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4:16

Oh, Appalachia,

4:19

we have heard

4:22

heard your call, have felt

4:24

it a pull our heart strings

4:26

and tug at our innards

4:29

anytime. our innards any time we might

4:31

think of moving away. We have

4:33

felt your breath on the back of

4:35

our necks when we dare wonder

4:37

what else is out there else is

4:39

out there grass might be greener grass might

4:42

be greener there. Oh, Appalachia. How quick is your

4:44

hand to correct an an child

4:46

to blister a a if we stray

4:48

from the five miles to work,

4:50

two miles to church, and back

4:52

to church was good enough for them

4:55

that come before us. enough for

4:57

them that come before us?

4:59

Oh, Appalachia. The

5:01

of a mother is that of

5:04

a jealous God at times. She

5:06

wants what is best for us.

5:08

holds us us close to her

5:10

loving bosom so that we can

5:12

only breathe when she she breathes. Our

5:15

Our heart is allowed to

5:17

beat only because it is in

5:19

time with with mother. mother. Can't

5:21

you see that after a lifetime of

5:23

at the same table, praying at

5:26

the same altar, hearing the same stories

5:28

about how things used to be

5:30

and how they were to much

5:32

better were so much better back then?

5:34

We can't help restrain our to get

5:36

a look at that a look at that

5:38

beast that eventually becomes one with

5:40

the pound and heart of the

5:42

highway. one with the pounding heart of the

5:45

highway. And if we stay. Then

5:49

been seduced by that by that

5:51

siren, as if she stood

5:53

on our shoulders if she stood

5:55

on our shoulders, whispering that where the

5:58

heart is. is. while

6:00

she holds hours

6:03

clutched, bleeding in

6:05

her talon. Oh,

6:08

Appalachia. You

6:10

tell us that the road

6:12

that leads from this place,

6:14

all asphalt and yellow lines

6:17

paved and maintained by the

6:19

county, can only bear us

6:21

to damnation, but the road

6:23

that carries us home? Well,

6:25

blessed be that well-worn path,

6:27

that holy back road, that

6:30

marriage of gravel and cold

6:32

earth that calls us back

6:34

again, and again, whether we

6:36

mean it to, or not.

6:38

Oh, Appalachia. Do you not

6:41

see that they are one

6:43

and the same? Oh mother,

6:45

will you ever let us

6:47

go? For some folks, hearth

6:49

and holler might be enough,

6:52

but the further you get

6:54

from the generations that live,

6:56

died, and killed to hold

6:58

on to this land, you'll

7:00

find notions of the grandeur

7:03

of familial proximity tend to

7:05

Wayne. There is a whole

7:07

world outside of Appalachian. And

7:10

it's full of bright lights and

7:13

jobs behind desks and buildings that

7:15

are clean and carpeted and well-lit,

7:17

while the folks back home are

7:20

still scraping beneath the earth for

7:22

the remaining crumbs of the dark

7:24

wealth that filled our coffers for

7:26

so very long. See, there are

7:29

places in this world that these

7:31

mountains never wanted you to see.

7:35

places where earning a living

7:37

doesn't have to come with

7:39

a lifetime of pain and

7:42

misery for generations of judgment

7:44

and expectations don't hang over

7:46

your head like the cold

7:49

choked heart of the mountain.

7:51

The world changes, but often

7:54

people do not. You may

7:56

love your mamma where your

7:58

mom and the day may

8:01

come when they're kind and

8:03

accepting hearts seem a little

8:05

bit less of both. They

8:08

see who you're becoming, and

8:10

it ain't like them. And

8:13

they don't know what to

8:15

do with them. traditions

8:19

begin to feel like obligations

8:21

and who you are and

8:23

who they raised you to

8:25

be start to feel like

8:28

fighters on opposite sides of

8:30

a squared circle you begin

8:32

to ask questions a lot

8:34

of folks around here don't

8:37

like it when you ask

8:39

questions because questions make people

8:41

nervous pretty soon they're looking

8:43

at you like a stranger

8:46

asking questions about them books you've

8:48

been reading, them bands you've been

8:51

listening to, and pretty soon everything

8:53

about you seems dark and worrisome

8:55

to them. Folks start muttering about

8:57

appearances of evil and warning you

8:59

about that devil music. All them

9:01

backward messages hidden in the mix

9:03

that you don't even realize you're

9:05

singing along with until it's too

9:07

late, because shouting at the devil

9:09

is all fun and games, they

9:11

say. Until the devil shouts back.

9:16

So you might be a teenage girl writing

9:18

poetry darker than a vice principal's heart in

9:20

the back room of your mom a single

9:22

wide up on Sherry Hill, just counting the

9:24

days till you're old enough to get the

9:26

hell out of this town that threatens to

9:28

wrap around you like the weeds that choke

9:30

the medians on the four lane that lead

9:33

down the mountain and away from this awful

9:35

and beautiful place. The

9:37

license issued to you by the Commonwealth on

9:39

your 16th birthday may be the greatest treasure

9:41

you will ever own, as it bestows upon

9:44

you the right to follow that great asphalt

9:46

ribbon wherever it leads, and for a girl

9:48

who yearns to escape the petty prejudices and

9:50

strangling expectations of small-town life, the holy rites

9:52

of clutch and gear shift, the combination of

9:55

speed, and a mixtape in the cassette deck

9:57

are the closest thing to religion you may

9:59

ever accept. And

10:02

you know, one day they will

10:04

take you far from here. And

10:07

yet, when it calls, you answer.

10:09

That always means a detour. You

10:11

might be a boy on the

10:14

cusp of 17. Being told you're

10:16

already a man grown, your daddy

10:18

and mommy were practically married at

10:20

your age, your daddy knows somebody

10:23

over at B&L that can get

10:25

you on digging coal or turning

10:27

ranches on the deasles up on

10:30

the script job, a little bit

10:32

of training, you'll be making that

10:34

good money in no time, son.

10:36

Oh, it ain't like it used

10:39

to be. There's all kinds of

10:41

safety measures in place now to

10:43

make sure the company can ring

10:46

30 or 40 years out of

10:48

you instead of the usual. Nowadays,

10:50

you're more than likely to end

10:53

up with every joint in your

10:55

body ground down to gristle and

10:57

dust your spine a crumbling avalanche

10:59

of herniated discs and nerve damage

11:02

before your lungs even start to

11:04

go bad. What? You want to

11:06

be like them that run off

11:09

and let their blood behind? Then

11:11

they think they're better enough going

11:13

off some fancy college or applying

11:15

to jobs at some better place.

11:18

One place is better in home.

11:20

Unless it's military course. That's different.

11:22

Man can leave here a hillbilly

11:25

and come back a hero. I

11:27

mean, as long as he comes

11:29

back at all. Could be you're

11:32

a child of the moon and

11:34

stars. your body and ill-fitting

11:36

garment against your soul, the bones that bury you

11:38

upright, little more than a cage to keep you

11:40

in. In these hills, your heart has to work

11:43

three times harder just to keep you upright and

11:45

moving, and you learn early on that escape is

11:47

your best option, that staying here is a death

11:49

sentence, and you've got living to do, so you've

11:52

got to get out and stay out, and you

11:54

can feel in your bones that they're a place

11:56

that will love and

11:58

accept you as you are,

12:00

you just have to

12:03

find are, you just have to places

12:05

are not here. places are not here.

12:07

likely never be here. here.

12:09

Now you'll find a place

12:12

or two that's tolerable maybe.

12:14

tolerable But it's tolerable enough

12:16

to hang your whole

12:18

life on. to hang your whole So

12:20

you go. You

12:23

write letters home from time to

12:26

time, time, a friend or two you

12:28

left behind to ask after your people

12:30

after your to deal with your people

12:32

if you know what I'm saying. with your

12:34

people if you know you come home to

12:36

bury somebody who was dear to you.

12:38

who was dear to Maybe you see your

12:41

friends, familiar smiles pressed like the fingerprints

12:43

of ghosts under the faces of

12:45

their children and grandchildren their children and the

12:47

last of them before the last of them forgets you

12:49

gone. You

12:53

can try to ignore it. You can refuse

12:55

You can refuse to answer. and pretend

12:57

you You can sit still and

13:00

pretend you haven't heard its call.

13:02

But if you stay in these

13:04

mountains for any time at all,

13:06

you will find yourself there there

13:09

alone. Far from the light of your own porch. from

13:11

the light of your own you

13:13

ever deeper your feet the you ever

13:15

deeper into the of these of

13:17

these hills with a different voice

13:19

in your ear, one

13:22

that sounds more like your

13:24

own more

13:26

the one

13:28

you wished

13:30

you had own.

13:32

Or the one you

13:34

wished you run

13:36

like Whispering. Run

13:38

child. Run like hell.

13:48

When the walls close

13:51

and the light the light

13:53

gets swallowed and there

13:55

there ain't no place

13:57

that feels like like

13:59

home. and

14:05

turning to strangers and

14:07

you cast your eyes

14:09

through the winding road.

14:11

Keep your foot on

14:14

the gas, your eyes

14:16

straight forward, clear your

14:18

heart in mind. Best

14:20

leave them ghost behind.

14:23

When the hearth grows

14:25

cold and home is

14:27

nowhere, then your mind

14:29

is where. Well,

14:34

hey there

14:37

family and

14:41

welcome. to

14:45

season five

14:49

of old

14:52

gods of

14:56

Appalachia run

15:00

like hell.

15:04

This season will be returning to

15:06

our traditional anthology format with a

15:08

variety of tales centered on one

15:10

simple truth about living in a

15:12

place like this. Eventually when the

15:15

hills seem to close in around

15:17

you and there's not enough daylight

15:19

to go around when you just

15:21

can't stand it anymore. We've all

15:23

tried to get out. And sometimes

15:25

that means we do indeed got

15:27

to run like hell. I

15:30

am not alone here in the void

15:32

family. I think I hear a familiar

15:34

voice coming through the gloom. Well, hey

15:36

there, family. I thought I'd pop over

15:38

and join Steve for the premiere of

15:40

this season that I know we are

15:42

both very excited about. And we hope

15:44

you are too. But that's not the

15:46

only thing we're excited about. I don't

15:49

know if you've heard a shouting from

15:51

the mountaintops over on social media lately,

15:53

but we have launched our very own

15:55

paid subscription service called The Holler. Power

15:57

by Supercast, a platform designed from the

15:59

Ground Up with podcast. our listeners in

16:01

mind, the holler is replacing our patron

16:03

as the one true destination for all

16:05

of our exclusive storylines and extras, such

16:07

as Build My My Coffin, Blackmouth Dog,

16:09

The Door Under the Floor, and so

16:11

much more. It's all in a streamlined,

16:14

well-organized format that folks who've already moved

16:16

to the holler have been really excited

16:18

about. If you've already moved to the

16:20

Holler, we thank you for all those

16:22

kind words and welcome you home. If

16:24

you're an existing Patreon member and you

16:26

haven't made the move yet, it's quick

16:28

and easy. Just log into Patreon and

16:30

look for the post titled A Friendly

16:32

Reminder from Steve. Listen to the audio

16:34

message from yours truly and follow the

16:37

instructions that Cam has so meticulously laid

16:39

out for you. You can ask questions

16:41

if you need to and the good

16:43

folks over at Supercast are standing by

16:45

to help getting moved on over. And

16:47

speaking of billing. You don't even have

16:49

to figure out when your current patron

16:51

subscription expires, then wait till that day

16:53

to make the switch. We know that's

16:55

a huge pain to try to remember.

16:57

So Supercast is going to credit you

16:59

the remaining time you have on patron

17:02

to your new subscription with the holler.

17:04

Now I know what some of y'all

17:06

are thinking, blah blah blah, Cam, I'm

17:08

not on patron. Well for those of

17:10

you who haven't tossed your tie than

17:12

the offering plate yet, or maybe you

17:14

used to subscribe but you've been waiting

17:16

for this new season to start. We

17:18

got you. You can head on over

17:20

to Old Gods of appalacha.com/the holler. The

17:22

link is right here in the show

17:24

notes and join the family in the

17:27

holler today. It's so quick and easy

17:29

to gain access to hours of exclusive

17:31

content with just a few clicks. Is

17:33

that everything which? I know we had

17:35

a lot to tell the family about

17:37

today. Did we remember everything? I think

17:39

we did. And if we missed anything,

17:41

well, we'll just post it on socials,

17:43

fam. All right then. Once again, we

17:45

are super excited to have you with

17:47

us for season five family. We got

17:50

miles to go before we sleep. And

17:52

that sleep probably won't be easy or

17:54

untroubled. So let's go, y'all. We'll talk

17:56

to you soon, family. Talk to you

17:58

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18:21

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