go wrong. Rihanna rings like a bell through the night

Wouldn't you love to love her? Takes to the sky like a bird in flight And who will be her lover? All your life you've never seen a woman Taken by the wind Would you stay if she promised you heaven? Will you ever win? She is like a cat in the dark, and then she is the darkness.

She rolls her life like a fine skylark, and when the sky is starless. sky is starless all your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind would you say if she promised you heaven will you

ever win will you ever win Rihanna Rihanna Rihanna, Rihanna She rings like a bell through the night Wouldn't you love to love her? She rolls her life like a bird in flight

And who will be her lover All your life you've never seen a woman taken by the wind Would you stay if she promised you heaven

Will you ever win Will you ever win? Will you ever win? Vienna Vienna Taken by, taken by the sky taken by taken by the sky taken by taken by the sky Rihanna

Dreams unwind, those are state of mind Dreams unwind, those are state of mind Woo! Yes! That's one of my favourite Little witchy tunes i know i have to play that god steven x is everything i've seen her twice within a year what a good year it was like the same tour i was like i know everything that's going to be talked about but i do not care like i know that Prince tribute is coming and I'm going to cry. I love it.

Oh, what tunes did they do for the Prince tribute? Oh, yeah. During Edge of Seventeen, like the backdrop is just like a collage of like Prince and all of this cool effects. And I was just like, tears flowing. Oh, my God. Did they do a Prince tune? No, I don't think so but like at the end of it you know it's just like um she was like i know what it sounds like like that's how she ended the song and i was just like oh my god

she's like just like oh my god and then she like ties that in and i'm like it was like i can't imagine seeing her do this i cried twice i'm about to cry don't make me cry this early in the day god it was so much oh i have a favorite spot in this building to cry so it's not here. So you'll have to tell me your favorite cry spot. Yeah, I have a cry spot in the building. You can't make me cry outside. Come on, guys.

Who doesn't have a special secret place in their workspace where they go and cry? I just can't believe that that's not a normal thing. So I will eventually show Michella where I go to cry when I need to in the building. But other than her, it is top secret. My next shout out and story of strength is about Wanda, another close loved one of mine. We were roommates for the first three years. We lived in Weinsberg together. And a couple summers ago, we got to travel overseas together and we backpacked Europe for two weeks. That sounds so posh. It was my first time out of

the country, my only time out of the country, and maybe it will remain my only time. But she had studied abroad before and so luckily was director of the whole event and she had like printed out laminated copies of our tickets and all of our plans. And we ended up spending a week in the coalfields of Wales in a pretty amazing situation, meeting with community members and going to places like the Dove Workshop, which is in the coal fields of Southern Wales, which is a old coal company office that went under and they let it go to waste. It was abandoned. And these women in the community asked if they could have it. They raised the money to clean it up, to restore it. asked if they could have it. They raised the money to clean it up, to restore it, and then they turned it into a daycare center, a workshop center, a community kitchen, a restaurant, and eventually

they built a relationship with the university, the local university, and started being able to offer night classes for college credit to the women in their community. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been to and seen and they also have windmills on their property. It's a pretty, it was a very emotional time, but I digress. The point is, Wanda is a ride or die kind of bitch and we have rode quite a bit. She has caught a glimpse of the world that we deserve and she does all she can to work toward it. She was even when she lived in a big city before moving here she was even snatched off the street by cops because of her activism and drug through months of court trials for something she didn't do. It was not released from felony charges until the person who did commit the crime

came forward. So she has a lot of trauma connected to cops. And still, she just recently was a part of local organizing to resist nazis both here in eastern kentucky and pikeville and also in charlottesville wanda is one of the most brave people i know and also one of the first to ask if I need anything when I'm feeling bad or to just show up randomly with candles and chocolate because she knows that's what she likes and that will bring a smile to about anyone's face. Wanda's also an artist and a really a really talented cross-stitcher and doodler and zine maker. And we've often talked about creating a zine together called Poop Stains about all of the times we've messed up bathrooms or had unfortunate poop situations. And we even created like a poopstains at gmail.com once so that we could collect other people's funny poop stories.

But I will tell my favorite poop-ish story about Wanda from when we were in Wales together. When we first got there, we were in Cardiff in the big city and, you know, we'd been all over Europe and these toilets were all kind of different. I saw my first waterless hot water tank and all this really cool shit. But several of the toilets that you flushed by pulling a chain. And so that was a pretty different thing for us.

There was like a chain over your head that you pulled to flush the toilet. a pretty different thing for us. There was like a chain over your head that you pulled to flush the toilet. And so we get to Cardiff and we go into like a visitor center to try to figure out what train we're getting on and all this stuff. And she goes in to use the restroom. And so I'm standing there with this other guy and we're talking and trying to figure things out. And all of a sudden, this alarm goes off, like the building alarm goes off. And I'm looking around trying to figure out what's going on. And this guy's like, Oh my god, and he like runs, he's like looking around trying to figure things out too. And about the time Wanda comes out of the bathroom and saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was me. I messed up. I'm sorry. Sorry. So there was an emergency cord hanging from the ceiling

near the toilet in the restroom. It was like a handicap accessible restroom. And she thought that it was the cord to flush the toilet. And so she set an alarm off in this entire building, the Cardiff Wells Visitor Center, because she thought that it was how you were supposed to flush the toilet. So that was our entrance into the country of Wales. Anyway, I love Wanda a lot and I'm really thankful for the adventures we've had and for the vulnerability that she shows in trying to understand

the way the world should be and how we get there together. Wanda gave me one of my favorite books called Revolutionary Letters by Deanna Prima. She's just a wealth of knowledge of revolutionary content and resources. And I'm so thankful to have her also in my starting lineup. Last shout out, but far from least, is for another mom in my life. That means the world to me. We'll call her Vern. She is a dreamer and a doer and a charming, witty, funny as all hell inspiration in my life.

And she is often there when I call and need her to take me to the doctor because I'm not going to be able to drive myself home. And she has a seven-year-old daughter who brings tons of joy into the lives of anyone who comes into contact with her. And she recently married one of the good guys and had a beautiful wedding with all of our chosen family that will go down in history as one of the best parties around. Such a good time. Such a good time. The two of them have a grand chariot, a party van that we have used to take ourselves to many great adventures. Ghost hunts at Halloween and music festivals all year long. Light shows and ball games and you name it.

Anywhere a hot tub might be, we will roam. And she's often driving that big old van in her big old sunglasses and just an inspiration to us all. I'm so thankful to have her in my life and to be learning and growing with her. She's an incredible mother and feminist and witch. If this coven has a supreme, it is probably her because she often hosts our witchy gatherings and helps us call the corners and bring together all of the materials that we need

to set intentions and spells and put good into the world together. She's also a lover of animals and will bring about any animal into her home, including ones that belong to people but she believes are being mistreated. I have certainly helped her steal dogs before that she felt were not being treated right and she would get them the care they needed and then place them in a home. And that's a really emotional thing to commit to, right? To fall in love with this animal knowing that you will get attached and then love it enough to send it to find it a good home. She's also an artist,

of course, and has helped me make many patches for many events, doodles and paints and draws and inspires us all to be better, to be better people. She's so creative. And I'm lucky enough for her to be my own personal interior designer. She is a fashion icon, and we're all better off because she's in our lives. That's all we have this week for Trillbillies. I just thought it was a really important time for us to show up for women, talk about the women in our lives, and hold space for the critical contributions that women put into our lives and our world and how bleak a future we would have without the women that I know. And I'm sure we all can name women like this that we know. I think I am pretty lucky.

So maybe I'll start taking write-ins and see if y'all can beat that. But we didn't even get into the moms and the sisters and the aunts that have shaped me into the person I am and continue to be a huge influence in my life. Maybe next time the boys are out of town, I'll tackle that subject. So I'm going to sign off and send you out with a never before heard besides the live edition compilation between Amethyst Kia of Johnson City, Tennessee, and the local honeys of Eastern and Central Kentucky doing May the Circle Be Unbroken together on the Apple Shop stage. This is the first time they've performed together on stage and the only time that I'm aware of that they did this song together. So enjoy and get your tissues ready because this is a tearjerker. Thanks you all. Be good to each other. And I really appreciate you listening to

this episode. My first solo run and a very different take on Trillbillies. So tell the boys you like it or they'll give me hell about it forever. So I'll see y'all out there in the streets and in the interwebs. Take care. I was standing by my window On a cold and cloudy day When I saw the husk of rolling To take my mother away Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by

There's a better home awaiting In the sky, Lord, in the sky. guitar solo Well, I told the undertaker Undertaker, Undertaker Please drive slow For that lady you were calling Lord, I'd hate to see her gone Will the circle be unbroken

By and by, Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting in the sky, Lord, in the sky.... And I followed those behind her, tried to hold up and be brave. But I could not hide my sorrow when they laid her in a grave. And then later in May Will the circle be unbroken By and by, Lord, by and by There's a better home awaiting In the sky Lord, in the sky guitar solo I went home, home that was lonesome

For my mother, she was gone For my brother's sister's crying What a home so sad and alone will the circle be unbroken by and by

Lord by and by there's a better home awaiting In the sky Lord In the sky There's a better home awaiting

In the sky, Lord, in the sky. Thank you.