Rising Appalachia Youtube

[Dinah Lianes]

WriterMary Woodbury finds deep resonance in the music of Rising Appalachia, who draw on the rural landscapes of her family, and whose musical fusion offers ideas of resilience and community in the face of change and loss.

Mom was born in a log cabin in Francis Holler in Brinkley, Kentucky, a small, sleepy town in the Appalachian hills. Her dad and mother never had an education past the 4th grade nor ever learned how to drive a car. They lived off the land and probably rued that Pappaw had to work in the coal mines to earn money (he later had a carpentry business) or that the little crick in their front yard was really just a sewer pit.

Rising Appalachia integrates all these styles in their music, and has an upcoming album, Leylines, coming in May, which will include Ani DiFranco, Trevor Hall, and Maurice Tuner. According to their website:

Another Rising Appalachia song, Harmonize, further ties together past and present, as the band actually travelled to the Salish Sea, near my current home in British Columbia, to film the video and meet old friends and family there. The video is a story of rites of passage for a teenager and includes old crafts like sailing, blacksmithing, seed-saving, fishing, and even love and courtship.

Rising Appalachia was founded by sisters Leah and Chloe Smith, the band established an international fan base due to relentless touring, tireless activism, and no small degree of stubborn independence: find out more at risingappalachia.com.

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In 2007, Leah and Chloe Smith decamped to New Orleans from their hometown in downtown Atlanta. The mission was to deliver art in service to the rebirth of a city, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The sisters sought to assist in the process of healing and rebuilding, collaborating on restoration education and post-storm artistic offerings with the organization Alternate Roots.

Rising Appalachia places a laser focus on pertinent social justice issues. Both women identified as activists well before professional artisans. They consistently use their platform to activate, organize and support frontline justice work and community organizations. The messaging highlights local food issues, educates fans on feminism, the climate crisis, and prison industrial complex, among other crucial causes.

Preservation Hall brought musical traditions under the same roof before they were legally allowed to perform together. Hosting intimate acoustic concerts 350 nights per year for over half-a-century, Preservation Hall is a quintessential pilgrimage in the birthplace of Black American music.

Eschewing established industry norms, Leah and Chloe Smith have followed invitation and intuition to independently forge their own path. Fifteen years and seven studio albums into an ambitious adventure that has already taken these medicine women around the world, Rising Appalachia continues spreading musical catharsis with an iridescent elixir of global soul.

Rock artist and human rights defender Ramy Essam is considered to be one of the loudest voices of today. His resilient journey from the hub of the Egyptian revolution to the international stages has included viral hits and awards as well as moments of struggle. With his background in being the voice of the streets of his country, Ramy today stands for social justice and human rights worldwide.

Said to be a beacon of uncommon bravery in the Middle East, Ramy Essam exploded into international fame in the Egyptian revolution starting in 2011 as his songs spread like wildfire among the demonstrators. During the height of the uprising, Ramy performed in front of hundres of thousands of people in Tahrir Square and became the voice of the revolution. His song Irhal demanding resignation of then-ruler Hosni Mubarak is referred to as the real anthem of the revolution. Irhal was listed as #3 Song That Changed History by Time Out Magazine.

Ramy has lived in exile in Sweden and Finland since 2014, e.g. working in artist residencies hosted by ICORN and Artists At Risk. In addition to touring worldwide and releasing music, Ramy has performed in theatre pieces gaining five stars reviews internationally.

In February 2018 Ramy released a song and music video Balaha aiming to raise discussion on the violence, oppression and corruption in Egypt. The video went viral with over millions of views in just days, causing controversy. The lyricist of the song, poet Galal El-Behairy and director of the video, filmmaker Shady Habash were arrested. In 2018 Galal was sentenced to three years in jail. In May 2020 the Shady died in custody.

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