Several weeks back Luke Bauserman interviewed me about the Blind Pig and The Acorn and my endeavor to preserve and celebrate Appalachian Culture and Heritage.
Luke is a fellow Appalachian-he just lives a little farther north than I do. He is also a writer and has his own blog called The Weekly Holler. Luke also has a podcast a very active Weekly Holler facebook page and a Weekly Holler youtube channel.
I really enjoyed chatting with Luke about the Blind Pig and The Acorn and our shared love for all things Appalachian. If you’d like to check out the interview you can listen to it here. A transcript of the interview is also available on Luke’s website.
Tipper
Hey Mr. Jim Casada: That Tipper lady is already famous! She’s jest not got down to Nashville to verify it ! But she will. You just hide and watch!
Eva Nell
p.s. You think your Scottish fellow sounded foreign! Just try talking to the older ladies from – up north – in Scotland. You will really be in deep water! But they are great ‘distant’ kinfolks!
Eva Nell Mull – from the Isle Mull – FOR THREE DAYS!!!
What an enjoyable interview! But, dear Tipper, you will be shocked to learn that I had never before in all my life, ever even once, heard the word
“Appe-latch-uh.” I was taught in elementary school geography about the region called “Appe-lay-chuh” and the “Appe-lay-chun” Mountains, and I have never until this evening heard any other pronunciation. I looked on the Internet for some explanation of this phenomenon and found a great deal of commentary that suggested that anyone pronouncing these words as I was taught is not to be trusted! Yikes! I assure you that you can trust me, I am grateful to you and your blog for teaching me so many wonderful things about your neck of the woods and its history, and I’m proud to be your reader!
Well Tipper, I certainly enjoyed your interview. It was so good too hear your voice and your wonderful mountain accent! You sound just like me! When I first got married, my husband was in the Air Force and we lived in Denver, Colo. I got a job as a secretary there and early in the mornings there was a talk show on the local TV and people could call in to comment, etc. One morning I had an opinion about a subject and I called in because you didn’t have to give your name. When I arrived at work my fellow workers all teased me and said they had heard me on the show! They told me that no one could miss my Tennessee twange. đŸ™‚ I love it and I love The Blind Pig.
Well done!
Tipper, I certainly enjoyed the interview. It was good to hear your voice. Here in Florida where I live, we have people from all over the U.S. and the world, so you hear a lot of different dialects and sayings. I’m a native Floridian, and neither of my parents lived in North Carolina, but my grandparents are from Murphy. So I grew up “talking” Appalachia, and I still do. My mother said so many of the words and sayings you describe. We just didn’t know it was Appalachia. I just thought it was southern. Until today, I had no idea that saying “I’m proud to be here” wasn’t something that everyone says! Anyway, I’m real proud of my heritage and hope to someday get to meet the Blind Pig Gang!
What a great interview. Tipper, you really are a defender of Appalachia. Also, it was nice to see a fellow Appalachian Ohio fella doing the same.
I loved hearing the diversity of Appalachian dialect and accents in that interview. I have always loved the southern mountain accent. It reminds me of summer when my exotic cousins would come visit from West Virginia. Luke Bauserman sounds like my family and friends at home. I had a professor ask me once why I always sounded gruff and caustic. I said “Its just my talkin’.” It was something to hear that out of context.
Great backstory that makes me love this blog even more.
Tipper: I was unable to get to your review! STRANGE! First time ever it has happened!
Eva Nell
Tipper,
I enjoyed your interview with Luke. Since I became a member of the Blind Pig and the Acorn in 2007 or 2008, I have no regrets. For some silly reason, when I first started paying attention to your blog, I thought you were located in Meridian Mississippi. Boy was I surprised when I found out you were only about 30 miles away, even in the same county. When you brought Pap with you to meet me, I knew right then youn’ze would be my friends.
I listened to your accent in the interview, and I could tell your were true Appalachian. I like the way you never let anything affect your native dialect. And I’m Proud to know you. Thanks for doing this nice interview. …Ken
Well done, Tipper, well done! Your dissertation on the language took me back to when I was a 4-year-old sittin’ on a hooked rug on the living-room floor of a second-floor apartment in Rochester, NY in front of a big ol’ floor-model radio while Daddy twisted the knobs and the big green eye over the dial got dimmer, then brighter. He had run a wire from the antenna connection on the back of the radio to one of the bedsprings, and the other antenna connection had a wire going to a water-pipe in the kitchen for a ground. It was Saturday night and he was trying to tune in The Grand Ol’ Opry on WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. There was this lady that would come on the radio with “Howdeeee! Ah’m so proud to be here!’ and then tell jokes about a place called “Grinder’s Switch” and folks like “Cousin Nabob”. At four years old I knew what that phrase meant and when I use it today it’s genuine, I don’t waste it on just anybody or anything.
I’m proud to have found your blog, you, and your family…
Good to hear your warm and friendly voice again. Good job!
Loved the interview and especially hearing your voice. I’m proud to know you and thank you so much for your blog and friendship.
Good interview. Tipper you have a very pleasant southern mountain accent.
What does all the different colored sub regions mean?
Good interview. Tipper you have a very pleasant southern mountain accent.
What does all the different colored sub regions mean?
Good interview. Tipper you have a very pleasant southern mountain accent.
What does all the different colored sub regions mean?
Good interview. Tipper you have a very pleasant southern mountain accent.
What does all the different colored sub regions mean?
Wow Tipper, I really enjoyed your interview on the Weekly Holler! I know you were proud to be there, and I am so proud of you for the great job you do with your blog. Thank you for making me feel such a special part of the BP Family. I am truly honored to be a part of this special family!
Your interview reminds me again why I started genealogy. It was just to give our children deep roots into Appalachia and into American history. I wanted them to have that connection to place and family because, unlike myself, they did not grow up living close to grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and multi-generational family friends. I felt like I did them a dis-service to separate them from that and also that the time would come in their lives when they would feel the loss and maybe need those ties.
It comes down to as simple a thing as wishing the would like the BP&A blog as a visit with a friend. But they scarcely answer my emails because they say they get hundreds a day and do not have time. I understand that but at the same time it illustrates just what I was trying to help them avoid. Anyhow, they are great kids and we are proud of them. I think sometimes I am asking them to act older than they are and am being a bit unfair. It is like the saying “when the student is ready, the teacher will show up”. One can hope.
In the meantime, Tipper, thanks for the good work.
Tipper, that’s a wonderful interview! You did a very good job of explaining the Blind Pig, its purpose and history. The Blind Pig is growing and spreading and I’m proud to be a part of the family!
How wonderful, you are the only blog I follow. Well deserved article
Tipper–Very nice. I reckon there’s a time coming soon when I can turn to folks and say: “Why I knew Tipper Pressley back before she became famous!”
I’ll have to check out the fellow’s blog, although I’ve got to say that when it comes to a mountain accent you’ve got it and he ain’t. That’s not to fault him. Some folks “lose” it when they go off to college, are away from the mountains for awhile, or whatever. Others don’t. Like your mention of reactions to your accent from when you worked over in Haywood County at a place which had visitors from all over, I’ve gotten similar receptions.
My all-time favorite was when I was in Edinburgh, Scotland for several months and, while looking for a particular bookstore, asked a local for directions. Neither one of us could understand what the other was saying. I finally showed the fellow the name of the place on a brochure I had. He started laughing and pointed–it was within sight. I reckon we were just two guys separated by a common language.
Jim Casada
Jim Casada