Music as Escape

Formed in the mid 1960’s, The Soulmasters was an interracial soul band from Danville, VA. Jerry Wilson and John Irby were the two African-American lead singers, and the other 8 members of the band were white. Producer Matt Darroch headed over to Danville to hear Jerry reflect on his three years in the band and what it was like touring the South during the height of segregation.

No matter your background or where you’re from, we all have that one song that eases our troubles and soothes the soul. Lisa Gilman says this ability to escape through music was a lifeline for American troops during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Meet Virginia Humanities’ new director of the Virginia Folklife program, Katy Clune! She says her passion for folklife stems from her experience growing up all over the world as the child of a parent in the foreign service.

Back in the early 1980’s, Grace Toney Edwards developed Radford University’s first Appalachian Folklore class. She taught it for decades and when she retired, Ricky Cox took over the class until 2020. Now both retired, they reflect on some of their favorite student projects – which have all been digitized at Radford’s Appalachian Folklife Archive.